HGTM CH9

Chapter 009: The Avengers

The Elven Queen closed the door and walked in, completely devoid of her previous elegance. She carelessly dragged a chair over and sat down.

What? Roommate? Is this a joke?

The Elven Queen bent down, grabbed a drink from the new roommate’s cabinet, twisted it open, and drank heartily. Then she leaned back, adopting the utterly ungraceful “Ge You slouch” pose.

The elegance from before had gone to hell.

“Xia Chiyi, you don’t really remember me at all, do you?”

Xia Chiyi stood there and shook his head honestly.

“Besides me, who else could intercept three of your passes in a single quarter?”

“Mm?” Xia Chiyi frowned and leaned closer to the other’s face, trying to distinguish the features beneath the eyeliner and eyeshadow. The image of a troublesome opponent from the high school league merged with the person in front of him. “Holy sh*t—you’re Ye Chaoying!”

“You just realized?”

“With that makeup, only a ghost would recognize you!”

Xia Chiyi’s soul exploded. He had just done ten squats holding his high school nemesis? What a huge loss!

“Your hair is standing up,” Zhou Zhexiao, who was reading the freshman guide on Xia Chiyi’s phone, suddenly remarked.

“None of your business!”

Ye Chaoying lifted his chin, looked towards Zhou Zhexiao, and said, “This is also a roommate? Aren’t you going to introduce him?”

Since the dorm assignment was already done, Xia Chiyi could only accept reality.

More importantly, anyone who could give Xia Chiyi trouble on the court must be skilled.

High school grudges were in the past. College was a new chapter. As his mom said, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests!

What are interests? Since they both got into Ningchang University, their interests were aligned!

Xia Chiyi adapted well, instantly turning an enemy into a friend.

“Trouble you to take off that Painted Skin. Otherwise, after I finish introducing him, I’m afraid he still won’t recognize you tomorrow morning.”

“Sure!” Ye Chaoying stood up, turning his back to Xia Chiyi. “Come on, help me unzip.”

This guy really wasn’t polite at all.

“No, do it yourself.”

“What are you being pretentious for? I’m not a girl.”

Just as Xia Chiyi was about to reach out, Zhou Zhexiao walked over unexpectedly. He pressed one hand on Ye Chaoying’s back—Ye Chaoying’s face almost smashed into the wardrobe, but luckily he reacted fast and propped himself up with both hands. With a zip, Zhou Zhexiao unzipped the zipper from top to bottom, as if tearing a devil apart.

Clean, efficient, overwhelmingly powerful.

Xia Chiyi felt gratified, spiritually avenging the ten squats.

Ye Chaoying, this shameless guy, wasn’t shy at all. In front of the two of them, he took off the dress.

“Hey, what are you doing—” Xia Chiyi’s first reaction was to cover Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes next to him.

Ye Chaoying wiggled his hips, and the dress dropped to the floor. However, he was wearing sports leggings underneath. When he stretched his arms to grab a T-shirt from the wardrobe, the muscles on his back tensed, radiating hormones.

He turned around and saw Xia Chiyi covering Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes. Speechless, he said, “What for? It’s not VIP-only content. Why cover his eyes?”

“My friend’s mental age is still young,” Xia Chiyi said casually.

Ye Chaoying had already taken off the wig. He walked into the bathroom to remove his makeup, tossing back a remark, “Anyone is more mature than you, Xia Chiyi.”

Zhou Zhexiao didn’t say a word. Xia Chiyi suddenly realized he had been covering his eyes for too long. Just as he was about to move his hand away, he felt the other’s eyelashes brush against the gaps between his fingers. That ticklish feeling came back again.

Accidentally meeting Zhou Zhexiao’s deep, clear eyes, Xia Chiyi felt as if his gaze had been tugged.

After a while, Ye Chaoying walked out wearing a coral fleece headband to hold back his hair.

His features were clean and refreshing, eyes tilting slightly upwards at the corners, wearing an arrogant expression that begged for a beating. This was the Ye Chaoying Xia Chiyi knew.

Xia Chiyi started the introduction: “This guy is from Ningchang No. 3 High School. I played against him many times in the high school league. He mostly plays point guard. He’s good at defense and steals. If he targets you, it’s like having your skills sealed in a game. Your HP bar gets constantly drained, and it’s easy to go die… Do you understand?”

