And at the same time, in another time and space.
On a huge pirate ship, a pirate stared straight ahead with wide eyes.
And there was nothing in front of him.
…
Four lunches of his usual portion size only brought Kaelin to about 70%–80% full.
Thinking that his usual food expenses are only about ten yuan per meal, but this time it cost him more than twenty, he shook his head with a bit of distress.
This sudden increase in appetite… if it keeps going, won’t his living expenses double?
After eating, Kaelin sat in the cafeteria for a while before walking toward the court.
There weren’t many people on the court during the lunch break—after all, everyone had just finished eating.
But recently, because of the upcoming class competition, there were more people than usual.
Not only could you see groups of boys playing under the basketball hoop again, but there were also some girls practicing shooting.
Athletic girls with decent looks were naturally a beautiful sight across the entire stadium.
Even students passing by the railings on the side of the road would stop from time to time to watch.
When Kaelin arrived, the boys from his class had already arrived and were playing a half-court match in teams.
Seeing Kaelin arrive, Lin Bei, who had a good relationship with him, immediately greeted him.
“Why are you here only now?” Lin Bei panted and asked.
“Lunch,” Kaelin replied.
“You guys came too early.
Wait—you’re not planning to practice all afternoon, are you?”
“Early bird catches the worm.
Although we know we can’t win, we don’t want to lose too badly.
When the match comes, there’ll be so many people and girls from our class watching.
If we lose too badly, it’ll affect our lives for the next few years.”
Lin Bei said this while winking at Kaelin, as if to say you get it.
“Got it.” Kaelin replied without much sincerity.
He looked at his teammates again—familiar faces, but just as Lin Bei said, their class was basically a bunch of engineering nerds.
They had all been carefully selected by Lin Bei, and none of them looked like athletes.
Only Kaelin, who had just arrived, looked somewhat decent.
Even the spectators on the sidelines showed the same situation—there was almost no one watching Kaelin’s side of the half-court.
All the attention was on the other team’s back-and-forth plays, and of course, the girls practicing two-point shots over there.
Kaelin, who had just arrived, immediately attracted attention with his 1.8-meter height, handsome sunny face, and faint muscular lines visible even through his clothes.
Lin Bei directly asked the substitute to give up a spot for Kaelin and let him play.
Kaelin hadn’t played basketball in several years.
Since his second year of high school, he had focused entirely on college entrance exams, and after that, on assignments and writing novels.
So touching a basketball again felt naturally a bit unfamiliar.
He casually dribbled it a couple of times—nothing special.
The spectators outside the court originally thought Kaelin might be the hidden ace of this group, but after seeing his awkward first few movements, they were confused.
Good lord… this guy can’t play.
Then they lost interest and stopped watching Kaelin’s half-court entirely.
A few minutes later, a crisp bang!
echoed across the court.
Everyone turned around—and saw someone hanging from the basketball hoop, while a basketball bounced on the ground.
Was that a dunk?!
And when they looked closer at the person who had just dunked…
It was the same guy they had just assumed couldn’t play at all.
“Damn!
Someone just dunked!”
“Is he from the school basketball team?
No way, right?”
“Doesn’t look like it.
Didn’t you see when he started?
He couldn’t even dribble properly.
How could someone like that be a regular player?”
…
Over here, Lin Bei and the others were also stunned by Kaelin’s sudden move.
“Alright, Kaelin, I didn’t see that coming—you can dunk?
Nice!”
Lin Bei walked over with wide eyes and said, “And you still told me you can’t play basketball.
If it wasn’t for that dunk, I’d have been fooled by your first few shots.”
As Kaelin dropped down from the rim, even he himself looked slightly confused.
He had never dunked before—but just now, he clearly felt like he could.
And then… he just dunked it in.
Hearing Lin Bei’s words, Kaelin replied helplessly, “I just found out too.”
“Just act like it, alright?
Don’t think I don’t know you write online novels.
Stop pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger in front of your own people.
But with you here, we probably won’t lose too badly in the match.”
Not just Lin Bei—the others felt the same.
Losing wasn’t the scary part; losing badly was.
Kaelin said speechlessly, “Believe it or not.”
The half-court match continued.
For some reason, Kaelin felt like his condition was unexpectedly good.
He couldn’t dribble—then he glanced at someone on the opposite side who could dribble.
And somehow, the movement seemed to be “printed” directly into his mind, as if he could copy it instantly.
In general, the correct process was like this:
Eyes: I get it!
Brain: Yeah, I think I understand too!
Hands and feet: No—you absolutely don’t!