The plane landed at Narita International Airport just after 2 p. m. Tokyo time.
Cheng Che walked out of the arrival gate with his tennis bag on his back, he immediately spotted a man holding Wilson sign among the crowd of people waiting to pick up passengers.
He was in his thirties, wearing a dark suit, and his posture while holding the sign was very professional; he looked like a professional receptionist.
The man was taken aback when he saw Cheng Che, then quickly walked over to him.
"Hello, Mr. Cheng. I'm Tanaka from Wilson's Japan branch." He said in English, then switched to somewhat broken Chinese, "Welcome to Tokyo."
Cheng Che nodded to him, then replied in Japanese, "Mr. Tanaka, thank you for your trouble. I appreciate you coming all this way to pick me up."
Tanaka's eyes lit up, and his expression changed from a professional smile to genuine surprise.
He hadn't expected this eighteen-year-old boy from Xia Country to speak Japanese.
"Mr. Cheng speaks Japanese very well."
Tanaka switched to Japanese, and his tone was much lighter than before.
"I know a little everyday conversation," Cheng Che said. "Mr. Tanaka, these three are my friends. Could you please help arrange for them to be taken to their hotel?"
Tanaka glanced at the three people behind Cheng Che.
Su Miaoyin stood next to him, while Lin Lin and Zhao Xiaoman stood behind him carrying suitcases.
He nodded, naturally took the box from Su Miaoyin's hand, and then called over the staff following behind to help.
"Of course. Please don't worry."
Qin Lie watched this scene from the side and muttered in Chinese, "That's how the Japanese are, they're good at reading the air."
Cheng Che nudged him with his elbow.
Wilson arranged two cars.
One car took Su Miaoyin and the other two to the hotel, while another car took Cheng Che and Qin Lie to the contestants' accommodation.
Just before getting into the car, Su Miaoyin turned around and glanced at Cheng Che.
Let me know when you arrive.
"Good."
The two cars drove off in different directions.
In the car, Tanaka, sitting in the passenger seat, turned to Cheng Che and said:
"Mr. Cheng, the tournament organizing committee has arranged twin rooms for all qualifying players, but the rooms are quite small and other fees are not included. Therefore, Wilson has arranged a hotel for you separately."
He paused, as if considering his words:
It's a five-star hotel next to Tokyo Bay. Single rooms are available, including breakfast. The gym and swimming pool are also accessible. It's about a 20-minute drive from the competition venue.
Cheng Che nodded.
Qin Lie chimed in from the side, speaking in Chinese:
"You're Wilson's darling in Asia now. You have no idea how much sales Wilson has made in Xia Country since you became their spokesperson. I heard Manager Wang is going to be promoted to president of the Asia region, he'll be treating you like royalty!"
Cheng Che smiled and shook his head.
Indeed, one's status ultimately depends on oneself.
The hotel is located next to Tokyo Bay.
The lobby has a high ceiling, Dali floors, and warm yellow lighting. Two rows of reception staff in neat uniforms stand at the front desk.
Tanaka helped Cheng Che complete the check-in procedures and handed him the room key.
"A staff member will pick you up tomorrow to go to the training ground." Tanaka bowed slightly. "I wish you good luck in the competition."
The elevator went up to the 27th floor.
When the room door opened, Cheng Che stood in the doorway and glanced inside.
The floor-to-ceiling windows face Tokyo Bay, with its grey-blue waters and several white yachts moored along the shore.
In the distance is the Rainbow Bridge, its iron-gray structure spanning the bay, gleaming coldly in the afternoon sun.
The bed was large, the sheets were pure white, and there were four pillows.
The desk is by the window, with an ergonomic chair placed next to it.
The bathroom has a square bathtub, with small bottles of Japanese-style toiletries placed next to it.
Qin Lie stood at the door and whistled.
" Wilson is certainly generous. This room must cost several thousand a night."
Where do you live?
"I'm staying next door." Qin Lie waved the room key in his hand. "A standard room, I'm benefiting from your connections."
Cheng Che put the tennis bag away, took out his laptop from the box, and connected to WiFi.
He opened his email, found the reply from the math professor, and continued scrolling down.
The professor later sent another email, this time with more details.
The email said that he had shown Cheng Che's paper to several teachers who study sports science, and the feedback was very good.
In particular, they plan to conduct a comparative experiment in actual training on the quantitative model of marathon pace and physical exertion.
The professor suggested that he supplement the sample data with more data, and if he could maintain this quality, he could consider submitting it to a sports science journal.
Cheng Che finished reading the email and was about to shut down his computer when a line of text suddenly popped up in front of him.
[ Intelligence Trial - Phase Two: Cross-Disciplinary Brocade. Task Objective: Deeply integrate your major with any other subject area, produce a demonstrative result, and gain recognition from professionals in that field. Completed!]
He paused for a moment, stunned.
Then he laughed.
"Is it finished?"
He immediately looked at the reward.
[Congratulations, host, you have acquired the active talent " Thought Simulation ".]
[ Thought Simulation: Within 10 minutes of activation, it allows you to simulate the short-term trajectory of a single event based on current data (such as predicting the landing point of a tennis ball, extrapolating from a paper model, or analyzing changes in crowd movement). Cooldown: 1 hour.]
[Congratulations, host, you have obtained the title " The Brocade Weaver "].
[ The Brocade Weaver: Your cross-disciplinary work possesses inherent "professional persuasiveness"! When reviewing your work, professionals in related fields will instinctively focus more on the strengths of your arguments than on their weaknesses.]
Cheng Che stared at the two rewards for several seconds.
The Thought Simulation is similar to the rehearsal he triggered when he fought Lu Yunxiao, but it is more precise and proactive, and can also be used in non-competition scenarios such as academic papers and crowd movement.
The title of "Brocade Weaver " is, frankly speaking, a "golden ticket" for passing censorship.
In the future, when he writes papers, conducts research, and submits results, the reviewers will automatically focus on the parts he does well.
He carefully put away the two rewards and let out a long sigh of relief.
I happily lay down on the bed, staring at the warm yellow LED strip lights embedded in the ceiling.
About an hour later, Qin Lie knocked on the door and came in.
He held a printed slip of paper in his hand and placed it in front of Cheng Che.
The lottery results are in.
Cheng Che glanced down at it.
[First Round of Qualifying: Cheng Che ( Xia Country ) vs. Nakamura Takuma ( Japan )]
Qin Lie said, " Nakamura Takuma, 25 years old, ranked around 260th in the world. A native Japan player, he has a solid baseline game, his serve is average, and he excels at grinding. He's not weak, but he's not top-tier either."
Cheng Che looked at the name on the note and smiled.
Lu Yunxiao isn't afraid of him, so why should he be afraid of Japan players?
"The day after tomorrow," he said, "Watch me dominate the battlefield."