Orlando.
It was the morning of the next day.
Jordan Lin opened his eyes and gave a massive, earth shattering yawn.
"What a crazy dream. I actually dreamt about Jason making me the scapegoat of a bunch of evil crimes. Heh. Now that I've woken up, everything seems so improbable." Jordan Lin started to mutter to himself as he sat up and stretched his arms wide.
"How could my best buddy, Jason, treat me thaaa… Huh? What the…" Jordan Lin's arms froze at full stretch as both his eyeballs nearly popped out of his eye sockets.
He was back in his bedroom in Orlando. He was back in his parents' house!
So everything was not a dream?
And not just that, the massive Michael Jordan poster that covered most of the wall next to his bed… Well the poster was still there.
But it was no longer a poster of Michael Jordan!
"Who the hell replaced my Michael Jordan poster with this bald white dude?!" Jordan Lin roared in anger.
Jordan Lin was truly angered.
His Michael Jordan poster was a SIGNED copy. It was extremely rare and worth thousands of dollars!
And in its place was an equally large but completely worthless poster of a strange white hairless dude in a strange uniform.
"Holy smokes. It's not even an NBA uniform! What the hell is a "Utah Mongrels"?! And what's with the boring lay up? Why would anyone even print such a big poster of a nobody from a non professional league doing a god damned lay up?" Jordan Lin's critical Asian mind immediately went to action and completely discredited the massive poster next to him.
But of course, being an Asian and a loyal devourer of Webnovels, Jordan Lin immediately entertained a wildly scandalous thought, "What if everything… wasn't a dream? What if history was truly… Rewritten?"
He stretched out his hand and grabbed his phone from the bedside table.
BA-DUMP.
His heart started to pound.
It was not his Iphone.
"NARKA?" His eyes widened as he saw the brand of his phone.
What the hell is NARKA?
Click.
His NARKA's facial recognition triggered and he was brought automatically to the News section of his homepage.
"NBA Superstar Jerome Balling from the Orlando Fliers still 5 weeks away from full recovery after his horrific ACL injury!"
"Republican Presidential Candidate Gerald Hushkins recovering well! His ambushers face 30 years jail!"
"Democratic Presidential Candidate Mubang Wu's lead remains strong at an incredible 20 points!"
"Orlando in tears as Baltech High School loses in National High School Basketball Championships Semi Final!"
Jordan Lin looked at all the news for a full five minutes in a zombie-like state of shock.
NBA Superstar Jerome Balling? Orlando Fliers? What the hell? It's that bald white dude on his poster! He… He is an NBA Superstar?
Democratic Presidential Candidate Mubang Wu? Wu? WU?!
That was obviously a Chinese name. A China man was the Democratic Presidential Candidate? And he is leading? What the bleeding hell?
Just what sort of scary monsters did the System rewrite and turn the Asian Parents in America into?
How did they manage to send out a China man to be the forerunner of the Presidential Race in… In… America?!
BRO! Just what sort of miraculous steroids were the Chinese kids eating?
And what was the National High School Basketball Championships? It sounds super epic.
Jordan Lin checked the date and time for the day.
5.33 AM. 11th August 2024.
It was 14 years ago.
"That means I am 14 years old right now. I'm a freshman in High School! Wait a minute… What about my parents and siblings? My friends? Are they still around?!" Jordan Lin immediately checked his contacts and gave his parents and a couple of close friends a call.
"Mom? Hey uh-"
"What are you calling me for? Come down and eat your breakfast! NOW!" A familiar shrill scream of irritation exploded from his phone and echoed from outside of his bedroom door.
"Okay okay! I'll be right out!" Jordan Lin said hastily and immediately ended the call. "Mom is still mom. That's… Good? I guess?"
He called a few of his friends and confirmed that they were all still the same.
Jordan Lin's eyes narrowed as he sought to understand the situation. He went online and googled several things.
A deep chill of fear mixed with exhilaration entered his heart.
All of the celebrities were gone.
No Michael Jordan. No Lebron James. No Stephen Curry. No Beyonce. No Eminem.
In their places were other "famous" people such as Jerome Balling from before.
Mona Lisa. Gone.
Picasso? No such person.
JK Rowling? Nope!
Marvel Cinematic Universe? Nada.
Nike. Adidas. Zilch.
However, the key figures of world history were still there! George Washington! Napoleon! Genghis Khan!
At that moment, his bedroom door slammed open and his furious mother entered with a big metal ladle in her hand.
"Jordan Lin!" Mother raised her big metal ladle and waved it dangerously at him. "How many times I tell you! Come out and eat! Bus coming in 5 min- WHAT? You still in bed? You want to die? You haven't die before is it? Let me show you what my ladle can do!"
"AH! Mom! Get out of my room! I… I'm not wearing any pants!" Jordan Lin screamed out the first thing that came to his mind that could, hopefully, get his mom to get out of his room and not bludgeon him to death with her big, metal ladle.
"Not wearing pants? So what? Which part of you I never see before huh? You remember when you were 6 you had a pee pee infection? I had to clean your pee pee every ho-"
"Ahh! Okay I am up! I'll be out in five minutes!" Jordan Lin shouted and threw his pillow at his mom!
Shua!
His mom swung the ladle like a pro and easily swatted the incoming pillow away.
"I give you three minutes. If not, I throw you into school bus - without pants!"
Bang! The door slammed shut.
Behold… Asian Tiger-Parenting!