Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

He has been curious for a while about how the second-ranked team in the country would play and how Shizi High would measure up to their skills, so having the schedule moved to an earlier date was an exciting thought for him.

"This Friday?" Zeren asked. "I\'ve already conditioned my mind to play with them next week!"

Jinping ran his fingers through his hair, suddenly feeling nervous. He had played with some of the current Feng Arts players when he was in junior secondary school, and although he hated to admit it, he knew that he was no match for most of them.

Jet clicked his tongue. "Captain! Can\'t you move it back to the original date?" he asked. "We need more time to prepare ourselves!"

Yuze sighed when he saw his team\'s worried faces.

"A good team will always be prepared," he said. "So, pick up your frowns and stop overthinking. Instead, start training so you\'ll be more prepared once we face the Feng Foxes on Friday. You got that?"

"Yes."

A weak agreement was heard from the team.

"I said—you got that?" Yuze repeated, a frown forming on his forehead.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Dylan loudly exclaimed despite not even being part of the team.

The first-string players quickly followed after hearing Dylan\'s enthusiasm.

"Yes!" they collectively shouted.

Yuze shook his head in disappointment. "I believe I don\'t need to ask you twice next time. So, for that, do an additional ten laps around the court for the warm-up."

"Captain," Zeren said, about to complain, when the tall player glared at him.

"Do you want to make that twenty?" Yuze asked with raised eyebrows.

Zeren quickly zipped his mouth shut, looking away from the captain\'s eyes so as not to agitate him further.

"Now—"

Yuze was about to instruct them to start warming up. However, Lina cleared her throat to capture their attention.

She stood, with a little bit of difficulty, and walked to where Yuze was. As the beautiful girl stood beside the intimidating captain, the team instantly felt invigorated.

"Don\'t be so harsh on them, Yuze," she said, being the only one who can tell Yuze off.

"But—"

"Enough," Lina said. "They\'re still in shock because of the sudden changes. I, too, feel like this is unfair. I tried negotiating with their coach to have the practice game on the original date since we were the first ones to schedule it, but they said they couldn\'t deny Yin Yang\'s request. In the end, the privilege of the top two schools definitely showed through."

"Anyway," she clapped, making everyone turn to her. "As someone who watched the Winter Cup, the Interhigh Preliminaries, and the Interhigh Nationals for the past seven years, I believe I am qualified to speak about Feng Arts High\'s capabilities."

"I\'ll brief you about their team," she smirked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The players listened intently, finding their manager extremely cool for having such information.

"First things first! Feng Arts is one of the oldest schools in the city along with Yin Yang. In addition, they have one of the most developed sports facilities. Aside from that, their recruiters are on another level. They go to junior secondary leagues to scout for the best players. That\'s the reason why they had stayed on top for a long time," Lina started off.

"The difference between Feng Arts and Yin Yang is that the latter is more selective. Yin Yang had let go of talented players simply because they didn\'t think they matched the school\'s playing style and attitude. In the end, some of these \'rejects\' go to Feng Arts High, where they are trained to be more aggressive than ever."

"That is also the reason why they have the greatest number of players each year. They always dispatch twenty players, which is the maximum number of players in the league."

"Because of their large number of players, they\'re not afraid to foul," Lina said, leaning against the table.

"We need to be ready for that. Their strength had always lied on their aggressive offense, and there were plenty of instances where players were injured after a game with the Feng Foxes."

Kun nodded in agreement, remembering an instance when their teammate got a torn ACL because of the Feng Arts team. "You could say that they really match their team name well. They\'re all sly foxes."

Lina chuckled at Kun\'s comparison.

Kai, on the other hand, wasn\'t surprised with how their team operated. In a way, Feng Arts could be likened to the Huolan Guardians, who also placed second almost every time during the official high school basketball leagues.

"These are two players we need to watch out for—Yang Yiming and Dong Chunlei."

Kai\'s ears perked up with the mention of the valuable players.

"Let\'s start off with Yang Yiming—the current captain of the Feng Foxes. He\'s the Power Forward of the team, and he relies heavily on his size and weight. He was a former member of a martial arts team, and those skills come in handy during offensive and defensive plays."

"Dong Chunlei, on the other hand, is a rising star," Lina continued.

"He may not have the size of Yang Yiming, but what he lacks in stature, he makes up for in skill and agility. He\'s quick on his feet, with a sharp eye for the game, and despite their team not winning last year, he quickly became one of the most popular Point Guards to watch out for."

"Chunlei is only a second-year student, but there are already some professional teams trying to recruit him. In fact, he was almost given a massive title this year. However, a player from Yin Yang snatched it away from him at the very last second," she said.

"Title?" Kai couldn\'t help but ask. "Which title?"

Lina turned to Kai, surprised at his sudden interruption.

Then, she responded.

"The Elite Five."