I was a top student in America.

The whistle blew, and the basketball team selection officially began.

The first activity was a half-court shuttle run, followed by a timed spot shooting exercise.

Coach Durant stood on the sidelines with a stopwatch in hand, marking each set with a mark on the scoreboard, his face grim throughout.

Of the more than twenty new recruits on trial, three exceeded the time limit for shuttle runs, and four had poor shooting skills and were kicked out of the gymnasium.

After two rounds, there were still seventeen or eighteen people left on the field.

Durant threw the scoreboard on the table, and Tyson raised his chin.

"The last item. Each person will be paired with the captain one-on-one, one attacking and one defending, each with one chance."

The crowd erupted in uproar.

"Tycoon?" someone muttered to the person next to them, "He averaged four blocks per game last year and was the best defensive player in the blue zone. How are we supposed to compete with that..."

No one responded.

Tai Shon stood there with his arms crossed, expressionless.

The first player to take the court was a small black guard who was quite fast, but he was no match for Tayshaun.

First, Tayshaun had the ball. He used a probing step to create half a body distance and then went for a layup. The smaller player didn't even have time to jump.

The roles reversed, and the shorter player had just made a change of direction when the ball was no longer in his hands.

TySean caught the ball with one hand and casually tossed it back, without even glancing at him.

Coach Durant picked up the scoreboard on the table and wrote a couple of lines without even looking up.

The second one who went up was noticeably bigger, and looked like he had been training.

On the defensive end, he gritted his teeth and took two steps, but was still easily pushed aside by Tayshaun, who pulled up and made a mid-range jumper.

The offense was slightly better; at least they managed to protect the ball.

But when Tayshaun's long arms covered him, he couldn't even see the rim, and when he forced a shot, it was an absurd airball.

Coach Durant kept his head down, taking notes, and said nothing.

The third and fourth results were similar; they were all easily crushed.

The people waiting on the sidelines grew quieter and quieter, with occasional whispers between them.

A tall guy at the front of the line turned to the person next to him and said, "This isn't a fucking tryout. If I could stop Taeshone, what the hell would I be doing here?"

Coach Durant gave him a cold look: "If you can't defend, that's your problem. If you have a problem with that, you can get lost now."

The tall man immediately shut up and turned away sullenly to stretch his wrists.

Jamal sat down next to Li Ao and leaned in to whisper:

"See that guy over there? His name is Jalen Washington, he transferred from Bridgeport High School. I heard he's a substitute there, and he's probably the best player among the guys who came for the tryouts."

Li Ao didn't respond.

Jamal turned his head and saw that he was intently flipping through a book with a cover covered in mathematical symbols.

"Damn, Leo, you're still watching this at a time like this?"

"Hmm," Li Ao turned a page, "Since I'm just waiting anyway, I'll do a couple of practice problems."

Jamal opened his mouth, then swallowed his words back.

He glanced at the fifth unlucky guy being brutally beaten by Ty Shawn on the field, then looked at Li Ao who was looking down at a book, and felt that the scene was a bit strange.

When it was Jalen Washington's turn to play, the people on the bench visibly sat up straight.

This guy is really good.

Although he couldn't stop Tayshaun on the defensive end either, he held off three attempts before being broken through, which was much better than the previous ones.

When it was his turn to attack, Jaylen made two large crossover steps in a row, finding a very small opening to force a pull-up jumper.

"Bang!"

The ball hit the front edge of the rim and bounced high out.

Jaylen stared at the basket for two seconds in frustration before turning around and walking back with a dark expression.

So far, everyone's score column is zero.

Coach Durant glanced at the sidelines, his gaze lingering on a corner—a tall, thin Asian boy was looking down at a math book.

Where did this bookworm come from?

He frowned and pointed with his hand:

"Hey, it's your turn. Go on stage."

Jamal nudged Li Ao with his elbow: "Brother Leo, he's talking to you."

Li Ao closed the book, put it on the floor, and without the slightest hesitation, walked straight to the court without even warming up.

Jamal watched his retreating figure, swallowed hard, and thought, "Damn, no wonder he's Leo, he's got a big heart."

Several pairs of eyes swept over, sizing up Li Ao: his shoulders were not broad, his arms were thin with little flesh, and at about 1.85 meters tall, he was not considered tall among tall people.

Jalen Washington stood on the sidelines, glanced at him, his lips twitched slightly, but he didn't say anything.

At the other end of the bench, the fat Malik was chewing on a twisted candy. When he saw Li Ao walk onto the field, he stopped chewing.

Li Ao walked up to Taishoen and stood in front of him.

TySean was more than half a head taller than him, looking down at him in a low voice that could only be heard between the two of them.

"I won't hold back."

Li Ao nodded.

It's just one attack and one defense, come on.

The whistle blew.

Li Aoxian continued to defend.

Tayshaun caught the ball with one hand, skipping even the probing step this time. He feinted with his left shoulder and then easily beat his opponent on the right.

