Natural-Born Sharpshooter

The Class Seven boy defending him was the first to lose his composure. He lunged forward, ready to steal the ball.

Zhou Yingji smiled faintly and dribbled between his legs, the basketball bouncing from his left to his right.

The boy defending him immediately stretched out his left hand to grab for it.

Zhou Yingji remained unruffled and pulled with his right hand!

"Smack!" With a behind-the-back dribble, the basketball switched back to his left.

Zhou Yingji quickened his steps, easily shaking off the boy defending him and driving toward the paint.

A Class Seven player immediately came over to help defend.

But Zhou Yingji did not drive straight in. He paused on the spot, pushed off with his toes, and soared gracefully into the air.

Still airborne, he arched his waist slightly backward, raising his arms high as his entire body tilted at a forty-five-degree angle!

A fadeaway jump shot!

"Swish!"

With a flick of his wrist, Zhou Yingji sent the basketball flying.

A confident smile hung at the corner of his mouth as his eyes gleamed, fixed on the hoop.

On another court, an extremely strange game was also underway.

The numbers on the scoreboard in the middle of the basketball court looked perfectly normal!

Yet everyone had their eyes wide open, afraid of missing anything!

The score on the board was: 27:15!

At the center of the court, the burly PE teacher in a referee uniform stared at a tall bespectacled young man on the court as though he were looking at a monster.

On the basketball court, the tall boy with glasses looked every bit the scholarly type. His build was ordinary—not skinny, not muscular—and his class had not even bought uniforms. They were all wearing their own T-shirts, with numbers drawn on their backs in chalk.

The tall boy with glasses looked exceptionally dull and placid. He slowly jogged to the three-point line.

"Swish!"

One of the tall boy's classmates passed him the basketball.

The tall boy reached out to catch it. Since he did not secure it properly, the ball nearly slipped from his hands.

Holding the basketball, he wrapped it in palms slightly larger than most people's. Without even jumping, he simply threw the ball toward the basket!

Threw—it really was a throw. There was no arc whatsoever, nor any proper shooting form. It looked like he was tossing an object out from in front of his chest.

Yet everyone on the court stared wide-eyed at the ball's trajectory through the air. The court fell eerily silent.

"Whoosh!" The basketball did not spin as it flew straight toward the hoop.

"Clang!"

The basketball landed in the hoop, knocked against the rim once, and rolled straight in.

"Three points!"

The PE teacher standing in the middle of the court shouted and raised three fingers.

The tall boy, who looked refined and somewhat dull, reached up to adjust his glasses.

A glint flashed in his eyes. He smiled, turned around, and slowly jogged back toward his class's defensive half.

The PE teacher still had his three fingers raised, his lips trembling slightly. His eyes held only that unremarkable tall boy with glasses, who did not look like he knew how to play basketball at all.

He turned and glanced at the scoreboard, his heart filled with shock!

He really is a natural-born sharpshooter!

After two quarters, he alone has made ten three-pointers! Ten shots, ten makes!

Thinking about the tall boy's stats, the PE teacher could not help breaking out in a cold sweat.

He glanced at the tall boy with glasses again. Looking at his leisurely manner, it seemed as though making ten baskets was nothing worth mentioning to him.

The PE teacher could not help repeating the name he had just learned in his heart.

"Class Three, Chen Jinxiong!" After recalling that name, the PE teacher looked at the tall boy with glasses and slowly murmured, "He really is a natural-born sharpshooter!"

On the seventh-floor balcony of the teaching building.

From here, the entire basketball court was visible at a glance.

The heated atmosphere of the games and the noisy cheers spread throughout the campus. Even standing atop this tall building, one could still feel them.

A tall boy stood quietly there, resting his hands on the balcony railing as he watched the game below.

The boy had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a muscular build. If he had not been bent over against the railing, he would probably have stood around six feet one.

With sword-like brows and large eyes, he watched the basketball court below with intense interest in his gaze.

His eyes swept over the standout figures on the court, and the corners of his lips slowly lifted.

"Liu Chi, how are this year's freshmen?" A voice called from behind him.

The boy immediately turned around. Upon seeing who had come, the calm expression on his face instantly turned respectful. He straightened up and said respectfully, "Coach, why are you here?"

This boy was Liu Chi, captain of the school team and a student of Class Fourteen, Eighth Grade!

The newcomer was six feet four and wore a sports T-shirt that outlined his sharply defined muscles.

Although there were faint wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, he still walked with a vigorous stride.

His distinctive dark skin and slightly narrowed eyes carried appreciation as he smiled at Liu Chi.

He was Fang Shan, coach of the Mingshu Middle School junior varsity basketball team, known as Black-Faced Fang.

Fang Shan nodded and walked to the railing as well, placing both hands on it.

Looking down at the basketball court, Fang Shan smiled faintly and said, "This year's newcomers are quite good. There are several over six foot three. It's time for the school team to take in some fresh blood!"

"Yeah, this year's freshmen are all pretty skilled. I've found several players who are exceptionally talented!" Liu Chi nodded with a smile.

Liu Chi pointed at Zhou Yingji and said, "I also found a very promising point guard in another class. On that court—look, the one dribbling right now. He has excellent court vision, and he can both dribble and shoot. He's a good prospect!"

Fang Shan immediately looked over and saw Zhou Yingji, who had received the inbound pass and was dribbling the ball toward the frontcourt.

"Mm, he bears watching." Fang Shan said only that and did not show much else. Since Zhou Yingji had not yet displayed particularly formidable ability, Liu Chi did not say anything more either. After all, one more highly skilled player meant one more competitor for him, a starting player!

"I also found a sharpshooter!" Liu Chi pointed again, this time at Chen Jinxiong, who was slowly jogging toward the frontcourt.

"A sharpshooter? You're already a sharpshooter with deadly three-point accuracy yourself, yet you rarely praise anyone!" Fang Shan was greatly surprised and turned to Liu Chi.

Liu Chi smiled somewhat awkwardly and said, "My shooting is decent, but I trained for it. I think that guy down there is a natural-born sharpshooter!"

This time, Fang Shan said nothing more and carefully watched in the direction Liu Chi pointed.

On the basketball court, Chen Jinxiong's class, dressed in their own clothes, was something of an oddity.

But the class playing against them all looked dejected. They barely bothered defending anyone and simply played in a chaotic, disorganized mess.