Chapter 341: Could Only Accept

Somewhere not far from the basketball court, Chen Xiaolian sat down together with Roddy.

“When you put it that way, it would appear that old Father Qiao is in a spot of trouble?” Roddy who sat beside Chen Xiaolian knitted his eyebrows and asked in a whisper.

There was a calm look on Chen Xiaolian’s face as he slowly shook his head. “It may not necessarily be trouble. However, I believe that Qiao Yifeng’s position in the guild is not as high as I had imagined back then. After all, he is presently only a normal human and not an Awakened. Even if he is the guild’s representative, even if some of the Awakened ones within the guild still consider him a friend, would they expend that much of the guild’s strength for an ordinary person?

“As Awakened ones, the strength of the guild must naturally be reserved for getting through the instance dungeons. No guild would be willing to risk spending too much of their strength or even losing them in the secular world.”

Roddy considered those words and nodded his head in understanding.

“That means, since Yu Jiajia is here, if Father Qiao is a core member of the guild, he would have sent some experts to snatch her back. For him to be calling you and softening his stance means… he presently has no ability to mobilize the experts of his Awakened guild. Or perhaps, those Awakened ones simply would not risk engaging in a conflict with other guilds for his private affairs.”

After a pause, Chen Xiaolian continued, “There is another possibility. His guild may have encountered a problem and is presently lacking the manpower to snatch her from us… I’ve always been curious. What level of strength does Father Qiao’s guild possess to be able to move Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo into Zero City?”

“Them being in Zero City is just your assumption and cannot be considered accurate,” Roddy interjected. “You came to that assumption because Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo cannot contact us using the guild channel. But that is just a form of blocking power… back then, we had confirmed that Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo were in London. Even there, they were unable to use the guild channel to contact us. That is London, not Zero City. That is why I say using the guild channel factor alone is not enough to make an accurate assumption.”

“That is true. However, there is another factor, the ability to block off the system’s instance dungeon selection mechanism. Putting that into the equation, my assumption might prove right. At any rate, Zero City is a place of interest.” Chen Xiaolian then smiled bitterly. “Could it be that Father Qiao’s guild is one of those super guilds qualified for permanent residence within Zero City? If that is the case, I fear we are too lacking to defend against them.”

“What is there to be afraid of? We also have our own Zero City!” Roddy laughed out.

There was a flash in Chen Xiaolian eyes and he slowly shook his head. “Don’t say such childish stuff. Reality remains unchanged and our strength is still limited, but in the future… our path seems promising.”

Roddy nodded his head and said, “What exactly did old Father Qiao want you to do? Is it very difficult?”

An odd look overcame Chen Xiaolian’s face and he said, “Difficult… it’s not exactly very difficult. However, I am puzzled as to why he would forward such an unrelated request. For a common human, this matter would be an absurd task. But for an Awakened, it seems…”

He shook his head and continued, “At any rate, this matter is just suspicious.”

Roddy’s curiosity was turned up and he was unable to stop himself from asking, “Just what is it?”

Chen Xiaolian was about to tell him when an applause suddenly broke out some distance away.

There in the basketball court, a lively noise rose up and Yu Jiajia ran over and said loudly, “What are you fellows doing sitting here? Hurry over! That bro of yours is too astonishing! Too amazing!”

After having their conversation interrupted, Chen Xiaolian and Roddy exchanged glances for a moment before getting up together. They followed Yu Jiajia and headed toward the basketball court.

They saw that Arslan had made his way into the basketball court.

Amid the sound of applause, Arslan was hanging high in the air with both his hands gripping the basketball hoop. He held onto the hoop like a monkey before jumping down and shouting skyward.

“What happened?” Roddy asked.

There was utter excitement in Yu Jiajia’s face as she said loudly, “This friend of yours did a slam dunk just now! Oh, my God! He had jumped so high!”

Chen Xiaolian felt puzzled. “How did he end up down there?”

“Mm, one of the players sprained his leg. Since their side is lacking someone, Arslan went down to chat with them for a while. Then, he went down and play.” Yu Jiajia then clapped her hands and said, “He is really skilled!”

