Chapter 132 Playing with a Ball

"Damn it, the fat guy's got a bright future ahead of him!"

Seeing the heavy man snap the small tree in half, Song Nianqiang couldn't help but burst into laughter. What a talent! Meanwhile, the chubby fellow picked himself up looking completely gloomy, brushed the dust off his clothes, and stared melancholically at Song Nianqiang. "Is it really that funny?!"

"Not really... not funny at all! Haha..." Song Nianqiang simply couldn't hold it in. After finally laughing to his heart's content, he squatted on the ground for a long time before managing to stand back up, occasionally still snickering uncontrollably.

Tugging and pulling each other along the way, the two finally reached their destination after nearly half an hour. However, the scene before them was somewhat disappointing to Song Nianqiang. Aside from a small earthen mound, there was nothing else in sight. Even so, the yin energy emanating from that little mound was remarkably potent.

"Looks like this is it. We'd better give the old man a call first," Song Nianqiang suggested to the chubby man just to be safe. The fat guy nodded in agreement; after all, they couldn't be certain what kind of entity was buried inside that mound. If they accidentally let loose some terrifying ghoul, their lives would be forfeit right here on the spot.

The call connected quickly. Song Nianqiang gave a brief rundown of their current situation. The old man on the other end fell silent for a moment before saying to Song Nianqiang, "I advise you not to touch that mound yet. Here's what we'll do—I'm immediately sending a helicopter to your location. It should arrive in just a few hours." To play it safe, the old man instructed the two not to disturb the mound, as Song Nianqiang's life was no trifling matter and concerned the bigger picture.

Though both of them were burning with curiosity to know what lay beneath the mound, they ultimately exercised restraint. Throwing away their lives for something unnecessary would be foolish. Song Nianqiang could sense the gravity in the old man's tone, which meant whatever was buried inside must be extraordinary.

"Let's go. We'll head to the school and wait a few hours. We might as well check out what the school looks like anyway," Song Nianqiang proposed, figuring they couldn't just sit here doing nothing for hours while waiting for the backup.

"That's a fantastic idea! We can go check out some pretty girls, heh heh..." The fat man wore a lewd grin, making Song Nianqiang want to plant a boot right in his rear. Still, his suggestion did sound rather tempting. Heh heh.

The two climbed over the back wall into the school grounds. Since it was still noon, quite a few students were out for physical education class, with multiple groups playing basketball. Initially, Song Nianqiang had only come in with the fat guy to look at pretty girls, but seeing the basketball court gave him a brilliant idea.

"Fatty, how about we go play some basketball to catch the girls' eyes? Look at those girls over there, they're not bad-looking at all." Walking swaggeringly across the sports field, Song Nianqiang pointed out a few schoolgirls standing by the basketball court. The chubby man had already spotted them earlier, so without waiting for a prompt, he waddled straight toward the court.

"Hey beauties, watching the game?" The fat man was far superior to Song Nianqiang when it came to chatting up girls, so this glorious and great task was delegated entirely to him.

"Yeah! Look at that guy in the white sportswear, he plays so cool!" one young girl said, her eyes practically turning into hearts.

"Huh?! Who?!" How dare someone praise another guy's basketball skills right in front of him? Especially with Song Nianqiang standing right beside him! The heavy-set man shot an unfriendly glare toward the court and spotted a fellow in white sportswear weaving back and forth through a crowd like a loach in the water. Well, that was the fat man's internal evaluation of the guy in white.

"You call that skill? That's just because you haven't seen my disciple play. I'll let you witness it right now." The fat man talked a big game. Standing nearby, Song Nianqiang barely managed to suppress the urge to run up and kick his chubby backside. *I'll let this fatty show off for once, but lately, this damn fat guy has been asking for a beating more and more!* Song Nianqiang thought to himself.

"Hey! You in the white shirt, dare to step up for a one-on-one?!" The fat man bellowed at the top of his lungs, loud enough for the entire basketball court to hear. Fortunately, there were no teachers around, otherwise he and Song Nianqiang would have been thrown out of the school instantly.

