Chapter 23

“You’ve got to give it to Fang Li, his technique and speed are what’s expected from a top-notch academy.” Apart from Jianghai University students, there were headhunters sitting at the bleachers, hoping to uncover the next big thing.

Fang Li’s performance stirred another round of applause. One could see the hearts thumping out of these female basketball fan’s eyes.

“Love me, but I don’t belong to you.” Fang Li struck a cool pose.

Pleased, Tang Yan nodded at Fang Li’s performance. She arranged for Fang Li to make the slam dunk to demoralize their opponents, and he did it. Xia Tian’s team were in sagging spirits and even Yan Xu was shaking his head out of despair.

The ball was now on their court. After a quick ball toss to Yan Xu, he swiftly dribbled the ball past the opponent’s defense and went straight for the shoot. It was a resolute action, complete with standard form.

Wham!

A block! It was a blocked shot. Fang Li overcame him with a major blocked shot.

The ball was back in the hands of the basketball club.

Swoosh!

A three-pointer.

In a short span of a minute, the basketball club was in the lead by five points. Ye Qingxue bit her tongue at the sight of the crowd cheering. It has only been a minute yet the gap was this wide.

She wondered if it could all come to a happy ending.

“Don’t be discouraged and just pass the ball to me.” Yan Xu ordered this team.

This time, Yan Xu did not go solo but passed the ball to Hu Peng. With all eyes on the sturdy Hu Peng, he made a switch and passed the ball back to Yan Xu.

Yan Xu, who had the ball, saw the incoming Fang Li but had no intention to pass the ball. The way he saw it, only he and Hu Peng made the cut and it would only be a waste passing the ball to his remaining teammates.

With Hu Peng tied up at the other end, he tried to force his way in.

Wham!

He was intercepted. Fang Li flashed before his eyes and snatched the ball from Yan Xu before hurling it far off. It was not for the basket, but a pass. Another team member advanced forward and leaped up for a dunk.

7 to none. The gap widened further.

Xia Tian was disappointed with Yan Hu’s actions. Yan Hu could have passed the ball to him but decided on a one-man show even though he did not have the skills.

Ye Qingxue could not bear to look at the scoreboard any further.

The competition went on, and the first quarter ended with 40 to none. The literature and art club members in the lounge all had their heads down.

“There’s no point continuing with this competition. Hu Peng and I can’t possibly carry the team with these three,” Yan Xu barked. Of course, he was not going to dump Hu Peng in hot soup as they were old pals, and since he was barely acquainted with the other three, they made easy targets to blame.

“Yan Hu, what do you mean? What did we do wrong? You had us pass you the ball, which we did. Now you’re blaming us for how things are turning out?”

“Yeah, you were the one intercepted by Fang Li every time you insist on going solo.”

“Humph,” Yan Hu coldly snorted. “you don’t even know how to play basketball and here you are trying to get a leg-up on me. There’s no way we can compete, carrying you dead weights is a sure loss.”

“No way to compete? The literature and art club doesn’t back down. Even if we lose, we’ll lose on the battlefield. We’ll never surrender.”

“Why do you think we’re gonna lose before the match even ends?”

“I’ll crawl around the court and bark like a dog if you can win this competition,” Yan Xu ridiculed. “Hu Peng, we’re not playing this game. I want to see how these three are going to handle it.”

Ye Qingxue turned pale with rage but held her tongue. She had seen many vile characters like Yan Xu in her lifetime, but now was not the time to appease internal strife. If Yan Xu and Hu Peng were not playing, her team would be disqualified for lack of players.

“Qingxue, don’t worry. We still have Xia Tian.” Bingxin saw through Ye Qingxue’s thoughts.

“But we’re falling so far behind, you saw how great they are.” Ye Qingxue was disheartened.

Xia Tian did not respond but turned to the two literature and art club’s cheerleaders, “You two, change your uniform and get in the court.”

Everyone was in a daze. Yan Hu thought the literature and art club would request that he continue in the game, extending the chance for him to mock these people. Who would have thought Xia Tian would have these two sissies take the field?

“Xia Tian, they don’t know how to play.” Ye Qingxue frowned.

“I don’t need them to play. They just need to stand there and watch.” Xia Tian smiled.

Noticing the commotion, Tang Yan shouted, “Ye Qingxue, don’t you have other people? Why, even the cheerleaders are going to court today.”

Ignoring her, Ye Qingxue nodded at Xia Tian.

The second quarter started.

