Chapter 218: They Are All Ordinary People
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Hey Li, congratulations on winning gold in the relay race, your efforts were the most valuable!"
"You're amazing, Li, to help Haiquan Fang and Yue Zhao develop such closeness in only one day."
"Li, I saw that the other team members' cooperation was better than before, your training's effectiveness is extraordinary!"
The coaches around Dai Li couldn't stop praising him.
Li Xue had his nose in the air, elated and proud. Previously, nobody was willing to be in charge of the relay team, thinking it was too dangerous, until his student Dai Li stepped forward bravely.
The result hadn't blown up in Li Xue's face. Dai Li brought no shame, but glory, to Li Xue, in the form of an Asian Games relay champion, which was a big surprise and beyond everyone's expectations.
Including the previous champions in the 100m and 200m run, they had gained three "grand chiefs," so now they could return fully decorated.
Based on traditions, in the upcoming Asian Games Commendation Conference, the national athletic team would be praised for sure, while their application for next year's funds would be largely guaranteed. Therefore, the whole team would benefit from their achievements.
Among compliments, Dai Li was smiling shyly. To him, the relay championship helped gain not only public approval of his ability, but also twenty thousand experience value points as a reward.
The experience value increases faster in competitions! If I only depend on daily training, I wonder how long it would take to obtain sufficient value points to upgrade. A relay champion is worth twenty thousand experience points, one fifth of the upgrading value points required! Dai Li sighed in his mind.
But big competitions like the Asian Games are only held once every four years. Usually in domestic games, even if I trained a champion, I wouldn't receive much experience value as a reward. If I have such experience-rewarding opportunities in the future, I must take every chance.
Dai Li knew that without these Asian Games, he could never predict exactly when he would finally gain enough experience value to upgrade to the top-level coach intermediate phase.
In the next long period of time, there were no big competitions. Dai Li would have to gain his experience value step by step.
...
The Asian Games were finished, but Dai Li didn't return to the Hanbei Provincial Athletic team. Li Xue let him stay with the national team for a few more days in order to increase the coaching team's variety, while offering an opportunity for Dai Li to learn more.
People could tell that Li Xue was determined to cultivate Dai Li, and they had no disagreements. The relay race had proved Dai Li's ability, he was indeed worth of the national team's special treatment.
The national athletic team.
Dai Li knocked at the door, then walked into Li Xue's office.
"Coach, did you want to see me about something?" Dai Li asked.
"Take my car keys and drive my car to pick someone up from the airport. Today's schedule is pretty tight, and our team cars are out on duty, so I have to use my own car instead." Li Xue said, threw his car key to Dai Li.
"Who should I pick up?" Dai Li took the key and asked.
"Old Ding! Jihai Ding. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't let you pick them up. They could simply take a taxi here." Li Xue continued, "Old Ding's flight will arrive at around half past eleven."
"Which airport?" asked Dai Li.
"The international airport, Terminal Three, Exit B," Li Xue replied.
"Is Exit B the exit for international flights?" Dai Li searched his mind, then asked.
"Old Ding went to Singapore for the Asian Hurdling Promotion Conference, that was why he took the international flight. Hurry up, there isn't much time left before rush hour, you don't want to get stuck in a traffic jam," Li Xue said, then focused on his own business.
Dai Li, driving Li Xue's car, headed to the international airport.
At present, it wasn't rush hour, thus traffic wasn't busy. As Dai Li approached the airport, the amount of cars increased gradually, most of them passengers trying to make it in time for flights.
Dai Li parked the car in the parking lot, then went directly to Exit B, Terminal Three. He checked the time, just about eleven o'clock, so the flight from Singapore had not arrived yet. Even if the flight had landed, it still took time for passengers to pass through customs and pick up luggage.
Coach Ding is on the flight, so he can't answer my phone call. Once his flight arrives, the screen will show the information. I can text him then to let him know that I'm here waiting to pick him up.
Since Dai Li felt that there was still some time left, he found a seat, then began to read online novels.
Passengers with different skin colors came out from the exit one after another, white, black, mixed race… All kinds of people gathered together, but nothing stood out. Different languages were spoken at the same time, creating an frenzied atmosphere.
