Chapter 163: The Grand Blueprint

Sophy, the flirtatious little beauty sitting at the same table, couldn't help asking Lu Kai, "Brother Kai, are you serious or just joking? Do you really think Lord Pao runs faster than Powell?"

Lu Kai answered objectively, "He might not be as fast as Powell right now, but with just a little training, I feel Lord Pao has the capability to take Powell down."

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lu Kai turned to address Zhang Qiyang, "I actually just called the coach of our national track and field team and mentioned your situation to him. Lord Pao, I don't think you should waste your talent in sprinting. You should join the Chinese sprinting team and win glory for the country!"

Qin Xueyang was so stunned that she forgot all about eating her crab legs.

One second he was claiming Zhang Qiyang could outrun the fastest man in the world, Powell, and the next he was suggesting Zhang Qiyang join the Chinese sprinting team.

What the hell... could this possibly be true?

Judging by Lu Kai's attitude, he certainly didn't seem to be joking!

Was Zhang Qiyang really this fast at running?

Qin Xueyang was completely bewildered.

She carefully searched her memory. In all the time she had known Zhang Qiyang, had he ever run for his life for any reason?

It seemed he never had!

This guy's personality was never about running away when trouble struck. Nor was he like her, rushing frantically toward delicious food the moment she spotted it.

Zhang Qiyang had never run for his life for anything—at least not during the time she had known him.

Could it be that he was truly a super genius whose sprinting talent had been buried all this time?

A subtle sense of shock surged in Qin Xueyang's heart!

Wang Dawei and the others were equally shaken by Lu Kai's extraordinarily high praise for Zhang Qiyang!

They had witnessed Zhang Qiyang's incredible burst of speed, but they never expected his abilities to be on par with joining the national sprinting team and competing on the world stage!

That was simply too exaggerated!

Zhang Qiyang himself was also taken aback.

To his surprise, Lu Kai had actually called the coach of the Chinese track and field team.

He had never once considered entering the realm of Chinese track and field.

However, hearing Lu Kai put it this way, Zhang Qiyang felt a slight flutter of temptation.

Putting aside grand, righteous notions like winning glory for the country.

If he could indeed surpass Powell and become world number one just as Lu Kai said, wouldn't that make him a national hero in the sports world? He might even become a globally celebrated superstar!

By then, no matter how politically powerful his adversaries were, it wouldn't be so easy for them to make a move against him!

Given his current "abnormal" physical constitution, he couldn't speak for other sports, but sprinting was definitely the easiest avenue to achieve greatness and propel him to the pinnacle of the world stage.

If he could truly carve out a remarkable career in the world of sprinting, it would provide a tremendous auxiliary boost to all aspects of his career development.

Since ancient times, literature and sports have been closely intertwined.

Many elements are shared in common between the cultural and athletic spheres.

Just like the entertainment industry, the sports industry would be one of the core wealth-generating pillars of the future human world.

If he used sprinting as a pathway to step into the global sports industry, letting literature and sports become his dual legs striding forward together, how magnificent the industrial empire he built in the future would be!

In a single instant, a grand blueprint for development had already sketched itself out in Zhang Qiyang's mind.

However, this was a major event that would affect the future trajectory of his career. He had to consider everything thoroughly before making a decision, and could not rashly make such a monumental career choice.

Seeing that Zhang Qiyang was lost in thought without expressing any particular attitude, Lu Kai felt a bit anxious. Given Lord Pao's genius, could it be that he truly looked down on track and field?

Quickly shifting gears in his mind, Lu Kai brought up another matter: "Lord Pao, I wonder if you paid attention to the Asian Athletics Championships held in Shanghai this June?"

Zhang Qiyang was momentarily stunned, then shook his head blankly to indicate he had no idea. What would he know about the track and field circle?

Besides, three months ago, he hadn't even time-traveled over yet, and the original owner had zero interest in this field whatsoever.

Sophy raised an eyebrow and chimed in, "Brother Kai, are you talking about that incident with Santos?"

Lu Kai said, "Correct, you all probably know about Santos making a throat-slitting gesture toward us Chinese people in Shanghai, right?"

Fatty said with righteous indignation, "I saw that in the news. That guy is simply a lunatic! To actually make that gesture toward our country's audience in the arena! He's seriously tired of living!"

Qin Xueyang also knew about the incident and said with a look of disgust, "I still can't figure out whether that guy is a Japanese-Brazilian mix or a Brazilian ghost?"

Sophy explained, "He's of mixed Japanese and Brazilian descent and grew up in Brazil, which is why his personality is relatively wild and unrestrained. After turning 15, he moved to settle in Tokyo and later absorbed some extremist cultural conditioning from Japan, which is why his behavior is so brain-dead and eccentric. In short, the guy is just extremely obnoxious."

Hearing Sophy describe Santos as brain-dead and eccentric felt rather awkward to Zhang Qiyang, because that was precisely how many people described him (the original owner).

Could this Santos be a freak of nature with a personality very similar to the original owner's?

Actually, the name Santos was not unfamiliar to Zhang Qiyang. In the alternate world's Japanese football team, there had been a defender in the early days who naturalized from Brazil named Santos.

But the Santos Lu Kai and the others were talking about now was definitely not that football player.

Wang Dawei joined the conversation as well, saying, "I remember that guy was immediately banned by World Athletics right after he gave us the throat-slitting salute, right?"

Lu Kai said in a deep voice, "Yeah, suspended for half a year. But it doesn't really have much impact on him. He can just focus on training for next year's Asian Games. Yet his behavior was a supreme humiliation to the Chinese track and field team! To put it broadly, it was an insult to all Chinese people."

Zhang Qiyang frowned and asked, "You guys have been talking for a while now, what exactly does this Santos do? Is he a sprinter?"

Sophy helplessly replied, "Yeah, he's the reigning Asian 100-meter champion and the Asian record holder. At this year's Shanghai Asian Championships, he clocked 9.85 seconds, the best Asian performance. He's got a shot at competing for an Olympic gold medal for Japan in the future."

Fatty said indignantly, "The guy is just a mixed-race black guy pretending to be an Asian. It's utterly shameless!"

Lu Kai said, "Shameless or not, he truly is a super genius sprinter, and a super arrogant sprinter as well. Actually, it wasn't just in Shanghai that he made the throat-slitting gesture; a year and a half ago in Osaka, when he won his first relay race against the Chinese relay team, he already made the slanted-eye gesture mimicking slit eyes. I don't know what that gesture means in Brazil, but coming from him, it clearly carried a strong sense of discrimination against us."

Wang Dawei grew furious: "Damn it! The guy is that arrogant?"

Lu Kai sighed gloomily, "He's way more obnoxious than you guys can imagine! The authorities probably considered friendly diplomatic relations between the two countries and didn't let the media report too much about it. But this kid is the most annoying and obnoxious athlete I've ever encountered, and yet no one on our sprinting team has been able to put him in his place."