Really Can Run
Shen Qi reported to the running association that School of Medicine faculty and staff members were giving each other acupuncture before the race.
The running association prohibits participants from taking stimulant or functional drugs, but allows physical therapy methods such as acupuncture, cupping, and scraping.
The reason is that the main function of traditional Chinese crafts is to stimulate human inner potential, without the influx of unfair external factors.
Yanjing University Running Association is highly professional. Every year, the Capital Marathon is organized with the assistance of the Yanjing University Running Association. They are impartial yet reasonable. Their working principles are based on strict rules and regulations as well as special circumstances that can be reasonably explained.
"Let's just do acupuncture then. It's a slow-acting method..." Shen Qi checked the time and headed towards the competition area. On the way, he encountered the history department's faculty and staff, who were doing routine warm-ups without any technological content or traditional techniques.
The faculty and staff members from the philosophy department were all resting with their eyes closed, making it difficult to guess what they were thinking.
Several teachers from the Opera Research Institute were practicing their voices, ah ah ah~ oh oh oh, their voices sometimes high-pitched and sometimes low-pitched. People who are good at bel canto probably have strong lung capacity.
Shen Qi circled around and joined the rest of the team from Center 1. They warmed up and prepared to start running.
The second round was for the faculty and staff group, with over fifty runners waiting behind the starting line.
Bang!
The chairman of the Yenching University labor union fired the second shot.
Xiao Junlong was the first runner for Team 1 of the Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center. He started from a forward position and quickly moved to the front of the pack after the start.
Before he had run half a lap, Xiao Junlong noticed that the multi-functional watch on his wrist was flashing a blue background.
"Red light, stop; blue light, charge; no light, maintain a steady speed." Xiao Junlong kept Shen Qi's tactical instructions in mind, and when the blue light appeared, he went all out.
As the signal to charge sounded, Xiao Junlong increased his stride and pace, sprinting around Weiming Lake like a small motor. After two laps, he was more than 20 meters ahead of the second-place runner.
The blue light from the watch kept flashing non-stop as Xiao Junlong sprinted at high speed, his skill astonishing everyone and shocking the teachers and students watching by Weiming Lake: "Who is this Wuhan University? Why is he charging so fast?"
"People from the Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center!"
"That's amazing, is he a professional player?"
Xiao Junlong finished the first leg of the race with a significant advantage, crushing the masked faculty and staff of the School of Physics and the acupuncture faculty and staff of the School of Medicine, who were giving acupuncture treatments, until they gave up the chase.
Xiao Junlong handed the baton to Zhou Yu'an, who then took over the second leg of the race.
After handing over the baton, Xiao Junlong collapsed to the ground, unable to even crawl.
Zhou Yu'an was the weakest of the five male athletes on their team, and Shen Qi arranged for him to be the second runner for tactical reasons.
Zhou Yu'an understood his responsibility in this leg of the race: if he couldn't extend or maintain the lead from the first leg, he also couldn't allow his opponents to close the gap too much.
Running and running, after completing the first lap, Zhou Yu'an was caught up by ten meters.
After finishing the second lap, he was caught up by another ten meters.
Zhou Yu'an could barely run anymore at this point; he was only at the level of a two-thousand-meter runner.
The watch flashed blue, reminding Zhou Yu'an that it was time to make a final push and reap the rewards.
"Harvest my ass, Shen Qi! I'm out of energy..." Zhou Yu'an began to doubt the watch that Shen Qi had modified. "When I had the energy, you wouldn't let me go all out, and now that I'm completely drained, you're telling me it's time to harvest me?"
Looking back, Zhou Yu'an noticed that the person following closely behind him was a female employee from the School of Medicine.
Almost all teams fielded male runners for the first leg, but mixed-gender teams appeared for the second leg.
"I can't lose to my female colleagues!" Zhou Yu'an sprinted forward, stumbling and crawling as he finished the third lap, leading the female School of Medicine staff by a very narrow margin before handing the baton to Yang Ding Tian.
Yang Ding Tian's baton was a powerful one. After receiving the baton, he started running in an extremely strange posture, running backwards towards his opponent, his eyes filled with a mixture of melancholy and sharpness, his innocence tinged with complexity.
The opponent behind him was startled. "Holy crap, is that even possible?"
"Heh." Yang Ding Tian snorted, and after observing the situation behind him, he turned around and ran straight ahead.
Yang Ding Tian is tall and thin, and his stride length is a great advantage. After one lap, he extended his lead, and Team 1 of Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center remained in first place.
The onlookers, teachers and students alike, were utterly astonished. "The Shen Qi Mathematical and Physical Research Center, established just last year, is a dark horse!"
Yang Ding Tian's watch was set to be quite stable, remaining completely dark throughout the entire journey. He was like the object described in Newton's laws of motion, gliding at a constant speed to complete the entire distance.
The fourth runner-up is Sang Tian, a former female writer with amazing perseverance, but unfortunately, her abilities are limited.
Arranging for Sang Tian to run the fourth leg was a reluctant move by Shen Qi, as Sang Tian was at least slightly stronger than the two female employees of Team 2.
It's only the fourth leg of the race, Shen Qi Team 2 has already been lapped by Shen Qi Team 1.
Sang Tian gritted her teeth and kept running. She gained insights into life through long-distance running. If she had persisted for a few more chapters and not abandoned the story back then, she might have become a god long ago. Reaching the pinnacle of life is sometimes just a few steps, a few chapters away.
During the fourth leg of the race, the Department of Physical Education started to step up its efforts; all the staff in this department are physical education teachers.
Solar Energy wind-resistant face masks and acupuncture stimulation methods are nothing but paper tigers in front of a physical education teacher.
A male physical education teacher overtook Sang Tian and took the lead.
