Chapter 001: He Claims to Be Sheng Xingming—Yeah, Right!

Before falling asleep, Pang Shuai was twisting and turning on his bed, engrossed in a web novel on his phone.

“Seriously, nothing beats a max-level boss returning to the newbie village!”

“If that were really the case, we ordinary people would just be noobs getting trashed. What’s so fun about that?”

Xia Chiyi frowned as he knelt at the head of his bed, taping a limited-edition basketball poster next to his pillow.

“You could date the boss! Easy win!”

“Wouldn’t being a sugar baby hurt your teeth? Why don’t you talk about absorbing the boss’s experience points and leading him back to the peak like a true protagonist?”

Pang Shuai teased with a grin, “Remember your ambition! Maybe tonight, the Sheng Xingming in your poster will be reborn and call you to make you his sidekick!”

“Why don’t you say Michael Jordan was reborn instead?”

“Even though I don’t know basketball, I know Jordan is still alive.”

“I don’t believe in time travel, rebirth, or doomsday prophecies. If someone really claims to be Sheng Xingming, I’ll tell him I’ve downloaded the Anti-Fraud App.”

Pang Shuai’s mouth must have been blessed by a monk.

Buzz—Buzz—Buzz, the phone vibrated.

Xia Chiyi fumbled around his pillow for a long time. Drowsy, he muttered into the phone, “Hello… who is this?”

“I am Sheng Xingming.”

A cold voice rang out, piercing through the radio waves directly to Xia Chiyi’s eardrums with firmness, causing his heart to tremble in resonance.

Xia Chiyi jolted awake, bolting upright. He realized it was 12:30 AM… What kind of prank call was this?

“And I’m Qin Shi Huang. Are you going to wire me money?”

Xia Chiyi hung up. For a split second, he suspected it was a prank by Pang Shuai.

But opposite him, Pang Shuai was already snoring softly.

Xia Chiyi turned his head. Opening his eyes, he saw Sheng Xingming on the poster by his bed, exuding a quiet, majestic pressure like a guardian deity in the dark night.

Just as he touched the poster, Xia Chiyi’s phone rang again. It was the same number, with an attitude that suggested it would keep ringing until he answered.

Was this never going to end?

Xia Chiyi took a deep breath, his tone turning a few degrees fiercer. “Buddy, take out your ID card and read your own name ten thousand times, okay?”

The person on the other end paused noticeably for a second.

“My ID card says Zhou Zhexiao.”

Xia Chiyi let out a breath and rubbed the corner of his eye hard.

Damn, Zhou Zhexiao! Isn’t he the guy Mom talked about who got brain damage from a car accident and fantasizes about being Sheng Xingming all day?

Buddy, don’t stop taking your meds!

Sigh. Before enrolling, he had promised his mom he would look after this Zhou Zhexiao. He even specifically applied to be in the same dorm room. Whether the guy had indigestion or got his period, Xia Chiyi couldn’t just ignore him.

Xia Chiyi straightened his attitude and asked in a tone rivaling customer service, “How may I help you, student Zhou Zhexiao?”

“I’m at the airport. My suitcase was taken by mistake, and my wallet is inside. I’ve waited for three hours, but the person hasn’t contacted the airport.”

Zhou Zhexiao’s voice sounded emotionally stable, logical, and organized. He didn’t seem brain-damaged at all. In the empty airport, his voice even carried a deep, pleasant quality that seemed removed from worldly cares.

Xia Chiyi sighed. “I understand. Is your WeChat ID your phone number? I’ll add you and transfer some money.”

“I don’t have WeChat.”

Xia Chiyi choked. Are there still eighteen-year-olds in this day and age who don’t use WeChat?

“Then what do you use?”

“Nokia 5230.”

Xia Chiyi let out a speechless laugh.

“Heh, where did you dig up that antique phone?”

“It’s running out of battery. The charger is also in the suitcase.”

“You… aren’t pranking me, are you?” Xia Chiyi frowned.

“I’m currently at the McDonald’s in Terminal 1.” Zhou Zhexiao paused for a second before adding, “Not a prank.”

Xia Chiyi almost couldn’t catch his breath. He spoke gently, “Brother, it’s 12:30 AM. The iron gate of our university dorm is locked! I suggest you call your parents…”

The next second, a beep beep beep sound came from the phone. The other party had suddenly disconnected, or rather, run out of battery.

