Bananas

Wang Chao served first in the second game. He scored directly off the first serve. Tian Zhengguang barely returned the second one, only for Wang Chao to smash it dead on the next stroke.

Then Tian Zhengguang served, and Wang Chao smashed both serves dead.

Tian Zhengguang was still struggling desperately. He raced all over the court and even saved several balls that had seemed impossible to reach, but five minutes later, the score still stood at 11:3.

The point of his struggle was that he had not been shut out.

"How did you... become so much stronger than when you were at Mingyue Stadium?" Tian Zhengguang asked through gritted teeth, his eyes slightly red.

Wang Chao did not answer.

What could he say?

He was rapidly adapting to this body. Like a tiger that had once ruled the forest, he was quickly awakening. Every day brought a new change, and even he was astonished by the speed of his improvement.

By then, Tian Zhengguang had actually fallen into despair.

He crumbled quickly.

The next two games were nothing worth mentioning. Wang Chao ended them 11:1 and 11:2, winning the match 4:0 over Tian Zhengguang in a total of twenty minutes.

A faint smile appeared on Wang Chao's face.

The opening had gone smoothly, and he had not expended much stamina.

At this rate, completing today's hellish schedule did not seem all that difficult.

He casually glanced at the neighboring table. Zhao Ge was locked in a mid-to-long-distance rally with another player, trading topspins with tremendous enthusiasm and shouting with every shot.

The little silver ball danced through the air, tracing beautiful arcs. Though the sight seemed rather mindless to Wang Chao, there was no denying that this was the most entertaining kind of table tennis in the eyes of spectators.

He watched Zhao Ge dash left and right, swing his arm in wide arcs, his face flushed red from exertion. He played with high spirits, drenched in sweat, as if he had never worried about running out of steam.

"What an enviable physique..." Wang Chao shook his head, gathered himself, and prepared for his next opponent.

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

Compared with Tian Zhengguang, this opponent was even weaker. He could barely return Wang Chao's attacks at all, usually getting smashed dead in a single stroke, while also eating countless serves.

As soon as that match ended, someone else immediately stepped in to take his place.

During the gap before the next match, Wang Chao glanced next door again.

At the neighboring table, Zhao Ge and his opponent still had not finished. They had already reached the seventh game, showing just how fiercely contested the match was.

Zhao Ge was still running passionately and smashing frantically. The way he spared no effort made Wang Chao's scalp tingle.

Wang Bin felt much the same.

He thought Zhao Ge was a warrior, while Wang Chao was an assassin, quietly killing his opponents in a single blow—simple, clean, efficient, and most importantly... effortless.

Silver balls danced throughout the vast stadium as passion ran high. The players' shouts, cheers, and sighs blended together into the daily rhythm of the training base. Before anyone noticed, the morning had passed. When they temporarily stopped at noon, the four coaches tallied the results and were left somewhat speechless.

Wang Chao, the player they had found hardest to assess, had actually completed twelve matches in just four short hours that morning. Every match had been a 4:0 sweep, every game a lopsided score, and throughout the entire morning, he had done nothing but attack, attack, and attack again.

Among the twelve people he defeated were not only Tian Zhengguang, but also Zhao Ge and Li Mu. Yet those matches had looked no different from the rest.

There had been none of the anticipated defensive counterattacks.

At one point, he had even been unable to find an opponent because he finished too quickly while everyone else was still locked in grueling battles. Zhao Ge's match, for example, had lasted a full hour and a half.

That had inexplicably given him more than ten minutes of rest. Man proposed, but heaven disposed.

"Looks like there's no suspense anymore," Li Zhenguo said quietly. "At this pace, he can rest and replenish his energy at noon. Only four matches remain in the afternoon, and he'll be done once he finishes them."

No matter how unwilling he was to admit it, Zhao Fuqiang could only nod. "Unless something unexpected happens, he'll probably take first place."

For a moment, the three coaches fell silent, each with mixed feelings.

Yesterday, Tian Qi had gone to Wang Bin to plead for leniency. Li Zhenguo and Zhao Fuqiang had both known about it and had been happy to see it happen.

Because Wang Chao had already joined the team, and the strength he had displayed was enough to drive the other players to despair.

If they wanted the players they supported to be selected, the only option was to muddy the waters first, then seize upon Wang Chao's weakness.

That was why all three of them had agreed that restarting the full round robin was their final chance.

If Wang Chao fell at this stage due to insufficient stamina, then Tian Zhengguang, Li Mu, and Zhao Ge would all have a chance.

Unfortunately, in the face of such an overwhelming gap in strength, every calculation was futile.

With so many players, not one of them had managed to drain even a little more of Wang Chao's stamina.

"How exactly did this kid train?"

Tian Qi was both annoyed and puzzled. "I keep feeling that the way he plays is completely different from ours, like he was taught by some big shot from the national team."

"You think you're the only one puzzled?" Li Zhenguo said with a bitter smile. "As far as I know, over the last three days, Coach Wang has made more than twenty calls, asking all over the place whether some national-level coach has been secretly training a disciple. After asking around, no one admitted to it."

Zhao Fuqiang's smile had become strained. "Did he really just jump out of a crack in a rock?"

The cafeteria spread was as plentiful as ever, but Wang Chao did not go bother Cook today. Instead, he accompanied Jiang Shan in getting a large serving of pan-fried chicken breast, leaving Jiang Shan clicking his tongue in surprise. From behind the glass counter in the distance, Cook kept glancing their way, probably wondering why Wang Chao was not coming over.

After eating his fill, Wang Chao specifically went to the fruit counter and stuffed several bananas into his pockets before leisurely returning to the training hall.

Because of the matches, the players rarely went back to their dorms to rest. They were all making the most of their time to practice.

Even if they could not qualify for the promotion-relegation tournament, they still wanted to earn a better ranking.

Jiang Shan carried some weight around here. As soon as he appeared, someone immediately gave up a table for him.

Unfortunately, Jiang Shan did not want to play Wang Chao, and Wang Chao was even less willing to waste his precious stamina. The others did not want to play Jiang Shan either, afraid it would hurt their confidence.

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

At two in the afternoon, the matches started on time.

Wang Chao's shots were clearly slower than they had been that morning. He took half an hour to settle his first opponent, then took the chance to eat a banana before spending another half hour dealing with the second.

The entire process passed without incident. Only when Wang Chao ate the banana did Wang Bin ask one extra question. "Who taught you that?"

Wang Chao smiled. "I read it in a book."

Wang Bin did not press further, but the look on his face made it clear that he did not believe him at all.

Eating bananas during table tennis matches was a little trick passed down by word of mouth in the table tennis world.

Bananas were remarkable fruit. They were low in fat, high in protein and calories, and rich in carbohydrates. They were easy to digest and absorb, while also quickly replenishing energy.

They had another notable feature: they contained a very special substance—potassium ions.

This substance could effectively alleviate the loss of muscle responsiveness caused by athletes sweating heavily, and it could also perk up a person's spirits.

Besides that, bananas had an especially unique advantage. Their energy took longer to be absorbed than that of ordinary fruit, usually forty-five minutes to an hour, making them particularly suitable for competitions that did not involve huge bursts of exertion but required plenty of endurance.

Such as table tennis matches.

Of course, this information could be found online, but it was definitely obscure knowledge, something only people in the professional field would bother learning about.

At the very least, Wang Bin absolutely did not believe that a high school student who played table tennis would look up something like this.

He felt that Wang Chao had a hidden teacher behind him, and that teacher was definitely no ordinary person.

Unfortunately, despite three days of investigation, he had failed to uncover even the slightest clue.