Zhou Zhexiao shook his head.

“Mm? Was my explanation not vivid enough? What part didn’t you understand?”

“What is ‘go die’ (gou dai)?” Zhou Zhexiao’s main trait was honesty; he asked if he didn’t understand.

Xia Chiyi took a deep breath and adjusted his pronunciation. “Go die.”

“Oh.” Zhou Zhexiao nodded slowly.

Ye Chaoying looked at Xia Chiyi and punched him in the chest. “You introduced all that nonsense, why didn’t you even mention my name?”

“Ye Chaoying.” Xia Chiyi’s expression was very perfunctory.

Two seconds later, probably realizing Xia Chiyi was done, Zhou Zhexiao leisurely added, “Oh.”

Ye Chaoying frowned and spread his hands. “That’s it? Am I not worth a thousand-word essay?”

Before Xia Chiyi could speak, Zhou Zhexiao shook his head and said, “Not worth it.”

Ye Chaoying choked and lifted his chin. “Who are you?”

“This is my friend Zhou Zhexiao. Zhou as in King Zhou (Zhou Tianzi), Zhe as in philosophy (zhexue), Xiao as in the Valiant Cavalry Camp (Xiaoqiying). He was in the US before, graduated from Oak Hill Academy. He just came back, so he doesn’t know a lot of domestic stuff yet.” Xia Chiyi’s bias in introductions couldn’t be more obvious.

Ye Chaoying’s eyes lit up as if struck by a match. “Zhou Zhexiao? I know him! Heard he performed really well in the US high school league! So he was recruited as a sports talent? But didn’t I hear he was in a car accident and almost died?”

Zhou Zhexiao remained silent, as if they weren’t discussing him.

Acting as Zhou Zhexiao’s spokesperson, Xia Chiyi immediately said, “He’s perfectly fine! Got in through the joint entrance exam for overseas Chinese students. Impressive, right!”

Ye Chaoying continued, “Rumor has it the provincial team in Jin Province evaluated him too. Originally, bringing in a player with overseas competition experience could have brought technical innovation or something. But Ma Hongming firmly opposed it! Said overseas playstyles don’t suit the domestic scene, and that Zhou Zhexiao’s style is too self-centered and aggressive—bringing him in would ruin the team atmosphere. People objected to Ma Hongming’s opinion at first, but then this guy went bang—crashed his car. So it was completely game over.”

Xia Chiyi froze, turning to look at Zhou Zhexiao. “So Ma Hongming doesn’t like you either?”

“…” Zhou Zhexiao’s expression didn’t change; it seemed he had no idea about this.

Ye Chaoying stood up and walked around Zhou Zhexiao thoughtfully.

“You don’t look very self-centered or aggressive. And… you seem so obedient.”

“Mm?” Zhou Zhexiao lifted his eyelids and glanced at Ye Chaoying, as if asking which eye saw me being obedient.

“You listen to Xia Chiyi very well.”

Zhou Zhexiao fell silent.

Xia Chiyi chuckled inwardly. This guy has an untamed soul inside. Obedient? He’s just too lazy to argue.

Ye Chaoying draped his arm over Xia Chiyi’s shoulder. “God, are all three of us in this dorm victims of Ma Hongming? Is this a loser concentration camp? A loser alliance? Wait, that sounds too weak. We should be the Avengers!”

“The Women’s Federation?” (Note: “Avengers” (Fu Lian) sounds like “Women’s Federation” in Chinese.)

“The Avengers Alliance!” Ye Chaoying rolled his eyes so hard his soul almost left his body. “The remaining guy in our dorm wouldn’t happen to be cut by the provincial team too, right?”

Xia Chiyi hurriedly shook his head. “No no no, Pang Shuai is just a simple otaku; he doesn’t play basketball.”

“Oh, pity. Otherwise, we could have held a ‘Criticize Ma Hongming’ assembly tonight.”

“Haha.” Xia Chiyi rubbed the back of his head and looked at Zhou Zhexiao beside him.

The other was very quiet, seemingly aloof from worldly strife, but deadly serious when engaged.

“But speaking of which, even if you two were cut by the provincial team, with your status as sports talents, you could have been admitted by other strong basketball schools. Yenching University and Qingda might be a bit aloof, but Fusheng University of Technology, Qincheng University, oh, and Southwest Aviation University are all regulars in the national top eight! How did you end up at Ningchang University?” Ye Chaoying asked curiously.

