My butt is dirty!

Facing Chris Paul, who had gotten into position to draw a charge.

With his speed already built up, Zhou Ze had only one choice: "fly" over him.

With the [Aerial Operations (Silver)] buff, Zhou Ze's [Vertical Leap] attribute gained +5, reaching an astonishing 120.

Converted into vertical leap height, that meant over 100 cm. Combined with Zhou Ze's powerful legs, clearing the 178 cm Chris Paul was theoretically more than enough.

"Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!"

Chris Paul saw a huge figure flash past before his eyes, while the roar of airplane engines seemed to ring in his ears.

The next instant, with a BOOM, the rim let out a thunderous crash.

The Charlotte Hornets' home crowd couldn't help gasping in surprise. They stared in disbelief at Zhou Ze hanging from the rim. That guy from China seemed to have just flown right over Paul's head.

After all, the label the media had given him was "soft."

At the same time, the curious and astonished Paul instinctively turned back toward the basket, only to see a raised backside swinging like a pendulum toward his face.

To protect his knees, Zhou Ze had a habit of grabbing the rim to reduce the impact. Zhou Ze swore to the heavens that he hadn't deliberately tried to smack Paul in the head with his butt.

Now weighing 115 kg, Zhou Ze generated no small amount of force from that swing, knocking the still-shaken Paul straight to the floor.

"Haha. Is rookie Chris paying tribute to you?" Kenny Smith burst out laughing in the TNT broadcast booth.

"Man, where are your manners? Still, I'd bet Zhou's ass smells a lot better than a donkey's..." Charles Barkley was more than happy to joke along.

Meanwhile, after getting knocked down on the court, Paul rose to his feet and clenched his cannon fist, ready to give Zhou Ze's butt a couple of shots. But Zhou Ze had already landed by then.

Paul's clenched fist slowly loosened again.

He remembered that NCAA game. That bastard had deliberately provoked him first, making him lose his head, then hit him with a vicious elbow after he threw a punch.

"You son of a bitch, you did that on purpose, didn't you?" Paul felt humiliated. Though he had loosened his fists, his anger had not diminished in the slightest.

"Dear Chris, I think my butt got dirty too." Zhou Ze spoke as he patted his own backside.

Paul gritted his teeth. The fury in his eyes was like an active volcano, ready to erupt at any moment.

But as the point guard and floor general, he barely suppressed the anger in his heart after head coach Byron Scott reminded him.

Still, Paul was only a rookie. His emotional control was far from stable.

Over the next few possessions, he committed a passing turnover. The Black Mamba came charging in, completing a coast-to-coast slam after the steal.

"Chris, what a pass!" Zhou Ze shouted at Paul.

"Shut up, second-round pick!" Paul snapped furiously.

"Chris, great pass!" Zhou Ze still wore a broad grin.

Seeing Paul gradually lose his cool, Hornets head coach Scott immediately called a timeout and subbed him out.

Back at the bench, Paul was simmering with rage. BOOM! His cannon fist hammered the bench, startling the Hornets players beside him.

"Chris, calm down. Don't let that guy provoke you. You're our floor general." Seeing his prized pupil nearly broken by Zhou Ze, Scott hurriedly tried to talk him down.

Paul nodded with difficulty.

After the timeout, Paul did not return to the court. Sitting on the bench, he took deep breaths, trying to calm his agitated, furious emotions.

But Zhou Ze, who remained on the court, hit a catch-and-shoot Corner Three over the defense of Hornets reserve forward Rasual Butler during a semi-transition possession.

After scoring, Zhou Ze passed by the Hornets bench and shouted at Paul, "First-round pick, why are you warming the bench?"

In an instant, Chris Paul's chest began heaving violently again.

Considering Zhou Ze's stamina, Zen Master Phil Jackson had also arranged his minutes reasonably. With Zhou Ze in high spirits tonight, Phil only sent him back in during the latter half of the second quarter after he had played ten minutes in the first.

Sasha Vujacic checked in alongside him.

But Sasha Vujacic was truly awful tonight. On one drive, Paul stole the ball while helping on defense.

Then he made two consecutive terrible three-point attempts, both clanging off the rim.

After playing only three minutes, the Zen Master subbed him out.

"Sasha, what are you doing? Pulling up for threes with a defender in your face—do you think you're Zhou Ze? Or is your brain really on an elementary schooler's level?" The Zen Master was furious and tore into Vujacic.

After all, in those mere three minutes, Vujacic's bizarre plays had allowed the Hornets to cut the deficit to single digits.

47 to 38. The Hornets trailed by 9.

As for Vujacic, who had been compared to Zhou Ze by his coach, he felt utterly stifled inside, but all he could do was endure it. Endure.

"Forget it!"

"It's not like I got nothing out of this. I may be struggling on the court, but I'm winning in love. Sharapova has already agreed to come watch my game in a few days."

Vujacic consoled himself.

Chris Paul, who had been broken by Zhou Ze in the first quarter and subbed out early, finally regained his "usual composure" in the second quarter.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, most of the Lakers players were physically and mentally exhausted. Their intensity and form were both below normal. Even though Kobe had his matchup completely locked down, the defensive holes were not something perimeter players could make up for.

No matter how strong a perimeter defender was, at most he could only "lock down his man."

Chris Paul connected with David West on the roll. Zhou Ze quickly closed in, but West used his shoulders and body as a shield, stretched out his long arms, and finished a floater through Zhou Ze's contest.

"Second-round pick, your arms are really long." After high-fiving West in celebration, Chris Paul couldn't help mocking Zhou Ze's wingspan.

This kind of offense really was difficult for Zhou Ze to defend. First, his wingspan was short and his standing reach was lacking. Second, his jump was not especially quick, so he was always just a step late. Third, his timing on block attempts was inaccurate.

"Chris, did the smell of my ass fry your brain?" Zhou Ze's trash talk immediately came back, shutting Chris Paul up.

The veteran players on both sides of the court—

P.J. Brown, who had entered the NBA in 1993!

Kobe, who had entered the NBA in 1996!

Watching Chris Paul and Zhou Ze trade insults, they couldn't help wondering if they had gone back to the '90s.

Soon, on a fast break, Chris Paul found himself matched up against Zhou Ze. With a double crossover in front of his body, he suddenly stepped forward and blew right past Zhou Ze.

A healthy Chris Paul possessed elite explosiveness. Though his strides were not particularly large, his first step was incredibly fast. In a half-court set, Zhou Ze could barely keep up with Chris Paul for a few exchanges, but in the motion of a fast break, Chris Paul could easily get past him.

After getting by him, Chris Paul took two dribbles, gathered the ball, and exploded upward, answering Zhou Ze with a vicious one-handed slam.

As he ran back on defense, he cupped his pecs with both hands at Zhou Ze and kept saying, "Zhou, you're too short. Too short!"