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墨書 Inktalez
With three minutes left in the game, the score was 18, and we were four points behind the Shield Squad. The audience was getting restless, tapping their inflatable sticks. After we inbounded the ball, Jiang Lingfeng passed it to me. I drove to the basket but missed the layup. A Fei grabbed the rebound and passed it back to Jiang Lingfeng. Jiang Lingfeng maneuvered to the corner, and A Fei and I ran over to set screens. Jiang Lingfeng's shot from the corner was slightly tipped by the opposing Center, causing the ball to veer off course and go out of bounds.
"Damn!" I muttered under my breath. Fortunately, it was still our ball. After the inbound, Jiang Lingfeng passed directly to me. I caught it and took a mid-range fadeaway shot, finally scoring! With one minute left in the game, we were still two points behind. The opposing team inbounded, and their Point Guard passed to a forward, who hit a mid-range hook shot! The entire audience stood up; the score was now 04 with fifty-six seconds remaining. We were in a tough spot.
After we inbounded, Jiang Lingfeng drove while A Fei went for a layup. The opposing Center jumped up to block it, and I stepped in for support. The Center successfully blocked the shot, sending the ball flying out of bounds. Unfortunately, when the Shield Squad's Center landed, he stepped on my foot and fell to the ground in pain. The game was forced to stop as the audience sighed collectively. Two other players from their team rushed over. "Ouch, you almost crushed me," I said as I lifted my foot and looked back at the Shield Squad's Center lying on the ground with his eyes closed. After a moment, the referee signaled him to see if he could continue playing. Gritting his teeth, he slowly stood up with help from his teammates and gradually released their support.
"Ah!" The opposing Center exclaimed as he nearly stumbled again but was caught by his teammates. "Guan Chao, let's forfeit..." their Point Guard said with a quiver in his voice. "No! We're just fifty seconds away from reaching the finals; help me up!" The Center struggled to stand again. "Captain! We'll start over next year," said a trembling forward. Guan Chao's eyes filled with tears: "I can't accept losing like this; I'm not willing..." His body slumped as he sat down on the floor and cried out loud, while the Point Guard stood up crying and addressed the referee: "Referee, we forfeit."
Upon hearing this, the referee raised his hand signaling that Shield Squad was eliminated and we advanced while blowing the final whistle of the game. We felt no joy in celebrating or even a hint of happiness about advancing to the finals. The three members of Shield Squad sat on the floor with their heads buried in their arms, crying. As medical staff came to help Guan Chao off the court, he turned to address all the fans: "To all Shanghai fans, I'm Guan Chao; I'm sorry I couldn't bring home the National Championship Cup!" The crowd responded with deafening cheers: "It's okay; Shield Squad is the best! We will always support you!" Many fans were moved to tears; this game had no losers.
As we left the gymnasium, I called out to Guan Chao and his two teammates who had just been helped off: "Hey guys, you did great!" I gave them a thumbs-up. They forced smiles through their dejected expressions and nodded at us; we truly admired them—they were warriors. Once at our hotel, we lay on our beds. "Brothers, we've made it to the National Finals championship match!" I cheered while lying down with my arms raised.
"Yeah, it's like a dream; this journey has been so dramatic," A Fei replied. "It feels a bit unfair..." Jiang Lingfeng murmured softly. I sat up: "Hey captain, we didn't want it this way either! Shield Squad is great, but right now we need to shift our focus from admiring them to preparing for the championship match!" I needed to do some serious convincing with our overly righteous captain. Jiang Lingfeng smiled: "Wow, Jie, you seem so wise now."
"How fresh! Are you saying I didn't understand things before?" I replied with a wry smile that made both of them laugh. The finals were upon us; we had fought hard for an entire month and spent half of our summer vacation preparing for this moment. This afternoon another semifinal match would take place between Northeast champions Wild Leopard Team and South China champions Ghost Team. After discussion, we decided not to watch that match; let’s keep some mystery around it and meditate at home instead.
In the afternoon, I called Xia Ying more than ten times but she still didn’t answer. So I asked A Fei for Zhang Yirong's phone number. After dialing it through, Zhang Yirong answered: "Hello? Who is this?" "It's me—Xiang Jie." "Oh." She hung up immediately. I was completely stunned; her friends were fiercely loyal and resolutely ignored me.
Lying on my bed listening to music became unbearable after a while, so I decided to go out for a walk. "Brothers, I'm going out for a stroll," I announced as I opened my room door only for my two teammates to suddenly stand up in unison: "We'll go with you!" Their reaction startled me—were they worried I'd get into trouble again? But having company was better than being alone.
Once outside on the streets of Shanghai, I noticed how crowded it was—people everywhere! No wonder; Beijing and Shanghai are iconic cities representing our country from north to south—it's no surprise they attract large crowds. As we wandered around aimlessly in this unfamiliar city without knowing where we were going, we decided it was best not to explore further and headed back instead. We hailed a taxi back to our hotel entrance and stopped by a fast-food restaurant next door for a quick meal before retreating back into our room.
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