Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it's already November.

Since Markson decided to start a column in the *Philadelphia Evening Post* to cover the new season of the Pennsylvania high school basketball league, he's practically become Lower Merion's team reporter...

Every few days, Markson would run to Lower Merion with his camera.

Besides taking photos of the team's usual training sessions, Markson also planned to collect some material about the stories between Kobe and Su Feng.

In Su Feng's previous life, many NBA stars' biographies were written by reporters like Markson.

Like when Kobe was a senior, many reporters came to Lower Merion by name.

Because Kobe's fame was already great at that time, everyone was optimistic about him entering the NBA and becoming a superstar.

But it's quite rare for someone like Su Feng, who isn't famous yet, to have a reporter specifically helping him with these things.

Abroad, there are many reporters like Markson.

Of course, they don't just interview athletes; some even "go undercover" in companies to expose industry secrets.

In Su Feng's previous life, many reports that won international journalism awards were written through this kind of long-term investigative interview.

As a person with journalistic ideals, Markson felt that writing a story about an American genius high school student entering the NBA wasn't new.

But what if he wrote a story about a Chinese international student entering the NBA?

Markson thought it would be very interesting.

And Gregg Downer and the school were very supportive of Markson in this matter.

Because in the eyes of the school and Gregg, this was helping them with free publicity.

For a time, if it weren't for the big difference in skin color between Su Feng and Markson, even Kobe would have suspected what the relationship between Su Feng and Markson was.

…

The 15th was the night before the Pennsylvania high school basketball league game.

After finishing his extra training with Kobe, Su Feng went back to his apartment and took a bath to relax.

Then, while taking a bath, Su Feng opened the system interface.

Under Su Feng's almost insane strict standards, Su Feng felt that he was not far from being an excellent little blacksmith, cough, an excellent basketball player.

"Host: Su Feng, Nationality: China, Age: 16 years old, Height: 190 cm, Weight: 76 kg..."

"Host's current ability value (NBA second-round pick level), Close-range shooting: 44 [64], Mid-range shooting: 75 [79], Three-point shooting: 77 [80].

Passing: 20 [45], Vision: 25 [50], Ball control: 49 [55].

Lateral movement: 78 [88], One-on-one defense: 77 [91], Steals: 46 [81].

Jumping: 54 [71], Strength: 36 [45], Backcourt rebounds: 24 [30].

Host's currently equipped shooting motion: A-level Stephen Curry college shooting package.

Host's currently equipped special skill: Kobe's fadeaway jumper (Golden Epic), current level: College Elite level.

Host's special skill library unequipped special skill: Sam Cassell (Original).

Host's currently equipped badge: None."

In terms of the change in ability value, Su Feng's ability can be said to be growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

However, after improving some attributes through daily training, Su Feng also found that the higher the ability value, the slower its growth rate would be.

For example, Su Feng used to often increase his shooting ability value by several points a day, but recently, his mid-range and three-point shooting have basically stopped growing.

In addition, because Su Feng constantly pursues difficulty, the hidden special skill "Kobe's fadeaway jumper" has now been upgraded to the College Elite level by him.

The biggest change that the College Elite level "Kobe's fadeaway jumper" brings to Su Feng is that his turnaround speed is not only faster than before, but also more stable.

So... it's still that damn paradox.

The system eliminates any possibility of Su Feng cheating.

"Heh, even if you defend well, can you predict that I will meet Kobe, this human-shaped cheat?" After reviewing his ability value, Su Feng thought to himself.

"The next stage goal is to unlock the 7.0 system.

Although I have accumulated a lot of bricklaying points (hitting the rim or backboard while shooting), recently, I don't need to use them to draw a lottery.

After these few friendly matches, my current ability is definitely enough for the high school league.

Although I really want to know what the function of the badge is, it's not reliable to rely on luck, and it may also slow down my progress in upgrading the system.

Now upgrading the system and unlocking more abilities is the key to my continued improvement!"

After making a plan, Su Feng fell asleep.

After all, even Iron Man needs to go to bed early and get up early after hard training every day.

…

The next day, because today was the opening day of the Pennsylvania high school basketball league, Su Feng and Kobe had agreed in advance.

From now on, as long as it's a game day, the 4 a.m. special training program will be cancelled.

Of course, although training was cancelled, Kobe still felt that he had to eat a sandwich.

"You just transferred here, it would be bad if you were late because you got lost, I'll wait for you at your house on game days from now on."

Kobe said to Su Feng at the end of training yesterday.

Su Feng didn't expose Kobe's full-of-holes excuse, after all, what's wrong with having a friend accompany you to school?

Moreover, although Su Feng's actual age is much older than Kobe's, the friendship between men sometimes has nothing to do with age.

It is worth mentioning that although the format of the American high school basketball league is very different from the NCAA, it also has some things in common in many places.

