Roy took a deep breath. Now the only thing he could count on was the two cards. Checking the progress bar and concentrating his attention, a progress bar style appeared in his mind. The fusion progress bar was only less than 5%, at 4.58%.
This result made Roy's eyes darken, but it didn't matter if it was slow. At least there was a future to look forward to. He was only a freshman. If it didn't work out, he could wait until next season. Fortunately, his knees didn't seem to hurt as much as they had yesterday.
When he turned over and got up, he didn't feel as heartbroken as he had the day before. Near noon, after a simple wash, Roy called for a takeaway. There was no way he could do it himself. He was just a student. He usually ate in the school cafeteria. Now he was unable to move and could only rely on takeaways.
Fortunately, there were many Chinese people in Los Angeles, and naturally there were many Chinese restaurants. Takeaways on weekdays could meet his needs. At 2:30 pm, assistant coach Elton showed up at his doorstep on time. They drove to a private hospital. This was the case in America. Top medical care was in private hospitals, and the price was definitely not cheap. Roy waited anxiously for the test results.
This high-end medical institution and the school were in a cooperative relationship, with a high priority, and the test report came out very quickly. The doctor took the MRI results and looked at them carefully with a serious expression.
Roy's heart was in his throat. For him, this was not a test report, but a fateful verdict! "Elton, according to the report, he has recovered well and there should be no major problems. However, his injury is too serious and the recovery period should be at least 8-12 weeks. There is still hope that he can catch up with March Madness."
March Madness referred to the elimination round of the American College Basketball League, which was more popular than the NBA. Every final, the NBA would suspend the event for one day. Hearing that Roy's injury was not serious, Elton's face eased a lot. The team had originally estimated that Roy's career would be over if the injury could not be recovered, and the school would also face high compensation. Fortunately, everything was fine, just waiting for a few weeks.
No compensation from the team was required, which was a happy situation for everyone. Finally, his heart was relieved. After saying goodbye to the doctor and going to the bathroom on the pretext of going to the bathroom, Roy's emotions came up and his eyes suddenly turned red. From today, his obsession and dream for many years had new hope!
The following days, Roy's life was not easy. The wound healed quickly, but the joints of bones began to feel burning, and there was always an unbearable numbness and itching through the deep bones at night.
Whenever Roy felt itchy in the middle of the night, he always had an inexplicable urge to take off all his clothes and stand in the corridor of the apartment to sing loudly: "Come on, have fun, there is plenty of time anyway..."
And Roy found that his appetite had increased recently, and his food intake was more than twice as much as before, which made his already poor life worse. Fortunately, because of the injury in the game, the school provided a certain degree of financial assistance, so he didn't starve. This lasted for more than two months, until one day when Roy got up and was about to go out, his head hit the door frame heavily, feeling something was wrong.
He realized that he had grown taller. No wonder his trousers had become 7-point pants and his T-shirt had become a belly-exposing outfit. Fortunately, he still had a few long training suits. This allowed Roy to avoid the new campus fashion of cropped pants and belly-baring clothes in Los Angeles in winter.
After the follow-up yesterday, the doctor told Roy that his bones had fully grown. He planned to report to the school team today. Finally, he could start his dream-chasing journey, and Roy was very excited. He simply packed himself up, put his sneakers in his bag, and set off for the stadium. Before that, he deliberately got a haircut.
When he was young, he was too introverted and not used to looking directly at others, so he kept long hair, even covering his eyes, so that others would not easily see his evasive eyes. So every time he caught the ball and shot the basketball, Roy felt a bit like a guerrilla shooting in the bush. He specifically asked the American teacher Tony to arrange a front spiky hairstyle. It was different after getting a haircut. He felt that his head was three pounds lighter, and the whole person became much more energetic, very sunny and sharp. Roy was very satisfied that this was the effect he wanted.
