On the massive electronic scoreboard, a number was displayed so clearly that it left everyone speechless.
168 km/h.
For the vast majority of the spectators in the stadium, their minds went completely blank the moment they saw it.
For several seconds, they couldn't even comprehend what that number truly represented.
Meanwhile, the reporters frantically raised their cameras and continuously snapped photos of the giant screen.
Unlike the ordinary audience, they fully understood the meaning behind that number.
Then, a moment later, the commentator's slightly delayed voice finally echoed throughout the stadium.
"Zhou Hao of the Seido High School Baseball Team has thrown a terrifying pitch at 168 kilometers per hour!"
"Previously, he tied the legendary 163 km/h record."
"But now—he has surpassed it completely!"
"This is a speed never before seen in high school baseball history… and perhaps one that may never be surpassed again!"
"He is the undisputed number one high school pitcher in history!"
"And even in the history of world baseball, this pitch speed is enough to rank among the top ten!"
The strongest in high school history.
Top ten in baseball history.
Only after hearing the commentator's explanation did the majority of the fans finally realize what Zhou Hao's additional five kilometers per hour truly meant.
Right before their eyes—
A legendary superstar was being born.
"No…"
"A global superstar isn't enough to describe him anymore."
"Even if Zhou Hao's pitching ability stopped improving from this day onward, his current strength alone is already enough to carve his name into baseball history forever."
"He's a player capable of changing the history of baseball itself!"
The fans in the stands were utterly captivated by Zhou Hao's performance.
And then—
The entire stadium exploded into thunderous cheers.
"Zhou Hao!!!"
"Throw another one!"
"Crush Inashiro's cleanup batter!"
From the reporters' perspective, the most shocking thing was the unbelievable pitching speed itself.
But for the fans in the stadium—
What remained was pure excitement.
Pure exhilaration.
This was exactly the kind of scene they had come to witness.
The sight of Zhou Hao completely overwhelming his opponents.
Inside the dugout of Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team, the players stared at the field in stunned silence.
The previous 163 km/h pitch had already seemed invincible.
Without exaggeration, once Zhou Hao consistently threw at that speed, it became almost impossible for anyone to hit the ball cleanly.
Even making contact was difficult.
And even if someone miraculously touched it, solid contact was nearly impossible.
But now—
The speed had climbed all the way to 168 km/h.
Against this kind of pitch, the only possible method of hitting was probably blind luck.
Guess the timing in advance.
Swing no matter what.
And pray.
Even then, the odds of making contact were pitifully small.
If someone wanted to rely purely on skill?
Forget high school batters.
Even professional stars would struggle tremendously against such a pitch.
This was Zhou Hao.
A completely unprecedented monster.
"No wonder he managed to blast Narumiya Mei's pitch into the stands earlier…"
Only now did many people finally understand that Home Run.
Previously, countless spectators had found it unbelievable.
No matter how monstrous Zhou Hao's batting ability was, sending Narumiya Mei's pitch over the fence had seemed impossible.
Yet he had done exactly that.
And he had done it flawlessly.
The game continued.
Both teams were fully focused, especially the batters of Inashiro Industrial.
Standing in the batter's box, Harada Masatoshi completely let go of the burden in his heart.
Facing a pitch speed this terrifying…
Failing to hit it was only natural.
If even this kind of pitch could be hit easily, then baseball itself would become absurd.
Since that was the case, why should he pressure himself?
Rather than overthinking everything, it was better to gamble on that one-in-ten-thousand possibility.
Aside from Harada, there was another person equally shaken.
That person was Miyuki Kazuya.
As the catcher receiving the pitch, Miyuki felt as though the baseball was literally a bullet flying toward him.
Stopping it cleanly was nowhere near as simple as it looked.
Only now did Miyuki truly understand what Zhou Hao meant earlier.
"How is this only 'a little fast'?!"
"This is going to kill me!"
Although he grumbled internally, Miyuki's eyes sparkled brightly with excitement.
He loved this feeling.
As a catcher, wasn't his duty to receive every single pitch his partner threw?
A 168 km/h Fastball.
This was a challenge he had never experienced before.
Not just him—
Among all catchers in the world, those fortunate enough to catch a pitch at this speed were rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
"And today…"
"It's finally my turn."
Miyuki's sharp gaze locked onto Zhou Hao on the mound like a hawk eyeing its prey.
Harada in the batter's box did the same.
