"You should have shown me these game footage earlier! If you had done it earlier, I guarantee the kid would have been in Indianapolis by now! Early in the morning, Butler College Bulldogs coach Brad Brown. As soon as Stevens walked into the office, his chief scout, Rogge Brown. Harpy rushed in excitedly.

"Damn, Rog, you wouldn't have slept last night, would you?" Stevens looked at his scout, the dark circles on his face more visible than the beer belly.

"Sleep? God, I couldn't be more excited about his performance! One can be with John. Wall's defender was the first to be spotted. You know man, if he and Gordon. If Hayward can join forces, we might even be able to win an NCAA championship! Harpy sat at Stevens' desk, and the look in his eyes showed that the guy was still in a state of extreme excitement.

For a scout, discovering a talented player who has never been discovered before is as joyful as winning the lottery.

"Don't be so quick to make up your mind, man, it's all about waiting for him to pass our tryout. Also, I heard that the kid's academic ...... It doesn't seem to be very rosy. If his grades aren't good enough to get him into college, there's nothing we can do. "Stevens is much calmer than Harpe, and it's not easy for a university to recruit players to the team.

"What else is there to try? I'll fly back to Long Beach tomorrow to watch his performance in the high school league for half a month, and I'll send you a report in real time. As for grades, I'm sure if I put pressure on his mother, she will help us out. It was a very cultured lady who would certainly be willing to persuade her son for the sake of his future. You know, John. That's how Wall came about. Harpy looked confident, and in one night, his attitude towards Yiyang changed 180°.

"High school league? Do you know why no university has approached him until now, Harpy? Because the kid we're looking for was dropped from the high school basketball team a month ago. I called and asked because he had a conflict with a teammate in training and broke the bridge of a child's nose. So, he doesn't have a high school league to play anymore. In other words......" Stevens' expression became serious, and he stared at the scout in front of him, saying word by word. "We are the only chance for him to continue playing basketball!"

Thinking of what happened to him in Long Beach yesterday, Harpy felt that it was not surprising that Yiyang would do such a thing. He immediately walked out of Stevens' office and prepared to go home to arrange his wife and children.

Afterwards? After that, Harpy will return to Long Beach. The child who robbed himself may not be as bad as he imagined?

※※※

At noon on weekends, the sun in Long Beach is scorching. Many people choose to swim in the beach at this time, or simply hide at home and not come out.

But Yiyang still came to the basketball court downstairs of the apartment with a basketball that looked like it was some years old. Only in this place is Yiyang's heart happy. This is the only place that will make this unruly "bad boy" full of respect.

Although Yiyang lives and studies in the United States, he is not an Asian American, but an out-and-out Chinese.

Yiyang's father used to be a basketball player, and although he was not a star in the CBA league, he was more than enough to live on basketball.

When Yiyang was eight years old, his father had to retire due to injury. This sudden blow made Yiyang's father unable to fully accept it. He wanted to leave, to leave this place that had made him miserable.

Sad, he brought his wife and Yiyang to the United States, hoping to use his savings for several years to start over on American soil. However, this land is far from being as beautiful as Yiyang's father imagined.

One day, Yiyang had just finished school and was about to go to find his father, who was waiting for him to play on the street basketball court. Just when he arrived at the gate of the court, Yiyang saw that his father seemed to have a verbal altercation with several people on the basketball court. After that, one of the blacks suddenly pulled out a gun and pulled the trigger on Yiyang's father's chest.

Yiyang, who was only 8 years old, witnessed the whole process of his father being shot. And the local police only casually dealt with the murder of an Asian family. After all, in Wood District, the shooting of people of color is nothing new.

On that day, the basketball court was stained with blood. This place, which was always full of laughter and laughter, has since become heavy. And Yiyang has changed from a good child to what he is now.

He fights and makes trouble not because he is naughty, but because he knows that on this land, only his own fists can protect him.

My father died, and my mother was too thin to do too much work. Within a few years, the Yiyang family's savings were all depleted. Their family can only rely on their mother to support themselves.

This is also one of the reasons why Yiyang chooses to rob now, he doesn't want his mother to continue to work. He's going to be 18 years old, and he's going to be an adult soon. He also hopes to support the family like his father. Poverty is one of the biggest reasons that forces people to go down the path of crime.

