The time quickly reached seven o'clock that evening.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the two star-studded teams gathered at Madison Square Garden, making their final preparations before the game.
Chen Xi wore a simple set of sportswear and warmed up by shooting on his half of the court.
As always, his shooting accuracy was absurdly consistent. It easily drew the attention of the many fans who had arrived early and were watching from the sidelines.
His mid- and long-range shots were like precision-guided missiles, their trajectories almost identical. Quite a few fans couldn't help exclaiming, "He's practically a robot!"
After Chen Xi finished his brief pregame warm-up, he turned to head down the players' tunnel and change. But when a face suddenly entered his field of view, he couldn't help stopping in his tracks.
There was no way around it. She was simply too beautiful.
Especially by his distinctly Eastern standards of beauty, her face was impossible to ignore.
So Chen immediately strode over and struck up a conversation.
"Miss Liu, I didn't expect to see you here."
"You know me?"
"Hahahaha. As people online would say, there's no way I wouldn't recognize you! When I was a kid, I was one of those people kneeling in front of the screen, begging Yin Zhiping to stop."
"Hahahaha, you're hilarious. Looks like you keep up with the memes from over there too. You've got a really fast internet connection."
At that, Liu Yifei couldn't help covering her mouth as she laughed.
"The rise of short videos has had a huge impact... Just kidding. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Chen held out his hand, then very gentlemanly gave her delicate hand a light shake before quickly letting go.
"The pleasure's mine. I'm glad to meet you too. I