This world unexpectedly and magically began to change from one day onwards.
During the great cataclysm, the ugly side of human nature was unreservedly exposed, but fortunately, the brilliance of humanity also illuminated this world.
In this magical era, Zhang Yang encountered something even more magical—
In Hidden Mountain City, Los Angeles County, there was a two-story building, with a reservation-only family restaurant on the first floor and living quarters on the second.
In the east-facing room on the second floor, just past 6 a.m., Zhang Yang woke up from his sleep.
After languishing in bed for a few minutes, the alarm clock went off at 6:06 a.m. He stretched out his hand to press the alarm clock on the bedside table, and the ringing stopped.
Getting up, he tore off a page from the calendar hanging on the wardrobe, July 18... 2003.
Three days ago, he woke up to find that he had arrived on July 15, 2003, and had become a 15-year-old teenager.
There is an old saying—"In the half of July, ghosts run wild."
Time traveling is definitely a ghostly affair, but isn't the half of July supposed to refer to the lunar calendar?
However, when he thought about the men's basketball team losing to the little devils, the time travel didn't seem so ghostly anymore.
"It seems I can't go back now, but time traveling isn't all bad; at least I've developed the habit of going to bed early and waking up early,"
Zhang Yang muttered to himself, dressed, and headed to the bathroom to wash up. As he passed the living room, he looked at the wedding photo of his adoptive parents on the wall.
He had received the memories of his original self, and perhaps because his original self was only 15 years old with limited experiences, they had almost no effect on his cognition and personality.
The biggest impact was on the familial front, helping him to quickly become familiar with his adoptive parents.
The parents in the memories, the ones he had come to know in the past few days, bore no relation to the young man and woman in the photo.
In the photo, his father Zhang Chen looked like a handsome young man, and his mother Yang Jing had a sweet appearance.
If his mother were used as a reference, his father might not look tall, but in reality, it was because his mother was exceedingly tall, over one meter eighty.
Thinking of his father now, with a big belly wielding a large cleaver to chop pigs, cows, and sheep, and his mother, broad-shouldered and wide-waisted, briskly carrying a bucket in each hand…
"Life is indeed a pile of pig feed..."
Zhang Yang sighed as he arrived at the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.
After a few days of looking in the mirror, the awkward feeling had gradually faded, and he guessed that a little more time would get him used to it.
The teenager in the mirror resembled the original him by about sixty to seventy percent, both sporting a sunny and handsome appearance.
The eyes were the most similar feature; when he just focused on the eyes, he almost believed he hadn't time traveled.
He was a touch less handsome than his original self, but the height of 188 centimeters made up for what was lacking; the original him was only average height at 175 centimeters.
As the saying goes, "Height conceals a hundred flaws."
There was only one problem—right now, he was only 15 years old. Although he had passed the age of fastest growth, he could certainly still grow taller and continuing to grow would have a definite impact on life, like making it hard to buy clothes.
But since he had already come this far, Zhang Yang stopped fretting about it and decided to at least enjoy the carefree student days of a young teenager.
...
What was the happiest thing about student days?
Zhang Yang reflected for a moment. Hanging out with classmates and blatantly breaking the law to play games in an internet café ranked second; first was playing basketball.
After entering the working world, gaming became the number one pastime in his spare time; basketball, on the other hand, was not just about playing anymore— even watching it became less frequent, which also had to do with the fact that over a decade later, the NBA had transformed into a league of constant three-point run-backs.
Such games were refreshing at first, but overtime they became uninteresting. It seemed like the league also noticed this problem, trying to aggressively promote Giannis to the forefront. But even with Giannis winning dual MVPs, not many people considered him a marquee superstar, treating him like just a scoring player. This aggressive push not only failed to achieve its purpose but also alienated the fans.
And the men's basketball team even dared to lose to the little devils...
The good old days are best!
Owing to his love for basketball, these past few days he had been following the latest basketball news through the internet, television, and newspapers.
