Chapter 067: The Arrogant Smith

Lin Feng suddenly barged in, startling the two men who were chatting. Both of them raised their heads in unison to look at Lin Feng, and then one of the men, the one with glasses, suddenly exclaimed, “You’re... Lin, Lin, Lin Feng?!”

“Yes, it’s me,” Lin Feng replied, taking off his sunglasses.

“Damn! It really is Lin Feng!” the other man cried out in amazement.

“Shh! Let’s keep it down, we don’t want to cause trouble,” Lin Feng said, recalling his experience at the Jiangning shopping mall, and put his sunglasses back on.

“Alright, alright,” the man with glasses nodded eagerly, his excitement palpable. “I never thought I’d run into you here. We’re both die-hard fans of yours.”

“Yeah, we really like you. Could you give us an autograph?” the other chimed in.

“That’s no problem,” Lin Feng waved his hand dismissively. “Just now, you mentioned that Smith said he’d crush Asian teams by a hundred points? Is that really true?”

“It’s true!” the man with glasses replied. “Smith posted it on Facebook, but the comment was deleted almost instantly. Still, people saw it and took screenshots. Because it had racial undertones, the American media reported on it widely. But for some reason, the domestic media didn’t cover it. We fans only found out from the forums.”

“So it’s really true then?”

“Absolutely!”

Lin Feng frowned. “That’s odd. I saw in the news that he’s in Yanjing these days. He made such a statement and still dares to come here for events? Isn’t he worried about being drowned in spit?”

“Well, there are too many people here who worship foreigners,” the man with glasses continued. “Besides, since the domestic media didn’t report it, only hardcore fans know about it. He’s Reebok’s brand ambassador, and this time he’s in Yanjing for a series of events organized by Reebok. Also, I heard the reason why his comment wasn’t reported here is because Reebok feared his image would be damaged in the country and the brand would suffer, so they did everything possible to suppress the news.”

“There’s really so much going on behind the scenes.” Lin Feng was quite surprised.

“All the information came from the forums,” the other man added. “By the way, right now he’s at World Trade Plaza promoting Reebok, and soon he’ll have a three-point shootout against Zhu Dayu, the three-point king of our league. Of course, if you could go to the All-Star event, Zhu Dayu wouldn’t be the three-point king.”

“Lin Feng, why don’t you go and challenge him? Help us vent our anger!” the man with glasses suggested.

“Yeah, we just came from there, and we can’t stand that guy!” the other echoed.

“Alright, I’ll go with you!” Lin Feng agreed without hesitation. “He says we Asians are trash? I’ll show him just how formidable we really are!”

“Awesome! I was just saying I wished you’d go to the court and teach him a lesson, and now it’s about to happen!” The two fans were thrilled when Lin Feng agreed to confront Smith.

“Wait for me a moment, I need to let my family know,” Lin Feng said.

He hurried forward, caught up with Lin Wen, and briefly explained the situation to her. He handed his clothes to her, ready to leave, but upon hearing that Lin Feng was going to challenge Smith, Lin Wen became interested and insisted on coming along.

Initially, Guo Shuzhen hadn’t wanted to go, but seeing Lin Wen’s excitement, she decided to accompany her daughter. Otherwise, wandering the shops alone would be boring.

So, the five of them made their way to World Trade Plaza.

In fact, World Trade Plaza was right in front of World Trade Department Store, not far from the mall. Today was a large-scale Reebok promotional event, with most of the plaza occupied. They had even cordoned off half a basketball court under the giant screen at the center of the plaza, which was where Reebok’s global ambassador, Smith, interacted with fans.

At that moment, the area around the basketball court was packed to overflowing with fans. As the man with glasses had said, there were too many people here who idolized foreigners. In their eyes, everything foreign was better—even a fart from a foreigner would smell sweet!

Right now, the main event was underway: the Sino-American “Three-Point King” showdown!

Zhu Dayu was this year’s CBA All-Star three-point king, while Smith had won the same title in the American All-Star game two years prior.

This showdown between the two three-point kings was well-deserved.

The competition followed the same rules as the American All-Star three-point contest: five shooting spots beyond the three-point line, each with five basketballs—four red, one multi-colored. The red balls were worth one point each, the multi-colored ball two points. Each shooting spot could yield a maximum of six points, for a total of thirty across five spots.

Whoever scored more points would win.

To ensure fairness, the contest was best of three rounds, with two wins required for victory.

At this moment, the second round was underway. In the first round, Zhu Dayu had scored seventeen, while Smith had scored twenty.

Smith led by a wide margin, one to zero.

In the second round, Zhu Dayu shot first. He was halfway through the five shooting spots, but had only made six shots, including two multi-colored balls, for a total of eight points.

“Come on, Dayu!”

“Go, Dayu!”

Fans cheered him on, hoping he could win this round.

Unfortunately, Zhu Dayu wasn’t feeling it today. Moreover, the court was marked to American league specifications, with a three-point line much farther out than in the domestic league, making his shots awkward.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

...

A series of missed shots left Zhu Dayu with only twelve points in this round.

“Dayu’s touch was off in this round, only twelve points. Now let’s welcome the NBA three-point king—Smith!” the host announced loudly.

Smith looked relaxed as he walked beyond the three-point line, waving to the crowd, which erupted into screams.

As a top-tier star in the American league, Smith was very popular.

“Begin!” the host called out as Smith took his position.

Smith calmly picked up the first basketball and tossed it.

Swish!

The ball went in, and the crowd cheered again.

Quickly, Smith finished the first two shooting spots. His touch was good, sinking seven out of ten shots, including both multi-colored balls, for nine points after two spots.

On the third spot, perhaps too relaxed, Smith faltered, making only two shots and missing the multi-colored ball.

Still, after three spots, he had eleven points, just one behind Zhu Dayu’s twelve.

At the fourth spot, Smith regained his touch, nailing three of the first four shots, bringing his score to fourteen.

Picking up the last multi-colored ball, Smith mimed a shot, then put the ball back down and stopped shooting.

“Looks like I’ve already won?” Smith turned to ask the host.

“Uh…” the host hesitated. He knew Smith had already won, but he should finish the shots. Ending the round prematurely was nothing short of humiliating to Zhu Dayu.

It was as if to say, “See? I don’t even need to finish to beat you!”

...