I was a top student in America.

"Jaylen Washington..."

When his name was called first, Jaylen jumped up from the bench, his face full of impatience.

He ripped off his warm-up jacket and tossed it aside, then started stretching his legs right there in the locker room.

Durant then called out two more names, but still didn't call out Li Ao.

Clearly, he wasn't included in this rotation.

Li Ao sat quietly in the corner without moving, still pondering the plane geometry problem he hadn't finished solving on the bus.

This problem has several parts; he had already figured out the first three parts in the first half, and now he only needed to take the last step—

Given that the diagonals of an inscribed quadrilateral intersect at a point P, prove that the circumcircles of the four triangles intersect at the same point.

The key to this problem is which theorem to use.

Having failed with conventional approaches, he decided to try a different method, intending to directly apply the inscribed angle theorem.

And so, even as he walked out of the locker room with the rest of the team and the whistle blew for the second half, Li Ao's mind never stopped racing.

He automatically blocked out the squeaking sound of his sneakers rubbing against the floor, mixed with the commotion from the stands.

Once you understand the properties of an inscribed quadrilateral, the step that got you stuck suddenly becomes clear.

By the inscribed angle theorem, angles subtended by the same arc are equal...

The transformed image in my mind is crystal clear.

"Finally, it's been proven..."

Li Ao let out a long sigh of relief before raising his head and glancing at the field.

At this point, the third quarter was already halfway through, and the point difference had not only not narrowed, but was heading towards 20 points.

In an 8-minute quarter of a high school basketball game, this is basically a guaranteed loss.

Jay Chou was panting heavily on the court, which was definitely a lot of effort, but it was all just pointless.

He had just been double-teamed and got blocked, and then managed to steal the ball and launch a counter-attack, but halfway through, he somehow managed to dribble the ball up the court himself.

In his haste to retreat on defense, he slapped the opposing guard on the arm, giving away two free throws.

As for the coach of Simon Academy on the other side, he was already smiling broadly on the sidelines with his arms crossed.

Jamal, unable to bear it any longer, muttered a curse:

"FXXK, is he playing ball or hitting someone?"

Li Ao glanced at Jay Chou twice and smiled:

"The movements were a bit rough, but at least the attitude was there, which shows that they were quite proactive."

Jamal turned and glanced at him, his face clearly saying, "Are you alright?"

Li Ao was too lazy to watch the amateurs fighting each other anymore.

Having finished the questions, he took out a crumpled little piece of paper from his pocket, carefully unfolded it, and continued to busy himself with his own things.

The note was covered with a dense row of English words, all of which were mathematical terms he had painstakingly memorized from the competition book over the past two days.

permutation, combinatorics, modular arithmetic…

These are all frequently used terms in math competitions, and he hasn't memorized them all yet.

Jamal curiously leaned closer, glanced at the bunch of scribbles, wisely shut his mouth, and obediently turned his neck to continue enduring the torment of the game.

The point difference on the court slid all the way to 20 points.

With four minutes left in the third quarter, Durant finally lost his temper and, with a dark expression, demanded a timeout from the referee.

He glanced at the bench, his gaze lingering on Li Ao for a moment.

"Li, you go up and replace Jay Chou."

Upon hearing this, Li Ao calmly folded the note, put it back in his pocket, patted his basketball shorts, and stood up straight.

……

When Jaylen was substituted, his face was ashen, and he glared at Li Ao as he passed by.

Li Ao completely ignored him, went straight to the scorer's table and called out his number. Only after the referee blew the whistle did he leisurely run onto the field.

In the first few rounds after he entered the game, he obediently followed the main players' tactics.

When defending, keep your footwork close to your marker; when attacking, crouch in the weak side corner to create space for the starters.

He played for three minutes and didn't even touch the ball.

After three quarters, the scoreboard showed 52 to 32, a difference of 20 points.

There are only 8 minutes left.

At the start of the final quarter, Simon Academy continued to focus on shutting down TyShaughnessy, while the Chinese-American substitute who temporarily filled in on the perimeter...

He had such a low profile that nobody even gave him a second glance.

