Chapter 158 - 114: God on the Basketball Court

Chen Jue’s move—jumping up and grabbing the rim—immediately caught the attention of the students playing half-court basketball.

In a competitive sport like basketball, the coolest move is the dunk.

Unfortunately, basketball was also invented by foreigners and imported from abroad. The rim’s designed height of 10 feet (about 3.05 meters) isn’t very friendly to the average Huaxia male, who stands at around 1.70 meters.

To reach the rim or dunk from that height, even with arm length factored in, you need a vertical leap of over a meter.

An average person who hasn’t trained their jump can manage 0.3 to 0.4 meters at most. Even some professional athletes only reach 0.8 to 0.9 meters.

Therefore, meeting someone who can grab the rim or dunk is extremely rare in daily life.

When someone like that appears on a basketball court, they’re like one of those overly buff gym rats who attract the attention of other guys—they immediately draw every eye in the place.

"Hey, can you dunk one?"

"You made touching the rim look so easy!"

"Go for a dunk! Give us something to see!"

A few Jiang University students resting on the sidelines shouted, one of them even tossing a basketball over.

Chen Jue caught the ball and dribbled it a few times.

Chen Jue had played basketball in high school. Back then, NBA games were all the rage, and every boy in his class was obsessed with the sport.

During the annual school basketball tournament, anyone who could get on the court and score would become a star. If they also had good grades and looks, combined with some flashy basketball skills, they’d have girls falling all over them.

But Chen Jue had only been an average player, a four-eyed kid who couldn’t handle high-intensity physical contact. On the court, the most he could do was find an open spot and take a shot. As for dunking, that was something he could only daydream about in bed at night.

’Now that I’ve taken the pre-workout, my Temporary Attributes have shot up. Since I can already reach the rim when I jump, I’m getting an itch to try.’

He didn’t rush to dunk right away, though. It had been a long time since he’d touched a basketball, so he dribbled in place to warm up. Thanks to the dexterity he’d trained with [Hidden Weapon Throwing] and [Hunting Throwing], the ball began to dance in his hands as he performed all sorts of flashy moves.

After a few practice shots, he found his rhythm. Whether it was a two-pointer or a three-pointer, every shot swished through the net without touching the rim.

This scene left the jeering onlookers completely stunned.

"Holy shit!"

"How many has he made in a row?"

"That guy’s shot is dead-on!" the students in the crowd murmured among themselves.

Having adjusted to the ball’s size and weight, Chen Jue started a running dribble. Mimicking the takeoff posture of an NBA star from memory, he planted his foot hard a step behind the free-throw line and launched himself into the air.

His body soared. Spreading his fingers, he palmed the ball with one hand, gripping it so tightly it was as if his hand had a suction cup, preventing it from slipping away mid-air.

With the technique from his Max Level [Hidden Weapon Throwing] and his powerful grip, palming a basketball wasn’t difficult for Chen Jue.

He glided several meters through the air, and as he reached the apex of his jump, his raised wrist was level with the rim. He curled his forearm and slammed the ball into the basket. The resounding THUD as the ball hit the hoop ignited the atmosphere on the court.

"Holy shit! He jumped from just a step behind the free-throw line!"

"So cool!"

"He’s like a human glider!"

"And it was a one-handed dunk!"

"That guy’s a beast!"

Jiang University’s basketball facility was huge, with 12 full courts, totaling 24 hoops.

Even though it was a Sunday afternoon, there were plenty of students playing.

So when a powerhouse who could throw down a monster dunk suddenly appeared in the corner, everyone—whether they were playing or resting on the sidelines—was drawn to him like a magnet.

While his Temporary Attribute boost hadn’t faded, Chen Jue threw down a few more monster dunks: one-handed, two-handed, an alley-oop, a mid-air spinning dunk. He tried all sorts of variations, completely fulfilling the dunking dream he never achieved as a student.

When he finally snapped out of it, he realized his court was surrounded by a crowd, several layers deep.

Some were cheering, some were recording, and some were just watching Chen Jue’s incredible dunks with looks of pure admiration.

After all, Chen Jue wasn’t particularly tall. In sneakers, he was about 1.80 meters, which was actually on the shorter side among the students playing ball.

But with that unremarkable height combined with his terrifying vertical leap of over a meter, he had become a "god" on the Jiang University basketball courts.

...

That’s how competitive sports are. When someone of average height like Chen Jue can do things others can’t, he’s bound to attract a following.

By the time his stamina was nearly depleted, he had generated 0.01 Free Attribute points. The Temporary Attribute boost from the pre-workout also ran out. Chen Jue’s entire body felt like it was filled with lead. The post-workout exhaustion was almost as intense as when he had broken his limits before.

He tossed the ball back to the student who had given it to him, gave him a small smile, and said, "Thanks!"

Chen Jue shouldered his gym bag and slowly walked off the court. The crowd of Jiang University students watched him go in unison, their eyes following him until he was gone.

But after Chen Jue left, the group of basketball-loving students started asking around about his identity.

Everyone was trying to guess which major the upperclassman was in.

Because no one had ever seen such a powerful dunker on the Jiang University basketball team!

