Chapter 353 - 218: Got on the Thief’s Car
Li Ang originally just wanted to show that his deadlift level was about the same as his, but to his surprise, he had only just lifted it a little when the barbell slipped out of his hands, likely because unscrewing the bolts earlier had exhausted too much of his grip strength.
Therefore, in the eyes of the audience, it became another display of Li Ang’s absolute strength in this event, surpassing Pius Juli. What was originally a narrow victory turned into a complete win. It wasn’t really a big problem, except that it might be a bit embarrassing for Pius Juli.
Li Ang looked over at Pius Juli and shook his head slightly, thinking he had given him a chance but it went unused!
What he didn’t expect, though, was that this subtle shake of his head was caught by the camera and ultimately became one of the program’s iconic moments, as well as a meme of his own.
This iconic moment was dubbed by netizens as "King’s Shake of the Head/King’s Disdain" among other names, making a brief mark in the surge of internet trends.
Li Ang also gained quite a bit of online traffic from this, and as his opponent, Pius Juli certainly didn’t lose out, sharing in the spoils and later riding on this popularity to start live streaming.
After the competition ended, Li Ang steadily secured a ticket to the annual finals.
Compared to the matchup between these two, the battles of the other contestants seemed a lot less exciting. At least in this episode, there was no second contestant who could lift the same weight.
Still, Dwayne Johnson reminded Li Ang after the match to not get complacent, as the opponents he would meet in the annual finals could be unprecedentedly strong.
Clearly, from the expression on Li Ang’s face, Johnson knew he hadn’t taken it in at all.