In the University of Southern California (USC) stadium, the team was making intensive preparations. Coach Ronnie Claire stood on the sidelines with a frown on his face. The team's performance this year was not ideal. After last year's main guard graduated, the team had been lacking a main output point.
Backup guard Roy was also three months ago, he was injured, and the team's back line was at the point where no one was available. This season, they had to use a double point guard lineup, which resulted in a short back line. All the guards in the 12 leagues and their own games were mismatched, which frustrated the old coach and even made him want to let the team's substitute power forward go up to take over. Coach Claire knew that there were only 5 games left, and unless they could get more than 4 wins, USC would miss the NCAA Championship in March this year.
But the remaining few games were all tough, and he sighed, with the inherent shortcomings in strength, and the team's lack of outstanding players, USC should be the runner-up this year. Thinking of the school's senior management talking to him earlier, and their words were full of dissatisfaction with the team's performance, Claire felt that his career was in jeopardy.
The old coach was still immersed in pessimism, and his shoulder was patted twice. Only then did he notice that a tall Asian student was standing next to him. "Coach, I'm back today. This is the report from the hospital."
Coach Claire took the report blankly and carefully identified Roy's face before recognizing that the boy in front of him was the Chinese guard who was injured some time ago. What you think will come true. Did God show up? "Oh my God, my child, have you recovered from your injury? That's great. Congratulations." The old man shook hands with Roy excitedly.
In any case, the height problem of the shooting guard could finally be alleviated to a certain extent this time. "Chinese boy, you have changed a lot. You... have you grown taller?" The old man felt cold in his heart.
His expectations were dashed. Roy's current height was beyond Claire's expectations. How could a player with the height of the inside line play as a guard? The last hope was also dashed. Roy could feel the change in the old coach's mood, from excitement to loss. Is it because of me?
"Hey, come and see who this is. This is not the weakling from the East. How are you and your wheelchair? I think basketball, such a manly sport, is not suitable for you. You should play table tennis. That is your destiny." Turning his head to look at the voice,
Roy saw his old enemy, the team's power forward Chuck McGinnis, a black forward with a broken mouth. In addition to his foul mouth, he also had brute force, and he was also a self-righteous guy who often bullied himself in the past. I have lived two lives, how can I spoil you?
"Shut your stinky mouth, McGinnis, you still have the nerve to speak, look at last year, and look at now, you should be ashamed of the team's performance. If I were you, I should sew up that stinky mouth and train hard!" McGinnis was obviously touched by his words and clenched his fists, and walked over step by step. Roy had no intention of retreating. He took two steps forward and stood in front of McGinnis. He was nearly 40 years old mentally. How could he be scared by a teenager?
"What's wrong, McGinnis? I said it right. You want to fight, right? You don't have the ability to lead the team to win. You come to trouble me. Believe me, you'd better not do that, otherwise you will suffer!" Assistant coach Elton came over in time to stand between Roy and McGinnis.
In an inconspicuous position in the audience, in the stands where no one paid attention, Los Angeles Chronicle columnist K Lord Wiggins was sitting and chatting with his good Denver Nuggets scout Chris Dohm. Wiggins was going to write an article about the prospects of the Pacific 12 NCAA tournament knockout round.
Wiggins felt that the USC, which was in a precarious situation, would not enter the knockout round this year. Dohm also came to see McGinnis, who was known as the strongest player of USC. The dispute on the court attracted the attention of the two. It was normal for students with excessive energy to have conflicts, but it was rare for an Asian to dare to face a strong black player.
"Chinese boy, you can only talk here. You are not worth my fighting. Come and fight with me. Let me see what you can do. I will beat you up on the court. I hope you don't scream for your mother every night when you have a nightmare!"
"Hahaha"
Several teammates who were close to McGinnis laughed. Since joining the team, he and McGinnis had been at odds. McGinnis, who was one year older than him, had bullied Roy on the court with his strong body and height and weight advantages. It was obvious that this time, McGinnis intended to repeat the same old trick.