Peak Strength Among Mortals

There was no way Luo Qing would keep something this glory-bringing to himself.

His people immediately went nearby to call over others who wanted to watch the show.

Though he made it known to everyone, Luo Qing's explanation was perfectly reasonable.

It was merely a friendly match between the Basketball Club and the Football Club to build camaraderie. The subsequent transfer of two hundred thousand yuan was a private matter and had nothing to do with the match.

But in reality, everyone knew it was a disguised bet—except that it was practically free money. The Football Club only needed to field five players and score four goals.

It was blatant humiliation: Surely you can manage four goals, right? Here, I'm giving you two hundred thousand.

Gradually, Wang Xiong understood. The point wasn't whether he could lead his team to score four baskets. It was how badly Luo Qing would crush them...

They would definitely get the money, but earning it was going to hurt.

"Damn, what a sinister bastard!" Wang Xiong was furious.

But there was nothing he could do. He had already agreed, and Luo Qing's argument was so reasonable that somehow, Wang Xiong ended up looking like the unreasonable one while Luo Qing looked as though he was helping him.

Mo Qiong sighed helplessly. Who could blame Wang Xiong for showing off everywhere?

They only wanted the money, but Wang Xiong refused to split it and only wanted to humiliate Luo Qing. Instead, he had brought the humiliation upon himself.

There was no helping it. They had to go.

Just as everyone stood and headed toward the basketball court, Luo Qing suddenly spotted Mo Qiong at the back of the crowd.

"Hey, aren't you a student from earlier? Perfect timing—come along. Want to play? It doesn't matter if you can't. We're only playing the Football Club... Oh, right, my earlier invitation still stands. Seriously, why don't you join my Basketball Club?" Luo Qing walked over to Mo Qiong, clapped him on the shoulder, and laughed.

On the surface, he was continuing to humiliate Wang Xiong.

For one thing, he was showing that he didn't need the Basketball Club's elite players. Even some random passerby would be enough.

For another, Luo Qing had always trusted his own judgment. He felt that Mo Qiong had to be good at basketball and wanted to recruit him into the club.

But this was a case of being too clever for his own good. Clearly, he had not asked which club Mo Qiong belonged to. Since many other clubs were present, seeing Mo Qiong standing around the edge of the crowd, he assumed Mo Qiong was merely a passerby watching the excitement.

The result was that Wang Xiong and the others from the Football Club felt no humiliation at all. Instead, they stared at Luo Qing in astonishment.

"What are you doing?" Wang Xiong roared. "He's on our team! He's playing later! What do you mean by trying to pull him over to your side? Who's going to play for us, then?"

"What?" Luo Qing froze.

Mo Qiong was caught between laughter and tears. Han Dang knew what had happened and immediately explained that Luo Qing had invited Mo Qiong to join the Basketball Club when they arrived.

Wang Xiong burst out laughing. "Hahaha, Luo Qing, you really are something! Magic Ball is a pillar of our school team, our starting goalkeeper. This afternoon, he single-handedly shut out the sports school, and even scored one goal and made three assists to secure a 4–0 victory. The money you're paying for those four goals was all earned by him."

Clearly, despite all his earlier boasting, Wang Xiong knew that Mo Qiong had been the one to turn the tide. Now he no longer tried to take credit and honestly revealed the true culprit behind Luo Qing's lost bet.

Luo Qing's face turned green. "You... you're from the Football Club?"

Mo Qiong nodded. "I always have been."

"Damn..." Luo Qing was speechless.

What was he doing? In front of Wang Xiong, he had tried to recruit one of Wang Xiong's players. Wasn't that just humiliating himself?

How was he supposed to know that Mo Qiong, a soccer player, had such incredible hand skills?

His throws were so accurate, and he was tall and powerfully built. Why had he gone to play soccer? It was simply heartbreaking.

"Why did you join the football team?" Luo Qing knew there was no hope of recruiting Mo Qiong now.

Losing face once doesn't matter. I can win it back on the court.

After Luo Qing's stunt, Wang Xiong immediately decided to have Mo Qiong play center.

After all, even Luo Qing thought Mo Qiong was suited to the Basketball Club. Surely that wasn't baseless.

"Um, I don't know how to play basketball," Mo Qiong said.

