Chapter 41: Bro, Isn’t God Su Amazing?

A few days passed.

The day of the intra-team trials arrived.

Seeing Su Shen approach, Zhou Bing felt somewhat embarrassed, but Su Shen just smiled and shook his head, indicating that since this was his older brother, treating him that way was completely understandable. Besides...

"Today we are competitors, so you mustn't hold back at all."

Hearing these words...

Zhou Bing could only feel that this was truly a "familiar taste" and a "familiar formula."

He had heard Su Shen say the exact same thing last year, so his expression hardened slightly as he nodded and said, "Then I definitely won't hold back this time. Once you lose, I'll treat you to dinner."

"Deal. But you'll need to change one thing," Su Shen said.

"What?" Zhou Bing asked, startled.

"If I win, you have to treat me too. A stir-fried meal from the school cafeteria, whatever I want," Su Shen smiled.

Zhou Bing laughed heartily and said, "Alright, but first you'll have to be able to beat me. I've learned a lot of provincial team techniques from my brother over the past few days."

Provincial team techniques? Su Shen said nothing more, and the group began their warm-ups.

There were many track and field events, but Su Shen's main focus remained the 100 meters. He was well aware that he still lagged quite a bit behind in the 200 meters, and securing a spot in that event was out of the question for now. However, it would also serve as a good test of his gains in the 200 meters over this period.

The 100-meter event started first, which was also the sprint showdown everyone was most eager to watch.

Because there were quite a few participants, it had to be divided into two rounds.

This was understandable; no coach would want to miss the opportunity for their disciples to participate, as it was beneficial for both gaining experience and improving their own coaching credentials.

Fortunately, the 100-meter race is very brief, so even with two rounds, it wouldn't take long.

In Su Shen's heat, there were several older athletes who were likely approaching 18 years of age. Having undergone a few more years of physical development, they possessed a natural advantage. Ning Debao, standing nearby, felt a slight pang of worry. After all, Su Shen rarely pushed his limits in training nowadays; in his own words, there was simply no need.

Moreover, the feeling of training was vastly different from the feeling of competition.

He preferred to find his breakthrough form during actual races.

These words... sounded so very much like Su Shen.

Knowing that Su Shen was a competitive type of athlete, coupled with his successful comeback upset at the Pearl River Delta Invitational, Ning Debao had gradually developed a sort of "mysterious trust" in him. This influence was subtle, perhaps stemming from Su Shen's growth, the new knowledge he constantly absorbed lately, or perhaps her increasing intuition regarding Su Shen as her disciple.

Her intuition told her that this kid didn't care much even about the provincial team.

It was as if that was simply a matter of course.

"Pay attention to your form and don't let them disrupt your rhythm." Even so, Ning Debao gave him a brief reminder before the start.

Zhou Bing was in the next heat, and upon hearing this, he immediately complained, "Coach Ning, why are you worried about him? It'll be a miracle if this guy doesn't disrupt *other* people's rhythms right from the start." Zhou Bing still had lingering fears regarding this aspect of Su Shen; it was simply abnormal.

Very few of those facing Su Shen for the first time would have any psychological preparation.

Ning Debao thought about it and realized, well, what Zhou Bing said seemed to be true.

However, seeing the other coaches giving elaborate instructions while she seemingly had nothing left to say, she felt a slight, inexplicable sense of "emptiness."

Was this, perhaps, the sweet trouble of coaching a genius?

To be honest.

There really weren't many people here who took Su Shen seriously.

Everyone assumed that Yi Xiaoqiang's defeat had happened because he hadn't fully recovered, leading to his comeback loss against the wind. Someone who had never even broken 11 seconds—what right did he have to participate in this Guangdong Youth Championship?

Did he really think he was hot stuff just because he beat an Yi Xiaoqiang who had only run a 11.29?

Ridiculous!

Seriously, Su Shen felt that one day he really needed to popularize this kind of knowledge properly in China.

If they didn't even know the basic wind-speed conversion formulas, how could they accurately judge strength?

Right now, however, Su Shen had no obligation to enlighten them; they could think whatever they pleased.

