Chapter 17: Asian Record

Sorry for the late chapter! More details here. You all may want to bookmark that linked page since I will be posting any future announcements/status updates there. :3

The discussion surrounding Tang Yi-Bai was still developing. Many people believed that Tang Yi-Bai loved to hype himself despite having no real talent, and so were all eagerly anticipating his failure in the upcoming competition. This was a great opportunity to see the enjoyable act of face-slapping in action — how could they let it pass them by?

They felt that this kind of anticipation was not wishful thinking, because Tang Yi-Bai's and Arbussy's results were almost two seconds apart! A 2-second difference in a 100-metre swim was proof enough that this person was indeed quite lame.

This point of view distinguished the informed from the laymen. Arbussy's 100-metre world record was 46.90 seconds, while Tang Yi-Bai's last 100-metre results were 48.52 seconds. Just by looking at the numbers, there was a 1.62 second difference between the two of them — 2 seconds after rounding up, so this point of view could be considered correct.

However, there were two things about the situation they had not noticed.

One, Arbussy's world record had been created during the 'Sharkskin'This is in reference to the LZR-racer swimsuit manufactured by Speedo inspired by shark skin. In March 2008, athletes wearing the LZR Racer broke 13 swimming world records. period. During that Olympic Games, athletes wore shark skin inspired swimsuits to compete and achieved unprecedented results, creating a batch of world records that would be very tough to beat. Later on, the 'shark-skin' swimsuits had been banned from competition, and the results of the athletes dropped accordingly. Even Arbussy himself had not been able to finish within 47 seconds in competition events after that. His results in the last Olympics were 47.48 seconds. Hence, judging from the current situation, the gap between Tang Yi-Bai and Arbussy was a little more than 1 second.

Two, everyone online was saying that Tang Yi-Bai's 'best competition results ever' was 48.52 seconds. Yes, that's true — because Tang Yi-Bai had only swam in this particular event just one time! This was his one and only record, so of course it would be his best. Generally speaking, very few people would achieve their best limits immediately — results always improved gradually. Thus, Tang Yi-Bai's best results should be better than this number on record.

Overall, Yun Duo felt that the netizens were seriously underestimating Tang Yi-Bai's capabilities. She used these two reasons to rebut the crowds on the forums but was scorned mercilessly, and so she could only retreat.

The netizens anticipated a face-smacking, so the Winter National Swimming Championships attracted way more attention than usual. The search count for the event soared in the span of a day, and the associated online news sites and discussion forums were also extraordinarily lively, basically scaring the moderators on duty out of their wits.

Even Chen Si-Qi who worked with the entertainment gossip circles heard of the matter. Chen Si-Qi still remembered the earth-shaking admiration she had felt back when she had first seen Tang Yi-Bai (his photo) ... frankly speaking, she had never felt anything like that before in all her time working in the entertainment circles. She called Yun Duo up to ask about the matter, and after she heard the whole story, Chen Si-Qi raged, "F*ck it, why are the media in your sports circles as shameless and unscrupulous as us in the gossip circles?! What are we entertainment reporters to do then?"

"Only some are like that." Yun Duo still tried to defend her field of work.

"It's fine, it's fine. I must clear Tang Yi-Bai's name, whitewash it till it's all white and clean!"

"What whitewash? He's already pretty white."

"Oh yes," Chen Si-Qi said, intrigued, "I find that those who swim are all quite white. Is it because there is bleach in the pools?"

"You can try washing your face with bleach every day."

Chen Si-Qi thought about it and found it quite scary. Forget it, forget it.

Yun Duo then asked her, "How are you planning to clear Tang Yi-Bai's name?"

"Ah, this will have to wait till after tomorrow's competition ends. The plan of action will depend on the actual results. Don't worry, the stars have all kinds of ideas to manipulate the media and promote themselves — this sister has seen and experienced much. Leave it to me."

Yun Duo did not know whether Chen Si-Qi was reliable or not — she only knew that this fool had become very proficient at bullshitting ever since she had started working the entertainment industry.

The next day, the Winter Championships began under this air of anticipation. Tang Yi-Bai's 100-metre swim was arranged for the first day; the preliminaries and the semi-finals would be in the morning, while the finals would be that afternoon itself. Qi Rui-Feng's 100-metre freestyle results were also pretty good — if Tang Yi-Bai could not manage to outswim Qi Rui-Feng this time, or even if he did but his results were not better than his previous 48.52 seconds, then it could be imagined what kind of mockery and ridicule would await him.

Yun Duo was silently sweating on behalf of Tang Yi-Bai.

Even Qi Rui-Feng had cottoned on to the difficulty of Tang Yi-Bai's situation. Before the competition, he almost spoke up a few times, but in the end, Tang Yi-Bai ran out of patience first and asked him, "What exactly is it that you're trying to say?"

"You cannot lose," Qi Rui-Feng said worriedly.

"So? You want to withdraw from the competition? Take it easy on me?"

Qi Rui-Feng did not reply; he had really considered those options. It's not to say that he was certain of his victory over Tang Yi-Bai — there was no such absolute guarantees when it came to competition, but similarly, there was also no guarantee that Tang Yi-Bai would beat him.

Tang Yi-Bai shook his head, his expression solemn. "Qi Rui-Feng, you should know, giving it your all in the arena is the greatest respect you can grant your opponent."

Qi Rui-Feng nodded. What Tang Yi-Bai said was always right.

And so, Qi Rui-Feng went into the competition with the determination to do his best.

The event was very exciting.