Chen Xiaolian and Roddy exchanged glances and smiled. Then, they sat down and watched calmly.

Arslan’s basketball techniques were not necessarily great. However, this was just a university campus. This basketball game between normal students were just a match between amateurs. They were not even part of the university’s basketball team.

For a competition of this level, instead of saying it was a competition between basketball skills, it would be more appropriate to say it was a competition of their body’s ability to move, run and jump. The ones leading in those aspects would have the advantage.

Additionally, Arslan was someone from the grassland, possessing a tall height and a superb jumping ability. His body was also muscular and burly, thus giving him an advantage in the ability to defend when he was standing beneath the basketball hoop. He gave off the atmosphere of a core centre.

As the two teams ran back and forth, Arslan chose to simply stand beneath the hoop and wait for his team members to pass him the ball. After accepting the ball, he would turn around, casually push aside the members of the other team that was standing beneath the hoop and throw the ball in.

In one of the instances, his body had become like a human tank. Using but three seconds, he strode forward, raised both his hands and executed a slam-dunk!

Naturally, this scoring method of his caused the surrounding audience to cheer out.

Chen Xiaolian watched what happened for a moment and could not help but smile.

In terms of basketball skills, Arslan’s dribbling skills was only so-so. However, the quality of his physique was just too good while the opposing team members were somewhat weaker. After a few confrontation, the image of him dominating the court rose.

Originally, there was very little people in the campus as it was the summer holidays. However, this spectacle caused more and more people to come look at the basketball court.

At the same time though, the fellow from other team who had been pushed aside as Arslan tossed in several balls had an expression that indicated he could no longer stand it. His actions gradually turned rougher.

Arslan’s team attacked once more and Arslan accepted the ball. Once again, he used his body to defend against the other team’s players and moved to throw the ball into the hoop. In desperation, one of the other team members nearly slapped Arslan in the face. Fortunately, this youngster from the grasslands managed to tilt his head and the hand swept past his ears and struck his shoulder.

Arslan became enraged. After throwing in the ball, he stared at the fellow who slapped him and went toward the fellow. The situation immediately turned tense. Although the other fellow was in the wrong, he refused to say sorry and his teammates stepped forward to surround them.

As for the players on Arslan’s team, when they saw that the situation was heating up, due to their unfamiliarity with Arslan, they chose to disperse – they probably thought to themselves that since this big fellow was not a fellow student, there was no need for them to get into a conflict with their fellow students.

They started pushing each other within the basketball court. Arslan had pushed the fellow back but was also pushed back twice. As the youngster from the grassland was getting angry, Chen Xiaolian rushed down.

He squeezed his way through the crowd and forced the two fellows from the other team away. Then, he held Arslan back as he stood in front to hold off the two tall fellows.

“What are you doing?” Chen Xiaolian said coldly. “Are you not satisfied with playing basketball? Now you want to beat people?”

The one standing just opposite was one head taller than Chen Xiaolian but his body was somewhat fat. Back then, Arslan had made him lose his face and now he was throwing his weight around. “Beat people? What nonsense! We’ve been playing properly but he started it!”

“I started it? Just now, you are the one who rushed me!” Arslan retaliated furiously.

“What nonsense. When facing off in a basketball game, physical contact is something normal! If you can’t take it, then don’t play!” The fatso sneered.

Chen Xiaolian looked at the fatso and saw that he was relying on the higher number on his side, five to six people, to suppress them.

Chen Xiaolian was unable to restrain himself from smiling… after having gone through so many life and death situations, this conflict between students seemed so childish to him. He shook his head and said, “Whatever you say. If you can’t take it, then don’t play. Well said. Then let’s stop playing.”

He turned around to face Arslan and said, “Let’s go and have a drink. This fight is meaningless.”

Arslan who had a frank nature replied, “All right, not going to fight. Let’s go.”

Chen Xiaolian simply couldn’t be bothered with these conflicts of ordinary humans. However, the other party was clearly a bunch of youngsters with nowhere else to vent their anger. Even if there was no problem, they wanted a problem. Due to the basketball game earlier, they had lost all face and were now brimming with rage. Would they be willing to simply let this slide? Since they had the advantage in numbers, they plan to let out their anger on them.

