Chapter 95: Charge Ahead! Wu Liuqi
Ba Te Er didn’t want to let Chen Jun take advantage of him, so his first thought was that his stamina was still sufficient now, so he accelerated to shake off Chen Jun and prevent him from being able to relay.
But he accelerated and ran three or four hundred meters, already almost catching up to the sprinting first echelon.
As a result, Chen Jun was just like toffee, sticking behind him no matter how he tried to shake him off; no matter how he accelerated, Chen Jun could always keep up.
The people breaking wind in front consumed even more stamina, while those following behind gained a huge advantage.
Ba Te Er was well aware that if this continued, he would definitely be the first to hold out; if his rhythm got disrupted and he collapsed, the consequences would be very serious.
So he could only abandon this plan and switch to another one.
A plan that would harm the enemy by a thousand while damaging himself by three hundred.
He had the third teammate running at the very back actively leave the team, and after deliberately slowing down, run ahead to interfere.
Breaking wind only works if you’re right behind; once disconnected, the relay loses its effect.
“Unexpectedly, this big guy is quite smart.”
Chen Jun saw Ba Te Er’s quick reaction—failing with one move and immediately coming up with a new trick—which was truly surprising and didn’t match his burly image at all.
“But if you think you can shake me off with just this little trick, then I can only say you’re thinking too simply.”
Chen Jun grinned, not caring at all.
In front of the sturdy tiger, the cat’s block had no effect whatsoever; Chen Jun reached out and “gently” pushed, clearing the obstacle in front.
Then, relying on his powerful physical fitness, he accelerated to overtake and chased back up.
In just a few seconds.
Ba Te Er, who hadn’t run far anyway, had Chen Jun and his two teammates hanging on his tail again, returning to the same formation as before.
If someone who didn’t know saw this dragon line, they would think the five of them were one team.
“Really annoying, can’t you stop following?”
Unable to shake him off no matter what, and unable to run away, Ba Te Er was so frustrated he had a massive headache; he couldn’t hold back anymore and turned his head for a furious roar.
“You’re also an expert; why do you think I’m following you?”
Chen Jun casually shot back lightly, but it only fueled Ba Te Er’s anger more; his already explosive temper started heading toward irrationality.
“Fine, just you wait.”
Ba Te Er wasn’t good at trash talk and couldn’t retort after being shut down, so he could only vent his impotent rage with harsh words and play his final trump card.
He suddenly decelerated and circled back from the side to behind Chen Jun and his two teammates.
Then the teammate behind Ba Te Er also slowed down and came to behind Ba Te Er.
The formation had perfectly flipped front to back.
“Damn, this move?”
Chen Jun had truly underestimated Ba Te Er; this guy not only had great physical fitness, but also high intelligence quotient and reaction—not a pushover opponent at all.
No wonder he had dominated load cross-country for years!
With no way to draft and now becoming the windbreaker himself, being drafted by others, Chen Jun’s goal was to break the division record; he couldn’t slow down.
No way to copy the same trick again by decelerating to run behind Ba Te Er.
Even if Chen Jun circled back behind Ba Te Er again, Ba Te Er could decelerate again and circle back, going back and forth endlessly.
The result would be the team’s speed slowing more and more, ultimately making it impossible to break the record.
“Since there’s no way to save energy and skills can’t be used, then we can only rely on strength.”
Seeing they had already run over 1 kilometer, about the distance for rotation, Chen Jun simply didn’t rotate; he decided to do the opposite and ramp up the speed.
He didn’t believe Ba Te Er, with his large body weight, could keep up with his and Wu Liu Yi’s speed.
“I’ll sprint 1 kilometer; get ready.”
Chen Jun quietly reminded Wu Liu Yi and Xie Chong behind him, then began quickening his pace and cadence to gradually accelerate, aiming to pull Ba Te Er apart and make him collapse.
“Little guy, see if you can still be smug.”
Ba Te Er watched the speed slowly pick up, with Chen Jun becoming his free windbreaker, thinking his stratagem had succeeded, and grinned smugly.
But in less than twenty seconds, he realized something was off.
Chen Jun’s pace was too fast.
