Chapter 32: Treasure

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Soon after Coach Chen went back to the grandstand, a man who was similar in age to Chen moved close to him, asking, "Hey Chen, did you decide on that 10.75 second boy and want him to go to your school?"

Coach Chen didn"t want to hide anything, so he nodded and got straight to the point. "I just gave him an admission to our independent recruitment."

"An admission? That boy was definitely kissed by fortune. Who else can easily get an admission from an 11 second performance? Lao Chen, don"t you worry that he might have just outdone himself today? Perhaps he cannot be that fast in daily training. In that case you would have a fluke!" The man was a close friend of Chen, which was why his words were quite straightforward.

"That is where you are wrong, Lao w.a.n.g. In the 100m sprint, normal people can rarely run inside 11 seconds, because that is beyond our physical limitations. n.o.body could cross that barrier simply by "outdoing oneself." That is like jumping in a room with a ceiling above your head: you will not be able to jump higher than the roof because it blocks your path. The higher the roof is, the higher you can jump. You can take his performance, 10.75 seconds, as a pretty high roof. That is proof that he is gifted as an athlete. He has a lot of potential," said Coach Chen. Lao w.a.n.g nodded, not fully understanding.

Coach Chen continued, "His coach looks like he is just over twenty, like a college student. He is so young! I heard that he runs a training cla.s.s. He is lucky to meet such a talented student. He will gain some valuable experience through teaching."

"Yeah, you are right. One of his students is chosen by you, and gets an admission to the Provincial Sport University. This coach is famous for his student now. For that, his training cla.s.s is going to be super popular next year!"

The two talked back and forth, not giving any credit to Dai Li. Li was too young to be a successful coach. In every field, young people were always neglected.

…

Time pa.s.sed quickly. It was now time for the twelfth heat. Six out of eight students of Li"s had finished their compet.i.tions, and they had all reached the national second-cla.s.s qualifying standard.

Because none of his students were about to run, Li didn"t pay attention to the heat. He took Haiyang Chen aside and whispered encouragement in his ear.

On the other side of the bleachers, Director Zhao"s eyes were glued to the track. The best student in his training cla.s.s was ready for the compet.i.tion.

Lei w.a.n.g, you are our trump card! Do your best—you must impress Coach Chen! Director Zhao said to himself.

As the gun sounded, the race began. Eight compet.i.tors darted off. As a top student, Lei w.a.n.g was holding a safe lead. He left the other runners far, far behind.

Good job, w.a.n.g! Director Zhao clenched his fists, his face flushed.

First place! Director Zhao took a deep breath. He was sure that Lei w.a.n.g had run inside 11 seconds, but he was not sure whether w.a.n.g could attract the attention of Coach Chen or not.

Here comes w.a.n.g"s result. Hooray! 10.84 seconds! Coach Zhou cheered up. That was a satisfying result.

"Look, another performance that"s less than 11 seconds!"

"That partic.i.p.ant must from the sport school training cla.s.s. People from that school are clapping now."

"Sport school coaches must be good if they can train a student like that."

"I heard that the one who ran 10.75 seconds was admitted to the independent recruitment of the Provincial Sport University, Coach Chen gave him the permission. I wonder whether this one is as lucky as the previous guy or not."

The audience was discussing the heat while looking at Coach Chen.

On the grandstand, Coach Chen also noticed the impressive result.

"10.84 seconds? Another one under 11 seconds. Give me his personal data," Coach Chen instructed his a.s.sistant.

The a.s.sistant immediately found out Lei w.a.n.g"s information and presented it to Chen. Coach Chen looked through the doc.u.ment, nodding with satisfaction.

"A high school graduate student with a 10.84 second performance. He is good," Coach Chen thought for a few seconds, then stood up again.

"Hey Chen, do you prefer this compet.i.tor? This one is slower than the previous one. Why do you like him?" Lao w.a.n.g suddenly asked.

"You know what, I don"t have much choice. Recently these good ones have been attracted by universities in big cities. I should not miss any chance now," Chen said, walking downstairs as he spoke.

...

10.84 seconds? This is a nice grade. Although w.a.n.g is slower than Qingliang Xu, he might be more talented than Xu. I guess he also has C+ talent like Haiyang Chen. However, he is too far away for me to detect his capacity. If this student also uses explosive force halo, he should be able to defeat Qingliang Xu, Dai Li sighed silently.

Dai Li already discovered that with the improvement of an athlete"s own capacity, the effectiveness of the explosive force halo was reduced gradually. For example, if one"s 100m sprint performance was around 13 seconds, the halo could give a 0.6 second improvement; if one"s performance was around 11 seconds, the speed increase would be less than 0.2 seconds. However, as Li estimated, once an athlete ran inside 10 seconds, the halo might be useless, for the improvement might be no more than 0.1 seconds. To be a good sprinter, explosive force was one of the essentials. Sprinters with higher capacities would have similar explosive forces, meaning the halo would be less effective when trying to speed up.

As for performances that were within 10 seconds, time would be important to 0.01 second. A 0.1 second increase would be amazing.

...

Coach Chen is moving towards us! That"s great! Zhao"s heart rate was skyrocketing. He knew that Coach Chen"s presence meaning that Lei w.a.n.g was most likely going to be chosen for the independent recruitment. He could already hear people calling him "vice-president."

Director Zhao jumped off his chair, straightened his clothes, and got ready to welcome Coach Chen. Meanwhile, the thirteenth heat began. Haiyang Chen was in this group.

Coach Chen was walking along the track, heading in Zhao"s direction, just as Haiyang Chen was running wildly down the track. After 11 seconds, Coach Chen was less than five meters away from Director Zhao, so close that Zhao could see Chen"s face. At the same time, Haiyang Chen was the first hit the finish line, to no one"s surprise.

Zhao"s face was beaming with a smile. He moved closer to Coach Chen, stretching his hand out. He said, "h.e.l.lo Coach Chen, I"m Shouren Zhao from…"

He was not able to finish. Coach Chen suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on Haiyang Chen, who had just hit the line. Chen looked surprised, as if he had found great treasure.