CH 12

12 - The Picked Champion

The on-site Sports Journalists felt the intense and enthusiastic atmosphere. They were interviewing the on-site audience, and their emotions were steady.

In their eyes, the winner of the competition had basically been determined. It was going to be either Lucius, Harrison or several other Brazilians.

Lucius and Harrison from the United States were veteran Longboard athletes. In the previous qualifying competition, they had won the first place in each group respectively, and were the most powerful contenders for the championship in this competition.

Among them, Lucius had participated in the Tianmen Mountain Open Longboard Speedway Competition several times. He was quite familiar with this road and had achieved very good results in the past.

Harrison was younger and explosive. His strong body made him very aggressive.

These two people had their own characteristics and advantages.

In addition, several Brazilian and Mexican players were also strong contenders for the medals.

After all, the progress of the competition was constantly rapidly changing. Whoever doesn’t perform well had no chance to win a medal, and whoever performs beyond the level had already won a medal.

Basically, even though the final winner had not been determined, it basically boiled down to that group of people. After all, no matter how many unexpected factors arose, the one who could win the championship still needed to depend on his own strength.

The journalists had already written their articles in advance. Several versions of the articles were made, according to the athletes who were favored to win. Only when the champion was finally determined, would the prepared manuscripts be sent out.

The entry number on Yu Nian’s bracelet was 31.

The final number was calculated according to the ranking of the qualifying competition, which meant that he ranked second to last among the 32 finalists.

“I will never get this number again. This is the last time.”

Yu Nian quickly took off from the starting point of the track.

He was very familiar with every bend of the road, from practicing on his own Tianmen Mountain.

He will jump into this giant painting called Tianmen Mountain once more. This time, he will no longer focus on measuring every section of the road and every bend.

But like the surging river, it scoured along this tortuous road.

Once one started to slide down, everything was forgotten.

Yu Nian increased his speed by simply relying on the slope at the beginning of the track.

The roaring wind rushed past his ears. The scenery on either side quickly flashed by, as if a giant was pulling back the scenery curtain.

Yu Nian was enjoying this moment of complete freedom. Nothing could get in the way between him and the need for speed.

He had left everyone behind.

The commentator didn’t even have time to take a sip of water. Seeing that it was so exciting, he shouted in surprise: “His speed! Record No. 9877635, Finalist No. 31, his speed is amazing! We saw that his instantaneous speed reached 125km/h on the roadside electronic screen!”

Wu Qian, who was watching the game, held his hands together. Deng Jingwei, who was next to him, felt dizzy when he heard the commentator’s words.

125km/h?? The maximum speed limit of the NIMA expressway was 120km/h, which was faster than the fastest car on the expressway??

Yesterday, Deng Jingwei had climbed to the Tianmen Mountain Temple, offering plenty of incense while worshiping the Buddha and the Bodhisattva in a very pious manner. He hoped that these Gods and Buddhas could bless his artist today.

Who knew that his heart would almost leap out of his chest.

Yu Nian stepped on the longboard, with his front foot at 45 degrees on the front axle, his knee perpendicular to the board, and his rear leg bent at the knee, touching his calf. This posture made him extremely stable in controlling his center of gravity.

Yu Nian had an advantage in the first half. He only had enough strength to last for 15 minutes. He absolutely must establish an advantage in the early stages.

So from the very beginning, he didn’t intend to follow the speed set by the others.

After Yu Nian passed by, the other players were disturbed by his high speed, and their rhythm was a little chaotic. They thought:

‘Was this Chinese man not afraid of dying?’

‘He dares to go that fast. Will he be able to slow down quick enough to enter the curve??’

‘If not, he will violently hit the wall due to inertia. Even with the protective equipment, he can’t be saved!’

Yu Nian was so absorbed that he could only see the road in front of him.

He knew he could control his center of gravity and turn corners at an extremely high speed——

So he did.

The wheels rolled over the ground and turned smoothly!

The first bend was dangerous, and the dense area of curves was coming up.

The endless U-bends will be an unparalleled test.

The commentator was also dripping with sweat, looking at Yu Nian’s speed: “There are 99 bends in Tianmen Mountain. All of the bends are the gates of Hell! The dense area of bends is coming up. This will be the highlight of the race, and the gap will significantly widen!”

Turn 88, the Cake Tower.

The continuous U-bend of nearly 180 degrees had a slope of 35 degrees, but the road width was only six meters!

Here, no matter how powerfully the longboarder moves, they will slow down and it was an obvious sense of stagnation.

But Yu Nian’s movements were still smooth.

He could clearly feel the slippery road underneath him.

