Chapter 9: The Avengers Assemble

The Elf Queen shut the door and walked in, having completely discarded her previous elegance. She brazenly grabbed a chair and sat down.

What? A roommate? Are you kidding me?

The Elf Queen leaned over, fished a drink out of her new roommate’s locker, cracked it open, and took a hearty gulp. She leaned back, sinking into a slouch that lacked any semblance of grace.

All previous refinement had gone to hell.

"Xia Chiyi, don't tell me you really don't remember me at all?"

Xia Chiyi stood there and shook his head honestly.

"Besides me, who else could have intercepted three of your passes in a single quarter?"

"Huh?" Xia Chiyi frowned and leaned in, scrutinizing the face beneath the eyeliner and eyeshadow. The features of a persistent nuisance from the high school league began to align with the person before him. "You’ve got to be kidding—you’re Ye Zhaoying!"

"You just realized?"

"With you painted up like that, no ghost could tell who you are!"

Xia Chiyi felt a soul-shattering realization: he had actually performed ten squats while holding his high school archnemesis! What a total loss!

"Your hair is standing up," Zhou Zhexiao said suddenly, looking at the freshman handbook while holding Xia Chiyi’s phone.

"Mind your own business!"

Ye Zhaoying lifted his chin toward Zhou Zhexiao and asked, "This is a roommate too, aren't you going to introduce us?"

The dorm assignments were already set, so Xia Chiyi had no choice but to accept reality. More importantly, anyone capable of giving Xia Chiyi a hard time on the court had to be skilled.

The grudges of high school were in the past; university was a new chapter. As his mother always said, there are no permanent enemies in this world, only permanent interests!

What was an interest? Since they were all at Ningchang University, their interests were aligned!

Xia Chiyi adapted well and instantly turned a foe into a friend.

"Do me a favor and take off this painted skin. Otherwise, if I introduce you now, I'm afraid he won't recognize you again tomorrow morning."

"Fine!" Ye Zhaoying stood up, back to Xia Chiyi. "Come on, help me with the zipper."

This guy really didn't stand on ceremony.

"No, do it yourself."

"Why are you being so coy? It's not like I'm a girl."

Just as Xia Chiyi was about to reach out, Zhou Zhexiao walked over. He placed a single hand on Ye Zhaoying’s back, nearly shoving his face into the locker. Ye Zhaoying caught himself just in time, and Zhou Zhexiao zipped the dress down in one swift, violent motion, like he was tearing through an enemy.

Clean, crisp, and imposing.

Xia Chiyi felt satisfied, mentally avenging his ten squats.

Ye Zhaoying, the shameless fellow, didn't even flinch; he took off the dress right in front of them.

"Hey, what are you doing—" Xia Chiyi’s first instinct was to cover Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes.

Ye Zhaoying wiggled his waist, and the dress slid to the floor. Fortunately, he was wearing athletic compression shorts underneath. As he stretched his arms to grab a T-shirt from the locker, the muscles in his back tightened, radiating pure testosterone.

He turned around to see Xia Chiyi covering Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes and said speechlessly, "What? It’s not like this is premium content that requires a VIP subscription to watch. Why are you covering his eyes?"

"My friend is still young at heart," Xia Chiyi said offhandedly.

Ye Zhaoying had already removed his wig and headed for the bathroom to take off his makeup, tossing back a retort: "Everyone is more mature than you, Xia Chiyi."

Zhou Zhexiao didn't say a word. Xia Chiyi suddenly realized he had been covering his eyes for too long. Just as he was about to pull his hand away, he felt the other's eyelashes brush against his fingertips—that ticklish sensation returned.

He accidentally locked eyes with Zhou Zhexiao’s deep, clear gaze, and Xia Chiyi felt his focus being pulled in.

A while later, Ye Zhaoying walked out with a coral-fleece headband perched on his head.

His features were clean, the corners of his eyes tilted slightly upward, and he wore that signature, smug expression—this was the Ye Zhaoying Xia Chiyi knew.

Xia Chiyi began the introductions: "This guy is from Ningchang No. 3 High School. We faced off many times in the high school league. He played point guard most of the time. He’s great at defense and steals. If you get targeted by him, it’s like having your skills sealed in a game; your health bar gets chipped away constantly, and it’s very easy to... you know, 'go die'... Do you understand?"

Zhou Zhexiao shook his head.

"Huh? My explanation wasn't vivid enough? What don't you understand?"

"What is 'go die'?" Zhou Zhexiao was nothing if not honest; he asked when he didn't know.

Xia Chiyi took a deep breath and adjusted his pronunciation, "Go. Die."

"Oh." Zhou Zhexiao nodded slowly.

Ye Zhaoying looked at Xia Chiyi and punched him in the chest. "You’ve said so much useless stuff, why didn't you mention my name?"

"Ye Zhaoying." Xia Chiyi was very perfunctory.

After two seconds, perhaps realizing Xia Chiyi was finished, Zhou Zhexiao added slowly, "Oh."

Ye Zhaoying frowned and spread his hands. "That’s it? Don't I deserve a thousand-word essay?"

Before Xia Chiyi could speak, Zhou Zhexiao shook his head and said, "Not worth it."

Ye Zhaoying choked on his words and lifted his chin. "Who are you?"

"This is my friend, Zhou Zhexiao. Zhou as in the Zhou Dynasty, Zhe as in philosophy, Xiao as in the cavalry. He’s been in the US, graduated from Oak Hill Academy, and just got back, so he doesn't know much about things here." Xia Chiyi’s favoritism in his introductions could not have been more obvious.

