Everyone on the basketball court had tremendous respect for Shen Long. Not only that Shen Long was the creator of the sports here, but his skills on the court was also exceptional. The admiration didn't just come from his status as a personal disciple, but his ability. Even now, no one could match against him; Shen Long could probably pull off a 1v2 or 1v3 against anyone here.
However, they were even more shocked when they saw Luo Qingben. Everyone knew that the Justice Department had arrested him forcefully, and no one had expected Luo Qingben to be released. They were well aware of how corrupted the Justice Department was, so they would never expect them to let him out this easily.
Luo Qingben appeared to be completely normal. There weren't any apparent bruises nor scars, and his appearance was still quite neat. Luo Qingben was also a basketball enthusiast, back in the days; so everyone here knew him. They rushed up to him excitedly as they spoke to him. Shen Long intentionally coughed, as he signalled others to come to him via hand gestures.
Everyone walked up to Shen Long hastily. They were slightly scared as they thought that Shen Long was being jealous. Shen Long whispered to them.
"I suspect that Luo Qingben was tortured by the Justice Department. However, with no actual evidence, there's nothing I can do at the moment. He can't behave normally anymore, and his intelligence can at most match up to a five years old child. I'm just telling you this in advance, so prepare yourselves."
They couldn't believe what Shen Long just told them. Luo Qingben looked extremely normal, at most his hair was a little bit longer than before. They, of course, weren't aware that Shen Long was the one who tidied his appearance. To avoid confusion and rumours from spreading, Shen Long didn't tell them that he let Qingben sleep in his house and any other details. He didn't want them to get the wrong idea...
Well, Shen Long didn't really about what other male disciples would think. He was just worried that the female disciples would. Despite his poor social skills, he would still like to have a girlfriend in the future. Reputation was extremely important, and he wasn't willing to destroy it just to clarify the entire truth to his basketball "friends".
With a half-convinced attitude, they spoke to Luo Qingben. They found out that Shen Long was indeed correct. He couldn't communicate properly, but he still somehow remembered everyone's name. However, he was spouting non-sense most of the time.
"Luo Qingben, are you alright? How have you been recently? Everything going alright?"
"Brother Chen!! Yeah! I'm great. Well, I'm actually quite upset. I still can't fly... and also Senior Brother Long was bullying me just now. Boohooooo." Luo Qingben replied as he glanced at Shen Long. He suddenly crossed his arms as he said "hmph!" loudly. He behaved like a typical tsundere girl which caused Shen Long's jaw to drop.
Shen Long shivered a little upon seeing his action. A tsundere in real life was somewhat rare, and he wasn't used to seeing a boy acting like one. Everyone started staring at Shen Long after hearing what Luo Qingben said.
Without a choice, Shen Long hurriedly explained what actually happened.
"Ignore that kid. I treated him to a meal in the restaurant just now, and he was complaining because I didn't order his meatballs. You guys, as a proper, functioning human, should know that grilled fish is obviously better than meatballs right? That kid doesn't know anything. Ignore his non-sense. I was being so nice and yet he's defaming me."
Although some of them preferred eating meatballs over grilled fish, they stayed silent. They just nodded as they planned to continue playing basketball. Luo Qingben walked around the court randomly as Shen Long played with his basketball friends. Seeing Luo Qingben like this, everyone invited him to join them.
Luo Qingben started playing with them. Unexpectedly, he still somehow remembered how to play the game. In fact, his skills didn't drop at all, and he was still decently good. While playing, Luo Qingben's childishness also completely faded away. This was the power of sports.
Time passed quickly as they continued to play basketball. It was nearly 4 pm, time for Shen Long's training. Luo Qingben, of course, refused to leave. Behaving like a child again, Shen Long had to forcefully drag him back to the training ground. Others just started laughing wryly as they saw Shen Long struggling this hard.
"What a responsible father. Hahhahaha. Wait! Where are they going together? Wooooooooo!!!" The outer disciples started chatting after the duo left the court. If Shen Long heard them, Shen Long would probably start coughing blood out. Luckily, this group of people never gossiped outside of this group, so Shen Long's biggest secret should be safe.
The duo arrived at the training ground quickly. Daoist Fireblade was already there, which was surprising as he never came early before. Just as Daoist Fireblade was about to praise Shen Long about his inventions, Luo Qingben caught his attention. Daoist Fireblade communicated to Shen Long spiritually as he asked him who the f*** that guy was.
Shen Long explained to him the entire incident, and Daoist Fireblade just nodded, not responding anything else. Shen Long wasn't sure if Daoist Fireblade just didn't care, or he was actually listening. He continued to speak anyway.
Instead of replying spiritually, Daoist Fireblade just said normally.
"Luo Qingben, what happened to you in the Justice Department?"
Shen Long rolled his eyes. He had already told his Master just now that Luo Qingben was incapable of communication.
"Dear Master, I was repeatedly tortured by the people in the Justice Department. I wasn't able to find out the reason behind their torturing though." Luo Qingben suddenly said. Luo Qingben behaved extremely normally, and his crazy personality had vanished all at the sudden.
Shen Long was extremely confused, and he was also getting angry. His eyes popped out as he saw Luo Qingben's sudden change in behaviour. He couldn't understand what his Master did to Luo Qingben, or if he was pretending to act like a 5 years old the entire time.
"LUO QINGBEN, DON'T TELL ME THAT YOU WERE FLIPPIN' FAKING THAT THE ENTIRE TIME! I WILL KILL YOU. I WILL CUT OFF YOUR... YOUR HAIR!" Shen Long shouted as he couldn't hold his anger in any longer. He was going to curse at him, but then he realised his Master was standing next to him, so he swapped out the cuss word with nicer alternatives.
Shen Long was now in his triggered mode. His face was beaming red as smoke started coming out of his face. If his Master wasn't here, he would have roasted and insulted the shi* out of Luo Qingben already.