6 Beats Up Streamer

"Yes." Tada hummed in agreement. "Traditionally speaking, that's how it works. We have an intra-squad match right after the first day of gathering—it's basically a test too."

Su Qing was actually quite curious. Back when he played professionally, he'd been in plenty of intra-squad matches every year—they were a great time for teammates to bond. But back then, it was always a mix of seasoned veterans and rookies playing together, with large-scale rotations in a short period. From the start of spring training to the middle, the rotation intervals just kept getting longer. "Are we playing with the veteran players?"

Tada glanced at him with a hint of surprise. "How could that be? The regulars from before don't play."

"Regulars meaning... the starting lineup?"

"Pretty much?"

"Then the pitchers..."

"The ace doesn't count either, of course."

Su Qing clicked his tongue. In the original work, the main team highlighted was Seido. Inashiro only showed up for specific games as a formality, so even though he'd watched some episodes, he had no real connection to Inashiro. Besides, he'd only watched bits here and there, sneaking glances over a kid's shoulder, so he could say he knew absolutely nothing.

He knew Narumiya Mei was the ace, Shirakawa had a very distinctive hairstyle, and that Narumiya Mei got scolded by catcher Harada—that was it.

He'd thought the intra-squad match would let him play against them, but it turned out not.

"We're the new guys." Tada saw his disappointment and tried to comfort him. "There'll always be a chance."

Huh? Su Qing nodded, packed up his stuff, and headed off with Tada to gather...

The gathering spot was at the practice field.

The facilities here were surprisingly good—it was a small, multi-purpose field.

Su Qing had seen plenty of good fields, but ever since turning pro, he'd always played on standard red clay fields. His student days were too far in the past, and he had no effective memories of them, either mentally or physically.

"Pretty, right?" Tada was very proud of this. "Not just the field, but the latest equipment too!! Even the meals are specially tailored."

"That's pretty good." But Su Qing didn't have high expectations for the equipment. This era was far behind the world he came from, still in development, so naturally he couldn't demand top-tier, advanced gear.

Still, the current environment was really something~

"Do we have to wash our own uniforms?"

Don't want to wash, don't want to wash, don't want to wash, don't want to wash, don't want to wash!!

Tada choked for a moment, about to answer, when someone up ahead called out, "You two new guys, hurry up."

"Talk later, gather first."

"..."

~

Meanwhile, in the livestream, viewers who'd grabbed a batch of experience tickets found out the draw time was in an hour and started chattering again:

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[Cute Little Lion]: What did the streamer just ask? My ears were a bit itchy and I didn't catch it, hehe!-

[HuaHua You WangWang]: Upstairs, haha~-

[I Only Pick Up Balls]: Haha! A newbie actually asking if he has to wash his own uniform?-

[Flecher]: What else? Have a senior wash it for him? He's dreaming big.

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[Green Field]: Have you guys ever considered the possibility that the streamer isn't a native of this world, and in his world, he doesn't have to wash his own uniform?

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[Gather Flowers When You Can]: What's upstairs talking about? Does he think he's a pro player? With staff to wash his uniform?

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[QiMi QiMi]: The streamer's a total rookie, you guys forgot? He barely knows anything, just lucky enough to get thrown into a baseball world. When the experience tickets are drawn later, you can go over and give him some guidance.

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[Narumiya is Super Cute]: Intra-squad match is coming up, I'm going to record it and watch the streamer get wrecked, hehe!-

[Da Gu Da Gu]: I really want to go down and wreck the streamer. My ball speed's at 125, that should be more than enough to beat him, right?

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[Little Angel Sai Gao]: Ball speed 125 beating the streamer is definitely a piece of cake, no doubt. Even my 115 could crush him, right?-

[Forever No. 2]: You two upstairs... ahem~-

[God of the Pitcher's Mound]: You two just set yourselves up! I'll wait and see you go over! Right.

Su Qing, combining his knowledge of the manga and his first impressions, found the dorm arrangement quite interesting.

