Chapter 101: Crisis!

Geng Haoshi’s casual remark, “It’s just so-so,” left the substitute players on the Wanlong University basketball team flushed and blushing, their faces burning red.

The tall player in the red jersey number 1 glared at his teammates, then turned to Geng Haoshi. “That friendly match was only to let our bench players warm up… But this time, our starting lineup will be on the court! You’ll get to see the real strength of the number one team in the Eastern District!”

With that, he shot a final glare at the substitutes and strode toward their half-court.

The pregame warm-up ended, and the match began in earnest.

“They’re really tall!” Geng Haoshi exclaimed, staring at the five opponents all towering over him. “And their numbers three and five look even taller than Meng Lang’s 191 centimeters!”

The referee tossed the ball high into the air. “Slap!” The opponent’s number five leaped higher than Meng Lang, the first time Geng had seen him fail to claim the tip at the outset.

The opponent’s number two brought the ball up the court and, instead of driving straight to the rim, slipped a pass to number three. Zhu Di stepped up quickly to intercept, but the pass came back to number five.

Sun Peng planted himself in front of number one, waving his arms desperately. Unfortunately, number five was a full head taller than Sun Peng. From near the free-throw line, he launched a jumper that swished through the net.

In the first quarter Zhou Xiaoshan was sitting out, so Geng Haoshi handled the ball as point guard.

Geng took the ball, scanned the court, and found Zhu Di already cutting toward the opponent’s paint. He made a strong overhead pass that landed perfectly in Zhu Di’s hands.

“Good pass!” Zhu Di didn’t hesitate. He leaped, executed a series of quick, fluid moves, and finished with a clean jump shot.

Just as the ball began its graceful arc, a huge hand suddenly appeared in midair—number three’s. “Slap!” The block sent the ball skittering off course.

“Jumped that high?” Geng Haoshi couldn’t help but marvel.

The rebound came down to number four, who immediately broke toward Tiancheng University’s half-court.

Number four quickly fed it to number one, who rose for a reverse jump shot. The ball cleared Sun Peng’s outstretched fingers and dropped through the net.

“Damn it!” Sun Peng slammed his fist into the air, furious that he had missed the block.

Geng Haoshi brought the ball up again, this time taking his time. He studied the opponents’ formations, noting that every one of their five starters stood at least 185 centimeters tall, with two of them taller than Meng Lang—easily clearing 193 centimeters. Not only were they long, they were quick and athletic.

Compared with them, the advantage seemed to lie entirely on the other side. Geng Haoshi thought, We’ll have to win with speed.

Once the analysis was complete, he dribbled hard down the court and exploded into Wanlong University’s half-court.

Thanks to the brutal training over the past half-year, Geng’s speed had improved more dramatically than any other physical attribute. He weaved past three defenders and drove straight to the rim.

Seizing the moment, he whipped the ball toward Zhu Di on his left and kept sprinting. Zhu Di understood instantly what was coming.

“Xiao Er, catch!” At the perfect instant, Zhu Di tossed the ball high toward the basket.

Geng Haoshi was going for an alley-oop dunk.

Provided the pass reached its target, an alley-oop was essentially a guaranteed score.

The ball Zhu Di threw was pinpoint accurate, as if guided by an invisible hand. It landed softly in Geng Haoshi’s palms.

Geng Haoshi cradled the basketball in his right hand and rocketed upward like a hawk diving for prey, straight toward the rim.

“Boom!”

He was certain the dunk would drop. Then, without warning, number five appeared out of nowhere and swatted the ball away.

“Son of a—when did he come out!” Geng cursed under his breath and immediately backpedaled to defense.

Although the dunk hadn’t gone in, the entire Wanlong University starting five looked stunned.

On the sideline, the university students watching began to murmur, “That guy is maybe 170 centimeters tall? How can he jump that high?!” “I know, right? It felt like he was going to the moon!” “Yeah, the leap was impressive. Too bad against our ace center, height doesn’t matter.”

Because of the spectacular alley-oop attempt—even though it had been blocked—the Wanlong University starters now guarded Geng with extra attention.

The remainder of the game was almost entirely dictated by the opponents.

Thanks to that constant vigilance, Geng could barely penetrate the paint. Whenever he reached the rim, two or three defenders immediately swarmed him, neutralizing any threat.

Inside the restricted area, the opponents’ height advantage became overwhelming. The moment a Tiancheng player shot, one of them would leap high and slap the ball away.

On the perimeter, Tiancheng’s shooters were repeatedly missing, their confidence in the “three-point percentage” completely shattered.

“Beep!”

Yu Manman finally called a timeout.

There were just over three minutes left in the quarter, and the score stood 15–0 with Tiancheng still scoreless. This was the biggest crisis Geng Haoshi had faced since joining the team.

Looking at his teammates’ dejected, dusty faces, Yu Manman spoke firmly. “Have you all forgotten your usual training?”

“They have such a height advantage…” Geng mumbled.

“But when you play against the robot team, you’re also at a height disadvantage, aren’t you?”

Indeed, the robot team’s average height exceeded 185 centimeters, with two of the robots standing over 190 centimeters.

“Are you afraid of playing against real people?” the coach asked.

The team members lowered their heads, clearly embarrassed.

“Actually, the reason you haven’t shown your usual form is that you’re too timid,” Yu Manman continued. “The robots you’ve been facing are the first-generation AI athletic robots developed by Feizhi Group. Even though they’re now in their third batch, they’re all lightweight models. Against them, you’re afraid to move aggressively because any collision might result in a foul. So that’s why you’ve been playing carefully. But…”

The sentence trailed off, leaving the team in thoughtful silence.