Inside Inashiro Industrial High School's dugout, everyone was stunned.
Their players possessed exceptional skill, sharp instincts, and extensive experience.
Because of that, they understood better than anyone what Zhou Hao's previous pitch truly represented.
A Changeup with a sudden downward break.
"…Isn't that Narumiya Mei's Breaking Ball?"
The moment someone said it, another teammate immediately refuted him.
"How could it be the same?"
"Mei's Changeup is smooth and natural. That pitch was much stiffer."
"It's probably just imitation—more bluff than substance."
From Inashiro's perspective, there was nothing wrong with saying that.
Whether it was true or not didn't matter.
Right now, maintaining the team's morale was more important than anything else.
But unfortunately, those words reached Carlos's ears.
The "African Cheetah" of Inashiro Industrial looked visibly annoyed.
Having just experienced the pitch himself, hearing his teammates dismiss it so casually irritated him badly.
"Just for show?"
"A bluff?"
Wouldn't that imply he, Carlos, couldn't even recognize a dangerous pitch when he saw one?
How could he possibly feel comfortable hearing that?
As Carlos returned to the dugout, Narumiya Mei walked directly toward him.
"How was it?" Narumiya asked. "What did it feel like facing that pitch?"
The question sounded simple.
But Carlos immediately fell silent.
He thought for a long moment, unable to find the right words.
To be honest—
For an instant, he had actually felt like the person standing on the mound wasn't Zhou Hao.
It was Narumiya Mei.
Zhou Hao, the nation's number-one pitcher, was terrifying beyond belief.
During the at-bat itself, Carlos had been too focused on reacting to think about anything else.
But after returning to the dugout and replaying the confrontation in his mind—
A cold sweat broke out down his back.
When the wind brushed against him, he instinctively shivered.
Zhou Hao had only seen Narumiya Mei throw the pitch a few times.
Yet somehow, he had already recreated the Changeup that Narumiya had spent months painstakingly perfecting.
It wasn't completely identical.
But it was at least eighty or ninety percent similar.
And against Inashiro, that was already more than enough.
More than enough to catch them off guard.
Carlos couldn't help staring toward Zhou Hao thoughtfully.
And he wasn't the only one.
Almost everyone in the Inashiro dugout had their eyes fixed on Seido's ace.
Especially Narumiya Mei.
Given his understanding of Zhou Hao, he already knew Zhou Hao possessed this terrifying talent.
Zhou Hao had copied opponents' pitches during games before and produced incredible results.
But knowing about it and witnessing it firsthand were two completely different things.
Narumiya stared at Zhou Hao without blinking.
The Screwball Changeup was something he had trained tirelessly to master.
Yet Zhou Hao had replicated it so easily during an actual game.
What did that mean?
The answer was obvious.
Even though Narumiya understood the reality in front of him, part of him still refused to believe it.
He wanted to see clearly—
Exactly how Zhou Hao was doing it.
At that moment, Inashiro's second batter stepped into the Batter's Box.
Shirakawa took a deep breath, his eyes locked firmly onto Zhou Hao.
"Come on," he muttered under his breath. "If you've got the guts, throw that Breaking Ball again."
"I'll crush it without hesitation."
It sounded less like confidence and more like a desperate attempt to convince himself.
On the mound, Zhou Hao remained expressionless.
He simply lifted his leg, stepped forward, and swung his arm.
The entire motion was smooth and natural.
This pitch didn't rely on overwhelming speed alone.
Instead, it looked incredibly clean and sharp.
"Whoosh!"
Before Shirakawa could even react, the white baseball had already flown past him.
Fast!
That was his first thought.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
After falling behind by one strike, Shirakawa instinctively glanced up at the electronic scoreboard.
Then his eyes widened.
151 km/h.
"How is that possible?"
Shirakawa felt like his eyes had to be deceiving him.
Otherwise, how could he possibly see such an absurd number?
Wasn't Zhou Hao's Fastball usually around 160 km/h?
