The score was 12:13.
They were about to tie it up.
Qiao Ying had one hand in her pocket as she dribbled the ball back: "Don't hold back. If you keep being such gentlemen, they'll tie up the score."
Her teammates wanted to curse. Chen Sheng's face was as red as a swollen ball. Hearing Qiao Ying's taunts, he held back what he wanted to say.
Chen Sheng silently adjusted his state of mind.
But Qiao Ying airily said: "It's my first time playing. I was just warming up. I've gotten used to it now."
Chen Sheng, who was determined that Qiao Ying was pretending to be weak, still didn't know what her words "gotten used to it" meant.
Qiao Ying showed no mercy in demonstrating to them what she meant by "gotten used to it." To her, there was a difference between "just warming up" and "gotten used to it."
What followed was that everyone present, including the referees and several gym teachers, witnessed what it meant for a pro to completely crush some newbies.
The impromptu Qiao Ying became an ace in the hole.
With one goal after another from Qiao Ying, after tying up the score, their lead grew almost cheat-code fast.
22:13
37:13.
45:13.
59:13.
When they had just tied up the score, Chen Sheng's cheer squad and over a hundred schoolmates still cheered enthusiastically for them, even though their shouts were drowned out by the Beijing University students in the stands.
But after witnessing Qiao Ying's terrifying jumping ability and speed shock the crowd time and time again as she pulled ahead in points, the cheer squad gave up.
All that could be heard on the court were the excited shouts of the Beijing University students.
Word having spread, more and more spectators crammed into the stands. The sidelines also filled up with people. Nearly all the boys from school had come.
Never having come across such an opponent before, the huge difference in skill level caused Chen Sheng's morale and his teammates' to fully collapse.
Chen Sheng couldn't find any more excuses.
From start to finish, Huo Chengdong never had a chance to score either. He just ran around pointlessly the whole time, clapping his hands for the Nth time: "Qiao Jie, pass it here!"
After Qiao Ying ignored him and responded with a beautiful swish of a 3-pointer, Huo Chengdong shoved both hands in his pockets and lazily waited for their win.
Huo Chengdong was extremely arrogant. He took the lead in sauntering around the court with his three teammates as if they were out shopping.
As they wandered around, his trash talk didn't stop: "Hey, do you guys think that Chen Sheng scumbag has abs or not?"
"Boss Huo, that guy you said was about to blow his lid looks to be in pretty good shape. I guess he must have 3 or 4 blocks."
"Can't tell if the one wiping his sweat or tears while chasing Chen Sheng has been crying. Looks like he's about to."
"Qiao Jie is too modest. If we had known, we would've bet bigger and made them put their pants on the line too. After so many matchups, we're finally getting our revenge today. Feels awesome!"
On court, Qiao Ying was singlehandedly playing Chen Sheng's entire team.
While Huo Chengdong's crew watched the show from the sidelines, chatting loudly, Chen Sheng's team morale took an even bigger hit.
Right before their eyes, another 3-pointer went swishing into the hoop from Qiao Ying. Chen Sheng was drenched in sweat, his stamina nearly used up.
Panting heavily, Chen Sheng glanced at the time remaining. "Listen up everyone. She just said that if we can steal the ball from her, we win. From now on, full defense. Block her completely and steal the ball from her, you hear me?"
Since Qiao Ying's team was just toying with them, Chen Sheng discarded any pretenses of politeness.
And so,
Chen Sheng and the others started thinking of ways to stop Qiao Ying, closely tailing her from every direction.
At the same time, they used their height advantage to work together blocking her long shots, surrounding Qiao Ying.
Seeing their strategy, Huo Chengdong suddenly remembered Qiao Ying had said they would win if they "stole the ball."
"That Chen Sheng scumbag really can't lose with grace. Let's hurry up and go help."
Just when Huo Chengdong and the others were about to go help Qiao Ying when they saw her trapped in Chen Sheng's tight defense, she nimbly spun around and easily broke through several defensive players.
She then took two quick steps, made a running leap...
And made a spectacular slam dunk that blew up the stadium.
"Holy sh*t, that was f*cking awesome!" The shouts of astonishment and exultation from the stands grew louder and louder, the spectators' faces turning red.
The students all jumped to their feet in excitement.
"Qiao Jie, you're amazing!" The teammate with the sprained ankle also leapt up from his chair, pumping his fists in the air as he shouted in exhilaration.
It made Xu Zhilin sitting next to him jump in fright.
Huo Chengdong was shocked speechless.
Qiao Ying dribbled the ball, looking at the exhausted Chen Sheng, and said: "Ready to start running now?"
Chen Sheng glanced at the time. There was less than a minute left.
He drew himself up straight, "It's not over yet."
Qiao Ying said, "Then let's continue."
Once more, Chen Sheng watched helplessly as Qiao Ying snatched the ball away right in front of him. Looking at Qiao Ying who showed no sign of diminished stamina despite having played the whole half-court game, Chen Sheng couldn't help but swallow nervously.
Granted, his whole team had been running around like idiots the entire time while Qiao Ying had played leisurely without breaking much of a sweat. But still, she had been moving for over 10 minutes. Her stamina should have taken some kind of hit.
Yet she seemed perfectly fine.
Chen Sheng defended desperately but still failed to stop her or find a chance to steal the ball. It looked like Qiao Ying was going to try to shoot again.
Chen Sheng's frustrations peaked. Taking advantage when Qiao Ying's teammates blocked her from view, he suddenly charged at Qiao Ying to steal the ball, putting in considerable force in his rash attack.
Though he clearly saw her right in front of him, Chen Sheng not only failed to collide with her, the calf of his leading leg abruptly exploded in pain from being kicked.
And it was one heck of a kick, so much so that he didn't even suspect that kick had come from Qiao Ying.
The other players hadn't seen clearly what had transpired before Chen Sheng was suddenly down on one knee. He then toppled over completely, clutching his calf that was still resonating with pain from the impact against his kneecap when he fell. He cried out loudly.
Sprawled on the floor, Chen Sheng gritted his teeth to look upwards.
He saw Qiao Ying standing there holding the ball, inside the 3-point line, sneering contemptuously down at him. But her sneer disappeared quickly.
Beneath Chen Sheng's unwilling gaze, Qiao Ying fiercely hurled the basketball in her hand with a single arm.
It smashed through the backboard with a loud "BAM", bringing down a rain of shattered glass.
The basketball dropped to the floor and went bouncing away just as the countdown ended.
Final score: 97 : 13
The stadium was dead silent for a while before erupting into deafening applause and cheers. The whole stadium exploded in excitement.
The roar of applause seemed enough to bring the ceiling crumbling down.
With that last shot, even the students from the other school were convinced.
Huo Chengdong looked at the pieces of broken glass on the floor. "Holy f*ck..."
That arm strength...
The male students watched with their blood pumping wildly, so thrilled their eyes grew hot - even more so than if they were watching an NBA game live.
"F*ck any NBA player. That sh*t just destroyed them!!!"
"She threw that 3-pointer like chucking a sandbag. So effortless."
"That one plus the earlier slam dunk - I could replay those two highlights for the rest of my life."
"Screw goddess. She's my man!"
"Now I finally get what's going through the minds of Qiao Ying's crazy fans. Goddess? She's my daddy, bi*ch!"
"And now I finally understand you boys' obsession with basketball."
"Ahhh kill me now! I've decided. I'm going to learn to play basketball. I'm also going to be that bad*ss. I'm going to do our girls proud!"
".....With arms that thin, how can she have that kind of strength?"
