Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

"Aha," Sir Dao exclaimed happily from his seat. "They've finally met their match! The only reason why they were doing quite decently during the last quarters is because they weren't faced with the real players of Feng Arts High."

Sir Muchen pursed his lips, looking at the bench of the Shizi Dogs and seeing their worried manager.

It must be tough for her to keep the game together when she was just a student like them.

Although he knew that the Feng Foxes' coach was only there for show, the fact that they were being supported by an older figure was already a way to boost their morale.

On the other hand, the players at Shizi's bench became timid as the crowd erupted into cheers with every successful play from Chunlei.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"I knew it! Yuze's a great player, but his teammates can't hold a candle to him. The fact that they're losing right now is a testament to that. The basketball team is weak as usual!"

Moreover, Sir Dao's continuous insults annoyed Muchen.

"Your erection is weak," he muttered.

Sir Dao turned to the young teacher with a frown, wondering if he had heard right.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"Nothing," Muchen said, not even bothering to look at him.

"Chunlei lands another point! For the three minutes that he had been in the game, he had been shooting nonstop, only allowing the Shizi Dogs to score a total of two points!

82-73

"It's already a nine-point lead, and there's less than five minutes left on the clock. Will the Shizi Dogs come back from this, or will they continue to go down the path of defeat?" Mark exclaimed.

Shizi's supporters tried to cheer for the team, but their cheers were quickly drowned out every time Chunlei made a play.

Kai and Yuze became increasingly frustrated as the game continued.

Meanwhile, the other players on the court were slowly losing hope.

Jinping glanced at the clock and saw that there were only four minutes left.

"We can't do it," he muttered, now moving slower than usual.

However, he suddenly heard a shout from the audience.

"Get your shit together, Jinping!"

Jinping's eyes widened as he turned to the audience, only to see a beautiful, long-haired girl shouting from her seat.

"Eva?" he muttered.

"Stop moping and continue playing. Are you going to be a loser your entire life?" she exclaimed.

Jinping pursed his lips before shaking his head. As much as he felt like beating the Feng Foxes when they had Chunlei in their midst was impossible, he also wanted to show Eva that he was trying his best.

So, with that, he felt a boost of adrenaline and started moving faster than usual.

However, even then, Chunlei managed to get another shot in. Not only that—but he sunk a three-pointer, making their gap enter the two-digit values.

85-73

"Shit," Shang muttered, his leg bouncing in nervousness.

Bao, whose heart was already beating fast because his mom was urging him to come home, felt even more nervous as he watched the game. He ignored his mom's texts (which he hadn't done before) and continued to watch the game.

He couldn't turn away from it, no matter how stressed he was!

Lina, who felt down for the whole game, decided to forget her feelings regarding the incident with Kai and focus on the last few minutes of the game.

"Time-out," she said, using their last time-out.

The referee blew the whistle, with the Shizi Dogs swiftly going back to their bench and the Feng Foxes already rejoicing their win.

Like magic, Chunlei went back to his usual happy-go-lucky self, even skipping to their bench with a wide smile as his teammates complimented him.

"Told you, coach," Chunlei boasted. "We're definitely going to win."

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in Shizi's bench was entirely different.

"We can still win," Lina said with a determined gaze.

Zeren scratched the back of his head. "That's twelve points that we have to shoot in less than four minutes."

"It's not impossible," Lina said. "I didn't expect Chunlei to play, so this is another one of my lapses."

Yuze pursed his lips, also feeling at a loss, which made Lina's eyebrows furrow.

"Yuze?" she asked, but Yuze didn't respond.

Lina sighed in frustration, raking her hands through her hair and rendering it a mess.

"You guys," she said. "You can't lose hope now. We've made it so far!"

"Jinping," she turned to the first-year player. "I heard your girlfriend cheering for you. Shouldn't you feel more encouraged?"

Jinping shyly looked down at the ground, his cheeks red from embarrassment. However, deep inside, he also enjoyed Eva being referred to as his girlfriend.

"She's not my girlfriend...yet," he muttered with a giddy smile.

"Jet," she said, now looking at the second-year player. "Shang is watching from the bleachers. The Feng Foxes is the reason why he isn't able to play with us now. Can you stand still and watch them take the victory?"

Jet's face hardened as he thought back on what they did to his best friend, Shang.

"You," she said, pointing at Zeren. "I'm rooting for you," she simply said, and Zeren had already melted into a puddle.

"I'll do my best for you!" he exclaimed, about to hug Lina with his sweaty body, but for some reason, an unknown force held him back.

Then, he looked down and saw that Kai was holding him back through his jersey.

He frowned in confusion before shaking his head in disbelief.

"Yuze," she then said, looking into his eyes. "Don't forget your objectives."

"You want to make it into the finals, right?"

"So, you can finally prove him wrong."

The others were confused, with only the old players understanding what Lina meant.

Kai was about to ask who this 'him' was. However, before he could do that, Lina already turned to him, a stern look in her eyes.

His eyebrows raised in surprise. The two of them hadn't interacted much in the past hours because Kai didn't know what to say after what happened yesterday night, so he felt pretty awkward under her gaze.

"Forget about your disdain for me for a second," she said in a vulnerable voice, making Kai even more confused.

"Disdain?" he whispered.

The other players also frowned, wondering what had happened. Zeren, in particular, looked the most sensitive. It seemed like he knew what had happened between Kai and Lina.

"I know that you feel disappointment," she chuckled coldly. "But channel that disappointment into grit. We need your grit in order to win this game."

"I don't know what you're—"

Just then, the whistle blew, not giving Kai the chance to defend himself.

"The game resumes!"

"No more time-outs."

"No more interruptions!"

"We will finally see the real winner of this game!"