'Where am I'King opened his eyes, feeling somewhat confused. All he could remember was that he was watching the basketball world cup. He saw that the Chinese team lost to Lithuania. They had one win and four losses in the group stage and failed to advance to the next round.
At that moment, he thought to himself, if he hadn't had the accident, he should have represented the national team in the competition. What if he had been there? Would the outcome have been different? But then he looked at his leg and could only feel endless pain.
That day, he drank a lot of alcohol and was completely drunk. Just like the other days in the past two months, for two months, he locked himself in his room, with a pile of wine bottles around him. He didn't want anyone to find him and just wanted to be alone, like a wounded wolf, licking its wounds by itself.
But when he came to his senses, he found himself sitting in the classroom. Outside the window was the warm sunlight, and beside him were a group of teenagers in their late teens or early twenties. There were still some familiar faces among them.
"King."
A voice sounded in King's ear: "Are you really going to participate in the school team selection?"
King was stunned: "What do you mean by 'team selection'?"
Next to King was a small chubby guy. His face was round and he wore black-framed glasses. His eyes were hidden behind them and were almost completely closed, making them hard to see.
The chubby boy was named Peng Jun. He was King's deskmate. Frowning, he said, "King, you must be dreaming! Didn't you say yesterday that you were going to participate in the new members selection of the school basketball team? But now you've completely forgotten about it."
School, chubby boy, team selection...
In an instant, countless scenes from his memories resurfaced. King's eyes widened in disbelief: "Am I back in high school again?"
After getting completely drunk, he ended up back in his high school days, precisely when he first entered high school. King's mind couldn't quite process it. It took him quite a while to finally confirm that this wasn't a dream. Although such scenes often appeared on TV, it was all just on the screen. King never imagined such a thing would happen to him. Fortunately, he had experienced ups and downs before, and his mind was strong enough. Soon, he calmed down and ignored the chubby boy beside him, starting to think about some things.
"Back to my high school days, Yu Yang No.7 Middle School, the place where my basketball dream began." King felt both nervous and excited. "I just started high school and haven't joined the school team yet. My basketball journey hasn't truly begun. Is this an opportunity given to me by heaven, allowing me to do it all over again?"
"Start anew from where the dream began!"
Initially, King began his journey in basketball while playing for the basketball team of Yu Yang No. 7 Middle School. At that time, he was only 15 years old and not very tall. Fortunately, he was selected for the school team, but he was not particularly outstanding.
However, over the following half a year, his height increased by a whopping 10-15 centimeters, growing from 1.7 meters to 1.88 meters. Height no longer became a disadvantage, and his talent gradually emerged.
King has excellent physical fitness, especially his speed is astonishing. With the meticulous guidance of his coach and his own diligence, he rose to become the top student at Yu Yang No. 7 Middle School in just one semester.
Under his leadership, Yu Yang No. 7 High School fought their way through the competition, advanced to the provincial league, and made it to the provincial finals. Unfortunately, they lost the championship by just 2 points in the final, missing out on the title and failing to qualify for the national challenge tournament.
This was because Yu Yang No. 7 High School's overall strength was insufficient, but King's individual performance was outstanding, even dazzling. He led the team in both points and assists per game. Although the team didn't win the provincial championship or make it to the national challenge tournament, King's performance still attracted a lot of attention.
After that, scouts from some universities came looking for him, and even a youth team coach from a CBA professional team approached King, wanting to recruit him for the youth team.
It's important to know that the youth team is the reserve force for professional clubs. Joining a youth team means embarking on a path toward becoming a professional player, with the opportunity to turn pro in the future.
Although it was a regret not leading Yu Yang No. 7 High School to the national finals to compete for the national championship, King ultimately chose to leave school and join the youth team to receive more professional training. His height continued to surge wildly, eventually stopping at 195 cm.
Thanks to his exceptional talent and hard work, King quickly stood out in the youth team, rising rapidly to become the team's ace player. Later, he was even selected for the national youth team, representing China in games against youth teams from other countries, and his performances kept improving.
After that, he was selected for the national Olympic team, representing China in competitions, and was subsequently promoted to the first team, starting his professional league career. Finally, he was chosen for the national team, representing China in the Asian Championships, where he made a name for himself in a single tournament.
And all of this began at Yu Yang No. 7 High School.
"King, are you really going to try out for the school team or not?" The chubby kid kept nagging.
"Chubby."
"I'm not chubby."
"Alright then," King said with a smile. "Classmate Peng Jun, of course I'm going to try out for the school team. But why are you so concerned about whether I join or not?"
Peng Jun wore an expression that said he was doing a thankless task. "I just wanted to remind you that the school team tryouts are next week, and today is the deadline to sign up. If you really want to participate, you have to register today. But honestly, even if you try out, it'll be hard for you to get selected. Your height is a real drawback."
King slapped his forehead.
His memories were a bit jumbled, and he'd almost forgotten that he had to register first.
As for the little guy's dig about his height, King wasn't bothered.
It was true that he wasn't very tall now, only 1.7 meters, which wasn't particularly short compared to others his age, but it was on the shorter side compared to the players on the school team.
However, he knew very well that over the next year, he would shoot up by more than ten centimeters, reaching nearly 1.9 meters. He still remembered the resentful look in the chubby kid's eyes back when he grew to 1.88 meters—how Peng Jun had asked if he'd taken some kind of drug and wanted to get some for himself.
Of course, it had nothing to do with drugs.Everyone has their own growth period—some people develop early, while others develop later. When the growth age arrives, it's not unusual for someone to shoot up more than ten centimeters in height in just one year.
It was still afternoon, and there were a few more classes to go.
However, King had pretty much forgotten all his high school knowledge. He listened to the lesson in a complete daze and had to swallow his pride to ask the chubby kid for help, only to be thoroughly mocked by him.
After class, King headed to the athletics department to sign up, and the chubby kid went with him.
"Why are there so many people here?" King was surprised to see a line forming outside the athletics department.
"That's totally normal," said the chubby kid. "Our school's basketball team is really strong, and the players are super popular with the girls. If I weren't so short, I'd sign up too."
With your build—basically a human meatball—even if you were two meters tall, you'd probably never make the team, King thought to himself. He glanced at the people in line and sighed quietly. They're all just fighting for "priority mating rights."
Yu Yang No. 7 High School's basketball team was fairly strong within the city, but when it came to the provincial or national level, they still had a long way to go.