Chapter 552: Wang Ling, Why Don't You Roll Up Your Pant Legs?
Wang Ling felt like Super Chen had awoken some sort of strange skill - his intuition was terrifyingly accurate!
At 2.20pm, the much-anticipated men's ten thousand-meter relay officially began. No. 60 High School's sports field was small, so one lap was only four hundred meters. During the ten-men relay with swords, each person would need to run two and a half laps. The spirit swords that would be used specifically for the competition were provided by the referees. They were black iron swords with broad blades that were pitch-black in color and which looked very heavy; it would be pretty tough trying to control them skillfully.
This black iron sword was equivalent to the relay baton in a normal relay.
The relay competition required the participants to keep the spirit sword floating above their heads as they ran. Controlling the sword while running hard at the same time was a way of tempering a person's mind and eye coordination, and they had to be very focused. Any distraction as they ran might cause the spirit sword above their head to fall down, and they would waste time getting it to float again.
Concentration thus played a very important role in the ten thousand-meter relay, and teamwork was just as important. The person receiving the baton had to calculate the time precisely and inject their own spirit energy into the black iron sword the moment they took the baton. Keeping the sword constantly floating in the air was the best way to save time in the competition.
From Grade One, Class Three, only Wang Ling and Super Chen were taking part in this event, while Lotus Sun and Feather Lin had signed up for the women's ten thousand-meter relay.
For the sake of fostering good cooperation in the ten-men relay, Wang Ling had practiced a lot during PE lessons in school. Apart from Class Two's Fang Xing and Jiang Bai, he actually wasn't familiar with the people from the other classes.
However, Jiang Bai wasn't competing in this event. For a normal student at the Foundation Establishment stage, this ten thousand-meter relay actually consumed a lot of strength and spirit energy. Jiang Bai had to take part in the archery event tomorrow, so Teacher Ye wanted to ensure that Jiang Bai was in peak condition in terms of his spirit energy and strength since this was directly related to his ability to focus.
In the PE lesson previously, Fang Xing had run four thousand meters with a sword in one and a half minutes, which was an average of forty-four meters per second. This was actually the highest speed a peak late Foundation Establishment student could achieve. Without activating the White Night Spell and Immortal Mode, Fang Xing was still an Itinerant Immortal, so it was easy for him to control his speed.
Sometimes, Wang Ling actually quite envied Fang Xing, because the other boy could control his strength. But that was also because Fang Xing didn't have primordial qi running wild in his body, otherwise he definitely wouldn't be in any better condition than Wang Ling.
After some practice, Wang Ling could somewhat estimate what his running speed should be.
He didn't want to stand out; looking at the overall strength of the people participating in this men's ten thousand-meter relay, he thought that the best would be to keep his running speed at roughly twenty meters per second.
It was now time for the athletes to assemble. In the distance, Teacher Ye waved a small flag next to the running track.
"Let's go, Wang Ling!" Super Chen instantly patted Wang Ling's shoulder.
The two of them stood up and walked toward Teacher Ye.
They took off their jackets, which was No. 60 High School's uniform the whole year round. The jacket was warm in winter and cool in summer. Inside was a short-sleeved shirt which was part of a matching set with the jacket, that had the word "Elite" for the elite class on the back, and the pants. Made out of spirit cotton, the uniform fit well, and you wouldn't feel too cold in winter or too hot in summer.
However, No. 60 High School's school uniform had already been the same for several decades.
Wang Ling heard that when they moved up to Grade Two, the school would custom make completely new versions of the school uniforms, one set for each of the four seasons.
He also heard that the building funds from Huaguo Water Curtain Group had come in.
When the time came, it wouldn't just be new school uniforms; if things proceeded quickly, by the time summer vacation came around, the whole of No. 60 High School would have gotten a facelift. The school buildings would be refurbished and even the sports field expanded.
But in all these renovation projects, it was said that there were two things which Headmaster Chen had decided to preserve.