Big brother Harada Masaru was definitely the most reliable one, paired with the chuunibyou, tsundere, occasionally hot-tempered ace Narumiya Mei—it was the perfect fit.

After all, as a distinctive but somewhat irritable ace, the best choice was to be partnered with a catcher who could keep him in check.

Catcher and pitcher were inherently a contradictory pair.

There were plenty of top-tier aces in the world, and no shortage of excellent catchers.

But the very best of both teaming up together—that was rare.

Harada had already taken the two veteran players, Narumiya and Shirakawa, over to the field to sort out matters regarding the newcomers with the supervisor, while Su Qing was currently bantering with the viewers in the livestream.

More interaction meant faster leveling. The current livestream could only hold so many people, making it tough to earn much in tips. He hoped tomorrow's daily check-in would be lucky enough to yield something good, or better yet, just let the livestream upgrade directly. As for other things like pitching techniques... or cheating bats and such, he had zero interest in those.

Although professional baseball had countless unwritten rules, and there were players who cheated using various drugs and equipment—some aspects of which he didn't even strongly oppose—it all had to be based on one's own ability.

"People come up with all kinds of tricks, but banned drugs are just the dumbest approach~" Su Qing muttered while sitting on the bed, then glanced at his watch. "There's still half an hour until we gather, and then everyone will get to see them."

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[Cute Little Lion]: The streamer's watch is really flashy, looks pretty nice.

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[HuaHua You WangWang]: Too shiny, right?

[I Only Pick Up Balls]: How much? Looks expensive.

"Not bad, just over seven hundred thousand bucks."

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[flecher]: !!

[Green Field]: Damn! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

[Gather Flowers When You Can]: Is the streamer serious?

[QiMi QiMi]: Is the streamer really that rich?

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[Narumiya is Super Cute]: Has everyone checked out the stream bio? Read it and you'll know if the streamer's rich or not.

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[Da Gu Da Gu]: What does that mean? What does that mean?

[Little Angel Sai Gao]: Let me go see just what kind of character this streamer is.

Mentioning this made Su Qing a bit awkward. This bio was auto-generated by the livestream and had nothing to do with his personal will. The golden finger was way too uncontrollable, wasn't it?

[Forever No. 2]: !!

[God of the Pitcher's Mound]: Let me copy it and show everyone.

Streamer: Su Qing (Day 5 since transmigration)

Height: 175 cm

Golden Finger: Cross-world livestream, brought money over after death

Hobby: Playing baseball

Favorite Food: Roujiamo

Favorite Animal: Little kids

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[Cute Little Lion]: Hahahaha! What's with favorite animal being little kids? Haha?

[HuaHua You WangWang]: Such plain and simple language, but why does every point make me want to laugh?

[I Only Pick Up Balls]: I'm sure this self-intro wasn't made by the streamer himself, it's way too dumb.

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[flecher]: But being able to bring money over after death is way too lucky.

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[Green Field]: Isn't your focus a bit off, upstairs?

[Gather Flowers When You Can]: Yeah, yeah, shouldn't the point be that this guy was already rich in his past life, so he could afford that watch right away?

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[QiMi QiMi]: Streamer, what did you do in your past life?

Su Qing said seriously, "Played ball."

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[Narumiya is Super Cute]: ...I don't believe you at all!

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[Da Gu Da Gu]: Can we ask something real? Streamer, were you rich in your past life? What was your monthly salary? It's not related to now anyway, so it's not private, right? Satisfy the curiosity of us future loyal viewers, okay?

Su Qing laughed. So if he didn't tell now, they wouldn't be loyal later? He said with a smile, "In my past life, I had money. But we didn't calculate by monthly salary; normally, it was by annual salary."

Only a few special seasons were paid monthly~

Though that wasn't quite right either, because a lot of his salary was distributed by the team on a weekly basis, basically once a week.

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[Little Angel Sai Gao]: Wow!

