He Did It on Purpose

"In that case, let's go, Vice President." Mu Tianchen replied.

"Hold on."

"What's wrong, Senior? Don't tell me you're backing out at the last minute?"

Mu Tianchen suppressed a laugh inwardly. He had deliberately feigned calm just now to unsettle his opponent's mind.

This guy couldn't be handled the same way as the other seniors. His pride largely stemmed from his strength, and without knowing the extent of that strength, making him afraid first was the best approach.

Proposing a high-stakes bet of points was already a form of invisible pressure, and combined with his earlier composed expression, it forced the other to dwell on the reason for Mu Tianchen's winning streak, breeding hesitation that would prevent him from fully unleashing his true ability.

"It's... it's not that! I was just thinking, since I'm putting up 500,000 points as the wager, isn't your previous condition a bit too low?"

Miyamoto Subaru intended to use this to probe Mu Tianchen further. If he refused to raise the stakes, there'd be nothing to suspect.

"How about this—I'll add another condition. If you win, I'll return all the points I won from your other club members. What do you think?"

Now, no matter how scared he was, he had to step up.

Sure enough, upon hearing this added condition, the Blond Senior who had lost the most earlier immediately lunged over and clung to Miyamoto Subaru's leg, pleading bitterly:

"Vice President, you have to avenge me! My 240,000 points—whether I get them back depends entirely on you!"

"Us too! Get them back for us, Vice President!"

A bit embarrassed, Miyamoto Subaru pushed the Blond Senior away. Mu Tianchen's words had turned him into the whole club's hope. Looking at their pitiful little eyes, even if terrified, he had to agree.

"You'd better keep your word."

"Naturally."

Then, surrounded by a crowd, Miyamoto Subaru and Mu Tianchen arrived at the same ping-pong table where they'd competed before.

"You serve first." Miyamoto Subaru voluntarily yielded the first serve. With so many people watching, he couldn't lose face.

"On my command, begin!"

At the signal, Mu Tianchen launched his first ball—a spin serve.

This time, he wasn't holding back. He started with what he considered his best shot.

It was also a good way to test the Vice President's skill level.

The result...

Miyamoto Subaru managed to hit the ball, but it flew straight off the table.

"What's up with that ball?"

"Did you tamper with it?"

The onlookers had been full of confidence in Miyamoto Subaru, but after just the first ball...

They naturally couldn't believe it.

"With all of you watching, how could I tamper with anything?" Mu Tianchen replied, though inwardly he couldn't help but snicker: Have these people never even seen a spin serve?

Well, it seemed the gap between island nation ping-pong and his homeland's wasn't just a little, but a lot, ahem...

Miyamoto Subaru said nothing, but his heart was in turmoil. Fortunately, the second serve was his turn. Judging from Mu Tianchen's earlier move, that technique probably only worked on the serve.

So, he delivered the second ball.

Watching the ball arc perfectly from a height, Mu Tianchen executed a powerful smash, sending the ball flying out fast. Miyamoto Subaru was still standing there in a receiving stance.

By the time he reacted, the ball had already flown over ten meters away...

He lost the second ball too. Now, the watching seniors fell silent one by one, jaws practically dropping. Earlier, they could still trade blows with Mu Tianchen, but now even their stronger Vice President was...

Miyamoto Subaru grew even more panicked. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his hand gripping the paddle began to tremble. If he lost this time, the humiliation would be immense.

Since joining this club, he'd never faced such a formidable opponent, never lost so badly in a match. No, wait—he hadn't lost yet! There was still one last ball. He could still...

And so, under everyone's expectant gaze, he hit the final ball.

The result? In his fluster, the ball was blocked by the net in the middle, not even crossing the line.

Such a serving error, by their rules, meant a deduction. Thus, the match ended 3-0.

"Damn it!" Miyamoto Subaru's emotions collapsed completely. He shouted loudly and flung his ping-pong paddle away.

The seniors watching seemed not to have processed what happened, or perhaps they were stunned into silence.

"It's okay, Senior. Victory and defeat are common in battle. Losing this time is a lesson. Also, here's my number."

Seeing this, Mu Tianchen spoke first, his words humble, but his hand immediately extended his phone. This was 500,000 points—he couldn't let the guy weasel out.

Miyamoto Subaru, seeing the phone offered, wished he could smash it, let alone transfer the points.

But with so many people watching, and the bet being his own proposal, reluctant as he was, he had to transfer.

After confirming receipt of the points, Mu Tianchen dragged his tired body out of the ping-pong club under the gaze of the crowd.

Once outside, he found an empty spot nearby and sat down.

He pulled out his phone and scrolled through today's point transfer records:

The Blond Senior's three 80,000 transfers, the other five seniors' 80,000 each, and their Vice President's 500,000.

1.14 million in total!

He'd originally planned to hit up two clubs for a sweep, but he never expected that just the table tennis club alone would nearly gather enough points to meet the pretty guy's demand—plus the 360,000-plus points he already had.

That brought the total to over 1.5 million points.

He could take this to the pretty guy right away, but there were still a few days left before the deadline, so there was no need to rush. Handing it over too early wouldn't do him any favors anyway.

He'd just lie low for these few days...

After Mu Tianchen left, Vice President Miyamoto Subaru soon slammed the door and stormed out as well.

The table tennis club members still couldn't believe what they'd just witnessed, especially that Blond Senior from before.

Watching Mu Tianchen walk away, he finally understood:

That kid had been faking it all along!

In a competition where strength decided everything, someone with real skill could keep winning, even dictate the flow and outcome of a match.

And his strength had been on full display during the fight with Miyamoto Subaru.

The vice president, who the members thought was so formidable, had barely lasted five minutes against him!

And lost that badly!

Now that he thought about it, that guy's methods were so cunning—

First, he created a false impression, making them step by step fall into the trap he'd set, then took the points he wanted...

But what he couldn't figure out was why someone with that kind of strength had been placed in Class D...