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Published at 19th of June 2023 07:02:26 AM


Chapter 16

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My Soulmate is a Libero

Before arriving at Shixuan High School, Coach Liu, who was in charge of physical training, exclaimed, “It’s a shame we have to play the game today; otherwise, we could have gone to see the big stars.”

Stars?

The boys in the car were all adolescents, and their ears perked up at the mention of stars. The allure of stardom was still bright before the first year of the collapsed house.

Coach Liu clarified, “Today is the school anniversary. Shixuan High School has several star children and entrepreneurs’ children studying there. Their parents are present, and everyone is watching the performance in the auditorium. We are just playing a practice match, and we agreed from the beginning that outsiders are not allowed to come in and watch. Their affairs have nothing to do with us.”

Libero Zhou Ziming asked, “Which star is here?”

Chen Aiguo coughed and replied, “There are quite a few. Zhou Yun and Wu Yaocheng are here.”

Zhou Yun is a well-known veteran actor who is now transitioning into directing. Wu Yaocheng is a Peking Opera martial arts star. Both of them are in their forties, so it’s normal for their children to be in high school.

Chen Aiguo mentioned another name, “And Zhao Zhaoyan, her son is also studying at Shixuan.”

The boys immediately became excited.

“Oh, oh, oh!”

“Sister Qinxian.” -Qin for Guqin, Xian for Fairy-

“She’s beautiful!”

“It’s the ghost queen, tsk, she haunted my childhood.”

The ghost queen refers to the character in Zhao Zhaoyan’s debut work, which is a must-watch classic in Hong Kong ghost movies. However, people who are aware of their own fear levels usually avoid watching it. But most of these guys have strong yang energy and are brave enough to handle it.

The boys looked at the person who spoke and realized it was Li Ling.

That’s right.

When they arrived at the location, they got out of the car, and the first person Qin Chunxiao spotted was Fu Biyang. This guy was just too conspicuous.

Fu Biyang is also a post-2000s generation, 16 years old this year. But compared to Qin Chunxiao, who is still struggling at 1.7 meters, Fu Biyang has already reached 1.9 meters. His arms are remarkably long, reaching past his crotch. He has a dark complexion and a muscular build. If one were to ignore his face, they might mistake him for a black NBA star.

Qin Chunxiao knew that this was not Fu Biyang’s peak. At his best, he weighed 95 kilograms, and his bench press reached 190 kilograms. His muscles were as hard as rocks. When he played on the court, he looked like a predator. The coaches were all amazed. They had only seen such a physique in black athletes before.

Qin Chunxiao’s peak bench press was only 140 kg. Fu Biyang was 50 kg heavier than him, equivalent to the weight of a living person. When he caught the ball from Fu Biyang on the court, it felt like catching shells. After playing, Qin Chunxiao didn’t even want to receive Fu Biyang’s spikes.

It could be said that, apart from his ball sense and average IQ game, Fu Biyang was on par with a beast in terms of physical fitness. Perhaps after God endowed him with strength attributes, he felt the need to balance it out, leading to weaker aspects in other areas.

As such a muscular guy ran and jumped on the playground, everyone passing by couldn’t help but gaze at him.

The aura of that humanoid monster was

 overpowering.

Lao Chen also spotted Fu Biyang as soon as he got out of the car and praised, “His physical condition is excellent. His wingspan must be at least two meters, which gives him a significant advantage when blocking at the net. Is he a secondary attacker?”

In volleyball, attackers are divided into main attackers and auxiliary attackers. The main attacker or wing spiker is the team’s trump card, the cannon that scores points with powerful spikes. The setter coordinates with the main attacker for quick attacks and scoring. The positions of the main and auxiliary attackers are not distinct, as neither can succeed without the other.

But looking at Fu Biyang’s arm, even a coach like Lao Chen, who has never fought a wealthy battle and has limited experience using SSR, understood that it would be a waste not to have Fu Biyang block at the net.

This time, Lao Chen’s judgment was correct. Fu Biyang had been a secondary attacker from the provincial team to the national team, and he had the best physical data among secondary attackers in Asia.

The players born in the post-1995 and post-2000 generations produced a group of exceptionally talented players. Unfortunately, it would still take a few years before they were embraced by the high-ranking veterans and selected for the national team. They missed the Rio Olympics, the Tokyo Olympics, and they would likely miss the Paris Olympics as well.

