Defense only, no offense.
'That's Lil-Goat for you!' Carmelo Anthony marveled.
The smile vanished from his face as he focused and got into his offensive stance.
Anthony turned his back to him. As Su Xi placed a hand on his body, he immediately felt a powerful force surging from him.
This wasn't the kind of strength an 18-year-old high school student should have.
But what surprised Su Xi even more was... Carmelo Anthony's strength talent, using Scott as a reference, was only at 91%.
'Is Scott really that strong?'
Su Xi was astounded.
He quickly woke the Little Elf, who sounded tired. "If it's not especially important, don't wake me so often," it said.
Then, it read Carmelo Anthony's talents for him.
Near top-tier speed talent.
Near top-tier agility talent.
Top-tier coordination talent.
Top-tier stamina talent.
Top-tier vertical leap talent.
Top-tier flexibility talent.
Top-tier strength talent.
Top-tier explosive power talent.
[Talents are classified by value: Below 65 is Ordinary, 54-74 is Elite, 75-84 is Excellent, 85-95 is Top-tier, and above 95 is Super.]
When Su Xi saw these stats, he was completely stunned. He never thought Cameron would be this strong.
Moreover, the Little Elf told Su Xi, "Although this player doesn't have any 'Super' talents, every single one of his attributes is strong. He's actually stronger than many players who have one or two Super talents. For example, Reggie Williams or Dennis Scott."
Su Xi was a little surprised to hear that. He had originally thought Reggie was definitely stronger than Anthony, but he never expected Anthony to be this incredible. 'Truly worthy of being the number one high school student in the nation.'
The Little Elf fell back into a deep sleep.
After that, Su Xi began to perceive all of Anthony's talents.
Carmelo Anthony used his body to back him down for two steps, then suddenly spun. It was a simultaneous explosion of top-tier coordination, agility, and explosive power.
In that instant, Su Xi sensed the explosive power value was 91, using a super explosive power talent as the benchmark.
The strength and explosive power talents within Su Xi's body were triggered, surging upward as their fusion rate increased.
Anthony got a step on Su Xi.
Su Xi's defensive read was correct, and he managed to keep up with the rhythm.
Anthony went up for a jump shot. Su Xi knew he couldn't block it, so he made an aggressive upward thrust with his hand... aiming for Anthony's nostrils!
Anthony was slightly distracted... CLANG!
The shot hit iron.
Su Xi picked up the basketball and tossed it to him. "Again!"
Anthony's expression turned serious. 'Jack Su really is something else,' he thought. 'His physique is way worse than mine, but he can predict my moves and find tiny openings to disrupt me. I have to get over my fear of this kind of defense. Otherwise, when I get to the NBA, a lot of guys are going to defend me like this!'
Anthony continued his one-on-one, this time using a triple threat stance.
His movements were incredibly detailed and clever; it was impossible to tell which were fakes and which were real.
Su Xi focused with all his might, trying to read him.
But when Anthony violently jabbed with his left foot, Su Xi couldn't help but take half a step back.
The instant Su Xi retreated, Anthony rose up for the shot... and Su Xi lunged forward.
He was 12 centimeters shorter than Anthony, with a slightly shorter wingspan and a lower vertical leap.
Therefore, his hand shot directly between Anthony's legs.
Su Xi's move was menacing.
Anthony instinctively contorted his body in mid-air. CLANG!
The shot missed again.
After landing, Anthony shook his head in resignation. 'I'm still too worried about my junk.'
Just then, Hakeem shouted from the sidelines, "Jack, you're always using those dirty, low-blow tactics!"
Su Xi turned and said very seriously, "I didn't actually hurt him. I'm just helping him conquer his fear."
Su Xi spoke with righteous conviction, "An attacker must be fearless and press forward, undeterred by any dirty tricks."
Carmelo Anthony mulled it over and thought it made a lot of sense.
He felt more and more that Su Xi was unfathomable.
"Let's keep going!"
He clapped his hands, and the duel resumed.
At that moment, up in the office overlooking the court, Haywood spotted the matchup. "Oh! Look at that, Jack and Cameron are going one-on-one."
Jim Boham immediately walked to the window, taking up his familiar spot.
He was a bit surprised.
'Su Xi is a point guard in my book,' he thought. 'How can a point guard defend a small forward? Especially one as big as Anthony. Can he even hold his ground?'
Just then, on his third offensive attempt, Carmelo Anthony backed Su Xi down, accelerated into the paint, and leaped up, about to conquer the rim with a dunk... but Su Xi lunged from behind and pulled him down with a foul.
Su Xi's recovery speed was faster than Jim had expected. Normally, after Anthony spun past an opponent, it was very difficult for them to catch up.
But Su Xi did it. This meant one thing: Su Xi had actually anticipated Anthony's move. His physical abilities just couldn't keep up.
That was Jim Boham's assessment.
"This duel is meaningless," Vincent said. "It's just one of Anthony's little games."
Assistant Coach Haywood nodded.