The men's 100-metre freestyle finals that day would later on be described by swimming fans as a match 'for the history records'. In this 'not all that important' competition, Qi Rui-Feng performed outstandingly, creating his personal best of his professional career in the event by achieving a final result of 48.27 seconds.

What did 48.27 mean in context? The previous Asian record was 48.35 seconds, set by a Japanese athlete — this result of Qi Rui-Feng had already broken the Asian record.

However, his name would not appear on the updated name list of the Asian records. Because, 0.23 seconds before he broke the record, someone else had already beaten him to the punch.

Tang Yi-Bai, 48.04 seconds!

In these times where records were broken by milliseconds, he had exceeded the Asian record by 0.3 seconds and domineeringly became champion of the event. When this result was announced, the entire venue was stunned!

It was too unbelievable — this young man ... this was only his second competition since his return to the scene, and in just a short two months, he had improved his time by a whole 0.5 seconds! 0.5 seconds! For a speedy event like the 100-metre freestyle which ended pretty much in the blink of an eye, this number was truly staggering!

It was a result narrowing in on 48 seconds, a world-class standard, created in such an inconspicuous competition, by a young man recently besieged by criticism.

Many at the scene were deeply shocked, their emotions shaken — the young man who had created the record was much calmer in comparison. He high-fived Qi Rui-Feng from inside the pool, and his expression was normal as he got out of the water. He was only panting from the exertion of the intense exercise. When he walked past the media section, he let the reporters snap pictures and fiddle around with their cameras as much as they liked, patiently listening to the questions they had.

"Tang Yi-Bai, how do you think you performed today?"

"Tang Yi-Bai, you've broken the Asian record today by the large margin of 0.3 seconds. May I ask how you feel right now?"

"Tang Yi-Bai, this time of yours is currently unbeatable within the nation, ranking among the top even within Asia as a whole. What is your next goal? Challenging Arbussy?"

"Tang Yi-Bai, about your challenge to Arbussy, the netizens all say that you're delusional. What do you think about this?"

Blah blah blah ...

The reporters were all too quick with their words, asking a great multitude of questions in just a short span of time. Tang Yi-Bai was hesitating over which to address first. Then, he saw someone struggling to squeeze forwards at the outer fringes of the crowd of reporters. She had a camera in one hand and a recording pen in the other. Due to the crowding, her hair was a little messy, but she had no mind to spare to care about her image — she was trying very, very hard to grab a position where she could say something.

Alright, her ability at grabbing a good position was as bad as always. He didn't mind helping her out.

Tang Yi-Bai took one step back. Due to his long legs, his one little step was equivalent to a large step for the reporters. When the reporters instinctively stepped forwards to follow him, he breezily stepped forwards instead, passing by them to be at their backs.

Hey, hey, hey, that's not how you play around with people! The reporters were thrown into disarray.

By the time the reporters turned themselves around, they thought they would be treated to the sight of Tang Yi-Bai's suave figure vanishing into the distance, but he had surprisingly stopped. Right then, he was facing them, or more accurately, he was facing her — a girl.

He was smiling at the girl with an exceptionally lovely smile. "What would you like to ask?"

The other reporters were instantly roaring within their hearts. Get out- out- out! This punk was actually flirting with a girl! Having just goddamn broke a record, can you not happily just talk about your life and dreams with the reporters?! Fresh out of the water and you're already running off to flirt with young maidens ... you truly don't let any bit of chance pass you by! Bloody hell, this girl was hidden behind us and still you saw her ... your eyes are really too amazing. Are they made of titanium? Speaking of which, what sort of beautiful fairy goddess is this girl anyway? We're really curious to know ...

Thus, several reporters shifted to the front of the girl, brimming with curiosity for gossip, intent on getting a peek of her face.

As a reporter, Yun Duo had never been the focus of attention of so many other reporters before. It was a lot of pressure. She raised her recording pen and tried her best to keep her voice even and steady. She asked, "Mr. Tang Yi-Bai, first off, congratulations on breaking the Asian record. Today's results are a great improvement on your results two months ago. I believe many people are as surprised as I am. May I know how you accomplished this?"

Tang Yi-Bai nodded at her. "Thank you. Honestly, my training has not changed. The reason why you all see that I've improved my time by 0.5 seconds in two months is that I was only just adapting back to competition the last time, and was focusing primarily on getting back into the groove. I was not performing at my usual level last time."

"So today was your normal level then? Or did you perform beyond your level?"

"Today's results were a little better than I expected, but it's still within normal range. If I perform extraordinarily well, I'm sure I can finish within 48 seconds."

"So your next goal will be to finish within 48 seconds?"

"That's right." He smiled, and continued in a light-hearted tone, "After all, I am the one who wants to challenge Arbussy."

Yun Duo could not help but giggle at his self-deprecating humour.

While the two of them were happily interacting with each other, the people around them were fuming — are you two really taking us as air? Are you two making this a private interview?!

Some in the crowd were disgruntled, and continued to throw out their questions, only to be ignored by Tang Yi-Bai who pretended not to hear them.

One of the reporters really wished he could smash the microphone in his hands over Tang Yi-Bai's head.

The time was almost up; they could not linger by the poolside for too long. Yun Duo took advantage of the remaining time to ask one last question. "So do you have anything you would like to say to the swimming fans right now?"

Tang Yi-Bai considered it, then with a slight quirk of his brow, his lips curved up into a slight smile as he said slowly, "I'm here."

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Previous: Chapter 16: In Her Singing Voice
Next: Chapter 18: Tang Yi-Bai Is Here

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