Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 66 - 066 I’m just an enthusiast too

The game continued.

Class Four served the ball.

Point guard Chen Sen advanced methodically.

On this side, Li Zheng quickly realized that the bespectacled man opposing him seemed to be the weakest link on the other team.

This arrangement must have been set by Coach Jiang to let himself dominate this point.

Li Zheng then made a sudden stop and unexpectedly changed his running position, stretching out his hand for the ball.

Chen Sen passed the ball immediately.

As the ball was mid-air, Li Zheng took the opportunity to glance back with his peripheral vision.

The bespectacled man just realized and moved to defend.

Too late.

The ball was secured.

Li Zheng took a deep breath in advance.

The moment he caught the ball, he twisted his body and jumped.

Stretching his arms, he released a steady shot.

The bespectacled man hadn’t reacted at all, didn’t even manage to jump to interfere.

Swish!

The ball went through the net.

Three points.

3:2.

In the silent court, Li Zheng landed.

Without a second thought, he turned and dashed back to his own half to defend.

Liu Xin caught the basketball that went through the net and exploded on the spot, "Awesome, Brother Li!!!"

With that shout, the whole court exploded.

A single three-point shot might not mean much.

But Li Zheng’s series of moves, combined with movements comparable to a professional player, made it evident he was an exceptional master.

"Damn… Is this guy really from Shougang?"

"Too cool."

"Coming out of retirement? And with that accuracy… is he actually Mitsui Hisashi?"

Zhifei was even more excited, extending his palms in front of his mouth, desperately cheering, "Class Four!! Must win!! Class Four!! Must win!!"

All the boys and girls from Class Four were thoroughly ignited by Li Zheng’s shot.

"Li Zheng!! Come on!! Come on!!"

At that moment, the crowd was feverish.

Class Four regained the home court advantage.

Actually, everyone knew it was just a school game, and winning or losing didn’t really matter much.

But seeing their classmate really fighting it out, even the coolest girls turned into fervent supporters.

Even Liu Yuexuan, the normally silent class representative for Chinese, couldn’t help but scream at the top of his lungs.

Zhang Xiaoke was completely shocked as well.

And she wanted to pee.

No… no way…

Master, you’re so good at studying already…

No way.

Next to her, Qiao Bixia was somewhat embarrassed.

"My thinking was too simplistic."

"Li Zheng is terrifyingly strong."

"I now realize that when he played with us normally, he was holding back."

"This time, he’s serious."

Xu Mengxi also set aside her chemistry book, staring straight at Li Zheng.

We agreed to just be ordinary people.

How did you go solo like this?

And fly so…

High and so handsome.

Who can stand it?

She no longer cared about others’ gossip, threw her book aside, and joined Class Four in cheering and supporting.

Li Zheng, however, didn’t look at anyone else, just focused on the numbers.

417.8???

Image boost + exquisite skills + Shougang jersey.

The effect was remarkable.

The task looked promising!

Scanning the sidelines, the watching girls wouldn’t exceed 100.

Yet they could achieve such remarkable results under Qiao Bixia.

It seemed he really stirred them up.

While Class Four was celebrating.

The referee’s whistle blew, and Class Two quickly served the ball.

The high center gathered all his strength, swung his big arm, and threw the ball directly to Class Four’s half court.

"No good, fast break!" Jiang Qinghua, though surrounded by the Slime Monster, still had eyes on the ball and urgently shouted at the others, "Defense! What are you standing around for!"

But it was ultimately too late.

Ling Shijie had started his offensive runs the moment Li Zheng made his shot and was already sprinting towards the three-point line.

In despair, it was Li Zheng who first rushed back.

Both sprinted at their top speeds, intermittently looking back to judge where the basketball would fall.

Li Zheng ran as hard as he could but still lagged by several body lengths.

The basketball arced down and Ling Shijie leaped to catch it, scoring over the belated Li Zheng with an easy layup.

Easily scored.

3:4.

After a series of full-court sprints, Li Zheng was out of breath, supporting himself on his knees and panting heavily.

The sweat drenched his body, but his teammates had just barely made it back to their half of the court.

Ling Shijie, all smiles, walked up to Li Zheng: "Not fast enough, huh, Marbury? Have you gotten too old to run?"

Damn.

Li Zheng remained silent, grabbing the ball back.

The following four minutes almost repeated the same rhythm.

Since Jiang Qinghua was constrained, Class Four could only play through Li Zheng.

Li Zheng lived up to expectations. Though Class Two began to defend him heavily, his shooting success rate was still a staggering 75%, and he also played actively in defense, successfully stealing the ball twice.

The problem was, Class Two’s scoring efficiency was also terrifying.

Ling Shijie, who should have been countered by Jiang Qinghua with the strongest defense, felt like he was in open territory, scoring frequently.

Even stamina was largely conserved.

However, Qinghua, unable to bear it any longer, pushed the Slime Monster and got called for a foul.

During such high-intensity combat, within five minutes, Li Zheng was already struggling to move.

He seized the moment when Qinghua committed a foul to ask Teacher Wang for a substitution.

At this point the score was [Class 4: 9, Class 2: 7]

Out of 9 points, Li Zheng alone scored 8, and Liu Xin scored 1 from a free throw.

Once Li Zheng left the field, he sat back down in his class’s area and flopped onto the ground.

Running all over the field, both attacking and defending, was damn exhausting.

Headed by Zhifei, the cheering squad immediately brought over towels and drinks, and started massaging and patting his back.

