We had a week to hang out before the game started, so we decided to tour China as this was my first time coming here. We traveled far and wide to different tourist spots. The first place we went to was Kunming. Kunming is the economic, transportation, industrial, and cultural center of southwest China. It is linked by rail from all of China"s major cities as well as with Vietnam. The mild climate makes it an excellent place to visit any time of the year.
Primarily because of the beautiful climate, flower-growing is a significant industry, and so we visited flower exhibits and auctions and a vast botanical garden. In addition to its charms, Kunming serves as a base from which to explore the rainbow of ethnic minorities in the area.
Paige once again funded all our adventures during that week. We got a place to stay for the night before moving on to the next spot. The next day we headed out once again and landed in a place called Hangzhou, which was famed for its natural scenery.
Countless poets and artists have immortalized Hangzhou and its West Lake. In the 13th century, Marco Polo described the city as the most beautiful and magnificent in the world. Hangzhou"s most famous sight, West Lake, is a large lake separated by causeways and lined with ancient buildings and gardens designed for relaxation and spirituality.
We found paG.o.das, temples, walking paths, and tea farms along its sh.o.r.es. I had a great time there with Paige, and it turned into a romantic getaway. During that time, I received another ability in my head.
International Man, description can understand and speak any language. I was quite excited to see I got another ability, and one that was quite convenient because the language barrier in China was quite strong.
The next day we headed out again, Paige was quite surprised to see me speak Chinese all of a sudden. She asked me how I was able to get so fluent so quickly. Still, there was no way I could tell her about the system in my head, so I told her that I"ve been practicing for years.
She was confused about this because a few days ago, I was quite confused whenever we came upon any foreign language. Still, now I spoke it fluently, but she didn"t question me again as we continued to enjoy the rest of our week going to different kinds of places.
During our travels, we had met China"s military basketball team, the ones that we were going to be facing off that weekend. They immediately recognized Paige as they had been playing against her for a year.
They approached us with ridicule smiles as they started speaking to us in English. Their point guard, who was also their captain called Bao said" hi Miss Paige we meet again, are you guys ready to lose to us for the 100th time. I think we might break a record this time when we win this game because you guys have never won against us".
Paige acted like he never said anything as she said: "hi Bao I look forward to our game this weekend, can"t wait we had made a few changes and added a few new people, so this time it won"t be the same as the other last hundred times."
After Paige said that their whole team laughed as one of the guys looked at me strangely as if sensing some power in me. He whispered in his Captain"s ears, and that"s when the captain finally paid attention to me as he pointed at me and asked, "who is this Paige? Is he your boy-toy?".
The team laughed again as if this had become a comedy stand. Paige shook her head as she said: "matter fact, he is my boy toy and probably the one that"s going to bring you the beatdown this weekend."
They all looked in shock as they scanned me, and I didn"t sense anything special from me. Still, one guy on the team knew that I was unique as he was very vigilant when he looked at me with seriousness in his eyes.
This guy was their shooting guard and also the smartest person on their team. I felt like I was looking at Gin and Aki when I saw him. His name was An; back then, he was almost recruited to the NBA and was quite famous in China, but due to a freak accident, he lost his opportunity and decided to join the military.
After training hard for many years, he recovered from his injury and was recruited to the military basketball team. An joined and became a core player right away, and just like me, he had the ability to shoot around the three-point line and not miss it.
An quickly pulled me over and asked if my name was Eazy, I nodded my head as he got a little excited and said "I"ve been following you since you were in high school and I"d have to say you kind of remind me of me, but you seem to be slightly better after I studied your tape. Not only do you not get tired, but you can shoot it from anywhere on the floor, and your speed seems like you freeze the defenders and quite a good defender able to steal the ball from any good ball-handler".
I was shocked when he mentioned all of these things, as they were quite accurate. An laughed and said come on man the things you"ve been doing anybody would notice that it was a cheat ability. I know that Aki and Gin also have abilities, but there are also two other guys, but you"ll probably meet them later on in life".
I could only laugh and shrug as I said:" I don"t know what you"re talking about; I work hard in everything that I do." An smirked and said," it"s okay, but we"re still going to win this game because we"ve never lost against your team before, and after knowing how your game is, I"m going to focus solely on you."
I nodded in understanding and said, "well, I hope you added pa.s.ses to that ability chart you have of me because if you guys focus on me, the rest of my guys will get open." An smirked and said," that"s fine as long as you are not getting 3-pointers we can go back and forth since I also can"t miss".
After we finished talking, I went back to Paige as she asked me what we were talking about. I made up some dumb excuse like he was just telling me about the places that we should visit while we"re in China. Paige laughed and said, "you"re a terrible liar." I shrugged and moved on