Beyond the hundred-meter mark, there was more than just mental pain. There was also a physical force that pushed back on people, very weakly at first, but growing stronger the farther one went.
Alex had been wondering why people were so slow up front if they could handle the mental pain to this degree, and now everything made sense.
When he reached the hundred-and-twenty-meter mark, earning himself fourteen stars in total, the pressure he felt on himself, both mentally and physically, was high enough that Helen and the other two would very easily succumb to the pain.
Alex slowed down by quite a bit, but he pushed himself, continuing on. By the time he pushed himself to the hundred-and-thirty-meter mark, there were only twenty minutes remaining before the fourth hour ended. And when that hour ended, the forty-meter cutoff amount from last time would double, cutting off eighty meters in total, which would be all of it.
