Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

"Wow, that table is amazing."

"I want to sit next to them and ask questions about basketball!"

"Weren't they the ones who beat the college players a while back?"

"Yeah, it was awesome! But I don't see the other guy."

"Isn't the other guy Jimmy Wang?"

"Jimmy Wang won't hide himself."

With the arrival of Chaoxing and Jimmy at their table, the players from Jilin City all turned quiet.

Meanwhile, Jimmy and Chaoxing conversed quietly among themselves, barely audible to their tablemates.

"What are we doing here?" Jimmy whispered.

"Tone it down," Chaoxing said. "Just do as I say."

Jimmy clicked his tongue. "I told you I wanted to eat at the five-star restaurant just a few blocks away. Why are we here with these dudes?"

Chaoxing sighed. "I wanted to talk to them. If you had come a while ago, then you would have understood. We had a really epic game."

Jimmy shook his head. "Our games as the Juren Champions are already epic as they are. What could have been special with your game a while back?"

"I swear—you speak to me like you're older than me."

"I might as well be," Jimmy said. "I'm going back to the team."

Chaoxing shook his head and held onto his wrist before he could even stand.

"Just eat your meal," he said. "It's not like Jian is with the team."

Jimmy sighed in defeat before focusing his attention on his plate once more. He grimaced at the sight of the cafeteria food; however, he felt like he didn't have a choice but to eat it.

With that, they were stuck in absolute silence.

Zedong opened his mouth to say something but found himself closing it out of awkwardness.

For a long time, only the sound of the utensils scraping against the plates was heard on their table.

Then, Chunlei cleared his throat, finally breaking the awkward silence.

"So," he started off, capturing the attention of the other five—maybe, except for Jimmy, who still hadn't looked up from his phone.

"Umm, what are you guys doing here?" Chunlei couldn't help but bluntly ask, earning him a nudge on the side from Yiming.

"What?" Chunlei asked. "I'm just curious."

Chaoxing nodded in understanding. "Sorry," he said. "It must have been so abrupt. However, I really wanted to talk to you guys about the game we just had."

"Oh," Qiang muttered.
Your next chapter awaits on My Virtual Library Empire

"Yeah," Chaoxing said. "I really didn't expect that we'd win!"

Zedong shook his head, already aware of Chaoxing's skills. As someone who was an expert in logical plays, Zedong was also inspired by Chaoxing from time to time.

"You're lying," Zedong pointed out. "You definitely knew that you were going to win."

Chaoxing's eyebrows raised in surprise at Zedong's accurate analysis.

Then, he let out a chuckle.

"Was I that obvious?" he asked.

"Well, you're right," Chaoxing admitted. "I could already tell we were going to win a few minutes into the game."

"Although, I was quite unsure during the beginning. The players from the University of Shanghai had really great teamwork, yet we barely knew each other."

"However, after that guy initiated the first play, I instantly knew that we'd take the game."

"By the way," Chaoxing said, turning to Zedong with bright eyes. "Were you the one we played with a while ago?"

Zedong's eyes widened before chuckling in amusement.

He shook his head. "No," he said. "I've retired from playing basketball. I've already graduated. I'm just here to guide the younger players in our school."

"Ah," Chaoxing muttered, nodding in understanding.

Then, Zedong smirked. "Why? Are you curious?"

Chaoxing chuckled before agreeing. "You could say that," he said.

Jimmy lifted his head for a second, turning to their captain with one eyebrow raised.

"Curious?" Jimmy muttered.

Shaoxing was actually curious about someone? It was hard to capture Chaoxing's curiosity, especially with Jian on the team.

Even among their newest recruits, Chaoxing wasn't curious about anyone. Heck, he wasn't even curious about Jimmy when he first joined their team!

Qiang clicked his tongue. "Why is everyone curious about that guy/."

"Looks like Max has some competition," Chunlei added, a small smirk playing on his lips.

Chaoxing tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Max?" he asked. "Is that guy Max's friend?"

"Hmm, I guess you could say that," Chunlei said.

"I see," Chaoxing said. "That's why he also plays like Max in similar ways."

"He plays like Chunlei at times, too," Yiming chimed.

Chunlei raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That's the first time I've heard that."

Zedong shrugged. "Well, I think he plays like a lot of players. He has only played for a year, so I think he's inculcated different playing styles based on who he has played with."

Chunlei became even more surprised. "He only started playing this year?"

"Yup," Yiming said. "Crazy, right? That kid is so unpredictable."

Shaoxing was becoming more and more intriguing as time passed by.

"Kid? So, he's younger than us?" he asked.

"He's a first-year like this guy," Zedong said, pointing toward Jimmy.

That fully captured Jimmy's attention, his eyebrows furrowing. For all he knew, he was the best first-year player in the entire country—that was what his dad had told him. The only other person with whom he played who was quite competent was Guri from the Longyu Dragons.

However, even then, Jimmy thought he was no match for him.

So, who was this guy that they talked so highly of?

"Ah, this is getting more interesting," Chaoxing said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Will you guys reveal his identity?" he finally asked.

His primary objective for joining them was to find out the identity of the mystery player anyway.

"Sure," Yiming said. "It's Ka—"

However, before he could finish his statement, Chunlei placed his hand over his shoulder.

Yiming's eyebrows raised in inquiry. Chaoxing, too, looked at Chunlei with curiosity.

"You don't want to reveal it?" Yiming asked.

Chunlei shrugged and looked straight into Chaoxing's eyes.

"Well," he started off.

"It won't be fun if we reveal it right now."