Chapter 64: You Call This Beach Volleyball?

Chapter 64: You Call This Beach Volleyball?

Deep Blue Metropolis, outskirts of the Coastal District.

Three Trilan Junior High school buses roared past, heading straight toward a distant resort hotel.

Not long after the buses passed, a lone figure standing quietly on a hillside took out his phone.

“Target has arrived.”

“Good. Proceed according to plan.”

After receiving the reply, Yong Amsan hung up, his expression heavy as he stared at the convoy disappearing into the distance.

Then he turned around and vanished into the forest.

. . .

Coral Resort Zone, Fluorescent Beach.

In the Coastal District, the October sun was merciless.

Tendou lay shirtless on a beach chair, wearing only swim shorts, sipping coconut juice through a straw as he enjoyed this rare holiday.

Beside him, fourteen-year-old Caroline wore a relatively modest one-piece swimsuit.

Yet her future elegant, alluring figure was already beginning to take shape, drawing the eyes of several passing male classmates.

But because of Caroline’s naturally cold, unapproachable aura—plus a few rather dramatic campus rumors about her—they all wanted to approach her… yet none dared to.

Seeing how terrified they were of even getting close to her, Tendou couldn’t resist teasing:

“Caroline, look at the mess you’ve caused. Those guys are scared of you to death now.”

Caroline quietly put down the book she was reading and turned her head.

Tendou was holding coconut juice in one hand and lowering his sunglasses with the other, his blue eyes full of mischief.

Pa!

Caroline closed her book and placed it neatly on her folded knees.

“This has nothing to do with me. I merely made them understand what people their age should be focusing on.”

“So that’s why you sent every guy who tried to hit on you a copy of their own browser history… straight to their parents? Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

Caroline replied calmly:

“If they paid attention to their studies, then what I did wouldn’t affect them. So the ones who should reflect on themselves aren’t me, but those whose brains are being controlled by hormones.”

“And besides, Tendou—why do you seem bothered by what I did? Don’t tell me you have anything on your phone that you can’t show others?”

Tendou froze, then immediately tried to defend himself:

“Uh—n-no, nothing like that, Caroline, you’re overthinking it.”

He pushed his sunglasses back into place and swish, flopped back down on his beach chair.

But his right hand tightened nervously around his phone, clearly worried about something.

Noticing this, Caroline casually added:

“Tendou, as the strongest Machina Type Starbearer among the Children of the Stars, I’ve always had the highest network privileges.”

“So—”

“WHAT?!”

Tendou shot upright, pale, staring at his phone as if trying to remember what Caroline might have already seen.

Watching him panic, Caroline finally couldn’t help laughing.

“Relax, Tendou. It’s true I have the highest network privileges among the Children of the Stars… but your security clearance is above my access level. I actually can’t see anything on your phone.”

“Whew!”

Tendou let out a long breath and patted his chest in relief.

Good—she can’t see it.

If Caroline ever saw what was in his phone… he’d be done for!

But Tendou’s reaction only made Caroline even more curious.

“Tendou… you really don’t watch anything you shouldn’t, right?”

“……”

Tendou shook his head like a rattle drum, desperately signaling that he was not like other boys—he only used his phone to look at study materials!

Caroline, her eyes full of amusement, clearly didn’t believe that at all.

But in the end, she didn’t press further and generously chose to let him go.

After all, it was normal for teenage boys to have a few little secrets. No need to pry too deeply.

Still… she was a little curious what Tendou usually looked at on his phone.

Thinking of that, Caroline glanced sideways at the phone Tendou was gripping tightly in his hand, as if plotting something.

Everyone knows cats are extremely curious creatures.

And the Heavenly Mechanisms Feline… is still a cat!

Just as Caroline was secretly considering whether she should sneak a look at Tendou’s phone one day, Chen Kong came bounding over with a beach volleyball in his hands.

“Caroline! Tendou! Don’t just lie there—come play with us!”

Hearing the invitation, Tendou and Caroline exchanged a glance, then both stood up.

“Oh? You challenging me now, Kong?”

