After Self-Discipline Made Me Unstoppable, My Ex-Girlfriend Regretted It in Tears - Chapter 3:

Chapter 3: If It’s a Terminal Illness, How Can He Still Be So Fierce?

In the past decade or so, marathon events across the country had been booming.

Although Li Bai had never participated before and didn’t know much about them, a quick search online brought up a wealth of information.

“Bianjing Marathon… Zhucheng Marathon… Jinhai Marathon… huh, Jinhai has one too?”

Li Bai felt a pleasant surprise.

Jinhai was right next door to his city!

Registering for that marathon would be much closer than going to places like Bianjing or Zhucheng.

Jinhai Marathon was also an A-level event certified by the Athletics Association, which met the system’s requirements.

“Oh, registration closes in just three days? Better sign up quickly!”

“Wait, why are there so many requirements just to register for a marathon?”

After finding the official event website and reading for a while, Li Bai realized that signing up for a marathon wasn’t as simple as he had thought.

Although the Jinhai Marathon wasn’t a top-tier event, it certainly wasn’t some unofficial competition either.

It had formal entry requirements. Participants needed to provide a certificate of completing at least a half marathon within the past two years.

Alternatively, they could submit a medical examination report issued by an official medical institution, including chest X-rays, ECG results, and so on.

Li Bai obviously couldn’t provide any completion certificate. He had never run a marathon before.

Fortunately, getting a medical report wasn’t difficult.

To avoid delaying his registration, he didn’t even bother returning to his hometown.

The next morning, he went to a top-tier hospital in Magic Capital, completed the required medical examinations, and obtained all the necessary reports.

“I’d like to extend my stay for one more day. Here’s my room card.”

With money in his pocket, Li Bai didn’t hesitate to spend on himself. The Gold Premium Suite, costing over 4,000 yuan per night, was extended without a second thought.

“Wait!”

Just as Li Bai entered the elevator with his medical report in hand, a woman hurried over from the hotel lobby.

The attendant holding the elevator door stopped it for her to get in.

The hotel elevator was beautifully designed. Though the machinery was modern, its appearance retained the style from over a century ago.

The outer layer featured wrought-iron railings in a Republic-era style, while the interior cabin was decorated with antique-style wooden panels.

Even the control panel used old-fashioned knobs instead of electronic touchscreens.

But no matter how elegant it looked, it couldn’t draw Li Bai’s attention.

Because the woman who had just entered was simply too beautiful.

She wore a trench coat, her temperament slightly cold and aloof. Her profile was exquisite, with a graceful nose bridge and delicate lips.

What captivated Li Bai the most were her eyes—bright and sharp, like stars scattered across the night sky.

They seemed cold at first glance, yet her long lashes trembled gently, as if spring snow melting into life.

At that moment, her eyelids flickered, and her gaze casually swept toward Li Bai.

Their eyes met, then parted, as if nothing had happened.

But Li Bai vaguely felt that this beauty seemed a little interested in him.

Probably just an illusion.

He didn’t believe that a refined, elegant beauty like her would pay attention to someone like him—a nobody from a small place.

Moreover, compared to indulging in fantasies about an unattainable beauty, Li Bai would rather focus on completing the new mission from the [Self-Discipline System].

Once he became stronger through discipline, what kind of woman wouldn’t he be able to have?

However, fate seemed to have a peculiar sense of humor.

When the elevator reached the eighth floor, Li Bai stepped out—and so did the beautiful woman.

He opened his room door, and she opened hers.

They were on the same floor, on the same side.

What a coincidence.

Li Bai shook his head and went inside, focusing on his marathon registration.

…

Li Sha entered her room and closed the door. The moment it shut, her cold and aloof facade instantly melted away.

What remained was a face full of curiosity and eyes brimming with gossip.

She had seen the medical report bag in Li Bai’s hand earlier!

Although she didn’t know the exact contents, the hospital name printed on the bag was very prominent.

It was clearly used for holding medical reports—likely CT scans or chest X-rays.

If he had such reports, he must have gone to the hospital early in the morning, right?

His age and gender also matched the “neighbor” from yesterday.

Could this be the start of another melodramatic story?

Like those old Korean dramas—where the man is terminally ill and chooses to break up to avoid burdening his girlfriend?

Li Sha soon frowned in confusion.

That didn’t make sense…

That man looked full of energy. How could he possibly be terminally ill?

And if he really had a terminal illness, how could he be that fierce in that aspect?

Thinking of the wooden wall that had trembled so violently yesterday, Li Sha’s cheeks flushed red again.

Her long, slender legs unconsciously intertwined.

…

Li Bai had no idea that the beauty next door had misunderstood him.

With his medical report in hand, he successfully completed the online registration and payment.

Of course, registration was only the first step. From what he had learned, signing up didn’t guarantee participation.

There was a limit on participants. If too many people registered, entry would be decided by lottery.

Fortunately, the Jinhai Marathon wasn’t extremely popular, so the chances of being selected should be relatively high.

At noon, Li Bai maintained his discipline and took a nap. In the afternoon, he went out to a shopping mall to buy running gear.

This was also the reason he had extended his stay instead of returning to Jiang City immediately.

He had already done his research on what to buy the day before.

Once at the mall, he followed his list and purchased everything in one go.

Running socks, sports shirts, running shorts, carbon-plated running shoes, sports watch…

He bought quite a lot. For items like energy gels and salt tablets, he purchased several brands to test out later.

As for socks and clothing, once he found something comfortable, he bought multiple sets.

He even bought two pairs of branded carbon-plated running shoes—one to use and one as backup.

Better safe than sorry. If something broke, online delivery would take time, and physical stores might run out of stock.

He couldn’t let equipment become an obstacle to completing his check-in mission.

“As the saying goes, scholars are poor while warriors are rich. The ancients weren’t lying.”

Back at the hotel, Li Bai looked at his WeChat payment history and shook his head.

In just one afternoon, he had spent several thousand yuan.

Including the hotel fee, his trip to Magic Capital had already cost nearly 20,000 yuan.

If he hadn’t just received the 100,000 yuan reward from the [Self-Discipline System], he wouldn’t have been able to afford such spending.

“Spend money on women, and they’ll just laugh at you for being a fool. Spend money on yourself and grow stronger through discipline—that’s the highest return on investment.”

Li Bai returned to his room, put down his purchases, and quickly changed into his running gear.

“Let’s start with 10 km! I’ll complete today’s check-in and, at the same time, see what kind of full marathon time I can achieve.”

Of course, Li Bai knew that being able to run 10 km didn’t necessarily mean he could complete a full marathon.

However, his best time for 10 km could still give him a rough estimate of his full marathon performance—assuming he built up enough endurance.

He also wanted to understand his physical condition after allocating those attribute points.

How far was he from the minimum requirement of 2 hours 30 minutes for the advanced reward?

Running 10 km at full speed wasn’t suitable on the Bund.

Especially in the afternoon, there were too many tourists, leaving barely any space to run.

So Li Bai took the subway to Century Park in Jiangdong.