69novels Chapter 1: Midway through the final, the suona blasts through the stadium.
Chapter 1: Midway through the final, the suona blasts through the stadium.
June 2002, Continental Airlines Arena, New Jersey.
The deafening cheers nearly blew the roof off the arena. The Lakers were leading by double digits in Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Nets. Shaquille O'Neal was munching on his third box of fried chicken on the sidelines, butter smearing his chin. Kobe Bryant sat on the bench with his arms crossed, his face so cold it looked like three layers of frost could be scraped off.
Meanwhile, in the corner backstage of the players' tunnel, Lin Hao was stuck in the ultimate philosophical bewilderment of "Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?"
He glanced down at the suona in his hand, then at the 300-pound behemoth on the sidelines—wait a minute, in my past life I bragged that "if I could dunk on Shaq once, it would be worth dying for," could it be...
He glanced down at his ill-fitting, cheap suit and the ebony suona he was clutching tightly in his hand. The suona bowl even had a crooked "Lin" character carved on it. This was the suona he had been using for twenty years, his signature instrument for opening banquets at weddings and funerals in the county town. How did it end up here with him?
One second he was at a barbecue stand in Fengtian City, shirtless, bragging to the kids in his youth training team, a case of ice-cold beer in front of him, and a pile of empty chicken bones on the table. Fueled by the alcohol, he slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "You guys remember this! Playing basketball requires a ruthless, domineering attitude! If my knees hadn't been ruined, I'd definitely be making it to the NBA! If I could dunk on that big fat guy Shaq once, I'd die happy!"
Then he downed his last glass of baijiu, his head slumped, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in this godforsaken place full of foreign devils, so noisy it gave him a headache.
"Hey! You! Come on! Hurry up!"
A blond, blue-eyed foreigner grabbed his arm and rushed towards the stage, spewing out a string of English phrases. Lin Hao stumbled, blurting out in his thick Northeastern accent, "Hey! What are you doing! Let go! Stop pulling me around like that!"
But the foreigner seemed not to understand human language and pushed him to the stage entrance. Only then did Lin Hao realize that the stage was a mess, a violin was smashed to pieces, and the originally scheduled intermission guest—a young Chinese man—was sitting on the ground clutching his wrist, his face pale with pain.
It turns out that an accident happened to one of the performers, and the organizers went crazy. They saw a Chinese man with an instrument backstage and just grabbed him and pulled him out.
Tens of thousands of eyes in the arena turned to look. Even Shaquille O'Neal, who was eating fried chicken on the sidelines, stopped eating, held up his chicken nuggets, and looked this way. Kobe also frowned and looked up.
Lin Hao's mind went blank for a moment. The effects of the alcohol hadn't completely worn off, and the crazy, energetic spirit ingrained in the DNA of Northeasterners surged up.
So what if you go on stage to perform? I've seen plenty of banquets in my county town with hundreds or even thousands of people. Do you think I'm afraid of you foreign devils?
He looked down at the suona in his hand, then glanced at the 300-pound fat man on the sidelines. The boasts he made at the dinner table in his previous life were still ringing in his ears. His heart was pounding, and a surge of hot blood rushed to the top of his head.
Screw it! We're already here! Let's just go for it!
He carried the suona and stepped onto the stage.
The entire arena fell silent for a moment. The audience was completely bewildered, whispering amongst themselves, no one knowing what this suddenly appearing Asian young man was up to. The security personnel took two steps forward, staring warily at the dark suona in his hand—why did this thing look like a small cannon? Could it be some kind of mysterious Eastern weapon?
Lin Hao didn't care about any of that. He put the suona mouthpiece in his mouth, placed his fingers on the sound hole, and took a deep breath.
The next second, a suona horn-like sound that pierced the clouds and split rocks resounded throughout the entire stadium.
That sound, as bright as a thunderclap splitting through dark clouds and as powerful as an axe breaking through ice in the dead of winter in Northeast China, completely silenced all the noise and chatter in the audience.