Generally, in Pennsylvania, November and December are called the divisional preliminaries.

And January and February are called the regional competitions.

March is called the state championship competition.

Because in a place like Pennsylvania, if so many high schools had to play each other, a high school team would probably have to play hundreds of games a year.

Therefore, the event organizing committee generally divides a region based on the area where the high school is located. This region usually has 30 to 40 high schools.

These high schools will play each other in a single round-robin format, and then the top four in each division will enter the final regional competition.

After the competition enters the regional competition stage, the top eight in the state will be determined through a round-robin system, and then the final single-elimination championship competition will be held.

Therefore, this is also why Su Feng wanted to tell Kobe about the sewers before.

Because under this kind of competition system, even an iron chariot has a certain chance of rolling over.

Of course, Su Feng felt that it was still too early to tell Kobe about the sewers. He planned to slowly instill the corporate culture and philosophy of the sewers into Kobe after the league started.

Speaking of which, Lower Merion's luck this year is not very good, because they are in the same division as the six-time champion team, Ridley High School.

But...

Kobe and Su Feng, as well as the tools of Lower Merion, don't think their division is bad.

Because they had beaten Ridley High School badly in the friendly match before, for a time, the players of Lower Merion lost their awe of this defending champion.

On the contrary...

Over at Ridley High School, coach Fernandez really wanted to hire someone to assassinate Gregg Downer after seeing Ridley's division.

Fernandez was really depressed after losing to Lower Merion in the friendly match last time.

…

…

Opening game, Lower Merion's first opponent is Shipley, a school with an average SAT score of 1300.

Well...

Usually in the United States, this kind of school is recognized as cannon fodder in the basketball world...

And the facts prove that Shipley may have insulted the word cannon fodder.

"Why do I have a feeling that the game is already over before the warm-up?"

As his first official game of his high school basketball career, Su Feng, who was thinking of making a big splash, said a little depressed after looking at the scoreboard on the sidelines.

"It's normal, they're considered to be playing well this year. Do you know that we beat them by a full 70 points last year?" Kobe said, patting Su Feng's shoulder.

Su Feng: orz.

I thought Neffaria was already a tofu dreg, but I didn't expect that there would be something even worse than tofu dregs.

26 to 87, on the court, if Lower Merion's substitutes hadn't held back, Shipley's score might not have been able to exceed 20 today.

There's no way, the gap between American high school basketball teams is really too big.

Therefore, Su Feng and Kobe were both replaced by coach Gregg after the first half.

In the entire game, Su Feng, who only played in 2 quarters, made 8 of 11 shots, including 4 of 5 three-pointers, and scored 20 points without free throws.

And Kobe made all 10 of his shots, including 3 of 3 three-pointers, and made 4 of 4 free throws, scoring 27 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 4 blocks.

Facing an opponent like Shipley, Su Feng really couldn't even miss a shot if he wanted to.

But fortunately, Lower Merion's next opponent, Malvern Preparatory School, is said to be strong and has the strength to advance from the division...

…

November 19th, Malvern Preparatory School Gymnasium.

After three quarters, the students in this gymnasium have begun to wonder if they are watching the NBA.

Kobe performed a dunk show in this game, completing a total of 5 dunks.

And Su Feng performed a three-point show, making a total of 7 three-pointers in the game.

Even... there were 3 super-long three-pointers that are not common in this era.

In the game, in addition to showing his range, Su Feng's catch-and-shoot drift and fadeaway three-pointers amazed the students of Malvern Preparatory School.

Su Feng is desperate.

Because today... his touch is simply going to be godly.

I was thinking of increasing the difficulty of my shots after taking a big lead to brush up on my bricklaying points, but unfortunately my touch wouldn't allow it.

And to be fair...

Weren't we told that Malvern Preparatory School is a strong basketball school?

Look!

Why has the score become 70 to 44 after only three quarters!

"Well, it's right to increase the difficulty of shots to get bricklaying points when you're sure you're going to win. After all, even a small mosquito is still meat.

It's just that I'm too accurate today, and the opponent is too weak."

After the game, Su Feng comforted himself as he looked at his statistics.

In the end, Lower Merion won this game 86 to 57. Su Feng made 12 of 21 shots, including 7 of 14 three-pointers, and scored a game-high 31 points without free throws, as well as 5 rebounds and 0 assists.

And Kobe made 11 of 23 shots, including 0 of 6 three-pointers, and made 5 of 8 free throws, scoring 27 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals, and 4 blocks.

Although Kobe was not accurate from the outside in this game, all 5 of his dunks were wonderful.

And Su Feng always felt that Kobe was deliberately trying to get rebounds for himself, because Kobe missed several three-pointers, but he ended up getting the rebounds himself.

"Hopefully, the next opponent will be more powerful!" After the game, Su Feng silently cheered for the next game's opponent in his heart.

…