"What took you so long?" Suzy asked as Kai sat next to her.

    Kai couldn't hide the smile from his face. He shook his head and focused his gaze on the court.

    "Just stumbled upon a rat," he said.

    Suzy's eyebrows furrowed. "A rat?" she asked, disgusted.

    "Shh," Kai said. "It's getting to the good part."

    Suzy clicked her tongue and shook her head, watching Kai from her peripheral vision. It hadn't been long since they last saw each other, but for some reason, she felt like she had missed him.

    Suzy quietly sighed. Was this what love does to a person?

    The game continued, and the fourth quarter was finally underway. As expected, the Ying Eagles were dominating the game. S~ea??h the n?vel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    It wasn't much of a surprise to see their plays. Kai had seen them plenty before—especially since they played a lot against the Guardians. However, Kai was still amazed every time he watched Zheng Zhang.

    There was something about him that was truly admirable.

    "So," Suzy suddenly said, snapping him out of his focus. "How are you and Lina?"

    Kai's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at Suzy.

    "What do you mean?" he asked.

    Suzy clicked her tongue. "You know exactly what I mean. Are things going well between the two of you?"

    Kai shrugged. "Yeah," he said. "It's always been great."

    "Oh," Suzy muttered. "So, the two of you are together now?"

    Kai's eyebrows raised in surprise, and then he felt his heart race faster inside his chest. "No," he honestly said. "That's not what I meant by what I said."

    "We're…friends," he said, settling on that title for now.

    "Yeah," Kai nodded. "Lina and I are good friends."

    Suzy couldn't hide her smile after Kai said those words. So, there truly was a chance for her!

    "If you—"

    "I'm not looking for a relationship," Kai quickly prefaced, his elbows against his knees.

    Suzy's face instantly fell. She hadn't even asked the question ye, but he had already turned her down!

    "In fact, all I have in my mind at the moment is to win the Nationals."

    Suzy pursed her lips and settled in her seat. Yet, there were still a lot of questions inside her mind.

    "So, if someone very pretty, very smart, very rich, and very your type comes into the picture, you wouldn't be interested?"

    Kai chuckled at the thought. "A person like that won't like me," he said.

    Suzy sighed. "You never know."

    She knew it was impossible. A person like that couldn't exist on this planet! However, she still wanted to get her point across.

    "But to answer your question—yeah. Like I said, I'm focused on my goal right now."

    Suzy sighed and let the topic go. "Geez, I didn't think I would feel this jealous for a sport." Stay connected with My Virtual Library Empire

    With that, the two of them went back to watching the game once more.

    By the end of it, Suzy poked Kai's shoulder.

    Kai looked at her with curiosity.

    "What?" he asked.

    Suzy chuckled and shook her head. "Didn't you say you wanted to meet Zheng Zhang?"

    Kai's eyes brightened, causing Suzy to smile in amusement. He looked like a little kid when he smiled like that.

    "Let's go and meet him."

    ***

    Rui quickly ran through the hallways after going out of the bathroom. He palpated the item inside his pocket and sighed in relief when he felt it there.

    He clicked his tongue. "I can't believe I almost lost this," he muttered.

    Then, his mood turned sour. "But, it's unfortunate that Kai was the one who picked it up. I really hate that guy."

    With that, Rui went to the drinks place inside the arena and quickly ordered for the team.

    As he approached the VIP suite, he couldn't help but smile. This was the life he always wanted to live—not the kind of life his mom could provide.

    He saw the Huolan Guardians from afar, so he hastened his steps. As soon as Henry saw him, he quickly waved him over.

    "What took you so long?" he asked.

    Rui pursed his lips. "Sorry, there was a line," he said.

    Henry shook his head and grabbed his drink from the cupholders.

    "At least you got my order right," he muttered before sitting on his chair once more.

    Rui moved around to give each of the players their drinks. When he arrived where Fang was, he noted the concentrated look on his face.

    He followed the direction of his gaze and found that he was looking at none other than Kai Guo, who was sitting next to a pretty girl on the ordinary bleachers.

    Rui pursed his lips. Every year, there was a breakout player in the high school basketball league. This year, it seemed to be none other than Kai Guo. So, it was clear that the Elite Five members were wary of his existence—even if they tried hard to hide it.

    A small smile made its way to Rui's lips.

    His chance had finally come.

    He cleared his throat and tapped Fang's shoulder, causing the team to look at him like he had grown through heads.

    The thing about Fang was that you didn't interrupt him just for nothing!

    Fang turned to glare at him, causing Rui to swallow in nervousness.

    "What?" he snapped.

    Fang struggled to find the right words. However, to find his place in the team other than being a water boy, he felt that he needed to do this.

    "I've been thinking," he started off, sweating bullets from nervousness.

    The other players also paid attention to him, all of them with furrowed eyebrows.

    "Honestly, I have been a really big fan of you guys since I entered the school. From then on, I started analyzing your playing styles—your strengths, weaknesses, and how you would play against the other elite teams," he uttered the script that he had practiced over and over again in his mind for the past night. He even had to use an AI generator to be able to form such coherent sentences!

    They seemed to be intrigued, so Rui took that as a sign to continue.

    "With that, I think that the next games after this one would be tougher than usual. I know that you guys are looking for an additional team manager."

    "With that, I want to present something—a list of plays that I have meticulously created—one that would help you with your journey to the very top."

    "Are you insane? Do you think—"

    Jackson refuted him right away, but with one signal from Fang, he turned silent.

    Then, the team was engulfed in silence for a few moments before Fang spoke.

    "Let's hear him out."