Li Ao had just taken a half step to the side when he collided with him solidly. It felt like he had been hit by a car, and he instantly lost his balance and was forcibly pushed aside.

Layup, score.

From receiving the ball to it going into the basket, it took less than four seconds.

The players on the sidelines exchanged glances. Their defense was about the same as theirs.

Some people were already staring at the ceiling out of boredom, waiting for the trial to end.

Jamal clenched his fists and didn't say a word.

The whistle blew again.

Switching between offense and defense.

Li Ao received the ball at the top of the arc outside the three-point line.

TySean lowered his center of gravity, spread his arms, and directly locked the space for breaking through.

With such overwhelming physical advantages in height and wingspan, a direct drive to the basket is tantamount to getting blocked.

Li Ao suddenly thrust out his left foot, about to exert force, when Tai Shawn immediately slid in and blocked his way, forcing him to stop.

Li Ao had no choice but to stop and return to his original position.

"There's no chance at all, they can't break through." Someone muttered from the sidelines.

Li Ao once again adopted the three-threat stance, followed by a large forward turn and a thrust to the right.

Tayshaun's defense was airtight, relentlessly tracking him as he moved laterally, with the two always less than an arm's length apart.

There was still no space to jump. Li Ao pulled the ball back in front of him again.

Jaylen scoffed from the sidelines, looked away, and didn't even bother to watch.

But Durant's eyes never left the court.

He discovered that this Asian kid had failed twice, yet he hadn't dropped the ball or lost his balance. Moreover, he could quickly regroup after each setback without losing his composure.

While laymen might see the spectacle, Durant saw the intricacies.

This kid has a pretty good mental fortitude.

The third attempt.

Li Ao stared directly at Ty Shawn, maintaining his dribbling rhythm, his right shoulder slightly lowered, his posture exactly the same as the previous two times.

Taishaun instinctively adjusted his center of gravity to prepare for a block.

At that moment, Li Ao suddenly burst out, stomping his right foot hard on the ground, the sole of his shoe making a sharp scraping sound on the floor.

He sprang out, his speed increasing dramatically, making him a completely different person from before.

Tai Shorn didn't expect Li Ao to have such explosive power and was caught off guard.

But his reaction was extremely quick; he instinctively moved sideways to fill the gap.

But it was still a little too late; the two had already separated by half a step.

Jalen Washington’s gaze snapped back.

He's going to get past TaeSean?!

However, Li Ao did not penetrate the paint.

The instant he pulled away, he slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a sudden stop.

With knees slightly bent, he leaped into the air, leaning back as far as possible, and released the ball overhead.

With a roar, TySean stretched his long arms forward with all his might and lunged forward.

However, the two were a bit far apart, and the angle of their backward lean was too large. His fingertips barely grazed the bottom of the ball, missing it by half an inch.

The ball traced a high arc in the air, spinning as it plummeted into the net.

"Whoosh!"

A crisp, hollow sound.

Jamal stood there, mouth agape, fists clenched, frozen in place.

Durant stopped writing and stared at the still-swaying basketball net.

After landing, TySean staggered a step and stood there for half a second, still holding the outstretched hand position.

He slowly lowered his hand and glanced at Li Ao.

He remained silent.

On the bench, the half-eaten twisted candy in Malik's mouth fell to the ground with a "plop".

Li Ao rubbed his hands together and turned to walk towards the sidelines.

After taking a couple of steps, my calves felt weak.

"Damn it, thankfully it was just one attack and one defense, otherwise I would have been exposed if we had fought another round..."

The silence didn't last long.

People on the sidelines had already started whispering among themselves.

That's normal—among the ten or so people ahead of him, there were some taller than Li Aozhuang and even more taller than him, none of them scored a single goal.

With his physique, what makes him so special?

Jalen Washington was the first to lose his temper.

"It was pure blind luck!" he shouted. "I couldn't break through the first two times, and in the end I just closed my eyes and threw myself backward. What's so great about that?"

He spoke as if he were talking to someone next to him, but his voice was so loud that everyone in the room could hear him.

Durant glanced at him and asked, "When you forced your shot, did you create space?"

Jay Chou was speechless for a long time, his face turning red and white in turns.

His missed shot was much more embarrassing than Li Ao's.

There was complete silence all around.

Coach Durant's gaze returned to Li Ao.

"Are you a senior in high school? Why didn't you join the basketball team before? Where did you usually play?"

Li Ao had just walked back to his seat when he heard this and turned around.

"I've never played basketball before. I trained intensively for half a month to get into the basketball team."

This is the truth.

If it weren't for the system, with his small frame, he wouldn't even be able to get past Tai Shon, and he definitely wouldn't have had any hope of joining the basketball team.

But this casual remark was thrown out.

The trainees on the sidelines stared at each other, as if they had heard something unbelievable, unable to utter a single word.

……