Yao Ming had just finished his rookie season, which started off slow but ended on a high note. Although he didn't win Rookie of the Year, his performance was recognized, and he was seen as a potential superstar center.
Duncan ended the three-peat of the O'Neal-Kobe duo, snatching away Malone's title as the all-time greatest power forward.
Only 27 years old and already with two MVPs, two championships, two Finals MVPs, six first-team selections, five All-Defensive First Team selections, and one All-Defensive Second Team selection... Even in the era of the gods, such a player would make the gods shiver.
Under the pressure that Duncan brought, the shocking Lakers' Four Giants were born.
Last season, Kobe averaged 30 points, 6.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 2.2 steals; O'Neal averaged 27.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.4 blocks; Malone averaged 20.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.7 steals; Payton averaged 20.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.7 steals...
As a transmigrator, Zhang Yang felt numb looking at the combined stats of these four players.
This was far more astonishing than the second generation F4 because, with Big Shark O'Neal included, Zhang Yang even felt that O'Neal alone could match the whole second generation F4.
Along with Kidd, Iverson, Carter, McGrady, Webber, Garnett, Nowitzki, Ray Allen, Peja, Ben Wallace, Little O'Neal... and other superstars with distinctive playstyles and charisma, as a basketball fan, coming back to this golden era, Zhang Yang felt that not hitting the court to throw some bricks was a disservice to the then-mighty No. 8 hammer-smith with a head full of hair.
After washing up, Zhang Yang went to the storage room and dug out his dusty basketball.
Looking at the nearly new basketball... Zhang Yang -_-||
The original owner also liked sports and was very fit, but his passion was not basketball, it was baseball.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with liking baseball; after all, baseball is America's most popular sport, and many Chinese kids coming to America these days would usually choose to play baseball if they wanted to engage in sports.
But the original owner's talent in baseball... After playing for five years, he had little to do with the school team and just played some casual games.
If the original owner had been good at baseball, Zhang Yang wouldn't have minded trying out something new, but with those lousy skills and having never touched baseball before, he decisively gave it up.
He rummaged through the cabinets again and found an air pump at the bottom of a box, pumped up the basketball, greeted his budget parents who had just woken up, and headed to the park to play basketball.
Seeing Zhang Yang not wearing a cap and carrying a baseball to practice pitching, but instead holding a basketball and heading out, Zhang Chen and Yang Jing were a bit surprised, but didn't think much of it.
Zhang Yang noticed their reactions and breathed a sigh of relief.
The original owner had the habit of morning training, and for the past few mornings, Zhang Yang had gone out with a baseball as well just so his bargain parents wouldn't suspect anything was off. Instead of practicing pitching, he went for a few runs to work up a sweat.
Now that he had accepted his new identity, he naturally wouldn't continue to fully emulate the original owner. It was too tiring, especially those minor details, which could be gradually changed and adapted—it goes both ways.
He jogged all the way to the nearby park's basketball court.
It was not yet 6:30 a.m., and all three courts in the park were empty, not a soul in sight.
Zhang Yang chose the middle court, because how could he not claim the center position? If it weren't for the unbearable heat of midsummer, he would have definitely donned a pair of overalls.
He dribbled the ball a few times, feeling awkward as his mind and body seemed 'mismatched'.
In his previous life, his ball-handling skills were quite decent, the kind who could show off some tricks during his student years. However, this body had almost never played basketball, and it struggled to keep up with his consciousness.
He was a bit annoyed, but didn't pay it much attention, as he was just there to have fun and get some exercise.
He went to the free-throw line, jumped, shot, and yelled out "Kobe"... The ball dutifully hit the backboard, and with a thud, it bounced into the hoop.
Zhang Yang's eyes widened, not because of the absurd shot.
He had mentally prepared for a wild throw, given the terrible feeling of ball control he had earlier; this kind of scoring was more comical than anything.
But because there appeared a 'door' before his eyes!
A semi-transparent double door with a 'zero' written right in the middle, and above the door, a signboard with the words 'Hall of Fame'!