Shouldering the Burden Alone

Chapter 39: Shouldering the Burden Alone

That dream he had in the bar that day—after so long, Sun Hao had almost forgotten it.

But Lartigue's words suddenly brought the dream rushing back.

The name he had been calling out all along—it was Jocelyn.

Even with a fully mature Angela sitting right beside him, in his dream he was still calling out Jocelyn's name.

In an instant, all the past came flooding back into his mind.

"I was born in New York, but my father is Danish and my mother is American. They met in Denmark."

"This is my email. Make sure you write to me."

"Sun."

Lartigue pulled Sun Hao's thoughts back.

"No, she must have misheard."

Sun Hao shook his head directly. He wasn't going to admit it.

Lartigue froze for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.

In that instant, there was something on his face that looked like he had found his youth again.

He left everything behind and then walked away.

After seeing Lartigue off, Sun Hao stared out the window for a long while, finally slapping his own head with his hand.

Damn it, was first love really that unforgettable?

Returning from Italy to Spain, the first thing Sun Hao did was open the email account he hadn't touched in two years.

Before opening it, his heart was full of anticipation. But after opening it, looking at an inbox filled with system emails, he was disappointed again.

He finally shut down the computer and swore he would never look at it again.

Whoever looks is a dog!

After their first Champions League defeat, Real Madrid returned to Spain. Laso summarized the team's performance and conducted targeted training.

You could clearly feel that the team's overall spirit had changed from before.

It was like someone walking along, suddenly encountering a mountain in front of them, taking a fall, and then climbing to the top to see a broader view than before.

After two days of rest, Real Madrid continued their La Liga schedule.

This time, their opponent was the Alcant team, the same one that had eliminated them last season.

After winning the championship last season, Alcant had undergone a magnificent transformation in the new season, leaping into the same top-tier league status as Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Their record so far was 7 Wins 1 Loss, second only to Real Madrid and ahead of Barcelona, placing them second in the league.

Calderon in particular was averaging 12.6 points and 3.6 assists per game, making him one of the best point guards in La Liga.

This match looked like it would be a fierce battle.

But once the game actually started, the process left fans utterly shocked.

Real Madrid suppressed the Alcant team from the very beginning and ultimately crushed them 70 to 50.

The biggest contributor to the team's victory was not Sun Hao, but Prigioni.

This point guard, who had been completely suppressed by Calderon in last season's playoffs, chased and hounded Calderon all game long, falling down, getting up, falling again, and rising once more.

Fans could see his determination to avenge last season's humiliation, and they could also see the effort he had put in over the past summer to achieve that goal.

Alcant's weakness was also exposed in this game.

They had Calderon on the perimeter, but no stable offensive threat in the paint.

Once Calderon was contained, their offense ran into serious trouble.

Moreover, Real Madrid, fresh off their Champions League defeat, showed the best detail and intensity of the season.

With both factors at play, Alcant's loss was hardly undeserved.

Carrying this momentum, Real Madrid continued their winning streak.

By the time the league reached the 12th Round, they had achieved an incredible 12 Consecutive Wins!

This also broke the record for the best start in La Liga history!

Fans went from the cold winter of last season's semifinal exit straight into the scorching summer of an unbroken winning streak, experiencing a true rollercoaster of ice and fire.

But the season is long. For teams that achieve historic winning streaks, besides strength, luck also plays a crucial role.

Real Madrid's opponent in the 13th Round was their archrival, Barcelona.

Barcelona's strength had improved significantly this season.

This improvement came from two young players on the team: Navarro and Gasol.

Both had become starters for Barcelona in the second half of last season, and this season their performance had risen to another level.

Navarro, in particular, was averaging 11.8 points and 2.6 assists per game, already showing the caliber of a top European guard.

Playing on the road, Real Madrid fell into a passive deficit right from the opening tip.

They spent the entire night chasing points, with fierce physicality on the court and players hitting the floor constantly.

It wasn't until the final quarter, when Sun Hao found his outside touch and hit two consecutive three-pointers, that Real Madrid finally tied the game.

In the decisive closing stretch, the intensity on the court grew even fiercer.

Just then, an accident occurred: Prigioni twisted his ankle on a defensive landing and had to be helped off the court by the team doctor.

With Prigioni gone, the guard line's strength plummeted, and Real Madrid unfortunately lost the game.

Worse than the loss, Prigioni's post-game MRI came back positive—a sprained ankle expected to sideline him for 2 to 3 months.

This was an absolute nightmare for Real Madrid.

But recalling that Prigioni had also missed a month last season due to injury, he had a glass-like fragility. This season he played even harder, so the injury wasn't entirely unexpected.

The problem was the length of this absence.

And last time Prigioni got hurt, the team discovered Sun Hao, but it's hard to find a second one this year.

Laso's coaching would also face a challenge—how to arrange his lineup was the key focus going forward.

Laso's initial strategy was to stick with the Dual Point Guard Tactic, starting Lopez and Sun Hao together in the backcourt.

But the results weren't good.

In the game against Bilbao Team, though they won, the opposing guards combined for a whopping 30 points.

The duo had no issues offensively; the problem was defense.

Both were undersized, getting targeted repeatedly and offering limited vision interference on the perimeter.

Laso stuck with it for another game, but against the stronger Manresa team, their perimeter defense got shredded, and they lost.

Fortunately, Laso adapted quickly. After two trial games, he abandoned the idea and reinstated the original Shooting Guard, Trinidad, into the starting lineup.

Trinidad had solid defensive skills but almost no outside shooting ability.

This pairing meant the team's perimeter offense relied entirely on Sun Hao.

Sun Hao didn't let Laso down.

Though his passing wasn't as good as Prigioni's, with a Silver Grade Basketball IQ Badge, his playmaking was still impressive.

Most importantly, he could score!

He dropped 19 points against Murcia Team to lead the win, exploded for 22 points against Burgos Team to tie his single-game scoring record and secure consecutive victories, and though they lost to Tesla Mi Team, he shattered his own single-game record with a blazing 25 points!

With his relentless scoring, he kept breaking La Liga's scoring records for players under 18.

After a week of games, he averaged 22 points per game!

Such performance was insane even in La Liga, let alone the entire European League!

The nickname "Napoleon of China" was no longer confined to Spain; it was sweeping across Europe.

Remember, Sun Hao wasn't even 18 yet!

And his unprecedented scoring style sparked a whirlwind across Europe.

Fans flooded into the arena just to watch his scoring show!

Some even mimicked his play on outdoor courts, firing away from deep!

What's more, in the next game against Obaduru Team, scouts from NCAA's University of Connecticut and the NBA's Spurs appeared courtside!

UConn was famous for producing elite perimeter shooters, making Sun Hao, a young player with such sharp shooting, a prime recruitment target.

As for the Spurs, international players were their specialty!

Sun Hao would turn 18 after this season, and his crazy performance was worth their attention.

In this game, Sun Hao stayed hot, hitting six three-pointers for 26 points, once again breaking his personal La Liga single-game scoring record!

Three games in a row, Sun Hao proved one thing to the fans: records are meant to be broken!

After the game, scouts from UConn and the Spurs both came to the locker room.

They had clearly talked beforehand and, one after the other, extended invitations to Sun Hao.

"We want you to play basketball at the University of Connecticut. We'll offer you a full scholarship."

"We want you to work out for the Spurs before this year's Draft. I understand you'll turn 18 before the Draft."

Two invitations, just like back when he finished the domestic high school finals.

The difference was, one was a full scholarship, and the other was a tryout with an NBA team!

Compared to before, these two offers were far, far richer.