In this round, Li Ao was positioned at the 45-degree angle on the weak side. The defender responsible for marking him had most of his body leaning towards the penalty area, taking small steps, ready to cover for Tayshaun at any moment, without even looking in his direction.

At this moment, TySean, who was holding the ball high up, was being squeezed and forced to the corner of the baseline.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Li Ao standing just outside the three-point line, with not a soul in sight within three meters of him.

The basketball whistled past.

Li Ao received the ball, jumped, and relying on his muscle memory, smoothly pulled up for a long-range shot.

The ball flipped in the air, bumped the rim, and finally rolled into the net.

Three points in.

The people at Simon Academy didn't take it seriously at all. Who hasn't scored a lucky shot by sheer luck?

The guard marking Li Ao remained near the free-throw line, maintaining a zone defense, and still gave Li Ao a break.

In the next round, the same scene played out. As soon as TySean was double-teamed, he delivered a powerful bounce pass to the outside without even looking.

This time, Li Ao was more confident. He took his steps early, and the moment the ball entered his hand, his muscle memory was triggered again.

With a relaxed shoulder, a raised wrist, and a flick of the ball, the entire sequence of movements was textbook-perfect.

The basketball traced a beautiful arc and swished through the net with a "whoosh".

Jay Chou, who had been slumped on the bench, suddenly straightened up, his eyes wide open:

"Holy crap, it went in again? What incredible luck!"

The opposing coach couldn't sit still any longer and started yelling at his players, but it was too late to arrange a defensive switch.

Daryl intercepts the ball and passes it to Tayshaun for a quick run.

However, the opposing team quickly returned to defense, and the fast break failed, turning into a positional battle.

This time, amidst the coach's shouts from the sidelines, the defender guarding Li Ao dared not slack off and stuck to him tightly.

Following the tactical plan, Li Ao made a reverse run and headed towards Daryl.

Daryl understood immediately, and with his broad frame, he positioned himself beyond the three-point line, providing a solid screen for Li Ao.

The defender was knocked off balance by Daryl's shoulder, and by the time he got around, Li Ao had already set up his three-point shooting range again.

Knife up and down.

They've made it in again.

Triple crowned!

The Wyndham bench, which had only scored 20 points in three and a half quarters, suddenly erupted.

Jamal jumped up and slapped his thighs with both hands, causing the towels on the entire row of benches to dance like propellers.

Simon Academy's coach's face darkened, and he jumped and stomped around on the sidelines, gesturing wildly to indicate a defensive switch.

But when he shouted that, the player got nervous and missed a mid-range shot.

Taishan grabbed the rebound and passed it directly to Li Ao.

Li Ao received the ball and advanced the ball.

The opposing defense was still extremely quick to recover. The guard guarding him spread his arms, lowered his center of gravity, and positioned himself at the three-point line.

Facing this hot-handed Chinese-American youngster, he was prepared to drive but not shoot.

Unexpectedly, Li Ao suddenly stopped, did a crossover dribble two steps outside the three-point line, and then collected the ball.

SHIT, are you crazy?!

The opposing defender cursed inwardly.

At that distance, a normal person wouldn't even make a move.

Just as the defender was about to pounce, Li Ao had already taken off.

The moment the ball was released, the players on both benches stood up almost simultaneously.

The basketball soared over everyone's heads, tracing a high and far arc.

"Whoosh!"

A crisp sound of the net being swished, the fourth hollow!

The stadium was silent for a full three seconds; time seemed to stand still.

Then a deafening cheer erupted from Wyndham High School.

The Simon Academy head coach angrily ripped the whistle off his neck and gestured for a timeout to the referee.

In just over three minutes, he made four consecutive three-pointers, scoring 12 points.

With their defense gaining momentum, the opponent missed two consecutive shots and committed a turnover, allowing Wyndham to go on a 12-2 run, narrowing the gap from 20 points to 10.

Instead of immediately calling on his players to set up tactics as usual, head coach Durant stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed.

His gaze lingered on Li Ao, who was walking back, and remained fixed on him for a long time.

……