Chapter Three: The Last-Place Club's Secret Adviser

“They aren't watching the catcher.” Cheng pointed toward a velocity display near the bullpen phone. “Our pitch codes are leaking into maintenance. That screen changes brightness with each code.” The future had given him only the result. The ten-second pressure forced him to find the cause. During the first three innings, he had noticed the display flicker whenever Gao called a slider. Lin checked the logs. “He's right. Someone accessed the training network last night.” There was no time to argue. Cheng shouted to Gao, “Reverse every sign!” Gao called an outside slider. Du threw a fastball inside. Han stepped early, his bat late. “Strike!”