Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

True to what Yuze had said, they weren't able to overtake the Knights with Max Zhou in their midst.

85-100.

All throughout the game, it was as if Max was in the zone and shot with his entire heart and soul on the line.

Coach Guanyu sighed as the game finished, massaging his nose bridge.

The Knights celebrated, and the students of Yin Yang High screamed like it was the end of the world.

"That was amazing!" Ailun exclaimed as they arrived at the bench, patting Max's back.

Fabin nodded in agreement. "That was definitely your best performance yet!"

"No, it wasn't," Coach Guanyu said in a strict voice, causing the bench to turn silent.

Ailun frowned in confusion. "But it was," he argued. "I haven't seen Max play that way before."

"Exactly," Coach Guanyu said while glaring at Max. "He couldn't even do that during the official games, yet he's doing it in a practice game!"

As their coach said those words, the Knights all turned silent despite the loud celebrations surrounding them.

"I told you beat them without any mercy and not to show too much," he said, the boys gathering around him with their gazes directed toward the ground.

Max pursed his lips and realized that he, indeed, had shown too much. He had worked hard over the break to improve his skills. He was planning on taking it slow for the practice game, but Kai's absence compelled him to do his best.

"Or maybe," Coach Guanyu continued, his voice becoming dangerously slow. "You had to do your best to actually beat the Dogs."

Yutong scratched the back of his head and spoke on behalf of his teammates.

"They're a tough opponent, coach," he said. "I didn't think they would be like this, too. I knew that they were a good team based on what I heard from other people during the Winter Cup, but I didn't expect them to be this good."

Shin nodded in agreement. "And with the addition of their two new members, I'm afraid that I had to do my best, too," he admitted.

Coach Guanyu was about to scold them but pursed his lips instead.

"Conference room," he calmly said, causing shivers to run down the spines of the players.

They were all silent, knowing they were going to be scolded.

"NOW," he said with wide eyes, causing the team to move swiftly.

"See you soon, Knights!"

"You guys did awesome!"

"Wooh, Max! You just made me love you even more!"

Positive comments kept being thrown their way as they walked to their conference room. However, the Knights couldn't find it within themselves to smile. Even though they had won, they also knew that they lost something during the practice game.

Grace worriedly looked at the team before turning back to Fei.

"Should we follow them?" she asked.

Fei shook her head. "You're going to regret it. You don't want to see Coach Guanyu mad."

"What are we going to do then?" Grace asked.

"We'll wait for them here," Fei responded.

The Shizi Dogs congratulated each other as soon as the game ended.

"Great job!" Lina exclaimed, standing before them.

"Yeah," Renren smirked. "We lost, but I don't feel too bad about it."

"Hmm," Yuze hummed. "Knowing that they did their best means that we played our part well."

Coach Muchen nodded. "It's a good thing that you suppressed yourselves. I didn't want you to exert too much effort because of the proximity of the opening game, which is already due next week."

"Nonetheless," he continued. "You guys did a great job. It's a 15-point gap, but I believe you guys learned a lot. Moreover, Kai didn't even play!"

Jet and Jinping turned to each other before chuckling. "Would it make that much of a difference if Kai played?"

Kai glared at them. "Of course, it would."

Jinping clicked his tongue. "I highly doubt it. He can't even run properly."

Kai pinched his shoulder, making him fall weakly to the ground.

"Shut up," he said. "You're going to eat all of your words once you see me play."

"Ooh," Andy said. "I'm curious—how good is Kai? I've never fully watched your game, so I don't know, but a lot of people think that he's entertaining."

The team turned to each other while Kai continued pouting.

"That's exactly what he is," Jinping said. "Entertaining."

"Whatever," Kai said, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway," Lina said, clapping to get their attention. "Pack your bags so we can leave."

The players who played wiped their sweat and packed their bags.

Meanwhile, Kai, realizing that he still had a mission to finish, stood from the bench.

Lina noticed this and looked at him with curiosity.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'll be quick," Kai said, not really responding to her question.

With that, Kai trudged to the bench of the Knights, where Grace and Fei were waiting for the players to return.

Lina's eyebrows furrowed as Kai approached the two gorgeous managers. They had contrasting beauties. Grace was pretty similar to Lina but with glasses.

Meanwhile, Fei was the epitome of an e-girl. She had dark, long hair that was tied into high pigtails. His body looked quite mature for her age, and her face was a mixture of sexy and sweet. Read new chapters at empire

"I'm telling you—she's definitely going to lose! How could they have more sales than us—"

Just then, they felt a shadow looming over them, so they halted their conversation.

They looked up, only to see Kai looking down at them.

Fei jumped in surprise, placing her hand over her chest.

"Jumpscare," she muttered.

Meanwhile, Grace pursed her lips and tucked her hair behind her ears.

Lina watched them with narrowed eyes. "What the heck is he doing?" she muttered angrily.

Fei smirked as she looked at Kai.

Then, she glanced at Lina, seeing the distressed look in her eyes.

Somehow, that brought immense satisfaction to her heart.

"What do you need?" Fei asked, her smirk widening.

Kai had never paid attention to her during the Winter Cup, but at the end of the day, he was still a man.

All men fell to Fei's charm.

Kai cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck.

"Can I buy some of your guys' merch?"

Fei's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Merch of the Knights?" she asked, clarifying Kai's question.

Kai nodded. "Yeah, I need one of them."

Fei scoffed as she turned to Grace.

"It's ridiculous," she whispered to her ear. "Do you think he really came here for some merch?"

Grace's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Then, Fei smirked. "He definitely came here just for me."

With that, Fei turned to Kai once again, a more confident smile playing on her lips.

"I don't have any merch right now. We'll start selling them before the Interhigh Preliminaries."

Kai frowned. So, he wouldn't be able to buy a Max bubblehead until next week?

"It's before the games start, right?" he asked, wanting to make sure that he was going to fulfill his mission.

"Yeah," Fei said, blinking her eyes.

Kai scratched the back of his neck. Did she get something into her eyes or something?

"I'll see you then," Kai said, finally walking away from the strange girl.

Fei smirked as she waved her hand. "Oh, you would like that, wouldn't you?" she asked, making Kai even more confused.

Then, when Kai was gone, Fei turned to Grace, who was watching the entire interaction with wide eyes.

"He is so into me."