Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Lin Fan couldn’t bear to see Zhenping Yiming like this. He was teary eyed and didn’t have the ability to return his shots. Furthermore, he was an international friend.
This was just bullying him intolerably.
As Master Lin, he was supposed to be full of justice and love. How could he do such a thing?
“Host, what is the score now?” Lin Fan asked.
The host had already been dumbstruck long ago. He stood there frozen- if he hadn’t seen it for himself, he would have never believed that table tennis could be played in this manner.
“Teacher Lin, the score is 5 sets to 0”
Lin Fan nodded his head, mentally noting that there was one more set to go.
Just at this moment received an instruction from his earpiece. He immediately went over to Lin Fan side, “Teacher Lin, President Liu requests that you lose one ball. After all, this is just a program and your opponent is the Asia Pacific Champion. It would be bad for him if word got out that he couldn’t return a single shot from you.”
“Eh, sure thing. I was thinking that just now. It wouldn’t be good for his reputation if he couldn’t return a single shot. I’ll definitely do it,” Lin Fan said, nodding his head.
President Liu and the rest really thought this one out properly.
Although Zhenping Yiming was an arrogant fellow before, Lin Fan’s lesson had already gotten through to him. Hence, Lin Fan served a shot, deciding to let his opponent be happy for a while. He couldn’t crush his spirit and ego completely.
Otherwise, that would be a travesty.
In the broadcast room.
“Damn, that is just too amazing! Who said that Master Lin couldn’t play table tennis at all? His skills would probably crush even the top-seeded player in the world.”
“Pinch me. I must be dreaming!”
“I also thought that it wasn’t real at first, but I’m definitely not dreaming.”
“It looks like we’ve all misunderstood Shanghai Satellite TV’s intentions.”
“What do you mean?
“If you think about it, why would Shanghai Satellite TV Network invite Master Lin over as an esteemed guest? It’s definitely because they were scared that something bad would happen. Zhenping Yiming is a good player and although Zhang Zi Wen is skillful, he could never match up to Zhenping Yiming. So, if Zhang Zi Wen lost to him, Master Lin could go up and compete in his place. This is called a double insurance, and from what I can see, Shanghai Satellite TV network’s purpose of inviting Zhenping Yiming here was to show the Japanese how strong we are.”
“Damn, I would have never thought it that way. It makes sense, now that you say it.”
“Amazing, they really thought this one out properly. I am so sorry for cursing them earlier.”
“Come, let us go to Weibo to apologize, in case Shanghai Satellite TV Network had seen our cursing just now.”
At that moment, a large group of netizens accessed Weibo.
Backstage.
If President Liu had known how the netizens could clear things up like that, he would have hired some of them over to the business department of the company. It was amazing how they managed to find such a good explanation.
“President, the netizens on Weibo are all apologizing to us right now,” the worker said excitedly as he went up to President Liu.
“What?” President Liu looked at the worker, dumbfounded. After looking at the posts, his heart rejoiced, especially after seeing the rationale behind the apologies that were given to them. He decided not to say anything and accept their explanation as reality.
He was extremely thankful for that netizen who had such a high level of speculative reasoning skills.
If he knew who that person was, he would have invited that person over to work for the Shanghai Satellite TV Network.
The Japanese live broadcast station.
The screen was showing nothing but desolation and carnage.
The viewers were originally confident and arrogant, but at this moment, they were all dumbfounded.
“No, this can’t be. How could Zhenping Yiming lose like that?”
“That Chinese man definitely isn’t human. He’s definitely a robot created specially to play table tennis.”
“Cheating. He definitely must be cheating. How else would Zhenping Yiming be unable to return a single shot from him?’
“No, this can’t be? How can Chinese people be this terrifying?”
“Zhenping Yiming is crying. What on earth did he experience?”
“Wah! I can’t bear to watch this anymore! I just don’t believe…”
For the Japanese spectators, they couldn’t bear to watch the bloodshed that was going on from their TV sets.
It wasn’t like this before, so how on earth did this even happen?
