Chapter 12

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

“Hidden technique: Kobe’s Fadeaway Shot.”

After the additional training with Kobe, Su Feng opened the system’s interface excitedly.

“Hidden technique: Different from ordinary techniques, hidden techniques will only be awarded by masters through special incidences. It can be upgraded through regular training and competitions.”

“Kobe’s Fadeaway Shot (Golden Epic), current level: High School Elite. Current installation effect: Wrist stability during fadeaway shot +10; air time during fadeaway shot +10%; attraction of fans after a successful shot +20%.”

Golden… Golden Epic?

Although the final improvement of this special technique seemed to be sabotaging Kobe, after reading about the introduction of this technique by the system, even Su Feng, who was usually calm, took a deep breath!

If it was an ordinary attack technique, Su Feng would not be so excited.

However, it was obvious that even amongst the hidden techniques, Kobe’s Fadeaway Shot was very impressive…

After all, it was one of the legendary moves by the basketball god… Cough, after all, it was one of the moves that allowed one to score. Of course, it would be different from the fancy schlocks one usually saw.

Moreover, the hidden technique could be upgraded!

To put it in layman’s terms, Su Feng would decide on whether he wanted the hidden technique to be A or SSR in the future.

The more powerful he was, the more powerful the technique.

In fact, before the system upgraded to 6.0, Su Feng had already gained a deep interest in the special techniques and badges sections on the system’s interface.

Different from the usual shooting actions, which only had one additional technique, it had five additional techniques.

This meant that Su Feng could add five special techniques at most.

Meanwhile, Kobe’s Fadeaway Shot belonged to the attack category based on the system.

For a special technique like that, it was said that only one of them could be installed.

“When I was practising my fadeaway shot in the past, my weakness came when I exerted too much energy, and that caused the instability in my wrist.

“However, how much could this +10 bring me?

“And this increase in air time, it is obvious that I will only be able to see this improvement with sufficiently strong foundations.”

After checking his improvements, Su Feng calmed down immediately.

This was because he felt that the hidden technique that he had obtained was unable to cause any drastic changes in a short period of time.

This technique was more like a long-term investment.

Therefore, Su Feng installed Kobe’s Fadeaway Shot.

“I don’t know if there are any other hidden techniques. If there are, how can I obtain them?” Su Feng thought.

….

During the team training, Su Feng specially tested out how much Kobe’s Fadeaway Shot helped him.

“What a headache. Why is my jump shot’s accuracy so high after installing this special technique?

“It seems that the reason I missed my shots in the past was due to the instability in my wrist when I shot.

“However… Why must I get missed shots in order to upgrade this technique?!”

As one of the techniques Su Feng used to score, when he was training, he realized that the improvement this technique brought him was much more than he had expected.

Alright, the paradox that had troubled Su Feng for a long time was here again.

After installing Kobe’s Fadeaway Shot, the accuracy of his jump shot increased.

However, because of that, it would take a longer time to obtain enough Missed Shot Points.

However, if he uninstalled this technique, he would not be able to upgrade it.

Clearly, the system was preventing Su Feng’s methods to obtain missed shots.

However, Su Feng soon found out that the reason why his fadeaway jump shot was accurate was because…

Clang, clang, clang…

“Hahaha, Su, is this the ultimate technique you have been practising?”

Kobe laughed after seeing how Su Feng had missed three out of four shots with his defence.

Su Feng was speechless.

Indeed, it was an illusion that his fadeaway jump shot changed!

That was because Nefaria’s main team had poor defence!

Su Feng was speechless.

….

Time passed quickly and it was already the 11th.

This was the day of the friendly match between Lower Merion High School and Nefaria High School.

The match was going to be held at Lower Merion.

Although it was an ordinary friendly match, to Su Feng, that was his first time competing in a basketball match.

When the team arrived at Lower Merion High School, Su Feng immediately felt a strong aura of…

The passion that American high school students had towards basketball.

That included too many people, the sounds of drums, the explosions of firecrackers…

Cough, cough.

From the school gate to the basketball court, Su Feng saw countless students carrying fan merchandise, ready to cheer for their basketball team.

The entire school was as though they were holding a festive celebration.

“Welcome to Lower Merion!”

After reaching the basketball court based on the staff’s directions, the first thing Su Feng saw was the head coach of Lower Merion High School, Gregg Downer.

Meanwhile, just as the head coach of Nefaria High School, Tony Johnson, was about to head over to meet Gregg Downer, Downer suddenly smiled and gave way to him…

Then a loud piece of music was played.

