The students discussed softly, and Li Xi took the initiative to walk up to Xia You, saying, "I am the sprint champion of our city. I will run the last leg, they will run the first and second legs respectively, and you will take care of the fourth leg, okay?"
Since the order had already been agreed upon, it wouldn’t mean much for Xia You to object. Since everyone chose Military Academy, it seems that everyone in the dormitory has a decent level in track events. After deciding the order of running, each dorm went to draw race numbers from Ren Minghang. Xia You’s dorm was represented by Li Xi for the draw, and they got number 15.
"Those who draw the same number but in different colors will compete. Number 1," the competition started with the boys’ dormitory. The losing side would have to run as a penalty, and it would also be embarrassing, so the competition became fiercely competitive from the start.
"This batch of male students has a good overall ability, with several people having run under 46 seconds," Ren Minghang timed from the sidelines. The 400m relay is the most psychologically demanding and tests overall ability, requiring preparation for the final 100m sprint and good endurance. The dormitory relay races help to train team cooperation and strengthen dorm cohesion. This is beneficial for the students who just started living together.
"The female students won’t be too bad either," Lu Xun deliberately pointed to the group warming up with Zhang Fangxiao. The female students from Zhang Fangxiao’s dorm had an average height of 1.7 meters, and their warm-up postures were very standard.
Ren Minghang searched through the crowd and finally saw Xia You sitting in the distance. She wasn’t warming up with the other girls but holding her mobile phone, resting with her eyes closed.
"Li Xi, go tell her to warm up a bit, don’t be slacking off now and end up making us all run as punishment," prompted two of her roommates.
Li Xi glanced at Xia You and then noticed the mud on her sneakers. Xia You always seemed so unhurried; for some reason, Li Xi didn’t feel like disturbing her. "Don’t bother, she probably already warmed up."
Fifty minutes later, Xia You opened her eyes. According to "Military Road" time, she had rested well over eight hours, and after more than two hours of sprints in the morning, she was already warmed up.
The girls’ competition had already started. Li Xi and her group were standing not far away, flushed with excitement. Standing beside them were Zhang Fangxiao and her group. "How can you not follow the rules? The number you drew was clearly 18," Li Xi looked displeasedly at the race number paper in Zhang Fangxiao’s hand.
Normally, Xia You’s group should be competing against another group with number 15, but just a few minutes before the start of the race, Zhang Fangxiao forcefully exchanged draw numbers with another group.
"The instructors didn’t say we couldn’t change race numbers; are you afraid?" Zhang Fangxiao spoke to Li Xi but made eyes at Xia You. Yesterday, after military training was over, Zhang Fangxiao had arranged with a few people to teach Xia You a lesson when she left the cafeteria. Who could have imagined that the coward would skip her meal and hide in the dormitory? Now there was a golden opportunity, and she was determined to make Xia You lose face both in public and private.
"Who’s afraid of you," Li Xi looked imploringly at Instructor Lu, but he didn’t even notice the verbal skirmish happening next to him. Indeed, neither instructor had said that changing draw numbers was not allowed.
"Li Xi, they are clearly targeting Xia You. With their long legs and arms, how can we compete?" The other two girls in the dorm started to lose hope. In their dorm, except for Li Xi, the others were of average ability; compared to the imposing Zhang Fangxiao and her group, they felt utterly outmatched.
"What’s all this ’targeting’ talk," Li Xi couldn’t help but rebuke loudly, "Targeting anyone in our dorm means targeting our whole dorm. If you have no confidence, step aside; the two of us can finish the race on our own."
University friendships should be pure, not filled with wild suspicions. Li Xi, a straightforward person, had also been holding back her frustrations for a few days. As soon as she finished speaking, Ren Minghang announced, "Girls’ team number 15, get ready."
The hot rubber baton that had been passed back and forth was now in the hands of the first runner. Zhang Fangxiao looked at Xia You who was standing in the third leg position and gestured to her dorm mates. She also stationed herself in the third leg position. Having already experienced Xia You’s foot strength, Zhang Fangxiao was determined to exert full power this time and leave Xia You far behind.