Yiyang shook his head and began to dribble the ball on the basketball court. He didn't know why he was thinking about it today, maybe he was thinking about how he could become like his father as a man.

After Yiyang controlled the ball and ran around the court for a few laps, he began to practice fixed-point shooting. Although he has been removed from the high school team, he still trains himself from time to time. After so many years of habit, it is so easy to stop.

Moreover, Yiyang did not regret beating that teammate at all. Whoever let that fat man say that his mother is a lowly woman, he is completely self-defeating.

As for the days ahead? Yiyang doesn't want to think about this now. When he is on the basketball court, let him enjoy the few happy moments that basketball brings him......

※※※

Yiyang, who had been playing basketball all afternoon, walked home sweating profusely, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw that his mother seemed to be hiding something behind him.

"What do you have on your hands? Mom. Yiyang put the basketball on the ground and walked towards his mother, whose tears had not completely dried up.

"I didn't ...... Nothing, I'll cook for you. Yiyang's mother squeezed out a smile and quickly walked to the kitchen.

Yiyang saw the note in his mother's hand, sprinted suddenly, and easily snatched the note. For someone who can steal Wall's basketball from behind, these are just a piece of cake for Yiyang.

He opened the note and looked at it, and sure enough, it was the latest bill for the month. And this number is beyond the limit of what their family can afford.

"Why are there so many?" Yiyang asked.

"The child you injured, I paid some medical expenses for their family. It's okay, I can go to the convenience store at night and do cashier work, we can afford it. Mother took the note from Yiyang's hand and began to cook.

Yiyang stood in place, all along, he wanted to help his mother share a little pressure, he hoped that this family could be supported by himself. But look at it now, he's just messing up with his mother again.

Sure enough, is he just a child? Yiyang clenched his fists, he didn't want to live like a child, under the protection of his mother.

"Mom."

"Huh? The meal will be ready in no time, and today there is your favorite chicken curry nuggets. The convenience store on the corner was on sale, and I bought a lot of curry back. Yiyang's mother's voice was still so gentle.

"I want to try."

"I said, I don't want you to be an auto mechanic."

"No, I mean, I want to go to Butler University."

The whole room suddenly fell silent.

"You want to go to college!?" Yiyang's mother poked her head out of the kitchen with a heartfelt smile on her face.

"I think that full scholarship should be a lot." Yiyang remembered the bill just now and said.

※※※

The next morning, Harpy stepped into the same place he had said he would never come back the day before.

Long Beach's Wood District is a melting pot of people of color. Not only is it poor, it's also chaotic.

But today, Harpy wasn't as nervous as he was the last time he came. As soon as he walked downstairs to the apartment, he saw Yiyang shooting on the basketball court.

"You're here." Yiyang spoke coldly, which was regarded as greeting Harpy.

"You know I'm coming?" Harpy smiled and stepped onto the basketball court.

"Of course you'll come back, because you haven't taken the best basketball players from Long Beach yet." Yiyang found that this blessed man didn't seem to be so annoying when he laughed.

"Is your mom home? Where's your dad? Harpy looked at the dilapidated apartment behind him, and hoped that the child's fate would change because of basketball.

"My dad died."

"Oh...... I'm so sorry. ”

"Let's go, let's go up, my mother has prepared toast and milk for you." Yiyang clipped the basketball to his waist and walked in front of Harpy.

"Hey, the thing about Butler University......"

"I'll go for a tryout, you guys, get the scholarship ready." Before Harpy finished speaking, Yiyang took over the right to speak.

Harpy originally prepared a lot of rhetoric to persuade Yiyang, but he didn't say anything, and Yiyang agreed.

Harpy followed Yiyang, and the excitement in his heart couldn't help but gush out.

Seventeen-year-old Yiyang desperately wants to make money so that he can escape the dim light of Wood District with his mother, and if he doesn't want to die on the streets or end up in jail one day, he has to resort to basketball!

Harpy could even see it, for Yiyang, the child. The door to a new world, it seems, has been opened.

Years later, when Harpy reflects on today's experience. He never imagined that this would be the starting point of a legendary story......