The hot sun was unable to reach the shady areas that were covered by the cliff, and the water did not evaporate in time.

But now, the slippery road that bothered other players, gave Yu Nian an advantage.

Going in and out of the bend, Yu Nian’s body was as smooth as waves gliding across the road. The trajectory of each curve was based on the degree of the bend.

The narrator spoke quickly: “Beautiful! It’s perfect! No. 31’s turning! No. 31 still chose the most dangerous turning way. In the five back to back bends, like the Cake Tower, he enters the bends from the inside and drifts directly through the bends!”

“This is the limit speed cornering. We can see that the instantaneous speed given on the electronic board is 71 km/h!”

“This extreme speed, the turning speed had reached 71 kilometers per hour, which is extremely fast when going through bends!”

His voice was still excited and frightened: “It’s too dangerous, but it’s also too incredible!”

“But we can obviously feel the ease of No. 31! Compared with the cautious conservatism of the qualifying competition, he has completely changed!”

“He seems to have engraved the whole process in his mind!”

After Yu Nian, Harrison, who ranked first in the preliminary round and was No. 1 in the Finals, failed to smoothly cross the bend. He lost control over his center of gravity in a small puddle of water. The direction of the longboard was skewed and he fell from the center of the bend.

His fall was like a signal. Lucius and the others also made mistakes, one after another, which widened the gap between them and Yu Nian.

“No. 1 fell down! Fortunately, he was not injured. He immediately returned to the Longboard to continue the race! Not far behind him, No. 3 also made a mistake, and his turning speed was delayed!”

“It can be seen that yesterday’s rain did have a great impact on the players. Let’s wish them good luck!”

In the next short stretch of the tunnel, Yu Nian squatted down. Sparks illuminated the dark tunnel as the slider on his gloves scraped across the road.

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If reality was shrouded in darkness, one can’t see the light ahead.

It was up to him to make the light.

Dazzling, stinging, hot.

No matter what lies on the road ahead, he will never hesitate.

He can only go forward, not backward.

‘I must absolutely win, absolutely win.’

On Tongtian Avenue, the series of mistakes behind Yu Nian did not have the slightest impact on him.

He was full-heartedly enjoying the race.

Just like how he once devoted himself to the piano in front of him, in the Golden Hall of Vienna.

From jumping around, while pressing down on the black-and-white keys, his stage just changed to the mountain road underneath at his feet.

“The other players all have made mistakes. However, only No. 31, who takes the lead, has a perfect performance. He has made no mistakes and has never once paused! He is rushing to the finish line, his unparalleled victory approaches – he has crossed the finish line!!”

“The record number is 9877635. The champion is from China!”

Everyone was silent for a moment, which was then followed by loud cheers.

“China! No. 31!”

“31!”

The on site reporters looked at the figure at the finish line and then looked at each other.

The first thought that crossed their minds was that the article they had prepared in advance could not be used anymore.

Then, they had to quickly write a new article on the spot!

The telephone rang, they were in a hurry to speak to their editors.

“Is Lucius or Harrison the champion? Can you send over the manuscript?”

“No! It’s neither Lucius nor Harrison!”

“Well, who is it? Edgar from Brazil?”

The reporters took a deep breath, shock still written on their faces: “It’s one of our people! A Chinese person! His filing number in the system is 9877635. His name isn’t known yet.”

“I’m going to hang up first. I’m going to go and write the manuscript. You know, before the qualification competition, he didn’t even go down the track even once!”

""

[Task 2: Participate in the Tianmen Mountain Open Longboard Speedway Competition and place in the top three]

[Task 2 completed, reward settlement in progress]

[Overfulfilling task requirements, reward settlement in progress]

Yu Nian listened to the System prompt, violently gasping for breath. Under his helmet, sweat condensed on his eyelashes, as it dripped down his face.

After another moment, the figures of Harrison and Lucius rushed across the finish line, one after another.

Harrison saw Yu Nian gasping for air at the finish line and he looked up at the electronic screen, which displayed the performance information.

On the huge electronic screen, a golden crown logo appears next to Yu Nian’s number, which means that he was the champion.

Harrison looked at the golden crown and pulled up the visor on his helmet. His eyes showed anger: “So this is the selected champion!”

As soon as he said this, the other players who had crossed the finish line, one after another, looked up in surprise.

Harrison felt that there was something wrong with the results. Steeling his resolve, he said to Yu Nian: “All of the strong athletes made mistakes today, and we fell down because of the rain!”

This excuse made the other competitors frown.

It was impossible to have perfect road conditions in every competition. Every competitor was used to accidents occurring in every competition.