But down on the court, Anthony didn't think so.
He was the one in the duel, and he had picked up on a key piece of information: the explosive power and strength Jack had shown on that play surpassed what he'd used in the first possession.
In other words...
'He's holding back. He's actually still holding back! He's holding back even when he's playing against a super-genius like me!!'
Anthony was shocked. 'Just how strong is he?'
"Again!"
Su Xi tossed the ball to him, and they continued their one-on-one.
Anthony used a spin move to get past Su Xi, then hit a step-back jumper... SWISH!
He finally made a shot.
He looked at Su Xi.
Su Xi was calm, not upset about being beaten. He even had a slight smile as he said, "That was a good one. Keep going."
Carmelo Anthony had received countless accolades growing up, especially on the basketball court. Everyone called him a basketball genius, and he was sick of hearing it.
But this "praise" from Su Xi gave him an inexplicable feeling of validation.
Perhaps it was because, deep down, he held Su Xi in very high regard.
The two continued.
Su Xi kept guarding him. Anthony had a huge size advantage, and his physical attributes were much stronger than Su Xi's.
But he could feel that the force Su Xi was exerting was a bit stronger than before.
He felt the thrill of clearing levels in a game.
He wanted to probe just how much strength Su Xi was hiding.
So, he played with great effort.
He went on to score repeatedly.
Throughout it all, Su Xi remained smiling and unhurried, giving him encouragement and acting as his "defensive sparring partner."
Anthony would benefit immensely from this kind of training.
And Su Xi would benefit even more.
Up on the second floor, Coach Jim watched the two players dueling below, the smile on his face growing wider and wider until his mouth was agape.
When he saw Anthony and Su Xi finish and sit down to rest on the sidelines, he felt an unprecedented sense of relief. 'This is what basketball should be like. Good thing I have a keen eye for talent and kept Jack instead of that lazy Carl.'
Jim thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Anthony was chatting with Su Xi. "Jack, you're the best one-on-one partner I've ever had. You keep using different levels of strength. Can we do this again tomorrow? I'll make it worth your while."
Carmelo Anthony spoke with sincerity.
Su Xi was ecstatic to hear this.
He had just spent 42 minutes going one-on-one with Anthony.
Su Xi's supreme explosive power talent fusion had increased to 75%, meaning his explosiveness was starting to approach McNamara's.
His supreme strength talent's fusion rate was even faster, rising from 61% to 70%. Now, Su Xi's strength had already surpassed McNamara's.
Although there were still gaps in his other talents.
But with these two strong points, Su Xi's improvement could be described as advancing by leaps and bounds. If Carl were to challenge him to a one-on-one now, he'd be crushed to the point of a mental breakdown.
"I have no reason to refuse," Su Xi told Anthony. "I enjoy the challenge of your power."
"What about me?" Just then, McNamara sidled up to them. "Jack, you have to play one-on-one with me, too. Don't you enjoy my power?"
Anthony threw an arm around McNamara's neck. "You bastard, you've already been training with him for over a month. You should give him to me. I'm the team leader, the core of our strategy. Only I can have Jack all to myself..."
The two Five-star High School Students started wrestling with each other. It was a very friendly scene.
Su Xi silently got up.
'I have no desire to be 'had' by anyone.'
...
"Are your people competent or not? Didn't I tell you to use the internet? Let me tell you, the internet is going to be the main social platform for humanity in the future. Its influence is a hundred times stronger than you guys going to campuses telling stories."
Outside the library, Huang Xiaoman expressed her dissatisfaction with Qin Xing's work. She felt his promotional efforts weren't up to par. At the very least, she hadn't seen Su Xi's name in a single NCAA basketball media report yet.
"Sister Xiaoman, don't you think we might be stunting his growth by pushing too hard? We're hyping him up to be invincible, even better than Carmelo Anthony. When the games start, if he's exposed as not being that good, won't we have harmed him instead?" Qin Xing said worriedly.
"No, you don't understand the psychology of media," Huang Xiaoman continued. "To launch any star product, you first have to give them a label so people can invest their imagination and emotions. If you do the PR work well, Su Xi's basketball journey will be much smoother. Stop worrying about all that. Go take a few photos later, preferably of Su Xi and Anthony together. I'm going to post on the campus BBS forums of a few teams in the Great East District."
"Sister Xiaoman, is it worth it for you to do all this? He doesn't even know you're the one doing it."
"It's worth it. Of course, it's worth it. Can't you feel Su Xi's devotion to me? He's completely loyal. We gave him all those photos and contact info for beautiful women, and he hasn't called a single one."
Huang Xiaoman asked Qin Xing, "If it were you, would you call them or not?"
Uh...
Qin Xing scratched his head. The answer was self-evident.
"Go on. I'm counting on you," Huang Xiaoman said, patting his shoulder.
...
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Thank you to kevinzkr for the 3,000-coin tip. A familiar ID—you've been reading my books since I was just starting out. Thank you. You're one of my few remaining O.G. readers. Mwah!