Bonus chapter(1/3). Giveaway selected by Mlky for the Discord celebration. Enjoy~
As the year came to a close, time seemed to fly by. Day after day, the athletes endured strenuous exercise at the training camp. Huacheng No. 1 High School held a mock exam every week during this time. Thousands of miles apart, Li Cheng and Xiao Yiheng were both working hard on their respective journeys.
Since joining the training center, Li Cheng did not get a single free weekend. He awoke at 4:30 a.m. and went to bed at 10:30 p.m. seven days a week. His days were spent entirely in training, with only short breaks for food. He closed his eyes and slipped into a deep sleep the moment he laid in bed after turning out the lights.
It wasn’t until one night when Li Cheng was hiding in bed while chatting with Xiao Yiheng on his phone, that he suddenly realized that the new year was approaching.
Xiao Yiheng asked him if he would have a holiday in the New Year.
Li Cheng replied with the paralyzed expression of a salted fish.
Small Round Orange: No, of course not _(:з」∠)_
Small Round Orange: The team has been issued a notice that the final selection will be conducted on January 1st.
There were dozens of members in the swimming team, but only one-third of them could represent the country in the end. They could see who would proudly embark on the international podium and who would sadly pack up and return to their hometown in this final selection.
When Xiao Yiheng heard this, he immediately asked with concern whether he was nervous.
Small Round Orange: ?
Small Round Orange: What should I be nervous about?
Small Round Orange: Other people should be nervous.
Xiao Yiheng: “…”
… …
The three-day internal selection in the training center coincided with the dawn of the new year. There were 18 major events, 220 minor events in the World Youth Games, and around 20 swimming events.
Freestyle swimming was divided into 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m according to the competition schedule. Li Cheng wanted to sign up for the 100m and 200m competitions.
Naturally, the internal selection was not “One battle determines win or loss.” In addition to the final results, it also depended on the players’ usual training performance in the team.
Although Li Cheng was cocksure in front of Xiao Yiheng, he was actually a little nervous. After all, his teammates, like him, were all champions at the provincial level. With a minor burnout on Li Cheng’s side, they’d be able to surpass him.
Fortunately, Li Cheng had made significant progress during the month-long scientific instruction. His 100m performance had improved by half a second! In speed racing, it was difficult to improve the result by even 0.01 second. Li Cheng had shaved an astounding 0.5 second off his time!!
This solid record gave Li Cheng more confidence to win the qualification.
In order to better preserve the players’ physical strength and get as many medals as possible, each player was allowed to register for only two events. As a result, despite the large number of swimming athletes, only two or three people signed up for each event.
Li Cheng chose to sign up for his specialization—the 200 m and 100 m races. He had one opponent in the 200m and two opponents in the 100 m events. Coincidentally, the two opponents were both from X city. They were the people who laughed at him in their X city dialect during the first day of training.
Li Cheng didn’t even bother to remember their names. He simply “bestowed” a nickname based on their appearance. The tall and thin guy was aptly named “Cutlass Spirit” and the guy with thick beard received the moniker “Catfish Monster”.
Both of them were alphas and they came from the same city and school. The two of them always stuck together and seldom interacted with other players.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktflg rmtbbi kjr kfii-xcbkc obg lar ragbcu rklwwlcu afjw. Pa kjr rjlv atja lc atf qgfnlber Qbgiv Llut Vmtbbi Xjwfr, jii atf mbwqfalabgr ogbw atja rmtbbi kfgf mtbrfc obg atf mbwqfalalbc.
Ol Jtfcu vlrwlrrfv atlr “la lr rjlv” mijlw. Qtja kjr rb ugfja jybea la? Coafg jii, tf kjr j “ifufcv” jr kfii.
The players warmed up by the pool before the start of the competition. Li Cheng swam back and forth for a few laps to “wake up” his muscles and adjust his state to the best.
He emerged from the water, took off his swimming goggles and was about to go ashore, when suddenly, a hand was stretched out in front of him.
Li Cheng looked up along that hand and found that the person standing in front of him was none other than Zhou Jian.
Zhou Jian had completed the race. He was in excellent physical condition. His family spent a significant amount of money to hire foreign coaches to instruct him from an early age. It was no surprise that he had the best results among all the contestants. He left others in the dust in the 1500 m race, pulling ahead by a whole track!
Zhou Jian: “Li Cheng, I’ll pull you.”
“No need.” Li Cheng thought it was quite annoying, so he leaned on the wall of the pool with his hands and jumped onto the shore with ease.
Zhou Jian’s hand was left hanging in the air. He retracted it after a moment and touched his nose, feeling awkward.
“Are you done?” Li Cheng chatted with him as he wiped the water off his body with a bath towel.
“Done.” Zhou Jian nodded, “Are you prepared?”
“Hey! I don’t need to prepare. Even if I swim with my eyes closed, the quota for this competition is mine!” Li Cheng raised his head triumphantly, his nose almost hitting the ceiling!