At that moment, Fu Biyang also noticed them. He raised his hand and waved, displaying a friendly smile. His snow-white teeth stood out under the sun, and his skin, tanned and glowing with health from years of exposure to the ultraviolet rays of Island H, had a rosy complexion.

Speaking in a strong Island H accent, he greeted them, “Hello, friends from Province G.”

The Provincial Youth Team from G province responded instinctively, “Hello, hello.”

The provincial youth team from Island H had arrived in the morning. They took the train, with each section of the train being transported to the ship and eventually crossing the sea to Guangzhou. From there, they returned to the track and arrived at the venue.

This kind of journey was exhausting. Upon arrival, the athletes first went to a nearby hotel to rest before engaging in activities and familiarizing themselves with the venue at Shixuan High School. Due to the favorable location, the provincial youth team from G province didn’t take the bus until the afternoon to reach the venue.

Being late didn’t matter, as the players from Island H were still warm and friendly. While warming up together, they exchanged views on the weather in City G.

These older players complained about the coldness of G City because most of them were used to wearing short-sleeved sun protection clothing all year round, and they had to add coats when they arrived in G City.

Fu Biyang complained to Qin Chunxiao, “It’s so cold here.”

Qin Chunxiao replied, “I can’t help it. This is how winters are. Fortunately, it didn’t rain today; otherwise, it would have been even colder.”

Listening to their conversation, those who didn’t know might think that G City was a cold place. In fact, the weather there was like spring all year round, much warmer than genuinely cold high latitude areas.

Li Ling groaned and walked between them, saying, “What are you doing? We’re going to play a game later. Don’t get too close to our setter. Move away.”

Fu Biyang, with a good temper, replied, “Don’t say that. We’re opponents now, but we may become teammates when we reach the national team.”

He was very confident in his ability to enter the national team. With his physique, unless one was blind, they had to acknowledge his potential.

The theme song of the movie “Qin Xian” could be heard from the direction of the nearby auditorium. A cold female voice faintly echoed through the air. A group of passionate teenagers entered the arena, and a clear distinction between Wei and Wei was immediately established.

Qin Chunxiao wore a black team uniform. He stood in the third position in front of the net, with his teammates behind him. This time, they formed a 4-2 formation, passing the ball to the main and secondary attackers on both sides to facilitate their offense.

Li Ling stood in the back row with another attacker and a libero.

The field formation was as follows:

4 3 2

Mo Lin – Main Attacker

Qin Chunxiao – Second Passer

Liu Kairui – Secondary Attacker

5 6 1

Li Xiaoping – Second Attacker

Zhou Ziming – Libero

Li Ling – Second Setter

Position 1 served first. Li Ling backed up to the service area with the ball in his hands, took a deep breath, tossed the ball up, took a few steps, jumped, hit the ball hard, and delivered a powerful jump serve.

The opposing team’s lineman squatted and observed. Then he raised the flag in his hand, indicating a foot fault.

Island H was awarded a point in the opening game, and Fu Biyang waved happily, saying, “Thank you, brother!”

Li Ling clenched his fist in frustration, but Qin Chunxiao turned around and waved at him, saying, “It’s okay. The error rate for jump serves is already high.”

Li Ling raised his hand and admitted, “My fault.”

But failing to score with the serve means that the right to serve will be transferred to the opposite side. The provincial youth team from H province was ready to fight. The No. 1 player on the opposing side was a tall guy, standing at around 1.8 meters. He was relatively short in the field of volleyball but had a slender and strong figure.

He yelled and jumped.

Zhou Ziming was about to pick it up when Qin Chunxiao called out, “It’s out of bounds!”

Zhou Ziming quickly squatted down to avoid the ball, and the yellow and blue volleyball hit the ground outside the court and fell into Chen Aiguo’s hands.

Chen Aiguo threw the ball back and smiled awkwardly at Coach Zheng from the Island H youth team.

This start was an even exchange of points.

Coach Zheng said, “It seems like everyone’s still warming up.”

Li Ling laughed loudly and shouted to the opposing side, “Thanks, bro!”

The other side shouted back, “You’re welcome!”

It seemed that saving face was more important than anything.

Fortunately, when the H province youth team served again, the ball passed the net smoothly. Otherwise, both teams would have to work on their serving skills after the match.

According to the rules, when a team gets the right to serve, all team members have to rotate one position clockwise. Qin Chunxiao moved from position three to position two.