“Uh…”

Tendou ran a hand through his hair, styling it into a slicked-back look. He took the volleyball from Chen Kong and spun it arrogantly in his hands.

“Let’s go, Kong. I’ll show you what real killer volleyball looks like.”

“Huh? K-killer… volleyball?”

Chen Kong stared at Tendou in shock, unable to comprehend why Tendou was suddenly linking volleyball with the word killer.

Tendou didn’t bother explaining.

After all, Chen Kong wasn’t a transmigrator—how could he possibly understand the deeper meaning behind those words?

But it was fine if he didn’t understand.

Because soon, he would.

He would learn that volleyball… is not something just anyone can play!

On this merciless battlefield of beach volleyball—only the strong survive!

Moments later—

“Hahaha! Caroline, take my outer-spin serve!”

“TORNADO SPIKE!”

“WHIRLWIND SERPENT SHOT!”

“TENDOU DOMAIN!”

Accompanied by Tendou’s over-the-top laughter and a series of bizarre skill names, the volleyball in his hand seemed to possess some kind of mysterious power, always moving in strange, impossible trajectories that caught everyone completely off guard.

What shocked the onlookers even more was that although the match was clearly meant to be a multi-person team game, Tendou had forced his own teammates off the court, choosing to face Chen Kong, Chen Xing, Caroline, and Isabelle all by himself.

Even in a 1-vs-4 situation, Tendou displayed an overwhelmingly dominant advantage.

After all, both his Star-Eclipse Eye and his Vector Control were abilities he could activate without ordinary people noticing.

Which meant—he was basically straight-up cheating in a volleyball match.

Of course he had the advantage!

Bang!

After failing once again to receive Tendou’s “outer-spin serve,” Chen Xing glared at the still-spinning volleyball on the sand, fury blazing in her eyes.

Oh, so that’s how you want to play, huh?

Fine then.

Let’s see whose Dual-Star System is stronger!

Chen Xing stood up. Her previously fair skin turned visibly redder by the second.

This was the unmistakable sign of her activating the Bloodflame Internal Combustion Technique, a technique that burns a portion of one’s own blood to temporarily gain enhanced physical strength.

A star energy technique that belonged to the “physical enhancement” category.

Not only Chen Xing, Caroline also started getting serious.

Her electronic cat-eyes flickered as streams of data flashed across them.

A web of invisible star energy data linked her with Chen Xing and Chen Kong, allowing them to share all information happening on the volleyball court in real time.

As for Chen Kong… he wanted to use his Star Core and Star Origin.

But his Void Mark and The Dreamer were both extremely unsuitable for this kind of setting.

Because although Tendou was cheating, he was cheating within controlled limits. Always keeping things subtle enough that outsiders wouldn’t notice.

So Caroline and Chen Xing followed his lead, tacitly agreeing to do the same.

That way, to outsiders, it would still look like they were simply playing normal beach volleyball.

But was this volleyball match… really normal?

With both Caroline and Chen Xing entering full power mode, the human players—Chen Kong and Isabelle—were quickly forced off this battlefield of gods.

Watching Tendou and the others unleashing explosive ball strikes, with special effects bursting out at random, even the well-traveled Isabelle couldn’t help saying:

“Kong, are your classmates really normal people?”

Seeing Tendou and the others completely fired up, spiking the ball at heights volleyball should never reach, Chen Kong wiped the sweat from his forehead and forced himself to answer:

“Y-Yeah! They’re normal. T-Their volleyball skills are just… um… a lot stronger than average.”

“Really?”

Isabelle looked at Chen Xing—who had just slapped the volleyball so hard it produced actual sparks—then at Caroline, who didn’t even bother reacting to Tendou’s attack, simply moving ahead of time like she had foreseen the landing spot.

She simply couldn’t associate any of them with the word “normal.”

Could a normal person smack a volleyball hard enough to ignite it?

Could a normal person gather massive volumes of data in just a minute or two and instantly calculate the ball’s final landing point?

Don’t joke with her. There was no way these people were normal!

