Chapter 400 - 246: Bountiful Challenge Reward

When they got to the basketball court, a lot of people recognized him.

"Brother Da’s here."

Zhao Shengda nodded at the people on the court as if he were reviewing troops, oozing with arrogance.

Meanwhile, others recognized Lin Jiang.

"Isn’t that the guy who beat Cheng Shukai the other day?"

"What’s he doing here again? He’s not planning to challenge Zhao Shengda, is he?"

"That posture of his... it sure looks like it..."

Zhao Shengda walked up to some guys he knew. "Clear the court for a bit. We’re gonna shoot a few."

The players on the court backed away. Zhao Shengda looked at Lin Jiang and tossed him the ball.

"Need to warm up?"

Lin Jiang bounced the ball twice. "I’ve got other things to do, so let’s make this quick. What’s your specialty?"

"I’m an all-around player, but my specialty is the three-pointer. I was even the runner-up in the CUBA three-point contest. But I can promise you I won’t shoot a single three, just so no one can say I’m bullying you."

"No, let’s stick to threes. Use your specialty," Lin Jiang said.

"I have a dinner to get to. Any physical contact might get my clothes dirty. Let’s just do a spot-up three-point contest. Three shots from each spot. The winner will be obvious."

With that, Lin Jiang walked to the corner and tossed the ball toward the hoop.

SWISH!

The basketball went in, nothing but net.

The onlookers were a little surprised. They hadn’t expected it to start so fast.

Zhao Shengda threw the ball back to him.

"You didn’t take the easy way out when I offered, so don’t blame me. If you can’t even sink more than ten of these, don’t even think about competing with me."

"I’ll do my best to sink a few."

Over the next ten-odd seconds, Lin Jiang sank three in a row. His accuracy silenced the crowd, who now watched with bated breath as he shot his threes.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Every shot he took was nothing but net!

He finished shooting from three spots in a row, sinking all nine shots.

His precision made the surrounding noise vanish, as if someone had hit a mute button.

Zhao Shengda was utterly stunned.

’Even if I shot 15 in a row, I might not sink nine of them, let alone make the first nine straight.’

"Senior, your man is incredible! His shot is so on point," Wang Zixuan said, getting excited.

’He’s handsome and a great player... he’s maxed out all his stats.’

"Mhm, Brother Jiang is the best."

Lin Jiang didn’t stop. He sank all six shots from the remaining two spots, not missing a single one.

The court fell silent. All eyes turned to Zhao Shengda, not with anticipation, but with pure schadenfreude.

He hadn’t missed a single shot. How the hell was Zhao Shengda supposed to win?

"Forget college players, even an NBA pro couldn’t sink every single three-pointer, could they?"

"You can’t even be perfect from the free-throw line, let alone from the three-point arc. Unless Brother Da channels his inner Steph Curry, he doesn’t stand a chance."

Zhao Shengda’s face went pale, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

’He sank all 15 shots. What’s the point of even trying?’

Lin Jiang picked up the ball and tossed it to Zhao Shengda.

"You can start. I can spare a few more minutes. If you make all of them too, we’ll go to a tie-breaker round."

Swallowing hard, Zhao Shengda took the basketball to the corner. He took several deep breaths, mimed the shot a few times, then finally let it fly.

The basketball traced a perfect arc through the air.

Airball.

"Isn’t Zhao Shengda the team captain? How could he shoot an airball?"

"Who knows? Maybe he’s all hype."

"Let’s bounce, this is lame. And to think I used to look up to them. Turns out they’re all show and no substance."

"He didn’t even hit the rim. The pressure must’ve gotten to him. Maybe he should go take some herbal medicine with Cheng Shukai."

As the crowd murmured, a system notification appeared.

[Congratulations, Player. You have defeated the challenger.]

[Victor’s Reward: Donglai Supermarket Management Manual, 2,000,000 cash.]