The early afternoon sun shined brightly, warming the skin of the people gathered in the small, open-air local stadium. After a whole week of cold, rainy weather, the skies suddenly cleared up for the weekend, as if ensuring the amateur basketball tournament could go as planned.
Down by the court, two teams were currently preparing for their match, doing some basic warm-ups and stretches. The atmospheres surrounding both of those teams were in stark contrast. On the left, the teammates were cheerful and relaxed, chatting happily without a care in the world. It was as if they were either so sure of their victory, or simply the match wasn't all that important to them. It was only an amateur match, so the stakes were not high. Most people joined in just for fun.
On the right, however, it looked as if the storm was brewing. One could think they accumulated all of that week's bad weather within the team. The atmosphere was so tense that no one even dared to speak. Each of the team members just focused on preparing for the game on their own.
That team was, of course, Jiang Lu's team. And the source of the tense atmosphere was the two key players, Jiang Lu, the team captain, and Ye Chaodan, the professional basketball player, currently on break. The air around them was so strained and intimidating that the rest of the teammates preferred to keep their distance. They didn't really want to be there in the first place.
Ye Chaodan, or rather Liu Wei, cast a scrutinizing glance over the tribunes, trying to spot a certain person within the crowd, but to no avail. His already dark eyes seemed to have darkened even further, the temperature around him dropping a good few degrees.
Seeing his actions, Jiang Lu, who was stretching nearby, spoke up. "I've told him not to come, don't worry," he reassured his most valuable player. He tried so hard to remain on his good side all this time, and he wasn't about to have it ruined now. Well, truth be told, his 'trying hard' did not amount to all that much, but thankfully, Liu Wei didn't seem to care. Or rather unfortunately, although Jiang Lu didn't know that yet.
Liu Wei turned his sight away from the tribunes, giving Jiang Lu a quick glance, before turning away. The person Jiang Lu just mentioned, Fu Zhiren, or rather Yu Qingyu, the host of 520, was the sole reason he was here in the first place. After Liu Wei demanded to kick Yu Qingyu out of the team, it was reasonable that others could assume he didn't want him around, but… Liu Wei didn't mind Yu Qingyu watching the match. Quite the opposite, he wanted him to watch. Watch helplessly as Liu Wei ruins his mission, and be unable to do anything to stop him.
Meanwhile, on the very back of the tribunes, a person slid down in his seat, pulling his baseball cap lower to cover his face. That person was, of course, Yu Qingyu, trying to hide from Liu Wei's sharp gaze.
Yu Qingyu knew very well that coming here was pointless. He did all he could, which, in fact, wasn't much, and now all that was left was to wait for the results. After 4 months of restlessness, sometimes turning into panic, and constant negotiations with Jiang Lu and the rest of the members, his time in this world was coming to an end. In around an hour, he'd finally be able to leave.
Initially, he planned to just sleep through the final hours, until the system transported him to another world. But he just couldn't fall asleep. He hadn't been able to sleep the night before, and taking a nap in the afternoon didn't work either. Having nothing better to do, he dragged himself to the stadium, full of anxiety.
Looking down at the court, he took a sip of the energy drink. A few drops of condensed water gathered on the can's surface dropped on his tights, but he didn't even notice, focused on the tall and muscular silhouette of a man with a messy high ponytail from his ex-team.
He momentarily flinched, as the man turned around, looking in his direction. Although a significant distance separated them and Yu Qingyu couldn't see all that well, he could swear that their eyes met, and Liu Wei smirked at him.
He gulped loudly, tensing up. Until a moment later, he flinched again, this time hearing the judge's whistle, calling for the players to gather on the court. Liu Wei turned around and walked to the middle, not sparing Yu Qingyu a second glance.
The match finally began.
And all of Yu Qingyu's worries immediately found confirmation.
Liu Wei had no intention to let his team win, and did everything in his power to sabotage the game. Whenever he was in possession of the ball… He passed it over to the opposite team. Whenever someone from his team was in position of the ball, he stole the ball from them… And passed the ball to his opponents again. As his skills surpassed by far the rest of his teammates, nobody could even hope to stop him.
At first, Jiang Lu looked extremely shocked, observing Liu Wei's action in disbelief. Although Yu Qingyu tried to warn him, he never listened. And now it finally came to bite him in the ass.
Yu Qingyu observed from afar as Jiang Lu started screaming something at Liu Wei, resulting only in the man shrugging his shoulders. Seeing the situation worsen with every minute, Yu Qingyu made his way down the tribunes, getting through to the front rows, reserved for the players to rest. Thankfully, since it was only an amateur match, the security was lax and no one tried to stop him.
Throughout the months spent in this world, he got to know Jiang Lu very well. He knew that Jiang Lu tended to be very impulsive. Once the team got to the side to rest, he was highly likely to attack Liu Wei. And Liu Wei… Although right now he wasn't as powerful as in his original body, the body he currently possessed was also pretty strong. Moreover, he wouldn't have lost his combat skills. If a fight were to start, Jiang Lu would get crushed in mere seconds.
Yu Qingyu got down just in time. As he was walking along the empty chairs in the second row, Jiang Lu called for a timeout.
By then, Su Yongkan's team was already leading by over 20 points.