Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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In the final stretch, Imperial First’s starting order had jumped to eighth. Even compared to the second-place finisher with the fastest time, there was a significant gap.
Imperial First’s first-place ranking in the qualifiers was now essentially secured. The focus was no longer on the battle for first and second place, but rather on anticipating Imperial First overtaking the top eight competitors and taking the lead in this final stretch.
This would mean a 38-minute time difference between first and second place. If achieved, it would be the biggest highlight of the qualifiers.
At this moment, the scene inside the sixth virtual training field was projected on the big screen. Continuing the style of the previous stretch, there was still overwhelming sandstorm and a sky so murky that the sun was obscured.
The track was even more blurred in this section, and coupled with extremely low visibility, it was difficult to spot the edge of the track unless one looked very closely.
This time, it even affected the spectators outside the track.
“I can’t see very clearly. How can we run in this weather?”
“By the way, where is Imperial First?”
As if hearing the audience’s calls, the camera lingered on Bai Yue for several seconds.
Noticing the filming, Bai Yue looked up and smiled at the camera.
The entire audience was silent for half a second, then erupted in cheers.
“Wait, isn’t this an alpha? Isn’t this an alpha?”
“I never thought that one day I could shout out loud to someone of the same sex— I can!”
The fan club members were even more excited: “Ahhhhh Bai Yue!”
“My husband Bai Yue smiled at me, awsl[1].”
Due to the outstanding performances of the previous runners, and the fact that Imperial First’s first runner was also a student who looked like an omega, no one questioned Bai Yue’s appearance anymore. Instead, they looked forward to him bringing them even greater surprises.
At the same time, in the Dark Flag’s rest room.
The qualifiers were coming to an end, and all the attention for them had been stolen by Imperial First. Although they were resentful, they had to admit that the performances of those runners were truly outstanding.
However, their patience was only temporary. Once the coach sent out their ace, everyone’s attention would naturally focus on their hidden flag.
However, that ace… everyone turned their heads, their gazes all falling on him. He’d been sleeping since the start of the competition, and no matter how excited they were, they couldn’t wake him.
Only when the final leg of the race began did this ace roll over and sit up and the jacket covering his face fell away.
The young man’s flaxen hair was disheveled, and his gaze fell on the electronic screen, just in time to see Bai Yue smiling at the camera.
He seemed to finally show some interest, crossing his arms and looking at the screen.
The coach sighed helplessly, “You really can’t take your eyes off a good-looking omega.”
“Omega?”
Sikong Xing glanced lazily at the coach.
“Open your eyes wide and take a good look. That is the S+ level alpha.”
Hearing this, the coach was stunned.
He immediately forgot about the other’s rude words and looked at the screen again.
This seemingly harmless, beautiful young man was actually the special recruit that Imperial First was so proud of? Unexpectedly, they sent him out in the preliminaries.
The other team members also looked incredulous.
Sikong Xing rested his chin on his hand, watching the boy on the screen.
He was very curious about what kind of tricks this seemingly ordinary S+ could pull off.
The number 1 contestant arrived smoothly, and Dark Flag completed the handover. But he hadn’t run far before he became lost, seemingly unable to find his way.
Someone noticed: “The sandstorm is too strong. If you keep running at the previous speed, you might get lost.”
Dark Flag looked up at the camera, as if making a decision, and stopped. He began to explore the path step by step.
Someone sighed: “Looks like it’s going to be a tug-of-war.”
Each step left a trail of footprints in the sand. But a few seconds later, they were buried by the sandstorm brought by the strong wind. Even if those who came later tried to find their way by following the footprints of the contestants in front, they couldn’t.
A few minutes later, the second-place contestant caught up. He glanced at Dark Flag, who was carefully finding his way inch by inch, and recalled Imperial First’s brilliant performance in the previous leg of the journey, a mocking smile appearing on his lips.
Turning his head, he continued forward at breakneck speed.
Dark Flag’s time ranking dropped to third. Before the audience could even sigh, Dark Flag had already climbed back to second.
“Huh, what happened?”
Dark Flag was clearly still cautiously exploring the path on screen, so how did its ranking rise?