On the basketball court, the cheerleading team of Lower Merion High School began to cheer and dance passionately.

The atmosphere in the court was extremely high.

One could only feel the excitement from the adrenaline when one was personally in the court.

“Welcome to Lower Merion.” After the performance by the cheerleading team, Gregg Downer walked forward to shake hands with Tony Johnson.

Meanwhile, Su Feng heard some comments from the students from Lower Merion High School who came to cheer their school team on.

“This is the team that lost to us by 58 points last year?”

“All the best, Kobe. You will definitely get 100 points today!”

“Sigh, I hope Nefaria can last a bit longer today. If not, I will have to go on a date with my girlfriend.”

“All the best, Nefaria, I believe that you will only lose by 60 points!”

Su Feng could hear the comments extremely clearly as the audience seats were extremely close to the basketball court.

However, Su Feng was puzzled over the fact that the players from Nefaria High School were not affected by the comments at all, despite having played for the school for many years…

They could really endure these negative comments?

Since when were American high school students become so reasonable?

Thankfully, Assistant Coach Antony told Su Feng the truth.

The players were all wearing ear plugs.

“The weak are the prey of the strong. This is the law of life, and also the law of basketball. For competitive sports, you shall be mocked if you cannot beat others. We are used to these comments.” Antony smiled as he patted Su Feng’s shoulder.

Su Feng was speechless.

Why did they act as though… were they weaklings?

When Su Feng accompanied the rest of his team to the changing room to change into his uniform, he did not realize that someone was staring at him all along.

“He is the Chinese foreign student who Kobe claimed to be better than Doner and Schwartz?” Gregg Downer said as he narrowed his eyes.

“Dad… Ugh, Mister Gregg, I don’t think you should take Kobe’s words for real,” said Drew Downer, the assistant of Gregg Downer.

Gregg smiled. After patting Drew’s shoulder, he asked curiously, “What do you think?”

“Ever since Kobe recommended this Chinese player named Su, I went over to Nefaria High School to investigate him.

“The records stated that he was merely an ordinary player in the backup team of Nefaria High School for the first two years.

“Therefore, I don’t believe that he is better than Doner and Schwartz.

“Nefaria is not even a school strong in basketball. If they had an excellent player like him, I don’t think they would put him in the backup team.

“Moreover, while investigating his background, I realized that Su is pretty famous in Nefaria because of a courageous act last semester. This incident was even reported on Philadelphia’s newspaper,” said Drew seriously as he opened his notebook.

After hearing Drew’s explanation, Gregg smiled and said, “Drew, you are growing; however, based on this…”

“I definitely won’t come to a conclusion based on this. However, Coach, please think carefully. If Su is really as good as what Kobe said, with his popularity, would he be underrated until today?

“In my opinion, he should be on good terms with Kobe. Because they are good friends, before this friendly match, Kobe wanted to care about his good friend.

“I think Nefaria allowed him to come for the match because they wanted to reward him for the courageous act last semester.

“To give him a chance to compete against his good friend,” analyzed Drew.

It would be a waste of Drew’s talent if he did not become a detective…

“However, Drew, you know Kobe’s temper…” Gregg had a headache when he recalled how Kobe talked back to him when Kobe recommended the Chinese player to him.

If it were someone else, Gregg would have raged.

However, Kobe was the one.

Who asked him to be Kobe Bryant?

Therefore, Gregg held it in. However, in his heart, he was curious about Su Feng. Of course, he did not completely believe what Kobe had said.

After all, to Gregg, when he heard about a Chinese point guard who was able to fight one on one with Kobe, he reacted like how Chinese would react when they heard how Deng Yaping1 played a decent match with a non-professional American table tennis player.

As someone who had once experienced it, Gregg was certain than Kobe was probably only helping his friend.

“Instructor, Su is really very skilled. I hope the school will reward him with a scholarship. I will persuade him to transfer over to our school. I think we will need him to win the state championship!”

Gregg thought it was ridiculous when he remembered how Kobe looked at him with insistence.

Especially after observing Su Feng today, Gregg felt that this Chinese point guard who was rather skinny was definitely not as skilled as Kobe had claimed.

….

After changing into his uniform, Su Feng, who was wearing the number 11 jersey, went back to the court to warm up.

Something worth mentioning was how Su Feng and Kobe saw each other during the warmups. However, they did not greet each other, as they had agreed on this.

They were friends out of the court and enemies on the court.

