It was still eleven points.
However, this time, the two of them fought fiercely. Lin Qumu broke erjiefu (second brother-in-law)'s string, and then broke it again after switching to Double Edge 10. At this point, the score was ten to ten. The two of them had no choice but to shake hands and call it a draw.
"You sure hit accurately," Lin Yusheng said.
The reason for the string breaking was simple: when hitting, it hit a specific point on the string, causing it to break.
When Lin Qumu came down, he immediately cut the broken string. If left unattended, it would damage the Badminton racket and deform the frame.
The two returned to their dormitory for a short rest, then went to the gym.
Many players were training in the gym. Just then, the system issued a task to Lin Qumu:
"Beep, please note, Host, a series of tasks have been issued. Complete the series of tasks to receive multiple rewards."
Lin Qumu was stunned and immediately contacted the system in his mind:
"System, please speak."
"Beep, Phase One: Strength Training. Please complete 2000 repetitions of 40kg bicep curls, 1500 repetitions of 40kg weighted squats. Complete all within 72 hours. Reward: Core Strength increased by 10%, Leg Strength increased by 10%, Upper Body Strength increased by 15%."
"Wow…"
Lin Qumu felt a bit numb after hearing the task issued by the system. The weight was secondary; he usually trained with these weights. However, these were basically the maximum weights he could handle, and the system immediately increased the intensity.
However, the rewards were quite generous, enhancing three parts of his strength. But this also meant that Lin Qumu had to spend most of his time on equipment, and it seemed he would have to reduce some time allocated to Badminton.
As if sensing what Lin Qumu was thinking, the system immediately issued another task:
"Beep, please note, Host, Phase One task has been issued: Please complete 5000 backhand training sessions, 10000 Overhead Kill training sessions, 5000 defense training sessions, and 5000 flat drive training sessions. Complete within 96 hours. Please note again, the task time calculation starts tomorrow. Reward upon completion: Backhand ability increased by 10%, Overhead Kill ability increased by 10%, Defense ability increased by 10%, Flat Drive ability increased by 10%."
Starting tomorrow? That makes time allocation a bit tight.
Lin Qumu didn't waste any words and immediately picked up a weightlifting belt, tightening it around his abdomen. A weightlifting belt is very important in regular training; it can assist athletes in tensing their core strength, allowing them to exert their power better. However, if the belt breaks midway, it is extremely dangerous for the athlete.
After checking that everything was in order, Lin Qumu walked to the weighted squat area. The barbell itself weighed 20kg, and Lin Qumu added 20kg weight plates. He took a deep breath, lifted it, walked a few steps forward, and then began to squat.
The physical trainer was from Spain. His Chinese was very awkward, so he communicated with Lin Qumu in English with a Spanish accent, and the translator translated what the coach said to Lin Qumu.
"Watch your breathing, Lin," the coach gave detailed guidance, while also preparing for any accidents.
At first, Lin Qumu's breathing rhythm was a bit chaotic, which caused problems with his squat rhythm. Fortunately, with the coach's guidance, Lin Qumu found his breathing rhythm, and his squat rhythm immediately became powerful.
Lin Qumu did 150 squats in one go, taking twelve and a half minutes. Including a minute and a half of rest, 150 squats took Lin Qumu fourteen minutes.
After resting, Lin Qumu did another 150 in one go. This time, his speed was noticeably much slower, taking fifteen minutes.
"Lin, rest a bit longer, and I suggest you reduce the number of sets. Don't rush for success," the coach said.
Doing a large number of repetitions at once could easily injure the body, and Lin Qumu knew this. The coach was right; he shouldn't rush, and he still had so many other exercises to do.
Lin Qumu went to other areas to perform other training. From 2 PM to 6 PM, Lin Qumu completed a total of 270 bicep curls and 200 squats.
Before dinner, Lin Qumu spent half an hour stretching, which helped relieve muscle fatigue. Lin Qumu chose some high-calorie foods to prepare for the evening training.
At 7:30 PM, Lin Qumu began a new round of training. This time, he focused solely on squats, planning to complete 300 squats before the gym closed at 11 PM.
Tying his belt, Lin Qumu began his squat training. Sweat dripped onto the floor, heavy breathing echoed throughout the gym, occasionally accompanied by low growls.
The 10:30 alarm rang, and Lin Qumu checked the panel provided by the system.
Squat training: 300 / 1500
Completed.
Lin Qumu took a deep breath and slowly began to relax. After finishing, Lin Qumu returned the barbell to its original position and began stretching after two minutes of rest.
At 11 PM, the manager came and knocked on the door: "Stop training, go to bed."
"Alright, Uncle."
Lin Qumu returned to his dormitory, took a comfortable shower, and hand-washed his clothes.
Tomorrow morning will be Badminton training, and the afternoon and evening will be strength training.
The next morning, Lin Qumu and Lin Yusheng arranged to do backhand training. Lin Yusheng would feed the balls to Lin Qumu. Lin Qumu originally wanted to choose Double Edge 10, but the system restricted Lin Qumu, requiring him to use erjiefu (second brother-in-law).
