Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

Kai was walking sluggishly through the hallways when he bumped into a group of players from the Shizi Snakes.

"We're going to get that incentive again," one of them exclaimed.

They loitered around the hallways, feeling like they were on top of the pyramid since they were a part of the most famous sports team in school.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Justin's mom is going to be baking cookies," they excitedly said. "We're going to get that incentive from the principal and have a trip."

"That's right. The other teams don't even have a chance!"

Just then, one of them bumped into what seemed to be a post, causing the guy to curse loudly.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed, turning around to glare at the post.

However, he quickly realized that the post was a person—and it was none other than Kai Guo.

They felt pretty brave since they were a group of five, so they decided to taunt him for bumping into them.

However, just as one of the guys opened his mouth, he saw Kai's dark under eyes and bruised cheekbone, causing him to purse his lips and take a step back.

"I think our class is starting," one of them said before fleeing to their respective classrooms.

Meanwhile, Kai couldn't even fully comprehend what was happening because he felt very sleepy.

As he arrived at their classroom, he couldn't control his strength and slammed the door open, startling a lot of his classmates.

Then, he walked to his seat, with people whispering about his appearance.

"Oh man, he looks pissed." Discover stories with empire

"Did you see his eyes under his bangs? They're out to kill!"

"And did you see the bruise on his cheekbones? He must have gotten in a fight again."

"I sometimes forget that he's the Mad Dog."

Meanwhile, Kai plopped on the table as soon as he arrived at his seat. He closed his eyes and let his tiredness consume him.

He didn't realize how hard it was to play basketball with a literal ball of trash. The sharp aspect of the trashball also fell on his cheekbone when he was practicing his shooting, so he even incurred a bruise!

But even then, he couldn't help but smile.

He was able to upgrade his rank and finally move onto another level after three excruciating hours!

He was even scolded by his grandma, but he felt that it was all worth it.

[Current Rank: Intermediate (0)]

Indeed, he only had an increase of 6 XP for the duration of three hours, but he was now on the intermediate level!

Bao, who only saw the back of Kai's head, looked at his friend with concern before finally having the courage to pat his back.

"A—are you okay?" he stammered.

Kai raised his head and faced Bao, still with a smile on his face.

Bao froze as he was met with Kai's smiling face.

'Scary,' he thought.

'Does he like fighting that much?'

***

Friday arrived soon, and Kai was patiently waiting for his next mission.

Their training had just finished, and they were now creating their booth for the Cultural Festival.

Zeren sighed as he painted the makeshift ring with pink paint. He looked out of the window and saw the Shizi Snakes already going to their homes.

"The Shizi Snakes are already going home," he said, envy evident in his voice.

"Why don't you join them, then?" Yuze asked, joining him in painting their makeshift ring.

Zeren clicked his tongue. "Why aren't they making any preparations? And you guys said that they win every year."

"That's because they have people who do it for them—for free! Their fans help them with designing their booth while Justin Liang's mom bakes all of the cookies for the team. They own a huge bakeshop, so they don't even need to help," Jet sighed.

Shang nodded. He was with them once again, but he wasn't helping much because his knee was still recovering.

"I even heard that Justin does this all for free. Then, all the profit goes to the football team afterward," he said.

"Why don't you do that for us, Yuze?" Shang asked. "Ask your admirers to paint this stupid pole."

Yuze glared at him. "Shut up. You don't even go here."

Shang scratched the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Kai was tasked to paint a flower in front of their booth.

Lina, who had just returned from the convenience store after buying some ice cream for the boys, went to where they were to look at their progress.

She lingered where Kai was peacefully painting and stopped to stare at the image on the thin wood.

Lina's eyes widened when she saw how cute the flowers looked. They even had little smiles and blushing cheeks.

"That's so cute!" she exclaimed, catching everybody's attention.

The others started walking to where he was, and they were also amazed by the details of the painting.

"What the heck? You're good at painting such cute things?" Jet exclaimed.

"It seems like you're good at everything except basketball," Shang chuckled, making Kai glare at him.

Meanwhile, Zeren looked back and forth between Kai's cold look and the smiling, blushing sunflower, before shivering at their contrast.

"Gosh, that's creepy," he muttered.

"I like it so much," Lina exclaimed, bringing out her phone and giving it to Kai. "Take a picture of me."

Kai felt a bit bashful since Lina seemed to be very fond of his painting.

Lina knelt down to the level of the painting, but it seemed like she was having a difficult time doing so.

Kai quickly went to her aid. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Lina held out her hand and stood by herself. She quickly stepped back and shook her head.

"I'm fine," she muttered.

The players behind Kai looked at each other knowingly, appearing concerned about Lina.

"Just take a picture of me," Lina said.

Kai nodded, a small smile on his lips as he snapped a picture. He made sure to adjust the angle so Lina would appear even prettier in the photo.

"Here," he said.

Lina shyly took it from his hands before inspecting the photo.

Meanwhile, Kai was about to get back to painting when his weekly mission finally appeared before him.

"Finally," he muttered.

[Incoming Weekly Mission!]

[The Shizi Snakes always beats the Shizi Dogs!]

[Take this opportunity to finally beat those Snakes to the ground.]

[Overtake their income in the Cultural Festival and earn the incentive from the principal.]

[50 XP will be added following the host's success.]

[The same amount of XP will be deducted if the mission is failed.]

[Normal progression will continue for the rest of the week.]