Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

A few students gathered around the booth when they recognized a new player mingling with their own basketball team.

"Is that Fabin from Yin Yang High?"

"Max Zhou's friend, right?"

"Someone from Yin Yang High is here?"

"Yeah, it's questionable. Why would they go to our lousy school when Yin Yang High has all the facilities they need?"

"Maybe he has a girlfriend here."

"Nah, that man is single."

Fabin enjoyed being the center of attention, so he stood tall and proud as more students gathered around them.

Yuze frowned in confusion as Kai brought Fabin to their booth. He stood and offered his hand to the second-year player.

"Fabin, right?" Yuze asked.

"Yes," Fabin said. "You're Yuze."

Yuze nodded in response, making Fabin smile.

"I've heard a lot about you from the news and from the other players. It's good to finally meet you up close. I've been wanting to play with your team."

Yuze once again nodded. "You can look forward to it."

"What brought you here to our booth, though?" Jinping asked.

Fabin chuckled as he nodded toward Kai's direction.

"This guy right here threatened me," he said in a serious tone, making the players surprised.

Jet clicked his tongue. "We sincerely apologize for his behavior. His brain resembles that of a snail, so please forgive him."

Kai shook his head. "I didn't threaten him. I challenged him."

"To what?" Zeren asked.

"To a shooting competition."

The players were all silent for a moment as they internalized Kai's words. Then, Zeren was the first to break the silence with a loud laugh.

"You? And Fabin?" he clarified, still in disbelief.

"Yes," Kai said, grabbing something from his pocket and placing it down on their table.

"Here's my 5 Yuan."

Then, he glanced at Fabin. "You should pay up too."

Fabin shook his head in disbelief as he dug his pocket for some loose change.

"I mean—the least you could do for challenging me is to let me play for free," he muttered, but Kai paid him no attention.

"Nice," Kai smirked once everything was set.

"For this challenge, we'll have one minute each. We abide by the rules," Kai started off. "We cannot get past that line right there," he said, pointing to the pink line a few meters away from the ring.

"We'll have a minute each to shoot as many balls as we can. There is no target amount to reach. However, the person with the most shots made will surrender what they have wagered."

Fabin's eyes brightened with the thought of getting 500 Yuan. It seemed like coming here was actually a great idea!

Moreover, he didn't really care if he had to give away Max's sweaty jersey. It was what Max deserved for letting him hold his dirty laundry and even leaving him behind!

Meanwhile, in a cat cafe prepared by third-year students, Max suddenly sneezed loudly, startling the people around them.

"What the heck was that?" Ailun asked, his mouth filled with pasta. "You sneeze like an old man."

"I couldn't help it," Max said, scratching his nose. "Someone must be talking about me or something."

Ailun shook his head and shoved some food inside Max's mouth. "You're being delusional. It's because of all the cat fur. Who would be talking about you anyway?"

Max sighed as he chewed the food in his mouth. It tasted strangely like cat fur, but he didn't care. At least he got to stare at pretty cats!

"I do have a feeling we forgot something, though," Max said, making Ailun think for a moment.

They were silent for a couple of seconds as they thought of what they could have forgotten.

Then, after a while, they shook their heads.

"Nah, we didn't forget anything."

Back to the basketball booth...

Their surroundings were now filled with more people once word had gotten out that Fabin was actually in Shizi High and was playing some kind of challenge with none other than Kai Guo!

Fabin stood at the line, already in a half-squat position, as he prepared himself to shoot the balls.

He had a calm demeanor, and it seemed like he wasn't thinking much about the challenge. He even had the luxury of waving at the Shizi students, which made some of them squeal in excitement.

He stared at the ring and inferred that the distance was around the same distance as a free-throw shot, only shorter by a few inches.

He wasn't too great with three-point shots but was fairly decent at free-throw shots, so he felt even more confident.

Meanwhile, Kai was a few feet away from him, his arms crossed as he waited for Fabin to take the challenge. The latter volunteered to go first since he wanted to set the standard and place some pressure on Kai.

However, Kai remained calm despite all of this.

The basketball team huddled over in one corner and talked among each other.

Meanwhile, Lina was situated at the side to monitor the game and keep track of their scores. At that moment, she couldn't help but feel worried for Kai.

She didn't know what he had wagered, but she hoped it wasn't too much since he was going against a Yin Yang Knight. Even Yuze and Kun hadn't played with them before!

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Shang whispered.

Jet clicked his tongue. "Honestly...no. Kai has only been playing for roughly more than two months, so it's understandable why he isn't that great with long-range shots yet. Fabin has been playing alongside Max Zhou for a while now."

Yuze nodded in agreement. "Fabin may not be the greatest shooter in Yin Yang High, but he's still a Knight. It would be hard for Kai to defeat him."

"But you would be able to do it, right?" Kun teasingly asked Yuze.

Yuze shrugged. "Of course."

"Hard to defeat him?" Jinping asked. "It wouldn't be just hard. It's going to be impossible. Kai cannot shoot for shit. It's almost funny how he's working so hard but isn't improving in his shooting!"

"You sound like one of the commenters of a basketball novel," Shang said.

Jinping shrugged. "Whatever."

"Let's start!" Lina said, making the vicinity relatively quiet.

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"In 3...2...1...!"

The buzzer sounded, and the balls started rolling out of the equipment that they had created.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Fabin, still with a calm demeanor, took his first ball and carefully made a shot.

Swish.

The crowd cheered as it made it in.

Then, in lightning speed, he shot to the best of his ability.