All baton exchanges were completed at the starting point. Three members of Shen Qi's team 1, Shen Qi, Cui Xiaoyi, and Dr. Sha, have yet to receive the baton.
Seeing that Sang Tian could no longer run, she walked with difficulty towards the baton exchange point. Shen Qi shouted, "Sang Tian, keep going! Just a few more steps, and you'll be a god!"
Sang Tian finally finished the race and handed the baton to her fifth runner Cui Xiaoyi.
"Xiao Yi, charge! Get moving!" Shen Qi made a charging gesture, encouraging Cui Xiaoyi to forge ahead bravely.
After taking over the baton, Cui Xiaoyi ran bravely. She was short, had short legs, and a large chest, making it quite difficult for her to run.
Cui Xiaoyi is a girl who refuses to admit defeat; no matter how great the obstacles, she is determined to complete the task.
Swish swish swish!
One after another, lithe figures swept past Cui Xiaoyi, and she was constantly being overtaken.
"I'm so angry!" Cui Xiaoyi roared, taking off her competition T-shirt as she ran and throwing it to the side of the road.
She wore a small vest underneath her competition outfit; Cui Xiaoyi's chest was too big, so she had to wear two layers for safety.
At this critical moment, Cui Xiaoyi didn't care about anything else. She shed all the burdens she could and set off lightly.
The onlookers went wild, excitedly shouting, "Go, girl from Shen Qi's team 1! Go!"
It was so noisy and chaotic! The male faculty members in front of them turned around and exclaimed, "Wow, this girl is fierce!"
Cui Xiaoyi relentlessly pursued the contestant in front, who maintained a distance while occasionally observing the pursuers behind her.
Until Cui Xiaoyi handed over the reins, the gap between her and others was neither widened nor narrowed.
The sixth runner is Dr. Sha, whose main research area is Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Mechanics, and whose hobby and special skill is swimming.
Running isn't Dr. Sha's forte, but someone who can swim three kilometers in one go can definitely run three kilometers on land.
"One, two, three... nine, ten." Shen Qi was the last runner on their team. He counted at the starting point; there were ten runners ahead of him, and Dr. Sha was ranked eleventh.
Dr. Sha handed the baton to Shen Qi, who then launched the final assault.
Zhou Yu'an noticed that the watch on Shen Qi's wrist was flashing blue light even before he took over the baton.
"This watch is very strange." Zhou Yu'an examined his watch, then looked up again, only to find that Shen Qi had disappeared.
After setting off, Shen Qi sprinted at full speed.
Swish swish swish!
Within one lap, Shen Qi surpassed three male contestants from the School of Physics, the Chemistry Department, and the Computer Science Department.
Yenching University's four colleges of physics, chemistry, computer science, and mathematics have always enjoyed a high reputation. They lead the academic trend and are unwilling to be inferior to others in other aspects.
Shen Qi, a graduate of the School of Mathematical Sciences, upheld this tradition, continuing to increase his stride frequency in the second lap and overtaking three more runners.
After two laps, Shen Qi outpaced six runners, rising from eleventh to fifth place.
"Professor Shen can really run fast!"
"Shen Qi's first and last batters on Team 1 were of professional standard!"
"Professor Shen, give us three more!"
The teachers and students watching cheered for Shen Qi; he's probably the most athletic of all the professors.
"Director Shen, let's go! Get moving!" Cui Xiaoyi skipped and jumped along the roadside to cheer for Shen Qi. She had become famous today, her reputation Weiming Lake.
"Boss Shen, keep going... keep going..." Xiao Junlong lay on the grass cheering for Shen Qi. He hadn't recovered for a long time after running the first leg, and he was now famous.
"Go for it!" Yang Ding Tian stood by Weiming Lake, facing the water and with his back to the track, cheering for Shen Qi in his own way. It was here last year that Shen Qi had brought him back to the center. Today, his unique starting posture and meaningful gaze left a deep impression on the onlookers.
"Top five! Let's improve a few more!" Shen Qi kept track of the numbers. He was currently ranked fifth, and his previous goal was to enter the top five among the faculty and staff.
Brush!
Another one swiped the sliver! Shen Qi pushed the School of Economics contestants to the back, placing him fourth with 300 meters remaining.
The top three are the Department of Physical Education, the Department of Philosophy, and the School of Marxism.
This ranking is quite bizarre.
It's normal that the Department of Physical Education is a traditionally strong department, but it's surprising that the traditionally weak Department of Philosophy and the School of Marxism have unexpectedly entered the top three.
"One more, Marx!" Shen Qi locked onto the School of Marxism contestant three meters ahead. Top three, this result is acceptable.
The gatekeeper from the School of Marxism was a young Associate Professor. He felt a cold wind behind him and was about to turn around... whoosh!
Shen Qi surpassed the defending champion from the School of Marxism.
Shen Qi had only 50 meters left to run when the strong sprinter from the Physical Education Department crossed the finish line, and the Physical Education Department won the championship in the faculty and staff group.
Shen Qi's only obsession is to defeat the philosophy department.
With all four colleges of Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Mathematics eliminated, surely one of the champion and runner-up teams must be a science and engineering representative.
It's unscientific that those who pursue technological advancements can't beat those who study idealism.
The final competitor from the Philosophy Department was a lecturer specializing in Buddhism. Without even looking behind him, he simply smiled faintly, opened his arms, and sprinted towards the finish line.
Shen Qi used the last of his strength to take several large steps, whoosh!
In the final five meters, Shen Qi overtook the Buddhist Lecturer and snatched back a runner-up position.
"Damn, we got overtaken in the last few meters, this is just too illogical." The Buddhist Lecturer pounded his chest in frustration; the philosophy department ultimately couldn't suppress the tech-savvy department.