Chapter 740 - 740: Monsters Clash

"It's over?"

The player holding the speed gun wasn't a first-year rookie who had just joined the Seido High School Baseball Team.

He was a second-year player.

When he first joined the team last year, he had personally witnessed Azuma-senpai dominate on the field.

Although he also believed that Zhang Han should win this match.

After all, a ball approaching 160 kilometers per hour, even in professional games, Azuma-senpai probably hadn't seen many, right?

But that was Azuma Kiyokuni after all.

"Didn't you see, Han-san was super fierce just now!"

Han-san?

A slight ripple spread in Watanabe's heart.

The person speaking, like him, was a second-year player on the Seido High School Baseball Team.

The opponent was much better than him in skill and was already a second team player.

If he was a bit luckier, after the current batch of third-year senpais graduated, he should have a chance to make it into the First string.

Among the players in their same year, this guy, while not among the most outstanding, was doing quite well.

But even he, when addressing Zhang Han, subconsciously used honorifics.

"It's really different, isn't it?"

Watanabe felt the fine calluses in the center of his palm.

There are still two chances; he wonders if they have hope before next summer?

"Don't worry, Azuma-senpai doesn't look like someone who would give up easily."

He didn't even touch the ball.

With Azuma-senpai's personality, how could he accept such a result?

He would definitely make a fuss.

"Wah wah, this doesn't count, let's do it again."

Azuma Kiyokuni yelled, announcing.

The Seido members who were unfamiliar with Azuma Kiyokuni before finally put their hearts back in their stomachs.

That's more like it.

The one they saw before wasn't the Azuma-senpai they knew.

"How about we just stop?"

Manager Ota was already quite satisfied with the outcome of this showdown.

If the two continued to face off, there might be some unexpected incidents.

"Then, let's do it again."

Unlike Manager Ota, who was biased towards Zhang Han, Kataoka also valued Azuma Kiyokuni.

Such a match result, for Zhang Han, was of course no problem.

Even if something unexpected happened later, with this strikeout, it wouldn't significantly affect Zhang Han's pitch status.

Kataoka had much more confidence in Zhang Han than in the two rookies, or even in the previous Ace, Tanba.

Zhang Han was originally a pitcher.

When he used his right hand to pitch just now, he had also been hit multiple times, and even had Homeruns hit off him.

If his mental fortitude wasn't good, facing such difficulties, Zhang Han would have collapsed countless times by now.

But he never seemed to have experienced such a situation.

Once or twice might be a coincidence, for a period it might be emotion…

For several consecutive years, Zhang Han was able to quickly stabilize the situation after encountering a crisis.

That can only mean one thing.

He possesses a strong, positive heart.

If, during the showdown with Azuma Kiyokuni, he was completely suppressed, without any ability to fight back, then there would still be some possibility that it would affect his future pitch status.

But now, he had already achieved a strikeout.

With Zhang Han's good mentality, no matter what the result is later, he should be able to face it with a positive attitude.

On the contrary, it was Azuma Kiyokuni.

Before, during his high school days, he had never experienced such regret.

After becoming a professional player, he had also been taught a lesson by those senior pitchers.

But as long as everyone is in the same circle, there will always be opportunities to meet. If he was taught a lesson, he could find a way to get it back later.

But Zhang Han was different.

Although he has a high probability of becoming a professional player in the future.

However, with Zhang Han's talent, plus his unlimited commercial value, he might not debut in Japan in the future, and might even directly participate in the Major League draft.

In other words, in the future, Zhang Han and Azuma Kiyokuni might not be in the same circle.

Then this defeat is very likely to form a shadow.

If it were to be interrupted now, it could very likely cause harm to Azuma Kiyokuni.

Kataoka decided on the spot to let them continue the showdown.

"You two only have at most two more showdowns left, is that okay?"

"No problem!"

Originally, according to Azuma Kiyokuni's personality, he should have shouted, "No need for two, one is enough."

But Azuma Kiyokuni didn't say that.

It seems that the previous encounter left a very serious psychological shadow on him.

His level of vigilance towards Zhang Han had reached the highest level.

In this situation, not letting him give up would not do.

"Then let's continue, I'll be the umpire."

Originally, there was no umpire for their showdown. Now it was becoming more and more formal.

The onlookers became more and more numerous.

"It's starting again, this time you must hold the speed gun properly, many people want to know."

