This year, the 76ers have basically kept their core lineup from last season, and then brought in the 1990 number one draft pick, the still-not-old former superstar power forward Derrick Coleman, as well as the near-elite small forward Matt Harpring. It looks like they’ve made a real qualitative upgrade, and it seems very hard for the Hawks to beat them.

But Ethan Brooks knows that this year’s 76ers are just average—not weak, but definitely not a top-tier powerhouse. The Hawks still have a fighting chance.

However, Ethan Brooks feels a bit strange. When did he ever “dominate” Francis? Didn’t he just secretly use Klay Thompson’s ability to hit a few three-pointers?

Then, the answer was given by the sports news currently playing on TV.

ESPN’s morning sports broadcast, the kind that loops continuously and breaks in with the latest updates, similar to CCTV-5’s sports news back in China.

Unlike the news anchors back home, who are either aunties or sleazy uncles, there aren’t so many weird rules in the US. For news, of course you need a beautiful anchor!

The super low-cut beauty anchor started reading the news script again: “…Today is the second day of the NBA regular season. Today’s highlight game is the Philadelphia 76ers challenging the Atlanta Hawks on the road. In yesterday’s game, Hawks rookie Ace Brooks performed brilliantly, dominating Rockets point guard Steve Francis, scoring 10 consecutive points in 3 minutes to help the Hawks complete a comeback…”

Damn! Ethan Brooks wanted to curse—what a clickbait headline!

This is just asking for trouble!

Say what you will about Franchise, but he’s well-liked and has good relationships with many stars. Now there’s a news story saying he dominated Francis! Ethan Brooks feels like he’s going to be targeted! Never mind the stars who are friends with Francis, just the hype of “dominating Francis” will probably motivate a lot of point guards to go after him! Anyone who’s seen what happened to Linsanity knows how miserable it was for him after his brief peak, being targeted by all the big stars!

At that moment, Ethan Brooks imagined that Francis, probably still at the hotel in Houston and not yet back, was also up watching the news and having breakfast.

“New mission received: Francis’s hostility: In the next game against the Rockets, score at least 15 points over Francis, including one one-on-one three-pointer. Mission reward: one intermediate superstar value lottery draw of any profession. Failure penalty: run a lap in just your underwear at Times Square in New York. Note: The intermediate superstar value lottery allows you to specify a draw direction, with a one-third chance of drawing an item from the specified direction.”

“……”

Damn!

So this system really is a pervert!

Just underwear? How is that any different from streaking!

And it’s at Times Square, the busiest place in America!

But the reward…

That’s equivalent to ten thousand superstar value points! Based on the current rate of earning a few dozen to a hundred points per game, you might not even make that much in a whole year!

But with such a high reward, the difficulty must be huge! This time, he only managed to hit three threes in a row because Francis underestimated him. Didn’t you see how murderous Francis looked when he got serious? It’s not that Francis’s defense is so great, but that fierce attitude—players who entered the NBA in the 90s all have that edge!

Seeing Ethan Brooks suddenly zone out, the little girl Dana called out, “Uncle, uncle, hurry up and eat! It’s getting cold, come on! If you win against the 76ers today, Dana will give uncle a kiss…”

The beautiful landlady next to them couldn’t help but laugh. Watching someone get flustered is such a joy.

“…Don’t. Molesting a minor is illegal.” Ethan Brooks was speechless.

“Dana will grow up to be a beautiful woman!” the little girl Dana insisted, but after looking down at her own tiny body and realizing she wasn’t very attractive yet, she said, “Then, then let mommy give uncle a kiss. No, mommy knows Jeet Kune Do, she’d probably beat uncle to death. Then Dana will sneak uncle in for a kiss while mommy’s asleep.”

“……” This time, it was the beautiful landlady’s turn to be speechless…

Chapter 10: Subtle Changes in Teammates

Ethan Brooks rode his bicycle to Philips Arena—this was his mode of transportation. For the past two years, whether going to school, training, games, or working part-time as a Chinese tutor, he always rode this second-hand bike he bought for 25 bucks.

Just as he locked up his “ride,” a “blackie” driving a Mercedes sports car (bought at a discount thanks to the team’s sponsor) walked over: “Hey, Ace, you look like you’re in a great mood today! Much more energetic than before. That’s how a young man should be! So what if you were picked a little lower? As long as you play well, you can still land a big contract!”

This “blackie” was the famous nice guy, George Anderson.