"Magic Ball, I know you can't play basketball, but this concerns our team's dignity. You're so tall, and you can guard a goal that big. A hoop this small should be no problem either," Wang Xiong said.

Mo Qiong was speechless. What kind of logic was that? Was Wang Xiong expecting him to shut out the opposing team on a basketball court?

In fact, Wang Xiong had simply been led by the nose. Once he agreed to play basketball, there was no longer any room for debate.

Everyone knew that Mo Qiong had never played basketball. He had only learned soccer on the spot back then, and even then, he had played goalkeeper.

Normally, when the Football Club gathered five people for a basketball game, there was no way it would be his turn.

But now, he had no choice but to play.

"Fine. I'll help if I can."

They were playing forty-eight minutes without overtime.

If they were truly giving away money, there was no need to play the full time. One twelve-minute quarter would have been enough.

But Luo Qing had chosen to play the entire game. Clearly, he had made up his mind to ride over them while piling on the points.

However, now that Mo Qiong was on the court, he would not let that happen.

On the soccer field, he could shoot wherever he wanted. The same applied on a basketball court.

As long as he wanted to, he should be the one capable of scoring a hundred points.

But that wasn't necessary. If they were only talking about getting the money, scoring four baskets was enough.

If he wanted to help Wang Xiong, what he truly needed to do was... shut out the opponents.

"Watch the tall guy, the one called Magic Ball. Don't let the fact that he can't play fool you. His shots must be very accurate... Xiao Liu, guard him. Don't let him shoot comfortably." Luo Qing took Mo Qiong seriously. He needed to crush Wang Xiong completely and did not want Mo Qiong to become an unexpected variable.

But his wish was doomed to fail.

"Swish!"

A perfect three-pointer flew straight from his own half into the opposing basket.

"Nice!"

"That's one basket!"

"I knew that with your throwing ability, this would be a piece of cake!" Han Dang was not playing—he couldn't play basketball either—and was cheering from the sidelines.

Everyone in the Football Club knew that Mo Qiong's throws were incredibly accurate, and his archery was even better. Whenever they played dartboard games at gatherings, he had always crushed them with perfect scores.

A target five meters away had never been a challenge to Mo Qiong. Now, it was even less so.

That long-distance shot immediately invigorated his teammates.

"Xiao Liu, what are you doing?" Luo Qing asked in shock.

Xiao Liu, who had been guarding Mo Qiong, hurriedly said, "I didn't expect it... Who knew he'd shoot from that far?"

"Don't let him shoot comfortably!" Luo Qing said, immediately sending another player over to help defend.

Against Wang Xiong and the others, they had an overwhelming advantage. Wang Xiong's team could not even touch the ball. One of Luo Qing's teammates darted toward the basket, hoping to make a layup.

But Mo Qiong was standing beneath the basket. With one stretch of his hand, he poked the ball out of the player's grasp.

"Clang!" In a dazzling sweep, Mo Qiong stole the ball cleanly.

"Holy crap, he's strong!" the player exclaimed.

Mo Qiong quickly passed to Wang Xiong, but unfortunately, Wang Xiong's dribbling was not much better than his own. The ball was stolen in an instant.

Luo Qing did the same thing. With a powerful motion in front of Wang Xiong, he snatched the ball away.

The ease of it was comparable to Mo Qiong's, as though he were plucking something from a pocket.

However, Mo Qiong could do it because he was too strong, while Luo Qing could do it because Wang Xiong was too weak.

"Get out of my way!" Luo Qing charged forward with full confidence. His physical abilities were no worse than Mo Qiong's, and he pushed against Mo Qiong as he tried to dunk.

Unfortunately, he had no idea what Mo Qiong's "strength" truly meant.

"Bang!" With a powerful block, Mo Qiong knocked Luo Qing and the ball down with one hand.

Luo Qing crashed to the floor, completely dazed.

He could feel that he had been utterly overpowered in the physical clash. The moment Mo Qiong pushed against him, his body involuntarily flew backward and he fell to the ground.

In front of Mo Qiong, he was like a little chick getting swatted down.

"You..." Luo Qing stared at Mo Qiong in horror.

Mo Qiong pulled him up. "Sorry. Was that a foul?"

"No..." Luo Qing answered grimly.

"Good." Mo Qiong smiled at him.