Part of an athlete’s strength is to make adjustments in response to emergencies.

At this time, it was Yu Nian who was standing at the finish line, and not them, which already showed the problem.

Making excuses for their failure will only make them feel even worse.

Harrison was still belittling Yu Nian, to cover the sting of his loss: “If our King, May Shelley, was here, today’s champion would not be you!”

The Tianmen Mountain Open Longboard Speedway Competition was indeed of great importance, but because it was held in China, which was a far distance away, many of the world’s top Longboarding Gods did not attend.

The May Shelley Harrison spoke of, was the man standing at the top of the Longboard pyramid. He was called “The King Dancing with the Wind” by people in the Longboarding Circle.

Harrison was using Shelley’s name, in an effort to back up his argument.

“Harrison, don’t be like this!” Lucius scolded him. “Where’s your sportsmanship? We fell and he didn’t fall. Isn’t that proof of his strength?”

At this time, the timing ranking had updated the race completion time.

The commentator almost roared: “China – 9877635, won the championship in 18 minutes and 5 seconds!”

The audience burst into cheers.

Harrison looked at the number18m05sr, his face switching between white and blue.

It was not the first time he set foot on the Tianmen Mountain Tongtian Avenue, but even when he went down perfectly, his best result was only about 18 minutes and 30 seconds.

This made his provocative comments look like a joke.

Lucius shook his head and looked at Yu Nian: “Well, pretty boy-, I’m sorry, you’re really strong. I misjudged you earlier. You were great today. The title of champion should belong to you.”

Yu Nian was still catching his breath. He smiled and wanted to say something, but the award ceremony was about to begin.

Under the guidance of the female host, Yu Nian, Harrison and Lucius came to the podium.

In the valley, the Chinese members of the audience waved the red national flag with an unprecedented amount of passion.

This was the first time a Chinese athlete has won the gold medal in an international competition.

For No. 9877635, there was no banner that was being waved in such a big valley.

The young man, who barely made it to the Finals in the qualification round, turned it around with an unparalleled victory in the Finals.

Who was he——

In the Tianmen Mountain Open Longboard Speedway competition, the contestants were only known by their ID numbers. This placed more emphasis on the competition instead of being a popularity contest.

The faces and names of the strong players, who had competed in several competitions, had long been familiar to the audience.

Who was this young man, ID 9877635, who had only competed for the first time today?

On the other hand, the excitement of the people in the Excellent Operations Department had been boiling for a long time.

They recognized Yu Nian’s longboard. It was one that their company had created. When he skated across the track, the sunlight reflected the bronzing number, proving that it was one of their customized versions!

The Tianmen Mountain Open Longboard Speedway Competition had been held so many times, but today, it was the first time that a Chinese person had won the championship!

Excellence was far ahead of domestic sports brands, but it had not found a suitable spokesman.

Conventional Sport Celebrities were different from the brand image and values they pursue. They had focused on finding someone with a good image and sense of sports in the Entertainment Circle, but they were not very satisfied.

Seeing Yu Nian this time, they knew that it was him.

The young man was unknown, but the Operations Department had quickly identified him.

This person set foot on Tongtian avenue for the first time, didn’t have a trial run, was injured in the qualification competition, and won the championship in the Finals with an unrivaled attitude. This was the person they wanted!

His future in the field of extreme sports was unlimited!

On the podium, Yu Nian took the trophies and medals that were awarded to him by the Committee.

After walking off the podium, he took off his helmet. His hair was full of sweat, sticking to his forehead and cheeks.

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Sweat beads hung on the tip of his nose and chin. Even though everyone’s faces were greasy, and full of sweat, Yu Nian appeared as if he had emerged from a pool. His sweat glistened, making his skin look fairer and more transparent.

“The arrival of the selected champion.” Yu Nian repeated Harrison’s comments in front of the podium and brushed his bangs away from his wet forehead, which made his whole face appear more attractive.

Harrison still wanted to say something, but Yu Nian glanced at him.

When Yu Nian’s gorgeous eyebrows and eyes swept over, his light and cool eyes created a contradictory image with the tear mole at the edge of his eyes. It was very attractive.

Those who were dissatisfied with him, wanting to shout insults, were no longer able to do so. They were unable to say anything to his face.

Harrison was annoyed when he felt his heart soften and waver.

Yu Nian said, “I don’t know who the strong players in this field are.”

He was explaining the facts. Yu Nian had only studied longboarding for two months. The only circle he had contacted was the S City Longboard Speedway Association.

As for the famous athletes in the circle, he really didn’t know who they were.

