Chapter 344: The Chase

Chapter 344: The Chase

Luoyimeng saw that Jixinghuo was so confident that although she still had doubts in her heart, she didn't say anything more and ran ahead faster.

Jixinghuo focused on running.

The rules of the Global Marathon were simple, but it was actually very difficult to completely avoid breaking them.

Even for top-ranked runners, it was difficult to avoid breaking a few rules throughout the entire race, which would result in time penalties.

The route had to be followed precisely; venturing outside the designated path would also incur time penalties, and failing to return to the correct route within a minute would result in disqualification.

As he ran, Jixinghuo tapped his left wrist lightly.

A small screen projection appeared before his eyes, displaying the real-time locations of the other runners, their speeds, and their estimated finishing times, all at a glance.

Jixinghuo quickly located himself.

He was currently in fourth place.

Leading the race was the Sun King, who had already pulled ahead by more than 10 kilometers in just a few short minutes.

Closely following the Sun King was the renowned runner, Jeffrey the Planet Strider. Their distance was less than a kilometer apart, making for a tight race.

Luoyimeng was in third place.

These three top-ranked runners had speeds exceeding 400 meters per second, placing them in the first tier, and they were steadily pulling away from Jixinghuo.

The commentators and marathon experts analyzed the situation, and the live broadcast switched between the different runners.

When Jixinghuo was mentioned, the experts expressed their doubts.

"There's a significant gap between Jixinghuo's stellar power and physical endurance compared to the top-ranked runners. Although he had a brilliant start, taking the lead right at the beginning, it's unfortunate that he won't be able to maintain this pace. He's currently running at Mach 1, placing him in fourth for now, but in my opinion, his ranking will continue to slip as other runners surpass him..."

Another expert agreed, "After all, Jixinghuo is merely a super-being. It's already surprising that he's able to break the sound barrier."

"Indeed."

"The Global Marathon is different from flying; he may be better suited to flying, but running on the ground restricts his speed."

"Moreover, his tactics are lacking. He shouldn't have sprinted at the beginning, as it quickly depletes his stellar power. The Global Marathon is a lengthy event; it's not just about speed but also about stellar power, physical endurance, and willpower."

"However, Jixinghuo does have one very impressive advantage."

"What's that?"

"So far, he hasn't broken any rules, accumulating zero time penalties. This is very rare and shows that he has exceptional control over his body, no less than those marathoners who have trained for years."

"I heard that Jixinghuo only started practicing marathon running after signing up for the race. If that's true, it's astonishing."

"Being first on the Celestial Ladder didn't come easy; he's not one to underestimate."

The experts on the screen analyzed his performance, and although they didn't favor his chances, they didn't dismiss him entirely, offering a mix of praise and criticism.

The host asked, "What do you think Jixinghuo's final ranking will be? What position do you predict he'll finish in?"

"45 to 50 hours," one expert replied. "He'll likely place around 10th."

The others predicted similar finishing times and rankings.

As they spoke, another runner began to accelerate, gradually catching up to Jixinghuo.

This was another top-ranked runner, "Arrowhead" of the New Roman Empire, whose real name was Maxim Karinin, ranked 24th on the Celestial Ladder.

The broadcast immediately switched to his perspective, and all the viewers witnessed Maxim's increasing speed on a highway cutting through fields. Up ahead, they saw another figure running at full speed—Jixinghuo.

The distance between the two rapidly closed, and then Maxim overtook Jixinghuo, leaving him behind.

"Jixinghuo has dropped to fifth place," the host immediately commented.

The guest experts nodded in agreement. This turn of events validated their predictions about Jixinghuo, and one of them said, "Being first on the Celestial Ladder doesn't compare to the foundation and experience of the top-ranked runners. This loss in the Global Marathon won't have much impact, but come October, if he loses his duel against Li Xuan, he'll have to give up a Star Meteor variant."

Mentioning the duel between Jixinghuo and Li Xuan, those on the screen unanimously shook their heads.

The live broadcast even cut specifically to Li Xuan.

At that moment, Li Xuan was also running at full speed, but it was clear that he wasn't adept at this form of competition. Relying solely on his abundant stellar power, he ran ahead of a group of legends and marathoners, maintaining a slim lead. He was currently ranked 17th.

Seeing this, the host and the viewers couldn't help but laugh. This internet celebrity among the top-ranked runners participated in the marathon every year for the sake of online traffic and attention.

Of course, he wouldn't miss the quadrennial Global Marathon.

However, his speed was just too slow.

"If we're talking about running, Li Jianxia has already lost to Jixinghuo, and it's a crushing defeat," one expert commented with a smile.

