That one question was shared by everyone in the crowd. They looked all around, searching curiously for the person being called out.
Ye Lingchen was slightly taken aback. He rubbed his nose and slowly stood up.
“Ye’zi, don’t go out. That Zhao Ritian is too strong!”
“That’s right, just act like you heard nothing. After all, you’re not in our university’s basketball team anyway.”
“Ye’zi, now’s not the time to act tough. If you’re outmatched, it’d be very embarrassing.”
The trio advised him out of concern.
“It’s fine.” Ye Lingchen smiled nonchalantly. He did not have the habit of being a coward. Staring straight at Zhao Ritian, he calmly announced, “That’s me.”
At that moment, all eyes were focused on Ye Lingchen.
“That’s him? He doesn’t look like someone that’s good with basketball.”
“He’s not tall, only slightly over 180cm. No height advantage.”
“Are those people from Capital University being sore losers and making up stuff? That’s the best their university has to offer?”
Within the Huaqing University crowd, Xu Wanqing who was reading a book suddenly raised her head. When she saw Ye Lingchen, her brows knitted together into a frown, muttering in surprise, “It’s him?”
Principal Shen and Principal Xu turned around, measuring up Ye Lingchen with their gaze.
“Old Shen, is that your university’s trump card?” Principal Xu asked.
Principal Shen frowned without replying.
President Zhang interjected from the side. “With a height of 181cm, he will be slightly disadvantaged in basketball. His body is not buff, he should not be especially talented in sports. From the looks of it, he’s not going to be that good in basketball.”
Seeing Ye Lingchen, a disdainful look flashed across Zhao Ritian’s eyes. A smug grin crept onto his lips. “Oh Capital University, this must be a joke. This is your so-called best? Don’t make me laugh!”
The students from Capital University turned red and were left speechless.
“Hey, I heard you’re good at basketball? Give it a try. It’s a good chance to shut the mouths of the trash from your university!” Zhao Ritian lifted his face high in the air as he spoke.
Ye Lingchen remained silent and walked towards the court stoically.
“What’s wrong? Why don’t we have a duel?” Upon seeing Ye Lingchen enter the court, Zhao Ritian went over and gave him a provocative stare.
“No need for that.” Ye Lingchen shook his head, turned to look at the Capital University’s team, speaking slowly, “I’ll switch with He Yuan. Let’s continue the match!”
Continue the match?!
They were stunned and gave Ye Lingchen a stupefied stare.
‘Is he planning to win?’
‘Or perhaps, he had given up resisting?’
With the end of the match being only twenty minutes away and having a score difference of 103 points, what’s the point of continuing the match?
Zhao Ritian snorted out a laugh. “With the current score, what gives you the confidence to continue the match?”
“To defeat you, twenty minutes is sufficient!” Ye Lingchen’s voice was not loud, yet it was heard by everyone. At that moment, they all looked at him in shock.
At Capital University’s corner.
“F*ck! He must have gone nuts. That’s just being overconfident!”
“If it was a duel, we could have gotten our revenge. Continuing the match… that’s a confirmed loss!”
“What’s Ye Lingchen thinking? That’s too reckless.”
At Huaqing University’s corner,
“This guy is awesome! I thought Zhao Ritian was quite the braggart. Who would’ve known that Capital University kept this hidden so well, coming out with a bigger braggart.”
“Right? This fella is even more braggy than Ritian. We might as well call him Ri Yuzhou[1].”
“This must be a joker sent over from Capital University to entertain us.”
The university authorities were similarly flabbergasted. They exchanged looks, at a loss of how to express themselves for some time.
“Hehehe, your joke is not funny at all!”
Zhao Ritian sneered as he looked at Ye Lingchen. “I’ll gladly oblige!”
The match continued!
Only this time, the atmosphere on the court was a little weird.
The one serving was Huaqing University.
“Pass the ball to me. I’ll teach that kid a lesson!” Zhao Ritian ordered the player serving the ball with a cold gleam in his eyes.
That person nodded, then served the ball.
Once the ball was thrown, it flew straight at Zhao Ritian.
However, right at the moment the ball almost touched Zhao Ritian’s hand, a hand suddenly appeared from the side!
Single-handed interception!
How was that possible!?
Zhao Ritian’s eyes narrowed, staring at Ye Lingchen who appeared out of nowhere with disbelief.
The rest were even more surprised and had a shocked look on their faces.
They had all seen it. The point where the ball was served was not far from Zhao Ritian. Under normal circumstances, it was nigh impossible to be intercepted.
However, it happened right before their very eyes.
In that instant, Ye Lingchen burst forth with frightening speed. With a blur, he was already next to the ball and grabbed it with one hand!
That’s right, grabbed!
“You!”
Zhao Ritian stared at Ye Lingchen, but before he could speak, all he saw was Ye Lingchen jumping into the air and shooting for the net!
“F-f-f*ck!”
“What’s that? Shooting?!”
“Shooting from over half a court away!? That’s crazy!”
Countless people screamed in their minds, looking at Ye Lingchen as they would a madman.
Thunk!
The ball went in cleanly!
That… was that luck?
The entire court fell into a deathly silence again.
At that moment, they could even hear the audiences’ heartbeat. Everyone’s expression froze, feeling dumbfounded.
“That shot… went in?” Principal Shen was dumbstruck, asking hesitantly.
“It seems… seems like it went in.” Principal Xu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, feeling a dryness in his mouth. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.
“T-t-this…” President Zhang stuttered while pointing at Ye Lingchen and gasped for air, his eyes almost popped out of its sockets.
“Hurry up and serve.” Ye Lingchen’s cold emotionless voice brought many people back from their daze.
Capital University[2]’s players immediately rushed over to serve, passing the ball directly to Ye Lingchen.
Zhao Ritian immediately rushed over with his hands opened as though he was a hen protecting its chicks. He glued his eyes on Ye Lingchen, announcing firmly, “That’s just a lucky shot for you. From now on, don’t even think of passing through me!”
“Is that so?”
Ye Lingchen remained unfazed. He did not even dribble, but instead jumped and made a shot!
It was as he did previously, a long-range shot!
Everyone’s heart was pumping wildly, their gaze following the movement of the ball.
Thunk!
The ball went in the net again!
“S-s-scored again!?”
There were no cheers, only countless stunned faces.
Everyone had their mouths agape, shocked beyond words.
If the first time was luck, what about the second?
“Continue to serve!” Ye Lingchen’s voice remained chill.
Thunk!
Scored again!
His fourth attempt and he scored again!
…
Aaaaaaaagain… he scored!
The audience had already forgotten everything. Their minds went blank, mechanically watching Ye Lingchen shooting and scoring time after time.
On the entire court, the others were as though non-existent. Regardless of how Zhao Ritian tried to defend, Ye Lingchen only stood still on the spot. Without moving, he scored again, again, and again!
—
[1] 日天 (Ritian/f*ck the sky) and 日宇宙 (Ri Yuzhou/f*ck the universe). Wordplay within wordplay from Zhao Ritian’s name (Originally Zhao Hao, but nicknames to Ritian/f*ck the sky).
[2] It was written as Huaqing University in raw, but since Capital University just scored and it’s logically their serve, we believe it may have been a typo.