What the f—?

Xia Chiyi froze. After a struggle lasting ten seconds—should he just call the police?—his mind uncontrollably conjured up a scene that hadn’t happened yet.

The police uncle arrives at the McDonald’s in the dead of night, seeing an eighteen-year-old boy sitting by the window waiting for a companion who won’t come. The airport AC is so cold, and he doesn’t even have a jacket.

His parents are far away in another city, beyond reach. He only has a dead Nokia, can’t even use a power bank, and is just short of covering himself with a newspaper and curling up on the McDonald’s sofa for warmth…

It was truly too pitiful.

People with high moral standards are prone to compromise.

Xia Chiyi got up quickly, grabbing his phone, power bank, and jacket, stuffing them all into his sports bag. As he was leaving, his roommate Pang Shuai, sleeping opposite him, actually woke up. He lay on the edge of the top bunk, looking at him with condemnatory eyes.

“I knew a handsome guy like you couldn’t be single. Which vixen are you going to see in the middle of the night?”

“It’s really something important. I’ll tell you in detail when I get back tomorrow morning.”

Pang Shuai reminded him with sincerity, “Boys need to be careful when going out too.”

“Huh? Careful of what?”

“You—thin waist, long legs, abs, clear eyes, easy to seduce. You’re perfect for vixens to harvest yang energy to replenish their yin.” Pang Shuai had a look of “I’m very serious.”

“Fine, give me a dozen of those vixens.”

Pang Shuai: “Male vixens are trendy now.”

“Get lost!”

Tsk, Zhou Zhexiao really is a guy.

Under the dark moon and high winds, Xia Chiyi walked briskly through the quiet dorm area. The iron gate was indeed quite high, seemingly poking the moon in the sky.

Xia Chiyi backed up for a run-up. Relying on his speed, he leaped cleanly into the air. The moment he stepped on the iron bars to exert force, he was like a taut string. In the blink of an eye, he flipped to the other side of the gate.

A brother sitting at the stairwell entrance was smoking. As the ash flicked off, Xia Chiyi landed safely.

This display of raw power made him exclaim from his soul, “Holy sh—”

Xia Chiyi turned around, smiled at him, and put a finger to his lips in a “shh” gesture.

The smoking brother froze, his brain likely replaying that arrogant scene on loop.

Xia Chiyi exited the school gate. At this hour, it was pitch black outside; all the lights of the restaurants and shops were off.

He glanced at the distance between the school and the airport on his phone—it spanned the entire Ningchang City. He immediately dispelled the idea of riding a shared e-bike and hailed a ride-share car on the platform.

Looking at the estimated price on the app, Xia Chiyi felt a pang of heartache.

Zhou Zhexiao, you better be as miserable as I imagine, or I’ll make you swallow that Nokia 5230 whole!

Getting into the car, the driver also teased, “Handsome guy, going to the airport to pick up your girlfriend?”

“Not a girlfriend, just an idiot with a broken brain.”

The driver chuckled.

Xia Chiyi sighed. Honestly, he didn’t even know what Zhou Zhexiao looked like now.

He only vaguely remembered that when they were little, Zhou Zhexiao had big eyes with long lashes that curled upwards—pretty like a doll.

But his personality was domineering. Every time, the other kids had to hand over their toys to him. He would only return the ones he didn’t like to their owners, starting a “concubine selection” with the toys.

Xia Chiyi, however, had no intention of spoiling him. In front of everyone, he directly took his small car back.

Zhou Zhexiao’s dominance was shaken. He pounced and bit Xia Chiyi on the head.

Head could break, blood could flow, but a boy’s dignity could not be lost. Xia Chiyi just stared deathly at Zhou Zhexiao with blood streaming down his face until the other let go.

Speaking of which, should he have gotten a rabies shot back then?

Hopefully, this kid was more human than when he was little… though that might be difficult.

According to his mom’s reliable sources, many coaches had commented since Zhou Zhexiao was young that he had basketball talent. So his parents invested heavily in this area. But this kid was rebellious. Absurd incidents popped up like leeks—cut one batch, and another immediately sprouted.