Zhenping Yiming was their national hero, and he was being taught a terrible lesson right now.
No…
It was the last set, and Lin Fan was ready to throw the game. He wasn’t going to use the table tennis knowledge from the Encyclopedia to play.
With the encyclopedia, his skills were unparalleled and every single ball that went his way was slowed down.
After all, table tennis wasn’t so much of speed, power and reaction time, but more of the skill in which one returned the ball.
Some balls had higher spin and if one tapped the ball in any way, the ball would just spin out of control and fly elsewhere. Skill was needed to know how to return the ball.
At this moment, Zhenping Yiming was trembling as he got ready to serve the ball.
“Champion, calm yourself down, don’t be anxious,” Lin Fan said.
The host translated what Lin Fan had said.
For Zhenping Yiming, he didn’t want to hear the word ‘Champion’. He felt that Lin Fan was using those words to mock him.
“No, don’t call me ‘Champion’,” Zhenping Yiming said, as more tears rolled down his eyes. His spirit was almost crushed.
“Master Lin, he says he doesn’t want you to call him ‘Champion’,” the host said to Master Lin.
Lin Fan nodded his head, “Come, international friend, let us play.”
Zhenping Yiming had already given up on the inside. He picked up the ball, carefully serving it.
However, the most shocking scene happened.
Zhenping Yiming missed his service.
His racquet didn’t even touch the ball at all. For an Asia Pacific championship winner, this was not even supposed to happen.
“Man, this can’t be. How about I serve?” Lin Fan felt that this wasn’t working. Even if he wanted to throw the game, his opponent didn’t even have the spirit to return his shots, and that made him helpless.
On the live broadcast.
“Haha, this is just too hilarious. This person was thrashed so badly by Master Lin, and now he can’t even serve properly.”
“This is just too good. If this program doesn’t become popular, I’ll eat s*it.”
“Master Lin is just too awesome. He is just too multi-talented. I want to know what he doesn’t know.”
“To have a family and kids.”
“^, you hit the nail on the head.”
The host respectfully and professionally nagged at Zhenping Yiming.
Zhenping Yiming nodded, his face still in a daze. He tossed the ball over to Lin Fan.
Lin Fan received the ball and felt it between his fingers. It was a good feeling, but he promised to himself that he wasn’t going to use his table tennis knowledge from the encyclopedia, and he had to keep that promise.
Since he was going to give up this set, he had to go out with a bang.
Lin Fan picked the ball up as he swung his racquet around, smiling courteously at Zhenping Yiming, “International friend, pay attention, I’m about to serve. This one is going to be easy to receive.”
The ball floated in the air as Lin Fan got ready to hit the ball hard.
If Lin Fan didn’t have the Encyclopedia, he really wouldn’t know how to play table tennis.
Thump!
An exploding noise emanated.
Zhenping Yiming scrambled, his eyes showing panic. He flailed his paddle around, unable to see where to ball had gone.
How could it be like this?
The host looked at Master Lin in a daze.
Didn’t he already agree to throw this set? Could it be that Master Lin hit the ball so fast that he moved faster than the eye could catch?
Click!
Clack!
At this moment, the deflated ping pong ball landed in front of Lin Fan.
Lin Fan laughed awkwardly as he saw the scene before him, “Sorry about that. I used too much force, and now the ball is broken. The point is yours since the ball already hit my side of the table.”
“…” the host didn’t know what to say
“Ah!” Zhenping Yiming threw his racquet onto the floor, “I’m not playing anymore, I’m not playing anymore…”
Thereafter, he ran off backstage.
Lin Fan panicked. He still wanted to throw the match for him, but if his opponent wasn’t going to play, he couldn’t throw the match.
“International friend, please don’t panic and continue playing,” Lin Fan shouted.
However, Zhenping Yiming didn’t dare to appear on stage any longer. He was on his last strand of patience and his spirit had been completely crushed.
Everyone thought that Master Lin took things too far.
It was brutality to continue playing.
Now, they could finally heave a sigh of relief.