Chapter 23: New Academic Genius, Running Instruction

Chapter 23: The Newly Minted Academic Star's Running Tutorial

FF, blowing up, voting, Aura of the Academic Star...

This flood of terms left Qi Heyin slightly bewildered.

It wasn’t until after class, under her junior’s guidance, that she registered an FF account and logged into the school’s official forum for the first time.

The first thing that caught her eye was a row of posts on the front page, all marked in flaming hot red.

【Update】"Report! Faro Competition Selection Results Are Out!!! Who is this runaway first-place winner???"

"Account unblocked after weeks—Qi is the best! Come meet the genius beauty queen from the Mimicry department!"

"Shocking! The top scorer in both math and Mimicry this time is rumored to be a specially recruited S-rank researcher at Veritas... and she just turned eighteen!"

"Browsing the front page, the gap between people makes the human-dog gap look small..."

【Debate Time】"Who do you think is the strongest among Faro’s past academic stars? [Vote]"

Qi Heyin silently read through them: "..."

So this was what her junior meant by "blowing up."

The whole forum homepage was now about her. The hottest post, featuring her student ID photo, had nearly a thousand replies, meaning at least half the school had seen it.

No wonder she’d felt so many eyes on her earlier.

"Senior, you’re a full-blown campus celebrity now," her junior said, scrolling down and pointing at one post in surprise. "Look, this news just broke at noon, and in such a short time, you already have a support club! Only a few privileged young masters in our school ever got this treatment before."

Hearing this, Qi Heyin seemed to recall something. She scrolled through the replies under the "Qi Heyin Support Club Recruitment" post and confirmed that the club president’s surname was Jiang.

Qi Heyin: "..."

So when Yunxin said she’d support her on FF, she was serious...

Curious, she browsed the voting post ranking Faro’s past academic stars.

The poster was thorough, listing each candidate’s competition wins, major awards, and published papers beside their names.

Qi Heyin spotted quite a few colleagues from the research institute on the list, including Su Ying and Zhou Kuang.

"The voting’s already closed, and you’re in first place, Senior!"

Her junior gazed at her with a starstruck gaze, admiration clear in her voice. "After all, you’re the first S-rank researcher ever specially recruited by the institute in Faro’s history, and your past competition wins are equally impressive!"

Qi Heyin nodded. "Thank you."

"Huh? You seem surprisingly calm, Senior," her junior remarked, puzzled. "I thought you’d at least be surprised or happy after finding out you’re blowing up."

"...I am a little happy," Qi Heyin admitted.

Especially seeing everyone acknowledge her achievements.

The corners of her lips lifted slightly as she delivered a serious victory speech: "So I’ll keep pushing forward."

Amid the buzz about the newly minted academic star on the campus forum, Monday passed quickly.

On Tuesday afternoon, with no classes scheduled, Qi Heyin arrived early at the track for her running training.

Time passed quickly, and the PE test was coming up next week, yet she still hadn’t made much progress in the 1500-meter event.

After a week of training, she had only managed to go from "unable to finish" to "barely scraping by," but she was still way over the time limit.

Standing on the track, Qi Heyin started her first practice run of the day, timing herself with her watch.

By the final lap, she was clearly running out of stamina again—her breathing was ragged, her cheeks flushed, and her legs were like lead weights as she struggled to move forward on the track.

"Qi Heyin, are you okay?"

A laid-back guy’s voice reached her ears.

Lightheaded and dazed from running, Qi Heyin stopped and turned in confusion, only to realize Jiang Yanche had been running alongside her on the inner track for who knows how many laps.

"What are you doing here..." She leaned on her waist, panting lightly, and waved at him. "Never mind, let me finish this lap first."

With that, she turned back, her eyes fixed solely on the track ahead as she focused on pushing through the final stretch.

The boy, used to being brushed off, shrugged it off and jogged after her.

Five minutes later, Qi Heyin finally crossed the finish line.

As she stepped over the white line, her legs gave out, almost making her faceplant, but Jiang Yanche grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Thanks." Once she regained her balance, she bent slightly, patting her chest as she caught her breath. "What were you going to say earlier?"

Jiang Yanche stood with his arms crossed, looking down at her with a slight frown.

"I was going to say that running like this is exhausting for you," he said matter-of-factly. "Your breathing rhythm is off, and your foot placement is wrong."

"You caught that?" Qi Heyin gave him a thoughtful glance.

"Of course!" He nodded emphatically. "More than just catching it—I tried running like you for a few laps and it almost killed me!"

He gave her a mock-offended glare. "Qi Heyin, didn’t we agree that I’d teach you? Last week, I went to the track every free moment I had to look for you, but I never saw you once."

...Because I never actually agreed to that, did I? Qi Heyin thought helplessly.

She paused, then, recalling his earlier advice, asked earnestly, "So what do you mean by breathing rhythm and foot placement?"

"Tch, knew you’d need my help." He tilted his chin up slightly, a hint of pride in his voice. "Running’s got technique, y’know. Don’t underestimate it."

With that, he extended his leg, demonstrating a proper stride.

"See, when running, you should strike with your forefoot first, then roll through smoothly. You always land on your heels, which puts a lot of wear and tear on your joints."

"And physics-wise—yes, you heard right, physics—landing on your heels burns more energy because you need more force to overcome... uh, what was it again..."

"Gravity and friction," Qi Heyin couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Right, that’s what I meant. Anyway, you gotta fix that!" Jiang Yanche continued seriously. "Also, your breathing should sync with your steps—use belly breathing, like this—"

"Inhale—exhale—inahle—exhale—"

He hammed it up as he jogged, his bright pink hair flopping with each step. "Got it, Qi Heyin?"

After observing his demonstration carefully, Qi Heyin nodded.

It seems I misunderstood him before. I'd assumed Jiang Yanche was just messing with me out of boredom, but it turns out he was actually quite serious about teaching.

Qi Heyin wasn’t entirely unaware of these basics, but once she started running, she lost all sense of concepts like force and motion principles, her head swimming, her whole body disoriented.

However, Jiang Yanche’s movements were quite instructive, worth copying and learning from, so she could gradually build muscle memory.

"Got it? Good." He flashed her a grin and asked, "Have you rested enough? Want me to show you how it's done for a few laps?"

"Okay." Qi Heyin slowly straightened up, getting into position before stepping back onto the track.

Glancing at the boy ahead who was about to lead the run, she hesitated for a moment before suddenly saying earnestly, "Thanks, Coach Jiang."

At her words, Jiang Yanche’s back stiffened slightly, and he turned around in surprise.

His gaze dropped, meeting the girl’s clear, bright eyes. His eyes darted away for a second before he instinctively flustered, turning his face away to avoid her look.

A faint blush crept up to his ears.

He coughed awkwardly, covering his mouth with a fist. "Seems Qi Heyin has good awareness."

"Ahem, well... you're a quick learner."