Chapter 63: Liu Suchen: To Win, You Must Stab Your Brother in the Back Twice (Part 2)

Yang Huaiyu was dripping with sweat, and his breathing was as heavy as a worn-out windmill.

After a long separation, Liu Shuchen’s basketball skills had improved even further.

His breakthrough was harder to predict than ever, but fortunately... fortunately, Yang Huaiyu already had the experience of going one-on-one with Zhou Zhexiao in an exhausted state. With persistence burning in his heart, he moved sideways rapidly, constantly applying pressure along Liu Shuchen’s dribbling path.

Both of them had red eyes from the intense battle. Liu Shuchen drove fiercely, finally shaking off Yang Huaiyu. Facing Qincheng University’s twin towers in the paint, he suddenly stopped short and pulled up for a jumper.

Yang Huaiyu’s focus was absolute—block it, as long as he didn’t give up, there was still a chance to block it!

When he suddenly appeared in front of Liu Shuchen, his resolute gaze brought a dull numbness that pierced through the nerves. Liu Shuchen’s sense of crisis reached its peak. The moment he released the ball, he knew it wouldn’t go in.

At that moment, Meng Ting and He Zhan leaped into the air, determined to grab the rebound. To their surprise, Liu Shuchen sprinted past the free-throw line, leaped decisively, and directly dunked his own missed shot back into the basket.

What made his heart tighten was that Yang Huaiyu was right beside him—just a hair... only a hair’s breadth away from blocking that shot.

Upon landing, Yang Huaiyu lost his footing and collapsed onto the floor.

The final buzzer sounded. Yang Huaiyu rested his hands on his knees, sitting right there as his sweat-drenched bangs slid from the back of his head down to his forehead. He was truly exhausted.

Liu Shuchen stood with his hands on his hips, his heart hammering against his throat. After pacing in a circle, he reached a hand out toward Yang Huaiyu. "You were so fierce during the match, but as soon as the whistle blows, you turn into jelly?"

Yang Huaiyu slapped his hand away. "A man should be tough when he needs to be tough, and lie flat when he needs to lie flat."

Liu Shuchen stared at Yang Huaiyu with a playful smile, gently tapping Yang Huaiyu’s calf with the tip of his shoe. "It’s been three days since we parted, and you’ve given me a whole new level of respect. If you had this kind of form last year, we’d be teammates on the national youth team right now."

"Get lost," Yang Huaiyu glanced at the scoreboard. "We lost by 4 points."

"Yeah, much less than last year." Liu Shuchen rested his hands on his knees, bent down, and looked directly and sharply at Yang Huaiyu. "Looks like to deal with you guys this year, I’ll have to go all out from the very first quarter."

"Yeah, after all, your team doesn't have Geng Lu around anymore to trip me up with a hobbling rope." Yang Huaiyu looked up, his seemingly weary and lazy gaze holding a trace of unyielding resilience.

Liu Shuchen watched him for two seconds, then turned and walked back to his own team.

As he passed his teammates, the carefree smile from a moment ago suddenly turned icy cold.

"Qincheng University has changed a lot. There's a high possibility they'll enter the Final Four this year."

Power forward Huo Cheng tilted his head back, still regulating his breathing, and finally spoke after a long silence. "Yeah, their coordination is smoother, and everyone has become a nuisance."

"And their mentality. A truly great team isn't just superior in skill or tactics, but possesses the persistence never to let go, even until the very last moment. Once they acquire this kind of tenacity, no matter how many blows you deal them, they will no longer fear the opponent's strength. Instead, they will resolve the immediate predicament step by step until they transform from prey into hunters, devouring the original predator entirely."

Liu Shuchen cast a sidelong glance at Ke Yan and Li Shunchuan.

Hearing this, Liu Shuchen’s teammates felt a chill run down their spines.

Liu Shuchen walked over to coach Li Xiaoran. Sure enough, Li Xiaoran was standing with his arms crossed and a solemn expression, indicating that he too could sense Qincheng University’s formidable strength.

"They've been reborn," Li Xiaoran said coldly.

Liu Shuchen wiped his sweat while fixing his gaze on Yang Huaiyu’s retreating figure. "Did Yang Huaiyu change his trainer? I feel like his skills have improved quite a bit; defending him was really tough."

"Just his skills?" Li Xiaoran glanced at Liu Shuchen.

"His mentality has become a powerful opponent too." Liu Shuchen bit his jaw, his handsome face betraying a hint of gloom. "I thought I'd get to bully him good this time and watch him hang his head in dejection. I never expected this guy to keep getting more capable."

Several of Qingda’s freshmen gathered around Liu Shuchen. "How about... Shuchen, why don't you go probe for some intel?"

"You guys go?" Liu Shuchen raised an eyebrow.

The freshman cubs immediately waved their hands. "What’s the use of us going? He'll just give us the runaround. It takes a social terror like you to dig up actual intelligence."

"Social terror your foot. A refined and cultured person like me, how am I anything like a terror?"

With that, Liu Shuchen tossed his towel onto the bench, adjusted his hairstyle, and walked toward Qincheng University’s camp.

He saw Yang Huaiyu, Ke Yan, and a few others huddled together, watching the match video playback.

"I felt my three-pointers were quite handsome today, and my performance was pretty commendable overall," Li Shunchuan said, still looking quite pleased.

Ke Yan chimed in, "Even though we didn't control the rhythm well in the third quarter, I pulled it back in the fourth. The flaws shouldn't outweigh the merits, right?"

Yang Huaiyu, who had previously been as tired as a dead dog, suddenly perked up. "I think I was very handsome today. I feel like I'm about to fall in love with myself..."

