Los Angeles, Staples Center Arena.
Wang Yi wore the Lakers' No. 1 jersey and sat at the very end of the bench—the spot jokingly reserved for the Water Boy.
He didn't even qualify as the Water Boy, since the team had only signed him to a ten-day contract.
After tonight's game, he'd have to pack his bags and leave.
But he wouldn't give up.
Even if there was only the slightest chance, he'd hold on to it for dear life.
He stared intently at the court, occasionally glancing at the head coach.
The Lakers' game against the Warriors had reached the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Lakers were down 80–110, trailing the Warriors by a full thirty points.
As in so many games before, the Lakers' offense was constipated.
Their three-point shooting was even worse: three makes on eighteen attempts.
By contrast, the Warriors' star, Curry, had once again entered Sky-Reaching Mode, making eleven of his fifteen three-point attempts.
He'd outshot the entire Lakers team from beyond the arc all by himself.
With no hope of catching up, the Lakers' head coach had already pulled James, Brow, and the other starters.
James was focused on chewing his fingernails, head bowed.
It was something he habitually did when he was in a bad mood.
Brow's eyes were on the court, but his gaze wasn't really focused on anything there. He'd clearly drifted off.
Against this backdrop, Wang Yi's nerves began to tighten.
For the past two years, he'd bounced from one team to another.
At last, he'd signed a ten-day contract with the Lakers.
Now it was the final day of that contract.
Players like him usually only got onto the court during garbage time.
He had to seize this rare opportunity and put on a strong enough performance to earn himself another ten-day contract.
Finally, with five minutes left, the Lakers fell behind by thirty-five points.
The head coach shook his head helplessly and swept his gaze across the bench.
In the end, it settled on Wang Yi.
Over the past ten days, this young man from the East hadn't gotten a chance to play for the Lakers, despite being only moderately talented.
But the coach had been impressed by his diligence in practice and his modest, unassuming nature.
Tonight was the last night of his ten-day contract. He deserved a chance to show what he could do.
The Lakers certainly wouldn't offer him another ten-day contract, but if he got a chance to prove himself and played well, perhaps another team might notice him and offer him a job.
Though the odds of that were almost negligible.
With that thought, the coach beckoned Wang Yi over.
"Wang, it's your time to show what you can do."
Half of Wang Yi's attention had been on the coach.
At the sound of the coach calling him, a rush of blood surged through his chest and straight to his head.
He sprang to his feet.
He hadn't played in three months.
At last, he was standing on the court again.
He was standing in the place where he'd chased his dream for more than twenty years.
Just then.
As his feet touched the court at Staples Center, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang out in his mind:
[Host has been given an opportunity to play for the Lakers. Sign-in system activated.] [Sign in now?]
Wang Yi froze for a moment.
But the game was underway, and there was no time to think.
He answered instinctively in his mind, "Sign in."
[Sign-in successful!] [Sign-in reward: One God-tier Three-Point Experience Card]
The cold, mechanical voice sounded in his mind again.
Wang Yi stopped in his tracks once more.
He was just about to look into it when the referee on the sideline beckoned him to hurry up.
He had no choice but to jog onto the court.
Meanwhile, across the Pacific, in the Tencent NBA Live Broadcast Room.
The two commentators saw Wang Yi on screen and only made a brief remark:
"Our player Wang Yi is checking in. Let's see how he does."
That was all they said.
After all, during his two years in the NBA, Wang Yi had bounced around no fewer than eight teams.
Because the coaches hadn't given him a chance, he'd failed to prove his worth on any of them.
So even the two commentators didn't expect much from him.
The live chat was full of insults.
"I just entered the stream and this guy's already on screen. What bad luck!"
"Remember when he got crossed up and fell over? What a damn embarrassment!"
"He's disgraced us overseas. He should just come home already."
Back when Wang Yi had first entered the NBA, people had pinned great hopes on him.
Fans back home had talked him up to the heavens.
But then a wrist injury in practice had hurt his performance on the court.
On top of that, many NBA coaches were biased against Eastern players and refused to give him a chance.
Little by little, he'd become a fringe player.
Many fans back home had started cursing him, as if they wanted to send him straight to the eighteenth level of hell.
Of course, some people understood his situation, but there were far fewer of them than his haters.
At that moment, the Lakers inbounded the ball at Staples Center.
As a shooting guard, Wang Yi headed to the Lakers' half-court after the inbound.
The Lakers players on the floor were all the sort who couldn't get playing time until garbage time.
Now that they'd finally gotten a chance, naturally they all wanted to show what they could do.
Not one of them wanted to work with the others.
Over the next two possessions, all four of them took a shot, one at a time, and none of them scored.
Instead, they let the lead stretch even further, to thirty-five points.