Nevertheless, because Kobe was participating in this match…

Even though it was only a friendly match, Su Feng saw many of his fans amongst the audience.

Tsk tsk, he was green with envy.

After both teams completed their warm ups, Assistant Coach Antony from Nefaria High School passed the player list to the IT team.

Campa, Wright, John, Thomas, Towns…

Hmm, Su Feng was not on the list!

Actually, the reason why Nefaria had not sent Su Feng for the first round was very simple. Although they had affirmed his potential, Su Feng had yet to completely assimilate into the team.

Tony Johnson was a head coach who liked to ensure that nothing would go wrong. He wanted to help Su Feng get used to the intensity of a high school match by not sending him out first.

Although…

Su Feng felt that it was not necessary…

Su Feng could understand Tony’s reason.

Therefore, he was alright with joining later.

However, Su Feng did not expect Kobe’s reaction at Lower Merion’s side after seeing the first five players sent by Nefaria High School…

Kobe was extremely mad.

Bang!

“What is happening? Why aren’t they sending Su?”

Kobe lost control of his emotions and rushed to the substitute bench. He questioned Tony Johnson furiously.

Seeing this… The entire Nefaria team was stunned.

Aha?

However, thankfully, after this rash moment, Kobe regained his senses…

Therefore, after looking at Su Feng, Kobe returned to the court.

“Why? It’s impossible. The person called John competed against me before, he is definitely not as good as Su…” Thinking about this, Kobe’s mood instantly plummeted.

Meanwhile, at the substitute bench of Lower Merion High School, the Downers showed an “as expected” expression.

Of course, be it Gregg or Drew, none of them wanted to expose Kobe for helping his friend.

That was because to Gregg, a person who was willing to help his friend would definitely be someone who will make great achievements in the future.

….

On the court, after the five members from the Nefaria High School stepped onto court, the five members from Lower Merion also stepped onto court with the cheers from the audience.

David Larsemann, Gary Stewart, Kobe, Doner, Robbie Schwartz…

As a loyal fan, Su Feng was familiar with the first few players of the Lower Merion High School team.

After all, in order to follow Kobe in his past life, Su Feng had read a lot of details.

Su Feng was extremely familiar with Kobe’s life.

Although the members in this basketball team did not make it to the NBA eventually, that did not mean that Kobe’s teammates were bad at basketball.

In reality, most people only saw the success of the NBA players and neglected the talents who they used to get to where they were.

One’s success relied on thousands of deaths.

This was competitive sports. This was basketball.

Cruel, merciless, and cold.

Cough, back to the topic.

On the court, although Nefaria’s small forward, John, was a little confused from Kobe’s actions earlier on, after seeing how he was a little disappointed, John, who was going against Kobe, felt more relieved…

Last year, John was defeated completely.

Initially, John had a relatively pretty girlfriend. However, she broke up with him after watching the game between Nefaria and Lower Merion.

“I don’t like someone lousy like you!”

John was depressed for a rather long time because of that.

Could she be more understanding? He was not the only one who was defeated by Kobe!

Regrettably, Su Feng did not know what was going on in John’s mind.

If he did, Su Feng would definitely tell him. “Young man, you are doomed.”

That was because Su Feng knew Kobe too well.

Kobe had prepared for this competition for a long time.

In Su Feng’s past life, when Kobe met an opponent whom he was interested in, his performance would be better than usual.

Su Feng knew that John was an unlucky person who would probably lose very badly that day.

Rest in peace, friend!

….

On the court, when the referee threw the ball to start the competition, Su Feng could not bear to continue watching.

Oh, poor John!

Kobe managed to get the ball and Lower Merion High School was the first to attack.

The rules of a high school basketball match were different from NCAA rules. Because it was different within each state, each state had some slight differences in their rules.

Take Pennsylvania as an example. In 1994, Pennsylvania high school basketball matches were conducted in four quarters with each quarter lasting eight minutes.

This duration was done to protect the young basketball players. After all, all of them were still undergoing puberty.

Moreover, similar to the NCAA, after the changes made in 1993, the high school basketball matches had a 30-second shot clock length.

This rule was to help the young point guards get sufficient time and also develop their observation skills.

In Su Feng’s past life, some people thought that American high school students were able to beat the CBA…

However, in reality, these people did not understand professional basketball at all.

They did not understand the basketball games played in American high schools either.