Moreover, you could count the number of amateur players in the entire country who could dunk from a step behind the free-throw line on one hand.

A basketball player with that kind of skill would easily have over a million followers online.

So, before the sun even set, videos of Chen Jue’s dunks were already going viral in Jiang University’s male student group chats, basketball group chats, forums, and message boards.

Everyone was trying to figure out who Chen Jue was, but very few people actually knew him.

The commotion caused by the dunks only began to die down when a few first-year clinical medicine freshmen from the School of Life Sciences spoke up, saying they had seen Chen Jue in class and guessed he was an auditor from outside the university.

...

’Generating 0.04 in Attributes in a single afternoon... the efficiency is insane.’

But once the pre-workout wore off, the initial excitement faded, and a deep muscle soreness began to spread from his legs to his entire body. Chen Jue finally understood what it meant to experience both pain and pleasure.

’No wonder Teacher Li Rui told me to follow the plan and consume energy gels and electrolyte drinks after working out. This level of exertion is way more intense than my previous training,’ Chen Jue thought as he dragged his exhausted body toward the school cafeteria.

He had already finished the water and supplements in his backpack, but the hunger in his stomach was still intense.

Fortunately, the Jiang University cafeteria started serving dinner at 5:30 p.m. If you didn’t want to wait, you could also pay to order stir-fry dishes. So, after finding a seat and resting for about ten minutes, Chen Jue began to feast.

He scarfed down three bowls of rice with a mix of meat and vegetable dishes. Feeling some of his strength return, Chen Jue left the campus and hailed a cab straight for the Tianyu Rehabilitation Center.

He had no choice.

This was his first time training his jumping ability, and also his first time doing lower body strength training.

After the training and showing off, the muscles in his thighs and calves had hardened into concrete blocks. It would take a professional massage therapist to loosen them up.

’If I just rely on self-recovery and a hot bath, too much lactic acid will probably build up in my muscles, and it will definitely affect tomorrow’s training,’ Chen Jue thought.

Arriving at Tianyu Rehabilitation, he followed his usual routine: shower, change clothes. When he entered the massage room, he once again ran into Master Liu from last time.

Seeing that Chen Jue’s legs were ridiculously stiff, Master Liu immediately began to scold him. "Young man, you’re overdoing it! Your workout volume is almost on par with a professional athlete’s!"

"You need to be careful. If a normal person trains like this every day, they can easily suffer from acute muscle strain."

Master Liu lectured as he kneaded Chen Jue’s muscles. After all, Chen Jue had come three times in a row recently, more diligent than even the massage therapists working their shifts.

"Thanks, Master. I’ll be more careful next time," Chen Jue replied cheerfully.

’I have my panel. By adding points to [Constitution], I can speed up my body’s recovery. So far, it has already alleviated my post-workout muscle soreness several times.’

’Although I haven’t figured out the true principle behind adding points to [Constitution], as long as I believe the panel won’t harm me, I dare to show up at this rehabilitation center every day.’

’I paid so much for the membership fee. Anyone would feel the pinch if they didn’t get their money’s worth in massages.’

Seeing Chen Jue’s nonchalant attitude, like water off a duck’s back, Master Liu could only shake his head. Young people these days had no sense of moderation, especially those obsessed with fitness and physique. Plenty of them even injected substances into their bodies.

Having seen it all, Master Liu was used to it. After kneading Chen Jue’s thighs and calves, he took out a fascia blade and began to scrape with steady pressure.

"HISSS~"

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

Chen Jue gritted his teeth as the blade scraped his skin. But thanks to his previous experience, he could endure the pain, no matter how intense.

And since this was his first time training his jump, Chen Jue specifically asked Master Liu to pay extra attention to the ligaments in his joints, especially his knees, which felt unusually sore after the high-intensity leaping.

To relieve the soreness, while Master Liu was torturing him with the massage, Chen Jue deliberately allocated his accumulated 0.04 free attribute points directly into [Constitution] and also distributed 2 small [Designated Points] to his legs.

As four currents of warmth spread through him, more than ninety percent of the soreness vanished.

Once the full sports rehabilitation massage was complete, a notification popped up on his panel:

——————

[Ding~]

[You have completed a deep tissue massage. Your leg muscle fibers have been properly relaxed, blood circulation has increased, and lactic acid metabolism has accelerated.]

[Your patellar ligaments have experienced an elastic release. Fluid buildup in your menisci has been cleared. The strength of your ligament tissue has slightly increased.]

[Constitution Attribute +0.01]

——————

"So good!"

Chen Jue let out a grunt of pure satisfaction on the massage table.

Even Master Liu was a little puzzled, because he found Chen Jue’s recovery ability to be absurdly strong!

After just one massage session, the muscles in his thighs and calves, which had been as hard as rock, had become completely soft. Even the most stubborn parts, his knees and Achilles tendons, now felt springy and strong.

In all his years working at the rehabilitation center, Master Liu had never met anyone with such a good Constitution. As he watched Chen Jue leave the massage room, even he couldn’t help but mutter to himself, "No wonder he dares to push himself so recklessly every day. This kid’s really something else!"