Chicago, inside the trading floor of a securities firm.
During a lull in trading, several traders in crisp suits secretly opened the voting webpage.
"Hey, Mark, who'd you vote for?"
"Obviously Michael! He's Chicago's god! The Eastern Conference forwards have to be him and Li."
"Give me a break. I think Li belongs at center. He's unbeatable there. For forwards, I picked Michael and Grant Hill."
"You're all wrong!" The most senior man there, who looked like a supervisor, adjusted his glasses and said leisurely, "The real suspense is in the Eastern Conference guards. Did you watch the Knicks game last night? That kid Iverson... he reminded me of Michael when he was young, that utterly fearless spirit. I gave him my vote."
His words left the colleagues around him stunned. A diehard Jordan fan had actually voted for a second-year rookie?
That would have been unimaginable before. But now, it seemed that everything was quietly changing.
Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, at a fledgling internet startup, a Chinese American programmer wearing black-rimmed glasses watched lines of code rapidly scroll across his screen, a faint smile appearing on his lips. He had written a simple script that could simulate IP addresses and automatically cast a vote for Li Fei every five seconds.
"Boss, you'll always be our god," he murmured.
This voting frenzy was not limited to the USA alone.
In faraway China, countless fans learned through various channels that voting had opened. They did everything they could to overcome internet and language barriers, all to offer their support to that yellow-skinned God of Basketball.
On all the major sports forums, the pinned posts were "All-Star Voting Tutorials," and countless enthusiastic users taught everyone step by step how to vote.
"Brothers! Charge! Let those Americans see the strength of Chinese fans!