Time flies, and the National Swimming Championships are just around the corner.

It's not a major international event, so there's very little discussion about it online; it's mostly swimming enthusiasts who are interested in it.

It wasn't until a list of participants for the competition circulated online that much attention began to focus on the National Swimming Championships.

This list is the list of participants in the butterfly stroke competition. The names on the lists for the 50m, 100m, 200m and medley relay are all Xie Chen from the Beijing delegation.

Xie Chen's performance at the World Championships back then can only be described as stunning the world; he still holds the world records for the 100m and 200m.

However, his fame was short-lived. After making a name for himself at the World Championships at the age of 17, he suddenly retired and remains a beloved figure in the hearts of many swimming enthusiasts.

His exceptionally handsome face has attracted many fans, and videos of him appearing in competitions back then are still circulating online. Whenever there is a swimming event, Xie Chen's competition videos are brought up and reviewed by marketing accounts.

After the marketing accounts finished their review, they lamented that if Xie Chen hadn't retired, he would have won the Grand Slam and become a swimming superstar.

Xie Chen is a young man who lives in the memories of many. His sudden reappearance on the competition list, like a "zombie," naturally stirred up a storm on the internet, with all sorts of opinions being expressed.

[Holy crap!! Am I seeing things? Is this the Xie Chen I thought he was? When did he make a comeback?]

[Mommy, my butterfly stroke prince is back! Waaaaah! I've already booked Xie Chen's competition time. I'll skip work to watch Xie Chen's race!]

[It reminds me of Xie Chen's dominant performance in the butterfly stroke, winning the championship by a full body length. In that World Championships, which athlete wasn't overshadowed by Xie Chen's powerful presence?]

[Those ahead, don't be too optimistic. Xie Chen retired due to injury back then. Who knows if he's fully recovered in the last two years? He might get easily defeated by other athletes and become a laughingstock.]

[Exactly, the butterfly prince? Besides his performance at the last World Championships, what else does Xie Chen have to brag about? Many excellent swimmers have emerged in China in the past two years; Xie Chen shouldn't get easily outmaneuvered.]

There are both good and bad opinions online, but no matter what, this National Swimming Championships is destined to be a hot topic because of Xie Chen's comeback.

The match that day attracted a lot of attention.

Xie Chen had a preliminary round of the 50-meter butterfly at 2:30.

The once empty venue was filled with half a crowd in just over an hour.

Fu Bai, Xie Ru, and Chen Shengqi were among the audience members.

Unlike the other spectators who were just watching the show, Xie Ru was genuinely worried about Xie Chen.

She clutched her handkerchief tightly, staring intently at the pool, when she suddenly felt a little dizzy.

Xie Chen hasn't competed for two years, and it's uncertain whether he can adapt to the competitive atmosphere.

Thinking this, a wave of guilt washed over her again, and Xie Ru fell into deep self-loathing.

If it weren't for her, Ah Chen would have been standing on the Olympic podium long ago, and he wouldn't be suffering from rumors like this now.

Fu Bai keenly sensed Xie Ru's thoughts, took the initiative to hold Xie Ru's hand, and gently comforted her: "Auntie, you don't need to worry. You have to believe that Achen can do it. He has never given up swimming and has never blamed you."

Fu Bai knew better than anyone that Xie Chen had maintained a high level of training and had never given up on the competition.

Now, it's simply a triumphant return.

The atmosphere around them was noisy, but Xie Ru calmed down with Fu Bai's comforting words, turned to Fu Bai and smiled, "Thank you, Bai Bai, Auntie understands."

Time passed slowly, and the previous events started and ended quickly. Finally, it was time for the preliminary rounds of the men's 50-meter butterfly.

However, as time ticked by, the 50-meter butterfly swimmer did not appear on the field.

An uproar erupted at the scene, and after one person questioned the organizers about what had happened, more and more people spoke up.

The swimming pool instantly became noisy.

Suddenly, 748 urgently said in Fu Bai's sea of ​​consciousness: [Fu Bai, I'm sorry! I forgot something!]

In the original storyline, today's match was also Xie Chen's comeback game, for which he put in a lot of effort.

However, half an hour before the match, the athletes in the same locker room as him suddenly started fighting.

Then Xie Chen became an innocent bystander, being pushed by one of the athletes in the fight. Unfortunately, his foot struck a sharp object, severing his Achilles tendon.

Later, during Xie Chen's investigation, he discovered that the two athletes who fought had been bribed by Chen Lan's suitors in order to break Xie Chen's leg.

The athletes haven't appeared yet, which suggests that what happened in the original storyline may have already occurred.

748 felt extremely guilty.

This is clearly an important plot point, how could it forget it?

It's all because it's been too comfortable lately, being carried away by Fu Bai, and it hasn't had any sense of being prepared for danger.

If Xie Gou Gou really ruptures his Achilles tendon due to his negligence, 748 wouldn't know what to do. Perhaps he could proactively request the main system to give Fu Bai a more useful system.

The child's voice in 748 was almost crying.

[Fu Baibai, I'm sorry, I'm really useless.]

Fu Bai remained silent.

His fox-like eyes were fixed on the shimmering pool, his expression indifferent, and no one could tell what he was thinking.

The audience in the stands became increasingly restless.

The viewers in the live stream couldn't wait any longer.

What's going on? Wasn't Xie Chen's match supposed to start? Why haven't the athletes come out yet?

Could Xie Chen have pulled some other trick up his sleeve?

The comments flew across the screen rapidly, and the netizens' emotions became increasingly agitated.

The organizers had to move other matches forward to temporarily appease the audience.

Nobody knows what went wrong in the 50-meter butterfly preliminaries or why the athletes were so late in entering the arena.

748 kept observing Fu Bai's pale face, curled up into a small ball, and sobbed with guilt.

If only it had remembered the original plot sooner.

“He’ll be alright,” Fu Bai suddenly said, his expression relaxed, unaffected by the tense atmosphere around him or by 748’s crying. He said with great certainty, “I believe in him, he’ll be alright.”

Perhaps Xie Chen in the original story was successfully outmaneuvered, but this Xie Chen will not.

Fu Bai believed him.

As if in response to Fu Bai's trust, after the freestyle preliminaries ended, the organizers finally broadcast the announcement that the 50-meter butterfly preliminaries were about to begin.

Xie Chen appeared before the crowd and the cameras wearing a bathrobe.

In the shot, Xie Chen suddenly looked up at the stands, and then smiled happily, seemingly at something he saw.

His smile was hearty, his eyes bright, and he possessed a calming and reassuring quality.