"Yeah, even though we lost the match, we lost handsomely," Meng Ting said, touching his chin with great satisfaction.

They all knew this match footage would be sent to Ningchang University. As long as they looked tall and majestic in the practice match footage, they could rest easy.

Even if they lost, they had to leave Ningchang University with nothing to say when analyzing this game.

He Zhan suddenly tugged at Meng Ting’s jersey and lowered his voice. "The femme fatale is here... Anyone whose rank isn't high enough, evacuate immediately..."

Upon hearing this, Meng Ting immediately turned around and walked away quickly with He Zhan.

As they walked, they exchanged awkwardly over-explaining dialogue as if trying to prove their innocence.

"I'm exhausted, time to go take a shower!"

"If we're late, there won't be any spots left!"

The crowd surrounding the video dwindled. Ke Yan instinctively looked up and locked eyes with Liu Shuchen, whose face had the power to make countless girls' hearts flutter at a single glance.

"Jing Li, stop watching and retreat! Liu Daji is here."

Just as Ke Yan turned to leave, he heard Liu Shuchen’s voice ring out, "Ah Yan, weren't you watching the video? Why are you leaving the moment I get here?"

"I've been holding it in for forty minutes, I need to use the restroom!"

Ke Yan thought he was dragging along the oblivious Li Shunchuan, but he didn't realize he had actually grabbed Yang Huaiyu instead.

As Yang Huaiyu walked backward, he met Liu Shuchen’s raised eyebrows and read his silent articulation: Coward.

Yang Huaiyu spread his hands in an utterly reckless expression, smiling as he mouthed back: So what if I'm a coward?

A slow-witted Li Shunchuan realized that all of his side’s combat forces had evacuated, leaving only him behind.

Just as he was about to stand up and leave, Liu Shuchen sat down beside him, throwing an arm around his shoulder.

"Jing Li, you were pretty awesome today! Scoring 29 points right here on Qingda’s turf. The Southeast Division MVP is definitely yours this year, right?"

Li Shunchuan’s throat bobbed. The closer Liu Shuchen’s handsome features got, the more nervous he became.

Ever since he was a child, the one thing he was worst at handling was good-looking people, regardless of gender.

"Not... not necessarily... The Southeast Division is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There are definitely shooting guards out there better than me..."

"Is that so? Who else?" Liu Shuchen asked amiably.

Li Shunchuan swayed toward the other side, but was quickly pulled back into Liu Shuchen’s embrace.

Right, who else was a shooting guard better than him?

Aside from Xia Chiyi, Li Shunchuan genuinely couldn't think of anyone else.

But Xia Chiyi was an ally! They still needed to study Qingda together. Could he just sell out an ally like this?

Li Shunchuan pressed his lips together. His originally comical downturned brows were practically straightening out into a flat line.

"Jing Li, I thought that even though we belong to different teams, Qingda is the team that plays the most practice matches against you every year. We're practically allies, right? You guys have intelligence on the Southeast Division, and you won't even leak a little bit?"

Li Shunchuan wore an incredulous expression and blankly asked back, "We are... actually allies to Qingda?"

"Yeah."

If they were allies, how was this supposed to be handled?

The only option was a tactical retreat!

Step one, use a jab step to fake out the opponent.

"Well... once upon a time, you were the mosquito blood on Yang Huaiyu’s bedsheet. On one hand, he wanted to slap you to death, but on the other hand, he was drawn to your outstanding skills and hung out with you."

The smile on Liu Shuchen’s face froze. "What on earth is mosquito blood?"

Step two, execute a crossover dribble to pull back and distract the opponent!

"Now, he has finally found his 'first love'. Even though it's already unrequited... the other person is young, frank, and has a great personality, with sunshine in their eyes and strength in their heart!"

"Huh?" Liu Shuchen was actually a bit lost.

Step three, and most importantly: a lateral retreat—escaping the clutches of the devil!

While Liu Shuchen was pondering who Yang Huaiyu’s "first love" could be, Li Shunchuan slipped away to the side, escaped Liu Shuchen’s defensive range, and made a swift retreat.

Watching Li Shunchuan’s make-tracks-and-run figure, Liu Shuchen couldn't help but chuckle.

It seemed Qincheng University had truly found some formidable allies.

As soon as Li Shunchuan returned to the locker room, he was grabbed by Ke Yan and the others.

"You weren't interrogated, were you?"

"No, of course not!" Li Shunchuan said firmly.

"Well done. Let them investigate on their own; why should we hand them the answers on a silver platter?" Ke Yan high-fived Li Shunchuan.

"Exactly, for the first-place team to copy the second-place team's answers is too shameless!"

And Ningchang University was that "answer." To these veteran powerhouse teams, they were also the hardest puzzle to solve.

Over at Qingda, the team members gathered together, listing out all the school teams that had played practice matches against Qincheng University, each player channeling their inner Sherlock Holmes.

"Could it be Shenghai University? But rumor has it Shenghai University doesn't have a strong guard this year, and their perimeter ability is too weak. Shouldn't be them, right?"

"Mining University? Come to think of it, only Mining University has the strength and capability. But Mining University’s playing style has always been rough... it doesn't match Qincheng University’s increasingly refined team coordination."

"Could it be Southwest Aeronautics? After all, they have Lu Yingnan... But their practice match with Southwest Aeronautics was three months ago."

Li Xiaoran frowned, suddenly recalling a WeChat Moments post he had seen previously from Coach Ren: a scoreboard reading Ningchang University 110 vs. Qincheng University 112.

The other party had set the visibility to three days, so it was no longer visible.

As the head coach of Qingda, Li Xiaoran stroked his chin and thought: Ling Huanzhen, did I underestimate you?