The player next to Watanabe said with an expectant look.

Watanabe nodded along.

"Don't worry."

No one was more curious than him about what level Zhang Han's pitch speed could reach.

Watanabe tightly held the speed gun in his hand, waiting to see Zhang Han's first pitch.

"Maybe he can break his previous speed record."

His companion next to him guessed excitedly.

But Watanabe's lips curled slightly.

"That's not necessarily true…"

If it were him, he would definitely use that move from the practice game.

On the pitcher's mound, Zhang Han raised his leg high.

No matter when, he tried his best to make his pitching motion exactly the same.

Exactly the same naturalness, exactly the same smoothness, exactly the same stride, exactly the same release…

The most important difference among these, in fact, was at the moment the baseball left his hand.

All the variations in Zhang Han's pitch were in that last instant.

This time, his two fingers gently rested on the baseball.

After a series of excellent pitching motions, he did not put his own strength into it, but gently sent the ball out with his fingers.

"Whoosh!"

The white little ball, like a dazzling white light, appeared instantly.

The position was exactly the same as the previous three pitches, all in the dead center.

The veins on Azuma Kiyokuni's forehead had already popped out.

Although he knew that Zhang Han's pitches had different variations, but facing him, that brat Zhang Han dared to confidently use consecutive Fastballs down the middle to attack.

Azuma Kiyokuni wanted to endure.

But his boiling blood made it impossible for him to endure.

He had to swing; if he didn't swing now, Azuma Kiyokuni felt that the surging blood in his body would burst out.

Now.

Even with Zhang Han's Light Speed Ball, in the exact same spot, after seeing four pitches in a row, Azuma Kiyokuni had long since gotten used to it.

He couldn't wait for the baseball to fully reach his hand before swinging the bat.

He knew it would be impossible to catch up that way.

If he really wanted to hit Zhang Han's Fastball, he could only swing earlier.

Before the baseball had time to reach his hand, he had to swing the bat in advance.

Early.

Now.

Azuma Kiyokuni played by intuition.

He didn't calculate; he just felt it was about time and decisively swung the bat in his hand.

"Boom!"

A huge roar swept past Miyuki's eyes.

So much so that Miyuki felt his breathing become difficult.

What terrifying speed. In that brief moment, the air in the batter's box seemed to be sucked dry.

However, as the bat swept through, people didn't hear a single sound.

The bat didn't hit anything.

Disappeared again?

Azuma Kiyokuni instinctively thought so.

But very quickly, he caught sight of the white ball out of the corner of his eye.

How is that possible?

His swing was already finished, so how could the baseball not have passed yet?

How could the speed of this pitch be so slow?

"Smack!"

"Strike!"

Azuma Kiyokuni's doubts were destined to remain unanswered.

But sweat involuntarily seeped from his forehead.

Just before, Azuma Kiyokuni thought he had figured out all of Zhang Han's pitching patterns.

He generally knew why he had been unable to hit Zhang Han's pitch.

He didn't know how Zhang Han did it, but when he threw a Fastball, he could make the baseball float up or sink down to a certain extent.

This was why Azuma Kiyokuni, who was aiming for a Fastball, had consistently been unable to make contact with the ball.

During the second round of hitting, Azuma Kiyokuni, realizing this, had also prepared himself mentally and made plans.

Trying to hit Zhang Han's pitch head-on was clearly not a good idea.

He had to have a contingency plan in advance…

Azuma Kiyokuni also knew that the success rate of such a plan was linked to luck.

In other words, he might not actually be able to hit the ball.

But this was the best method he could think of at the moment.

However, just as Azuma Kiyokuni made up his mind to take the risk and hit the ball, a huge surprise stunned him again.

He never imagined that Zhang Han's pitching, in addition to horizontal changes up and down, also had spatial changes in depth.

Zhang Han could freely control the pitch speed.

Originally, in Azuma Kiyokuni's eyes, Zhang Han, who was about the same height as him and two sizes thinner, suddenly seemed to grow taller.

So much so that he, his former senpai, had to look up to him.

"What's the pitch speed?"

Although the teammates also didn't expect Zhang Han to use such a pitch, they were still curious: how fast was this pitch that looked fast but was actually incredibly slow?

"141 kilometers!"

Watanabe's face broke into a smile.

It was exactly as he had thought.

