Chapter 154: The 200-Meter Trial Race

Budapest is indeed a rather romantic place.

A famous ancient city in Europe.

It sits gracefully on both banks of the beautiful Danube River.

Eight grand bridges and a railway running beneath the Danube connect "Buda"—largely mountainous and rich in hot springs—with "Pest," which features flat terrain and a humid climate, forming the seventh-largest city in Europe.

This was Juno's first time competing abroad.

Before coming, she had already made travel plans with Zheng Ni.

Indeed, researching tourist destinations before arriving in an unfamiliar city is something only girls would do; if it were Luo Su and Tian Shiwei, they would simply stand on a strange city street and flip a coin to decide where to go next.

Therefore, Juno's mind had originally been filled with images of Fishermen's Bastion, the Parliament Building, Buda Castle, St. Stephen's Basilica, the Gellért Baths, and so on and so forth. But after arriving in this beautiful city in the early morning, having endured a six-hour time difference, she had only two words on her mind: sleep.

Juno slept exceptionally well in the taxi, ending up fast asleep in Luo Su's arms, drooling damply onto the front of Luo Su's shirt.

It wasn't until evening that Juno finally woke up.

By then, it was time to get accustomed to the venue.

...

This time, the Shenzhen Municipal Sports Bureau had changed their tour guide.

Instead of someone following them from home, one was hired locally.

Tian Shiwei actually missed Si Rou quite a bit, but no matter how proficient Si Rou was in foreign languages, Hungarian—being a lesser-spoken tongue—was far beyond her scope of knowledge.

On the contrary, it was much easier to find a Chinese-speaking professional in Hungary.

This person was strictly a tour guide rather than a team leader, a middle-aged uncle named Huang Quan.

That name... sounded rather inauspicious.

Upon hearing his name, both Luo Su and Tian Shiwei asked him, "Do you have a good friend named Kurama?"

Of course he did not.

...

The competition venue this time was the Népstadion (People's Stadium).

Built in 1953, this stadium was over half a century old and appeared very weathered and old. Huang Quan introduced that the Budapest government had plans to rebuild it into a super sports center capable of accommodating 65,000 people.

However, that was a matter for ten years later; for now, Luo Su, Tian Shiwei, and Juno had to compete within this aged stadium.

Juno had not brought a coach, so Lu Jinrong served in that capacity concurrently. Although their disciplines were different, a competition is ultimately run by the athletes themselves. During short-term trips abroad, a coach's role most of the time is similar to that of a babysitter, so it made no difference who filled the spot.

During the trial training sessions, Luo Su caught sight of LEE once again, who looked somewhat like a down-and-out middle-aged man.

LEE also waved to them from afar, then huddled with his two athletes, whispering about something unknown. Luo Su always felt it was nothing good.

...

Their trial training time had not yet arrived.

Luo Su simply stood there, watching the athletes.

Soon, a tall Black athlete caught Luo Su's eye.

Luo Su's first reaction upon seeing him was: how truly tall.

"Is this guy even two meters tall?" Tian Shiwei exclaimed in wonder. "Is he a sprinter or a high jumper?"

"He can run the 200 meters in 19.93 seconds," Luo Su said.

"Is he that Usain?" Juno heard Luo Su discussing this 19.93-second mark with Lu Jinrong all the way on the journey here.

"Definitely. At one meter ninety-five, such a tall sprinter is extremely rare," Luo Su said. He had studied data on this Usain, and his height was a remarkably striking statistic.

Although sprinters ranging from one meter seventy-three to nearly two meters had all reached the pinnacle of the 100-meter event—breaking the ten-second barrier—it was also a recognized fact that exceeding a certain height posed a disadvantage in the 100-meter dash. That was probably why Usain's coach had him run the 200 and 400 meters instead.

Usain was also standing there waiting for his trial run.

Noticing three Asian youths over here seemingly chatting about him, he flashed a wide grin toward them, his brilliant white teeth revealing a touch of innocence and cuteness.

Luo Su raised a hand to him: "Hi~"

Usain also seemed quite bored, so he walked over and high-fived them one by one, which served as an introduction.

Luo Su had learned quite a bit of English recently.

Tian Shiwei could also encounter plenty of English words in Japanese video games.

Juno didn't have much of a grasp on English, possessing at most a vocabulary of a dozen words.

Pooling the Three Musketeers' vocabulary together, however, allowed them to converse with Usain well enough to get by. They discussed topics such as the competition venue being relatively small, the hotel being quite expensive, the food not quite suiting their tastes, and how troublesome it was to travel from their respective countries to this place, finding plenty of common ground.

By the time Lu Jinrong came looking for them, the four of them had become so friendly it felt as though they could sit down and play a game of mahjong together.

Lu Jinrong also greeted Usain's coach, and the two coaches shook hands politely.

...

Luo Su ran a few laps on the track of the People's Stadium.

In April, the temperature in Budapest was around 16 degrees Celsius, but the sensible temperature felt even warmer than Hiroshima. That was probably because Hiroshima was bordered by the sea and rivers, holding more moisture in the air and thus feeling somewhat chilly.

Luo Su adapted quite well to this temperature.

The weather was also very dry.

The average number of rainy days in Budapest in April was only six.

After running a few laps, Luo Su's best time was 10.07 seconds.

Lu Jinrong checked his stopwatch at this result and looked extremely satisfied.

Luo Su's times were still steadily improving. The frequent competitions over the past few months had not impaired his physical condition; he was progressing steadily and irresistibly toward the sub-10-second mark.

Then Luo Su tested the 200-meter dash a few times.

Previously, he had been somewhat casual when running the 200 meters, given the lack of domestic competition.

However, this time, thinking of his newly acquainted good friend Usain's 19.93 seconds, Luo Su pushed hard and clocked 20.06 seconds.

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

Squatting off to the side and watching Luo Su's trial run, Usain burst into enthusiastic applause, praising Luo Su while clapping for running "so fast!"

"You Try Try!" Luo Su used his broken English to invite Usain to give it a try as well.

Usain looked at his coach, and the coach nodded at him.

Thus, Usain stepped onto the track.

Luo Su was about to step off.

Only to be stopped by Usain.

"Together Try Try," Usain said. Having chatted with Luo Su and the others for so long, his English had also become broken. They say that picking up good habits takes a lifetime, but bad habits are caught in an instant.

"We are bi-bi (compete)?" Luo Su thought this was quite interesting. He looked over at Lu Jinrong, who figured there was no harm in it—it was just a way to preview an opponent's strength in advance—and nodded.

So the two of them stood at the start of the curve.

Feeling the pressure brought by this towering 1.95-meter athlete beside him.

Luo Su felt his blood start to boil.

On the 200-meter track, he had never felt such intense pressure before. The sensation was rather reminiscent of dueling Powell on the 100-meter track.

The two coaches split duties, with one acting as the starter and the other as the timekeeper.

"READY~ GO!"

Luo Su and Usain surged out of the blocks simultaneously.

Luo Su held the advantage.

Usain was too tall, so his initial start was bound to be a bit slower. It wasn't until after clearing the curve and running another dozen meters that he completed his acceleration and reached his full running speed.

Then, he overtook Luo Su.