Chapter 11
The substitute Garry sent in to serve was Yu Bai. The players responsible for receiving serve already looked nervous. The image of Yu Bai’s thunderous spikes was still vivid in their minds. If he channeled that same power into his serve…
Ning Zhou had rotated to the back row. As the setter, he was in charge of distributing the ball and didn’t need to take the first pass. But before the opponent’s serve, rotation rules required him to stay in position. Only after seeing the serve could he sprint to the setter’s spot.
Recalling Yu Bai’s serving patterns, Ning Zhou raised his hand and signaled to the receivers, “Stand a little further back!”
The libero, still shaken from Nie Feiang’s shallow serve earlier, didn’t move his feet, “I’ll adjust once the ball comes.”
“…” Ning Zhou didn’t push further. He pressed his lips together and said softly, “Good luck!”
The libero: ?
Why does that sound like he’s sending me off on a doomed voyage?
“BEEP—”
The moment Yu Bai’s serve flew over, the libero understood what Ning Zhou meant…
Forget about adjusting on the fly—by the time the ball whistled past his body and slammed toward the floor, his eyes hadn’t even caught up. The line judge hesitated, then signaled the ball landed inbounds…
A direct service point!
The onlookers erupted, “ACE!”
“Damn… this is the first time I’ve seen a serve this fast in China. Must’ve been at least 120 km/h!”
“This rookie’s a monster—killer spikes, killer serve!”
“If you don’t go for it, you’re letting down your team. If you do go for it, you’re killing yourself…”
“The libero on Ning’s side didn’t even touch the ball—he’s going to have nightmares.”
“Maybe I should just switch to middle blocker—anything’s better than receiving that kind of serve for the rest of my life…”
The score closed to 6:4.
On the surface, Ning Zhou’s side still led by two, but the momentum had already swung to Yu Bai’s devastating serve…
The libero forced a smile: “My bad…”
“God, is that serve meant to score points or to take lives!?” Xu Zichang patted his chest, shooting the libero a look of sympathy. “Thank god it wasn’t aimed at me…”
Du Jun thought for a moment, then said gravely, “Ning Zhou was right earlier—we should stand deeper. Yu Bai’s serves are landing near the sideline.”
The libero nodded, took a deep breath, and shouted to fire himself up.
“BEEP—”
At the whistle, Yu Bai spun the ball between his palms for a few seconds, then tossed it high. His approach mirrored that of a spike—his powerful Achilles tendons launching him skyward from behind the service line. Suspended in midair, his body arched back like a drawn bow, core muscles coiled tight—like molten lava gathering pressure beneath the crust, then erupting in a violent blast…
Ning Zhou timed his run toward the front-row setter spot, crouching low so as not to block the receivers’ view. With a sharp “whoosh,” the serve streaked past above his head…
Once again, it was aimed at the libero’s zone. The libero’s eyes went wide as he tracked the ball, twisting his body desperately to dodge it, flinging up both arms as he fell, “OUT!”
The ball slammed the floor and bounced far away. But the line judge, unswayed, firmly pointed his flag to the ground: inbounds.
The libero clutched his head in frustration, “How did I see that as out?”
“Right on the line.” Du Jun, with his sharper eye, confirmed. “Almost the exact same spot as before.”
The libero’s spirit collapsed: “Sorry, my mistake!”
Ning Zhou had just reached the setter’s spot, but with no pass coming his way, he trudged back to his position. Clapping his hands to draw attention, he said, “From what I’ve seen—in the last scrimmage, and these two serves just now—Yu Bai keeps targeting that same spot. My guess is, he can’t fully control his serve placement yet. High chance the next one goes there too.”
Xu Zichang rubbed his hands nervously, “Are you sure about that? Betting everything on one spot seems risky…”
“Worth a try,” Du Jun nodded at the libero. “Stand right at the sideline this time. Just get the ball up—we attackers will figure out the rest.”
After Yu Bai’s consecutive aces, the score tightened to 6:5. The spectators’ blood was boiling now, their voices rising in unison, “ACE! ACE!”
And under their cheers, Yu Bai once again soared high into the air…
Ning Zhou sprinted toward the front row. His memories from his previous life told him: Yu Bai’s early-game serves were powerful, but his patterns were simple. As long as you judged the position correctly, they were easy to receive.
The libero was already in position, waiting for the ball. Ning Zhou ran with full confidence—This one’s in the bag!
