I was a top student in America.

A short while later, Daryl walked over from the other end of the equipment area.

He wasn't very tall, even shorter than Li Ao, but he had a broad frame, solid muscles all over his body, and his arms were almost as thick as Li Ao's thighs.

Daryl stood in front of Li Ao, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

His gaze wandered aimlessly, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the seam of his trousers, his weight shifting back and forth between his feet.

Even though it was Tai Shorn who sent him to ask Li Ao for help, when he actually stood in front of the person in question, this 1.8-meter-tall strong man backed down.

After Malik finished a set of rope pulldowns, he turned to look at Daryl, wiped his sweat with a towel, and spoke first.

"Leo, Daryl wants to ask you for a favor." Malik gestured towards them, half-jokingly adding, "Tyshawn sent him. You're our team's college counselor now."

With Malik chiming in, Daryl felt more at ease.

He scratched the back of his head and honestly confessed that he had been rejected in the first round of the school he applied to, and he couldn't figure out why.

With other schools to apply to, I'm really afraid of repeating the same mistake.

After listening, Li Ao didn't rush to reply.

"Okay, bring the materials to tonight's training session, and I'll check them out for you first." Li Ao didn't immediately take on all the responsibility.

Daryl nodded repeatedly, stood there for two seconds before reacting, and then turned back to the equipment area.

Malik patted Li Ao on the shoulder: "That's just how this guy is, he's honest, but not good with words."

After saying that, he followed them back to the equipment area.

Li Ao continued to bend over and wipe the guide rails of his Smith machine.

He wasn't in a hurry to talk about money; he wanted to wait until he had reviewed the materials before discussing it further.

Several other members of the basketball team are applying to college. If we can help Daryl with that, he'll be a ready-made boyfriend, and we won't have to worry about customers anymore.

After getting off work, Li Ao walked back to his apartment.

Grandma has already prepared dinner.

Li Ao ate two large bowls of rice, casually tossed the empty bowls into the sink, called out to the house that there would be extra practice that evening, and then hurriedly grabbed his coat and went out.

When we arrived at the stadium, it was still early before training, and there was no one there.

He changed his shoes and started shooting hoops on the court by himself.

Dribbling, shooting, the echo of the basketball hitting the floor reverberated throughout the empty arena.

After only a few shots, the sound of shuffling footsteps came from the direction of the gate.

Li Ao thought Daryl had arrived early, but when he turned around, he saw Jamal strolling in.

This surprised Li Ao a bit.

He caught the bouncing ball and glanced at Jamal.

There's still a while before the team's extra practice.

"I've never seen you arrive early before. Why are you here so early today? Does the arcade close at this hour?"

Li Ao joked.

"I broke up with my girlfriend, and I had nowhere to go, so I decided to come and work up a sweat." Jamal threw his bag to the sidelines and chuckled. "I knew you'd be here, Leo, so I came to hang out with you."

Hearing Jamal's words, Li Ao couldn't help but find it amusing.

Don't let his age fool you; this kid is only in 9th grade, but he's already had several girlfriends and shamelessly calls himself the "love saint" of 63rd Street.

However, this Casanova's life is quite frustrating, as he's always the one who gets cheated on.

But he has an excellent mindset; he can immediately find the next target and keep trying despite repeated failures.

Jamal said he was just there to have fun, but probably influenced by Li Ao, he had already picked up a basketball and started warming up with spot shooting.

After practicing for more than twenty minutes, Daryl, carrying a backpack, finally arrived at the gymnasium as promised.

Li Ao looked up and saw Daryl's broad and sturdy frame, and a strange thought popped into his head.

I wonder who will come out worse if he and Tae-Sean bump into each other.

Of course, this is just a casual thought; helping the other person solve their college application problems is the most important thing.

Daryl originally intended to hand over the materials directly, but seeing Jamal next to Li Ao, he abruptly changed direction and walked to the other side of the field, pretending to organize his backpack.

After dawdling for quite a while, he finally came over slowly, clutching a stack of printing papers, and handed them to Li Ao.

"It's those materials I mentioned before, please... could you please take a look?" His voice was soft and he stuttered a little.

Li Ao took it and nodded: "Okay, don't be shy, I won't charge you now, let's talk about it after I've looked at the materials."

Daryl quickly turned and left, and the two then each occupied one side of the basket to practice, without saying another word.

At this moment, Jamal came over, wiping his sweat with a towel, looked at Li Ao, then at Daryl, and asked in a low, curious voice:

"Leo, what did Daryl give you? Are you two close?"

"I'm not familiar with him, I'll watch his things for him." Li Ao folded the papers and stuffed them into his backpack.

"It's about college applications, I thought he was going to cause you trouble."

"Why are you causing me trouble? I didn't do anything to him." Li Ao was baffled.

"He's a starting point guard. What if he's afraid you'll take his position and tries to intimidate you first? There are tons of these cliques and backstabbing issues in basketball teams," Jamal analyzed seriously.

Li Ao was too lazy to argue with him. He glanced at the shy Daryl and continued practicing.

……

Coach Durant usually doesn't come to the extra practice sessions in the evenings.

The teaching assistant was also absent.

Only Captain Tayshaun, with a whistle around his neck, led everyone in training.

Including the extra time he had to arrive early, Li Ao had already been in the stadium for more than two hours.

During breaks, he didn't join in his teammates' chatter. Instead, he sat alone on the sidelines, drinking water and working on math problems in his workbook.

He didn't put the book back in his bag and let out a long sigh of relief until Ty Shore blew the whistle to end the session.

-

[Continued high-intensity training... Stamina +0.1]

[Stamina: 100.0]

[Stamina reaches 100! Unlock the term - Deep Sleep]

[Effect of this entry: Your sleep quality will be greatly improved; you will enter a deep sleep state as soon as you fall asleep and be able to quickly recover your energy during sleep.]

"Finally, I've improved my stamina too!"

Faced with the prompt that popped up on the panel in front of him, Li Ao suppressed his excitement and began to check the use of the new entry.

"Deep sleep?"

This should be the most useful term for him right now.

This means that he can not only fall asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow, but also achieve deep rest in a very short time.

The physical exhaustion from a day of high-intensity training can be recovered with a short nap.

Moreover, what he lacks most right now is precisely time.

With classes, practice problems, part-time jobs, and team training, my daily schedule is packed with activities, and I sometimes have to stay up late at night.

If you can recover after sleeping for two or three hours, it's like having a lot more time than others every day.

Thinking about this, Li Ao began to get excited, and even started planning what time he would get up tomorrow.

He's been working hard all day and is exhausted, so he'll go home early tonight to test the power of this new term.

Li Ao muttered to himself, and without further delay, picked up his schoolbag and headed home.

Jamal followed him around like a puppy.

The early winter wind in Chicago made the two of them shiver. On their way home, two streetlights were broken, and the surroundings were deserted.

As Li Ao turned into the alley leading to his apartment building, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure ahead, walking quickly with his neck hunched.

In the dim light, he recognized the figure from behind—

It was DeMarcus!

……