But it was easy for others to take those words as being provocative.

Harrison smiled angrily and said to Lucius: “Listen to how arrogant that pretty boy is.”

Yu Nian shook the gold medal in his hand: “If you think that I won this too easily, next time, I will compete against all of the strong players in this field and I expect that everyone will perform perfectly-”

“I want to get this gold medal again under such circumstances.”

His Oxford accent from Southern England was melodious and extremely standard.

The camera was only able to display a small portion of his face on the screen, but the microphone allowed his conversation with Harrison to spread throughout the valley.

The audience, whose native language was English, heard it clearly and exclaimed: Arrogance cannot be called arrogance, in those who have strength to back it up.

The young man’s thin and flexible body, when compared with other longboard athletes, contained an amazing amount of power.

They loved his arrogance and confidence!

Most of the audience from China didn’t understand what Yu Nian had said.

“What did he say?”

“I think he said that he will win the gold medal next time?”

“With just a glance at his face, my sharp eyes have determined that this is a handsome man.”

That night, it was as if Chinese New Year had arrived in the Extreme Sports Forum.

[Bullshit, I have nothing to say except… Bullshit.]

""

[Is this the rise of China in the Longboarding Circle?]

[Who is this 9877635? Even my mother, who won the championship, didn’t even get to enjoy this much glory and fame. He doesn’t even show his face properly.]

[Too strong, too strong, I haven’t even recovered until now. This is really the first time, it’s really the first time!]

[His cruel words with Harrison were cool. Shit, it’s so arrogant.]

[Harrison went too far. The champion he selected? Why don’t you pick up one and show me.]

Soon, the live media also issued reports, with the title of “The breakthrough of 0” along with Yu Nian’s dialogue with Harrison.

[The Tianmen Mountain Open Longboard Speedway Competition has ended, Chinese Athlete won the championship for the first time and broke China’s record of having 0 medals]

[“I hope to win this gold medal again, when all of the strong players in this field compete and everyone plays perfectly” — declaration from the champion.]

Originally, an event in a minor sports circle will not attract much attention, but the ‘breakthrough of 0’ was of great significance. It had been pushed to the top of the hot search by longboarding fans.

Many passers-by curiously clicked on the link and were shocked by Yu Nian’s standard Oxford accent.

[This standard Queen’s Oxford accent is great for me, and the accent is great. It sounds very good.]

[Well… After reading the translation, it’s better to be humble?]

[Humble ghost. Previously on the news, the American Harrison said that No. 31 was the selected champion, and he trash talked about No. 31. In this case, what is the purpose of humility?]

[I’m curious about what Harrison meant by “pretty boy” when talking to Lucius. What exactly does No. 31 look like?!]

[The live broadcast was amazing. There were no full-face closeups. You could only see the helmets and the side profile.]

[It’s said that the eyebrows and eyes that could be seen under the helmet visor was amazing, and the eyes are really beautiful]

[The side profile was really beautiful!]

Therefore, the topic on the Internet gradually turned to who No. 31 was and what he looked like.

People in the Operations Department were also thinking about this.

What was the media doing? They couldn’t even see Yu Nian’s face properly!

When they arrived in Hunan Province, Yu Nian had returned to S City with the Association.

When the champion was announced, they did not say his name, only his number. The only thing Yu Nian had was the record number, 9877635.

The associates from the Operation Department went to the competition committee to ask for Yu Nian’s information. The committee refused to disclose information of the players, respecting their privacy. They could only take out the video of the game and watch it frame by frame.

——After all, the champion’s longboard belongs to their company!

As long as they can identify the bronzing number on the longboard, they can find the information of the buyer through the number.

However, Yu Nian was too fast. Even if they slowed down the video to one frame at a time, the small bronzing number on the side of the longboard was still blurry.

“What should I do? I can’t see the number clearly.”

“Look for the pictures of the live media and see if there are any numbers.”

“Also, this is a customized version. Try focusing on any other characteristics of the longboard, see if anything else stands out.”

However, it was quite difficult to do. For the first time, they hated the straight male aesthetics that their own designers were so proud of: They only paid attention to the practicability of the board, and the appearance design of the board was almost the same.

Tens of thousands of longboards looked like two peas in a pod. It was an arduous task, going through every order one by one until they could identify the buyer.

It was rare that they found a spokesperson they liked, they couldn’t let him get away.

Seiryuu: NEW UPDATE! I hope you enjoy it! it takes a long time to finish one of these and I am already slow because of university and other life things, sorry! if you enjoy it consider sending kofis , it helps a lot in more than just motivating me, Thank you! Look forward to more!