He calmly looked at the opposing side and noticed that after receiving the ball from the first pass, it was quickly passed to the second pass.

“Attack!” The opposing team’s main attacker shouted and spiked the ball.

Zhou Ziming jumped forward and managed to save the ball, but he soon realized the problem. He saved the ball with difficulty, and it bounced up two meters before falling back down.

As he cursed in his heart, Qin Chunxiao appeared beside him and pushed the ball directly towards the net. Mo Lin, who was already waiting there, stood up ready to spike, but to his surprise, Fu Biyang was already there, raising his hands high. With a jump, he blocked Mo Lin’s spike back into their court.

The referee raised his hand, and the Island H team scored again, making it 2-1 in favor of the Island H youth team.

Qin Chunxiao turned around and asked Zhou Ziming, “It’s more difficult to receive a block, can you handle it?”

Zhou Ziming replied bitterly, “No, why am I still on the court? Wait, I’ll just keep an eye on that Fu Biyang from now on!”

Qin Chunxiao reminded him, “Don’t focus on individuals, focus on the ball.”

Mo Lin said in a low voice, “Next time, I’ll definitely score!”

Qin Chunxiao was exasperated. “You don’t have to spike it every time. It’s not easy to spike against Fu Biyang. You can try a lob.”

Mo Lin was 3 centimeters shorter than Fu Biyang and appeared slender compared to others. It was no wonder his attacks couldn’t break through the opposing defense.

Unfortunately, Mo Lin had never faced off against Fu Biyang before. But now, he refused to give in and attempted a few more spikes, only to be blocked by Fu Biyang every time. Twice, Fu Biyang even directly scored points with his blocks, and once Zhou Ziming managed to save the ball.

At this point, Qin Chunxiao rotated to the back row, and Zhou Ziming, as a Libero, substituted for another passer named Ambo. However, Ambo’s receiving level was not as good as Zhou Ziming’s.

Qin Chunxiao rolled his eyes, and when Fu Biyang tried to block again, Qin Chunxiao rolled on the ground and hit the ball with his left arm, sending it to Li Ling, who had already rotated to the front row.

Li Ling’s eyes lit up, and he jumped up. This time, he ignored Mo Lin’s request and sent the ball over the net. Fu Biyang was defending against Mo Lin on the opposite side, and with no one in front of Li Ling, it was an open opportunity. He scored directly with a lob.

Li Ling scored the team’s first point after entering the field and howled with excitement, “Oh!” He even ran towards Qin Chunxiao, wanting to bump chests to celebrate.

Qin Chunxiao, who was 1.74 meters tall, dodged nimbly. “If you want to thank me, give me a few more sets later.”

Li Ling replied cheerfully, “No problem!”

At that moment, Qin Chunxiao happened to rotate to the front of the net again. He glanced back at Mo Lin, who was in the back row, and gave him a thumbs up. Fu Biyang felt a sharper gaze on him.

Fu Biyang had the feeling of being stalked by a wolf when Qin Chunxiao stared at him.

Strange, he acknowledged that this petite setter was good at setting and digging, but with his height of 1.74 meters, he had no advantage at the net. Why did he feel that this kid was more dangerous than the main attacker?

Fu Biyang’s intuition was soon proven right.

In the next play, Li Ling set the ball for Qin Chunxiao, who immediately took off after a short run-up. Fu Biyang didn’t expect his opponent to jump so high. He tried to block the spike but found that his arm only reached Qin Chunxiao’s wrist. In mid-air, Qin Chunxiao looked down at him and smiled.

At that moment, it became clear that although Qin Chunxiao could have powerfully spiked the ball and scored, he aimed the ball at Fu Biyang’s fingers.

And just like that, the yellow-blue ball hit Fu Biyang’s palm and flew out of bounds.

The referee raised his hand and called, “The ball is out of bounds!”

The G province youth team scored a point.

As Fu Biyang landed, he pointed at Qin Chunxiao and exclaimed, “Ah! Why did you hit me in the hand? Couldn’t you have just spiked it? Do you know how painful it is to get hit by a ball on the fingertips?”

Qin Chunxiao felt embarrassed. “Oh, I just wanted to show you how to deal with an expert blocker like yourself.”

Fu Biyang was momentarily stunned. He looked at the opposing side and realized that everyone was staring at him with ill intentions.

Helping each other out was a good tradition, especially when a spike didn’t work. This trick could save the situation.





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