Yet the ball once again flew right over his head. The libero fumbled, adjusting his arms awkwardly. The ball hit his wrist and bounced out of bounds…
Ning Zhou: !?
Why was this like an open-book exam where you still couldn’t find the right answer?
He sprinted after the ball. The players on the sidelines hurriedly cleared a path, but he still didn’t make it in time…
“Third ace in a row!”
“That evens the score—Yu Bai is opening like a savior!”
“The libero’s positioning wasn’t wrong. How did it shank off his wrist like that? Is Yu Bai’s serve really that hard to receive?”
Ning Zhou walked back through the cleared path, ears full of praises for Yu Bai. He couldn’t believe it—he hadn’t even touched the ball once in these rallies, hadn’t contributed at all, and yet he was already exhausted from all the running…
Three long sprints and one desperate dive, all wasted effort, and they had lost three points.
A miscalculation!
Ning Zhou had correctly predicted Yu Bai’s serve trajectory, but he had overestimated the libero’s fundamentals. During training camp, the players’ skill levels were uneven, and their libero’s basics were mediocre. Expecting him to cleanly receive Yu Bai’s serve was far too much…
If this kept up, not only would Yu Bai’s service rotation lock them down, but their libero—exposed as a “weak point”—would also lose confidence, playing worse and worse.
Ning Zhou returned to the court, heavy-hearted. The libero looked dejected, unmoved even by his teammates’ encouragement…
Du Jun suggested, “How about I receive? You shift over to the side a little.”
Xu Zichang quickly nodded. “Brother Du has played a lot of matches against European teams. He probably has more experience against heavy jump serves!”
Du Jun patted the libero’s back. “I can’t guarantee I’ll get it up either, but right now this might be our only option…”
Ning Zhou frowned, then squeezed into the group with his own idea.
“That won’t work!” the libero immediately protested. “I’ve never heard of that kind of strategy!”
“Well, you’ve seen it now. Trust me just this once!”
Seeing the libero still about to object, Ning Zhou grew stern:
“No matter what method we use, the first pass must be received!
Otherwise, if I had my phone on me right now, my WeChat step count would already be number one!”
His reasoning was so bizarre that the libero couldn’t even argue—his brain just stalled.
…
“Six to six, tied again…”
Coach Luo glanced at assistant coach Ning Xu, who was responsible for this squad. “No timeout or substitutions?”
The players were huddled together, clearly discussing something. Ning Xu shook his head.
“They seem to have their own idea. I won’t disrupt their thinking. If the next point fails, then I’ll call timeout.”
Assistant Coach Hou, cheerful, jotted notes on the roster, “As expected, relying on raw athleticism to crush the opponent is the charm of men’s volleyball…”
While they were discussing, a player squeezed forward from the crowd of spectators, watching the situation on court with a thoughtful look…
Beeep—
Yu Bai’s fourth serve was coming!
Ning Zhou’s side lined up exactly the same as before.
The spectators were baffled, “Why not change the receive formation? They could have four people on the pass!”
“Ugh, losing three straight and still no adjustment. And Assistant Coach Ning hasn’t called timeout? He should at least guide them a little…”
“What, are they just waiting for Yu Bai to miss his serve? That’s way too passive!”
But the chatter didn’t faze Yu Bai. He was like a precision serving machine—repeating his sequence, palm slamming the ball with explosive power. The spinning ball shot over the net like an arrow on the same trajectory as before…
But this time, Ning Zhou didn’t just return to his usual spot. He moved closer to the libero—then personally received the ball!
Yu Bai: ?
The coaching staff: ??
The crowd: “Hah!?”
The setter ran over to protect the libero’s pass? Everyone had heard of players covering each other’s receive, but a setter himself stepping in? Unheard of! The audience was dumbstruck—made even more so when Ning Zhou’s pass was perfectly clean.
Yu Bai’s serve carried so much force that most passes would either fly off target or go straight back over the net, losing the attack opportunity. But Ning Zhou absorbed the momentum with a backward roll, cushioning the ball and lifting it high above the court. Xu Zichang was ready, acting as the temporary setter, lofting the ball to the three-meter line. Du Jun attacked from there, aiming off the opponent’s block, tooling their fingertips—out of bounds!
7–6.
At last, they had broken through Yu Bai’s serve rotation with their “unorthodox” tactic…
“No way—it actually worked!”