One was the old stone sculpture that had sat at No. 60 High School's entrance since the school had been first established until now.
The other was the half-dead spirit palms still clinging to life that grew next to the teaching block which the students jokingly called "strong trees."
...
When the ten athletes took the field, Wang Ling noticed that there were quite a number of people staring at him.
Of course, among this mix of gazes, Odd Zhuo's gaze was the hottest.
"Shifu, good luck!" Odd Zhuo tried his best to hold himself back as he stared at Wang Ling and cheered loudly in his heart!
He knew that Wang Ling would definitely hear him with the Mind-Reading Ability!
Wang Ling: "..."
At the same time, some girls were talking about Wang Ling in low voices.
"Who's that?"
"I don't recognize him... It seems he's from Grade One, Class Three."
"Wow, I've been here for so long, how come I've never seen him before? Is he such a nobody?"
At that moment, Jiang Bai, who was sitting next to the girls, quietly looked up. "In the spirit sword exchange meet previously, Senior Odd Zhuo borrowed his spirit sword."
"Oh, him!"
Realization dawned on the girls, and their expressions turned a little awkward.
It wasn't that they hadn't seen him, but that they had chosen to forget after seeing him...
Hugging his knees as he sat on the ground, Jiang Bai mumbled softly, "Student Wang Ling's awesome..."
"I can't see how... he has such a weak presence. His grades are definitely just right down the middle," said one girl. "Also, his looks are average, and he isn't good-looking. If he really was handsome, I would've remembered him on first sight!"
Odd Zhuo heard everything this girl said.
On the platform, Odd Zhuo turned slightly toward Headmaster Chen with a smile as he asked, "Teacher Chen~ that girl over there, what class is she from?"
He always addressed Headmaster Chen as Teacher Chen.
Headmaster Chen took a look before answering immediately, "Oh, Regular Class Two; that's the class that Jiang Bai, the son of the head of Kitchen Knife Sect, is in."
"I see~"
Odd Zhuo smiled again. "Student Jiang Bai is participating in the competition tomorrow, and he's exempted from homework today. But the rest of his class will have one... oh, no, two more test papers to do. Secretary Dakang borrowed these test papers from some collection of school exercises and they can't be bought on the market."
Headmaster Chen's eyes instantly lit up. "Wonderful! I'll talk to their teacher-in-charge!"
But he was also a little puzzled. "Then the other classes..."
"No change for everyone else!"
Odd Zhuo said mysteriously, "This is an experiment, and it's classified."
Headmaster Chen wore an expression of someone who had been enlightened.
...
On the other side of the sports field, Super Chen silently rolled up his pant legs, revealing his tough calf muscles.
This was the typical prep for a sports-oriented student. Limited by his realm, Super Chen definitely wasn't as fast as Fang Xing. However, Super Chen's family cultivated an ancient martial art; they had been doing so for generations, and they were also a household that emphasized exercise. For his realm at the late Foundation Establishment stage, Super Chen couldn't be considered slow! If he went all out, he could run thirty meters or more per second.
Wang Ling thought at first that Super Chen had rolled up his pant legs to show off his calf muscles, but in the end, he noticed that Fang Xing had bent down to start doing the same. Unlike Super Chen's muscular calves, Fang Xing's were slender and fit a model's proportions.
On the platform, Odd Zhuo yelled in his heart again. "Super Chen roll it up! Super Chen roll it up! After Super Chen, Fang Xing roll it up! Fang Xing roll it up! After Fang Xing, shifu roll it up!"
"..."
Puzzled, Wang Ling looked around and noticed that the guys participating had all started rolling up their pant legs.
"Because the legs of our school pants are quite loose, it's better to roll them up when you're doing high intensity sports. These bandages will protect your muscles!" Teacher Ye explained as he handed the bandages out. At the same time, he glanced at Wang Ling. "Student Wang Ling, don't just stand there, hurry up and roll up your pant legs!"
After some hesitation, Wang Ling then crouched down...