"Did you see that? The cleanup hitter of the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team actually had his bat blown away!"
"A 160 km/h Fastball is really this terrifying?"
"Isn't that obvious? Even in the Major Leagues, there aren't many pitchers who can throw that fast."
"With pitch speed alone, Zhou Hao is already enough to give any opponent of the Seido High School Baseball Team a nightmare."
The fans in the stands were completely shaken.
Even the reporters listening nearby subconsciously widened their eyes.
The scene unfolding before them was simply unbelievable.
Before this, none of them had imagined that the person who would lose his bat like that would actually be Harada.
"Zhou Hao really manages to overturn our expectations every single time."
"He's absurdly strong!"
"This must be a huge blow for Inashiro, right?"
"For an ordinary team, maybe. But this is Inashiro Industrial."
Most of the reporters believed that while the players of Inashiro might be shocked, they would never truly lose their composure.
The players of Inashiro Industrial possessed near-blind confidence in their own strength.
Even when facing Seido, they firmly believed they would never lose.
And it was precisely because of that conviction that they were able to perform so overwhelmingly on the field.
Just as the reporters predicted, the players of the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team neither panicked nor lost their cool.
They even had the mood to joke around.
"Are you trying to perform a bat-throwing stunt?"
"Nice one, Harada-senpai."
"Forget about it and crush the next pitch!"
There wasn't the slightest trace of consolation in their words. If anything, they sounded provocative.
Hearing his teammates tease him like that, Harada—who normally wore a stern expression—actually smiled.
It was an incredibly rare sight.
"As expected of Zhou Hao..."
Now that his bat had literally been blown out of his hands, Harada suddenly felt completely relaxed.
The worst-case scenario he had imagined beforehand wasn't even as embarrassing as what had just happened.
At this point, what else was there to worry about?
Harada's mind became crystal clear.
Since he had already embarrassed himself this badly, there was no longer any reason to hold back.
All he needed to do now was stay true to himself—and to the partners fighting beside him on Inashiro Industrial.
Harada narrowed his eyes like a predator locking onto prey, staring directly at Zhou Hao.
The other players of Inashiro Industrial were the same.
Every single one of them focused completely on Zhou Hao.
Not one movement of his would escape their notice anymore.
They had marked him as their ultimate target.
Meanwhile, Zhou Hao stood calmly on the mound, completely unfazed.
For any ordinary pitcher, blowing the bat out of Harada's hands would be a moment worth bragging about for a lifetime.
But Zhou Hao didn't care about that at all.
Sending Harada's bat flying had never been his objective.
What he wanted was simple:
To cleanly and efficiently shut down his opponent.
In the past, Zhou Hao could easily accomplish that with just his Fastball and Spiral Ball.
But now, things were different.
Even when facing his blazing Fastball, the Batters of Inashiro Industrial could still make contact.
And no one understood the meaning behind that better than Zhou Hao himself.
His heartbeat pounded heavily in his chest.
Long before the Spring Koshien Tournament, Inashiro Industrial had already evolved tremendously.
After enduring the fierce battles of the qualifiers, they had sharpened themselves even further.
To what extent had this team grown?
Even Zhou Hao couldn't predict it anymore.
For who knew how long, Inashiro had treated Seido—and Zhou Hao himself—as their imaginary enemy.
And now, the two sides had finally met head-on.
For the first time in a long while, Zhou Hao could no longer confidently say that he could easily suppress Inashiro.
Just as he was considering whether to use the Spiral Ball, Miyuki Kazuya suddenly flashed a sign.
The instant Zhou Hao saw it, the corner of his lips curled upward.
Miyuki really was vicious.
After showing two overwhelming Fastballs in a row, neither another Fastball nor a Breaking Ball would be as effective now as a fake Fastball.
Zhou Hao set himself on the mound.
He lifted his leg and stepped forward.
The moment he began his pitching motion, not only Harada in the Batter's Box, but every player in the Inashiro dugout felt their hearts tighten.
"Is it coming?"