His voice was a little loud. The two X city players in the distance both stared at him at the same time, then turned away as if they didn’t hear him.
“…” Seeing him so confident, a little hesitation flashed in Zhou Jian’s eyes. He lowered his voice, advising, “Li Cheng, I don’t know if you’ve heard anything, but I think you’d better be mentally prepared.”
Li Cheng asked carelessly, “What’s the matter?”
Zhou Jian: “The coach of the two X city players is a student of our training team coach.”
“…Huh?” Li Cheng was confused with the sudden change in tack and couldn’t figure out the interpersonal relationships.
Coach Yu was the head coach of their swimming team and she was in charge of both the men’s and women’s teams. She was a strong ruthless alpha. She had scolded almost the entire womens’ team into tears, and there were also a few guys with poor psychological tolerance on the men’s team who secretly wiped their tears. Everyone complained privately about the cold and ruthless “Devil Yu”. They were sure she devoured three children at every meal.
Li Cheng, on the other hand, adored her. She swore and yelled at the students, yet she was an excellent coach. Li Cheng was able to improve so much as a result of her strict requirements.
Zhou Jian: “Wasn’t Coach Yu transferred from the second group of the national team? She has been a coach of the second team for many years and has mentored countless champions. The coach of the X City Sports Academy was once under her command.”
“…So what?”
“So, the reason X City Sports Academy players get selected every year during the final selection is because of the relationship between master and apprentice.”
Zhou Jian was worried that because of this relationship, Coach Yu would allocate the quota that belonged to Li Cheng to others. Therefore he specially came to remind Li Cheng after learning of it.
After listening to his words, Li Cheng’s brows were furrowed, and his original relaxed mood was clouded with a layer of gloom.
Li Cheng had been swimming for many years and had participated in serious competitions dozens of times. He knew very well that sometimes the outcome did not depend on the opponents, but with relationships between people outside the pool.
He once saw a player make a take-off foul. It was reasonable to say that his result should’ve been invalidated. However, because of the friendly relationship between his coach and the referee team, he “successfully appealed” and even won a medal. There was another such incident in the international competition. A certain diving contestant performed abnormally. Contrary to the rules, he had an absurd opportunity to jump again because he was the “beloved son” of the host country…
Li Cheng recalled his training experience in the training center over the past month. He didn’t want to believe that the seemingly selfless Coach Yu would also act selfish in such an important matter.
“Li Cheng, why don’t you ask your coach to help you find some relationships?” Zhou Jian reminded him.
“…” Li Cheng shook his head silently.
What relationship? Wu Xu was thousands of miles away in Huacheng city. How could he help him find some relationship from so far away?
He had always been Wu Xu’s pride. He still remembered what Coach Wu said to him on the day Wu Xu sent him to the training center—”If there is a world champion among my students, I believe it’s you.”
A world champion must depend only on his own ability. If Li Cheng admitted defeat, compromised, and asked him to look for a relationship to help him, how could he be worthy of Wu Xu’s efforts over the years and those who stood behind him to support him?
Seeing Li Cheng silent, Zhou Jian stared at his profile in a daze, and couldn’t hold back his words: “If you can’t find someone, I can ask my family…”
“No need,” Li Cheng didn’t even think about it and categorically refused, “If I find a relationship, won’t I be reduced to the same level as these kinds of people?”
Li Cheng looked at the starting block not far away. In the open space next to the platform, the two players from X City were standing with the coach, talking about something.
He retracted his gaze, saying with resolution, “As an athlete, performance is all that matters. As long as I swim fast enough, these shady guys will never catch up with me.”
… …
A whistle was heard.
Several slender figures simultaneously pushed away from the starting platform, shooting into the blue water like arrows, breaking the calm in the swimming pool.
On the banks on both sides of the pool, the non-participating athletes gathered around to cheer for their friends.
There were a total of ten tracks in the swimming pool. In order to save time, the 100 m freestyle trial for the men’s and women’s teams was conducted simultaneously.
A honey-colored figure was particularly conspicuous from the moment he entered the water. He rushed to the forefront of all the tracks with a great momentum, leaving a long white wave in his wake.
“Devil Yu”, the head coach of the training team, stood with folded hands at the end of the track, looking at the competition in the swimming pool with a serious expression.
Several assistant coaches stood around her looking at the information of the players and analyzing it in hushed tones.
“No. 3 was slow to take off. I corrected him many times before, but he lost it the moment he began the official competition. His psychological quality is too poor.”
“What happened to No. 2 today? His rhythm was chaotic as soon as he entered the water!”
“No. 6 is extremely unfortunate. The team doctor said that the old injury on her left leg has relapsed. Although she’s on medication, her condition has declined.”
“No. 5…” An assistant coach stopped the pen in his hand, “… The momentum is strong, the form is good, and the rhythm is great—isn’t this the omega?”
When he said “omega”, all the assistant coaches understood tacitly and immediately realized who he was.
After all, there was only one omega among the dozens of people in the entire swimming team!
