New York, Metropolitan Football Stadium.
The weather was clear and sunny, and the entire venue had been buzzing with excitement since an hour ago.
Banners and pennants bearing the faces and names of A-Train and Shockwave, along with the words "Race of the Century," hung all around the stadium.
Nearly a hundred thousand spectators filed into the arena, eager to witness firsthand who would claim the title of "the World's Fastest Man."
"This is a classic reimagining of the Race of the Century, a contest representing the pinnacle of athletic competition. This is our heritage, and our future..."
"A-Train, the record holder, the fastest man alive!"
"Shockwave, the unstoppable super rookie!"
"The winner won't just take home the title of number one, but also a lucrative sneaker endorsement contract."
"Ever since Mister Marathon retired, this has been the ultimate showdown we've all been waiting for..."
Across the colossal screens in the stadium and on broadcast feeds, the Vought International logo flashed by as expertly cut pre-race promos and heated commentator debates played out one after another.
Meanwhile, at Godkin University.
When Qi Li and Kate walked over together, Luke, Andre, Jordan, Maverick, Dean, and Sloan were already assembled.
Parked beside them were a black Porsche and a Ferrari with yellow racing stripes.
"We're not late, are we?" Qi Li asked casually as he stepped forward.
"Right on time," Luke replied with a smile.
As he spoke, he cast a fleeting glance at Kate, glowing with radiant vitality beside Qi Li, and sighed faintly to himself.
After yesterday's spar, he and Andre had talked late into the night. Looking at Kate now, what was done was done; it was time to let the past go.
"Let's get going," Andre urged, waving a hand.
The Ferrari only had two seats, but Sloan could go in the trunk, making just enough room for the seven of them.
Qi Li, however, had no interest in being crammed in like that.
"No need. I'll just fly Kate there. See you at the stadium."
With that, he wrapped an arm around Kate's waist and leaped.
Bang!
The two shot straight into the clouds, vanishing beyond the horizon in an instant.
Andre tilted his head back down.
"Then let's..." He blinked, about to repeat what he'd said earlier.
Just then, Dean stepped forward, slipped on his signature goggles, and declared, refusing to be outdone, "I'll just run there myself. Make sure you drive fast—don't keep me waiting too long."
Before the echo of his words faded—
Whoosh—
Dean's figure had already disappeared down the road.
Seeing this, Andre paused before asking, "Anyone else have something to say?"
Maverick nodded. "Well, this way, Sloan won't have to be stuffed into the trunk."
Sloan: "Mm-hmm—"
Andre: "...Then let's go."
***
How high was the sky?
The ancients could spend their entire lives without being able to fathom it.
Under modern science, the meteorological "sky" typically referred to the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere—spanning from roughly ten thousand to eighteen thousand meters—which was the "sky" humans could directly perceive.
Higher up lay the internationally recognized boundary of space: the Kármán line at an altitude of a hundred thousand meters, the conventional border between the atmosphere and outer space.
From there, one could faintly discern the curvature of the Earth.
As for seeing the full, spherical Earth, that required an altitude of 3.4 million meters.
Qi Li soared into the sky with Kate, in no rush to reach the stadium.
Seeing how curious she was about everything up in the sky, he decided to keep flying upward with her.
One thousand meters.
Three thousand meters.
Five thousand meters.
Ten thousand meters...
In less than a minute and a half, Qi Li brought Kate to a steady hover at an altitude of twenty thousand meters.
This was roughly the Armstrong limit.
Without protective gear, no matter how strong a normal human's constitution was, this was as far as they could go.
Naturally, that limitation didn't apply to superhumans.
Even so, superhumans still had to deal with hypothermia and hypoxia.
Unless someone possessed a physique as formidable as Qi Li's, capable of brushing off all of it, at best they could only endure for a little while longer.
Seeing that Kate was freezing, Qi Li went no further.
"A pity. I wanted to take you to look at the Earth. The awe of seeing it with your own eyes is something pictures could never capture."
Speaking, Qi Li descended with Kate all the way to seven thousand meters, resting above the cloud layer.
Kate let out a sigh of relief and rubbed her cold arms. "It's fine. I'll just ride Musk's Dragon spacecraft one day."
After saying that, she looked curiously at the thick clouds beneath her feet that had previously flashed by. She couldn't resist reaching out to touch them, though naturally, her fingers grasped nothing.
"This place... is breathtaking too."
Kate's eyes sparkled as a thought seemed to cross her mind. She turned her head and gazed straight at Qi Li.
Knowing full well the wild streak buried deep within Kate, Qi Li understood in an instant.
And so, Kate made the first move.
Going with the flow, Qi Li treated her to a spiraling ascent.
For a time, Kate's screams echoed through the clouds.
***
Metropolitan Football Stadium.
Marvin, the newest recruit to The Boys, pulled out a camera and a press pass, handing them to Hughie as he carefully briefed him:
"This is your cover. From here on, you're a mild-mannered reporter..."
Ever since Butcher and his crew confirmed the relationship between A-Train and Popclaw on the night of Qi Li's duel, and verified that Translucent hadn't set a trap for them, they had turned their sights on Popclaw.
During that time, they had recalled Marvin—nicknamed "Mother's Milk"—and secretly bugged Popclaw's home, unexpectedly discovering that A-Train was doping with a substance known as Compound V.
This was a massive breakthrough. If they could prove that the Super Seven were nothing more than a bunch of filthy, steroid-shooting junkies, it would be enough to destroy their heroic image in the eyes of the public.
To do that, they needed to get their hands on a sample of Compound V.
The group's arrival today was precisely to steal the Compound V from A-Train's bag.
At this moment, Hughie was confiding in Marvin about what he'd been experiencing lately.
Boom!
A sudden boom resonated from the sky.
It was remarkably close, sounding almost right nearby.
Hughie asked nervously, "Is Homelander here?"
Marvin calmly poked his head out. "He's the biggest star—he always saves his entrance for last."
Soon enough, he spotted a man and a woman walking out of a flower bed not far away.
"Do I look all right like this?"
Kate smoothed down her blond hair, which had been tossed into a mess by the gale-force winds, feeling somewhat uncomfortable as she walked.
There was no helping it. Up in the clouds, things had gotten so intense that an accidental exertion had shredded her skimpiest underwear to pieces. Fortunately, she could still pull on a pair of jeans, so she had to make do for now.
"You look great. Fantastic."
Feeling that his flight skills had reached a whole new level, Qi Li showered high praise on the one most responsible.
Then, holding Kate's hand, he stepped out of the flower bed and headed for the entrance.
Marvin was watching them with confusion.
Hughie, who had sidled up beside him at some point, caught sight of Qi Li and suddenly realized, "It's him!"
Marvin turned his head. "You know him?"
Chapter 40