Chapter Seventy-Two: School Team vs. Robot Team

Six years ago, Manman Yu was recruited with a generous salary to serve as the coach of the basketball team at Bole University of Technology.

During her tenure at Bole University of Technology, a player of extraordinary basketball talent emerged on the team, named Duan Lingtian. Recognizing his potential, Manman Yu gave him special attention—assigning him countless additional training sessions.

Under Manman Yu’s rigorous and intensive training, Duan Lingtian's skills improved at an astonishing rate.

Time quickly passed, and by May 2011, the National College Basketball League was set to begin on June 16. The players of Bole University of Technology eagerly anticipated the tournament, especially Duan Lingtian. Each year, the National College Basketball League served as the primary stage for scouts from the national team and major basketball clubs to select new talent. With Duan Lingtian unanimously regarded as a rising star, he had a strong chance to earn a place on the national team through his performance, and perhaps even be recruited by a renowned club.

However, on June 11, 2011, Duan Lingtian suffered a serious injury during a practice match. Doctors later diagnosed a grave knee injury, shattering his hopes of ever becoming a professional basketball player.

Losing the possibility of a professional career is a devastating blow for any player who loves the sport and dreams of its highest honors. For Duan Lingtian, the despair was even more profound—he was the son of impoverished farmers from a remote mountain village. The dream of becoming a professional basketball player was his path to a better life for himself and his family. Now, that dream was forever out of reach.

In the early hours of June 16, 2011, lying in his hospital bed, Duan Lingtian swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping pills and never woke again.

The news of Duan Lingtian’s suicide struck Manman Yu, who was preparing to lead the Bole University of Technology basketball team into the national tournament. Unable to face what had happened, she quietly resigned and left.

For years, this incident remained a wound in Manman Yu's heart. From that day forward, she never coached at any university again—until 2016. On September 6 of that year, she encountered Chen Zhi, the CEO of Feizhi Group, at Feizhi Club, and due to a bet, she came to Tiansheng University of Technology as a coach.

Manman Yu no longer wished to see players with fragile mental states pushed to extremes by sudden adversity. She resolved to subject only those players with strong psychological resilience to her most intense training regimens.

Although Geng Haoshi stood only 170 centimeters tall, Manman Yu had witnessed his natural gifts for basketball (his first spectacular slam dunk left a deep impression on her, as did his performance in the marathon—though both feats were largely thanks to the “Powerful Energy Focus” of 9527). Moreover, Geng Haoshi was the most carefree, unflappable player she had ever met.

Another decisive factor in choosing to focus on Geng Haoshi was his discipline and perseverance. No matter what training tasks she assigned, despite his frequent complaints and protests, he always completed them on time.

Manman Yu firmly believed that as long as a player could fulfill the training she set, they could become exceptional, self-reliant athletes.

...

At 10:22 p.m., Geng Haoshi finally completed his 500th round of shooting accuracy drills.

Utterly exhausted, he collapsed on the floor, and in the end, Zhu Di and Sun Peng had to carry him back to the dormitory room inside the gymnasium.

...

For over a month, the members of the Tiansheng University of Technology basketball team had trained with eight-kilogram lead weights strapped to them, following the individualized regimens Manman Yu devised for each.

Today was November 20, 2016. After lunch, the players had barely rested for ten minutes before Manman Yu summoned them together.

“This afternoon, you’ll have a practice match against the robot team,” she announced.

“Five players on the court, facing five robots.”

“You’ll be on offense; the robots will only defend.”

“There will be 1,000 rounds. Your shooting percentage as a team will be used to evaluate your training over this period.”

“If your shooting percentage falls below 20%… you’re in for a hard time!”

“Discuss among yourselves which five will start.”

“Once a player is subbed out during the match, he cannot return.”

“You have twenty minutes. The match will begin at one o’clock.”

With that, Manman Yu left for the room labeled ‘Boss.’

“Let’s all report our recent shooting percentages against the robots,” said Captain Meng Lang.

One by one, the players announced their shooting stats. After tallying, the shooting percentages from highest to lowest were: Meng Lang (31%), Zhou Xiaoshan (29%), Xu Gaofeng (28%), Zhu Di (26%), Sun Peng (23%), Chen Yu (21%), Zhang Zhaolong (18%), Lin Zhiling (17%), Geng Haoshi (16%), He Zhikun (15%), Li Jing (12%), Wang Meng (10%).

Although Geng Haoshi’s shooting accuracy ranked only ninth on the team, he trained daily with three robots for 1,500 rounds, while the others each faced two robots for 1,000 rounds. If Geng Haoshi were also training in the two-on-one format, his percentage would be higher than 16%.

The players had always assumed everyone trained against the same number of robots, so the topic had never arisen. None of them realized that only Geng Haoshi faced three robots simultaneously in his daily drills.

Captain Meng Lang selected the starting five based on the shooting stats: Meng Lang, Zhou Xiaoshan, Xu Gaofeng, Zhu Di, and Sun Peng—the core members of the team.

Since they were all main team members, their roles and coordination would follow the usual pattern.

At 12:55 p.m., led by Manman Yu, the players discovered for the first time that there were more than twelve rooms in the Chen Zhi Gymnasium with an ‘X’ prefix (from X-1 to X-12). On one side of the facility, there was also a room labeled X-0.

Unlike the other ‘X’ rooms, X-0 housed a full basketball court, where five robots, each over 185 centimeters tall, stood at one end.

“All right, let’s begin!”