Chapter 1229: 1228 Strange Behavior

Tan Rou’s behavior of running in the outer lane perplexed the professional athletes, with several professional athletes who had come to watch the competition discussing her behavior in the stands.

“What’s going on? This is the first time I’ve seen someone run in the outer lane,” said one male athlete. “This is a competition, even if it’s just an amateur one, it’s about ranking, doesn’t she care about her position at all? Then why did she come to compete?”

“Her behavior is indeed a bit strange,” said a female athlete, “but don’t you think the behavior of the few people next to her is even stranger? As soon as she ran to the outer lane, immediately three people also followed her outside. Surely those three can’t be her bodyguards, right?”

“Indeed, the behavior of those three is even more suspicious,” said the male athlete.

It wasn’t only the professional athletes who spotted something amiss—the citizens who came to watch the competition also felt something was off.

Citizen A said, “Are my eyes deceiving me? Why are there so many people running in the outer lane in this race? Even if they want to showcase their strength, there’s no need to run in the outer lane. And they’re not trying to overtake others on the outside, they just keep running there—they’re already close to half a lap behind.”

Citizen B said, “That girl who started running in the outer lane is amazing. I’ve been keeping an eye on her speed. It’s only the fourth lap, and not only is she not slowing down, she seems to be intending to speed up; you can see she has widened the gap with the others significantly.”

Citizen C said, “Something doesn’t seem right, more people are moving to the outer lane. I’ve been watching that number eleven; she hadn’t even completed three laps and didn’t look like she could make it to the finish, but now she’s also headed out.”

“What’s going on?” a hot-tempered male citizen shouted. “We’re here to watch a long-distance race, not to see them show off their running skills. They’re all moving to the outer lane, do they think they’re really that great?”

His wife next to him tugged at his sleeve, “Stop making a fuss, let’s just watch quietly for a while.”

That male citizen seemed to be aware that there were physical prizes for the sports meet. “With the way they’re running, don’t they want to win the final prize? It’s a house in the Capital…” he said.

Before he could finish, his wife immediately covered his mouth and took him down from the stands, “Let’s go quickly, don’t talk nonsense here.”

Li Li and her friends heard what those people said, especially the words of that last man.

Li Li said, “Turns out only we few fools didn’t know about the physical prizes. I wonder what the prize for the long jump is. If I had known about the prize earlier, I would have definitely competed seriously.”

Lan Ning said, “Even if there were prizes, you wouldn’t have been able to get them.”

Li Li replied with a laugh, “Prizes are what motivate us; who would compete so hard without them?”

“Stop talking, a few more people have charged towards Tan Rou; now there are six people around her,” said Liang Lu, frowning. “Among them, two are coordinating very well and have already eliminated two official competitors.”

Li Li also noticed this and said nervously, “So, how do we warn Tan Rou?”

Liang Lu suggested, “Let’s go over to the railings. When Tan Rou comes around, we’ll all shout together and see if she can hear us.”

With many people in the venue cheering, Liang Lu could only use this method to alert Tan Rou, hoping she would hear.

Li Li took out her phone, “I need to message the photographers in the group to keep a close watch on Tan Rou and those with her, to capture as much as possible of the movements of the people around her. We can’t miss any detail.”

Liang Lu nodded in agreement, “Yeah, try to capture as much evidence as possible. After the competition, we will unite all the eliminated athletes and confront the organizing committee together.”

Tian Tian added, “We can also put pressure on the organizers together with the sponsors.”

Liang Lu made the arrangements, “Tian Tian, you handle this. You’re in charge of contacting Tao Zhi, tell him what’s happening on our end, and then have him persuade those sponsors.”

Tian Tian immediately went to contact Tao Zhi, “Okay, I’ll talk to Ah Zhi right away.”

Li Li praised, “Director Liang, your coordination skills are getting better and better.”

Liang Lu smiled, “Thank you for the compliment, but now’s not the time for that. Let’s hurry down; Tan Rou is coming around soon.”