The host disagreed, "Combat encompasses a wide range of abilities. While Li Jianxia may not be adept at long-distance running, his swordsmanship, offensive techniques, and combat experience are all top-notch globally. Jixinghuo's chances of victory are slim."

His words resonated with the other experts.

The only true 'hexagonal king', capable in all areas, was the Sun King himself.

The camera view switched, and the topic turned to other competitors.

Jixinghuo paid no heed to the experts' commentary; he focused solely on his running, maintaining a speed of Mach 1.

In the first hour, he covered 1260 kilometers.

Not far ahead was Yerevan, and according to the race route, each runner had to pass through the city and a designated signboard within it.

The scenery along the way transformed rapidly from mountains to urban landscapes, with towering skyscrapers appearing in the distance.

The streets had been cleared, with no vehicles or pedestrians in sight.

Bright projections in the sky indicated the designated route.

Tens of thousands of spectators, kept at a safe distance, cheered and shouted enthusiastically, awaiting the arrival of the Global Marathon runners.

Whoosh...

Jixinghuo ran into Yerevan along the highway, the streets on both sides a blur of light and shadow as he sped by.

To the spectators, he was but a fleeting shadow.

Then came the sonic boom, a thunderous shockwave, and the runner was gone before anyone could get a good look.

High above, the projection screens displayed the scene captured by high-speed cameras, replaying it in slow motion.

Drone cameras also captured the moment from various angles, showing Jixinghuo's running form—his body leaning forward, arms and legs moving in a steady rhythm, his silver and black running shoes leaving imprints on the ground with each stride, like a lightning bolt skimming across the earth.

However, even these visual recordings failed to capture the full impact of witnessing Jixinghuo's speed in person.

As he ran through, spectators along the route would gasp in awe, only to be left staring at his fading shadow.

The signboard in Yerevan was located in the center of the city.

As Jixinghuo passed under it, he quickly confirmed the route and continued running without a moment's pause.

It took him just about a minute to traverse the not-so-large city, and after exiting, he turned southeast.

The next signboard was in Tehran.

Along the highway, it took Jixinghuo just 40 minutes to reach Tehran, and he was still in fifth place.

However, as he passed through the signboard in Tehran, someone caught up from behind.

Jixinghuo didn't turn to look.

Within the radius of his electromagnetic sensing ability, he detected a rapidly approaching figure, moving faster than him and closing in quickly.

"Flying Artist."

"Rank 35 on the King's List, Jose Morales."

Jixinghuo's mind flashed with information about this opponent.

Jose Morales had a similar background to Li Xuan; he was also an internet celebrity among the Kings. However, unlike Li Xuan, he wasn't afraid to venture into the Star Realm and share his experiences with others. Being an internet celebrity was just a hobby for him.

As Jose caught up to Jixinghuo on the streets of Tehran, the spectators cheered.

This "Flying Artist" was a "sky wanderer," excelling in flying and also possessing impressive ground-running abilities.

As he overtook Jixinghuo, Jose waved and made a "bye-bye" gesture.

It was clearly a mocking gesture.

At that moment, multiple drones captured the scene from different angles, broadcasting it worldwide.

Although Jose didn't mean any harm, his action sparked heated discussions.

Many online viewers joined in the mockery.

Jixinghuo didn't see their reactions, but he knew that countless people had witnessed the moment and could guess their responses.

He didn't mind.

Falling back to sixth place, Jixinghuo remained calm and unhurried. After half an hour, he ran along the southern coast of Lake Urmia and reached the border of the Star Moon Country Alliance.

Ahead lay Central Asia, the territory of the Asia-Pacific Community.

As the Global Marathon runners crossed national borders, the drones above them would be replaced with those of the respective country to avoid any diplomatic disputes and risks.

Jixinghuo continued his run across coasts, mountains, and plateaus, heading east along the Silk Road, passing through the Taklamakan Desert. The greenery increased, and the climate became more familiar as he approached the Chaka Stargate and drew closer to Chang'an.

After more than seven hours of running...

Finally, Jixinghuo caught sight of Chang'an. Due to the time difference, it was already past midnight there.

Yet, the super metropolis shone brightly, as if it were still daytime.

Familiar skyscrapers and wide streets were built on the airborne superconducting highways, with maglev cars flowing ceaselessly.

The race route had been cleared, but along the way, countless spectators had stayed up all night, eagerly awaiting the runners' arrival.

As Jixinghuo ran into Chang'an, he was greeted with enthusiastic cheers.

"Go for it!"

"Come on, Jixinghuo! Catch up to that arrogant guy ahead! You can do it!"

"Keep going, keep going..."

Running at supersonic speed, Jixinghuo could only hear the faint, disjointed voices of the spectators ahead, but he felt their enthusiasm and saw his family and friends cheering for him along the route.

