The resilient volleyball endured relentless assaults from two young women with ridiculous strength, remaining unscathed—a miracle in itself. Perhaps this volleyball possesses 99 lives, a veritable cheat code.​

"Substitution. Xiao Xi, you can go off first."​

At the start of the third set, Sis Yuanyue called for a player change. She removed her cumbersome sandals, stepping barefoot on to the sandy court.​

Upon leaving the court, Tian Xi hurriedly distanced herself, as if profoundly humiliated... which, indeed, she was.​

In her bikini, Sis Yuanyue also boasted an impressive figure, though she wore a jacket over it. Lei Meow Meow's two-piece was also quite modest. With the departure of the voluptuous Tian Xi, Zhao Zhao quickly regained his composure from his previously indescribable state.​

"Young lady on the other side, what's your name?"​

Facing the older Sis Yuanyue, Haitang responded earnestly, "Chen Haitang. Chen with the ear radical, Haitang as in the crabapple flower."​

"Then I'll call you little Haitang. I'm Xie Yuanyue; you can call me Sis Yuanyue. I'm the mother of these... two kids."​

"Hello, Sis Yuanyue."​

Despite Sister Yuanyue's youthful appearance, resembling more of an elder sister, Haitang didn't seem surprised, as if she already knew.​

Sis Yuanyue bounced the volleyball in her hand, a confident smile playing on her lips—a dangerous signal.​

"Volleyball isn't just about strength. Young lady, take note. I'll show you how volleyball should be played."​

Zhao Zhao's presence was entirely overlooked by Sis Yuanyue.​

In terms of physical prowess, regardless of how well-maintained she was, she was still a woman in her forties, inevitably less robust than the younger players.​

Moreover, her opponents were a third-degree black belt in karate and a muscle-loving basketball enthusiast.​

However, Sis Yuanyue's control over the volleyball's placement was exquisite, as if the ball were alive in her hands, going exactly where she intended. Her jump serves consistently grazed the sidelines, forcing Haitang and Zhao Zhao into a frantic scramble, often colliding with each other. Lei Meow Meow's exhaustion strategy earlier was now being executed to perfection by Sis Yuanyue.​

"Hey, Uncle, what's Sis Yuanyue's background?"​

This level of play was far from that of an ordinary volleyball enthusiast. If I didn't know she was the chairwoman of a major corporation, I'd suspect she was a professional athlete.​

Upon my inquiry, Uncle Lei Luo's gaze drifted into the distance, reminiscing about his youthful days.​

"This goes back to our university days. Yuanyue was the captain of the university's volleyball team, and I was on the basketball team... Our university's indoor gym was small, with the basketball and volleyball courts adjacent, and our training times overlapped. That's how we met. One day, during a heavy rain..."​

"Cut! Cut! Uncle, I don't want to hear your romantic tales. For a single guy like me, that's pure poison... Just tell me, how good is Sis Yuanyue at volleyball?"​

"She's decent. Her best achievement was being the national runner-up."​

"What? National runner-up is just 'decent'?"​

"Well, it was the university league, after all. Our basketball team won the championship that year."​

Unlike with Sis Yuanyue, Uncle Lei Luo seemed to have a favorable impression of Zhao Zhao, perhaps due to their shared passion for basketball.​

In short, Sis Yuanyue was a volleyball prodigy whose talent was sidelined by her family's business. Though it was a university team, she had surpassed the threshold of professional athletes... Facing two novices on their first day of volleyball, she was practically invincible.​

No wonder she dared to wager that she would lend me Lei Meow Meow for a day, and be able to do anything to her. She never considered the possibility of losing—a classic case of asymmetric information exploitation.​

Haitang's leg spikes remained formidable, and even Sis Yuanyue dared not receive them directly. If Lei Meow Meow didn't receive them, we could still score points, offering a glimmer of hope.​

But soon, even that hope was extinguished. Sis Yuanyue's serves began to change; her serves lacked any spin, appearing weak.​

Yet, these spinless "floater" serves had highly unpredictable trajectories. The volleyball wobbled erratically in the air, making it extremely difficult to predict its landing spot. Even when Haitang prepared to receive, the ball would suddenly lose speed, dropping like a puppet with cut strings, easily scoring points.​

It was like an Indian-made terminal-guided missile, performing Brownian motion in the air before nosediving into the ground.​

"It's a floater serve, a sinking floater!"​

Rinka seemed to recognize this serve, a gleam in his eye as he provided a professional commentary.

"This kind of serve doesn’t spin, so there’s no axis of rotation. Plus, volleyballs are relatively soft—when struck, they deform, causing the internal air to oscillate. That turbulence leads to instability in the ball’s flight path. As for the sudden drop, that happens because the deformed ball experiences greater air resistance, and at lower speeds, it's more easily caught by gravity and loses lift."

"Ohhh, I see—except I don’t understand a single word of that."

"Ahem... Basically, this is a high-level serving technique that amateurs can’t just pull off. The more professional the player, the more unpredictable their float serves become."

What? A serve this wild and fantastical is actually real-world tech, not some overpowered anime-style special move?

Haitang and Zhao Zhao, relying on their sharp reflexes, occasionally managed to intercept a few of the floaters before they landed—but it wasn’t nearly enough to reverse their overwhelming point deficit. In the end, they were crushed, losing 11–21 in a complete blowout.
The invincible Haitang had fallen.

So even those bold “leave it to me” types—like Zhao Zhao, like Haitang—end up losing in the end?

"Sorry, Commander... I promised I’d win this for you."

Unstoppable as she usually was, Haitang rarely faced defeat. That’s probably why this one hit her so hard—her fierce aura had vanished, and with her head down and energy drained, she looked... strangely adorable.

Oh, my sweet long-lost mama, did I just say "adorable"? Never in my life did I think I’d use that word to describe Haitang.

I raised my hand toward her head, hesitated for a moment, but didn’t dare actually pat her. I wanted to comfort her, but if she snapped out of it... I might just lose that hand.

Better safe than sorry.

“It’s alright. You came all this way to help me, and that alone means a lot.”

Tangerine chimed in as well: “Yeah! Haitang-jie is already amazing. It’s Onii-chan here who’s the useless one.”

...Um. Why does that sound way more insulting than comforting?

Sis Yuanyue walked over, dragging along a sulking Lei Meow Meow, who had her cheeks puffed out and was turning her head away from us like a stubborn child.

“Don’t be too upset, little Haitang. For your first time playing volleyball, you did great.”

Sis Yuanyue’s mature and graceful presence was in full bloom, radiating a strangely soothing warmth. Even Haitang gave a quiet nod in response.

“I acknowledge you as my rival now, Haitang. Next time, let’s have a proper match.”
Lei Meow Meow was still not facing us, but she kept sneaking glances at Haitang from the corner of her eye. Her ruby-like eyes sparkled, just like a kid too proud to admit they want to say sorry.
“So lift your head, my sworn enemy.”

“Isn’t that my line? I was clearly dominating the second set.” But Lei Meow Meow’s words worked—Haitang’s aura returned, and there was now a touch of mutual respect in the way she looked at her.

So after that flashy beach volleyball showdown, these two even forged a bond of friendship?

“I definitely misjudged you before. You’re a pretty decent person.”

Before? What “before”?

Since when did Haitang and Lei Meow Meow meet?