His top speed had even reached 163 km/h.
So why did this pitch barely exceed 150?
What Shirakawa couldn't understand even more was the feeling he had just experienced in the Batter's Box.
At that moment, he genuinely felt like Zhou Hao had thrown his fastest pitch yet.
But reality clearly contradicted that impression.
Compared to ordinary pitchers, 151 km/h was still terrifyingly fast.
But for Zhou Hao?
That speed was practically "slow."
And yet, somehow, it felt even faster than before.
"There's definitely something else hidden in his pitching…"
Shirakawa came to that conclusion immediately.
He didn't know exactly what it was.
But Zhou Hao's Fastball was clearly far more complicated than he had imagined.
While Shirakawa was still thinking, Zhou Hao had already thrown the second and third pitches in quick succession.
He intentionally slowed the rhythm of his pitching instead of blindly pursuing maximum velocity.
Even so, every Fastball still exceeded 150 km/h.
The spectators in the stands were speechless.
As Fujio, the veteran reporter from Baseball Kingdom Magazine, once said:
"Even a genius holding back is still a ceiling ordinary people can't reach."
A Fastball over 150 km/h.
Precise control.
And terrifying command of rhythm.
Even a batter of Shirakawa's caliber could only watch helplessly as the baseball flashed past him.
Forget getting a Hit.
Even making contact was incredibly difficult.
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!"
Two outs. Bases empty.
Every player on Inashiro Industrial could clearly feel the pressure Zhou Hao was exerting on them.
It was suffocating.
As though the weight of his presence alone could drown them completely.
Before anyone even had time to process what had happened, Inashiro's third batter stepped into the Batter's Box.
The moment he settled in, he lowered his center of gravity aggressively, looking determined to make contact no matter what.
Meanwhile, Inashiro's players and supporters began cheering desperately from the stands and dugout.
They had no choice.
The pressure Zhou Hao created was simply overwhelming.
If they didn't do something—anything—they felt like they would suffocate from frustration alone.
So they shouted.
They cheered with everything they had.
"Hit it!"
"You can do this!"
"We believe in you!"
The voices rose one after another across the stadium.
Even Inashiro Industrial's third batter was inevitably affected by the atmosphere.
When you really thought about it, Zhou Hao was still human, just like everyone else.
One head.
Two arms.
Two legs.
He wasn't invincible.
The batter repeated those words to himself and raised his bat high.
His stance radiated determination, as if he would crush any pitch that came his way without hesitation.
Just as he steeled his resolve—
Zhou Hao moved.
The pitching motion looked exactly the same as before.
But the moment the ball left his hand, everything changed.
"BOOM!"
The pitch exploded forward with unprecedented speed.
Inashiro's third batter couldn't even process what was happening before the baseball was already roaring toward him.
Fast!
Too fast!
And overwhelmingly powerful.
At that moment, his mind went blank.
The only thing left in his vision was the white baseball hurtling straight at him.
It grew larger and larger before his eyes.
He couldn't hit it.
Hell, even swinging the bat felt impossible.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
Then another.
"Strike!!"
Two consecutive blazing Fastballs.
159 km/h.
157 km/h.
Compared to Zhou Hao's earlier pitches, the increase in velocity was dramatic.
No wonder Inashiro's third batter was completely caught off guard.
There was simply no way for him to adapt in time.
And then came the final blow.
The Inashiro players had almost forgotten that pitch already.
But now, they saw it again—
The Changeup that suddenly sank at the last moment.
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!"
"Three outs! Change of offense and defense!"
Inside Inashiro Industrial's dugout, Narumiya Mei's face darkened immediately.
"That bastard…"
"He's doing this on purpose!"
Earlier, they had still been uncertain.
But this time, Narumiya had watched the entire sequence from beginning to end.
No matter how much he hated to admit it—
What Zhou Hao had thrown was undeniably a Screwball Changeup.
A pitch almost identical to his own signature weapon.
The very pitch Narumiya had spent months refining through relentless practice had been replicated by Zhou Hao so casually.
