Basketball System: Rebound of the Underdog

"Kai!" Grandma Bingbing called as he placed the sack of onions over his shoulders. It was already Friday, and he only had a few hours before the end of his weekly mission. However, he was still 15 yuan short of his goal.

Therefore, he needed to make three deliveries within the night, find the SCALDING ball, and leave it in Shizi High's basketball court.

"It's already late! Just make these deliveries tomorrow," she said.

"But you already promised your clients that it was going to be delivered tonight," Kai called out from their door.

"They would understand! Just go early in the morning."

"I can't," Kai smiled. "The Winter Cup starts tomorrow. The opening ceremony is going to start early, and I don't want to be late."

"By the way, I already got the 15 yuan from your pocket as my compensation," Kai smiled.

With that, he placed his worn-out shoes on and sprinted out of their house.

Grandma opened her mouth to stop him once again, but Kai had already sped through the streets, out of sight from the old woman's gaze.

Grandma Bingbing shook her head and stared at the snack she had prepared for her grandson.

"My grandson is truly idiotic," she muttered with a fond smile on her face.

Fortunately, his deliveries were only in the southern parts of the city, so it would take him only a maximum of one hour to finish.

He had already gone to the first and second house before, so he didn't have a hard time finding it. They even gave him a tip since he mentioned it was going to be his last day!

The third house, however, was foreign to him. Fortunately, he was able to find it quickly, just as the skies had gotten darker.

He knocked on the door of the humble home, whistling to himself as he waited for the owner to open it.

Once the door opened, his eyes widened when he saw who it was. The man at the door also frowned in confusion, looking at Kai with a suspicious gaze.

"Kai, what are you doing here?"

"Officer Huang," Kai said, recalling one of the police officers who apprehended him during his first day in Kai Guo's body.

Kai showed him the bag of onions he ordered with a sheepish smile.

"Onions?" Kai asked.

Officer Huang continued looking at Kai with suspicion. "I recall telling Grandma Bingbing to just bring it tomorrow since it's too late. What are you really doing here? You're not in our neighborhood to cause any trouble, are you?"

"You haven't caused any trouble during the past month, too. It's strange," he muttered. "I feel like you'll create trouble soon."

Kai scratched the back of his head.

"I won't," Kai said. "I'm just here to deliver onions since Grandma's delivery boy is out of town."

Officer Huang finally got the bag of onions from Kai. "Make sure of it," he said while pointing his finger at Kai.

"Now, go home."

With that, Officer Huang closed the door in front of Kai's face, causing the latter to shake his head in disappointment.

"He didn't tip," Kai clicked his tongue. "Stingy officer!"

Meanwhile, Officer Huang, who was a great tipper, grabbed the coins from his pocket and placed it on the table. He always gave Grandma Bingbing's delivery man a tip every time he delivered peeled onions to their house; however, seeing that it was her grandson who delivered it, Officer Huang decided to withhold the tip.

He knew how much trouble the kid had been in and all the headaches he had caused his grandma!

Officer Huang went back to their dining room, where his precious daughter was waiting.

"Who's that?" she asked.

"The onions," Officer Huang said.

"Oh, from that old lady you always talk about?" he asked.

Officer Huang nodded.

"Isn't it really late, though? The delivery man must be working hard," she chimed. "Did you give him a good tip?"

Officer Huang smiled.

"Of course I did, Lina."

***

Despite running into a small mishap during his last delivery, Kai was still in a good mood since he could now buy the ball that he worked hard for!

Truly, it was hard delivering onions early in the morning before school and in the afternoon after his basketball training.

Who knew that carrying and delivering onions was more tedious than basketball training?

He massaged his shoulder with one hand and stared at the stack of money in his other hand.

Kai had earned a total of 467 yuan from the deliveries he made during the entire week!

Because of the tips he got today, he even got an excess of 17 yuan!

"I'll treat myself to something later," he muttered.

With that, he whistled a happy tune while walking to the city's sports center. There was only half an hour left before they closed, so Kai navigated the dark streets quickly.

"I think this is a shortcut," he muttered as he stared at a dark alleyway. It didn't seem like there were any people in the alleyway, so he decided to give it a shot. Moreover, after passing through the alleyway, he'd arrive at the town center of the city!

He continued whistling as he walked through the alleyway, ignoring the stench of canals and the sound of mouse squeaks that overwhelmed his senses.

"Almost there," Kai said as he arrived in the middle of the alleyway.

However, it seemed like his past judgment was wrong and that there were actual people in the alleyway.

"What do we have here?" one of them asked.

Kai stopped for a moment as he felt the presence of more than one man in the alleyway.

In fact, there were four of them currently surrounding him.

"Oh, he's got money," another said, noticing some of the peeking bills from his pocket.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot, boys!"

Kai continually cursed his mind as he tried to look for a way to flee the place. However, the four boys covered all parameters, leaving Kai with only a small margin to escape.

"Now, are you going to cooperate?"

"Or are you willing to get beaten up?"