A group of tens of people walked out from the exit wearing the same tracksuits, looking quite strong. Dai Li glanced at them, immediately recognizing that they were athletes.
Foreign athletes? They must have come here for a competition. Do we have any competitions in Huajing soon? Or are they just stopping by in Huajing to move to another city?
As a coach, Dai Li always paid more attention to athletes. He looked carefully at the group of people and found that they were apparently westerners. Some of them looked like Asians at first glance, but if he looked closer at their appearances, they had some Caucasian features, and were probably mixed-race.
They might come from Central Asia. I remember that in the Asian Games, the athletes from five central Asian countries looked similar to these people.
Thinking about this, Dai Li's mind was in a haze. The five central Asian countries—Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan—those countries were quite difficult for Dai Li to distinguish. If he hadn't attended the Asian Games recently, he might not even be able to recognize their national flags.
Let me see what sport they are in! Dai Li thought, examining the foreign athletes.
Road Cycling, talent: C, ability: 328. So they're cyclists!
Dai Li detected several people, and it turned out that they were all cyclists.
I see, recently there seems to be a tour around Juyongguan Bicycle Grand Prix. These athletes must be here for that event. They are probably Kazakhstan athletes. I heard that Kazakhstan has a strong cycling presence, the Astana-Wurth was a breakout force in the Tour de France.
After a while, another group of people came out. This time, they were all Caucasian, although they were dressed casually, Dai Li sensed that they were also professional athletes.
Dai Li examined them again.
Again, these are cyclists. This athlete looks young, but he has B-talent, and his ability is approaching 500 points. As Dai Li was pondering, he saw a foreigner holding a black, yellow, and red tricolor flag, waiting for someone at the airport.
Belgium! Belgium is a country with great power in cycling. Their athletes are indeed stronger than Kazakhstan, but back on topic, this bicycle race is pretty big, even European teams joined in.
Soon after the Belgians left, a group of Spanish-speaking athletes came out with their luggage carts.
Spanish cyclists are here, too. From their ability points, they are at the similar level as the Belgians!
This team even has black athletes, uh, they must be Americans. I can't remember any good black cyclists in history.
...
Three flights had arrived one after another. Dai Li had seen several groups of cyclists.
The flight from Bangkok has just arrived. These must be Thai cyclists! They don't look as good as the previous teams.
Dai Li looked at a new group of athletes who had just come out. They were also dressed in identical tracksuits, but the total amount of people was more than twenty, which was about the sum of the previous two teams.
However, these Thai athletes looked skinny, many of them short and skinny, and two or three of them had dark circles and looked sleepy.
They look exhausted, how long does it take to fly from Bangkok to here? It shouldn't be longer than flying from Europe, right? But the Belgians and the Spanish weren't as tired as they are.
Dai Li shook his head slightly. He could sense that the Thai had so-so physical qualities, perhaps they would lose in this bicycle race, but he still examined them.
Object: ordinary people, ability: 45. What's going on here?
Dai Li stared at the result in a haze.
How come he's just an ordinary person? Shouldn't he be an athlete? Uh-huh, I see, this guy must be the coach! That's why the System doesn't show an athlete's features, but what the hell is a 45 point ability? Even among normal people, such an ability is quite low. I remember the old woman who was walking her dog had a higher ability than this. Is the Thai coach this bad? A few days ago, Thailand's chief coach Bassoon looked quite strong.
Dai Li shook his head again, beginning to examine the next person.
Object: ordinary people, ability: 47. Another ordinary person? Is this a coincidence? Have I examined two coaches coincidentally?
He moved on to the third person.
Object: ordinary people, ability: 55.
The fourth person: Object: ordinary people, ability: 51.
The fifth: Object: ordinary people, ability...
The System has recognized five people as ordinary, is it possible that all five of these people happen to be coaches? Dai Li furrowed his eyebrows.
Perhaps on the Thailand team, there are many non-athletes. Perhaps they've seized the opportunity to travel in a foreign country! But their abilities are indeed low, forty to fifty ability points, that's similar to the old and weak.
Dai Li continued his examination.
Ordinary, ordinary, ordinary, ordinary… More than twenty people, all of them ordinary! What's going on here?