Seeing that Chen Xiaolian and Arslan were about to leave, the fatso shouted loudly. “Oh? Are you afraid? If you are afraid, then scram and don’t come back again! Otherwise, you’ll get beaten up every time you appear!”

When he heard those words, Chen Xiaolian who had taken several steps away turned to look at the fatso and burst out in a fit of laughter.

“Did you watch too much gangster movies? Or did you read too many novels?” Chen Xiaolian looked at him and said, “Did you think you were some gangster boss? Or Long Aotian? What is your name? Zhao Ritian or Ye Liangchen? [1]”

The fatso’s face turned red… they were simply ordinary university students. Since they were young and strong, it was only natural for them to feel emboldened within the university. Besides, Chen Xiaolian’s side composed of only three males and one female. Only Arslan appeared difficult to deal with. As for Chen Xiaolian and Roddy… their bodies were not outstanding… merely some decent looking youngsters. How could they pose a threat to them?

Chen Xiaolian’s words caused him to become furious and he stepped forward, raised his fist and punched forward.

Chen Xiaolian frowned in response. He simply took half a step back and reached out with his hand to seize the fatso’s pocket. Before the eyes of everyone present, Chen Xiaolian pulled him up with one hand and raised the fatso above his head.

The surrounding fellows who saw what happened had no time to react. Just as they were about to instinctively rush forward, Chen Xiaolian smiled lightly and tossed the fatso toward the place where they were clumped up most.

The fatso who weighed nearly 200 jins was thrown away. Thankfully, Chen Xiaolian had gone easy and stayed his hand. He did not use too much force and simply tossed the fatso toward his companions. His companions instinctively caught hold of him. However, the momentum quickly forced them to fall to the floor together.

When that happened, the noisy basketball court fell into a state of silence!

Movies was one thing. But in real life, who among them had seen someone pick another person up like that with just one hand and toss that person away so casually?

Not to mention, Chen Xiaolian’s constitution was so lacking. He did not possess a muscular and burly body and in fact seemed rather delicate.

Someone like him actually managed to toss that fellow off?

Chen Xiaolian walked over and observed the fellows lying on the floor. “Still want to fight?”

Then, he laughed and said, “Honestly speaking, if we are to really start fighting, you fellows will suffer. Forget it.”

One of the fellows was likely scared to the point where he could no longer think properly. He raised his hand and attempted to push Chen Xiaolian away only to have Chen Xiaolian grip his fingers. When Chen Xiaolian gently tightened his grip, the fellow cried out in pain and bent down.

Chen Xiaolian continued to hold onto the fellow’s fingers. He then put more pressure onto the fingers and the fellow screamed out miserably non-stop. “Let, let, let go… argh!”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and ignored him. Instead, he crouched down and patted the fatso’s face – the fatso had turned pale.

“See, if back then the one standing before you is not me and instead is a burly two-metre tall man, would you still have the guts to say those words?

“Back then, you had acted in such an arrogant and overbearing manner because you saw that I was smaller than you. So, you thought that I cannot beat you, a weakling that you can bully. That was why you dared to say those words, am I right?” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “Are you fellows this university’s students? If you are, then live a proper life. It’s not like you fellows are part of some gang or some plutocrat. Acting in such an arrogant manner, isn’t that the equivalent of looking for trouble?

“You are still young. If your hormones are too high, then just go back to your dorm and watch a good AV and jack yourself off. Don’t be so arrogant and create trouble for yourself, understand?”

After saying that, Chen Xiaolian released the fellow whose fingers he was gripping. The instant he let go, the fellow hastily rolled himself away.

Chen Xiaolian straightened himself, looked at them and shook his head before leaving.

Yu Jiajia was standing at the back, her eyes flashing – back in Hangzhou, she had seen how skilled Chen Xiaolian was. Even so, seeing Chen Xiaolian display his skill once more had still shocked her.

As for Arslan, he was gaping in shock. But Chen Xiaolian and Roddy laughed as they pulled him away.