In their minds, Zhou Hao was definitely about to unleash another ultra-high-speed Fastball.
A pitch like a meteor beam—gone in the blink of an eye.
The players of Inashiro Industrial had practiced against high velocity countless times in private.
And because of that, they understood better than anyone what a 160 km/h pitch truly meant.
Watching it from the Batter's Box was pure terror.
Just as those thoughts flashed through their minds—
Zhou Hao completed his motion and released the ball.
BOOM!
The instant the baseball flew toward him, Harada instinctively tightened his grip on the bat.
Against Zhou Hao's Fastball, waiting to identify the pitch before swinging was impossible.
To make contact, you had to swing in advance.
Otherwise, the bat would never catch up.
The baseball screamed toward the plate.
Harada swung with everything he had.
BOOM!
The force behind the swing was overwhelming enough to split mountains and rivers.
As one of West Tokyo's Four Great Sluggers—and perhaps the strongest Batter in the nation—Harada's full-power swing looked capable of smashing the baseball into pieces.
Many spectators subconsciously held their breath.
Only one thought remained in their minds:
What an incredible swing.
Unfortunately—
That monstrous swing connected with nothing at all.
The bat sliced cleanly through empty air.
For Harada, the instant he missed, it felt as though his entire mind had exploded.
With his experience and skill, how could he not realize what had just happened?
His bat had already passed through the zone—
But the baseball hadn't even arrived yet.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Only after what felt like an eternity did he hear the sound of the ball burying itself into Miyuki's glove.
Pop!
"Strike!!"
"Strikeout!!"
Only then did the Seido supporters in the stands erupt into deafening cheers.
"Strikeout!"
"So Inashiro's cleanup hitter is only this good? The way people hyped him up earlier, I thought he was unbeatable!"
That wasn't just one person's opinion.
It was the shared feeling of many people watching the game.
The scene before them had shaken everyone deeply.
Meanwhile, the players in Inashiro's dugout—and even Harada himself—wore expressions of disbelief.
That pitch just now...
Was it a Changeup?
That was the signature pitch of their Ace, Narumiya Mei.
But when Zhou Hao used it, it became overwhelmingly deadly.
Even Harada, their cleanup hitter, hadn't noticed the deception at all.
First his bat was blown away.
Then he was struck out.
And the finishing pitch had been a Changeup.
At that moment, the players and supporters of the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team felt their hearts sink into despair.
Zhou Hao's pitching was already monstrous enough.
Just getting a Hit off him was incredibly difficult.
Scoring runs against him felt nearly impossible.
And now he had added a devastating Changeup to his arsenal.
Not only did they have to deal with changes in movement—
They also had to deal with changes in speed.
The already unsolvable Zhou Hao now seemed even more invincible.
As long as he stood on that mound, he was the very embodiment of domination.
One out.
Bases empty.
The next Batter to step into the box was the Fifth Batter of the Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team—Narumiya Mei.
As one of the team's star players, Narumiya Mei had delivered an outstanding performance throughout the recently concluded Spring Koshien qualifiers.
At this point, his popularity wasn't much lower than Zhou Hao's.
The moment he stepped into the Batter's Box to face Zhou Hao head-on, the crowd in the stands instantly erupted.
"Knock it out of the park!"
"Don't hold back—crush him!"
In truth, however, neither the players nor the supporters of Inashiro Industrial were particularly optimistic about Narumiya Mei's chances at bat.
It wasn't because Narumiya Mei lacked batting skill.
On the contrary, anyone capable of serving as Inashiro's Fifth Batter was bound to be an elite hitter.
The problem was Zhou Hao.
The one standing on the mound right now was a monster that 99.99% of the nation's Batters could never overcome.
Even Harada—the cleanup hitter of Inashiro Industrial—had just gotten his bat blown away.
Under those circumstances, how could the supporters of Inashiro truly feel confident about Narumiya Mei?
But whether they believed it or not, they had to act as though they did.
And not just a little confidence—
Absolute confidence.
