About Bananas

The second game started with Wang Chao serving. He scored directly on the first point. Tian Zhengguang managed to return the second shot, but Wang Chao slammed it down for a kill.

Then Tian Zhengguang served. Wang Chao killed both serves.

Tian Zhengguang continued to struggle, sprinting all over the court and even saving a few seemingly certain points. However, after five minutes, the score was still fixed at 11:3.

His struggle was only meaningful in that he avoided being shut out.

"How could you... be so much stronger than when you were at Mingyue Stadium?" Tian Zhengguang asked, his eyes a little red, gritting his teeth.

Wang Chao didn't answer.

What could he say?

He was rapidly adapting to this body. He was like an old tiger that once roamed the mountains, now quickly waking up, feeling like a new person every day. His rate of improvement surprised even himself.

By this point, Tian Zhengguang was truly desperate.

He quickly collapsed.

The next two games were uneventful. Wang Chao ended the match with scores of 11:1 and 11:2, defeating Tian Zhengguang 4:0 in a total of 20 minutes.

A faint smile appeared on Wang Chao's face.

The start had gone smoothly, and it hadn't consumed too much stamina.

Calculating it this way, completing today's hellish schedule didn't seem so difficult after all.

He glanced at the adjacent court. Zhao Ge was locked in a mid-to-long range rally with another player, trading shots with great intensity, shouting with every hit.

The small silver ball flew through the air, tracing beautiful arcs. Although this scene seemed brainless to Wang Chao, it was undeniably the most visually appealing table tennis match for the audience.

He saw Zhao Ge sprinting left and right, swinging his arms in wide arcs, his face flushed from the effort. Zhao Ge was playing with great enthusiasm, sweating profusely, seemingly never worried about running out of stamina.

"What enviable physical condition..." Wang Chao shook his head, collected his thoughts, and prepared to face his next opponent.

Fifteen minutes later, Wang Chao secured another 4:0 victory.

Compared to Tian Zhengguang, this opponent was much weaker, barely able to return Wang Chao's attacks. Each shot was killed on the first hit, interspersed with countless unreturned serves.

As soon as this match ended, someone else stepped up.

Wang Chao took advantage of the break before the next match to glance at the adjacent court again.

On the neighboring table, Zhao Ge and his opponent still hadn't finished. They were already in the seventh game, indicating how intense the match was.

Zhao Ge was still running with passion, smashing aggressively. Wang Chao's scalp tingled at the sight of his reckless expenditure of energy.

Wang Bin also felt a sense of emotion.

He felt that Zhao Ge was a warrior, while Wang Chao was an assassin, striking his opponent down without a sound, simple, clean, and efficient. Most importantly... it conserved energy.

Silver balls flew throughout the vast stadium, filled with passion. The players' shouts, cheers, and sighs mingled, forming the daily routine of the training base. Unknowingly, the morning passed. When the temporary break came at noon, the four coaches were somewhat speechless after tallying the results.

Wang Chao, the player they found most unpredictable, had completed twelve matches in just four hours that morning. Every match was a 4:0 victory, every game was a blowout, and throughout the entire morning, he had been attacking, attacking, and attacking.

Among the twelve players he defeated were not only Tian Zhengguang, but also Zhao Ge and Li Mu. However, the matches themselves were no different from the others.

There was no defensive counter-attack as they had expected.

At one point, he even struggled to find opponents because he finished so quickly, while others were still entangled in intense battles. For example, Zhao Ge's match had lasted a full hour and a half.

This inexplicably gave him more than ten minutes of rest, truly a case of man proposes, but fate disposes.

"There's no suspense anymore," Li Zhenguo said in a low voice. "At this pace, he'll have a chance to rest and replenish his stamina during lunch. There are only four matches left in the afternoon. Once he finishes those, it's over."

Even though he was reluctant to admit it, Zhao Fuqiang could only nod. "If nothing unexpected happens, he'll likely be first place."

