Heavy Hand

Wang Chao rarely got this angry.

The brat had complained about the racket before.

He had planned to get a custom racket made once he joined the team, but after arriving, he went straight into three days of footwork training. Before he could even properly touch a ball, the internal round-robin began. Once that was over, he had not even had time to catch his breath before the promotion and relegation matches started.

He really had not had the time.

The racket in his hand today was actually Jiang Shan's spare racket, which he had borrowed last night.

In other words, he was using a penhold grip on a shakehand racket.

Everyone knew that shakehand rackets had longer, heavier handles than penhold rackets, so Wang Chao found it extremely uncomfortable to use and wanted to finish this match quickly.

"Do you know that there's a great deal to learn about rackets..."

"There's also a great deal to learn about rubber..."

"I know every major brand in the world, every specification of rubber, even the custom racket data of national players..."

Li Shaoqin could not help launching into another long-winded speech.

But Wang Chao really could not stand it anymore.

He tucked the racket under his arm, turned around, and left.

"Hey, hey, don't go! We haven't even played yet." Li Shaoqin was startled.

Wang Chao ignored him completely.

"Fine, fine, we'll play now. Right away. I won't talk anymore." Li Shaoqin gave in.

But what he was really thinking was, Throwing a tantrum at me, huh? I'll beat the shit out of you later!

Only then did he notice a lightly dressed beauty watching from nearby.

Li Shaoqin did not know this girl, but he was instantly fired up. Even his anger at Wang Chao's attitude vanished. Instead, he generously tossed the ping-pong ball over and said, "Come on, you serve. Today, I'll show you the art of receiving serves."

Wang Chao had naturally noticed Luo Xiaoyu too, but when he saw the small camera hanging around her neck, he instinctively assumed she was a paparazzo who had sneaked into the base to film.

It made him sigh at how thriving table tennis was in this world. A mere city-level promotion and relegation match had paparazzi covering it.

And this paparazzo was pretty high-quality too—at least in terms of looks.

Wang Chao had no intention of chasing her away. It had nothing to do with him, and he was not that fond of meddling.

Besides, if she wanted to film something, she would surely be filming the promotion and relegation matches. What was there to film in his match?

The match began.

Wang Chao served a short backspin ball.

"You're serving wrong like that." With a beautiful woman watching, Li Shaoqin decided to turn this match into a teaching session. "Look, all I need to do is..."

Then his words caught in his throat.

Because instead of flying flat over as he expected, the ball bounced high off his racket and flew straight off the table.

He had thought it was a backspin ball, but it was actually spinless, and he had misjudged it.

Serve winner. Wang Chao led 1:0.

Li Shaoqin choked for a moment, then forced a smile. "Interesting. Again."

Wang Chao served another short backspin ball.

Li Shaoqin was more cautious this time. He carefully watched Wang Chao's movements and determined that this one was definitely genuine short backspin. Afraid of sending it long again, he did not dare use too much force and merely brushed lightly beneath the ball with his racket.

With a sharp hiss, the ball spun at high speed and plunged straight into the net.

The ball had too much spin, and he had not put enough force into his push.

Another serve winner. Wang Chao led 2:0.

Watching from the side, Luo Xiaoyu found the scene rather amusing and could not help snickering.

Li Shaoqin was somewhat annoyed. "I was careless... Now it's my serve. I'll show you what the art of serving is!"

Holding back his frustration and unwilling to embarrass himself in front of a beautiful woman, he thought it over for a while and served a short backspin ball as well. But the instant his racket touched the ball, he subtly stopped the racket and only drove his arm forward, creating no friction.

This was another spinless short backspin ball.

Turning his own trick against him. As long as I win this point on my serve, I'll get back the face I lost just now... Li Shaoqin thought.

Then he saw the kid across from him step forward, raise his racket, swing, and smack the ball straight back.

It was the simplest, most brutal shot.

You gave it no spin, so why should I go easy on you? I'll just smash it to death.

The ball was unbelievably fast. Li Shaoqin did not have time to react at all and could only watch as it struck the table in front of him before flying straight out.

Wang Chao scored with an aggressive return. 3:0.

Today, he had no intention of holding back. On the contrary, he was going to hit hard.

This guy's skill and talent were mediocre anyway. Even if he gave him a psychological shadow, it would not matter. It might even let Tian Ye, whom Wang Chao favored, move up into the main lineup.

Li Shaoqin, however, decided to reveal his trump card.

He tossed the ball into the air, sending it a full three meters high. Luo Xiaoyu immediately let out a "Wow."

That was the normal reaction of an outsider.

Many spectators who did not understand table tennis had the same concern when they saw a High-Toss Serve: "He tossed it that high, and the ball is so small. Can he even hit it?"

Li Shaoqin would not make such a basic mistake as serving himself into defeat.

He stomped hard, let out a low shout, and fiercely brushed the lower side edge of the ball with his racket. The ball immediately spun wildly as it shot out at tremendous speed.

It was a standard High-Toss Serve of decent quality.

Li Shaoqin's fundamentals were not bad. He really was, as he had said, a student from a table tennis sports academy. He had trained for more than ten years and could execute all sorts of stances and techniques with ease.

The reason he looked down on grassroots masters was that he had once been brutally crushed by one in his youth.

And now, after losing three straight points, he no longer wanted to play mind games with Wang Chao. He had decided to defeat Wang Chao with his deep foundation.

A High-Toss Serve had far more vicious spin than an ordinary serve. He was betting that Wang Chao would not receive it well. As long as the return popped up even slightly, he would smash Wang Chao dead with one hard shot!

But he was overthinking it...

Wang Chao merely gently pushed his racket forward, and driven by its own fierce spin, the ball flew flatly back across the table.

Low, fast, and viciously spinny.

It was practically a perfect return.

Li Shaoqin himself was startled instead. His return popped up slightly, and Wang Chao killed it with another smash.

He discovered that Wang Chao's drives were strange. They were clearly not that fast, nor were they especially powerful, yet they always landed in blind spots he could not possibly defend. From just now until now, Wang Chao had driven two balls, and both had ended in one-shot kills. He could not block either of them.

The score became 4:0.

Luo Xiaoyu's expression turned suspicious.

She suddenly realized that this game seemed rather different from what she had initially imagined.

Why did that loudmouthed guy seem to be losing points nonstop? And why did he look a little bedraggled?

Meanwhile, the quiet one was playing with ruthless precision.

Wang Chao regained the serve.

He served a long ball to the end line. This time, Li Shaoqin saw it coming. With pent-up frustration, he stepped back half a pace and launched an immediate attack, ripping a heavily spinning loop. The ball arced beautifully through the air and plunged down, chasing straight at Wang Chao's body.

This was called a body shot. As the name implied, it chased the opponent down.

To return a ball, a player had to extend his arm and bring his racket out. But if the ball came straight into his body, how could he extend himself? How could he bring out his racket?

As long as the ball came tight and fast enough, it would leave the opponent no room to return it.

Li Shaoqin's placement on this shot was excellent.

But Wang Chao did not retreat or sidestep at all. As if he had anticipated it long ago, he had already adjusted the angle and position of his racket, then simply drove it straight forward.

In essence, it was just the backhand block most commonly used by penhold players, nothing special. But because his prediction was early enough, his response fast enough, and the angle sharp enough, the shot became lethal. It drove straight to Li Shaoqin's deep wide left corner.

Li Shaoqin was completely caught off guard again. He did not move at all and simply let the ball fly past him.

5:0.