Chapter 45: Long Island Iced Tea is Not Tea (Second Update)

With a sharp "bang," someone jumped half a beat after Zhou Zhexiao, and this tiny time difference allowed him to bat away the ball Yang Huaiyu was about to deliver!

Xia Chi'yi's stern profile emerged from behind Zhou Zhexiao, looking like a ruthless and decisive assassin completing a fatal blow.

An outburst of cheers erupted across the entire arena.

"Is that a secondary defense targeted specifically at Yang Huaiyu?"
"Their coordination is insane!"
"Yang Huaiyu has been blocked twice today!"

Guan Qian slammed his hand against Ling Huanzhen in excitement. "You're an absolute swindler! Are these two really freshmen? What kind of freshman can come up with a defensive scheme like that against Yang Huaiyu?"

Ling Huanzhen staggered slightly. He hadn't expected Xia Chi'yi's help defense to be so precise either. To be fair, ever since Yang Huaiyu started his dribble drive, Xia Chi'yi had been waiting for him.

Zhou Zhexiao's jumping defense was just a decoy. Who could have guessed that the one truly meant to block Yang Huaiyu was Xia Chi'yi?

"Woah! I blocked it! I blocked it!" Xia Chi'yi was so thrilled he hopped in place, rushing over to bump into Zhou Zhexiao several times. "I told you we should defend him like this! Hahaha! Why am I so brilliant?"

Yang Huaiyu stood frozen in place, still trying to process what had just happened.

Ke Yan was equally shaken by that textbook rejection. While Xia Chi'yi's vertical leap definitely couldn't match Yang Huaiyu's, the brilliant part was that Yang Huaiyu had already passed the peak of his jump after breaking past Zhou Zhexiao. Xia Chi'yi's block was absolute perfection in both timing and positioning.

"Hey, that one's on me. I didn't keep my eyes on that little monster," Ke Yan exhaled.

Yang Huaiyu patted Ke Yan's shoulder, his knuckles brushing the sweat from his brow. "Don't you think we're lucky?"
"Lucky about what?"
"I ran into this kind of secondary defense in a scrimmage, rather than facing it in the quarterfinals."
"Yeah, true."
"And what's even luckier is that we found out Ningchang University is going to be a dark horse much earlier than any other team."
"You know what I want to do right now?" Ke Yan raised an eyebrow.
"Slap that idiot Li Shunchuan until his face swells up, wake him up, and drag him over here to play tomorrow's scrimmage."
"Yeah." Ke Yan let out a long breath. "I wonder how the rest of Ningchang University stacks up."
"With just these two, they've already got enough to break into the regional final four."

By this point, Guan Qian could no longer hold back. He nudged Ling Huanzhen again. "Alright, cut the act. Tell me, do you have any free time this month? Let's arrange a scrimmage between our two teams."

Ling Huanzhen was ecstatic inside. Although Shanghai University didn't have any individual solo threats who could be called "aces," they possessed overall stability, a pragmatic playing style, and exceptionally strong frontcourt capability. Besides, Coach Guan Qian genuinely had more experience than him.

"Then you'd better hurry up and train some decent guards. My team has several exceptional ones," Ling Huanzhen said, glancing sideways. If he didn't boast now, when would he?

Besides, Ye Zhaoying and He Bin were both undergoing special training. By the time Shanghai University arrived, they would definitely be envious to the point of tears.

"What about your frontcourt then? You better hope it's not just Zhou Zhexiao carrying the weight, otherwise it'll turn out to be all paper tiger talk," Guan Qian retorted, refusing to back down.

"Are you kidding? When our center taps the ball during a jump ball, whoever catches it feels their hands go numb, alright."

There was still one quarter left in the scrimmage.

Yang Huaiyu touched his wristbands. As the team's ace, formidable scoring ability was a must, and a rock-solid mentality was an even more crucial part of the package.

Whether getting blocked, having the ball stolen, or being stunned by the opponents' perfectly timed and skilled secondary defense, he would steady himself and keep putting points on the board.