For a moment, the three coaches fell silent, their feelings complex.

Yesterday, Tian Qi had gone to Wang Bin to plead for leniency. Li Zhenguo and Zhao Fuqiang were both aware of this and were happy to see it happen.

Because Wang Chao had joined the team, his demonstrated strength was despair-inducing for the other players.

If they wanted their supported players to be selected, the only way was to stir up the water first and then find Wang Chao's weaknesses.

Therefore, the three of them unanimously agreed that a new round robin was their last chance.

If Wang Chao faltered due to exhaustion, then Tian Zhengguang, Li Mu, and Zhao Ge would all have a chance.

It was a pity that in the face of such a huge gap in skill, all their calculations were in vain.

So many players, and not even one could slightly deplete Wang Chao's stamina.

"How on earth did this kid train?"

Tian Qi was frustrated and also confused. "I always feel like his play is completely different from ours, as if he was trained by the top coaches of the national team."

"You think you're the only one who's confused?" Li Zhenguo gave a wry smile. "As far as I know, in the past three days, Coach Wang has made over twenty phone calls outside, inquiring everywhere if any national-level coaches were secretly training disciples. But after asking around, no one admitted it."

Zhao Fuqiang's smile was strained. "Did he really just pop out from a crack in a rock?"

The cafeteria's food selection was as plentiful as ever. However, today Wang Chao didn't bother the chefs. Instead, he accompanied Jiang Shan, eating a large portion of pan-fried chicken breast, which made Jiang Shan marvel. The chef behind the glass counter in the distance also kept glancing over, likely curious why Wang Chao wasn't coming to bother him.

After eating his fill and leaving, Wang Chao specifically went to the fruit counter and took a few bananas, putting them in his pocket before leisurely returning to the training hall.

Due to the matches, the players rarely returned to their dorms to rest; they were all seizing the time to practice.

Even if they couldn't qualify for the promotion-relegation matches, they still wanted to secure a better ranking.

Jiang Shan had some clout; as soon as he appeared, someone immediately cleared a table for him.

It was just a shame that Jiang Shan didn't want to play Wang Chao, and Wang Chao certainly didn't want to waste his precious energy. The others also didn't want to play Jiang Shan, fearing it would affect their confidence.

So, in the end, the table was returned to its original spot. The two of them sat on nearby chairs, chatting idly as they waited for the matches to begin.

At 2 PM, the competition started on time.

Wang Chao's serving speed was noticeably slower than in the morning. He finished off his first opponent in half an hour, then took a moment to eat a banana before dispatching his second opponent in another half hour.

The entire process was uneventful. It was only while he was eating the banana that Wang Bin asked, "Who taught you that?"

Wang Chao chuckled, "I read it in a book."

Wang Bin didn't press further, but his expression clearly showed he didn't believe it at all.

Eating a banana during a table tennis match was a little trick passed down through word of mouth in the table tennis community.

Bananas were quite magical fruits. They were low in fat, high in protein, and calorie-dense, containing abundant carbohydrates. They were easily digested and absorbed, and could quickly replenish energy.

Another characteristic was that they contained a very special substance: potassium ions.

This substance could effectively alleviate issues of reduced muscle sensitivity caused by athletes sweating profusely, and it could also invigorate the spirit.

Furthermore, bananas had an extremely unique advantage: the time it took for their energy to be absorbed by the body was longer than that of ordinary fruits, typically requiring 45 minutes to an hour. This made them particularly suitable for competitions that didn't involve intense bursts of activity but required significant endurance.

Table tennis matches, for example.

This knowledge could certainly be found online, but it was definitely obscure, belonging to the realm of professional insiders.

At the very least, Wang Bin absolutely did not believe that a high school student playing table tennis would look up such information.

He felt that Wang Chao must have a hidden teacher behind him, and that teacher's skill level was definitely extraordinary.

It was just a pity that despite spending three days, he couldn't find the slightest clue.