In the past, he had done similar things.

He couldn't say he could guess Miyuki and Zhang Han's pitch calling 100%, but he could get it about 80-90% right.

"I wonder how it will change next, I've already…"

Watanabe heard his teammate's eager voice, but shook his head.

"What's the point of thinking about the future? The outcome has already been decided at this moment."

Watanabe's voice was so soft that the teammate standing next to him didn't quite catch what he said.

"What did you just say?"

Watanabe put on an unconcerned expression again.

"Nothing, I said this game is really exciting."

"Is that even a question?"

Every step was meticulously planned.

Even Azuma-senpai, who had already joined a professional team, was left bewildered.

"Smack!"

"Strike!"

"Smack…"

"Strike!"

"Strikeout!"

Around the Seido High School Baseball Team's field.

Those spectators watching Azuma Kiyokuni and Zhang Han's showdown all had frighteningly bright eyes.

They had considered the possibility of Zhang Han winning before.

After all, when Azuma Kiyokuni-senpai was on the team, he couldn't completely suppress Zhang Han.

When the teammates mentioned the two of them, they would only say they were evenly matched, difficult to distinguish who was better.

In the past year, although Azuma-senpai had never stopped training and improving, he remained at the level of an ordinary monster, even his rate of improvement was only at the level of an ordinary monster.

Zhang Han, on the other hand, was different.

When he first joined the team, he was only slightly better than his teammates around him.

At that time, with Miyuki, the two of them each had their own strengths.

But by the Summer Tournament last year, Zhang Han had already left behind the teammates who had been improving with him.

He broke two Koshien rookie records, becoming a super rookie who would be recorded in history.

Miyuki's performance could only be considered commendable; the two were already not on the same level at that time.

Afterwards, in the Autumn Tournament, this year's Spring Tournament, and especially the recently concluded Kanto Tournament.

In these games, Zhang Han repeatedly proved himself with his strength; he was no longer an ordinary player.

He was a complete monster, and of the super-monster level.

Under these circumstances, it was truly not easy for Azuma Kiyokuni-senpai to win against Zhang Han.

The teammates had thought of all these things before.

But what they hadn't expected was that Zhang Han was even more terrifying than they had imagined.

In his showdown with Azuma Kiyokuni, this guy didn't even let Azuma-senpai touch the ball.

Six consecutive pitches, with Azuma Kiyokuni's terrifying swing speed and hitting ability, he couldn't even make contact with the ball once.

This was too fantastical, wasn't it?

"One hundred fifty-four?"

"One hundred fifty-one?"

In the corner.

Seeing the pitch speed display that Watanabe took out, all the teammates had stunned expressions.

Watanabe, however, was not surprised at all.

In fact, everything that happened was almost exactly as he had thought.

"By changing the baseball's spin rate, making the baseball float up or sink. Such a magical pitch will naturally leave the batter at a loss, but correspondingly, if you don't fully unleash your power, how can you throw at your highest speed?"

However, thinking about it this way, it seems even more frightening…

Without pitching with full effort, he still managed to push the pitch speed to 154 kilometers.

If Zhang Han were to use all his strength to pitch, what terrifying level would his pitch speed reach?

Watanabe couldn't imagine it at all.

"Again!"

Azuma Kiyokuni's eyes turned red.

Like an enraged bull, his eyes were fixed on Zhang Han.

At the umpire's position, Kataoka thoughtfully looked up and glanced at Zhang Han.

Zhang Han nodded slightly.

Then he decisively threw the baseball in his hand.

This pitch was faster than any previous one.

The baseball made a considerable whooshing sound as it flew.

This?

Watanabe instinctively pressed the button in his hand.

He had a premonition that this pitch would be very fast.

But how could he throw such a pitch?

Right down the middle, the most standard Fastball.

Here it comes.

Azuma Kiyokuni's body, honed over three years of high school and the most recent year, had already reached a state of perfection.

Sometimes, it didn't even need to go through his brain; his body would react naturally.

Even if it was futile, Azuma Kiyokuni used all his strength to swing the bat at the incoming Fastball.

This time, he made contact.

"Ping!"

The hit white baseball flew high and eventually landed far in the back of the outfield.

Outfield, extra-base hit.

After three rounds of confrontation, Azuma Kiyokuni finally hit Zhang Han's Fastball out in the last round.

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