Xu Zichang was more excited than if he had scored himself, running circles around the court: “From now on I swear loyalty to the Ning Zhou Support Squad—too awesome!”
The libero, wide-eyed with admiration, pulled Ning Zhou up from the floor. “Great receive!”
“Thanks.” Ning Zhou answered calmly, standing and joining the team’s celebratory huddle. “But it’s all thanks to Brother Du’s point!”
Du Jun ruffled everyone’s hair in turn. “Zichang set it up well too. This point belongs to the whole team!”
Finally, Ning Zhou no longer had to keep exhausting himself with wild sprints, smiling brightly. Then—he felt a searing gaze. He instinctively looked across the net, locking eyes with Yu Bai…
As the designated serving substitute, Yu Bai would now be rotated out. Standing at the sideline, waiting to be switched, he stared fixedly at Ning Zhou—stunned, as though he hadn’t expected his fierce serves to be so smoothly handled by a setter. Ning Zhou smiled and winked at him, lifting his chin, unable to hide the little proud expression on his face—See that? Bet you didn’t expect it—back in the day, I trained as a libero!
Yu Bai froze for a moment, the corners of his eyes betraying a smile, but the referee soon urged him off the court…
On the sidelines, the coaching staff was so shocked by that point they were speechless. Coach Luo’s smile froze, even his “airy bangs” seemed stiff. He turned to Ning Xu, “You had him practice as a libero before—was it for this kind of sneaky tactic?”
“…How could that be possible?” Ning Xu’s reputation was on the line, and he tried hard to salvage it. “I never taught him that method!”
Assistant Coach Hou’s glasses slipped partway down his nose, and he didn’t even notice, muttering, “This is chaos, reckless…”
But Garry was thoroughly impressed with the play, clapping nonstop, laughing and exclaiming, “Amazing! The setter is daring!”
Another laugh mixed with his—one that Ning Xu found all too familiar. Helpless, he turned around, “You’re too slow. Hurry up and warm up! Your group is already on the court.”
Ning Yang’s protruding ears twitched, he made an OK gesture, bounced a couple times in place, “I warmed up just by watching the match. That was so exciting—the last ball was classic Zhou Zhou style, haha!”
“Oh? And what exactly do you mean by ‘Ning Zhou style’?” Coach Luo asked curiously.
Ning Yang wagged his finger slowly and said, “If the first pass is on point—he spreads the offense wide; if the first pass flies off—Zhou Zhou starts scolding loud!”
“Nonsense!” Ning Xu’s tone was stern, though his face showed no real blame. “Keep joking around with the coaches, and you’d better confess the real reason for your stomach trouble!”
Ning Yang laughed sheepishly, shuffled off toward the sidelines, “Coaches, take your time chatting. I’ll just step back now…”
After that rally, both sides made substitutions. On Garry’s team, substitute server Yu Bai was taken off. On Ning Xu’s side, the late-arriving Ning Yang went on, and the libero who had been standing in for him headed to the bench.
Ning Xu waved to the libero coming off: “Your group’s up in the next set. Don’t let your body cool down.”
“!”
The libero hadn’t expected to get another chance after such a poor showing. His gloomy expression instantly cleared, “Yes! Thank you, Coach Ning!”
Assistant Coach Hou frowned, sighing at the libero’s back, “Coach Ning has such a stern look, so why is he so soft when it comes to using players?”
“He had a few solid defensive plays earlier. He’s got talent. Once he sharpens his fundamentals, his potential can show.”
“Talent?” Hou sneered. “All I know is we should let the data do the talking.”
Coach Luo stepped half a step back, sliding between Ning Xu and Hou to stop the argument, “Hou, you’re new to our staff, so you might not know this—Coach Ning’s greatest strength is spotting and developing talented seedlings.”
Hou was doubtful, “I heard Ning Zhou and Ning Yang were both talented kids raised by Coach Ning, but so far, aside from quick setting, I don’t see much talent in Ning Zhou.”
Ning Xu didn’t rush to argue. Calmly, he turned his gaze back to the court—When Ning Yang came on, he didn’t exchange words with Ning Zhou. As they passed, they simply reached out and high-fived in perfect tacit understanding…
“Ning Zhou alone might not make it obvious…”
Ning Xu’s voice was steady, his tone laced with unknowing pride, “But when he and Ning Yang are on the court together—just keep watching, Coach Hou.”
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