Chapter 92
Seeing Hao Ren getting down and preparing to go back up again, Xie Yujia couldn't bear it anymore. She walked out of the crowd again and said, "Hao Ren! Don't!"
"Cla.s.s President, I will be fine. The bracelets kept b.u.mping into me, and I just have to take them off," Hao Ren smiled at her.
Then, he took off his jacket and placed it in Xie Yujia's hands before turning to face the wall. He was up half a meter instantly.
Xie Yujia was worried, but she knew she couldn't stop Hao Ren. Anxiously, she urged Yu Rong and the other two belayers, "You must hold the rope tight. You can't let him fall."
Towering over the crowd, Xie Wanjun noted his sister's anxious expression. He then lowered his head and buried himself in deep thoughts.
In the blink of an eye, Hao Ren was two meters up; he took the same route but had a faster speed.
Everyone attributed his faster speed to his experience which saved him the time of thinking. No one knew that he had been climbing while carrying 100 kilograms on his arms.
Huang Xujie looked down and saw Hao Ren climbing up again. He was both surprised and contemptuous. "Idiot. Do you think your strength is inexhaustible? You will be grateful if you can cover half the height you did the last time," he thought.
He turned to look at the girls who were looking up at him in admiration, and he put more strength in his grips and thought, "Well, I'll show you the strength of the Captain of the Rock Climbing Club!"
While all that was going on Huang Xujie's head, Hao Ren was climbing up steadily, trying not to make mistakes. Ten minutes later, he was back at the same spot where he was last time.
Meanwhile, Huang Xujie had just climbed up another three meters.
The higher he climbed, the more difficult it got. The holds were spa.r.s.ely positioned and thus were difficult to reach and grip.
When Hao Ren was halfway up the first time, he had felt the sudden increase of difficulty, and that was why he decided to go back down to take off the Mount Tai Bracelets.
The three meters Huang Xujie had covered were difficult, but the toughest part was the last three meters near the summit.
Hao Ren inhaled deeply, looked up at the uneven and protruding rock wall and the randomly placed colorful holds, and reached out his hand. After he grasped one hold, he tried to pull himself up.
Seeing Hao Ren gaining on him, Huang Xujie panicked slightly. He was horrified by Hao Ren's enormous strength.
If he had known that Hao Ren had been previously climbing with 100 extra kilograms, he would have fallen with astonishment.
Hao Ren was more cautious now. The last six meters required not only strength but technique as well.
Everyone on the ground was watching the compet.i.tion with their hearts in their throats. Even the emotionless Xie Wanjun was focusing his attention on the race happening on the 15-meter rock climbing wall.
Hao Ren was gaining on Huang Xujie. His acute hearing picked up Huang Xujie's panting even though this guy was showing everyone his confident smile as if reaching the summit was just a piece of cake.
Hao Ren looked up at the two holds above his head, not sure how to get to them. If he let go of one of his hands now, he would lose balance and fall backward. After all, the upper end of the rock wall had been designed to have a negative slope!
"Whatever!" Hao Ren gritted his teeth, no longer caring about how Huang Xujie was planning to climb this part of the wall. He let go of one hand and immediately reached for another hold above him.
Sure enough, the gravity pulled him
"Oh!" the students on the ground all exclaimed in fear.
Even with the safety rope, the precarious position over ten meters in the air was frightening to look at.
Yu Rong and the other two belayers gasped and tightened their grip on the rope with all their strength.
To their astonishment, with just one of his hands on a hold, Hao Ren dangled in the air; he didn't fall and didn't run out of strength!
Xie Wanjun's eyes lit up at this scene.
"He's finished."
"Yeah. There's no way that he can go up."
"He can't hold it any longer. He will fall very soon."
"With all his weight on his fingers, he can only last a few seconds."
While people were talking among themselves, Hao Ren suddenly bent his arm and began to pull himself up.
The students watching gasped in astonishment.
When he pulled himself up to the limit with one arm, Hao Ren abruptly reached for a higher hold with the other hand.
"Wow!" there was another wave of gasps.
With both feet in the air, he climbed up with the sole strength of his upper body, one hold after another.
No one made a sound because they were all stunned.
"What terrifying strength he has! He is pulling himself up with only his fingers and single arms!" they thought to themselves.
After covering the portion of the wall which had a negative slope, Hao Ren was now at the same height as Huang Xujie.
Hao Ren was wearing a cheap white vest, and his muscles that were exposed were not sun-tanned or strong-looking. But in the eyes of Yu Rong and the other students on the ground, he looked as das.h.i.+ng as a G.o.d coming down to the mortal world! In the crowd, Xie Yujia also gasped in surprise with Hao Ren's jacket in her hands.