Ye Zhaoying’s eyes lit up like a match being struck. "Zhou Zhexiao? I know him! I heard he had a great run in the US high school league! So he was recruited as an athletic talent? But why did I hear he was in a car accident and almost didn't make it?"

Zhou Zhexiao remained silent, as if they weren't talking about him at all.

Xia Chiyi acted as his spokesperson, saying immediately, "He’s perfectly fine! He got in through the Joint Entrance Exam for Overseas Chinese Students. Pretty impressive, right!"

Ye Zhaoying continued, "Rumor has it the Jin Province team evaluated him. They wanted to bring in someone with overseas experience to innovate their tactics, but Ma Hongming was dead set against it! He said overseas playstyles didn't suit the domestic scene and that Zhou Zhexiao’s style was too selfish and aggressive, which would ruin the team atmosphere. People were starting to argue against Ma, but then—bang!—the guy got into a car accident, and that was that."

Xia Chiyi was stunned and looked back at Zhou Zhexiao. "So, Ma Hongming didn't like you either?"

"..." Zhou Zhexiao’s expression didn't change; it seemed he hadn't even known about this.

Ye Zhaoying stood up and paced around Zhou Zhexiao thoughtfully.

"You don't look like you're particularly selfish or aggressive. And... you’re actually quite obedient."

"Hmm?" Zhou Zhexiao raised an eyelid and glanced at Ye Zhaoying, as if asking, *Which eye saw me being obedient?*

"You listen to Xia Chiyi very well."

Zhou Zhexiao was silent.

Xia Chiyi thought to himself: *This guy has an untamed soul living inside him. Obedient? He’s just too lazy to argue back.*

Ye Zhaoying draped an arm over Xia Chiyi’s shoulder. "My god, are all three of us victims of Ma Hongming? Is this a camp for losers? A league of failures? Wait, that doesn't sound powerful enough—we should be the Avengers!"

"The Avengers?"

"The *Avengers*!" Ye Zhaoying rolled his eyes. "The guy left in our dorm, don't tell me he was cut by the provincial team too?"

Xia Chiyi shook his head quickly. "No, no, no. Pang Shuai is just a pure homebody. He doesn't play basketball."

"Oh, too bad. Otherwise, we could have held a 'Denounce Ma Hongming' meeting tonight."

"Haha." Xia Chiyi rubbed the back of his head and looked at Zhou Zhexiao.

The guy was very quiet, appearing to want nothing to do with the world, but when he got serious, he was lethal.

"But seriously, even if you two were cut by the provincial team, with your skills, you could have been admitted to other basketball powerhouses as athletic recruits. Yandu University and Qingda might be a bit stuck-up, but Fu Province University of Technology, Qincheng University, or even Southwest Aviation University are all national top-eight regulars! How did you end up at Ningchang University?" Ye Zhaoying asked curiously.

"Because my college entrance exam score was just enough to hit the cutoff for Ningchang University..." Xia Chiyi replied.

Ye Zhaoying’s eyes widened. "My god, I really admire you. You could have relied on your physique, but you chose to rely on your brain. So, you haven't joined the school team yet?"

"Rely on my physique"... why did that sound so strange?

"Not yet, I’m planning to go check out the team with this guy," Xia Chiyi answered.

"Well, there's no time like the present. I’ll take you guys now." Ye Zhaoying grabbed a spray bottle and misted his face for a good while. "Let you truly experience the atmosphere of the school team."

"Huh?" Xia Chiyi tilted his head, feeling that this "atmosphere" was definitely not a good one.

When they arrived at the basketball gym, the team was finishing their last set of dribbling drills.

The gym was incredibly desolate; there wasn't a single person there to cheer or watch.

Ye Zhaoying led them to the front row of the stands to watch.

There were a few foam mannequins on the court, and Assistant Coach Cheng Qing was sitting on the sidelines keeping time.

There were fewer people on the team than Xia Chiyi had imagined—only seven. Adding Ye Zhaoying, who was an athletic student, that made eight.

After watching their dribbling drills, Xia Chiyi finally understood why the Ningchang University basketball team was considered a lost cause.

Most were athletic students with solid fundamentals, but beyond that, he couldn't find a single advantage in their speed, rhythm, or agility.

Having no advantages was their greatest disadvantage.

Ye Zhaoying rested his chin on the railing of the front row. "With dribbling quality like this, they can't even pick out a decent point guard."

"Too weak." Zhou Zhexiao lowered his eyes. If he kept watching, he would fall asleep.

Xia Chiyi calculated in his mind: with himself and Zhou Zhexiao handling the scoring, plus Ye Zhaoying as the hub for organizing the offense, their offensive end would at least be fine. They just needed to find two guys who could hold their own in the paint.

"Who do you think could work? Just pick two that would barely pass," Xia Chiyi nudged Zhou Zhexiao with his elbow.

The two of them were really acting like they were the coaches with the authority to pick the players.

"Ji Bo, Gao Jinshu, or Li Xiaoran."

"Huh?" Xia Chiyi looked blank.

Ye Zhaoying nearly choked on his own spit.

These three were all famous point guards from the CBA ten years ago.

Xia Chiyi took a deep breath, patted Zhou Zhexiao on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"The good news. You can skip the bad news," Zhou Zhexiao said.

"No, I have to tell you both, otherwise you won't appreciate the value of the good news. Here’s the bad news—some of the people you just named have already joined the ranks of the bald men you dislike, and others aren't even in the basketball world anymore."