Next, Yang Huaiyu and Ke Yan demonstrated master-class scoring coordination, repeatedly slashing into Shanghai University's formation. When the two of them focused one hundred percent, their offensive lethality was enormous. Their team's switching and help defense were remarkably sharp, almost pulling Shanghai's defensive line to the breaking point. Most importantly, the opponents' stamina was steadily declining.

However, Ke Yan noticed that even though Xia Chi'yi did the most off-ball running, aside from sweating a bit more, his concentration hadn't dropped in the slightest.

A blazing competitive fire ignited in Ke Yan. It took him two consecutive head-fakes just to shake off Xia Chi'yi and pass the ball to Yang Huaiyu.

Faced with Zhou Zhexiao, Yang Huaiyu directly pulled up for a jump shot.

Sure enough, it missed!

But scoring right there wasn't Yang Huaiyu's true objective. He sprinted toward the rim and forcefully slammed home a put-back dunk.

Their eyes met, and Yang Huaiyu offered a cold smirk.

As if completely immune to being provoked by any score, Zhou Zhexiao calmly said, "Do it again if you've got the chops."

Both sides traded blows. Even in the final quarter, the pace remained blistering, with fast breaks launched back and forth.

One moment Xia Chi'yi drained a three-pointer, and the next, Yang Huaiyu returned the favor.
Zhou Zhexiao executed a reverse layup, and Ke Yan immediately answered with a cold, sudden three-pointer.

The score seesawed upward until the final buzzer sounded.

Qincheng University won by a 5-point margin against the combined team of Shanghai University and Ningchang University.

Yet, there was not a trace of joy on Qincheng University's side. As Yang Huaiyu walked off the court, Meng Ting draped a towel over his head.

"Good work out there."
"Hard work, sure. How else were we supposed to draw out the full capabilities of those two freshmen?" Yang Huaiyu muttered irritably.

Coach Ren walked over, patting Yang Huaiyu and Ke Yan on the back. "Well done. This way, we can properly analyze those two first-years."

Xia Chi'yi and Zhou Zhexiao approached Ling Huanzhen.

Ling Huanzhen grabbed a towel and slammed it down onto the top of Xia Chi'yi's head, giving it a rough tousle. Yet his eyes stayed fixed on Zhou Zhexiao as he asked, "That match must have been pretty interesting, right?"

Zhou Zhexiao lowered his gaze, and after two or three seconds, he replied, "Yeah."

Ling Huanzhen continued, "Even if you have world-class match experience and reflexes, don't forget your body is only eighteen years old."

His point was that at eighteen, an opponent like Yang Huaiyu was at the very pinnacle.

And Zhou Zhexiao acknowledged that Yang Huaiyu truly was at the peak.

Because the guy possessed mature skills and meticulous attention to detail. Once he realized that Zhou Zhexiao and Xia Chi'yi would execute a secondary defense against his drives, he adapted instantly, never getting blocked by them again. Moreover, each shot he took grew fiercer than the last, constantly pushing the envelope of technical difficulty.

Zhou Zhexiao had originally expected to encounter opponents of this caliber only in the NCAA, never imagining that the domestic university first-division league would harbor such powerhouses.

Zhou Zhexiao was in a great mood. He raised his hand, looking at his own fingertips. Ahead of him lay mountains yet to be scaled, and scenery far more magnificent.

At that moment, another hand covered the back of his hand, and Xia Chi'yi's voice sounded right beside his ear.

"What's wrong with your hand?"
"You need to get stronger," Zhou Zhexiao replied, then flipped his hand over to gently press his fingers against Xia Chi'yi's.
"Well, obviously," Xia Chi'yi nodded matter-of-factly.

With this match concluded, Shanghai University and Qincheng University began their second scrimmage, though this round featured exclusively bench players from both sides.

Xia Chi'yi was reluctant to go shower, standing by the sidelines draped in his towel until Ling Huanzhen grabbed him by the head and shoved him toward the direction of the locker rooms.

"Go already, stop dawdling! We've got more scrimmages tomorrow!"

Not only that, but Ke Yan on the opposing side also waved at Xia Chi'yi. "Come on, I'll take you to the showers!"

