Chapter Two: The Red Line Painted Green

At 5:40 the next morning, Shen Xinglan was already in the weight room. When Sun Bo entered with his shuttle-run list, she was finishing a set of banded lateral walks. Cheng Yanqiu had positioned a camera beside the force plates, and team doctor Han Song crouched near the monitor. Two bars of unequal height glared from the screen. “Left hip abduction strength is seventeen percent below the right,” Han said. “Shuttle runs in this condition would be an unnecessary risk.” Sun's face reddened. “Last night's test was normal.” “Was there a test last night?” Xinglan asked, toweling off. Silence answered. “Normal” had been a green number automatically filled into a template.