Ahead was "Flying Artist" Jose, whose speed had slowed down, and the distance was rapidly closing in, less than a hundred kilometers away.

The fastest runner, the Sun King, had already reached Pearl City, the second largest city of the Asia-Pacific Community, over 2,000 kilometers ahead.

"It's my turn to make a move."

Jixinghuo ran past the signboard for Chang'an and then started to accelerate.

A few seconds later, his speed reached 400 meters per second, which was immediately noticed by the host and guest experts.

"Jixinghuo is accelerating!"

"My God!"

The host exclaimed in disbelief, "How is he doing this?"

In fact, Jixinghuo maintaining a speed of Mach 1 up to this point had already exceeded their expectations. They had originally thought that Jixinghuo's stellar power would be nearly depleted by the time he reached Chang'an, and he was just trying to hang on. But instead, he became even faster after passing through the city.

On the screen, the drone footage showed Jixinghuo running with no signs of exertion, his face calm and relaxed.

His speed steadily remained at 400 meters per second, almost unchanged.

"So stable!"

An expert exclaimed, "I've been paying close attention to Jixinghuo's speed, and his stability is terrifying. His control is like that of a machine, not a human."

"He hasn't violated any rules yet!"

"Even the Sun King has violated the rules twice and received a two-minute time penalty."

In the eyes of hundreds of millions of viewers, Jixinghuo quickly closed in on the Flying Artist, and just over 20 minutes after leaving Chang'an, he caught up with Jose Morales in Jin Yang City.

Jixinghuo ran side by side with Jose on the highway, maintaining relative stillness, and waved to him.

This scene was also captured on camera.

"Hahahaha..."

"The boomerang hit his face!"

"Serves him right!"

Countless viewers burst out laughing, especially the citizens of the Asia-Pacific Community, who felt extremely relieved. Jose Morales' expression turned gloomy, and without a word, he quietly sped up, not wanting to be left behind by Jixinghuo.

This disrupted Jose's plan, as this was supposed to be the time for him to recover his stellar power and physical energy.

What annoyed him the most was that he found he couldn't catch up.

Jixinghuo's current speed had exceeded his own maximum, and even if he spared no effort, he could only watch helplessly as Jixinghuo pulled away and disappeared from his field of vision, while his own running rhythm fell apart.

At one o'clock in the morning, Jixinghuo reached the ancient capital.

Amid the shouts of countless spectators in the ancient capital, he ran through this historic and cultural city. After leaving the city, he turned and ran south along the Bohai coast.

Along the way, he passed through several domestic cities, including Mingzhu, Rongcheng, Yuewan, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, and Bangkok, and entered the Southeast Peninsula.

At daybreak.

Jixinghuo had arrived at the Malacca Strait and here, he overtook "Arrowhead" Maxim Karinin, regaining his fourth-place position.

Here, he turned west again and after another two hours, entered the South Asian Union.

The race route on the Subcontinent Peninsula basically followed the coastline for the entire stretch. When Jixinghuo reached the southernmost city of the peninsula, the race was halfway done, having lasted for 16 hours, and he was expected to finish the race in 30 hours.

At this time, the Sun King had already reached the Arabian Peninsula.

Jixinghuo was left behind by more than 6,000 kilometers.

It seemed that the outcome was already decided.

Whether it was the host, the experts, or the global audience, everyone thought that there wasn't much suspense left in this Global Marathon.

Even the most competitive, God Strider, had slowed down in the past few hours and was more than 1,000 kilometers behind the Sun King.

However, no one gave up.

Jixinghuo accelerated slightly again, and after more than four hours, he reached the northern shore of the Persian Gulf and caught up with Luoyimeng here.

She turned back and her voice reached Jixinghuo's ears, "We don't have much time left."

At this moment, the Sun King was in central Africa.

He had reached Lake Victoria in the upper reaches of the Nile River, less than 10,000 kilometers from the finish line. At this speed, it would take him just about six hours to run back to Ivanograd and reach the end of the race.

Jixinghuo nodded slightly.

Luoyimeng didn't understand what he meant, and just as she was about to ask again, she saw Jixinghuo's speed suddenly surge, and in the blink of an eye, he surpassed her and continued to accelerate madly, getting faster and faster, until he disappeared from view.

Bang bang bang...

Explosive footsteps echoed all around.

Where Jixinghuo ran, a series of pits with diameters of two or three meters were left on the ground, splashing up dust that was then swept up by the violent airflow and into the sky, like a tornado had struck.

"At least 3 Mach!"

Luoyimeng was dumbfounded, this speed was even faster than her all-out burst!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end