Meanwhile, the dimensional audience on Crustyroll had started roasting this “superpowered volleyball match” just like Isabelle.

“Bro, are you guys playing volleyball or committing murder? That ball speed, that impact force, the FIRE—who would dare play against you after this?!”

“Murder but you bring a ball? Interesting.”

“No wonder Tendou said earlier he’d show Kong what killer volleyball looks like—turns out he wasn’t joking! His ball CAN kill!”

“Oh hey, I got inspiration! If there’s killer volleyball, do you think they’ll make an anime called Killer Tennis?”

“Nah nah, ‘Killer Tennis’ sounds lame. How about Prince of Tennis instead?”

“You know what, that actually sounds pretty good. Some company should make that. I’d watch it for sure!”

Bang!

With another explosive spike from Tendou, the volleyball—having been infused with Vector Control—moved like it was being controlled by an invisible hand.

It carved an exaggerated S-shaped curve through the air, perfectly dodging both Chen Xing and Caroline below.

Just as the ball was about to hit the sand, a cat tail suddenly appeared.

Not only did it cleanly cushion Tendou’s spike, it even flicked the volleyball upward, sending it perfectly toward Chen Xing.

Seeing the ball launched into the air, Chen Xing’s lips curled upward—sparks almost flying out.

Her long, toned legs tightened, and she leapt upward with explosive force.

Bloodflame—Crimson Blaze!

With a loud, exaggerated smack, the volleyball Chen Xing struck instantly shot out with a scorching, fiery trail, slamming hard into the sand behind Tendou.

And even after being buried halfway into the ground, the ball was still spinning violently, smoke rising from it.

Tendou immediately voiced his displeasure.

“OBJECTION! Caroline! Chen Xing! You two are cheating!”

“Who plays volleyball using a tail?! And what normal person’s ball catches on fire?!”

At his accusations, Chen Xing and Caroline exchanged a glance—both seeing amusement in the other’s eyes.

Chen Xing straightened her posture, the lines of her abs and obliques gleaming healthily under the sun.

“Tendou, just because your ball doesn’t ignite doesn’t mean mine can’t.”

Beside her, Caroline’s cat ears twitched as she calmly added:

“A tail is part of the body. Volleyball only bans using your feet. There’s no rule at all saying you can’t use a tail.”

“…”

Seeing the two of them acting perfectly in sync, Tendou could only feel that these “street volleyball courts” were far too dark and corrupt.

When would a non-cheating, law-abiding green player like him ever get to rise?

He picked up the now motionless ball, patting it once in his hand, preparing to return their blatant cheating with a proper counterattack.

You want to compare cheat parameters, huh?

Fine, let’s see whose cheat parameters are higher!

But just as Tendou decided to stop pretending, his pupils shrank behind his sunglasses—he had noticed something.

He subtly shifted his stance, his muscles pulling tight.

BANG—!

The ball Tendou struck let out a piercing sonic shriek, the surrounding air ripping open with visible shock ripples.

Then, like a cannon shell, the volleyball shot forward with pinpoint precision and smashed into the head of a shark-shaped Starbeast that had just surfaced.

Its massive shark head exploded instantly like a watermelon, spraying blue blood everywhere.

And the ball didn’t stop.

Still carrying lethal force, it pierced clean through two more ocean-type Starbeasts before finally disappearing into the sea, kicking up a five- to six-meter water plume.

“RUN! There are Starbeasts!!”

Seeing the ocean creatures rise from the waves one after another, the beachgoers completely panicked and fled in terror.

Noticing this, Tendou removed his sunglasses, his expression emotionless.

“Caroline, Chen Xing, Kong—take Isabelle and get out of here first.”

“Okay.”

With Isabelle still stunned and confused, Chen Xing grabbed her hand and rushed toward the resort hotel at the edge of the beach—leaving Tendou alone to face the dozen or so oceanic Starbeasts emerging from the sea.

Once the others retreated to a safe distance, Tendou cracked his knuckles, producing a clean, crisp snapping sound.

“A sneak attack, huh? You guys really picked the wrong opponent.”

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