CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER 63: TWELVE SECONDS

The blonde female student had finished with a time of 11.50 seconds by her eleventh lap and stopped first. She used to hang around with those spoiled brats, but her father was an army officer who had pushed her to engage in sports from a young age, so her physical abilities were much better than the average person’s.

Several other students, after running for a while, finally gave in and collapsed, carried off by others.

The scene before Xia You was so familiar, it was as if she were back to her first year running a marathon, yet the circumstances she faced had changed. What awaited her wasn’t a marathon with a distance of several tens of kilometers and a clear endpoint, but repeated sprints of a hundred meters.

"Lieutenant Colonel, she has run more than twenty laps already," Ren Minghang had endured for a long time, watching Xia You sprint pointlessly over and over. Her complexion looked terrible, and her running form was on the verge of collapsing.

Over twenty laps were roughly more than 20,000 meters, not an excessive number in and of itself. But Xia You started sprinting from the third lap. That meant she had forced a sprint for more than 17,000 meters. Even professional athletes were not suited for this kind of full-speed sprinting.

"If she can’t even break twelve seconds, how does she deserve to be a student of Longzhi Academy," Lu Xun sneered. The playground was void of additional figures. The sky was a dull grey, the olive-drab military uniform and the matching color of the campus buildings felt like sandbags tied to Xia You’s feet, making her steps increasingly heavy.

The sky began to drizzle, turning the ground muddy, and with each step, Xia You felt her strength being sapped away. Her sneakers were caked with mud, her feet soaked by the rain as if she was enveloped in a layer of water. The figure running on the track had lost all grace; every step she took quivered, as if she would fall to the ground the next second.

Ren Minghang bowed his head, striding towards the playground, ready to stop her before things got worse.

The gray skies mixed with streaks of charcoal red. A pair of shoes were thrown to the ground as Xia You straightened her hair and bit down on it.

Her pale feet touched the earthy ground, and she took a deep breath. Blood boiling, she felt feverish, like a butterfly with new wings or a graceful leopardess, if only for an instant.

"Twelve seconds," Lu Xun wiped the rain from his forehead, patted Ren Minghang’s shoulder: "A student of Longzhi Academy can only unlock their potential with the baptism of rain."

When she returned to the dormitory, the other three were chatting. They all stopped immediately upon seeing Xia You enter.

Droplets still fell from her sneakers, soaking wet, spattering on the floor. The harmonious atmosphere from their initial meeting seemed to have been extinguished by the rain outside.

Xia You went into the bathroom, and the sound of running water followed.

"This doesn’t seem right," Li Xi was the least patient of the three, and even though they had just met as roommates and had to get along for the year, it was clear to her that those people had targeted Xia You today, and it seemed wrong to stand by and let her be bullied.

"What’s there to be afraid of? Didn’t you see how she just arrived today but is already flirting with the Deputy Instructor? Who knows what she’s like behind the scenes," chimed in another female student snappishly. She couldn’t stand the sight of someone playing the sympathy card, trying to win others’ secret affections.

Another female student also didn’t want to stir trouble: "We’re just here to study, why cause so much trouble? It’s better to have less contact with her in the future." Li Xi sighed, not joining the conversation further, understanding that protecting herself was always the right thing to do.

The water rushing out from the pipe still carried a bleach-like irritating smell. With her eyes closed, the butterfly on Xia You’s body seemed to come alive under the beating of the water light.

(If that silly deputy instructor hadn’t shown up just now, how had you planned to teach those people a lesson?) Little Eight had been with Xia You for a while and had seen through her temperament. Xia You was gentle and harmless to look at, always smiling. But if she truly got enraged, it’s likely that today wouldn’t have ended with just a penalty run around the track. What’s more, her body was filled with tyrant blood that could erupt at any moment. Even Little Eight couldn’t imagine what the seemingly mild Number 0 would turn into in a real fury.

Amid the clicking sounds of computers, Xia You climbed into bed, not saying much more. It was just a month; she didn’t need to get too close to these people.

Her mobile phone was taken out, just as Xia You was about to open "Military Road," a text message came through. The message was from Mo Xixi, which, apart from a few caring words, was filled with a string of emojis.

Xia You leaned on the bed, looking at the colorful emoji-laden text message, her fingertips quickly tapping. Mo Xixi was the first person to send her a friendly text. She fell asleep afterward.

(I was going to talk about Dayu’s Divine Talisman, but let’s wait for another day. She’s probably exhausted today,) Little Eight sighed softly, Xia You was a stubborn person.

The next day, when Xia You got out of bed, there seemed to be a tight string at the bottom of her foot. In the end, she had run hard for the sake of a momentary thrill, ditching her sports shoes, and her soles were overly exerting, apparently straining a muscle. Xia You walked a few steps, and her soles were still swollen and sore, hobbling as she walked.

Li Xi hesitated for a long time before finally coming over, handing over a bottle of Yunnan Baiyao, then walked away silently. After spraying the medicine, her foot felt a bit better. Checking the time and seeing there were still several minutes left before the assembly, Xia You hurriedly changed into a different pair of shoes and went out.

When Xia You first entered University C, she went through military training for freshmen. But that military training, compared to the one at Longzhi Academy, was child’s play.

Dressed uniformly, marching in unison, all the new cadets were standing by seven in the morning on the muddy yellow dirt field, still muddy from last night’s rain.

The sun rose early over the mountain, at just seven in the morning, and the sunlight was already very dazzling. The hot rays hit the skin, and the female students were in groups, occupying the few shady spots on the field. Li Xi and her group also stood in a shade on the field; the blonde female student from yesterday was among them, giving Xia You a vicious glare when she saw her.

"One hundred and fifty males and one hundred and fifty females, standing in three formations: one for females and two for males," Ren Minghang had just arrived at the field when he immediately demanded the troops to get into formation. The shade under the trees immediately emptied, and soon there were three square formations on the field.

"I am your deputy instructor for this military training session, Ren Minghang," he said, his eyes scanning the crowd.

During the training period, everyone must wear Longzhi’s military training uniform. To maximumly test the students’ physical endurance and adaptability, the uniforms were made of DuPont Nomex Military Uniform, known for its high-temperature resistance and lightness. Although they were long-sleeved, they were not too hot to wear even on a hot day, and with good design and tailoring, the students were reluctant to take them off once they put them on.

With their matching military training uniforms and hats, everyone looked similar. Before Ren Minghang could find Xia You, a light cargo truck drove onto the field.