That was because the differences between American high school basketball players were very drastic. Take Kobe for example, he was able to play for hours and had mastered all types of techniques. However, for someone like Towns, who was only 176 cm tall and weighed 68 kg…

Garnett, who was about to compete in the NBA the following year, was an example. In high school, do you know the profiles of the opponents he faced?

Apart from rare occasions when opponents were taller than two meters, most of them were about 190 cm. Moreover, the American instructors did not encourage players to train intensively during puberty, so most of the players had similar body types…

Therefore, to Su Feng, high school matches were nothing compared to the CBA standard…

Of course, the match looked better than the CBA…

That was because jumpers were very common in the United States.

Talking about that, Su Feng had yet to practise dunking…

Su-completely immersed in brick shots-Feng.

Turning his attention back to the court, Schwartz, the point guard of Lower Merion High School, was in possession of the ball. Although Schwartz would not manage to become famous in the future, Su Feng had a deep impression of him.

It should be said that he was very familiar to all fans of Kobe.

Huh?

Don’t recognize him?

Don’t recognize him? How dare you say that you are Kobe’s fan!

Schwartz was renowned because he was the first person in Kobe’s basketball career who received his “death glare”.

In Su Feng’s past life, he was grouped with Kobe in a three versus three training session. However, when there was an opportunity for them to score, Schwartz did not pass the ball to Kobe and chose to attack on his own.

In the end, he did not score and Kobe’s team lost.

As a result… according to Jeremy Treat, the assistant coach of Lower Merion High School, Kobe stared at Schwartz for a total of one hour and 27 minutes!

Goodness me, how much resilience was that?

Therefore, after that incident, Schwartz became a robot who was in charge of passing the ball.

In Lower Merion, he was in charge of tasks similar to those of robots.

Dribble the ball past the half court, pass it to Kobe, and stand aside.

Oh, talked too much.

Back to the topic.

During the first attack of Lower Merion, Schwartz passed the ball to Kobe after dribbling it past the half court.

Kobe, in remembrance of his father, changed into uniform number 33.

Hmm… In remembrance of his father. Su Feng felt that something was wrong.

On the court, Kobe dribbled with his right hand, and after changing his direction in the last minute, he avoided John, who was trying to intercept.

John was only 186 cm tall and his arm span was quite average. In addition, he was fearful of Kobe and therefore did not dare to stretch his hand to intercept.

Su Feng felt that his ex-girlfriend had made the right choice to break up with him. That was because he was really useless and timid.

In Su Feng’s opinion, even though he was unable to defend, he ought to treat the match with a correct attitude.

Kobe, who went into the free throw lane, demonstrated his talent. He leaped up with one hand and dunked the ball.

At this moment, Campa, the center of Nefaria High School who was watching from below, looked like Su Feng three months ago.

Thankfully, because of getting closer with Kobe, Kobe did not treat Su Feng so cruelly.

Su Feng was very thankful.

That was because Kobe’s talent was…

Way too terrifying.

In Su Feng’s past life, Zhang Weiping, Instructor Zhang, became Kobe’s fan for a reason.

During that time period, although Kobe was still lacking in terms of technique and strength, he was extremely charismatic and attracted a lot of fans.

Zero versus two. Based on the rules, the away team was mentioned first, followed by the home team.

Kobe’s dunk caused the entire sports hall to erupt in excitement. John, who was once defeated by Kobe, felt helpless. He was not able to hold the ball properly during his attack because of Kobe.

After intercepting, Kobe counterattacked from soup to nuts. Just as he reached the bottom of the net, he leaped and turned 180 degrees in midair before dunking!

Terrifying!

To be objective, in Pennsylvania’s high school basketball games, Kobe was undefeatable.

Unfortunately, Su Feng was unable to get an incense stick before the match. If he had one, he would have lit up a stick for John.

Good luck, child, believe in yourself!

Clang!

Kobe intercepted again. Towns, the point guard of Nefaria, just managed to dribble past half court and Kobe charged towards him.

In a panic, Towns could not even dribble properly.

Kobe immediately intercepted it and made a shot.

It was a super impressive match.

Three consecutive shots.

Hearing the sound produced by the vibrations of the net, Su Feng knew that Kobe was very angry. The consequences were serious.

After the three consecutive shots that excited the entire court, before Su Feng could exclaim, Kobe walked towards the substitute bench of Nefaria. He said to head coach Tony Johnson as he pointed at John, “Can you really bear to watch him lose his confidence in basketball for the rest of his life?

“Send Su up, only he can compete against me!”

Su Feng could compete against Kobe?

Tony Johnson and Antony were a little stunned.

….