"Long-Range Sharpshooter"

After finishing his final training session with the Youth Team, Sun Hao went into the city to look for a new place to live.

Although both were in Madrid, there was still some distance between the Plata Real Madrid team and where Sun Hao currently lived.

Spain's population density was much lower than back home, and there were far more houses as well.

Sun Hao did not have to spend much effort before finding a suitable place, and it was not too far from the new arena.

The next day, he called Fernandez over to help and started moving.

He did not have many belongings. The biggest item was probably the bulky computer he had just bought.

He saved the computer for last while packing. Before moving it, he happily turned it on.

Judging by the time, Jocelyn should have gotten home by now and seen the email full of sweet words he had sent her.

He could imagine Jocelyn's excited yet bashful expression, then her replying with an equally affectionate email as they poured out how much they missed each other.

However, when he opened his inbox, he found nothing but a few automated emails. There was no reply from her as he had imagined.

He checked it several times, then took out the sticky note to compare the email address. There was no mistake.

Jocelyn had not replied to him.

His joy had turned into empty joy.

Sun Hao's mood immediately sank to rock bottom.

Had Jocelyn not arrived home yet? Or had something delayed her?

Since email was their only way of contacting each other after they separated, there was nothing Sun Hao could do but wait.

Though he was somewhat disappointed, he did not dwell on it too much.

After all, Jocelyn had run away from home before. Returning home and working out her relationship with her parents would probably take some time.

Thinking that way comforted him quite a bit.

After moving everything into his new place and parting ways with Fernandez, he went to report to the Plata Real Madrid team.

Compared with the Youth Team, the Plata Real Madrid team was far more professional in everything from basic training facilities and personnel arrangements to training methods.

That was the pyramid effect. The higher the league, the more resources it could obtain.

However, after reaching the Plata League, Sun Hao found that his situation might have been even worse than when he had first arrived in Spain.

In his first game with the team, he did not even get a chance to play.

This was the problem he had worried about before, an unavoidable drawback of the league promotion system: seniority.

Young players, even Pau Gasol, did not get many opportunities to play for Barcelona this season.

Unless some unexpected situation arose, most young players had to start on the bench when moving from lower-level leagues to higher-level leagues.

This was also one of the major reasons why most European players bloomed late.

But Sun Hao had already prepared himself mentally.

As long as he had ability, this drawback could be overcome.

Rubio and Doncic were classic examples of this in history.

So after receiving a DNP, he was not discouraged. Instead, he became even more motivated.

Since he had no opportunity to play, he seized every chance during team practices to demonstrate his abilities while once again increasing the intensity of his training in the system.

He still remembered Li Yuanwei and Yang Wei's smiling faces.

And increasing the training intensity exhausted his body, helping him forget about Jocelyn not replying to his email.

On top of that, he had the Shooting Training Machine that the system had rewarded him with earlier.

After some time, he could feel his outside shooting improving day by day.

And after putting in enough effort, he finally reaped his reward.

In his third game after joining the Plata Real Madrid team, Sun Hao finally got a chance to play, coming off the bench for fifteen minutes.

He went 3-for-5, all three makes being Three-pointers, plus two free throws, giving him his first double-digit scoring performance in the Plata League.

But more than the points he scored, what truly delighted Sun Hao was that after the game, he unlocked an outside scoring Badge!

His previous training had already brought him to a bottleneck. His performance in this game was the final kick, a hole-in-one!

Long-Range Sharpshooter (Bronze): Slightly improves the consistency of long-range shooting.

This was the third Badge Sun Hao had unlocked since obtaining the system.

Like the first two Badges, unlocking Long-Range Sharpshooter would significantly boost his strength once again.

His current style relied mainly on Three-pointers and fast breaks. He already had Fast Break Finisher for fast breaks, and now he had a Badge for Three-pointers as well.

That meant his scoring had suddenly become much more consistent.

After the game, Sun Hao saw Fernandez at the entrance to the arena.

At some point, this guy had secretly come to watch his game.

"Sun, I knew you could do it."

Fernandez was still as much of a fanboy as ever. He looked even more excited than Sun Hao.

"Why didn't you tell me before coming?"

Sun Hao smiled and walked over to hug Fernandez, then casually rubbed his head.

At some point, he had discovered that rubbing Fernandez's head was quite fun.

"I got here a little late."

"Come on, I'll treat you to something."

As Sun Hao spoke, he pulled Fernandez outside.

They had not seen each other for a while, so this was a good chance to catch up.

They went to a nearby Western restaurant and began talking about their recent lives after sitting down.

Sun Hao was unusually happy lately. The email situation had nearly driven him mad from bottling everything up.

To be honest, after being in Spain for so long, Fernandez was the only person he could really call a friend.

"Sun, how are things between you and Jocelyn? Do you exchange at least ten emails every day?"

As they chatted, Fernandez naturally brought up Jocelyn.

At that, the smile on Sun Hao's face gradually disappeared.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Fernandez was surprised by Sun Hao's reaction. He did not know what had happened afterward.

After Fernandez pressed him, Sun Hao roughly explained the situation.

"Maybe she just ran into some trouble. Like, maybe her mother won't let her use social media so she won't run away from home again?"

Fernandez said tentatively.

When he was in elementary school, he had pursued a girl, but his mother had disapproved and would not even let him touch the phone. That had left a deep impression on him.

Sun Hao gave a bitter smile and nodded.

That was more or less the same excuse he had used to comfort himself before.

But so many days had passed. Since Jocelyn had left him her email address, she definitely knew he would write to her and would surely find a chance to log in.

After all, her parents' restrictions on her freedom were relative. It was not as if she were really in prison, watched every second of every day.

"Don't think about it. If she likes you, she'll contact you sooner or later, or come find you."

Fernandez continued.

Hearing that, Sun Hao looked up at Fernandez for quite a while before finally smiling.

This twelve-year-old was still a child in most ways, but his experience with relationships was truly richer than Sun Hao's.

Sure enough, a country's culture influenced its people from childhood onward.

But after laughing, he nodded seriously again.

Fernandez was right. If Jocelyn truly cared about their relationship, even if she had no chance to reply for now, she would come find him later.

Looking on the bright side, perhaps Jocelyn was already on her way back to Spain.

After all, that might explain why she had not replied to his email.

Thinking of that, Sun Hao's mood improved considerably.

After dinner, Sun Hao returned to his rented apartment. For the first time in several days, instead of checking whether there was a reply in his inbox, he lay down and went straight into system training.

Not long after he came out exhausted from training, he fell asleep.

He had another beautiful dream. Jocelyn came back to find him, and because of her persistence, her parents no longer tried to stop them.

Jocelyn also brought good news: her new movie would be filmed in Spain, giving them a long honeymoon period together.

Sun Hao's Spanish improved rapidly, and he took Jocelyn around Madrid's major attractions, having a wonderful time.

Just as they were about to enter the Royal Palace of Madrid together, he woke up.

Time always passed slowly in dreams. Although not much had happened, beautiful dreams always lifted one's spirits.

When Sun Hao got up, his mood was as radiant as a fiery red Sauron.

Please keep voting for me~ I'm still being pinned down by Shui Duanqiao, and it feels awful!

Thanks to Playful Confused Egg, Awesome Little Brother Yang, Qingyu Feiyan, Autumn's Big Bear, and Eternal Romance for the tips! Thank you, bosses, for your support. Hearts and kisses~