Huang Xujie was in a real panic now. Seeing that Hao Ren had caught up with him, he looked up at the hold above him and inhaled deeply before reaching up for it.
It didn't matter how hard he tried, he couldn't change the fact that Hao Ren went down and had caught up with him. In people's eyes, Hao Ren was already the winner.
Even if he could reach the summit before Hao Ren, it only meant that he was more skilled; Hao Ren was the one who had greater strength.
The girls who had been looking up at Huang Xujie starry-eyed were all talking about the previously unknown Hao Ren.
The steady and tense compet.i.tion between the two rivals continued. Huang Xujie was astonished. But as a professional rock climber, he kept his emotions in control and his movements steady.
In a rock climbing compet.i.tion, no one was the winner until the last moment.
Even if a climber was inches away from the top, he or she would fail immediately if the grip got loose and a mistake was made.
At the moment, the two were so close that they could hear each other's loud heartbeats.
Sweat drops flowed down from their arms and faces and fell to the ground more than ten meters below them, shattering into pieces.
"If I win, you must explain to the freshmen how the Rock Climbing Club charges its members," Hao Ren said coldly while glancing at Huang Xujie.
"Save your breath until you can beat me!" Huang Xujie glared at Hao Ren and replied as he reached for a higher hold while spreading his limbs to their limits.
Only highly-skilled rock climbers could accomplish this spider-shaped movement.
On the ground, Yu Rong and the others gradually calmed down from their earlier excitement. The last meter until the summit was the most challenging part. Standing far below, they had a clear view of the last few holds which were more than half a meter from each other. Without leaping, the climbers couldn't reach any of them. However, leaping was a highly-risky move during which the climbers could fall from the wall at the smallest mistake!
Huang Xujie knew the difficulty in the last meter well. It was a thin line between success and failure.
He gulped, hesitating about the leap. On the one hand, Hao Ren was already kind of the winner in people's eyes when he caught up with Huang Xujie after going down, and Huang Xujie had to reach the summit to win back his honor. On the other hand, Huang Xujie was not absolutely sure if he could conquer the last meter. He had only a 50% success rate even during normal practice.
Now, he berated himself for setting the difficulty level to the highest to prevent anyone from reaching the summit and getting the prize.
While he was weighing his options, Hao Ren measured the distance with his eyes and leaped up!
It seemed that time had stopped when he leaped.
Everyone looked at Hao Ren who leaped into the air by kicking on two holds.
Silhouetted against the blue sky, Hao Ren looked like he was flying while the wind fluttered his white vest.
Of course, it was people's illusion. Hao Ren just leaped half a meter into the air with his body free of the support from the wall.
Yu Rong and the other two belayers held the rope anxiously with sweaty hands.
Slap!
Hao Ren landed on the rock wall with one hand gripping one hold and one foot stepping on another.
When everyone heaved a sigh of relief, Hao Ren, who had gripped only two holds instead of three, began to swing!
"Oh!" everyone gasped due to fear.
It seemed that the audiences' mouths and voices were no longer under their control.
Putting more strength in his fingers and gripping the hold tightly, Hao Ren stabilized his body. Putting his free foot onto a pocket in the wall, he leaned closely against it.
Hao Ren heaved a sigh of relief.
He let go of one hand and reached up to grip another hold.
The most challenging part was over, and he would reach the summit after two easy steps.
Red-eyed, Huang Xujie lost his composure. Taking two deep breaths, he also leaped up for a hold above him.
Slap!
His hand grabbed the hold!
"Yes!" the members of the Rock Climbing Club, who had been holding back for the past ten minutes, cheered.
While they cheered, Huang Xujie's arm couldn't support his weight, and his hand slipped. He fell from the position near the summit that was more than ten meters in the air!
The three belayers immediately tightened their grip on the rope and controlled Huang Xujie's fall.
Meanwhile, Hao Ren took the last two steps and reached the summit successfully!
"Wow!" the cheers exploded from the crowd on the ground.
Looking around at the students who were cheering in excitement, Zhao Jiayi had a feeling that the legend of Hao Ren would soon spread all over the school.
Hao Ren waved his hand and descended slowly with the help from the rope.
Huang Xujie had already reached the ground, and his face was purple with rage.
It was obvious who the winner was and who the loser was.
Xie Wanjun, who had been emotionless during the whole compet.i.tion, grinned suddenly. "No wonder this guy could beat half of the basketball team..." he thought.