Zhou Tao walked over, looked at Su Shen, and asked Zhou Bing, "Can this guy really outrun Yi Xiaoqiang? No matter how I look at his physique, it looks awkward. This..."

He simply couldn't bring himself to say the words "too good," and swallowed them back instead.

"Brother, I don't know about other things, and I don't understand theory, but it's definitely true that he beat Yi Xiaoqiang that day," Zhou Bing affirmed. "I was watching right from the sidelines. There's no mistake about it."

"Can someone with that kind of physique and height run fast?" Seeing Zhou Bing speak with such certainty, Zhou Tao could only remain half-skeptical.

Especially regarding Zhou Bing's recent training—whenever Zhou Tao asked about it, he was met with a blank expression.

Because hardly anything he heard sounded normal according to his existing knowledge reserve.

Yet, he was running faster now—what could you say to that?

It was just like basketball: regardless of whether it looked good, whether it was scientific, or whether it made sense, wasn't the ultimate truth whether the ball went in? No amount of talk could ever match real results; a single performance spoke louder than a thousand words.

Therefore, after learning a little bit about this Su Shen over the past few days, Zhou Tao was full of doubts today. He wanted to come and take a close look to see if this Su Shen was really as divine as his younger brother claimed.

"Just watch, Brother. If these guys haven't prepared themselves mentally, I reckon a good portion of them will be wrecked right in the first half and completely lose their rhythm," Zhou Bing said familiarly. "When we run against him, we must pay attention to the early phase and not put too much focus on him. Otherwise, it's very easy to get thrown off."

"Even me?" Zhou Tao was still somewhat unconvinced; having come from the provincial team, how could he lose to a junior from a municipal sports school? It hurt his pride a little.

To his surprise, Zhou Bing countered with a question: "Who's stronger right now, you or Yi Xiaoqiang?"

Zhou Tao was slightly stunned and said, "About the same, I guess."

He left unsaid the fact that he was nearly two years older than Yi Xiaoqiang.

Therefore, in terms of potential, he was probably inferior to Yi Xiaoqiang, unless Yi Xiaoqiang failed to improve later on and hit his talent ceiling.

"Then if you don't pay attention, you'll definitely get dragged off pace," Zhou Bing remarked bluntly, which only solidified Zhou Tao's determination to test the waters.

On the track, a line of eight athletes stood in position.

"On your marks."

"Set."

"Bang——————"

To ensure the professionalism of these intra-team trials, all equipment was professional grade, designed to make everyone accept the results wholeheartedly after the race.

"Watch closely, Brother, look at his early phase." In truth, Zhou Bing didn't even need to remind him; Zhou Tao was already witnessing something nearly unbelievable.

This shortest of athletes, Su Shen, actually took the lead the moment the starter's pistol fired. It was as if he had been injected with nitrous oxide, instantly exploding with a propulsive force one or even two tiers ahead of everyone else.

At first, Zhou Tao thought Su Shen's reaction time was just too fast, but upon closer inspection, he realized that wasn't the case at all.

This guy's early phase possessed supercar-level explosive power.

While everyone else looked like ordinary compact cars. This wasn't a matter of training; this was sheer, hard talent.

Barely ten meters in, several older seniors who had focused their attention on Su Shen instantly had their rhythms disrupted.

Trying to match Su Shen's starting cadence was a recipe for self-destruction.

Really... really disrupted?

Seeing several athletes fall apart and drop out early due to a ruined starting rhythm, Zhou Tao felt immensely shocked.

Among them were a few individuals with formidable strength, but because of a momentary flash of "pride," they had completely ruined their races.

He had seen countless exceptional runners, and the provincial team was packed with experts, but this was... the first time he had ever seen anyone establish such a massive lead in the exact same tier.

And yet...

You're telling me he doesn't primarily train the first 30 meters???

Who are you trying to kid!

The older students wanted to chase him down.

They refused to accept it.

They were the senior students; how could they be suppressed like this right at the start? No way, they had to claw it back, or they'd lose all face.