Finally, on the Lakers' third possession, the ball reached Wang Yi at the top of the three-point arc.
The moment he got the ball, Wang Yi felt his whole body come alive.
He felt as though he were filled with strength, all of it born from his love of basketball.
His defender stood in front of him, loose and slack.
Without a moment's hesitation, he jumped up.
His shooting form was textbook, with a slight lean-back that made it look almost picture-perfect.
The ball traced a beautiful arc through the air.
Swish—
Nothing but net!
A beautiful three.
But almost no one noticed the shot.
Against a deficit of more than thirty points, one three-pointer was a drop in the bucket.
A third of the crowd had already left.
Most of the rest were chatting or playing on their phones.
Across the Pacific, in the Tencent broadcast room.
The two commentators were chatting about the teams' standings.
They hadn't even noticed that Wang Yi, the player from China, had made a beautiful three.
The live chat, however, was full of snide remarks.
"Oh, he actually made a three. Must've gotten lucky."
"Forget getting lucky. If he makes two more threes, I'll eat my own shit."
The game continued.
After the Warriors missed a shot, the Lakers went on offense again.
Two Lakers players fumbled their coordination and nearly lost the ball to the Warriors.
Luckily, the ball took a lucky bounce and flew toward Wang Yi again.
Once more, he was at the top of the three-point arc. The moment he got the ball, he didn't hesitate.
He rose and shot.
Tonight was his last chance to show what he could do. If he didn't give it everything he had, his contract would expire at the end of the night, and he might never get another chance to play in the NBA.
Forget his dreams—he might have trouble making a living, though life was already difficult as it was.
Swish—
The ball sailed high through the air.
Once again, it went straight through the net.
Another beautiful three.
86–115. The Lakers had cut the deficit to twenty-nine.
Even so, the shot still failed to stir the crowd.
Only the Lakers' head coach clapped vigorously, encouraging Wang Yi.
James had stopped biting his nails, too.
He clapped for Wang Yi as well.
As the team's leader, when he saw a teammate play well, he naturally had to be the first to offer encouragement.
Next, the Warriors made a mistake on offense.
The Lakers broke out on a fast break.
Wang Yi lowered his head and sprinted as hard as he could upcourt, taking up a spot in the corner.
The Lakers' point guard tried to drive in for a layup, but the Warriors were quick to get back on defense.
The Warriors' center had already blocked his path to the basket.
The Lakers' point guard instinctively passed to Wang Yi.
Pass to whoever's hot—that was a point guard's basic rule.
Wang Yi didn't hesitate. He rose and shot.
Thud—
The three-pointer hit the rim with a dull bang.
Wang Yi's heart sank.
Luckily, after bouncing up, the ball hit the backboard.
It bounced off the rim four times before finally dropping through.
89–115. The Lakers had cut the deficit to twenty-six.
This time, a few people in the crowd gave him scattered applause.
Wang Yi had drilled three three-pointers in less than a minute, which was enough to surprise them a little.
But that was all.
In the Tencent NBA Live Broadcast Room, some fans started stirring things up in the chat.
"He's made two more threes."
"Where's that guy who said he'd eat shit? Come on out."
But the shit-eater had long since made a run for it.
The Warriors' head coach immediately called a timeout.
The Chinese player had scored nine straight points, which still seemed like a drop in the bucket.
But to be safe, he wanted to give his team a quick word about defending him.
He called the players over and pointed to an Afro among the substitutes, the one with the best man-to-man defense. "You take the lead defending that Lakers No. 1. Let him drive if you have to, but don't let him shoot threes. Understand?"
The Afro glanced sideways at the Eastern player in the distance, a trace of disdain at the corner of his mouth.
He nodded. "Don't worry, Coach. I'll make him cry for his mom, then crawl back to the East."
On the Lakers' side, the head coach gave the players a quick set of instructions. "Set screens for Wang. Wang, if you get a chance, take the three. Don't hesitate!"
He was encouraging Wang Yi.
Hearing that, Wang Yi couldn't help feeling a little warmth inside.
It was the first time since entering the NBA that a head coach had drawn up a play specifically for him.
It was only a simple screen play, but it still made him excited.
He nodded firmly, his eyes burning with passion.
"Yeah!"
But after agreeing, he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.
The injury to his right wrist hadn't fully healed.
On that last three-point attempt, he'd felt a sharp pain in his wrist.
That was why the shot had almost bounced off the rim.
If he attempted another three, his injury would only get worse.
And if he missed, it would seriously hurt his chances of finding another job.
More importantly, the Warriors would definitely tighten their defense against his three-point shots.
Under those circumstances, how could he make another three while injured?
Frowning slightly, he pondered how to get out of the predicament he was facing.
Then a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: the God-tier Three-Point Experience Card!
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