Even the spectators unconsciously held their breath.
Everyone wanted to witness it—
The moment Zhou Hao completely crushed his opponent.
The moment a true speed feast unfolded before their eyes.
And just as those expectations reached their peak—
Zhou Hao moved.
Standing atop the mound, he mercilessly fired the baseball from his hand.
From the instant he began his stride, countless eyes were locked onto him.
And then people realized—
His pitching form looked exactly the same as before.
There was nothing flashy about it.
Nothing visibly different.
Yet this seemingly ordinary motion was producing the fastest pitch in high school baseball history.
An utterly unbelievable speed.
BOOM!!
The baseball tore through the air with a deafening sonic explosion.
Both Harada in the batter's box and Miyuki behind the plate felt the ball appear before them almost instantly.
Too fast!
Not merely "fast" in the normal sense—
But fast to the absolute limit.
The baseball looked like a tiny white flash of light rapidly enlarging before their eyes.
Harada couldn't swing.
He simply couldn't react in time.
All he could do was watch helplessly as the baseball streaked past him.
Meanwhile, crouching behind the plate, Miyuki felt every cell in his body screaming with excitement.
At this moment, his concentration had reached an unprecedented level.
He wasn't thinking about strategy.
Wasn't thinking about fear.
Wasn't thinking about anything at all.
There was only one thought left in his mind—
Catch it.
POP!!
The catcher's mitt snapped shut.
His brain hadn't even processed the movement yet.
It was pure instinct.
A subconscious reaction of the body.
"Strike!!"
The moment the umpire's call rang out, the crowd erupted once again.
The spectators were completely stunned.
None of them had imagined that Miyuki Kazuya would actually catch that pitch cleanly.
"Incredible!"
"Simply incredible!!"
"It's only the second pitch, and Miyuki-kun has already adapted to it!"
"Among catchers of the same generation, he truly stands at the very top!"
Even the commentator couldn't hide his amazement.
Throughout the game, he had maintained a fair and objective tone.
But Seido was simply different from ordinary teams.
They possessed two elite catchers.
And more importantly—
Both of them were terrifyingly talented.
Everyone knew that whenever the Seido High School Baseball Team was introduced—especially when discussing Seido's starting catcher—certain sensitive topics had to be carefully avoided.
Otherwise, before anyone else could react, Seido's die-hard supporters would probably drown the speaker in criticism.
But today, the commentator was clearly showing a bit of favoritism.
And surprisingly, the fans in the stands didn't find it strange at all.
In their eyes, the commentator's analysis was completely reasonable.
Aside from Miyuki Kazuya, they truly couldn't imagine any other high school catcher capable of reaching this level.
Even Takigawa Chris Yuu was included in that comparison.
At this point in time, most people already believed that no high school catcher could rival Miyuki Kazuya anymore.
Meanwhile, crouched behind home plate, Miyuki stared blankly at his catching hand.
Even now, it was still throbbing painfully.
Only at this moment did Miyuki fully understand why the coaching staff had insisted on rotating catchers.
With a pitcher like Zhou Hao as a partner, if only one catcher handled him full-time, their hand would probably be ruined before graduation.
No wonder Zhou Hao had previously restricted the use of his Spiral Ball.
The sheer power behind those pitches was terrifying.
It was the kind of weapon that dealt one thousand damage to the enemy—
While inflicting eight hundred damage on the user's own side.
"You monster…"
Miyuki glanced toward Zhou Hao on the mound with disbelief.
"What exactly have you been eating?"
But deep down, Miyuki understood something clearly.
The reason he had managed to receive those pitches cleanly wasn't just because of his concentration.
There was another extremely important factor.
Control.
The baseballs thrown by Zhou Hao were unbelievably precise.
Unlike Sawamura Eijun or Furuya Satoru, whose pitches could sometimes become impossible to predict, Zhou Hao's balls always carried clear intent.
With Sawamura and Furuya, if someone other than Miyuki or Chris were catching, their pitching would inevitably have to be restrained.
Otherwise, ordinary catchers simply wouldn't be able to handle them.
Just like Sawamura during middle school.
Back then, in order to cooperate with his teammates, he had been forced to suppress his natural pitching style.
As a result, his talent remained buried for three entire years.
Only after entering Seido did his true potential finally emerge.
But Zhou Hao was different.
Although the first pitch had gone wild slightly, the second and third pitches…
Their placement was incredibly accurate.