It was as if, so long as Narumiya Mei stood there, defeating Zhou Hao would only take minutes.
There was no other choice.
After all, the opponent they were facing was so overwhelmingly powerful that it sent chills down their spines.
If they didn't somehow boost their players' morale now, they might not even be able to continue playing the rest of the game properly.
So whether their cheers were genuine or forced, they poured every ounce of encouragement toward their Batter.
Narumiya Mei, standing in the Batter's Box, had always been someone who thrived on attention.
The moment he heard the cheers around him, it felt as though power surged through his entire body.
Facing Zhou Hao had already filled him with excitement.
Now, after being hyped up by the crowd, he genuinely felt like he could blast Zhou Hao's next pitch out of the stadium.
"Come on! If you've got the guts, throw it over!"
Hearing Narumiya Mei's provocation, Miyuki Kazuya crouched behind the plate with a faint smirk.
He had to admit it—
This rival of his really had guts.
Even while facing Zhou Hao, Narumiya Mei showed not the slightest trace of fear.
It gave people the feeling that as long as Zhou Hao dared to throw the pitch, Narumiya Mei would swing without hesitation.
As for whether he could actually hit it—
That was another matter entirely.
At the very least, his presence alone was intimidating enough.
"Then let's show him clearly whether or not he can hit your pitch."
Miyuki Kazuya was exceptionally skilled at manipulating a pitcher's mentality.
Zhou Hao, who originally had no intention of going all-out, quickly noticed the sign Miyuki flashed him.
At this point, if he didn't throw something spectacular, it really would feel a little disappointing.
"You really know how to make trouble for me."
Although Zhou Hao complained inwardly, excitement was already building inside him.
In terms of pure batting ability, Narumiya Mei was naturally inferior to Harada.
But when it came to presence in the Batter's Box, that wasn't necessarily true.
Narumiya Mei possessed extremely sharp instincts, along with his own unique understanding of the battle between pitcher and Batter.
Because of that, there were times when he could hit pitches that even Harada couldn't handle.
That was precisely why he had secured the position of Fifth Batter for Inashiro Industrial.
And naturally, to firmly hold onto that spot, Narumiya Mei's batting average ranked among the best on the team.
Taking all of that into account, cleanly shutting him down would definitely not be easy.
So what should he throw next?
Thinking about it, Zhou Hao couldn't help but curl his lips into a grin.
He was already looking forward to seeing Narumiya Mei's expression afterward.
He honestly wouldn't be surprised if, after the game, Narumiya Mei called him directly just to curse him out for hours.
But that was something for later.
Right now, there was only one thing they needed to do.
Retire the Batter.
Zhou Hao lifted one leg high into the air before bringing it down heavily.
As his center of gravity shifted forward, the baseball exploded from his hand.
BOOM!
Without the slightest warning, the ball shot toward home plate.
The instant Narumiya Mei saw the pitch, not only the surrounding crowd, but even he himself widened his eyes instinctively.
Why had Zhou Hao suddenly gone all-out?
He couldn't understand it.
The only thing he could feel was that this pitch was even faster than before.
As the Fifth Batter of the Spring Koshien runner-up, Narumiya Mei had faced countless powerful pitchers before.
Many of them had left deep impressions on him.
And because Zhou Hao was considered their greatest future rival, Narumiya Mei—just like Inashiro's core sluggers—had specifically trained against 160 km/h Fastballs ahead of time.
But even after all that preparation, Narumiya Mei had never once backed down.
From beginning to end, he firmly believed he would eventually triumph.
Whether it was blind confidence or unwavering self-belief—
That was simply the kind of person Narumiya Mei was.
Arrogant.
Confident.
A player who treated victory as something natural.
But at this very moment—
Zhou Hao unleashed a true 160 km/h Fastball.
And there was a world of difference between a pitch fired from a machine and one thrown by a living pitcher.
The moment Narumiya Mei saw Zhou Hao's blazing Fastball with his own eyes—
His mind went completely blank.