Goddess of Strength and Speed (III)

She ran as fast as her long, slender legs could carry her. Her teammates watched in awe, slack-jawed and unable to move as they witnessed their 'saviour' run at an incredible pace.

She could feel her heart thumping loudly as she reached the finish line first, earning a loud cheer from her teammates who ran toward her.

"Incredible," Min mumbled, tilting his head to see his friend's reaction, "She's a fast one, ain't she?"

Min saw that Bai was hiding a proud smile.

"OH MY GOSH!" Zhenya preened, clapping her hands in awe.

"Girl, you are so fast!" Na exclaimed.

"We got first place?" Jingyi asked, shock evident on his face.

The whole of the Sales Department was in utter disbelief.

"You're amazing, Lai," Na clasped her hands together, her eyes radiating stars.

"It was nothing, really," Lai smiled sheepishly, softly scratching her right cheek.

She internally jumped up in delight and sighed. Lingxin gave her a proud smile.

'I still got it,' she smiled, 'Even if we don't come out in the top three, I want to at least do my best and not disappoint my team members.'

She stared at her team members, who surrounded her with closed-eye smiles. They admired her as if she was their last hope.

'Yeah,' she softly laughed, 'It's the least I can do for them. Plus, I might make friends.'

Chi-Chi turned to face the employees.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, eyeing the crowd of employees, "It seems like we have a new winning department this year for the 50-meter race. In first place is..."

She turned to the Sales Department.

"The Sales Department!" Chi-Chi squealed, earning a loud roar from the members of the Sales Department.

"Coming in at 2nd place is the Finance Department!"

Mo Bi clicked her tongue in annoyance and crossed her arms.

"Finally," Chi-Chi concluded, "We have the Marketing Department in 3rd place."

"Yeah!" the Marketing Department's employees cheered.

"Good job, everyone," Chi-Chi nodded with a smile, "Next, we have the balloon popping game!'

Lai turned to Jingyi, who sighed.

"Balloon popping game is mine," he told her, "I may not look like it, but I'm very good at shooting games. Plus, I've been practicing."

Lai watched as two employees from the Operations Department held a huge cardboard-shaped square with balloons tied to it.

"As you can see," Chi-Chi explained, thanking the two employees for their help, "You will be given a toy gun which you will use to pop the balloons. Every department has seven balloons which they need to pop. Each balloon is coloured according to each department. The department that pops all their balloons the fastest is the winner."

All the employees nodded in understanding.

"Now, please, can the participants from each department step forward and grab a toy gun from the black container next to me."

Jingyi stretched his hands and pressed his lips together.

"All the best, man," Lingxin pat his shoulder.

"Yeah," Zhenya nodded with a smile.

"All the best," they all said in unison.

Jingyi nodded and walked towards the black container near Chi-Chi. She stared at him as he reached for a toy gun, admiring how muscular his upper body was.

He glanced up and found her staring, a blush creeping up her face.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat and looked away, "A-all right, everyone. Please stand at the designated line and get ready."

Jingyi stared at Chi-Chi for a while and shrugged, not knowing why she suddenly turned beet red. He walked to the white line taped on the basketball court's floor.

"Seems like you guys have a fast team member," he heard the employee to his right say.

It was a guy from the Finance Department.

"She took us by surprise," the guy continued as others lined up at the white line, "She ain't so bad, but we will still crush you guys and every other department..."

Jingyi rolled his eyes, ignoring the guy as he set his eyes on his targeted balloons.

"Like we always do," the guy finished and clicked his tongue in annoyance upon seeing that Jingyi was ignoring him.

"Now then, participants!" Chi-Chi exclaimed in the microphone she was holding, "When I blow the whistle, you may start. Remember to only pop your balloons. You will get minus ten points if you shoot another department's balloons."

The participants from the other departments groaned at the negative deduction rule.

"Ready!" Chi-Chi brought the whistle to her lips and blew with all her might, "Go!"

With that, Jingyi lifted the toy gun and began shooting the balloons. He missed a few times, while the guy from the Finance Department was almost done.

Only down to his last three balloons.

Jingyi vowed to at least be in the top three for this event as he had been practicing at shooting ranges for the last five months just for this game.

'Come on,' he told himself, gritting his teeth, 'You can do this.'

The Finance Department was down to its last balloon. Jingyi managed to shoot the remainder of the balloons without accidentally popping any other department's balloons.

He finished in third place as the General Management Department finished a few seconds after the Finance Department.

"Damn. Talk about poor aiming skills," Na mumbled to Lai as she watched the other departments struggle and receive negative points.

The balloon popping game lasted for about five minutes. Chi-Chi rubbed her eyes as the last balloon popped.

"Wow," she sighed, "For a second, I thought this game would last longer. We have our first, second, and third winners, the Finance Department, General Management Department, and the Sales Department, in their respective order. Congratulations!"

Jingyi walked to the black container, placed the toy gun inside, and again noticed Chi-Chi stare at him.

He tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brows.

"Is something wrong?" he whispered to her, causing her to flinch in surprise, "It's just that you've been staring at me for a while now, so I thought you might have something to say."

She blushed profusely and internally cursed herself for being so obvious in her stare game. Chi-Chi had a massive crush on Jingyi, and all the employees knew about it except him.

The man was wholly and utterly oblivious. She covered the mic with one hand so that others could not hear what she said.

"N-nothing is wrong," she stammered, "I j-just thought you looked pretty cool back there, that's all."

Jingyi nodded and smiled.

"Really?" he looked down and scratched his cheek, slightly embarrassed, "Thanks."

With that, he walked toward his team members with a sheepish smile.

"All right!" Na exclaimed as Zhenya clapped happily.

"You were so cool back there," Lai told him with a thumbs up.

"Good work," Lingxin added, patting Jingyi's shoulder.

"Thanks, everyone," Jingyi nodded.

The two employees from before came and took away the huge cardboard box, placing it in a corner. It was time for the next event.

"Next is the three-legged race," Chi-Chi announced, pointing at the colorful bands she was holding in her hand, "Two members from each department should come and collect a coloured band matching their department's colour. Tie the band around your legs and stand by the starting line."

Lai looked at her teammates, wondering who would participate in this event.

"Okay, Zhenya," she heard Na say, "Looks like we're up."

Zhenya nodded and began to warm up as Na walked to Chi-Chi to get a blue band. Na came back and crouched down in front of Zhenya.

She tied their legs together and stood up.