My Mr. Mermaid

Untitled Part 51

Chapter 51 by ryuxenji

Ma Ruofan clenched his fists tightly on the handles on the starting block, his toes pushing against the walls of pool, nerves taut. Right beside him was the world-famous Hideya Takatani. Being by the side of the backstroke king, Ma Ruofan's gaze had never been so determined.

Even though big brother Yi-Bai had not requested anything of him, Ma Ruofan had still set a goal for himself — for his leg of the relay, he wanted to keep the gap between him and Hideya Takatani to within 0.4 seconds. This was a mission of unprecedented difficulty, but he must achieve it.

I may not be a match for you, but we will definitely defeat you as a team.

When the starting bell rang, he dived backwards into the water like an agile dolphin.

According to the live digital timer, Ma Ruofan's starting speed was 0.58 seconds, quicker than even Hideya Takatani by 0.03 seconds.

'This young junior was doing very well', many people thought.

Ma Ruofan's condition was indeed pretty good — he even managed to maintain a lead for a while after entering the water, only being overtaken later by the more skilful Hideya Takatani. Ma Ruofan put all his strength into it, and when he arrived at the end point, he looked up to check the time difference.

A perfect 0.40 seconds.

He felt slightly regretful that he did not manage to do better. Still, this time was already a passing mark.

It should not disappoint big brother Yi-Bai and the others.

Yun Duo could not help but shout "bravo" when Ma Ruofan arrived at the end point. As a reporter, she naturally knew the standards of the respective athletes. Ma Ruofan had performed above his usual standards today.

The second swimmer was Ming Tian. The Chinese fans had high hopes for Ming Tian — after all, he had just beaten the great Japanese swimmer Tarou Okamoto the day before.

However, after his part of the relay, Ming Tian had lost another 0.36 seconds. The gap between China and Japan had widened to 0.76 seconds!

Ming Tian really could not be blamed though — an athlete's peak condition was not something that could be summoned at will; Ming Tian could not be expected to perform beyond his usual limits every single race.

Still... 0.76 seconds!

Yun Duo's heart was bleeding. Only 2 swimmers had swum and the difference was already at 0.76 seconds, then what about the third swimmer Zheng Ling-Ye? No one dared hope for Zheng Ling-Ye to outswim the Japanese swimmer, so it could be said that this gap would just continue to expand.

Zheng Ling-Ye, Zheng Ling-Ye, Zheng Ling-Ye... Yun Duo recited his name again and again silently in her heart. She really, really wished that Zheng Ling-Ye could suddenly explode with power and outswim the Japanese swimmer.

Zheng Ling-Ye's time fully embodied the phrase 'stable and consistent' — his performance was not great but not bad either, losing to his Japanese opponent by 0.22 seconds. In other words, by the time he was done, Tang Yi-Bai entered the water 0.98 seconds after Yuda Matsushima.

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah! Yun Duo was in despair. 0.98 seconds! Almost a full minute! There was no room at all for Tang Yi-Bai to overtake his opponent!

She was so anxious her eyes were blazing as she clenched down fiercely on Lin Zi's arm. Lin Zi gritted his teeth against the pain. "Are you trying to squeeze me to death?!"

Yun Duo ignored him, her eyes locked on Tang Yi-Bai's figure in the pool.

No one doubted that Tang Yi-Bai was swimming faster than Yuda Matsushima, but almost no one believed he could overtake the other anyway.