The four of them had only moved some tens of metres away when a man caught up to them.

“Hey, wait!”

Chen Xiaolian and the others turned around to see a rather well built middle-aged man approach them.

“Are you our university’s students?” After the middle-aged man approached them, they could see that the middle-aged man’s leg movements were not quite nimble. He wore a t-shirt and his hair was somewhat messy. However, his head was held up high.

“What is it?” Chen Xiaolian looked at the man.

“I am the university team’s coach.” The middle-aged man stared at Chen Xiaolian for a good few seconds before turning to assess Arslan. “Are you from our university? Which department? Which year?”

Arslan shook his head and said, “I’m still not a student.”

“Mm?” The middle-aged man was shocked for a moment before quickly asking, “What does that mean? Are you a new student?”

“Mm, new student,” Chen Xiaolian said coolly. “We thought we’d take advantage of the summer holidays to come look around. Teacher, do you have anything else? Could it be the ones bullying us just now are your students?”

The middle-aged man shook his head. “Those fellows? They’re too inferior and are unqualified to be in the university team.” He cast his gaze at Arslan and said, “You are not bad. Although your foundation is somewhat lacking, your physique is excellent. Ah, please don’t misunderstand. Just now, I was up on the second floor looking at your game. When I saw the conflict erupting, I quickly made my way down to stop it. Thankfully, you fellows were able to deal with it on your own.”

After saying that, the middle-aged man took several steps forward and assessed Arslan from top to bottom. “Your body condition is really good. Since you are a new student, when the university starts, you should be interested in the try outs for the university team, right?”

“Ah?” Arslan was stunned. He turned to look at Chen Xiaolian only to see him shrug and say, “What are you looking at me for? He is asking you.”

“Your height is at least 1.9 metres, right? Mm, considering your age, as long as you have sufficient nutrition and training, you would be able to grow even taller in the next few years. I can see that your skills are somewhat rough. You’ve probably spent very little time in basketball practice, right? But if you are willing to join our university team, I can help train you… a centre is impossible[2]. However, a power forward is not a bad deal. How about it? Are you interested? If you are, you can come find me.”

Arslan’s mouth was agape and he said, “Playing basketball… I’ve never thought about it. Just now, I was just casually playing around.”

“Ethnic minority?” The middle-aged man detected the oddity within Arslan’s tone.

“I came from Inner Mongolia.”

“That is not a problem. Consider it, if you join the university team, it will contribute to your results. At the end of each semester, your accomplishments would add to your results. Think about it properly and look for me when the university starts,” the middle-aged man spoke in a rather confident manner.

After saying that, he turned to look at Chen Xiaolian. He creased his brows and said, “You…”

“I don’t play basketball,” said Chen Xiaolian with a smile. “I’m not tall enough.”

“We are not going for professional league games. For university matches, your height is still enough for a point guard,” said the middle-aged man with a smile. “Just now, I saw that you have quite the strength. Are you in sports? Which one?”

Chen Xiaolian pursed his lips to the side and said, “Teacher, I am not from this university, I’m just a high school student.”

“… is that so.” There was a trace of disappointment in the middle-aged man’s face and he waved his hand. “Forget it then.”

After saying that, he reached for his pocket and touched around before pulling out a piece of paper. He handed the paper that had a phone number on it to Arslan. “This is my phone number. My surname is Ding. After you are done registering when the semester starts, come find me.”

Arslan accepted the piece of paper and quickly said, “Then… thank you Teacher Ding.”

“Don’t call me Teacher, I don’t teach classes. Just call me Coach Ding.” After saying that, the middle-aged man waved and left.

Chen Xiaolian turned to look at Arslan and smiled. “Aren’t you something! Just by strutting about in the basketball court, you end up attracting the attention of the university team’s coach to the point where he came to recruit you… this is the treatment given to main characters in sports novels ah. Come, let me see the main character’s halo on your head.”

Arslan laughed and pushed Chen Xiaolian away before asking curiously, “Ba’er, you… how did you become so strong? With just one hand, you managed to lift up that fellow… I doubt I could do that.”

