Chapter 104: Kobe Fan Reads the Newspaper

Back in the locker room, Kaman and the others immediately crowded around. They had watched the press conference too.

"Why, why did you make that kind of promise? You didn't need to pay any attention to those reporters," Kaman said anxiously.

Though He Xinghui was usually an insufferably cocky bastard, he also brought a lot of joy to the team. Kaman genuinely liked him as a teammate.

More importantly, He Xinghui had real talent, and he drew attention to the Clippers, which benefited everyone. None of them wanted him to retire.

"Relax, Chris. I was just messing with them. Nobody said a promise has to be kept, right? If I don't retire in the end, what are they going to do about it?"

Pfft.

As soon as he said that, Quentin Ross, who had been drinking water, sprayed it out everywhere.

Everyone stared in disbelief. They finally seemed to understand the saying: the shameless are invincible.

"Hahaha, I told you all you were worrying for nothing. When has this guy ever come out on the losing end?" Cassell laughed.

He genuinely appreciated He Xinghui, because He Xinghui did the things Cassell wanted to do but didn't dare to.

He couldn't wait to see the look on those reporters' faces when they learned the truth—the look of wanting to cry but having no tears left.

"But this is going to do a lot of damage to your image," Kaman said.

"Chris, the NBA is a competitive sport, not a beauty pageant. If you have no talent, you could call the media 'daddy' and they'd still trash you anyway. But if you're strong enough to win a championship, you can call them 'sons' and they'll get down on their knees and say, 'Daddy, you look so handsome winning the title...'"

Before He Xinghui could finish, everyone cracked up again.

Still, they had to admit there was some twisted logic to his nonsense.

He Xinghui shifted gears. "Actually, I'm really glad I ended up on the Clippers."

Satisfied smiles spread across everyone's faces. The team was playing well this season, and they were all pretty happy with the Clippers.

"Because the Clippers are a crappy team..."

He Xinghui kept going.

God damn it.

A few of the guys couldn't help but grumble internally. But those who knew He Xinghui well, like Cassell, waited patiently.

They knew there had to be a twist coming.

"Think about it. If we were on the Spurs, no matter how hard we worked, not winning a championship would be a failure. But here on the Clippers, just making the playoffs gets us praise. If we reach the conference finals, or win the championship, the fans will put us on a pedestal."

"What a great opportunity this is. Let's seize this season and shock everyone. Come on—one, two, three, four: Clippers champions!"

"..."

Everyone.

The next morning, Los Angeles.

A commuter was walking toward his office building when he spotted the newsstand on the ground floor and stopped.

He'd gone to a friend's party the night before, so he'd missed the game. He needed to catch up on sports news.

"George, give me a sports paper," Camus said.

The newsstand owner handed one over, but the moment Camus glanced at the headline, he snapped: "Shit. I don't want any He news. Give me a paper without He in it."

Camus was a die-hard Kobe fan, and the person he hated most in the world was He Xinghui.

"Sorry, but that's all there is today. Every paper has He news," George shrugged, looking helpless.

"That's impossible. I don't believe it."

"If you don't believe me, buy one of each and see if I'm lying," George said.

"Fine. But if you're lying to me, I'm never buying your papers again."

In the end, Camus bought one of every sports paper.

He went into the office, sat down at his desk, and pulled out a paper.

【28 Points: He Leads Team to Defeat the Formidable Suns】

Shit.

Camus cursed inwardly. Before the game, he'd been looking forward to Nash teaching He Xinghui a lesson.

Instead, He Xinghui had put up great numbers and led his team to victory.

Seeing someone you hate look good is a truly miserable feeling.

But he'd already bought the papers, so he couldn't exactly throw them away. He kept reading.

【Cousin Leads Team to Fifth Straight Win, Breaking Franchise Record】

What franchise record? Five straight wins breaks a franchise record?

Camus was staggered. He couldn't believe that a team with over thirty years of history had never managed five wins in a row. It was absurd.

What made it worse was that the record had been broken by the man he hated.

He felt, deeply and viscerally, the threat He Xinghui posed to the Lakers.

"Fuck," Camus muttered, forcing down his irritation and reading the next article.

【Sensational Flying Dunk—A Change of Heart?】

The dunk He Xinghui threw down in that game, riding over a defender, was the kind of thing that might only happen once in a season. Even with the on-court brawl as a huge story, the dunk still earned itself a column of its own. And the interaction with Diaz after the dunk was a major piece of gossip.

After reading that article, Camus felt even worse.

Such a spectacular performance, delivered by someone he hated? Utterly infuriating.

Even worse, the bastard had used it as another excuse to get handsy with a hot girl. Twice as infuriating.

Camus tossed that paper aside and picked up another one.

【He Triggers On-Court Chaos, Multiple Players Suspended...】

"Motherfucker—the league is so biased!"

Camus was furious. He'd thought the headline meant He Xinghui had finally gotten what he deserved.

But after reading the details, it turned out He Xinghui hadn't been suspended at all. He'd escaped unscathed.

The crushing disconnect between expectation and reality made Camus completely lose his composure. He shouted out loud in the office.

Good thing it wasn't time to start working yet, or he would've gotten a scolding.

"What's wrong, Camus?" a coworker asked.

"Nothing. It's just that He won another game. It's pissing me off," Camus said helplessly.

The coworker burst out laughing. He happened to be a fan of He Xinghui. He'd enjoyed reading those headlines.

So he said, "Camus, why don't you just become a fan of Cousin instead? That way you won't be miserable all the time."

"I..."

Camus was momentarily at a loss for words.

The reason he liked Kobe was, in truth, because Kobe was stronger—he could always watch Kobe dominate others.

Most fans probably wouldn't want to see their idol getting beaten up every night.

From that perspective, becoming a fan of He would indeed be a way to cut down on his troubles.

But after hesitating for a moment, Camus still couldn't make up his mind.

Because he believed Kobe was stronger, and Kobe would bring him more good news.

As for He Xinghui—sure, he looked impressive right now, but who could guarantee he wasn't just a flash in the pan?

Players who peaked the moment they entered the league weren't exactly rare in this league.

"No. I still like Kobe," Camus insisted.

"Then you're in for a lot of misery. I think He's going to become the best player in the league eventually. There are plenty more 'bad news' headlines waiting for you," the coworker said with a laugh.