Even the Chinese language class representative, Yuexuan, was vigorously cheering nearby, as if trying to lend his strength to Li Zheng.

Li Zheng did indeed have some energy left, but he needed to save it for the second half.

Meanwhile,

As soon as he had scored the first basket, his 1.5-hour vitality value for flirting had already fully recovered.

His peak value exceeded 460, but beyond that, he didn’t know.

If he activated Unparalleled, he could recover 100 hours in 15 minutes...

There was a chance, but it was a gamble.

He lay on the sideline, his right arm shielding his eyes, breathing heavily.

The shouts of Class 2 and Class 4 filled the air.

In these rising and falling voices,

The usually composed Li Zheng.

felt somewhat perturbed.

"Teach... master... drink some Red Bull." Xiaoke cautiously placed the drink in his hand. "Do you want me to feed you..."

"It’s okay..." Li Zheng wiped his face, sat up straight, tilted his head back, and gulped down most of the bottle before stopping. He wiped his mouth and smiled at Xiaoke, "Feeding me, aren’t you afraid I’ll beat you?"

"This... between us, it’s a minor victory or defeat..." Xiaoke squeezed her eyes shut in pain and nodded, "The major one must not be lost."

As they were speaking, a dissatisfied "Ouch" spread around them.

Class 2 scored again, 9:9.

Li Zheng also tried to calm down and scrutinize the game.

It was uncomfortable.

Watching the positionings of both sides, he felt very uncomfortable.

But he couldn’t say exactly why.

The only thing he could be sure of was that excellent opportunities for flirting were slipping away bit by bit.

His own first entry into the game was undoubtedly the most shocking and his vitality recovery had been at its highest.

If they lost this game, the next would have to wait until senior year.

By then he would definitely have leveled up, and it would spawn new missions, with no human-shaped dictionary in sight.

Therefore, to complete the Unparalleled mission, he either had to win this game first and then look for a chance tomorrow,

or activate "Unparalleled" in the second half and gamble blindly.

But no matter what he chose, the current situation made it impractical.

This game’s pace was such that his stamina wouldn’t even last ten minutes.

Li Zheng then reviewed basketball-related skills.

[Rampaging Center: Gain the inside skills of a regular professional center, 5 Game Coins.]

[Spirit of the Point Guard: Gain the organizing ability of a regular professional point guard, 5 Game Coins.]

...

No, these skills wouldn’t do.

They only increased adaptability to a position, without a fundamental boost in strength.

Besides, there were no stamina-related skills.

The only standout was this—

[Reading the Game, possess the level of a regular basketball coach, 5 Game Coins.]

At that moment, another cry of pain.

9:11, Class 2 pulled ahead.

Indeed, once Li Zheng left the game, the only one left with enough energy to defend and disrupt Ling Shijie was gone.

The substitutes were merely running blindly with the team.

"Oh dear!" Xiaoke was nearly in tears. "Captain Jiang, give it some power! Come on!"

Qinghua dashed all over the field, almost crying without tears.

Even when he occasionally got the ball, he was so entangled he couldn’t shake off the opponent.

This Slime Monster was not only disgusting but also genuinely strong defensively, and as robust as an ox in stamina.

Then, from behind, came the commentary voice of Qiao Bixia.

"Ah!"

"With Li Zheng out, the whole line is collapsing."

"This substitute isn’t pulling his weight."

"Jiang Shuai is indeed restricted, but more importantly, Class 4 has no tactics."

"Running around chaotically, always caught by fast breaks."

"From my many years of watching the WNBA, in such disarray, a coach would normally call a timeout to strategize."

"But we have neither a coach nor a timeout, and the only one capable of commanding, Jiang Shuai, can hardly protect himself."

"Barrel can only make noise, and with his intelligence, can’t come up with any tactics."

"Look at those Class 2 kids, they’re full of tricks."

"That bastard Ling Shijie is the craftiest, defending casually, saving all his energy for offense. He’ll probably be stronger in the second half."

"No way, it’s a crush of intelligence."

Qiao Bixia sighed and gestured as she spoke.

"Here, it’s Three Kingdoms."

"The 18 lords’ campaign against Dong Zhuo, the battle at Hulao Pass, you know it, right?"

"Today on the field, Jiang Shuai is that Hua Xiong."

"About this Hua Xiong, he was somewhat competent, but unfortunately came across that brash Guan Yu."

"Got chopped down while warming his wine."

"But with Hua Xiong down, Class 4 doesn’t necessarily have to suffer total defeat."

"After all, there’s the Unparalleled general, Lu Bu, my son Li Zheng, who’s shocked the whole field."

Mengxi couldn’t help but tug at Qiao Bixia, "How did he become your son now?"

"Eh, just slipped out, don’t mind it," Qiao Bixia cleared her throat and continued.

"When Li Zheng was here, he could attack and defend, and at least contend with those 18 lords."

"Alas, with their continuous rotation, no one could withstand it."

"This Hulao Pass is likely to be lost."

"At this point, for Class 4 to win, only if a coach like Zhuge Liang descends, do they stand a slim chance."

Qiao Bixia sighed.

"Bixia, Bixia!" Zhifei immediately shook her hefty body, "you’re so amazing, why not help direct a bit?"

Qiao Bixia frantically waved her hands, "Teacher Tang, I’m just an... an enthusiast, I can sense something’s off, but can’t pinpoint what exactly."

"You." Li Zheng suddenly turned around. "If I could tell you the essence of the tactics, could you help with sideline coaching in the second half?"