When someone was in the air, it was easy to lose balance. Although Luo Qing had leaped to dunk, Mo Qiong's strength was not inferior. A shove and a press of his hand were enough.

The moment Luo Qing left contact with Mo Qiong's body, he was deemed to have been thrown. Even if his position had changed by only a tiny amount in midair, the force would remain and continue pushing him away until he hit the floor.

It was practically Eighteen Falls Upon Touching Clothes.

Fortunately, Mo Qiong had always remembered to control his ability and kept his attention focused.

Otherwise, if he had been thinking of the moon instead of the floor, the previous move would have ended badly.

Luo Qing would already be on his way to the moon...

It was like being able to punch someone all the way to Java or kick them out of the Earth.

Of course, this only applied to things he could affect. His strength still limited what he could do.

For example, if a hundred-ton boulder fell from the sky, no matter how Mo Qiong pushed it, he could not move it.

His strength could not possibly spread through the entire rock. Faced with such a huge, heavy boulder falling down, even if he poured in all his strength, he could only transmit it a dozen or so centimeters. Sending a few dozen kilograms flying would already be his limit.

Electromagnetic force might spread only one-millionth of the way before dissipating completely, while Mo Qiong would already have been crushed into minced meat.

However, against someone with physical abilities comparable to his own, Mo Qiong's ability allowed him to display overwhelming strength.

In Luo Qing's eyes, Mo Qiong was like an impregnable Great Wall standing beneath the basket.

"Bang!"

"Smack!"

Again and again, Luo Qing exhausted every technique, yet Mo Qiong casually blocked him with one hand. Sometimes, Luo Qing lost his balance before he could even jump, and at times he was shoved more than two meters across the floor.

Luo Qing charged repeatedly, but he simply could not break through Mo Qiong's terrifying defense.

Even his shots could be intercepted by Mo Qiong.

Luo Qing's three-pointer had just flown into the air when Mo Qiong dove and intercepted it.

"Boom!" Mo Qiong slapped the basketball down with force, and it struck the floor with a deafening crash.

"Holy crap..." The Basketball Club members stared at him in a daze. That block was completely impossible to counter.

Mo Qiong bent down, scooped up the ball, and launched it one-handed.

The ball flew across the entire court once again and dropped into the opposing basket.

"Whoa!" Another unstoppable three-pointer.

"Is this guy really from the Football Club?"

"His physical abilities are practically monstrous!"

"They're in the lead... No, we have to score!"

Luo Qing began to panic. He wiped away his sweat and stared fixedly at Mo Qiong.

He had to break through Mo Qiong's defense. He absolutely refused to believe that Mo Qiong had no weaknesses.

A shutout? Impossible. There was no such thing as a shutout on a basketball court, unless a professional player was bullying children.

"He can't dribble. Pass the ball around more, and don't attack him head-on." Luo Qing quickly identified Mo Qiong's weakness.

Without a doubt, Mo Qiong should have carried the ball and attacked several times, but he had never moved.

Because Mo Qiong could not dribble.

He could use his ability to assist him. For example, he could set the ball's landing point inside his palm. Then every time he slapped it down, it would definitely return to his palm, allowing him to repeat the motion.

But Mo Qiong did not do that. It would be too easy to expose himself.

If he failed to control it properly, the ball might... dribble without touching the ground!

What would it look like if the ball fell halfway, then rose back into his palm on its own? Was he playing with a yo-yo?

He could not guarantee that this would never happen. If he really performed the ridiculous trick of dribbling without the ball touching the floor, everyone would realize that something was wrong.

His shooting could be explained because he was famous in his department as God of Archery. His strength was also acceptable because, at one meter eighty-nine, he already towered over most people, and he was much stronger than average.

At that moment, every time he leaped high on the court, he could swat down a shot. Every time he reached out, he could steal the ball.

Even when someone passed, the moment the ball passed near him, he would suddenly intercept it midair.

His movements looked... exactly like those of a goalkeeper.

That was right. He deliberately performed diving motions, knocking the ball to the floor or batting it away.

He made himself look like a goalkeeper, relying on terrifying physical abilities and goalkeeping techniques to overpower every member of the Basketball Club.

That was what everyone else saw.

"We were crushed by a goalkeeper..."

P.S.: All right, the basic details of his ability have been explained, and the school arc is more or less over.