Chapter 136: Serving Warmth

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Both temporary coaches had been pulled over to shake hands. After all, winning came first and friendship came second. The game was a disaster, so they had to retain the friendship.

“A great hand of cards has been broken!”

The web dev coach shook hands with senior Ah Ning and smiled bitterly. “I thought we could have steadily made the next round, but we didn’t expect this! I should have noticed the signs earlier, this loss is on me!”

“The signs” obviously referred to no.3’s arrogance and unwillingness to cooperate.

Then senior Ah Ning set him straight. “Even if you discovered it sooner, it would be useless. If you can’t serve the people, they won’t listen to you. If you toss that no.3 into the varsity team, he is guaranteed to behave.”

“Do you have to be so heart-shattering?” The web dev coach said as he clutched his chest.

Senior Ah Ning bellowed like Zhang Fei.

What could the web dev coach do? He wasn’t even confident in his retort abilities. “I would like to see how the photography department blows you up tonight!”

“You’re good at most things, but you suck at picking out people!”

Senior Ah Ning gave another scathing burn and went to shake hands with the other team members as he encouraged them. He then leads the animation department’s team as they withdrew from the court.

The academy’s basketball tournament schedule was very tight. There were two more games happening on the court they were on. If they fully occupied all the other basketball courts, the elimination rounds would finish if the games commence from tonight until the next morning.

The elimination rounds between the media and animation faculty were between the photography department and the animation department at 7:00 pm.

The time was rushed, but to be honest, a level 2 school competition was not very strong, and the energy consumption was not large either. Three or four hours of rest was just enough time to make up their stamina.

The other members might have had a hard time with this, but Meng Fan had nothing to say. He didn’t even get to warm up in the afternoon game, let alone play.

“Tonight’s tournament will be hard.”

When they returned to the temporary classroom, senior Ah Ning tossed out a few mats and told all five members to lay flat on it. The five players obediently laid down and spread their limbs like an octopus, and one on one began their relaxation massage.

“The machine carriers are a traditionally strong team. Last year, they made the top 4 in the academy. Based on technique alone, they are weaker than the web dev department’s team. However, they are individually very tall and very strong. And they don’t have a “star player” like the web dev team. They are very united. So for tonight’s game, we should… Heh, where’s Meng Fan?”

It wasn’t until five minutes before the kick-off that senior Ah Ning saw Meng Fan slowly lumbering over.

“Where did you go? Why didn’t you answer your phone? What were you doing?”

Senior Ah Ning, holding the clipboard hit him with a 3x combo.

“I went back to draw.” Meng Fan said calmly, “I didn’t play in the afternoon, so I didn’t need the rest or the massage and whatnot. I don’t understand the tactics either, so I left.”

Senior Ah Ning thought about it and felt it was a reasonable excuse. He then left him be, cautioning his team to be aware before returning to the stool that someone had brought for him.

Warming up before the game, the machine carriers… heh. The photography department’s team was already in place. Looking at them, the average height was about 180 cm, which was by far one of the highest throughout the academy. Each player was thick and built, but overall more rough compared to most of the boys from the art academy. Only the muscular heroes from the sculpture department can stand a chance against them.

Senior Ah Ning noticed Meng Fan had found a stool from somewhere and was lounging in it like a mob boss. He picked up his stool and shuffled over, pressing his voice. “You must always be prepared. I was able to deal with the web dev team, but the photography department is a bit different; there’s no point to the target. If the score falls behind more than 10 points, you will have to play.”

Meng Fan nodded.

However, something occurred that senior Ah Ning didn’t even predict. In less than 10 minutes, the score wasn’t at a 10 point lead yet, but a member from the animation department had twisted his ankle and was unable to play.

As the only substitute, Meng Fan could only fill in.

It seemed their secret trump card was no longer a secret.

When Meng Fan stepped onto the court, the entire photography department turned their heads toward him.

“The iron hero is really on the animation department’s basketball team!”

“Everyone be careful, this master has insane accuracy!”

“I know, who hasn’t seen his stream?!”

“Defend him!”

“Has anyone seen him play basketball? Does he know how to play offense? This figure… There’s nobody on our team who can take a hit right?”

He was really impossible to hide. At least, not as easy senior Ah Ning had thought. Although no other faculty members have seen Meng Fan cast a shot on a normal basketball court, everyone knew of his overpowered shooting abilities.

If he was a god at shooting machines, he must also be godly at shooting real basketballs. This was the logic of the majority, anyways. Only a select few ‘intellectuals’ thought that Meng Fan wouldn’t be able to score.

Even after he appeared, the opposition had determined that Meng Fan sat out last game because he was the trump card that senior Ah Ning had prepared.

Only, they didn’t know just how accurate he could be.

But that didn’t prevent them from putting all their defenses on Meng Fan.

“Iron bro.”

The red-haired youth took the ball and tried to shoot it before handing it off to Meng Fan.

Immediately, two players from the photography department closed in on Meng Fan.

Try to shoot?

Impossible.

Meng Fan’s hand trembled as he passed the ball to no.8, who had no defense on him. His positioning was ideal.

With his +14 precision, his passes were accurate as well. The ball traveled like someone had delivered it straight from Meng Fan to No.8’s hands. It was almost too comfortable.

“Why did you pass it to me?”

“Seems like a good shot.”

“Score one.”

No. 8 effortlessly scored two points.

“He knows how to pass?”

Senior Ah Ning looked like he just discovered America.

Then, Meng Fan verified his thoughts.

Twice in a row, Meng Fan passed the ball to someone who was open while he was being blocked by two giants from the photography department. Both times the ball traveled flawlessly into the desired targets’ hands regardless of what angle it was thrown from. It was so comfortable to receive that it made scoring easier.

This happened three more times. The photography department’s team was stunned. “Does this guy only know how to pass?”

“But he was so clean at scoring baskets on the machine.”

They began to doubt their existence.

At the end of the first half, Meng Fan did not score any points. As long as he received the ball, he would pass it on.

His throwing precision had improved, and he had better observational skills as well. Meng Fan was accurate at finding an open target, and his passes were comfortable. Everyone on the team including the red-haired youth all got “served” by Meng Fan at least once.

These four played basketball often, but they’ve never received the ball in such a clean manner. They all looked like they had just won the lottery. The way they looked at Meng Fan was even different.

A real boss!

He was incredible at scoring but still gave them the opportunity to show off themselves. You don’t need too many of these types of teammates. One was enough!

During intermission, senior Ah Ning was a bit curious. “Why don’t you score?”

“Didn’t you say I’m the trump card?” Meng Fan responded.

In fact, Meng Fan did not feel anything new from shooting. It would go in no matter how he shot it. As long as they could win the game, he was definitely going to find some ways to make this interesting.

Serving people ‘warmth’ was way more interesting than scoring points himself.