His parents divorced by agreement half a year ago. After hearing the news, Zhou Zhexiao took his rebellion to the extreme. He went wild with a bunch of unreliable friends and crashed his car into a wreck. Rescuers dug him out, but his heart stopped on the way to the hospital.

Just after the doctor checked his watch and announced the time of death, he actually woke up!

Here comes the exciting part. After waking up, Zhou Zhexiao insisted he was Sheng Xingming. His family hired several brain and psychology experts, who only said it was confusion caused by brain trauma.

It was very likely that before the crash, Zhou Zhexiao idolized Sheng Xingming to the extreme and deeply desired to become him, leading to this cognitive disorder after waking up.

Because of this car accident, Zhou Zhexiao lost his scholarship and was rejected by prestigious schools. His former basketball talent became meaningless, and his future was bleak.

Strangely, when Zhou Zhexiao heard his mom mention Xia Chiyi, he asked where Xia Chiyi had applied for college. Without hesitation, he took the joint entrance exam for overseas Chinese students and actually got into Ningchang University!

Even Zhou Zhexiao’s parents were shocked. Wasn’t their son a slacker?

Maybe Sheng Xingming was protecting his fan from the beyond.

Speaking of Sheng Xingming, he was a legend in the hearts of many fans and the “white moonlight” engraved in Xia Chiyi’s soul.

Sheng Xingming received a scholarship to Duke University, an old powerhouse in the NCAA, at eighteen. He started in the university basketball league in his freshman year and secured a top-three pick in the NBA draft in his junior year.

Unfortunately, the American media, which touted freedom and equality, didn’t like him. They believed this young man gained favor in the NBA solely due to his overly beautiful Asian face and the broadcasting fees from Asian TV stations.

No one is invincible in the NBA, but Sheng Xingming hacked his way through thorns and brambles, tearing apart the barking of naysayers and provocateurs.

His god-like positioning, extreme passes, and top-three three-point shooting percentage in the league forced even fans and media who disliked him to admit that he was the outsider who went the furthest and achieved the most in the NBA.

Sheng Xingming’s final shot in the finals deified him in one battle.

With passing lanes blocked, he dribbled alone with several fake moves, passing two opposing players in a row, piercing into the paint like an unsheathed blade.

Two opponents over two meters tall leaped into the air under the basket, forming an insurmountable human wall. Even the cameras captured the shadows they cast over Sheng Xingming—a massive chasm, as if saying explosive power and hang time were gaps Asian players could never cross.

But Sheng Xingming, relying on super strong core strength, pulled off a near-folded double-clutch in mid-air. When he extended his body, the two players blocking him were already descending, while the opponent’s small forward jumped just in time to help defend!

Just when the audience thought the shot was hopeless, Sheng Xingming double-clutched again. The ball was tossed out right in front of the small forward’s face, banking off the backboard and into the basket.

This move was impossible to replicate.

That year, Sheng Xingming was twenty-eight. His team lifted the NBA championship trophy, and he became the only Asian player to date to possess a championship ring—a true max-level boss.

Even ten years after his death, every young person who wanted to fight in that arena looked up not at the championship trophy, but at Sheng Xingming.

Xia Chiyi rested his chin on his hand and thought, If Zhou Zhexiao were really Sheng Xingming reborn, that would be a classic web novel trope. He’d have to lead the Chinese men’s basketball team out of Asia and into the world.

The ride-share car stopped in front of the terminal building. It was now approaching 2:00 AM.

Ningchang had very few night flights. Most shops in Terminal 1 were closed; the only places open 24 hours were a coffee chain and McDonald’s.

Xia Chiyi entered the terminal doors, locked onto the location of McDonald’s, and sprinted over. As soon as he entered, he smelled the lingering scent of burgers and fries. He scanned the room and finally saw a boy in a corner by the window.

The boy leaned back in his seat, hands stuffed in the pockets of his sports jacket, his face turned sideways looking at the McDonald’s sign outside the glass window. Although his legs were folded, they were so excessively long that they had to invade the space opposite him.

The bridge of his nose was high and straight, his jawline sharp, exuding a hardness that didn’t match his exquisite features.

But the expression he wore as he looked into the distance revealed a unique clarity and loneliness. If no one disturbed him, it seemed he could sit in this place until the end of time.