A pace just over three minutes was too fast—something his body type couldn’t sustain at all, especially exhausting even with someone breaking wind ahead.
He persisted for less than five hundred meters, and Ba Te Er’s breathing rhythm started to disrupt.
Even as he overtook competitors one by one, charging from the second echelon into the middle of the first echelon and continuously overtaking more.
Ba Te Er’s professional training told him things were getting worse and worse.
He realized he was about to collapse.
To ensure the second half’s speed didn’t drop, no matter how unwilling Ba Te Er was, he couldn’t follow Chen Jun’s recklessness.
At the same time, he didn’t believe Chen Jun and the others could sustain this speed.
So he decided to slow down and detach from Seventh Company’s team.
Return to his comfortable speed; as long as he kept his own rhythm steady, running at his own pace, he was confident of taking first in the individual event.
But just as he prepared to decelerate, Chen Jun ahead seemed to have telepathy.
He suddenly turned his head and shouted loudly: “Yo, expert, aren’t you pretty tough? Can’t hold on this soon? That would be too embarrassing for your Sixth Company.”
Chen Jun’s words were extremely stimulating—an absolute trigger for a hot-tempered person.
Mocking him personally Ba Te Er could barely tolerate, but mocking his company’s strength was touching his reverse scale; Ba Te Er’s emotions exploded instantly.
Furious blood rushed to his head, making the competitive Ba Te Er lose his reason.
Tactics, cooperation, results—all forgotten!
His mind filled only with not losing face; he had to keep up with Chen Jun, even if he died on this road today—he couldn’t lose this breath.
So under the control of angry emotions, he gritted his teeth and kept the speed to follow.
Chen Jun and Wu Liu Yi had already easily broken the regiment record during company time; their sprint endurance speed was beyond what Ba Te Er could comprehend.
No matter how unconvinced, no matter how much chicken blood.
Strength was there.
Ba Te Er tightly followed for less than 300 meters, paying the cost for his angry outburst: collapsing, running out of breath, face full of pain, speed dropping instantly.
The teammates behind had even stronger sprint ability, but their rhythm was already disrupted and they had reached their limit.
They also couldn’t keep up and fell out of the team.
No matter how unwilling Ba Te Er was, he could only watch helplessly as Chen Jun’s leading trio continued maintaining high pace and sped away.
Now only the last 500 meters remained; Seventh Company had reached the front of the pack.
The fallen Sixth Company was currently second.
“Start the final sprint, rotate, Xie Chong, you’re up.”
Chen Jun had been breaking wind up front for so long, his stamina nearing limit; after pulling apart Sixth Company without continuing, he decisively rotated in Xie Chong who had been following.
Xie Chong’s strength was less than Chen Jun’s and Wu Liu Yi’s; being able to follow this far was entirely due to drafting.
His remaining stamina was also little, but he still followed Chen Jun’s order, switching to the front to break wind and sprint at maximum speed.
The 3 kilometers was a round trip.
First run out 5 kilometers, check in at the turnaround point, then run back.
After Xie Chong led the charge for two hundred meters, Seventh Company’s trio appeared in the spectator area’s view, causing quite a stir.
Because Seventh Company had pulled everyone else so far back, the one-rider-lead scene was shockingly dominant.
“Sprint, Wu Liu Yi, to break the record.”
Only the last three hundred meters distance left; Chen Jun’s final order.
Wu Liu Yi, who had been drafting the entire way, still had plenty of stamina left thanks to the assists from Chen Jun, Xie Chong, and Ba Te Er.
The final three hundred meters sprint stamina was fully sufficient; this would also be his record-breaking three hundred meters.
To not let down Chen Jun and Xie Chong’s help, and more so to struggle for his own division record break, Wu Liu Yi roared and charged forward.
Like a fully drawn arrow off the string, whoosh toward the finish line.
“Not accelerating yet? Still accelerating?”
Wu Liu Yi’s sudden acceleration threw the entire venue into an uproar.
No one dared believe that in a 3 kilometer sprint speed race, a competitor after running 2,700 meters could still have such strong stamina for a finish sprint.
It was simply too exaggerated!