Alright, he hadn't tamed this beast yet, and he would definitely need to use erjiefu (second brother-in-law) for future matches and training, so training more with erjiefu (second brother-in-law) wasn't a bad thing.
However, the feedback from erjiefu (second brother-in-law) was truly stiff. Even though Lin Qumu specifically wrapped the vibration dampening film a few extra times, it couldn't block the strong vibration, forcing Lin Qumu to wear the wristbands provided by YY. This made it a bit better.
Lin Qumu asked Lin Yusheng to tell him what kind of shot to hit while feeding him the ball, such as backhand straight clear, backhand cross-court clear, and so on.
Training began. Lin Yusheng held a stack of balls in his left hand, pulled out the bottom one, hit it to Lin Qumu, and simultaneously shouted: "Cross-court transition."
Lin Qumu hit a backhand cross-court transition shot, but unfortunately, it didn't clear the net. He annoyed scratched his head.
"Again, again. Straight clear."
This ball flew out of bounds.
"Cross-court clear."
Flew out of the baseline.
"Straight power."
On the line.
...
He hit four hundred balls in a row, making Lin Qumu so tired that he didn't want to lift his arm anymore. The 3U erjiefu (second brother-in-law) was truly a torture, heavy and difficult to control. He really wanted to give up on erjiefu (second brother-in-law). But when he thought that the experience card might be taken away, he still restrained the urge to give up. However, the number of in-bounds backhand shots out of these four hundred was decent, accounting for about 70% of the four hundred balls.
Next, it was Lin Qumu's turn to feed balls to Lin Yusheng. Lin Yusheng hit three hundred seventy balls, with a similar in-bounds rate to Lin Qumu.
Next was Overhead Kill training. This was the best way for Lin Qumu to master erjiefu (second brother-in-law). Lin Qumu then killed nearly five hundred balls in sets, including drop Overhead Kills, chop Overhead Kills, heavy Overhead Kills, Overhead Kill, and aggressive Overhead Kills, all of high quality, but also the most tiring, feeling as if his arm was dislocated.
Lin Yusheng killed over six hundred, with similar quality to Lin Qumu.
Next was defense training. Lin Yusheng stood at the net, with a stool under his feet. Lin Qumu stood in the middle of the court, slightly towards the backhand side. This was also Lin Qumu's most familiar receiving Overhead Kill position.
"Here it comes."
"Start."
This could largely simulate the possible landing points of an opponent's Overhead Kill in a match, and Lin Yusheng's Overhead Kill was also quite good, which greatly helped Lin Qumu's training.
Lin Qumu defended from both sides. At first, he could barely keep up, but later he became a bit flustered. The balls he returned were either too high, out of bounds, or just perfectly hit into Lin Yusheng's hands and blocked at the net by Lin Yusheng.
Out of one hundred Overhead Kills, Lin Qumu could only return over forty, the rest were all errors.
"You're not good at this either. My turn."
"Hmph, what big words."
So, Lin Yusheng was run around by Lin Qumu like a good friend. Out of one hundred balls, he only returned less than thirty, the rest were all errors.
"Damn, this is really hard."
"Who's to say it isn't."
The two rested for a while, then agreed to practice backhand shots. This time, the quality of their backhand shots was guaranteed. Lin Qumu, including his previous backhand shots, completed a total of 500 backhand training sessions, 100 defense training sessions, and 500 Overhead Kill sessions.
The afternoon was again time for weightlifting. Lin Qumu put on his headphones, played "Most Dazzling Ethnic Style," and continued to train his strength.
At 6:30 PM, Lin Yusheng came to find Lin Qumu: "A Mu, stop training, let's go eat."
"Okay, help me stretch. After stretching, we'll go eat."
After stretching, the two went to the cafeteria to eat, and then they ran into Jia Yifan, who was filming a video with her phone.
Jia Yifan was not only a strong athlete, but she also enjoyed sharing her daily life. Since Lin Yusheng and Lin Qumu were new additions, Jia Yifan also gave them more screen time.
"Everyone, look, these are the fresh faces of our team. Say hello."
Lin Yusheng quickly covered his face, while Lin Qumu greeted them, which excited the Badminton fans watching the video.
"Wow, two handsome guys!"
"The National Badminton Team's previous videos also featured these two handsome guys. They're both handsome and skilled! Do they have girlfriends? You can choose me!"
"Don't mind those people! I'm a man and I love you guys, I want to have monkeys with you!"
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
"Unbelievable, what kind of zero-spill incident is this?"
"Abstract, too abstract. Unlike me, I've already washed up and am going to find them."
Fortunately, these were the bullet comments on Jia Yifan's video released three months later. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a social death scene if the two involved saw them in person?
However, there is now a chaotic phenomenon, which is that fans are gradually becoming more like idol fan circles. Many people cannot tolerate others saying anything negative about their favorite players, thinking they know more about the game and players than even the most professional coaches. Moreover, they don't focus on the players' on-court performance but rather on their private lives, which also brings a lot of trouble to athletes.
Of course, this phenomenon does not dominate. Many people are rational fans; they prefer to affirm players based on their on-court performance and analyze tactics and shortcomings in the players' performances, offering their own insights. These are true fans, the most suitable fans for the Badminton community.