“Because my college entrance exam score just met Ningchang University’s cutoff…” Xia Chiyi replied.

Ye Chaoying widened his eyes. “God, I really admire you. You could have relied on your body, but you insisted on relying on your IQ. So you haven’t joined the school team yet?”

“Rely on your body”… why does that sound a bit awkward?

“Not yet. Planning to check out the school team with this guy.” Xia Chiyi replied.

“No time like the present. I’ll take you now.” Ye Chaoying grabbed a spray bottle and misted his face for a good while. “Let you properly experience the school team’s atmosphere.”

“Huh?” Xia Chiyi tilted his head, feeling that this “atmosphere” definitely wasn’t a good one.

When they arrived at the basketball gym, the team was doing their final set of dribbling drills.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a single person cheering or watching the basketball team training. It was so deserted.

Ye Chaoying led them to sit in the first row of the spectator seats.

There were several foam dummy defenders on the court, and assistant coach Cheng Qing was sitting on the sidelines keeping time.

There were fewer people on the team than Xia Chiyi imagined—only seven. Including Ye Chaoying, who was a sports student to begin with, that made eight.

After watching their dribbling practice, Xia Chiyi suddenly understood the origin of the saying “Ningchang University Basketball Team: Fetching water with a bamboo basket—all in vain.”

Most were sports students, so their fundamentals were solid. But apart from that, speed, rhythm, change of direction—not a single strength could be found.

Having no strengths was the biggest weakness.

Ye Chaoying rested his chin on the railing of the front row. “With this dribbling quality, they can’t even pick out a decent point guard.”

“Too weak.” Zhou Zhexiao lowered his eyes; he was about to fall asleep watching.

Xia Chiyi calculated in his mind. With himself and Zhou Zhexiao responsible for scoring, plus Ye Chaoying as the hub organizing offense, at least the offensive end wouldn’t be a problem. They just needed to find two players who could withstand pressure under the basket.

“Then who do you think would work? Just pick two barely acceptable ones.” Xia Chiyi nudged Zhou Zhexiao with his elbow.

These two really think they’re coaches with the right to select players?

“Ji Bo, Gao Jinshu, or Li Xiaoran.”

“Huh?” Xia Chiyi looked confused.

Ye Chaoying almost choked on his own saliva.

Those three were all famous CBA guards from ten years ago.

Xia Chiyi took a deep breath, patted Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder, and said earnestly, “I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

“Good news. Skip the bad news,” Zhou Zhexiao said.

“No, I must tell both, or you won’t appreciate the value of the good news. Bad news first—some of the people you named have joined the army of balding men you dislike, and others are no longer in the basketball world.”

Ye Chaoying nodded from the side. “Right, like Gao Jinshu. Everyone said he played with his face before. After retiring, he doesn’t even care about his face anymore. Continuing to bloat, I suspect he eats yeast for three meals a day!”

Xia Chiyi continued, “The good news is, after retiring, Li Xiaoran became the head coach of the Qingda basketball team. If our school can break out of the divisional competition, you can see his heroic coaching figure in the national tournament. Heard he swears so much he can make starting players cry.”

Zhou Zhexiao looked at Xia Chiyi, as if doubting the truth of his words. “Li Xiaoran couldn’t even execute the ‘close the door’ tactic properly. How can he be a coach?”

“Bro, which year’s old almanac are you reading from? He’s now mastering the Triangle Offense, Run and Gun, and Hack-a-Shaq tactics. Under his leadership, Qingda has won the First Division Championship for three consecutive years! They send at least two professional athletes to the CBA every year!” Ye Chaoying laughed.

“Then we must break out of the divisional competition,” Zhou Zhexiao said.

“Huh?”

“And dunk the ball in his face.”

Xia Chiyi was stunned. “What deep hatred do you have with Li Xiaoran? Did he dig up your ancestral grave?”

Zhou Zhexiao looked at Xia Chiyi and said, “He used a Sheng Xingming poster to level a table leg.”

Hearing this, veins popped on Xia Chiyi’s forehead. As a hardcore fan of Sheng Xingming, this was absolutely intolerable!

“Although I don’t know how you know that, if it’s true, I support you fully!”

Ye Chaoying was speechless: Hey hey, are you two serious? That’s Qing University, the King of CUBA!