Chen Xiaolian snickered and said, “This is our Han people’s martial arts. You Tatar people could never comprehend it, ha ha ha ha.”

“Ha ha ha!” Arslan laughed out as well.

At any rate, the relationship between them was excellent and there was no taboo for them when it came to making jokes. Things like being of Tatar descent and whatnot were simply jokes to them and none of them kept it in their hearts.

After making that joke, they then talked about other things and went outside the university.

“The coach seemed quite good.” Roddy looked at Arslan and said, “Entering the university team when the semester starts is not a bad idea. You can use it to add to your semester results. I believe a terrible student like you would need it, ha ha.”

Arslan thought about it and scratched his head. “Actually, I’m not that interested in basketball… what I like is wrestling.”

After leaving the university, Chen Xiaolian brought them all into the fitness centre.

When they entered the fitness centre, Arslan became very excited. He was very interested in bodybuilding and was curious about the many fitness equipment inside the fitness centre.

“Ba’er, this place…”

Chen Xiaolian was quick to speak up, “Don’t look at me, this place is something that Young Master Roddy came up with. He is the dashing and handsome man. Unlike him, I don’t have the money to do something like this.”

Roddy who was left with the role said, “If you like it, you can come here and play every day.”

Arslan promptly ran toward the fitness equipment and started testing his strength. Chen Xiaolian then winked to Roddy, who then went to get Xia Xiaolei. The three of them headed into the lounge.

Inside the lounge, Xia Xiaolei looked out the door and determined that both Arslan and Yu Jiajia were in the middle of training while Da Gang was seated at the entrance to the fitness centre playing with his mobile phone. It was only then did he close the door of the lounge.

“Brother Xiaolian? Is there something you want to talk about?” Xia Xiaolei looked at Chen Xiaolian with a rather excited expression.

“Mm.” Chen Xiaolian then recounted the conversation he had with Father Qiao.

After having told them about it, he continued, “Now I want to discuss something with you all. Father Qiao wants me to help him do something. He promised that he will allow me to talk to Qiao Qiao if I succeed.”

“Just a talk?” Xia Xiaolei frowned. “That’s simply too…”

Chen Xiaolian sighed and said, “No matter. First, get a chance to talk to Qiao Qiao. That way, we’ll be able to find out about their circumstances. This condition is something that I have to accept.”

“So, what is it exactly?” Roddy knitted his eyebrows.

Chen Xiaolian sighed and pulled out his mobile phone. He opened up the world map and zoomed in on a part of the map…

“This is?”

“He wants me to go there and help him deal with something,” Chen Xiaolian said with a frown. “However, there was no way for him to tell me more about the details through the phone. He simply said that he will be sending me the related information soon.”

Seeing the place shown on the phone, both Roddy and Xia Xiaolei became shocked.

“Africa?!”

It was at that moment that Tian Lie’s voice suddenly came from the outside.

“Chen Xiaolian, someone sent you something.”

…

1 Long Aotian (Prideful Heavenly Transcending Dragon). A satirical name for badly written main characters who acts without thinking and can easily get by or defeat the enemy thanks to plot armour.↩

Zhao Ritian. 6th of June, 2013, the character Zhao Ritian was born in an online forum Someone made an intro of a novel with Zhao Ritian’s name in the intro, but never revealed the contents of the story. Thus, the forum goers started writing the story themselves and the legend of Zhao Ritian grew.

“I, Zhao Ritian am the first to be unwilling!

“You should show me respect!

“Since the Heavens is unfair to me, then I shall destroy the Heavens!

“My esteemed name is Zhao Ritian (Antecedent of Heaven), first comes me, then comes the Heavens!”

Ye Liangchen. 24th of Sept 2015, an online user named ‘Ye Liangchen’ was invited into a chatroom by a college girl to help her discuss her cleaning schedule with her room leader. This ‘big brother’ chatted in a very overbearing and ‘colourful’ manner and became quite famous.

“You only need to remember this, my name is Ye Liangchen. In this place, I have a hundred ways to send you to your death.”

2 There are 5 basketball positions: Point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and center.↩