Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

The small room was filled with silence—only the sound of utensils clashing against the plates being heard in the room.

Well, at least Zeren wasn't with the Feng Foxes since he had to eat out with his family.

That was the only merit of the interaction.

Kai held onto a whole lobster while looking at Lina, who decided to sit far away from him.

Before he knew it, he had smashed the lobster's head in his hand.

Jet's eyes widened in surprise, and he quickly held onto Kai's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Kai snapped out of his reverie and looked at the mutilated lobster in his hands.

He pursed his lips and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.

Jet looked at him with a weirded-out expression before shaking his head.

"Strange," he said. "How could our MVP be like this?"

Then, Kai felt someone's gaze intensely burning holes in the side of his face. With that, he spat out the shell of the lobster and looked to the side, only to see Chunlei looking at him with narrowed eyes.

Kai raised one of his eyebrows in inquiry, yet Chunlei merely smiled, looking away from him once again.

Kai frowned.

"For someone who just lost, he seems awfully happy," he muttered.

They continued eating when suddenly, Coach Ben's loud voice rang in the small room.

"I'm a loser!" he exclaimed, already on the verge of tears.

The Shizi Dogs turned to him in surprise.

His tie had been loosened, and the buttons of his shirt had gone down to his belly button.

Jet covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.

"Coach," Yiming chuckled nervously. "It seems like you had a lot to drink."

"Don't stop me!" Coach Ben exclaimed. "I've been a coach for five years. We've always lost to those Knights! Only ever taking second place!"

"Because of them, we've never been to the Nationals. However, now that two teams have the opportunity to go, we didn't even make it into the semi-finals? I'm going to retire!"

Then, he wandered his eyes around until it landed on Muchen.

Muchen stopped munching on a squid head when Coach Ben started walking toward his way.

The Shizi Dogs watched the scene intently while the Feng Foxes were on the edge of their seats.

However, at the last minute, he went to Kai instead, whose eyes widened when Coach Ben pointed his index finger to his forehead.

"You ruined everything!" he exclaimed.

Kai's eyebrows raised in surprise as he pointed at himself.

"Me?" he asked.

"Yes, you!" Coach Ben insisted. "If you had joined our team, then we would have been unbeatable."

Kai placed his hand over his lips to stop himself from smiling. Somehow, that sounded very flattering.

"I ought to beat you up even if you're a kid!" he said, raising his fist high in the air.

However, just then, a loud noise was heard from the other side of the table.

The boys turned to the source of the noise, only to see Coach Muchen standing. His face was red, and his whistle was stuffed inside his pants. It didn't take a genius to know that he, too, had become intoxicated.

He walked over to Coach Ben and held onto his collar.

The boys stood from their seats as the two coaches glared at each other.

"Don't touch my kids!" Coach Muchen exclaimed.

Then, a small smirk appeared on his lips. "They're still going to play at the Nationals," he said in a teasing tone.

With that statement, all hell broke loose.

The boys didn't know who threw the first punch. However, all they knew was that their coaches were going to have bruised faces when they woke up.
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It took Yiming and Yuze to break up the fight, and by the end of it all, the two coaches were already asleep.

Lina clicked her tongue as she looked at their figures.

"Gosh," she muttered. "Are they the adults here or what?"

The two teams stood there for a while, just looking at their coaches before bursting into laughter.

Along with that, it seemed like the awkwardness also dissipated. They looked at each other with glee in their eyes, and it felt like the tension they felt during the game vanished in thin air.

"We still have a lot of food," Yuze said, clearing his throat. "Do you guys want some?"

Shilei bit his lip. "Well, your lobster looks good. The coach said we didn't deserve lobster. Can we have some of it?"

"No—" Jet was about to protest, but Kun covered his mouth before he could do so.

"Go ahead," Kun said. "Help yourselves."

With that, the two young teams mingled among themselves.

Andy and Kexin stood at the front of the room, comparing each other's shooting forms and competing who had a better shooting accuracy.

Bocheng and Shilei were joined by Jet, who pestered them for some advice.

"Come on!" Jet exclaimed. "We're heading to the Nationals, and you're not going to give me any tips on how to become a better guard?"

Shilei clicked his tongue. "You didn't even want us to taste your lobster!"

"Eyy, that was a long time ago," Jet sheepishly smiled.

"It was literally minutes ago," Shilei grumbled.

"Besides!" Bocheng added. "You're not even qualified to go to the Nationals."

"Yet!" Jet exclaimed. "You'll see soon enough."

Meanwhile, Yiming took the initiative to approach Yuze.

Yuze looked up and smiled at his long-term friend.

Yiming held out his hand in front of Yuze with a welcoming smile.

"Congratulations," Yiming said.

Yuze's smile widened as he took his hand and gave it a firm shake.

Yiming sighed as he sat next to Yuze, just looking at the wall before them.

"You finally did it," Yiming muttered. "You've worked hard."

Yuze pursed his lips and nodded.

Kai, on the other hand, couldn't tear his gaze away from Lina.

The pretty girl watched the two coaches, making sure that they didn't do anything stupid while the players interacted.

He felt that she had something important to say, so with that, he clicked his tongue and stood from his chair.

Kai was about to head to where she was, but it seemed like fate truly wasn't on their side as someone blocked Kai once again.

Chunlei stood before him with crossed arms and a knowing smirk.

"You," he said.

"You're really scary, you know that?"