Someone noticed the change in rankings on the big screen and discovered that the school that had just been temporarily in second place had suddenly fallen to the very bottom, with two large red characters printed behind it: —Elimination.
“They were too aggressive after all, they fell into a trap.”
The audience discussed casually.
The eliminated school’s members were far from calm; everyone was clutching their heads and groaning.
They had worked so hard, managing to maintain third place all the way until now. How could they be eliminated so quickly!
Although based on their previous performance, they probably wouldn’t even make it to the finals, being eliminated in the preliminaries was truly a rare occurrence.
Contestant number 2 was lost in the sandstorm, looking completely bewildered.
“Position number 8, Imperial First, prepare to go!”
It seemed Shang Yufei had reached the finish line.
Bai Yue snapped out of his daze and stepped onto the starting line. He dashed off at the starting signal.
He quickly noticed the unusual situation. In this level of visibility, running too fast could easily lead to disorientation.
“…”
In short, he’d try to maintain his speed without veering off course.
He ran at a leisurely pace.
Outside the stadium, those who had expected a spectacular performance couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Normally, the strongest runner should be the last to perform.
But this runner, while not weak— on the contrary, judging solely by appearance, they would be surprised by his skill— was somewhat lacking compared to the excellent performances of the previous runners.
In this level of visibility, a conservative approach was understandable.
But since he was a student of Imperial University and bore the responsibility of the final leg, breaking the deadlock was only natural.
After watching for a while longer, seeing no change, the crowd urged, “Let’s change it. What’s so interesting about this slow pace?”
The organizers quickly switched the camera to the fifth leg of the race.
Apart from the top eight who had already started the final leg of the race, the other runners remained on the fifth leg. The battle for tenth place had almost turned into a free-for-all.
The audience’s attention was quickly drawn to it.
Sure enough, they preferred the more stimulating content to simple running.
After Shang Yufei reached the finish line and emerged from the virtual training area, he didn’t see Bai Yue on the large screen.
He frowned, about to look at the other smaller screens, when a volunteer spoke to him.
“Your section is finished; you can go back to the rest area first.”
Shang Yufei glanced at the man.
The volunteer was a male omega who had also seen Shang Yufei on the large screen. Now, seeing him in person up close, he instinctively blushed.
Shang Yufei looked away uninterestedly: “I’ll wait here.”
The volunteer nodded, somewhat disappointed, and went to remind the other runners who had emerged.
A gust of wind swept in.
Bai Yue closed his eyes, and when he opened them again after the sandstorm subsided, he saw that the edge of the track had disappeared.
However, he remembered his position. He walked over and brushed away the fine sand, revealing a crimson line.
Having determined his direction, he continued running.
There was no one around; not a single living creature in sight.
It felt like the end of the world; all he could hear was the howling wind and the sound of shoes scraping the ground.
And, faintly, the strange mooing of whales. The sound was intermittent.
After several attempts, Bai Yue pinpointed the direction of the sound.
Just as he was about to turn around, another gust of wind swept in.
He instinctively closed his eyes. When the wind subsided, he could hear nothing.
The world returned to silence.
Bai Yue had no choice but to give up and turn to look ahead.
A short while later, a dark figure appeared in the distance, stopping in the middle of the track.
As he approached, he realized it was the runner who had been in the lead.
The other runner looked surprised, as if seeing something. Hearing footsteps, the other runner looked over abruptly.
Seeing it was a later runner, the other runner seemed to snap out of it and continued on his way.
What was going on?
Bai Yue wondered.
A moment later, the strange mooing of whales reappeared on the empty ground.
Each moo brought a gust of wind.
Bai Yue sensed something and instinctively shielded his face with his arm. Just then, he heard a voice filled with panic from the person ahead.
“Did you hear that! That sound just now!”
Bai Yue was about to answer when the wind swept in. He had no choice but to shut his mouth.
However, this time he didn’t close his eyes, but instead squinted at the direction from which the sound came, trying to determine the identity of the voice.
Then, he saw it.
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[1] AWSL is a popular Chinese internet slang acronym that stands for “啊我死了” (ā wǒ sǐ le), which translates to “Ah, I’m dead” or “Oh, I’m dying”.
