The First Flying Man of Asia

Director Yang walked out with a pleased expression, and the waiting reporters quickly surrounded him.

"Director Yang, have you found out anything yet?"

"Director Yang, did Zhang Guan falsify his results?"

"Was the Sports Bureau involved in this athlete's performance fraud?"

"I heard Zhang Guan has some background? Is that why he made it into the national team?"

"Is Zhang Guan's father a wealthy businessman from a certain province?"

"Is Zhang Guan the illegitimate child of a well-known director?"

"Is Zhang Guan..."

The reporters bombarded him with questions, like a bustling market, but Director Yang remained calm, still wearing a proud smile. He gestured with his hands downward and said, "Please, everyone, calm down, let's all calm down."

Director Yang repeated this several times until the reporters quieted down. Then he took a document from an assistant nearby and continued, "Since so many journalist friends are here, I would like to take this opportunity to announce some good news."

The reporters were all puzzled. They came here to uncover the dark side of athlete selection, which was not good news for the Sports Bureau. However, driven by curiosity, they remained surprisingly quiet, ready to hear what Director Yang had to say.

Director Yang cleared his throat and said, "In the just-concluded final of the men's 100-meter race at the Asian Athletics Championships, our athlete won the championship with a time of 9.99 seconds, breaking the Asian record of 10 seconds held by the Japanese athlete Ito Hiroshi. This marks the first time an Asian has run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds! And the athlete who broke the Asian record is..."

Director Yang deliberately paused, glanced around at the reporters, and then, with a victorious tone, said, "Zhang Guan!"

One second, two seconds, three seconds... Silence, such profound silence that even the wind could be heard blowing.

The whole scene erupted!

All the reporters were stunned. They had come here with righteous indignation, as if there were countless secrets to uncover in athlete selection. They imagined themselves as champions of justice, revealing astonishing truths. But now, they had indeed uncovered the truth, only to be ruthlessly tripped up by it.

But these reporters didn't leave empty-handed. They at least learned that Zhang Guan had won the gold medal and broken the Asian record. Being the first Asian to run under 10 seconds was undoubtedly major news, worthy of front-page headlines in the news section and even a dedicated feature in the sports section.

However, the problem was that the media these reporters belonged to had recently questioned Zhang Guan. Now, they were reporting that Zhang Guan had broken the Asian record. It was like slapping themselves in the face.

...

At this moment, Japanese media was in despair. Just last month, Endo Shingo was a national hero, but now, he had lost to Zhang Guan in a live broadcast across the country. This defeat was far more damaging than a few insults from online media.

More importantly, Zhang Guan had not only broken the Asian record but also shattered Japanese pride. Calls were even made within Japan to establish a dedicated sports ministry.

...

Meanwhile, Filipino media was also in a state of shock. Just two days ago, they had mocked Zhang Guan's declaration of victory, claiming that breaking the Asian record was an unreachable fantasy. But now, Zhang Guan not only won the championship but also broke the Asian record for the men's 100 meters.

Yesterday, Zhang Guan ran in 10 seconds flat. Filipino media could have buried their heads in the sand and ignored the news or attributed it to favorable wind conditions. But today, with a solid 9.99 seconds, they were left speechless. The 100-meter showdown was the most dazzling event in athletics, and breaking the Asian record was the highlight of the Asian Championships. As the host country, the Philippines had no choice but to report it.

Filipino media tried to find a scapegoat. Ideally, the defeated Japanese would have been perfect, blaming Japan's incompetence for China's victory. However, Japan was a major ally of the Philippines, so they dared not insult the Japanese.

As for the Chinese team, since they won the championship, there was nothing to criticize.

So Filipino media had to blame themselves. Filipino-language newspapers criticized English-language newspapers for lacking vision, while English-language newspapers criticized Filipino-language newspapers for being vulgar. Chinese-language newspapers criticized Filipino-language newspapers and English-language newspapers together. The Philippine Star accused the Philippine Daily Inquirer of insulting athletes, while the Inquirer accused the Manila Times of lacking sportsmanship, and the Manila Times accused the Manila Bulletin of spreading false news...

In short, all Filipino media were shirking responsibility, claiming that their earlier mockery of Zhang Guan was influenced by other "irresponsible" media and had nothing to do with themselves.

...

At the national team's base.

Zhang Guan lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, his thoughts already immersed in the system.

"Strengthening the body, increasing physical strength. Description: Growth skill. Fitness, increasing physical endurance. Description: Growth skill. Learning a skill requires 3 skill points, two is 6 points, quite expensive! The larger the investment, the higher the return, so let's learn it!"

At the recent awards ceremony, Zhang Guan received the honor of winning the Asian Athletics Championships and also gained 2 skill points. With a total of 6 skill points, Zhang Guan finally acquired enough to learn the skills of Strengthening the Body and Fitness.

Zhang Guan stood up, stretched his muscles, and even threw a few punches, muttering to himself, "Why does it feel like it's not working!"

At that moment, a dialogue box appeared in the system.

"Task completed. Reward: 1 skill point."

"These growth skills, after learning, the effects will not immediately manifest but will gradually increase over time, and will decrease with the decline of physical function."

"At the same time, some skills can be combined to form new skills, which will have more powerful effects than the original skills. The two skills you just learned, Strengthening the Body and Fitness, can be combined into a new skill: Body Strengthening and Fitness. You can try it.

"Task prompt: Combine the skills Strengthening the Body and Fitness into the skill Body Strengthening and Fitness."

An icon for synthesis appeared in the system. Zhang Guan clicked on it and dragged the two skills, Strengthening the Body and Fitness, into it, and indeed, a new skill icon appeared.

Zhang Guan immediately checked the skill description: Body Strengthening and Fitness, increases physical strength and endurance, and improves the speed and level of tissue repair. Description: Growth skill, synthesis skill.

"The effect of this new skill is not only to increase physical strength and endurance but also to accelerate tissue repair after injury. Isn't this like faster and better recovery after injuries?" Zhang Guan realized that this was a divine skill.

For an athlete, the greatest fear was not age but injury. Many older athletes maintained good competitive conditions, while many strong young athletes retired early due to injuries. Injuries were the greatest enemy of athletes.

For an athlete, every minor injury represented a decline in competitive condition, while every major injury could mean the end of a career. The better an athlete's injury recovery, the longer their professional career.

"This divine skill must be synthesized!" Zhang Guan chose to synthesize without hesitation, but he received a prompt from the system.

"What? Not enough skill points? Synthesis also requires skill points? And it's 6 points? So many! Who designed this system, it's a scam!" Zhang Guan was almost jumping with anger.

At this moment, Zhang Guan suddenly remembered some online games later on, where the equipment wasn't expensive, but embedding gems was more and more costly; even though various gems were common, the scrolls for synthesizing gems had to be purchased. At crucial moments, there were also "success rates" for synthesis, making you fail several times. The most annoying thing was that you could spend money to buy an item to increase the success rate. Such games attracted some wealthy players who spent tens of thousands just to play, but they might as well have tipped the developers.

"My system probably doesn't have a success rate limit! It must be a 100% success rate, it must be 100% successful synthesis, otherwise, it would be a big loss!" Zhang Guan silently prayed in his heart.