Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Suzy sighed impatiently as she glanced at the timer of the halftime. Were halftimes for all games this long? Or maybe she just didn't notice the length of halftimes during football games because her team was busy with their routine?

The Daxue Cheering Squad were busting it out on the court, showing off their unpolished cheer routine and sparse pompoms. Suzy shook her head in disappointment. Their team would never settle for such a mediocre performance.

Just then, the buzzer was heard in the entire venue, signaling the near start of the second half of the game.

Suzy sighed in relief as the players came in.

She looked around the court and saw that there were more people now. However, it seemed like they were students from Daxue High who heard about Shizi's eight-point lead against their team. Now, they were more determined than ever to cheer to their fullest to get their school to win.

Just then, she heard her phone ring, making her click her tongue. She glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Yani.

She sighed before answering the phone.

"What's up?" she asked her friend.

"Where are you?" Yani asked.

"Umm…out?" Suzy ambiguously said, not wanting to divulge that she went to Shizi High's basketball game on her own accord.

"Great!" Yani exclaimed. "Some of the girls and the guys from the team want to watch Yin Yang's and Feng Arts' game. We're already near the court, so why don't you meet us there?"

Suzy pursed her lips and tried to come up with an excuse. However, before she could respond, cheers resounded in the court just as Chuyi and the other Dolphins took their place.

"What was that?" Yani asked. "I heard a buzzer sound and cheers just now. You must be near the city's basketball court!" she concluded.

Suzy shook her head since she couldn't come up with an excuse anymore.

"Well, we're also near. Let's just meet inside, okay? I'll tell you which seat number we're on."

Suzy sighed in defeat. "Alright," she said before ending the call.

Then, she turned her attention to the court, where four players from Shizi High were already preparing.

Suzy watched the players before biting her lip.

"It seems like he's still not playing, huh?" she muttered.

Meanwhile, the four strange boys who were sitting in front of her also sighed in disappointment.

"Why is our boss still not playing?" Shang asked.

"He must be a bench warmer," Wang answered.

Gang clicked his tongue. "Well, he was pretty bad at basketball. Remember that time when he was asked to play by the team since he was tall but ended up being the reason of their loss?"

Aang shook his head in disappointment. "Don't speak about our boss like that. He must be warming up now. Look, he's standing!"

"Don't mess this up," Yuze warned Kai. "I'll only be resting for one quarter, so don't lose the gap I've created."

Kai showed him an 'okay' sign before standing from the bench and jogging toward the other players of the team.

"Wait…who's that?"

"Where's Yuze?"

"Yuze's sitting!"

"Is Yuze really not going to play?"

"They overestimate their eight-point lead too much. That's just four baskets!"

"Is Yuze not going to play for four quarters this time?"

"This is our chance to catch up!"

The Daxue Dolphins were also confused by their sudden change in line-up. Chuyi, who had been calm since the beginning of the game, frowned once he saw the familiar annoying guy who shielded him away from Lina.

Chuyi was certain that Yuze was going to play the whole four quarters! That was the very reason why he even allowed a gap between their scores anyway. He was determined to get Yuze to overexert and worsen his injury as time passed by.

However, this boy, who appeared to be in his late 20s, came and ruined all of his plans!

"What are we going to do now, captain?" Runchu asked.

Chuyi clicked his tongue. "Stick to the man-to-man defense. My first plan might not have worked, but it's okay. This guy's probably worse than Yuze, so it'll still work in our favor."

The other Dolphins nodded and went to their respective positions.

However, they were once again distracted when deep and loud voices echoed in the court.

"Boss! That's our boss!"

"Show them who has the real balls in this game!"

"Kai, you're so handsome!"

They simultaneously cheered, overpowering the cheers of the Daxue cheerleaders.

Kai sighed as he went in front of Chuyi, shaking his head as embarrassment engulfed him.

"Looks like you're popular," Chuyi teased.

"Popular with strange men," he continued, causing Kai to click his tongue.

The referee blew the whistle, and Chuyi quickly caught Shanlong's inbound pass.

Kai's eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated on Chuyi's movements, finding him slower than he had expected.

Kai, having had energy from oversleeping this morning, felt that he was quick on his feet. He wasn't the only one who realized it, though.

Chuyi, who already had a hard time playing against Yuze, seemed to be in a dilemma as Kai followed his every movement. He wasn't sure if it was because this was Kai's first quarter, but it seemed like he had a lot of energy stored within his body.

He moved at a ridiculous speed, making Chuyi wonder if he was moving even faster than Yuze!

Chuyi moved to the side but found that Kai once again followed after him, almost like a leech, with how close he was.

"Crap," he muttered as he lost control of the ball. Thus, he mindlessly threw it in any direction.

Fortunately, Shanlong was able to catch it from the side and shoot it from the three-point line without any hesitation.

The ball entered the ring after bouncing off the rim, causing Kai to sigh in disappointment.

40-35.

Zeren caught the ball while the others jogged to the other side of the court. On their way there, Jinping nudged Kai's shoulder, subtly glaring at his teammate.

"You should have caught that pass. It was so obvious," Jinping loudly said.

Kai pursed his lips and decided to focus on the game.

Meanwhile, Chuyi begged to disagree with what Jinping had said.

"It wasn't a pass," Chuyi muttered.

In fact, it was a mistake.