183: Chapter 183: The Drowning Prince 183: Chapter 183: The Drowning Prince The cheers for Song Haoyu filled the arena.
When Song Haoyu touched the wall and turned in the pool, on the second 100-meter lane, he had already swum about 10 meters when Lin Fei slowly touched the wall and began his second 100 meters.
Then, the situation in the pool suddenly changed.
The originally slow Lin Fei suddenly sped up, his freestyle strokes quickly flipping, just like a slender, sleek sailfish gliding rapidly down the lane.
In just a few seconds, Lin Fei, as fast as a sailfish, caught up the 10-meter gap from Song Haoyu.
The audience in the stands, the competitors by the pool who thought Song Haoyu would surely win, and Qin Zimo were all stunned by Lin Fei’s sudden burst of speed.
Qin Zimo’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, with a hint of worry in her eyes.
Could it be that Lin Fei really held back his strength in the first 100 meters, only to fully unleash it in the second 100 meters?
Just as she was lost in thought for a moment, she saw Lin Fei in the pool had already surpassed Song Haoyu and was swiftly swimming towards the finish line at this end of the lane.
Her heart inexplicably tensed, though she had no romantic feelings for Song Haoyu.
But Lin Fei had previously offended her, so she detested Lin Fei and hoped Song Haoyu could teach this rascal a lesson in the pool.
All the fans in the stands, seeing Song Haoyu surpassed by Lin Fei, anxiously shouted: “Go, Haoyu!”
“Haoyu, overtake him!”
“Haoyu will win!”
But in the pool, the gap between Lin Fei and Song Haoyu grew larger — one meter, two meters, then five meters, ten meters, and finally twenty meters, dozens of meters…
Song Haoyu, left far behind by Lin Fei, swam with all his might.
He couldn’t believe that Lin Fei overtook him and opened up such a large gap.
He was filled with rage, gritting his teeth, using all his strength.
However, he still couldn’t catch up to Lin Fei.
The entire arena quieted down; the fans had given up cheering for Song Haoyu because Lin Fei had already reached the end of the second 100 meters and completed his wall touch.
The big screen above the arena lit up with the end time: 4 minutes and 10 seconds.
In the first 100 meters, Lin Fei took nearly three minutes, and in the latter 100 meters, Lin Fei only took one minute and ten seconds.
Lin Fei’s speed was astonishing to everyone.
Zheng Ying, though unable to believe it, had to blow his whistle.
With the sound of the whistle, the race was declared over.
All the audience couldn’t believe it.
The swimming prince, Song Haoyu, lost to an obscure Lin Fei just like that.
Especially many of Song Haoyu’s fans, who were unable to accept this reality.
The entire audience hung their heads, lifeless and dejected.
Everyone watched Lin Fei climb out of the pool, slowly towel off, while Song Haoyu was still painfully swimming on less than half of the second 100 meters.
Song Haoyu swam painfully because he had already used nearly half of his strength in the first 100 meters.
During the second 100 meters, he planned to maintain an average speed for the first 50 meters while keeping ahead of Lin Fei, then use all his strength to sprint to the finish line in the last 50 meters.
However, when Lin Fei first overtook him, he suddenly forgot his pre-set strategy and frantically tried to catch up.
But before completing half of the second 100 meters, he was exhausted, his swimming speed as slow as a seahorse, barely covering a dozen meters despite swimming for ages.
This speed, in front of tens of thousands of spectators, made Song Haoyu feel as if he had lost face completely.
Even in the pool, he felt his face burning hot, wishing there was a crack to slip through and hide.
But even so embarrassed, he had to continue swimming forward slowly.
He couldn’t express his regret for exhausting all his strength so quickly.
Otherwise, even if Lin Fei had passed him to sprint to the finish line first, he wouldn’t be so awkward?
Lin Fei took off his goggles and nose clip, realizing that Song Haoyu was still far from the finish line.
He could only shake his head and say, “At this speed, the swimming prince won’t reach the finish line in less than a dozen minutes.”
This made Zheng Ying and several swimmers by the pool blush because Song Haoyu’s swimming speed in the pool was truly too slow, almost unbearable to watch, which was hard to believe coming from the famous swimming prince.
Song Haoyu, swimming slowly in the pool like a turtle, almost spat out a mouthful of old blood hearing Lin Fei’s words.
He wished he could turn into a shark and dash through the waves to the finish line.
However, as he frantically kicked his legs in anger and panic, he suddenly felt his tired legs cramping and couldn’t swim anymore, his body beginning to sink.
He panicked, flailing his hands and shouting loudly, “Help!
My foot’s cramping, save me!”
As soon as he spoke, Song Haoyu’s head submerged in the water, gulping down two mouthfuls of water and starting to cough.
All the audience were stunned.
Song Haoyu was drowning in the pool and asking for help?
They thought they must be hallucinating, seeing such an outrageous scene.
Likewise, Zheng Ying and a few swimmers by the pool finally snapped out of their shock.
Then, one after another, they dived into the pool to rescue the drowning Song Haoyu.
Qin Zimo by the pool was utterly speechless: The swimming prince cramping and drowning in the race, needing help?
At this point, Lin Fei walked over to her and said, “Feeling disappointed?”
Qin Zimo, with a cold expression, looked at Lin Fei and said, “I never imagined Song Haoyu being so weak, but don’t get complacent, the official competition hasn’t started yet.”
Lin Fei smiled, looking at her, and said, “So, it seems you also want to compete with me.”
Qin Zimo said, “Don’t think just because you beat Song Haoyu, you can beat me.”
Lin Fei laughed, “How about we make a bet too?”
Qin Zimo refused outright, “I won’t bet with you, you rascal.”
At this moment, Zheng Ying and several others pulled Song Haoyu to the poolside from the water.
The timely rescue meant that Song Haoyu was not seriously harmed, but for a swimming prince to drown and need rescuing in a pool…
Song Haoyu felt he had lost whatever face he could lose.
After this incident, he certainly would no longer be called the swimming prince.
After this near-drowning incident, Song Haoyu was referred to as the drowning prince, but that’s a story for another time.
As for Song Haoyu needing others to rescue him, all the students in the audience, who just felt sorry for his defeat, suddenly turned to disdain.
Their goodwill towards Song Haoyu vanished.
In their eyes, he was no longer a dazzling swimming prince but a soaked, defeated figure.
One could say Song Haoyu lost all his fans in an instant.
Song Haoyu also realized he had no face left to show and quickly had a few male swimmers help him to a corner to rest.
At this time, the referee entered the scene, stepped to the poolside, and said to all the swimmers, “The swimming competition is about to begin, all swimmers please take your positions and prepare for the race.”
Lin Fei, Qin Zimo, and Zheng Ying, in total less than ten swimmers, stepped onto the starting block.
Although over a dozen swimmers had not yet competed, the referee directly considered them as having forfeited the race.
However, the referee was puzzled, looking at Song Haoyu sitting in the corner, not knowing about the race between him and Lin Fei, so he said, “Song Haoyu, why haven’t you taken your position?”
Song Haoyu responded with a bitter smile, “Referee, sir, I…
I’m not feeling well, I’m forfeiting.”
These words immediately drew a chorus of boos from the entire audience.