As long as Miyuki's reflexes were fast enough, he only needed to make slight glove adjustments to receive them cleanly.
"Even after increasing the speed this much, the control remains intact…"
Miyuki's eyes shone brightly.
"Zhou Hao… you really are full of surprises."
BOOM!!
Another deafening explosion echoed across the field.
The baseball once again appeared before Harada Masatoshi in an instant.
Harada's arms trembled slightly as he gripped the bat.
He could clearly hear the violent pounding of his own heartbeat.
"Damn it…"
"This shouldn't be happening…"
He desperately wanted his body to move.
He wanted to swing.
Wanted to crush Zhou Hao's pitch into the outfield.
But at this moment, Harada realized something horrifying—
He couldn't.
His body simply couldn't keep up.
By the time he barely forced himself to move, it was already too late.
With all his strength, Harada swung the bat.
But the instant the swing began—
The baseball had already passed him.
POP!!
"Strike!"
"Strikeout!!"
One out. Bases empty.
Not a single person in the stadium found the result strange.
Whether it was the players of Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team or their supporters in the stands—
Everyone felt that this outcome was only natural.
168 km/h.
167 km/h.
Against pitches at that speed, even professional superstars probably wouldn't fare any better.
It was simply unhittable.
"Fifth Batter, number one, pitcher, Narumiya Mei!"
As the announcement rang out, all eyes turned toward Narumiya Mei stepping into the batter's box.
Among everyone present, the grudge between Narumiya Mei and Zhou Hao was undoubtedly the deepest.
Before the game, countless predictions had been made regarding the two.
Most people believed that Narumiya Mei, as Inashiro Industrial's Ace, should at least be capable of competing with Zhou Hao.
Even if they weren't equals, the gap shouldn't have been too large.
But looking at the current situation—
Those predictions now seemed laughable.
Narumiya Mei was undoubtedly strong.
No one denied that.
Not Seido's players.
Not the spectators.
Not even neutral observers.
But if someone tried to compare him directly with Zhou Hao…
That was another matter entirely.
The difference between them was obvious now.
Zhou Hao stood on a completely different level.
The players and supporters of Inashiro Industrial were forced to acknowledge this cruel reality, no matter how unwilling they felt.
But what about Narumiya Mei himself?
After just giving up a Home Run to Zhou Hao—
Could he truly accept that his pitching ability was inferior?
The Inashiro players looked toward Mei with concern in their eyes.
To be honest, they felt sorry for their Ace.
Yet Narumiya Mei himself appeared completely different from what everyone expected.
His eyes remained firmly locked onto Zhou Hao.
It was as though he wanted to bore holes straight through him.
The bat in his hands was held high, ready to explode forward at any moment.
Unlike the spectators in the stands, Narumiya Mei didn't think Zhou Hao suddenly throwing these terrifying pitches was entirely a bad thing.
For this game, Zhou Hao had clearly prepared meticulously.
He had studied every weakness of Inashiro's lineup.
He had carefully planned his stamina usage.
After the painful lesson from last autumn, Zhou Hao clearly intended to avoid repeating the same mistake at all costs.
Until now, he had been pitching completely according to his own rhythm.
And from Inashiro's perspective—
That was the truly terrifying part.
It looked ordinary on the surface.
But in reality, Zhou Hao had been steadily suffocating every chance they had to fight back.
Now, however—
He had suddenly exploded with this monstrous pitching speed.
Even if Narumiya Mei didn't know the exact reason behind it, one thing was certain:
This kind of pitching consumed enormous stamina.
No one understood this better than Narumiya Mei himself.
Throwing all-out Fastballs looked spectacular to the audience.
But the physical burden was immense.
When Mei himself pitched above 150 km/h, the first few throws were manageable.
But once his pitch count climbed high enough—
His arm and shoulder would feel like they no longer belonged to him.
And naturally, his velocity would start to decline.
"So…"
Narumiya Mei narrowed his eyes.
"How many pitches above 165 km/h can you really throw?"
He had already formed his strategy.
The moment Zhou Hao's speed dropped—
He would attack immediately without hesitation.
BOOM!!
Just as that thought flashed through his mind, the white baseball screamed toward him.
Narumiya Mei only saw a streak of white rapidly expanding before his eyes.
Too fast!
Before his brain could react, the baseball had already blown past him.
POP!!
"Strike!"
"Strike two!"
"Strike three!!"
"Strikeout!!"