"Don't be stupid. I heard robots make every shot and react faster than humans. How could Wang Yi possibly win?"
"Doesn't matter who wins, I'm absolutely watching this game! It's going down in history!"
Far away in Japan, Wang Shiyu was sitting on the floor of the Training Hall, drinking water when he saw the news.
He gripped his phone, eyes shining, and turned to the coach beside him.
"Coach, I'm definitely going to win the game at Yoyogi Park, then go watch Dad play against the robot!"
The coach patted him on the head and nodded with a smile.
Over at Yoyogi Park, Japan's streetball stars were already raring to go, training day and night.
They watched the videos of Wang Shiyu taking on seven streetball courts and felt a fire building inside them.
"We absolutely can't let a ten-year-old kid from China ruin the reputation of Japanese streetball!"
"Yoyogi is our home court. It's where Wang Yi beat us back then. This time, we're going to beat that brat here!"
Talk of the showdown was everywhere, from the streets to the alleys.
The Japanese media even played it up as "a battle to defend the honor of the nation's streetball."
As the days passed, Wang Yi and Tamim finalized every detail of his new contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
An annual salary of 400 million dollars remained an astronomical figure beyond the reach of any other player.
Meanwhile, Yushu Technology finally settled on the time and location for the human-versus-machine showdown.
It would take place at China's Bird's Nest on August 8.
For days, the eyes of the world had been fixed on the event.
Tickets for the game had been resold at astronomical prices, yet they were still impossible to get.
The number of reservations for