"Yo, brother, this is LeBron."
A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone, and Li Wei was slightly startled: Who?
Please forgive Li Wei, he really didn’t remember the name, and all the numbers in his contacts were nicknames. Mahomes had once browsed through Li Wei’s phone and laughed his head off, it was like watching a "King of Comedy".
Now, suddenly there was a number and a name that didn’t exist in the contacts.
Li Wei was also full of question marks, is this how modern scam calls operate?
Obviously, the enthusiasm on the other end of the phone did not detect the hesitation and confusion in Li Wei’s silence, and it kept talking eagerly.
"Congratulations, congratulations, your performance today was freaking awesome."
"The second touchdown, wow, God, you utterly crushed the entire defensive group, roar roar roar, any guy who dares to underestimate you must have peed their pants."
"Brother, impressive, really impressive."
"So, how about Los Angeles next week?"
"Next week, I just happen to be in Los Angeles for a while, they just told me you’re playing an away game in Los Angeles next week, how about it? Shall we have dinner together?"
"Actually, I’d be delighted to go to a game, I haven’t watched football live in ages, although it’s different from basketball, it’s indeed a blood-pumping sport, right?"
Rapid tapping, fierce as a tiger’s operation, even without Li Wei’s response, the self-talk was especially joyful, a feeling that could be sensed even through the phone.
Truth be told, it didn’t sound much like a scam call—
It sounded more like a prank call.
Li Wei’s brows slightly lifted, "Sorry, I didn’t catch that, who’s speaking?"
"Oh, haha, look at me, hahaha, my bad. This is LeBron James, I just watched the live broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs’ game."
"God, your performance was too powerful."
"I thought, hey, that kid’s a lot like me, why not give him a call? So, I asked a few friends, got in touch with your team manager, and he gave me your mobile number." Enjoy more content from empire
This time, Li Wei didn’t let the other person finish, "Dinner. A game. Yes, I know."
"Ha, haha, very funny. If you’re going to pull a prank, you should do your research beforehand, I actually prefer Curry, don’t get it wrong next time."
Then, Li Wei hung up the phone and casually tossed it into his locker, shut the door, and locked it.
Turing around, he saw Mahomes’ silhouette, lifted his chin to gesture, "What’s up?"
Li Wei began to laugh, "Some guy claiming to be LeBron James called to invite me to dinner in Los Angeles next week."
"Yo, yo, Li Wei’s becoming an international superstar now."
"If it were a prank, it should have been imitating Sharapova to catch Li Wei’s attention, what’s with imitating LeBron James?"
"What, you like the Sharapova type? I thought you were crazy about Rihanna."
A name alone, and the entire locker room buzzed with excitement.
And on the other end of the phone?
LeBron James stared at his phone, his smile freezing: He hung up on me? That couldn’t be right, no, no, it must be a connection issue?
Trying the number again, but no one answered, until the automated message said, "The number you have dialed is currently unavailable, please leave a message after the beep."
The Little Emperor was completely dumbfounded—
Wait, that guy couldn’t be serious, could he? Curry? What did he say, Curry? That guy was just trying to annoy him, right?
Li Wei swore: he hadn’t.
He didn’t know LeBron James, nor did he know Stephen Curry.
The only reason Li Wei remembered Curry was that his pronunciation is the same as "curry" in English, and that’s how he remembered there was an NBA player with the last name "Curry."
Fortunately, no need for nicknames in the contact list, the name itself served as the nickname.
Moreover, Li Wei needed to make a complaint.
If he had known that Curry’s Golden State Warriors and LeBron’s Cleveland Cavaliers had met in the NBA Finals for the past three years, his complaints and attacks wouldn’t have been so mild—more like a gentle breeze and drizzle, right?
Meanwhile, LeBron still couldn’t believe that he had just been hung up on by a rookie.
Over here, Li Wei methodically went about his post-game recovery.
The first thing was the cold bath.
A so-called cold bath involves sitting in a tub filled with ice cubes to cool the muscles, or alternatively shifting between hot and cold water reservoirs.
From a medical standpoint, it might be complex to explain, but simply think of it as the opposite action of "warming up."
When athletes are about to enter a game, they need to warm up thoroughly to avoid pulling or straining muscles; when the game is over, they naturally need a corresponding process to let the muscles cool down and relax.
The main principle is to use muscle contraction to expel lactic acid and other metabolic waste from the blood, thereby reviving muscle activity; at the same time, a cold bath can cool down the muscle groups, thus reducing joint swelling, suppressing joint tissue inflammation, and minimizing damage to body organs.
Of course, with the advancement of high technology, there are increasingly more professional tools for muscle cooling, and cold baths are just one of the most basic and primitive means.
Someone knocked on the door, and upon looking, it was the physical trainer, Barry Rubin.
Just then, Wide Receiver Hill passed by, about to take his cold bath. Seeing Rubin, he felt a prankish urge and probably screamed while covering his upper body with a towel.
"Ah, there’s a Peeping Tom."
The cold bath room burst into laughter.
Rubin glanced at Hill with a calm face, "My targets are Travis and Li Wei."
Roar. Roar, roar, roar.
Hill didn’t mind and turned to join Kelsey and Li Wei in the uproar.
Rubin grinned helplessly and shook his head gently. "After you finish here, head to the medical room."
Li Wei was confused: Medical room? He wasn’t injured, so why did he need to go to the medical room?
Rubin, noticing Li Wei’s gaze, shrugged, "I don’t know either. I’m just the messenger; they said there’s some testing that needs to be done."
Hill immediately speculated, "The beautiful team doctor, oh yes, the beautiful team doctor is starting to choose her son-in-law."
Then, he changed his tone.
"Sigh, I’m hopeless about this superficial world."
"A top-notch man like me gets no attention, while pretty boys like Li Wei and Travis who just have their looks are so in demand! What kind of world is this?"
Li Wei casually raised his voice and asked, "Tyrek, which three ’top’ qualities?"
Hill did not catch on immediately. "Huh?"
Li Wei gently shook his head, "It certainly doesn’t include good looks or brains, right?"
After that, Li Wei ended his cold bath and stood up, gently patting Hill’s shoulder as he passed by him, offering some consolation, "No worries, you might not win an Oscar, but at least you can bag a Razzie."
Amid the laughter, Hill looked up to the sky and sighed, "I’m just too kind."
The response waiting for Hill was a wave of jeers.
Li Wei wasn’t in a hurry, instead, he took a shower, got dressed, and only then left the locker room to head for the medical room.
From afar, he could see at the entrance of the medical room, Safety Berry was talking with Lilith Rosen.
Her blond hair was efficiently tied in a ponytail, she wore a white lab coat, her expression was stone cold, her naturally cool demeanor made sharper by her professional image. Despite many eyes falling on her, no one could shake her; she remained utterly unmoved, seemingly emitting a "keep out" signal even before one got close.