He Did It on Purpose

"If that's the case, then let's go, Vice President," Mu Tianchen replied.

"Wait."

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

Mu Tianchen fought back a laugh. He had deliberately acted calm just now to throw the other guy off.

He couldn't use the same approach he'd used on the other seniors. This guy's arrogance was largely rooted in his skill, so the best way to deal with him was to make him afraid before he knew how good Mu Tianchen was.

The huge number of points Mu Tianchen had offered as a wager was already a subtle form of pressure. Combined with his calm expression, it forced the other guy to consider why Mu Tianchen had won all those matches in a row, making him hesitate and preventing him from performing at his best.

"N-no, that's not it. I was just thinking, since I'm putting up 500,000 points, wasn't the condition you proposed earlier a little too low?"

Miyamoto Subaru planned to use this chance to test Mu Tianchen again. If he refused to raise the stakes, there'd be nothing left to suspect.

"How about this, then? I'll add one more condition. If you beat me, I'll return all the points I won from your other club members. How does that sound?"

Now, even if he was scared, he had no choice but to play.

Sure enough, as soon as Mu Tianchen added that condition, the yellow-haired senior who'd lost the most rushed over and clung to Miyamoto Subaru's leg, pleading desperately:

"Vice President, you have to avenge me! You're my only hope of getting back the 240,000 points I lost!"

"Same for us! Get our points back, Vice President!"

Miyamoto Subaru awkwardly pushed the yellow-haired senior away. Mu Tianchen's words had made him the hope of the entire club. Looking at their pitiful eyes, he had to agree, no matter how scared he was.

"You'd better keep your word."

"Of course."

Then, with a crowd of people surrounding them, Miyamoto Subaru and Mu Tianchen headed over to the table where they'd played the other matches.

"You serve first," Miyamoto Subaru said, taking the initiative to let Mu Tianchen go first. With so many people watching, he couldn't afford to lose face.

"On my signal, begin!"

As soon as Mu Tianchen heard the signal, he served his first ball—a spin shot.

This time, he wasn't going to hold back. He opened with the shot he considered his strongest.

It was also a good way to test the vice president's skill.

The result...

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

"What was that?"

"Did you tamper with the ball or something?"

The people watching had been confident in Miyamoto Subaru, but he'd already lost the first point...

Naturally, they found it hard to believe.

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

Well, it seemed the Island Nation's table tennis skills were more than a little behind those of his country. Ahem...

Miyamoto Subaru said nothing, but he was panicking inside. Fortunately, it was his turn to serve the second ball. From the move Mu Tianchen had just used, it seemed like a trick he could only pull off when serving.

So he served the second ball.

Watching the ball arc toward him from above, Mu Tianchen struck it with a powerful smash. It shot away at high speed, while Miyamoto Subaru was still standing there in a receiving stance.

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

He'd lost the second point, too. The watching seniors fell silent, undoubtedly stunned. They'd seen the others put up a decent fight against Mu Tianchen, but now even their skilled vice president...

Miyamoto Subaru panicked even more. Cold sweat had already appeared on his forehead, and the hand holding his paddle began to tremble. If he lost this match, he'd be utterly humiliated.

Since joining the club, he'd never faced an opponent this skilled or suffered such a crushing defeat. No, he hadn't lost yet! There was still one last ball. He could still...

Then, under everyone's expectant gaze, he served the final ball...

But in his panic, the ball hit the net and failed to cross it.

Under their rules, a service fault counted as a lost point, so the match ended right there, 3–0.

"Damn it!" Miyamoto Subaru completely lost control, shouting as he tossed his paddle away.

The seniors watching seemed not to have processed what had happened. Perhaps they were stunned, too; they all stood silently.

"It's okay, senior. Winning and losing are part of the game. Take this loss as a lesson. And, by the way, here's my number."

Seeing what had happened, Mu Tianchen was the first to speak. He sounded humble, but immediately held out his phone. This was 500,000 points—he couldn't let the guy welch on the bet.

Miyamoto Subaru wanted to smash the phone Mu Tianchen had offered him, let alone transfer him any points.

But with so many people watching, and since he'd been the one to propose the bet, he had no choice but to transfer them.

After confirming that the points had arrived, Mu Tianchen dragged his tired body out of the Table Tennis Club under everyone's gaze.

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

He opened his phone and checked the point transfers he'd received that day:

Three transfers of 80,000 points from the yellow-haired senior, 80,000 points each from five other seniors, and 500,000 from their vice president.

A total of 1,140,000 points!

He'd planned to hit up two clubs, but he hadn't expected to raise almost enough for Beauty Bro's requested amount from the Table Tennis Club alone. And he already had more than 360,000 points.

Together, that was over 1.5 million points.

He could take them straight to Beauty Bro now, but there were still a few days before the deadline, so there was no need to rush. Handing them over too early might even backfire.

He'd take it easy for the next few days...

Not long after Mu Tianchen left, Vice President Miyamoto Subaru stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

The Table Tennis Club members still couldn't believe what they'd just witnessed, especially the yellow-haired senior.

After watching Mu Tianchen leave with his own eyes, he finally understood:

That guy had been pretending all along!

In a competition based on skill, someone who was good enough could keep winning and even control the course and outcome of a match.

Mu Tianchen had shown just how skilled he was when he faced Miyamoto Subaru.

Their supposedly formidable vice president had lasted less than five minutes against him!

And he'd lost so badly!

Thinking back on it, the way Mu Tianchen had handled things had been so clever—

First, he'd led them to a false impression, then lured them step by step into the trap he'd laid, and finally walked away with the points he wanted...

But one thing still baffled him: why had someone with that kind of skill been placed in Class D...?