"They're all done for," Zhou Bing said with the expression of someone watching a bunch of fools.

Sure enough.

Within the first thirty meters, if you tried to compete in explosive power with Su Shen, you were practically "courting death." Trying to race him that way would only lead to a worsening rhythm and an increasingly terrible run.

Later on, all the domestic opponents who competed against Su Shen learned to be smart.

Falling behind in the early phase didn't matter; killing yourself trying to contest the early phase was the real mistake.

Once you tried to lock horns with him in the early stage, defeat was guaranteed.

This was a very smart approach, because in his previous life, Su Shen had mastered the first 60 meters to become peerless under heaven.

Not just peerless in his era.

He was historically peerless.

6.29 seconds—surpassing Usain Bolt's 6.31 seconds, making him the fastest early-phase segment runner in human history.

It defied all logic that a monster like Bolt naturally held the historical first-place spot in the early phase.

If Su Shen hadn't burst onto the scene, dominating both the early and late phases in terms of stride length and frequency, how could anyone even compete?

Therefore, ask yourself: if you wanted to test your early-phase explosive power against the greatest swordmaster in human history, weren't you out of your mind?

He hadn't reached his peak yet, but these people weren't Olympic-level masters either.

Crushing his peers was an absolute certainty with zero suspense.

Moreover, no matter what, nobody knew this yet, so they kept throwing themselves at him like moths to a flame.

Another two dropped out!

Seeing more athletes attempt to contest the early phase with Su Shen, only to have their stride rhythm completely disintegrate—with one person even failing to control his stride frequency while chasing Su Shen, tripping over his own feet, crashing hard onto the track, and disqualifying himself—Zhou Tao was stunned.

In the blink of an eye, before they had even reached the halfway mark, four of them had already crashed and burned?!

Zhou Tao looked at Zhou Bing, but the latter maintained a calm expression, as if this was "only natural."

It would be stranger if it weren't this way.

Recalling Zhou Bing's warning that even he might not be able to win...

No.

Zhou Tao shook his head. He absolutely could not harbor such thoughts!

Otherwise, it would affect his performance on the spot.

For a high-level athlete, mindset was a critically important component.

Surely someone running this fiercely had to slow down by now, right?

Zhou Bing watched Zhou Tao as if enjoying a good show, seemingly waiting to see the expression changes on his older brother's face.

Wha... what?

How was his speed only now reaching its absolute peak?

He got even faster?!

How did he pull that off?

Wait, wasn't this the exact state Ah Bing had displayed when competing against me the other day?

The optimal combination window of the critical point for maximum human explosive speed plus the critical point for maximum human energy output...

Did they actually pull it off? Was this trained into them?!

You could write off one Zhou Bing as an anomaly, talent, and so forth, but once the number of people grew, you could no longer ignore the issue.

This was the greatest benefit of scientification and systematization.

It elevated the overall level and capability of domestic athletes in batches.

At this point, Su Shen had already built a massive leading advantage as he entered the final sprint zone. Su Shen was clearly far stronger at this stage than he had been in his previous life at the same point. At the very least, when dealing with opponents of this caliber, there was no sign whatsoever of late-race fatigue.

Instead, it gave people the illusion that both his early and late phases were terrifyingly formidable.

Whoosh—

Su Shen crossed the finish line in first place.

Looking closely, he didn't even bother using a lean technique, and furthermore...

He actually turned his head and flashed a smile at Ning Debao.

Zhou Tao felt as though a stampede of mythical creatures was galloping across his heart.

And even so, when Zhou Tao hurried over to check the electronic timing...

10.95.

Earlier, he had told Su Shen to work hard and strive to break the 11-second barrier, only for the guy to casually shatter it in such a flamboyant manner.

This was simply...

An absolute slap in the face.

The crucial part was that even a fool could tell Su Shen definitely hadn't gone all out.

At this moment, Zhou Bing truly proved to be a biological brother as he walked over with a cheeky grin and asked, "Brother, isn't Su Shen awesome?"

Zhou Tao: ......

Whose brother are you anyway?!