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Chapter 112 Let Me Substitute

The basketball game officially started at ten in the morning, but Ling Mo and their team had drawn a time slot for two in the afternoon, also the first match of the afternoon.

The venue for the match wasn’t the athletics field but rather the gymnasium, and the gym at Provincial Capital University should be the largest among all universities in Linjiang, yet accommodating so many people was still quite a challenge. During the earlier matches, even the aisles in the audience section were filled with students watching.

So Ling Mo and his group chose not to join the frenzy.

None of the morning matches involved teams from their two schools, and the initial rounds weren’t as exciting as the finals; it was better to stroll around the campus.

Provincial Capital University had a great location, sitting right on the outskirts of Linjiang City’s scenic area, backed by a lake, which made its views even a tad better than Linjiang University. That’s why, during this university league, many students took the opportunity to explore the campus rather than come for the basketball game.

So, the school became unexpectedly lively.

Xia Xinyan and the four of them wandered aimlessly around the campus, chatting about their previous adventures in the game instead of just sightseeing, and they had become increasingly comfortable with one another, at least more at ease than at the beginning.

It’s worth noting that Ling Mo discovered something—Fatty and Bai Yu were really gay, and there was no way to ignore it.

Of course, this time he wisely kept quiet.

It seemed like Fatty was quite enjoying it, even though he was acting pretty tsundere.

Tsk, guys really look silly when they act all tsundere.

After that, Ling Mo started to fixate on Xia Xinyan.

Xia Xinyan, who had been watched all morning by Ling Mo: “…”

This was the first time she regretted building a gentle and considerate persona in front of Ling Mo.

Under Ling Mo’s stare, she managed to maintain a composed smile all morning, her face nearly going numb.

She couldn’t understand why this guy was staring at her, did she have something on her face?

She kept grumbling about it until two in the afternoon.

By the time of the first afternoon match, most of the audience had rested up, and their spirits were much higher than in the morning, even the attendance was noticeably greater.

The stands were even more packed.

Fatty and the others arrived a bit late and couldn’t find seating, so they simply joined Ling Mo and the others, standing in the staff passage to watch the game.

Although they had standing tickets, at least it wasn’t as cramped.

Naturally, Xia Xinyan was there as well. Since Ling Mo was going to play, she didn’t bother sitting in the stands alone and just waited for him to come on and off the court.

This made the teammates in the preparation room feel even worse.

Coming with your girlfriend was one thing, but letting your girlfriend wait for you here? Damn, why didn’t they have such luck?

They wanted girlfriends cheering for them too, damn it.

Ling Mo, blissfully unaware, had been grinning since he arrived.

This only made him more of a target.

“Damn, you’re hogging all the good fortune,” one of the older teammates couldn’t help but pat his shoulder, “Make sure to put in a bit of effort later, so we can slack off.”

The other players chuckled in agreement.

As sour as they felt, they had to admit that Ling Mo’s skills had improved significantly. If he was strong before, now he was absurdly strong, nearly able to single-handedly take them all on.

Having played with him for over a week, they could feel the difference firsthand, like this guy had secretly trained with the national team for a year and a half.

But they had just played with Ling Mo not long before the National Day break, and at that time, he didn’t possess such impressive skills, which was bizarre.

But thanks to him, their confidence skyrocketed.

After all, their own skills weren’t bad, and with a Ling Mo this strong, there was no way they wouldn’t snag first place this time!

“Alright, enough chatter.” The captain clapped his hands and said, “Let’s get going and play beautifully.”

Ling Mo nodded with a smile, “Right, by the way, where’s Qiang? Isn’t he here yet?”

Hearing this, everyone looked around, only to realize someone was missing.

“Why hasn’t he shown up yet? It’s about to start!” someone couldn’t help but shout.

The captain frowned slightly: “I remember he said he was going to the restroom; I’ll go check on him.”

With that, he turned and headed to the restroom.

He quickly returned, and his expression was quite something.

“That idiot got a stomachache; he’s currently suffering from a severe case of the runs.”

“…”

Just then, the referee came over to hurry them along, which made the atmosphere even more awkward.

Being unprepared last minute was the most lethal.

Their team wasn’t without substitutes, but this situation arose suddenly, and the other substitutes had already wandered off, and calling them back now was likely too late.

Mainly, this game wasn’t exactly a proper match; it was essentially just a friendly game. Therefore, they had a laid-back attitude, making such occurrences not too surprising.

Still, it was a bit embarrassing.

With Ling Mo on the field, it wasn’t impossible to play with one person short, but going out like this, it was hard to ensure the spectators wouldn’t say anything.

The captain was quite concerned about their school’s reputation.

While he was conflicted, a voice suddenly came from outside: “What’s wrong?”

Everyone instinctively looked up, and in walked Xia Xinyan.

Ling Mo explained, “Someone got a stomachache last minute and likely can’t play, and now we have no substitutes, so we might be one short.”

Xia Xinyan thought for a few seconds and said, “Let me substitute.”

Everyone paused.

Miss Xia can play basketball?

They had never seen her before.

Noticing their surprised and doubtful expressions, Xia Xinyan smiled slightly: “I played basketball for a bit in high school; don’t worry, I won’t hold you back.”

The captain glanced around at the others and nodded: “Alright, but you need to be careful; don’t fight for the ball, just let us take care of it. Watch out for injuries.”

Ling Mo frowned a bit but didn’t argue: “Make sure to stay safe, don’t go near the crowded areas. Just rely on us to crush the other team, no need to worry.”

Xia Xinyan smiled and nodded.

Since the match was essentially a friendly game, such last-minute substitutions weren’t a big deal. After the captain spoke with the referee, they agreed.

However, when the audience saw a girl without a team uniform join the team for the game, the spectators started buzzing with excitement.

It wasn’t that there hadn’t been girls in previous basketball games, but none were as pretty as her.

Even their opponents were stunned for a moment, unsure what it meant to bring in a girl.

The captain actually had his own little thoughts.

Their opponent wasn’t strong, they could afford to be one man down—Ling Mo wasn’t wrong there. But that could potentially give the viewers the impression they were intentionally bullying the other team, given that it was a match between different schools. He had to be slightly cautious about this, even if bringing in someone who couldn’t play basketball was better than just being one person short.

Besides, having a school beauty like Xia Xinyan come over could… well, it might serve as a cheerleading effect. Even though she already had a boyfriend, a pretty girl always acted like a booster for the guys, right?

So he didn’t really expect much from Xia Xinyan’s skills.

Then… he was dumbfounded.

As the match began, their opponents had just snatched the ball, and while both sides adjusted their positions for defense and offense, Xia Xinyan quickly stole the ball from an extremely tricky angle before Ling Mo even reacted. Then, as the opponents frantically scrambled back to defend, she leaped up and shot the ball in front of three of them, and everyone watched as the ball carved a perfect arc in the air before swooshing through the hoop.

A perfect three-pointer.

The entire venue fell into an eerie silence.