Chapter 34

Less than two minutes into the second quarter, the Pistons substituted in Zhou Yi. Once on the court, Zhou Yi was extremely active. The Pistons, who usually didn’t rely on fast breaks, started using them under Zhou Yi’s leadership. Zhou Yi broke through from the middle, with Luther Head, who had replaced Tyreke Evans, defending him. After several dribbles under his body, Zhou Yi suddenly accelerated and feigned a breakthrough. As Luther Head stepped back, Zhou Yi jumped for a shot and scored, expanding the Pistons’ lead to 10 points.

On the Kings’ side, the main offensive player was this year’s first-round draft pick, DeMarcus Cousins. Right after Zhou Yi scored with a jump shot, he immediately received a pass from Antoine Wright and scored inside.

In the subsequent attacks, the Pistons continued to rely on Zhou Yi, who maintained his high shooting accuracy. Meanwhile, since Tyreke Evans left the court, the Kings’ offense stalled, with only DeMarcus Cousins and Karl Landry scoring twice inside.

In no time, Zhou Yi’s score had risen to 22 points. Driven by him, the Pistons kept their lead in double digits, with signs of it growing even further.

It was Zhou Yi again—after receiving an inside pass from Hansbrough at the corner, he hit another three-point shot. The entire arena was silent, staring in amazement at this Chinese teenager; they were shocked by his incredible performance.

But it wasn’t the same on the Pistons’ bench. Bynum still stood there, waving a towel and shouting arrogantly, “Zhou, kill them! You can kill them all by yourself! Haha…”

The referee glared at Bynum helplessly before focusing on the one-sided game on the court.

Under these circumstances, Kings head coach Paul Westphal had no choice but to call a timeout, as the lead was about to reach 20 points—yet it was still not even halftime!

After the timeout, the Kings brought in some of their starters. Since Tyreke Evans had played too long in the first quarter, he didn’t come in, while the Pistons made some lineup changes as well.

The timeout seemed to have some effect, at least that’s what Paul Westphal thought. Rookie Omari Casby entered the game and posed some threat to the Pistons. But with counterattacks from Zhou Yi and others, those threats were quickly eliminated.

Unnoticed, the first half of the game was coming to an end. With nearly 3 minutes left in the first half, Zhou Yi was substituted out by Bynum to rest, so he could adjust in time for a better performance in the second half. As Terrik Evans missed a last-second three-point shot, the first half ended with the Pistons leading the Kings 62–45, holding a 17-point advantage as they entered the second half.

“Zhou, how do you feel?” John Kuster asked Zhou Yi with a smile.

Zhou Yi laughed and replied, “I feel pretty good. It’s really exciting and satisfying!”

“Do you feel like a superstar?” Will Bynum asked with a laugh.

Zhou Yi nodded cheerfully, not avoiding John Kuster’s presence at all. At that moment, Blake stepped up to Zhou Yi with a strange smile, which made Zhou Yi’s heart race.

“Ahem, Xiao Yi, you did well in the first half—scoring almost 30 points. To reward you, I’ve decided to let you know what surprise your uncle has for you. Do you want to know?” Blake said, hugging Zhou Yi and smiling lewdly.

Zhou Yi gave him a disdainful look and replied gloomily, “Of course I want to know!”

“Then turn around first!” Blake said seriously.

Zhou Yi shrugged helplessly, turned around, and joked, “Uncle, why are you acting like a girl? Do you want me to close my eyes too?”

Blake laughed awkwardly and retorted, “You brat, how dare you tease your uncle now? After you see this surprise, you’ll definitely thank me! Hmph…”

Blake clapped his hands three times and then said to Zhou Yi, “Okay, turn around now.”

Zhou Yi was also a bit nervous, knowing Blake’s personality. Since he said he would give him a surprise, it would definitely be one. Holding his breath, Zhou Yi slowly turned around and looked ahead.

“Uh… Xiang… Keer? Is that you?”

What appeared before Zhou Yi’s eyes was Mo Keer. The moment he saw her, he almost mistook her for Xiang Yun. Fortunately, after taking a closer look, he realized the girl in front of him wasn’t Xiang Yun but Mo Keer, the one he had longed for. Mo Keer was wearing Zhou Yi’s jersey number 37 on top and tight jeans below, looking extremely pure and beautiful, with a distinct charm compared to Xiang Yun, Phoebe, and Jessica.

Zhou Yi rushed forward abruptly and pulled Mo Keer into his arms. Mo Keer struggled for a moment before obediently embracing Zhou Yi’s waist with her own arms. She was clearly nervous—after all, there were so many people around, and she didn’t know most of them. But the moment she thought of Zhou Yi, she stopped worrying about it. Zhou Yi held Mo Keer tightly, embracing the girl he had longed for, closed his eyes, and ignored everyone else present. “Ahem, Zhou Yi, you really are someone who values women over friends. Can’t you see us brothers standing here?” Lin Qixiao coughed helplessly a few times to remind him. Zhou Yi opened his eyes and saw three more people standing behind Mo Keer—Qin Tian, Hong Ming, and Lin Qixiao, all wearing Zhou Yi’s No. 37 jersey. “Ah? Haha, so you three came too.” Zhou Yi released his arms and went over to hug each of them. Blake patted Zhou Yi’s shoulder and said with a smile, “Well? Uncle, are you satisfied with this surprise?” “Mm, extremely satisfied, Uncle. Thank you!” Zhou Yi said seriously, looking at Blake. John Kuster stepped forward, smiled, and said to everyone, “Hehe, let’s have a proper chat after the game! It’s not the time for talking yet—the game is about to start. Zhou, get ready; you can’t disappoint everyone!” “Okay!” Zhou Yi laughed heartily. Chapter 145: Capturing the King In the second half of the game, Zhou Yi played even more actively and enthusiastically, with his teammates cooperating closely with him. Although his shooting accuracy dipped slightly, he still dealt a heavy blow to the Kings team. As the game entered the third quarter, Zhou Yi took advantage of his speed to constantly attack the Kings’ defense. The Kings’ substitute, Antoine Wright, was repeatedly fouled by Zhou Yi. Once he broke through in offense, Zhou Yi also effectively coordinated the other Pistons players. He first stole Jason Thompson’s ball and assisted McGrady in scoring on a fast break, then drove to the basket and passed to Tashawn Prince for a three-point shot. Zhou Yi single-handedly activated the entire Pistons’ offensive line. With 2 minutes and 43 seconds left in the third quarter, Zhou Yi scored another three-point shot, helping the Pistons widen the score gap to over 20 points. His insane performance drew many exclamations from the fans in the arena—of course, this was also thanks to the help of his teammates and the tactics planned by his coach.

A fast break led to a foul on Greg Monroe, and with the fast break attack, Tyreke Evans used all his offensive skills against the Pistons’ defense. With 28 seconds left in the third quarter, Omari Casby’s three-pointer narrowed the Kings’ deficit to 15 points. Once again, Zhou Yi stepped up in a critical moment—he hit a three-pointer from just outside the left sideline, and Tyreke Evans, who rushed to defend him, committed another foul. Zhou Yi’s 3+1 performance caught the attention of fans everywhere; even the usually calm Mo Keer screamed for him from the Pistons’ bench, leaving Qin Tian and the other two in shock as they stared at her for a long time.