Xia Chi'yi immediately bounced up and jogged over to Ke Yan. "Coming!"

Ke Yan paused for a moment and remarked to Yang Huaiyu, "Look at that, he likes me better."

Yang Huaiyu smiled. "The guy's earned the title of Ningchang University's 'Bro-collector.' Once Coach Ling takes them on a tour of universities nationwide, this kid will probably have someone protecting him wherever he goes."

Zhou Zhexiao picked up his duffel bag, his stride looking unhurried, yet he stayed closely trailing behind Xia Chi'yi.

Arriving at the basketball hall's locker room, Xia Chi'yi marveled once more.

"Wow, this tile floor looks so high-end. The pattern is completely unique."

Ke Yan explained patiently, "Because it's custom anti-slip flooring. Even if you squirted shower gel all over the place, you wouldn't slip."

"The air in your showers smells so fresh! There's not a single hint of damp mildew!"
"That's because our ventilation system is insanely powerful. Someone comes in to dehumidify and deodorize every day after the gym closes." Standing in front of his locker, Yang Huaiyu pulled his jersey right off in one swift motion.

Xia Chi'yi stood close by, staring directly at him. The definition of Yang Huaiyu's abdominal muscles was striking, exceptionally pleasing to the eye from every angle of tension and relaxation. Core strength in physiques like this was invariably formidable, which explained why he could pull off such massive body-control layups under the basket.

Yet, before even a single second had passed, a large hand reached out, cupped over Xia Chi'yi's face to completely block his line of sight, and steered him toward the shower area.

"You look at them every day, haven't you seen enough yet?" Zhou Zhexiao's cold voice chimed in.

"Whose did I even see? I haven't even seen Shuai Bei's or Du He's." Xia Chi'yi glanced sideways at Zhou Zhexiao. "You and I even have two locker doors between us! You're always fully dressed the second you finish showering, who on earth are you guarding against?"

Hearing Xia Chi'yi's grievance, the team members walking in to shower burst into laughter.

Yang Huaiyu strolled past Zhou Zhexiao wrapped in a bath towel and couldn't resist teasing, "You'd never guess it from how fiercely he plays on the court, but he's actually super conservative."

Zhou Zhexiao didn't reply, walking straight into the innermost corner of the shower room.

The partitions between the shower stalls at Qincheng University were slightly higher than the ones at Ningchang University. Xia Chi'yi could only see Zhou Zhexiao's eyes above the divider.

Even so, as the stream of water wound its way down from the top of his head, blanketing his brow and the bridge of his nose, forming tiny waterfalls along his eyelashes... Xia Chi'yi found it a little hard to look away.

Logically speaking, being in a brand-new environment outside his comfort zone should have made him more restrained.

Yet Xia Chi'yi found that he simply couldn't help himself.

Especially that gorgeous layup by Zhou Zhexiao—it felt as though it existed solely to refresh the memories imprinted in Xia Chi'yi's brain. The lines formed by his arms and shoulders, his sheer dominance suspended in mid-air, all made Xia Chi'yi feel a genuine sense of awe at his power.

Zhou Zhexiao slowly opened his eyes, shielding his face from the water spray to squeeze a dollop of shampoo from a travel-sized bottle. Lather bubbled up bit by bit, obscuring his fingers, when he suddenly turned his head to lock eyes with Xia Chi'yi.

It was too sudden; Xia Chi'yi hadn't managed to pull his gaze away in time.

Zhou Zhexiao's voice blended with the rushing water and reached his ears. "What's wrong? Did your towel fall in the water? Or is your shampoo bottle empty?"

Xia Chi'yi leaned in closer, pressing his hands against the gap in the partition, and whispered, "I think you could go shoot commercials. Bathroom commercials, hair care commercials, men's cologne commercials..."

"Oh, how should I shoot them?" Zhou Zhexiao asked indifferently.

Xia Chi'yi raised his chin, gazing right back at him, slowly tracing his fingers from his cheek down to his jawline, and then sweeping past his own Adam's apple. "Like this. The male models for those products basically move like this."