[Forever No. 2]: I look like I might be a 'talent.'

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[God of the Pitcher's Mound]: Why the quotation marks, upstairs?

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[Cute Little Lion]: How much does the streamer make a year?

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[HuaHua You WangWang]: Don't leave us hanging, just say it.

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[I Only Pick Up Balls]: Yeah, yeah! If you say it well, I'll tip you. After all, it's money from a past life, it'll run out eventually. You're still young, so seize every chance to make money.

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[flecher]: Upstairs is a logic genius, haha~

Su Qing stretched, counting on his fingers as he said, "It varies by stage. At first, it was over 500k USD. The second year, over 10 million USD."

He was one of the top few who entered the executive phase early. Normally, others had to wait until the third year, but he got arbitration eligibility in the second year. So that wasn't wrong, right?

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[Green Field]: Holy crap! Big shot! Worship!!

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[Gather Flowers When You Can]: Take my knees, big shot!!

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[QiMi QiMi]: What happened next, what happened next? Curious about later!!

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[Narumiya is Super Cute]: Yeah, what about later?

"Later, I signed my first contract. They offered 10 years for 150 million USD, which I rejected, then changed it to 5 years for 120 million."

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[Da Gu Da Gu]: ...

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[Little Angel Sai Gao]: ...

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[Forever No. 2]: Are you streamers messing with us?

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[God of the Pitcher's Mound]: Forget it, everyone brags sometimes. Gotta say, bragging feels great.

Su Qing awkwardly scratched his hair. He hadn't finished yet—the second contract was much bigger~

But that second contract screwed the team over. Because of subsequent injuries, the team had to pay him for nothing, while he could never play for them again.

Tsk, thinking about it~ felt pretty satisfying!

Not being able to play anymore definitely sucked, but lying back and collecting money? No one would refuse that.

But that was all in the past. With past experience, he'd learned his lesson. In amateur and minor league ball, you shouldn't push too hard. Showing off was fine, but once something gets injured, it keeps recurring, and that really messes up your career.

"Alright, I gotta go gather. Let's all go watch the cool kids!"

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[Da Gu Da Gu]: Want to see Seido!

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[Little Angel Sai Gao]: Want to see Seido +1, when will they start playing!!

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[Forever No. 2]: Fight, fight!

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[God of the Pitcher's Mound]: You guys are too mean~

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[Cute Little Lion]: Hey! Someone's coming.

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[HuaHua You WangWang]: Who, who!

The viewers had a wider view than Su Qing, and they'd already seen someone walk in from the door.

"Hello." The door was already open. The newcomer knocked, standing outside looking at Su Qing: "I'm from next door, a first-year newbie named Tada. Want to head to the field together?"

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[Cute Little Lion]: It's Tadano Itsuki. He looks more energetic than his paper-thin image.

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[HuaHua You WangWang]: Upstairs means his dead-fish eyes aren't as obvious, right? Hahahaha!!

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[I Only Pick Up Balls]: So nice, calling a buddy to go to the field! Make plans!!

[flecher]: Let's go together! Let's go together!!

Su Qing would naturally go along. After introducing himself to the kid, they walked toward the field together, and it conveniently gave him a guide.

"How are you so familiar with this place? Did you do your homework beforehand? That's seriously impressive."

Tadano Itsuki was more introverted by nature. Being praised so bluntly made him scratch his hair a little sheepishly. "Not really~ I really liked this school back in middle school, so I've come here plenty of times before."

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[Green Field]: Kinda cute, what's up with that?

[Gather Flowers When You Can]: Dead fish eyes get a thumbs up.

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[QiMi QiMi]: Kick the guy above out!

[Narumiya is Super Cute]: Streamer, walk faster, get to the field quick. I want to see Narumiya.

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[Da Gu Da Gu]: The person I want to see is at Seido. Streamer, snap a photo!

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[Little Angel Sai Gao]: The one I want to see is at Seido too 55555~~