I was a top student in America.

As soon as Li Ao finished speaking, Jaylen slammed the ball over to him.

"Ten balls per person, taking turns throwing, changing positions for each ball, whoever makes the most wins." Jaylen pointed to the bottom corner, "Let's start here."

Jamal tossed his backpack to the sidelines, then stood next to the basket, looking like he was going to be the referee: "Alright, I'll fetch the balls for you two."

Training had just ended, and the lights in the gymnasium were still on. Groups of teammates didn't rush to leave, but gathered around to watch the excitement.

Li Ao caught the ball and glanced at the data on the panel.

【Strength: 101.9】

[Agility: 102.8]

"It's a good time to see how well the training has gone."

As he thought to himself, he slowly swayed to the bottom corner.

In the first round, both sides hit the corners.

"Again!"

Jay Chou ran to a 45-degree angle, bent his knees and jumped, completing the movement in one smooth motion.

"Swish," the hollow part enters the net.

Li Ao walked to the same spot, lowered his shoulders, raised his wrist, and lightly flicked his fingertips.

Unfortunately, the force was a little too much, and the ball hit the back edge of the rim and bounced away.

Jaylen scoffed and shoved the next ball into his hand: "I thought someone who scores four in three minutes wouldn't miss an open shot."

Li Ao ignored him and walked to the next spot.

In the third round, at the top of the arc, Jaylen made another three-pointer.

When it was Li Ao's turn to shoot, the ball bounced around the rim of the hoop before rolling out.

After three rounds of shooting, Jaylen made all three, while Li Ao only made one.

"We're two behind, Leo." Jamal scratched his head, sweating for him. "This..."

As Jay Chou passed by Li Ao, he muttered, "I told you, you might not beat me in a three-point contest."

Li Ao remained silent.

Jay Chou seems to have gotten some kind of boost lately, and his game has definitely improved.

But right now, he has no intention of losing that ten yuan.

"What's the rush? There are still seven balls left."

This time, Li Ao didn't rush to make a move. He took his time to find the right rhythm before jumping.

The moment he pressed his wrist, he knew it was there just by feeling it.

With a "whoosh," it went into the net hollow.

Jaylen stood in the same spot, pulled up and shot. His release was still decisive, but the ball hit the back rim with a "thud" and flew away.

This was his first mistake of the night.

"Hey!" Jamal immediately perked up, "Three to two, just one more to go!"

In the next three rounds, Li Ao hit every shot; Jay Chou, however, lost his aim and only managed to make one.

The score was instantly reversed, and Jaylen's arrogance gradually crumbled.

"Ouch—" Jamal gasped dramatically. "Jaylen, what did you just say? You can't even make open shots, what are you going to do on the court?"

"Shut up!" Jaylen yelled at Jamal.

In the eighth round, Jaylen was clearly getting anxious.

Before jumping, he subconsciously took a few extra small steps to prepare, causing his center of gravity to lean forward slightly.

The ball slammed into the rim without any doubt, bouncing high into the air.

Even so, he still wouldn't back down: "There are still two balls left."

On the other side, Li Ao remained unmoved, maintaining his original rhythm as he jumped and shot.

Another swirl.

Six to four.

Jay Chou's lips were pressed tightly together, and he fell completely silent.

In the last two rounds, Jaylen lost all his momentum and only managed to score one by gritting his teeth, while Li Ao scored all of them steadily.

Eight to five, a resounding victory.

After missing the final shot, Jaylen stood frozen beyond the three-point line for a full two or three seconds. He cursed under his breath, kicked the basketball at his feet in frustration, and turned to leave.

"Hey, Jaylen," Li Ao called out from behind.

"What's wrong?"

Jay Chou turned his head away with a dark expression.

Li Aochong held out his hand, demanding payment: "Where's my ten yuan?"

Jay Chou suddenly stopped, stood still for two seconds, and reluctantly reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled banknote.

He walked back and slapped Li Ao's palm hard, making a crisp "smack" sound.

"It's just ten yuan," Jaylen said, glaring at Li Ao. "We'll compete again next time."

Li Ao didn't stand on ceremony and generously stuffed the money into his pocket: "I'm always ready to play."

Not only did he get rid of Jay Chou, but he also made ten yuan in the process. It was a double blessing.

We're one step closer to getting the winter allowance.