On the sidelines, O'Neal dropped the fried chicken in his hand with a "thud," his mouth agape wide enough to fit a basketball.
Kobe squeezed the Gatorade bottle in his hand until it was deformed, and the cold drink spilled all over his pants before he even realized what was happening.
The tens of thousands of spectators were collectively petrified.
Lin Hao paid no heed to any of that. He focused his energy, his fingers flying across the strings, and he played "A Man Should Be Self-Reliant" on the suona with a breathtaking melody. Every note seemed to have a hook, piercing right to the bone. That indomitable, defiant, and fearless spirit was all contained within the suona's sound, striking the hearts of everyone present across language and national borders.
As he bragged, his mind flashed through scenes from his past life like a movie: training until he vomited at the sports school in his teens, the devastation he felt when the doctor said he could never play professionally again after injuring his knee, returning to the county to lead the youth training team, seeing the light in the children's eyes, playing the suona with the funeral and wedding band in his spare time, the boasts he made to his apprentices at the dinner table, and those unfulfilled dreams...
It turns out, he really was reborn.
He was reborn in 2002, the golden age of the NBA, an era in which he could make up for all his regrets.
[Beep—Detection indicates that the host's past life experience in basketball youth training and suona playing skills have been successfully integrated.]
[Get Stronger Through Fun: The Northeast Basketball Legend System is Officially Activated!]
[Host: Lin Hao]
Age: 22
Current Talent: E-tier (purely average skill level)
[Current Skills: Suona Mastery (Grandmaster Level), Basketball Tactical Prediction (Master Level)]
Just as the cold system notification sounded in his mind, Lin Hao had finished playing the last note. The suona's sound faded, and its lingering echo still circled around the stadium.
After a full three seconds of deathly silence, the entire Continental Airlines Arena erupted!
The cheers, screams, and applause were even more deafening than when the Lakers were beating the Nets in the first half. The crowd stood up, waving their support signs and shouting wildly. They didn't know the young man's name or what tune he was playing, but they were completely captivated by his energy!
Lin Hao, holding his suona, bowed to the entire audience and blurted out in Northeastern dialect, "Thank you all for coming!"
He only realized after shouting that these foreign devils couldn't understand him.
He straightened up with a smile, his gaze piercing through the sea of people and fixing directly on the behemoth weighing over 300 pounds on the sidelines.
Shaquille O'Neal, the most dominant center in NBA history, was a man who boasted countless times at drinking parties in his past life and dreamed of dunking on others.
Just then, the system in my head beeped again.
[Beep! Temporary extreme mission triggered: Dunk over Shaquille O'Neal]
[Task requirement: Perform a dunk over Shaquille O'Neal in this arena, in front of the entire audience.]
[Mission Reward: Newbie Gift Pack x1, perfectly integrating past life basketball experience, physical talent upgraded to Grade B (NBA rotation level)]
[Punishment for mission failure: Immediately repatriated to the original world, back to the county town barbecue stall, to continue training middle school students in shuttle runs, and permanently banned from playing professional basketball]
Lin Hao's eyes instantly shone like searchlights in the dark.
Screw your repatriation! Screw your county-level youth training!
I was reborn, not to teach kids how to slide!
He threw the suona he was holding to the side of the stage, and while the crowd was still cheering wildly and the security personnel hadn't reacted yet, he dashed off the stage, stepped on the GG sign on the side of the court, and jumped directly into the NBA court that he had always dreamed of stepping onto!
The staff on the sidelines were completely stunned. Just as the security guards were about to rush over, Lin Hao had already grabbed the basketball that the staff were preparing to use for the interactive performance from the sidelines.
He looked up and saw O'Neal, who was walking onto the court a few meters away and hadn't yet come over.
He pushed off with both feet and slammed the basketball hard against the ground.
He shot towards the basket like an arrow released from a bow, towards the behemoth that was positioned under the basket.