A brilliant basketball journey, a dazzling spectacle.

Did she recognize Qin Yu or not?

"Hey, Zhou Biao?" Su Lingjuan tugged at Qin Yu's sleeve. "What are you looking at? Do you know that pretty volunteer?"

"...No, that doesn't count." Qin Yu withdrew his gaze, his mind in turmoil, but he tried to keep his tone calm. "Let's go back. The important matches are coming up soon."

"Oh," Su Lingjuan replied, then glanced back at the direction Xin Zhiyan had left in, pursed her lips, and followed Qin Yu.

"Zhou Biao?" Xin Zhiyan was a little confused. Wasn't that Qin Yu?

When they returned to Wu Yun and Du Dewu's side, Du Dewu looked at Su Lingjuan, who had returned with Qin Yu, and the teasing in his eyes became even stronger. Wu Yun, on the other hand, looked bewildered, glancing at Qin Yu and then at Su Lingjuan, not daring to ask any further questions.

"And who is this?" Du Dewu asked.

"Su Lingjuan. A friend," Qin Yu introduced briefly. "Wu Yun, Du Dewu, Qin Yu's teammates."

Su Lingjuan greeted everyone with a natural and generous air, but her attention was quickly drawn to the court: "Wow, the atmosphere is quite lively! Which team is the strongest?"

Her interruption temporarily calmed the turmoil in Qin Yu's mind. Qin Yu forced himself to concentrate and looked at the basketball court.

The next match was between the "second strongest" team from Qingyang District and another local team. The Qingyang District team was clearly superior, with fluid offense and tough defense, quickly widening the score gap and winning without any suspense. Their star player was a shooting guard about the same height as Qin Yu, with crisp movements, accurate shooting, and a condescending, cold gaze. At the end of the game, he glanced specifically at Qin Yu's team, his gaze lingering longest on Wu Yun.

"It seems everyone's targeting you," Du Dewu said to Wu Yun.

Wu Yun smiled wryly: "Qin Yu would rather he hadn't appeared in that video."

After the first round of matches concluded, including the teams that received a bye like Qin Yu, seven teams remained. The host announced that the second round draw would result in one team receiving a bye again.

This time, the volunteers were the ones drawing lots. Qin Yu saw Xin Zhiyan. She took the lottery box from Qin Wenbin and walked to the center of the venue. The spotlight shone on her, and she lowered her head slightly, reached in, and took out a card.

She glanced at it, then held up the card, facing the audience, her voice clearly amplified through the microphone throughout the venue:

"The team that received a bye in the second round is—"

She paused, her gaze seemingly sweeping across the crowd.

"Team Number One".

Number one? Qin Yu immediately looked at the battle card stubs that Qin Yu and his friends had filled out earlier. Qin Yu and his friends were number six.

Not Qin Yu and his ilk.

A murmur of disappointment and envy arose from the audience.

"Please have the captain of Team One come forward to confirm," Xin Zhiyan said.

A tall boy in a Qingyang District team uniform stood up; it was the same indifferent shooting guard from before. His face was expressionless, as if he took it for granted. He walked up to Xin Zhiyan, glanced at the card, nodded, and turned to walk back.

Xin Zhiyan completed her task, returned the lottery box to the staff, and retreated to the sidelines. Her position wasn't too far from Qin Yu and the others; through the surging crowd, Qin Yu could see her quiet profile.

Qin Wenbin then drew the pairings for the second round.

"Next match, team number six, against—" He glanced at the card in his hand, then looked up, his gaze seemingly sweeping over Qin Yu and the others intentionally or unintentionally.

"Team number eleven."