Work Prophet
Chapter 159 - 7: The 1st Civilization Cup

Chapter 159: Chapter 7: The 1st Civilization Cup

On the uneven ground, a lizardman charged toward the wooden rack ahead, his right hand slapping a basketball.

However, very soon, a defender emerged diagonally from the side!

Neither slowed down, and the next moment, their bodies collided solidly, muscle against muscle, emitting a dull thud!

The attacking lizardman stepped back twice, and the basketball in his hand was jolted away.

Although the interceptor was also sent flying, he only took one step back and was quicker to start, scooping up the fallen basketball with a swift leap.

A burst of cheers erupted from the crowd!

After the change of possession, the interceptor became the attacker, and the original attacker began to think of ways to block him. Chasing from behind, he didn’t hesitate and sped up for a confrontation.

The lizardman with the ball didn’t dodge; sensing his opponent behind, he simply stood his ground, took a firm stance, tensed his body! Getting into a defensive posture!

Seeing this, the trailing lizardman also lowered his shoulders and accelerated! Even faster!!!

Until they passionately collided again!

Bone against bone, muscle against muscle! Together they orchestrated a symphony of the human body.

Under the massive impact, both lost their composure, one sticking out his tongue, the other rolling his eyes, every bit of skin on their faces twitching.

They both eventually collapsed to the ground, but after less than half a second, they were up again.

But this time, they didn’t go for the ball; instead, they charged at each other immediately!

Smack!

Smack! Smack!

Smack smack smack smack smack!!!

The lizardmen freely dispersed their sweat on the court, reveling in the cheers of the spectating crowd.

Among them, little maid Clara was the most enthusiastic, constantly shouting, "Push harder, give it some more! Hey, that’s a great chokehold! Beautiful!"

The players on the court seemed to be motivated by the cheers, competing with even more vigor, soon using hands and feet, all aiming at opponents, with none going for the ball.

By the end of the match, all the athletes were fully engaged, even forgetting that there was a basketball on the court.

The only person in the crowd who fell silent was Li Yu.

He was also the referee of the match, but the whistle in his mouth hadn’t sounded even once.

It wasn’t that Li Yu didn’t want to blow the whistle according to normal game rules.

In fact, he had tried to popularize basketball rules earlier, and to highlight the lizardpeople’s strengths, he had chosen FIBA’s rules over the NBA’s whistle-at-every-touch refereeing.

However, after implementation, both the athletes themselves and the surrounding audience had a tepid reaction.

So Li Yu went with the flow and changed to the current rule that encourages physical contact, which unexpectedly had great results. Not only did more people want to play basketball, but the number of spectators also surged, packing the court inside and out with every game.

And someone like Clara, one of the first to encounter basketball, had already become a seasoned fan, familiar with a whole host of offensive and defensive techniques.

It was only now that the basketball movement on the Bratis Continent was still in its infancy, and Li Yu hadn’t established any coaching or assistant coaching positions, otherwise the little maid’s knowledge of basketball would probably have been enough for her to coach a team by now.

In any case, the old basketball the "Eco-friendly Frog" had found was now being put to good use by Li Yu, adding another unique religious entertainment activity for the Double Rest Sect.

While the faithful rejoiced for the first Civilization Cup basketball game on Saturday, a figure staggered out of the Gai Gu Swamp.

The moment he appeared, he was discovered by nearby lizard people on guard. A female lizardman who spoke the Universal Language stepped forward to confirm the newcomer’s identity and soon he was brought before Li Yu.

"You are... Juan, the Squire Knight of Pablo?"

Li Yu took a moment to recognize the person and a look of surprise crossed his face.

Juan was a member of the first Dragon Seeking Team, an armed force led by a Gold Snake Knight and comprised of elite warriors from the Arias family. After their second foray into the swamp, they had lost all contact.

It had been over a month since then, and everyone had come to accept that the team had been completely wiped out.

Especially Juan, whose sword had been found by the sharp-eyed lizard people and brought back to Teacup Castle.

His family had just held a funeral for him a few days ago, and most of the bigwigs from Green Field had been in attendance.

Miss Irelia had even posthumously awarded him a knight’s title.

No one had thought he would still be alive.

However, the Squire Knight had undergone many changes compared to when he first entered the swamp; not only had his hair and beard grown wild, but he also looked extremely weak, having lost half his body weight, and one arm was covered in burn wounds, which had become pus-filled and emitted a foul smell.

Li Yu fed him a few anti-inflammatory pills and then had two lizard people take him to have his wounds bandaged and treated.

But Juan grabbed Li Yu’s arm in a grip, "Are... is there another person?"

"What?"

"There’s another person, the one who was hiding in the castle before, the informant named Jude—he was captured and locked in the dungeon by you and Miss Irelia. I don’t know how he managed to escape, nor how he ended up in this swamp, but after I encountered him, I captured him."

After speaking only a few words, Juan began to gasp heavily. He took a few gulps of apple cider passed to him by a lizardman and then regained some strength before continuing.

"However, he was acting strangely when I saw him; he looked utterly dispirited, like a walking corpse. No matter what I asked him, he didn’t say a word, but without him guiding the way, we probably would never have been able to get out of that swamp."

"And honestly, I wasn’t his match, especially with an injured hand. When I first encountered him, I thought I was done for, but not only did he not attack me, he was also very compliant when I captured him, without any resistance, which was quite strange," the Squire Knight said.

"Where is he now?" asked Li Yu.

"As we were about to leave the swamp, I was worried he would run away, so I knocked him out in the dark and left him up in a tree. I made markings along the way; if you follow them, you should be able to find him easily."

Upon hearing this, Li Yu called over a team of lizard people and had them go look for the man with the disfigured face. Then he turned back to Juan, "Did you see anyone else besides him?"

"No, why, are there others chasing him in the swamp?" The look on Juan’s face was somewhat blank.

But Li Yu quickly unveiled the answer, "That guy named Jude, like you, also entered the swamp to look for the dragon."

"Alone?" The Squire Knight was surprised, but then a realization dawned on him, darkening his expression, "I see, it seems his team has encountered the same nightmare we once did."