Demons Beside You

“Ready,” the judge instructed.

All the contestants stood on the platform. When the gun was fired, the ten contestants jumped into the water simultaneously.

Grint looked at Eveleigh. Swimming in the sixth lane, she was the fastest.

As a long-distance runner, Grint knew about mid- and long-distance swimming too.

Mid- and long-distance swimming were similar to long-distance running in that they all needed appropriate tactics.

An athlete should not swim too quickly at the start, or he or she would very likely run out of stamina halfway.

But Eveleigh was too fast. It was clearly not the correct stamina distribution for this swimming competition.

Very soon, Eveleigh was at least ten meters ahead of the rest. At the first 50-meter turning point, she was at least three seconds ahead, which was increased to ten seconds at the second turning point.

The referee team had also been watching the competition. Because the contest was half-official, there was an electronic timer.

“The girl in lane 6 used 26 seconds for 50 meters. It’s a sprint. She won’t have enough stamina to sprint at the end.”

“What did her coach tell her? It’s so amateur. Racing at the beginning until she’s out of strength.”

“Could it be some kind of tactic?”

“No way. Swimming has developed over so many years. Almost all tactics have been discovered. In the early stages, some people indeed tried to sprint at the start so as to get ahead of the rest, but they lost eventually. Using all strength at the start just isn’t the right rhythm for 800m freestyle.”

“First 50 meters, 26 seconds, turning 1.1 seconds. Second 50 meters, 27.45 seconds, turning 0.99 seconds. Third 50 meters, 27.35 seconds… She’s already swum 400 meters. She’s still maintaining this speed.”

“Her stamina is really good.”

By then, Eveleigh was already at least 50 meters ahead of the other contestants.

“She slowed down. 500 to 550 meters, 31 seconds.”

“If she had the correct tactic, she would definitely have a good chance of emerging first, or even producing an excellent result.”

700 meters…

“Huh? She sped up again. That’s fast!”

“26.5 seconds. She’s sprinting again.”

“Where did she get the stamina?”

“What? How could she be so fit?”

Finally, Eveleigh finished the race first.

Everyone in the referee team stood up, staring at her in disbelief.

The result had yet to be displayed on the electronic screen because none of them could believe their eyes.

Eveleigh also looked at the screen, waiting for the result.

Finally, after ten seconds or so, the result appeared.

7 minutes, 59 seconds and 89 milliseconds!

The audience was stirred up.

“This is fake, right?”

“Impossible! How could this happen?”

“Is this result very good?” someone asked.

“Are you a fool? Do you know what’s the world record?”

“What?”

“8 minutes and 11 seconds.”

“If the result is real, then this girl would have created a miracle. She’s the first woman to hit 8 minutes for 800m freestyle, an entire 11 seconds faster than the world record!”

After about 40 seconds, the second contestant arrived. When she saw the numbers on the electronic screen, particularly the result above hers, she also looked at Eveleigh in astonishment.

Eveleigh similarly stared at the screen in bafflement. Even she could not believe that she had achieved such a result.

It was unbelievable.

How did she do it?

Was the result even real?

As an amateur swimmer, Eveleigh had just broken the world record?

…

Grint looked at the result in doubt and confusion.

Is this the result of that person’s training?

In ten days, he created a world record breaker?

There was nothing apart from bewilderment. Grint’s head went blank.

If I found him myself, if I agreed to Eveleigh’s condition at that time, would I be able to achieve an earth-shattering result, just like she did?

Just then, the referee team announced the result effective.

The fact that this match was not even a national-level one, and therefore would not be acknowledged by FINA, would not prevent the result from being exposed.

After all, it was a result that would shock the entire swimming world.

Just as Eveleigh climbed out of the pool, the referee team and her school representatives approached her.

“Ms. Eveleigh, we need to conduct a urine test and blood test on you. Are you okay with them?”

“Sure.” Eveleigh also wanted to know whether she had achieved such an incredible result because of illegal drugs.

The preliminary urine test result came out very soon. It was very normal, with nothing outside the acceptable range.

Of course, the preliminary check was very basic. Eveleigh’s sample had to be delivered to a specialized laboratory for a more accurate check.

Very soon, everyone at UCLA knew that a new world record had just been born in the swimming complex.

When Eveleigh stood on the podium to receive her award, she felt as if she was in the Olympics.

She began to hesitate, not knowing whether she should become a professional athlete.

“Eveleigh, can I have an autograph, please?”

“Eveleigh, take a photo with me.”

“Eveleigh, I like you…”

“Eveleigh…”

Eveleigh had a hard time passing through the crowd but she finally found Chen Zhao.

“Chen, thank you.”

“Not bad.”

“Chen, continue to be my coach.” Eveleigh looked at Chen Zhao.

“No.”

“I’ll pay.”

Chen Zhao still shook his head. He would have to spend a lot of time training Tiger.

Thus, he definitely would not be able to spend a few hours a day training another person.

“Do you plan to become professional?” Chen Zhao asked.

Eveleigh’s family was very rich. After all, two hundred thousand was not something that a middle-class family could afford.

Of course, if she were to become an athlete, she would be able to achieve outstanding results.

“I’m hesitating. What do you think?”

“What will you do in the future?”

“Inherit my family business…” Eveleigh replied.

“Alright, go and become an athlete.”

“Why?”

“It’ll never be too late to inherit your family business. Spend a few years on what you like first. When you can no longer swim, go back to your family. When you’re older, you can even boast to your grandchildren about how playful… no, how grand you’ve been. If you give up on swimming and go inherit your family business, you’ll regret it in the future. Instead of that, you might as well be more decisive now.”