A team member passed the ball to Xia Tian, and while the players rushed to the opposing side of the court. Xia Tian took a leap to their dismay. The crowd was stunned. What was he doing jumping beneath his basket?

Swoosh!

The swooshing sound was a familiar sound of the ball passing through the net without the slightest contact on the rims. The crowd just realized what had happened.

40 to 3.

“Yay!” Ye Qingxue and Bingxin jumped up with excitement.

“How can this be?” Yan Xu stared at Xia Tian with his jaw dropped. Was he dreaming?

“It must be a mistake.” Fang Li gazed at the scoreboard perplexed.

“What-what’s up with this guy?” Tang Yan gawked at Xia Tian.

The spectators on the bleachers were stunned. What sorcery was this? A three-pointer from that far away? The headhunters who were about to leave stopped in their tracks and continued watching the game.

“Don’t panic, everyone, it was just a fluke.” Fang Li regained composure and charged ahead with the ball. The five players paired up well. They passed the ball around until it reached back, into Fang Li’s hands. Fang Li planned to lift their spirits with a jump shot.

Wham!

Blocked.

The crowd was taken aback again. Fang Li was at least two meters in height and had rather long limbs. The height he reached was unimaginable yet he was blocked by a guy who was less than 1.8 meters tall.

Swoosh!

Another ball straight into the basket and still without crossing the half-way line.

40 to 6.

Pin drops were audible in the court. It was as though Xia Tian jumped two meters high to block Fang Li’s shot. It was an inconceivable sight.

Nobody believed it was sheer luck this time. There was no chance that a goal from such a distance could be a fluke.

Time out!

Tang Yan called for a time out.

“That was great.” Ye Qingxue sprinted before to kiss Xia Tian in the cheek.

Yan Hu’s expression hardened, wishing there was a crack on the ground he could bury his head in. They were lagging behind by 40 points when he was on the court and after his windbag stunt, Xia Tian threw 6 points in his face.

He was green with envy, especially when Ye Qingxue planted a kiss on Xia Tian. He actually thought that Ye Qingxue would beg them to stay but now Xia Tian had stolen the limelight from him.

Tang Yan reorganized their strategy and sought to have two players besiege Xia Tian. This was Tang Yan’s tactic, two lanky boys to overpower Xia Tian.

Without the threat from Xia Tian, there was no one else who could get in the way of Fang Li. The other four were moving targets, giving way to Fang Li to show off his move. Fang Li took a leap. It was a three-pointer ball this time. He was going to redeem himself with this goal.

Wham!

Another blocked shot, Xia Tian yet again. Xia Tian, who was held back in the 3-second area managed to stall his ball.

Swoosh!

Another basket in.

40 to 9.

The crowd was rendered speechless. Xia Tian attempted three shots from his own side of the court and blocked the basketball star, Fang Li’s shot twice. The basketball club’s scoring came to a standstill.

“That’s him.” Huo Wennu on the bleacher recalled who this person was. Wasn’t he the same romantic guy at Ye Qingxue’s birthday party?

The basketball club players were in a daze. As two of them were not enough to stop Xia Tian, three of them now held the responsibility of pulling him back.

Still, the points gap grew narrower.

It was 40 to 48 at the end of the second quarter.

Tang Yan restrategized their plan while Ye Qingxue and Bingxin circled around Xia Tian to offer water and a massage.

At the start of the third quarter, the basketball club’s new strategy was to encircle Xia Tian with four players. They took each corner to cover every possible blind spot, giving basketball star, Fang Li a path to showcase his skills.

Having full confidence that Xia Tian would not be able to escape the four-man defense, Fang Li’s priority was to regain the team’s vigor with a slam dunk.

Wham!

A demonic figure appeared before Fang Li. He simply could not believe his eyes but the ball was no longer in his hands.

Swoosh.

Another basket in.

40 to 51.

The match continued on and the score was now 40 to 81.

The basketball club was completely lost it, the spectators were dumbstruck, even the basketball cheerleading team refused to dance. There were those who posted a video of the game on the web but Xia Tian’s appearance was blurry no matter the angle they tried to capture. He was either on the move or had his head lowered.

The match came to a finish.

The last score was 40 to 111.

They were all three-pointer balls. Xia Tian tossed a total of 37 goals, without a single miss.

Everyone was left in awe of the result. Yan Hu wanted to sneak away but was stopped by the girls from the literature and art club. They had heard Yan Hu’s declaration earlier. He said that if the literature and art club won, he would crawl around the court and bark like a dog.