How could Narumiya possibly feel good about that?
At this moment, frustration churned violently inside him.
But he couldn't show it.
All of his teammates were watching.
If he lost his composure now, the entire team would be affected.
The current Narumiya Mei was no longer the immature rookie he once had been.
He understood very clearly what it meant to be the Ace.
Throwing a tantrum wouldn't help the team in the slightest.
Instead, it would ruin their rhythm and damage everyone's confidence.
So he endured it.
He forced himself to stay calm.
He had to show his teammates that even if Zhou Hao copied his Breaking Ball, it wouldn't change anything.
He could still shut Seido down.
Bottom of the fourth inning.
Seido High School came up to bat.
Leading off was Seido's first batter—
Kuramochi.
So far, Seido still hadn't managed a single Hit, let alone a run.
That only made Kuramochi's fighting spirit burn even hotter.
Perhaps a little too hot.
He raised his bat high, looking completely determined to make contact no matter what.
Harada and Narumiya Mei could both clearly sense his resolve.
Kuramochi might not have been Seido's strongest batter.
But when it came to determination, he was second to none.
In fact, that trait seemed common among every Seido player.
As long as they stepped onto the field, they only believed in one thing:
Advance.
Never retreat.
Everything they did was for victory.
No matter the situation, they would never let up.
Narumiya Mei understood that perfectly.
"Swish!"
His pitch immediately targeted the inside corner.
He gave Kuramochi absolutely no chance to bunt.
"You think I can't handle this?"
Kuramochi leaned backward forcefully, creating just enough space before swinging.
"Clang!"
Against all expectations, he managed to force contact.
The baseball shot forward and bounced across the field.
Instantly, Seido's players and supporters fixed their eyes on the ball.
From the trajectory alone, it looked like there was a good chance it would get through.
Unfortunately for them—
Reality proved otherwise.
The moment the ball bounced, Shirakawa cut diagonally across the field and scooped it cleanly into his glove.
The precision of the play was flawless.
"Wooooah!!"
The crowd erupted in amazement.
That defensive play was absolutely beautiful.
Many spectators had never seen anything like it before.
"That's incredible!"
"That belongs in a highlight reel!"
"Inashiro's star players are seriously something else!"
"Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"
Meanwhile, Seido's players looked grim.
Shirakawa's successful stop had certainly involved a bit of luck and perfect timing.
If Kuramochi tried the same swing again, he might not reproduce that kind of contact.
But even so—
Inashiro still stopped it.
That alone revealed just how terrifying their daily training truly was.
Every single player on that team continued improving relentlessly.
And of course, that included their Ace, Narumiya Mei.
Even though he likely hadn't expected Kuramochi to make contact, he had still thrown a Fastball with tailing movement.
Because of that, the ball was incredibly difficult to drive cleanly.
The result was exactly what everyone saw.
"One out! Bases empty!"
Next up was Seido's second batter—
Kominato Ryosuke.
Against the infamous "Devil Batter," Narumiya Mei's strategy never changed.
Attack relentlessly with Fastballs.
"BOOM!"
"Pop!"
"Strike!"
"Strike!!"
It wasn't until the third pitch that Kominato finally swung.
"Clang!"
The baseball flew high into the air.
Under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of spectators, the ball slowly descended.
"Pop!"
The waiting second baseman caught it cleanly.
"Out!"
Two outs. Bases empty.
At this point, everyone in the stadium understood something.
Inashiro Industrial was about to face their greatest challenge yet.
Because the next batter was—
"Third batter, number one, pitcher… Zhou Hao!"
For the second time that game, Zhou Hao stepped into the Batter's Box.
Up until now, Seido still hadn't recorded a single Hit.
Forget runs—they couldn't even get on base.
And yet, the moment Zhou Hao walked up to bat, Seido's supporters instantly felt hope rise in their hearts.
Even they couldn't explain why.
But as long as Zhou Hao stood at the plate…
It felt like anything was possible.