Peninsula: Aiming for a Grand Slam

Thursday afternoon.

Chen Jixian never imagined that one day he would become a blond-haired sports student.

But today is different.

Pushing open the door of Ace Tennis, the receptionist is a middle-aged man with curly hair.

"Rent the venue?"

Chen Jixian: "Pitcher machine, one hour."

"Court fee: 1. Ball machine: 5000."

"rent!"

The venue was outdoors, with a roof and surrounded by windproof netting. It was still a bit chilly in Seoul in March.

Chen Jixian put down his racket and examined the ball-serving machine.

This thing looks like a small freezer, with a control panel on it that allows you to adjust the ball speed and landing point.

He selected the slowest setting, ball speed 30, and a backhand placement. Then he stood at the baseline and took a deep breath.

The machine started moving.

"Thump" - the ball bounces out, soft and fluffy, lands and bounces up.

The yellow-green ball bounced and landed on Chen Jixian's backhand. Chen Jixian turned and swung his racket.

"Bang."

The ball hit the net and bounced back.

[Unacceptable. Incorrect movement frame: elbow too high.]

Man!

Come again.

The second ball.

He deliberately kept his elbows low. The ball went over and landed softly near the service line.

[Unacceptable. Insufficient shot quality, inadequate ball depth, and insufficient spin.]

[Unqualified]

[Unqualified]

The fourth one.

The fifth one.

The tenth one.

The twentieth one.

Chen Jixian stopped and took a breath.

The ball machine is almost half empty, and the passing score is still 0. It's not that I can't hit the balls; the system isn't recognizing them.

"The landing point must be deep, the spin must be sufficient, and the movement must be precise—only if all three are perfect does it count as one attempt. Damn it!"

He can't do even one of them.

My wrist is a little sore.

Current progress: 0/10000.

The system sent another message:

[We recommend purchasing the extended training package. 10 yuan/day. Benefits: Continuous fatigue recovery and repair of minor injuries during training.]

[Technical Restriction Notice: Disabled on match days! If the sustain pack is activated and you enter an official match, the system will forcibly shut it down for 24 hours, and all attributes and skills will be disabled!]

He glanced at it.

"10 yuan a day?"

"300 a month?"

I took another look.

"Why don't you just rob me? Do you think you're the landlord, here to collect rent? I might consider 10 yuan a month!"

Turn off.

Keep fighting.

Ten minutes later.

He gritted his teeth and opened the system again: "Purchase a battery life extension package!"

Purchased.

Chen Jixian trembled, as if a clear stream had seeped into his very bones.

That feeling of "every swing of the racket is like grinding bones" has disappeared from my body.

then,

The backhand hell continues.

The fiftieth.

The hundredth one.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he finally heard that voice.

【qualified. 】

[Backhand training pack: 1/10000]

Chen Jixian was stunned for a moment and almost forgot to catch the next ball.

One hour.

Only one meets the standard!

He calculated that at this rate, it would take 10000 hours to complete 10000 sessions.

Let alone 10 days.

Ten years is not enough.

The ball machine is still spitting out balls.

He mechanically swung his racket, the number of qualified shots went from 1 to 2, and then stopped at 2.

At the end of the first hour, he sat down against the fence to drink water; his arms were already starting to ache.

[Remaining time: 9 days and 23 hours.]

Current progress: 2/10000.

The second hour.

Halfway through, he became completely numb—he changed whatever the system told him to change, but it was still unacceptable, so he kept changing it.

1 hour and 20 minutes.

[Unqualified.]

1 hour and 40 minutes.

[Unqualified.]

1 hour and 50 minutes.

[Unqualified.]

Another ball was ejected from the ball machine.

He stared at the ball, watching it bounce and land on his backhand side, preparing to swing. Just then, a line of small text appeared on his retina—

[10 yuan has been paid.]

Chen Jixian: ? ? ?

My money?!

A buzzing sound came from my brain.

In that instant, his body no longer belonged to him. His body was moving, but it wasn't him moving.

Body,

It's been taken over!

He could also see the tennis balls coming out of the ball machine, feel the March wind blowing on his face, and hear the sound of balls being hit in the next court.

But his body was taken away.

The hand is preparing to strike.

That's not what he wanted.

The feet are moving.

He didn't give the order.

He could even feel the soreness in his muscles!

The ball bounced out of the ball machine, landed, and bounced up—his feet moved to the correct position by themselves, his waist turned by itself, and his racket swung out by itself.

It's not "he's swinging the racket".

It's the rhythm that "takes him swinging".

The sound of a tennis ball hitting the sweet spot is different for each ball.

"Snap" - crisp and clean.

The ball landed half a meter inside the baseline, bounced up, and hit the windproof netting.

The system seemed to chuckle smugly, telling him, "Hey, that's how you play tennis!"

In that instant of his daze—

"Bang!"

Holy crap!

The next ball hit him squarely on the shoulder.

At the same time, system notifications can be seen on the retina—

Backhand practice: 3/10000

[System notification: You have made a payment of 10 yuan (90% discount). UNICEF thanks you for your donation!]

pain.