On the day when Li Cheng came to report, everyone assumed he was on the diving team. After repeated confirmations, it was discovered that he was the only omega in the swimming team. A glance at his resume revealed a series of glittering gold medals. He won three gold medals at the Provincial Games in China last year!
Alpha had always dominated freestyle swimming with beta accounting for one-third of the players. In the previous few years, no one had seen an omega player. A look around the world revealed that it was a rare omega who could win an international medal. Every omega that stood on that podium had put forth incredible effort.
The assistant coaches were secretly discussing whether Li Cheng would be the next omega world champion.
“Li Cheng’s advantage is obvious. He will win this time,” A male assistant coach said with satisfaction. “He won the 200m just now. His technique is very good. His take off and turn around are almost perfect. As long as he can maintain this level, it won’t be a problem to win medals in the official competition. Ensure two, strive for one.”
“But he is an omega. Will it have an impact?” Another female assistant coach asked, “His medical records show that in his last provincial match, the estrus period arrived early and was suppressed by a temporary mark. What if it arrives early again during the competition?”
“This is a small problem,” The male assistant said, “We’ll ask him to go to the team doctor for an individual check up and let the team doctor issue a detailed report. If it’s found that the estrus is coming, he can apply for an inhibitor.”
With this back and forth, they finished discussing the matter shortly. In their view, with Li Cheng’s ability, being selected for the final list was a certainty. There was no need to worry about it at all.
Coach Yu did not utter a word during their discussion. She simply stood at the bank staring at the choppy swimming pool. Her face was calm and her eyes never left the water.
A few tens of seconds passed in a flash, and as everyone expected, Li Cheng led the pack and finished first!
There was a buzz and Li Cheng’s performance jumped out of the big electronic screen. When the other athletes standing on the banks saw Li Cheng’s results, they invariably exclaimed.
The female assistant coach turned the folder to the last page. There was a striking font on the paper—”<World Youth Games> Swimming Team Final List”.
All other events had names filled out. Only the freestyle events had blank spaces.
The female assistant coach picked up a pen and wrote a series of names on the paper.
Freestyle 1500m: Zhou Jian
Freestyle 800m: Zhou Jian
Freestyle 400m: …
Freestyle 200m: Li Cheng
Freestyle 100m: Li Cheng
Freestyle 50m: …
“Wait.” Coach Yu, who hadn’t uttered a word, suddenly interrupted the assistant coach.
“What’s the matter?” The assistant coach looked at her questioningly.
Coach Yu raised her hand and tapped twice on Li Cheng’s name.
“Li Cheng can be finalized for 200m. But for 100m, replace his name.”
“… Replace?” Shock flashed across the female assistant coach’s face, “but his results…”
“I said replace.” Coach Yu was expressionless, “Are you questioning my, the head coach’s, decision?”
The female assistant didn’t dare say anything else. She raised her pen and crossed out Li Cheng’s name, changing it to the runner-up of the “100m freestyle” event. It was the athlete from X city.
—The quota that should’ve belonged to Li Cheng had been allocated to someone else.
Ugh! Hateful nepotism
And here I thought the coach would be fair
Ups, wrong place
Uuuuugh stupid coach!!!!!!
Gah, nepotism is the worst !!
I see I expected too much from the seemingly fair coach
Same! I am shook!
It’s so frustrating how real this is :((
The head coach is willing to take the risk to lose in the game for 100m but she isn’t willing to lose with the ‘ master-apprentice relationship’
and i thought she would be fair………grrrrr 😠💢
no! she didn’t really do that, right!?
thanks for the chapter <3
haah… really really hateful people ah
Someone’s gonna be grilled tonight. I’m up for the skewed meat that taste like A. Let’s have a bbq party. Laughing menacingly
And here I thought we’ll have a fair treatment from the coach. Do disappointed
I literally hate this happening…and this actually happens in real life too is very disgusting, and they say players should not have phones allowed, why so they could do these shady things and players could not even have a chance to reveal them!?
Fuck you, Coach Yu! I haven’t been this mad while reading a book in so long!
dang that’s pathetic
I’m so disappointed ಠ_ʖಠ what a waste for chengcheng’s admiration ಠಗಠ
I take it back✧(>o<)ﾉ✧
I’m guessing the head coach is going to push Li Cheng for the 400m because she believes him. Well, this is me keeping positive thoughts 🤞
damn totally unfair..
Shouldn’t have expected much from Coach Yu 😒🖕 Can’t wait to read her demise next
ty for translating! ❤️
That’s disgusting. There’s now 0 respect for you coach
why?!!! being a devil coach is something huh .. 😤😤
Thanks for the chapter <3
What a… female dog.
The lion
The witch
And the AUDACITY of this bitc-
This author has improved her details, so much that she actually described how it is in some third world country’s athletes selection.
Damn, listening to Li Cheng’s praise, for a moment I thought she’d actually be fair
That bitchy coach should be ashamed of herself!!!