One ordinary afternoon, Y City University posted a live streaming platform account on various social media platforms, with the caption:
See you at 4:30 pm.
At the same time, the Y City Marathon Association and Y City TV Station also shared this message.
The hot search about the marathon results being faked was still trending, so many netizens clicked into the live stream, attracted by the intrigue.
It was only a little past 2 pm now, still quite early before 4:30, so everyone felt a bit impatient staring at the time on their phones.
The diligent and clever students of Y City University saw this message and headed straight for the school athletic field after classes, whether or not they had afternoon classes that day. They packed their phone chargers and snacks in their bags.
There were several athletic fields scattered far apart on the Y City University campus, but there were shuttle buses inside the school that could take you between the fields in about ten minutes.
Two female students raced hand in hand to the west athletic field. Seeing people setting up camera equipment by the field entrance, they stomped their feet in excitement.
"This is it! No mistake!"
"Come on, let's grab a seat!"
When they turned their gaze towards the stands in the field, they realized all the seats were already filled with people, with only a few scattered empty spots here and there, nowhere near enough for the two of them.
"Let's go sit in that corner over there! Come on!"
By the time the two of them were seated, it was already past 3 pm.
Right after they sat down, the gate to the lawn on the other side of the fence from where they were was locked up with a sign hung on it. The campus security guards also approached and stood by.
Song Jixing got off the subway unhurriedly, then went to the teaching building to find her advisor.
Song Jixing's advisor was a young woman wearing glasses who had just graduated with a master's degree. The two did not have an extremely close relationship, only interacting a few times.
"Do you need to prepare anything?" the advisor asked.
Song Jixing looked down at herself. She had dressed lightly and wore sneakers this morning in anticipation, so she replied simply, "No, I'm good like this!"
The advisor nodded and led Song Jixing to the sports field.
By the time the two arrived, it was 4 pm already.
Since this matter concerned the reputation of Y City University, many leaders from the school had arrived early and were seated in the stands. The school had communicated with the city's sports bureau and knew that the association had highly praised Song Jixing's talent. So the atmosphere on site was not tense, without much pressure.
Mineral water and chocolate were neatly arranged on the table by the track, all to provide energy for Song Jixing.
The school leaders did not know Song Jixing well, but Hu Mingliang thought about her day and night. As soon as he saw Song Jixing appear, he immediately came down from the stands.
"Ms. Song!" Hu Mingliang fawned over Song Jixing, eyes shining.
"Referee Hu, hello!" Song Jixing greeted him politely.
On the way here, Hu Mingliang had thought of many things to say, intending to convince Song Jixing and tell her that being an athlete had more prospects than being a celebrity. As an experienced referee and coach, Hu Mingliang knew such talk should not happen before the event, in case it affected the athlete's mood.
There was no doubt that Song Jixing was a sports prodigy, and today's event was equally important to her.
"I wish Ms. Song a smooth live stream today!" Hu Mingliang offered his blessings.
"Thank you, Referee Hu." Song Jixing thanked him, instinctively noticing something strange in Hu Mingliang's gaze.
She had no grievances with Referee Hu, he would not harm her. As for what she had that would make Referee Hu so attentive, it seemed to only be the prospect of her becoming an athlete.
Although well-meaning, Referee Hu did not know Song Jixing truly had no interest in being a professional athlete.
She could perform better than average athletes, even easily breaking world records, whether it was marathon, track and field, skiing, weightlifting, ball sports of all kinds, and more.
In Song Jixing's eyes, her participating in these competitions was no different than adults bullying a child.
She had only joined the marathon competition before entirely out of life's necessities!
If she had money, she really would not have done this.
But overthinking now was useless, better start running for the time being.
As soon as it hit 4:30 pm, Song Jixing took off running, and at the same time, the live stream from the school athletic field began.
Netizens flooded into the live streaming room in droves, watching Y City University's first ever live stream.
Seeing the content was an athletic field, with a woman running laps, everyone immediately understood this was to prove their innocence!
The marathon had just ended a few days ago! No time to rest at all, weren't they worried about serious bodily harm?
All kinds of voices filled the live stream room!
Some questioned if it was just for show, while others cheered for the school as Y City University students!
But since there were far too many netizens, vastly outnumbering the university's students, all sorts of comments kept flooding in. The stream host simply enabled chat lockdown for everyone.
At 4:30 pm, nearing the end of work hours, the office workers started slacking off.
At the same time, netizens online started betting and making predictions, some betting Song Jixing could finish running, others betting she couldn't finish, and some betting how many kilometers she could run.
Some even started explaining how big the athletic field at Y City University was, and calculating how many laps Song Jixing would need to run to finish.
Including Song Jixing herself, she was calculating it in her head as well.
Many of the buildings at Y City University were sponsored and funded by alumni donors, and the west athletic field was one of them.
Song Jixing estimated in her mind, the inner loop of this field seemed to be about 400 meters. A half marathon was around 21 km, so about 50 plus laps. She would need to finish in around 57 minutes.
As for why not a full marathon, a full one took too long. Finishing at 6:30 pm meant getting home at 8!
She had family waiting for her at home, she couldn't go back too late!
As Song Jixing ran, she counted the laps.
While the previous city marathon competition had been a bit tiring for her, after gaining spiritual energy in her body, she didn't feel tired at all anymore.
Lap 5, Song Jixing ran at a steady pace.
Lap 10, steady pace.
Lap 15...
Lap 20...
Lap 30...
Lap 40...
The fence around the field had long been locked up to keep people out, but teachers and students who caught wind of this had already gathered in crowds at the locked gates, cheering Song Jixing on!
"Go go go!"
"You can do it!"
Song Jixing ran silently, feeling the passionate atmosphere around her.
The setting sun was like fire, igniting the evening clouds on the horizon. Scattered specks of yellow light leaked out from the air, gathering on her body.
Without realizing it, Song Jixing had slowed down her pace!
Seeing Song Jixing slow down, the people around thought she was exhausted. They couldn't help shouting louder.
"Don't give up!"
"You're already at lap 46, just a few more laps to success! You must keep at it! We believe in you!"
"I believe in you too!"
One shout after another rang out on the field, each yelled with full exertion, carrying the passion of youth and unlimited enthusiasm.
"Don't stop!"
"You can do it!"
Song Jixing watched as the specks of light in the air gradually increased, drifting out from the crowd, and seemed to understand something.
Watching the little time left, the crowd yelled loudly at Song Jixing from the stands above and the field below.
"Song Jixing, go go go!"
"Song Jixing, keep at it!"
First scattered shouts, then more and more unified and loud.
"Song Jixing, you can do it!"
Song Jixing increased her pace slightly, finishing the final laps under everyone's expectant gazes.
49
50
51
52
Song Jixing didn't stop running until lap 53, stopping beside the timer for the livestream which had just hit exactly 57 minutes.
Beep!
Finished!
What rang out across the athletic field were choruses of cheers!
"Awesome! We did it!"
"School sister you're so cool!"
"Starting today, you're my goddess!"
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