"I heard that young people nowadays are all on that, what's it called, something something. What do they do on it? Can you teach me?"
There are cat videos, but I'm not telling you.
The old man teased a bit more, but seeing Li Zheng not even lift his head, he just chuckled wryly and gave up.
Li Zheng quickly forgot about him, reading his book and observing the recovery rate.
Vitality recovery speed was dynamic.
For example, when it came to flirting, Lin Yujing and Sun Xiubin had completely different values.
And right now, based on the novel Li Zheng was reading, the recovery speed had slight variations.
In simple terms, reading a novel he liked made him recover faster, with a maximum speed of 1.7.
Those boring and incomprehensible literary moans would slow it down significantly, to as low as 1.2.
It seemed that the recovery effect was positively correlated with his subjective experience.
No matter what kind of relaxation, no matter how many coins you spend on skills, making himself more interested and engaged was the primary indicator.
As he was thinking, he heard the sound of a basketball being dribbled in the corridor.
A plump figure flashed by the door.
But quickly, he came back, glaring at Li Zheng: "Still here?"
His hair was sparse, but his beard thick; although he was 17, he looked 37.
It was Liu Xin.
"Just relaxing occasionally, reading a casual book." Li Zheng shook his magazine, asking, "Class over?"
"Yeah, Teacher Hu was in a good mood suddenly and let us go home." Liu Xin laughed, spinning the basketball, and said to the classmates catching up behind, "Unbelievable, Li Zheng is relaxing. We're going to win the basketball game."
A tall boy jumped over and grabbed the basketball, smiling at Li Zheng: "It really is Li Zheng. You call this relaxing? Come on, join us for basketball."
That was the class president, Jiang Qinghua, the type of outstanding student leader who excelled in morals, intelligence, physical education, aesthetics, and labor. Though his academics were only third in the class, he was much more proactive in other areas than the top two.
Seeing Jiang Qinghua invite Li Zheng, Liu Xin quickly snatched the basketball back: "He never played before, what are you messing around for?"
"Hey, we are short-handed today, can't form a team without him." Jiang Qinghua nudged at Li Zheng: "Come on, you'll get the hang of it as you play."
Liu Xin frowned: "The game is next week. Why aren't Chen Sen and Zhao Yonghui here practicing?"
"Seems like there's a new mobile game out. They've been talking about it all day, looking for a place to draw cards." Jiang Qinghua nudged Li Zheng again: "What do you say, Li Zheng, coming or not?"
"Stop rushing him. He skips PE classes, nearly got an exemption." Liu Xin was about to leave.
"I'm coming." Li Zheng was already packing his bag.
"Ah???" Liu Xin was stunned.
"Great, great, new member added." Jiang Qinghua laughed heartily, "See you at the court, Li Zheng, hurry up."
Li Zheng borrowed two magazines, retrieved his student card without daring to glance at the old man, and followed the two to the playground.
Even though school had been out for a while, the basketball court was still crowded, people packed under each hoop.
Playing basketball, a relaxation activity that Li Zheng was eager to try but lacked the courage to face.
After all, when it came to basketball, he had only dribbled occasionally in PE class, his skills were terribly poor, even worse than some girls.
Logically, he should just hug the ball, find an empty spot, and practice shooting.
But the problem was, the basketball court was always packed.
If he wanted to play, he had to join a team and compete.
With his skill level, forcing his way onto the court would only result in being utterly humiliated, with a high likelihood of negative vitality recovery.
Therefore, the reasonable strategy was—
Find strong players to support.
Liu Xin, though chubby, was nimble.
He was a heavy yet agile player on the court, dribbling and colliding around. People were afraid to touch him because even a slight bump would cover them in his sweaty grease, which was disgusting just to wash off.
Hence, his success rate at breaking through was high.
As for Jiang Qinghua, he was the basketball prince of the class. Though not as good as the school team, he was more than enough for casual games within the school.
With these two strong players on his team, Li Zheng only needed to keep moving, pass the ball frequently, and silently follow the game's rhythm.
Yes, maintaining a support mindset and winning with the team seemed like a good way to relax.
The three of them walked to the edge of the court.
Today there were even more people, probably due to the school's basketball game next week.
Jiang Qinghua was dribbling, warming up his hands, and surveying the surroundings.
8 hoops, 8 half-courts, countless people.
Choosing where to fit in was an art.
The school's basketball court was always crowded, with more people than hoops. It was almost impossible for only two teams to be playing on a hoop.
Usually, three or four teams would crowd together "challenging the champ."
Challenging the champ meant cyclically attacking the reigning team.
The winners stayed on court, the losers rested, and the next team stepped up, and so on.
Thus, strong teams could dominate the court and keep playing.
Weak teams would quickly get defeated, wait for another ten or fifteen minutes, half an hour later, and then challenge the reigning team again.
"Don't rush..." Jiang Qinghua dribbled while glancing around, "Let's find a weak spot and aim to keep winning."
"Seems like only two teams over there." Liu Xin pointed to the nearest court.
"No good, they're all seniors. I've played with them; they're too wild." Jiang Qinghua nudged at Li Zheng, "They'll knock him over."
Hearing this, Li Zheng clutched his ribs and shrank back.
No way.
His body could recover, but his study time would be lost forever.
He couldn't risk it for the sake of relaxation.
Looking at the wild kids on the court, he suddenly hesitated.
Just then, two obviously younger girls appeared out of nowhere, carefully approaching Jiang Qinghua.
"Brother, we've been waiting for you for so long."
"Hurry up, hurry up. My phone's fully charged, ready to record."
These two fairly cute girls were probably freshmen.
It looked like they watched Jiang Qinghua play every day.
They even called him brother, treating him like a big brother.
Li Zheng felt a bit regretful.
Freshman year was a new beginning, a foundational period.
Getting addicted to watching basketball was a waste.
As soon as the two freshmen appeared, Liu Xin unconsciously stuck closer to Li Zheng's side.
He started scratching his head, forcing a smile, feeling uncomfortable, a stark contrast to his usual boisterous self.
Li Zheng understood his feelings.
It was like Lin Yujing at the exam venue, acting all high and mighty.
Jiang Qinghua's charm on the court had a similar effect, inadvertently hurting others.
You could tell that Liu Xin really wanted to talk to the two girls but didn't dare, afraid of saying the wrong thing, losing face or not being well-received.
He was overthinking it.
With his face the way it was, he couldn't embarrass himself any further.
But he didn't realize it.
"Hey, I'm telling you, after the school's basketball game next week, there'll be girls chasing me for sure," Liu Xin said with a nasal laugh as he wiped his nose, "Then, I'll introduce them to you."
"If you have the time, you should study more." Li Zheng shook his head, "I heard Teacher Hu is really sick, don't push her too hard."
"Huh?"
"I'll ask again tomorrow." Li Zheng had only overheard it from the old man at the library, so he didn't elaborate.
He punched Liu Xin's shoulder with a smile: "You teach me how to play basketball, I can help you study. After the game, we'll go over today's test paper together."
"Brother Li, no! I won't teach you basketball anymore, okay?"