After sinking a layup, the student in white sportswear finally glanced over toward the fat man and replied with utter disdain, "Just you?"

"Damn it! Say that again if you've got the guts!" The fat man was intensely displeased with his tone. He vowed that if the student in white dared to utter another word, he would march right over and slap him across the face. However, Song Nianqiang didn't want to cause trouble at a school, so he pulled the fat man back by his arm, stepped forward himself, and said in a calm tone, "It's me."

"Let me introduce myself. All my basketball skills were taught by this guy right here. Normally, I'm no match for him on the court, so I'm stepping up to challenge you on his behalf." Song Nianqiang spoke very politely; he didn't want to lose face in front of students younger than himself.

And what he said was indeed the truth. Whenever he and the fat man played basketball, he was almost always the one who lost. However, their brand of basketball wasn't exactly orthodox—they played without strict rules; as long as the ball went in, it counted. Thus, every time, the fat man relied entirely on his sheer physical size to overpower Song Nianqiang. In truth, the fat man only had one real move: the bear hug. Once Song Nianqiang was trapped in his grip, breaking free was practically impossible.

"Fine, I accept your challenge." The student in white sportswear looked arrogant from the start, brimming with confidence in his own skills and completely looking down on Song Nianqiang. Remaining mild-mannered, Song Nianqiang walked onto the court with a smile and took the basketball from a student's hands.

"No extra rules. Each person gets one turn. The moment you lose possession of the ball, your turn ends. How does that sound?" Song Nianqiang smiled benignly at the fellow about to be utterly dominated by him. Yet the oblivious student in white sportswear puffed out his chest and arrogantly replied, "Right up my alley."

Song Nianqiang genuinely had no idea where the guy got such boundless confidence. He was overflowing with it. Even when Song Nianqiang played basketball normally, he always kept a low profile. After all, there's always someone better, and when it came to basketball, there were plenty of people who could run rings around you. He still remembered back in junior high, when he let his ability to dunk go to his head and marched into a residential complex, boasting that he wanted to challenge everyone there in a dunking contest.

The outcome had been so agonizing that he would probably never forget it for the rest of his life. Not a single young man on that court was his match. While the basketball hoop wasn't up to official professional standards, it wasn't short either, and very few people could actually dunk. So he had been strutting around full of himself at the time, only for an old man to stroll over—an old man who had been sunbathing nearby.

"Young man, being too arrogant isn't a good thing. How about an old bag of bones like me plays a round with you?" Back then, Song Nianqiang had looked at the old coot with utter contempt. *You're already halfway in the grave, what are you trying to prove against us youngsters?* Adhering to the fine Chinese tradition of respecting the elderly and loving the young, Song Nianqiang readily agreed.

The rules the old man laid out were precisely the ones Song Nianqiang had just given to the student in white. He still remembered playing against that old man for a full hour. Out of all his attempts, aside from three free throws, he hadn't managed to sink a single other shot, whereas the old man had racked up over fifty points.

That result had shocked Song Nianqiang to his core. He never would have imagined that an elderly man on the verge of the grave possessed such terrifying basketball skills. But looking back now, Song Nianqiang vaguely understood: back then, the old man hadn't been relying on basketball techniques at all, but rather on ancient martial arts.

Ever since that incident, Song Nianqiang had adopted a very low profile when it came to basketball. Right up to the present day, unless someone actively challenged him, he rarely ever played. Of course, he held nothing back when playing with the fat man, just messing around however he pleased.

"Heh, you go first then." Song Nianqiang tossed the basketball to the student in white. The student started off with absolute, unyielding confidence, but a thin layer of cold sweat soon broke out across his forehead. Mind you, it wasn't from the heat—it was pure humiliation at the prospect of losing all his dignity, compounded by sheer terror at Song Nianqiang's monstrous skill.