Chen Jixian nearly dropped his racket and shrunk to the side. He rubbed his shoulder, grimacing as he stared at the serve machine.

Han's ball-serving machine really has no sportsmanship. If it were one of those machines in China, it would definitely hurt even more—more, right?

[Compilation of the paradigm is complete.]

Chen Jixian frowned: That overwhelming control over the tennis ball just now vanished completely with that elbow strike from the ball machine!

He rubbed his shoulders and stood back on the baseline.

The ball machine fired another ball.

He swung his racket.

[Unqualified.]

Come again.

[Unqualified.]

Come again.

[Unqualified.]

That "smack"—the crisp, clean sound of something hitting the sweet spot—felt like it had been stolen from my memory.

He tried to recall the sensations he had just experienced: how his feet moved, how his waist turned, and how he accelerated the patting of his head.

remember.

My brain remembers.

But the body doesn't remember!

Just like someone who has never studied painting, even if they've seen the Mona Lisa a hundred times, they still can't paint her smile.

The twentieth. The thirtieth. The fiftieth.

[Unqualified.]

[Unqualified.]

[Unqualified.]

The number of people meeting the target remained at 3, without any further changes.

Those few seconds of paraphrasing felt like a dream. When he woke up, he was still that high school senior with a crippled hand.

Chen Jixian rubbed his wrist.

Another message popped up.

[Translated by Paradigm: Temporarily take over the body and infuse it with Master-level +11 technology.]

Duration: One ball.

[Trigger method: Random.]

Price: 100

Chen Jixian was stunned.

"Wasn't it ten yuan just now?"

The system ignored him.

He looked at the line "Trigger method: Random".

The meaning is quite clear: you're lucky you were able to buy it this time. Whether you'll be able to buy it next time, or when you'll be able to buy it, is anyone's guess.

One hundred dollars for one ball.

This opportunity won't come again.

Chen Jixian gritted his teeth.

"purchase."

[Purchased. Paradigm compilation started.]

[Target technique: Backhand.]

[Experience Level: 11]

My body suddenly doesn't belong to me anymore.

A switch was flipped up.

His shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips all coordinated in a way he had never learned before. The ball machine spat out the next ball, a small yellow-green ball that flew over, landed, and bounced. He turned his body, drew back his racket, and raised it to meet the ball.

Touch the ball.

"Smack!"

The sound was crisp and clear.

The ball bounced off the racket face, drawing a low, flat arc, grazing the top of the net, and slamming heavily into the deep area of ​​the opposite baseline.

[Target achieved. Count: 4/10000.]

Then, she gave her body back to him.

One ball.

Just one ball.

100 yuan.

But it's worth it!

Chen Jixian stood there, panting heavily. The feeling of that shot was still lingering in his hands—

Where should the hitting point be? When should the wrist be relaxed and when should it be tightened? How should the waist lead the shoulders when rotating the body?

He remembers everything!

The ball machine spits out the next ball.

He hit him.

[Meets the standard.]

One more.

[Meets the standard.]

One more.

[Meets the standard.]

The count jumps up.

He didn't know how long this feeling would last, and he didn't want to think about it. The ball machine was spitting out balls, and he was hitting them.

Sweat dripped from my chin, and my shoulders ached more and more. With each swing, the point of impact was near that spot. With each contact, the racket face tried to make contact with the ball.

Some met the standards, while others did not.

He ran out of balls in the basket. He went to pick them up, refilled them, and continued playing.

[Meets the standard.]

[Unqualified.]

[Meets the standard.]

[Meets the standard.]

The numbers rose, albeit haltingly.

Two hours passed. Three hours passed.

The five hours were up.

He turned off the ball machine, bent down, and picked up the balls from the ground and put them back in the basket.

Then I glanced at the panel.

[Current backhand qualification rate: 173/10000.]

173.

From 3 to 173. One hundred and seventy balls.

He stood there, staring at the number, panting heavily. His shoulders were burning, his wrists ached, and blisters formed on his palms.

Chen Jixian smiled wryly: "Without the extended battery pack, I wouldn't be far from ending up in the hospital. But it costs ten yuan a day!"

"Five hours, court and ball machine, 75,000."

He made the payment.

My phone screen lit up. It was a bank notification: 75,000 Korean won.

Then the system panel pops up.

[Today's Settlement]

[Court + Ball Machine: 75000 Korean Won]

[Extended battery pack: 1850 Korean won]

[Compiled by Fan Shi: 18500 Korean Won]

Total: 95350 Korean Won

Current cash balance: 274650 Korean Won

There is 1485 yuan left.

"The 80 won tuition fee must be unfrozen as soon as possible, otherwise it won't just be a matter of not having money to play ball, but that we'll starve to death in Seoul."

This is the first day.

Nine days left.

The battery life package costs 10 yuan a day; if you don't buy it, you'll end up in the hospital. Paradigm Compiler pops up unexpectedly, and you basically have to buy it whenever it appears. Then there's food, transportation…

Ugh.

What's the point of playing tennis if you don't have money?