Chapter 75 -75-On Your Left

Chapter 75: Chapter75-On Your Left

At first, everything went pretty smoothly.

After five hundred meters.

The problems started.

The effects of years of barely exercising were even more obvious than John had expected.

His Strength was high.

His heart, lungs, and muscles also possessed limits far beyond those of an ordinary person.

But physical coordination was a completely different matter.

His running posture was even a little stiff.

His center of gravity occasionally shifted.

Even the way his feet landed wasn’t particularly stable.

Before he had even reached one kilometer.

John’s breathing had already become rapid.

A faint metallic sweetness gradually rose in his throat.

John didn’t stop.

He could still endure it.

So he kept going.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Sweat gradually began to bead across his forehead.

A clear burning sensation spread through his lungs.

Five minutes later.

Just when John thought it would take him at least several days of training to adapt—

Something suddenly changed.

Thump!

His heart beat powerfully.

A wave of heat spread outward from his chest and swept through his entire body.

John’s steps faltered slightly.

When he took his next breath.

A massive amount of air rushed into his lungs.

The burning sensation vanished instantly.

It was as though his lungs had been completely reconstructed.

The amount of air he could take in with a single breath increased dramatically.

The efficiency with which his blood transported oxygen began to rise as well.

His legs, which had felt as heavy as lead just moments ago, quickly became light.

His muscles began working more and more naturally.

His center of gravity gradually stabilized.

His body started adjusting on its own, finding the most efficient running posture.

John glanced down at his sports watch.

At first.

5 km/h.

Then.

10 km/h.

15 km/h.

John tried accelerating further.

20 km/h.

30 km/h.

40 km/h!

The scenery around him began retreating rapidly.

Benches and decorative trees along the lakeside flashed past in an instant.

Yet John’s breathing remained steady.

Even his heartbeat hadn’t noticeably increased.

Forty kilometers per hour.

That was already close to the speed of a car driving through ordinary city streets.

And yet he felt...

He was nowhere near his limit.

Fifty?

Sixty?

Maybe even faster?

John had a strong feeling.

If he really wanted to keep accelerating, reaching 100 kilometers per hour wouldn’t be difficult at all.

And this wasn’t some short burst of speed.

He felt like he could keep running for a very long time.

"This Constitution..."

John gradually slowed down.

There were cameras everywhere in the community.

A man sprinting around the lake at sixty kilometers per hour early in the morning...

No matter how you looked at it, that didn’t exactly qualify as normal morning exercise.

There was no need to create unnecessary trouble for himself.

John reduced his speed back to the range of an ordinary person.

As he ran, he continued feeling the changes in his body.

While John was thinking.

Footsteps came from behind him.

A tall figure quickly overtook him on the left.

The man turned his head.

A broad, easygoing smile appeared on his face.

"New face?"

"First morning run?"

John had only glanced over casually.

But the next second.

His gaze stopped.

Tall frame.

Broad shoulders.

Nearly two meters in height.

Square jaw.

And that intensely imposing physique.

The more John looked at him...

The more he resembled someone.

Horus?

John took another couple of looks.

He really did look similar.

Except for the hair.

The man in front of him had plenty of it.

Actually, it was pretty thick.

Meanwhile, Horus in the game had a gleaming bald head.

Still, Apocalypse preserved the basic features of a player’s real-world appearance.

If this guy really was Horus.

He should recognize John.

But the man’s expression right now was completely natural.

He was clearly seeing John for the first time.

"Coincidence?"

John didn’t think too much about it.

"Yeah."

"Moved in two days ago."

He raised a hand and pointed toward a villa farther down the lakeside.

"The one by the lake."

The man followed his gesture.

His eyes lit up slightly.

"Great."

"Welcome here."

He spread his arms and took a deep breath beneath the artificial sunlight.

"Enjoy your beautiful sun."

With that.

The man suddenly accelerated.

He quickly pulled more than ten meters ahead of John.

John watched his back.

His eyebrow rose slightly.

Pretty fast.

For some reason, a small competitive urge suddenly surfaced.

The next second.

John accelerated.

His foot hit the ground.

His body leaned forward.

Whoosh!

The man running ahead only felt a gust of wind pass beside him.

John had already overtaken him from the left.

As he passed, John politely reminded him.

"On your left."

The man froze for a moment.

"..."

He turned and watched John rapidly disappear into the distance.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Okay."

A few minutes later.

The man finished half a lap.

Footsteps came from behind him again.

"On your left."

Whoosh!

John passed him for the second time.

The man: "..."

He silently increased his pace.

A little while later.

That familiar voice once again came from behind him.

"On your left."

The third time.

Sweat had already begun appearing on the man’s forehead.

"Jesus..."

He gritted his teeth and kept running.

Finally.

By the time he finished a full lap while gasping for breath.

John was already nearing the end of his third.

The man looked at the figure once again approaching him from behind.

His expression finally collapsed.

"OK!"

"OK!"

"You win!"

"Stop doing that!"

John laughed.

Only then did he slow down.

The man walked directly over to a decorative tree nearby and dropped onto the grass.

He leaned his back against the trunk.

His chest rose and fell violently.

"Crazy kid..."

John took two bottles of water from an automated refreshment machine.

He walked over and handed one to him.

"Thanks."

The man twisted off the cap and drank nearly half the bottle in one go.

Once his breathing had calmed a little.

He looked John up and down.

"You don’t look anything like someone on his first morning run."

"What did you do before this?"

John waved a hand.

"Freelance."

"Wrote some novels."

The man visibly froze.

Then burst out laughing.

"Writer?"

"Come on."

He slapped his thick thigh.

"None of the writers I know can run like that."

"And if you can afford to live here..."

The man looked up at the villa beside the lake.

"You must be a pretty famous writer."

"Maybe I’ve read one of your books."

John shrugged.

"Maybe."

"I’ll bring you a signed copy next time."

"Ha!"

The man laughed even harder.

"Deal."

The two casually chatted for a while.

John’s gaze fell on the man’s right arm.

Beneath the sleeve of his athletic shirt.

Several obvious scars could be seen.

They clearly weren’t marks left behind by ordinary accidents.

One stretched from his shoulder almost all the way to his elbow.

Another looked like an old wound left behind by shrapnel tearing through flesh.

John lifted his chin slightly.

"What about you?"

"Those don’t exactly look like jogging injuries."

The man lowered his gaze toward his arm.

His expression paused slightly.

Then he gave an unconcerned smile.

"Fifteen years in the army."

"Did plenty of things that don’t go on a résumé."

He finished the rest of his water.

"Finally retired."

"What branch?"

John asked.

The man thought about it.

As though considering how exactly he should describe it.

"Let’s just say..."

"I served aboard a certain kind of fleet."

John glanced at his physique.

Fifteen years.

A fleet.

Classified missions.

"If you can afford to live here, your rank must’ve been pretty high."

"No."

The man shook his head with a completely serious expression.

Then added:

"But I fucked the General’s daughter."