Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Beijing, China

"Congratulations, guys!" Rui exclaimed as he handed the boys their drinks.

The Huolan Guardians had just finished their training for the day, and Rui attentively anticipated their needs.

"Do you want any flavored water? Or anything with electrolytes?" Rui excitedly asked.

Henry chuckled in amusement before patting his shoulder.

"You're quite an attentive one, aren't you? Buy some sports drink from the convenience store," the captain said, handing him some money from his thick wallet.

Rui looked at it with wonder before nodding and running to the store.

"We got a pretty good water boy this year," Jackson said as soon as he was gone.

"Yeah, he's different from our past water boy. That guy was slow as hell," Henry chimed.

"He was disabled too," another chuckled.

Fang clicked his tongue as he drank some water.

"Stop talking about that guy. He's dead," he deadpanned.

The new players, Jade, Tingtai, and Yeruo, turned to each other with wide eyes.

They wanted to ask more about it, but they felt the intense atmosphere in the room and held themselves back.

"Well, we do respect the dead," Henry said. "So, yeah, let's not talk about that guy anymore. We won't see him in the near or far future."

Fang nodded and settled in his seat.

Meanwhile, the new players sighed in disappointment. They wanted to hear some new gossip!

"Let's just watch this," Jade whispered to his friends.

Just then, Coach Xian came in with a proud smile on his face.

"Good job, everyone," he said. "The tournament's page had just posted the results of the first games, and we had the biggest lead with a whopping 30 points!"

"Fang, you also had 24 points in the game," Coach Xian continued, patting his shoulder.

Fang nodded with a tight-lipped smile.

"With your stats in the Winter High, you're bound to make it to the Elite Five next year, too."

His teammates started congratulating him, causing Fang's smile to widen.

"We just have to beat the Ying Eagles," Coach Xian said, causing Fang's smile to drop.

"It's a good thing they're allowing two teams to represent their respective cities in the Interhigh Nationals this year, so we have a better chance," Jackson chimed.

"It's another good thing that we're only bound to play against the Ying Eagles until the finals. With that said, we only have to beat the other pesky schools to be able to make it into the Nationals," Henry nodded.

The others nodded, too, with determined looks on their faces.

However, their determination was deterred when they heard annoying cheers from their first-year players.

"Woah!" Yeruo exclaimed, standing from his seat in disbelief.

Tingtai was also wide-eyed. Meanwhile, Jade pursed his lips as he rewinded the video on his phone.

The other first-year players surrounded them, discussing what they had just seen excitedly.

"He's handsome, too. Is that fair?"

"He's different from the last video."

"How many views does this have already," Tingtai asked.

Yeruo looked back at the screen and sighed. "A hundred thousand," he said.

"This guy got two viral videos in the past school year," Jade muttered, slightly feeling bitter. As a promising young athlete in Beijing, he also wanted to have the same level of fame.

"Aww, Jade feels sad now," Yeruo teased.

Tingtai chuckled as he observed Jade's face. "Don't worry, bud. You still did a great job in our last game. You had 19 points this time!" he said, comforting his friend.

Jade sighed and shook his head.

Meanwhile, Henry frowned as he walked over to them.

"Is your discussion more important than ours?" he asked, causing the first-year players to quickly disperse.

Jade, Yeruo, and Tingtai remained in their seats with pursed lips.

Jackson ran his fingers through his hair. "I swear—you guys are such headaches," he said. "What are you doing right now?"

Tingtai scratched the back of his neck.

"We're watching a new video from that player from Jilin!"

Fang's eyebrows furrowed.

The Huolan Guardians were already well aware of Kai since the trio kept him in check.

"It seems like he has gotten better during the break, and he had a whopping 34 points for their first game in the Preliminaries!" Tingtai continued.

The other players, and even Coach Xian, were surprised.

Fang's frown deepened since it was more than the points he had scored against the team they had just beaten.

"34 points?" their coach asked.

Then, he chuckled loudly. "They must have played with a very weak team."

"They went against the Huishi Alligators," Jade said. "They are a weak team, right?" he asked since he was unaware of the teams in Jilin aside from the Knights.

Coach Xian, who was aware of the strong teams in each city, pursed his lips when he heard the familiar team name.

"The Huishi Alligators are out?" Coach Xian asked before he could stop himself.

Fang clicked his tongue. "Are they a good team?"

Coach Xian merely let out a deep breath.

"It's not important," he responded. "They're most likely going to be eliminated by the Feng Foxes or the Huolan Guardians anyway."

Fang smirked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Then, he turned to the first-year players. "If you had so much free time to watch players your age play, then you should just put it into training," he advised.

"You would never get to the top if you watch flashy players that aren't even good," he continued.

"He's pretty good, though," Yeruo said, causing Henry to click his tongue.

"Let me see that," he said, clicking on the thumbnail to see what the big deal was.

"Handsome high school boy slams a sumo basketball player?" Henry asked, confusion heard in his voice as he read the title.

"What kind of video title is this?"

Then, he scrolled down to read the comments, becoming even more surprised.

- He can shoot his balls in—

- That's a minor.

- Please, can we talk about his basketball skills?

- Where is this guy from?

- Someone make him famous, please!

- I think I'm in love.

- I couldn't even concentrate on his plays because I kept looking at his face. Is he any good?

- We're doomed as a generation.

- I've been looking for his social media, but it seems like he doesn't have any.

Henry chuckled and threw the phone back to Yeruo.

"They're not even talking about his basketball skills. They're all thirsting for that guy," he said, making the other players chuckle.

"He's a joke, then," Jackson chimed.

Yeruo scratched the back of his head.

"Did you watch the video?" he asked.

Henry clicked his tongue as he sat back down in his seat.

"I don't even need to watch it to know how he plays."