Li Ao bent down, picked up his schoolbag from the sidelines, and walked home.

Jamal grabbed his bag and jogged after him.

As they approached the stadium entrance, Jamal couldn't help but lower his voice and say, "Leo, those last few shots of yours were really solid. Jaylen's face turned green just now."

Stop making fun of people.

"Hey, I'm just telling the truth."

The other end of the court was empty. Jaylen, with the ball tucked under his arm, stood outside the three-point line, muttering to himself as he stared towards the goal:

"Why is it that his shooting accuracy keeps improving, even after missing two shots in a row, his mentality doesn't falter at all?"

"It's normal for you to lose to him."

Taisean appeared behind Jaylen at some point and patted him on the shoulder: "You've been practicing well lately, making it into the top five isn't bad."

"One day I will surpass him."

Jaylen stared at the three-point line on the floor and gritted his teeth as he threw out a sentence.

He dribbled the ball again, retreated to the baseline corner, and raised his arm once more.

……

During the lunch break the next day, Li Ao sat in his seat and started working on the stack of ICTM practice questions that Green had lent him.

Before he'd even looked at two questions, DeMarcus strolled in down the hallway.

He was holding a half-eaten hot dog in his hand, plopped down on the chair next to him, and munched on it.

"I haven't seen you for several days, where have you been?" Li Ao asked casually.

"Hey, something came up at home. You see..." DeMarcus mumbled dismissively.

He peeked at the dense symbols on the exam paper, then immediately pulled his neck back: "Never mind, forget I asked."

Li Ao glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions.

Mr. Brown had something to do this afternoon, so the math class was changed to self-study.

Li Ao thought he could take this opportunity to do some practice problems in peace, but just before class started, Tai Shawn suddenly appeared at the classroom door.

Ignoring the surprised looks around him, he walked straight up to Li Ao, pulled a roll of ten-dollar bills from his pocket, and slammed them onto the desk.

"your."

After saying that, he turned and left without looking back.

As soon as Ty Shore's footsteps disappeared down the corridor, someone in the front row turned around.

Did Taeshorn just give him money?

"I saw it too, it's a huge roll, it must cost several tens of dollars."

"What do you mean tens of dollars? It's at least over a hundred!"

"So Li Ao was one of the 'Deacon's' men."

"I really couldn't tell..."

The discussion spread from the front row to the back, with several pairs of eyes fixed on the roll of banknotes on Li Ao's desk.

DeMarcus stood there, holding half a hot dog, with a sausage still in his mouth.

He nudged Li Ao with his arm.

"Bro, what's going on?"

"What's wrong?"

"Ty Shawn gave you money?" DeMarcus lowered his voice, glancing warily around. "So much money, what did you do for him?"

Recalling the scene where Li Ao challenged Tai Shorn in the cafeteria, he felt uneasy.

"Help him revise his personal statement." Li Ao said without looking up.

"Personal? Homework?" DeMarcus's voice rose a beat. "Someone like TySean who hands in homework?"

Li Ao was too lazy to waste his breath, so he simply pretended not to hear and continued reading the questions.

But the more nonchalant he seemed, the more unfathomable DeMarcus found him.

He stared at Li Ao for a long time, but couldn't find the slightest flaw. All the gossip in his head was stuck in his throat.

"Fine, fine, if you say you'll do your homework, then you'll do your homework." He scoffed, stuffed the rest of the hot dog into his mouth, and stopped asking questions.

But judging from the force with which he chewed the hot dog, he clearly didn't believe it.

Lin Jinni, sitting in the second row by the window, never turned around.

But from the moment Tyshaun entered until she left, her pen remained untouched.

The whispers around her, such as "running errands" and "joining the gang," all drifted into her ears, and Lin Jinni had only two words in her mind.

Nonsense.

He got a perfect score in math on the midterm exam, was the first person to arrive at school every morning, and would run errands for TySean.

Lin Jinni snapped out of her thoughts and her gaze returned to the draft paper.

Li Ao collected the money on the table, ignoring the stares coming from those around him.

Let others think what they want; it won't stop him from practicing his coding problems anyway.

Besides, in the South District, a bit of mystery isn't necessarily a bad thing.

He reopened the ICTM past exam papers, with only one thing on his mind.

Once Brown gets back tomorrow, I'll quickly finalize the ICTM registration.

……