Chapter Forty-Seven: The Battle on the Badminton Court

"Can you even play?"

Before the woman turned around, her playing partner snapped first, glaring at Wei Lin as he barked, "If you don't know how to play, then don't play at all! Go play somewhere else by yourself!"

Wu Feiyu, who was already reluctant to practice with his clumsy younger sister, felt his temper flare even more when he saw his foolish sister get struck by a stray shuttlecock.

"Sorry about that, my first time playing badminton. Please forgive me!"

Knowing he was in the wrong, Wei Lin quickly offered an apologetic smile.

Only then did he notice the impressive physique of the young man standing before him: dark arched eyebrows, star-like eyes, a height of one hundred and eighty centimeters, broad bones, and thick wrists. He simply radiated a strong sense of power.

"Watch yourself!" Wu Feiyu warned with a darkened face.

Wei Lin nodded with a smile.

"Brother, he didn't mean it. Forget about it."

Wu Shilan rubbed her backside, picked up the other shuttlecock that had landed on the ground, and casually tossed it back to Zhuang Qing.

Standing at one hundred and sixty-five centimeters tall and around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, she wore a gray long-sleeved athletic top and black yoga pants.

An oval face accentuated by delicate features made her the reigning beauty among the six large badminton courts, second only to Zhuang Qing.

Suppressing a smile, Zhuang Qing joined Wei Lin in apologizing. "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine." Wu Shilan returned the smile.

With that, both sides went back to their respective games.

As a complete beginner, Wei Lin's initial posture had been awkward, and everything felt wrong.

Yet under Zhuang Qing's patient guidance, he quickly picked it up. His swinging motions gradually became natural, and whenever the shuttlecock flew high, he was even able to leap into the air to return it.

"Not bad, Wei Lin." Zhuang Qing's eyes flashed with surprise.

She could tell that it was indeed Wei Lin's first time playing badminton. His ball sense at the very beginning was terrible, and his movements were rather clumsy.

Yet after playing for just a little while, Wei Lin had mastered the rhythm and was actually able to return many of her difficult shots, revealing a startling talent for badminton.

Compared to Han Ying, who was equally a beginner, Wei Lin's performance on his first try was several levels higher.

"Han Ying is just too terrible. Whether it's physical stamina or technique, she's far too slow to mold. If Wei Lin can keep playing with me at this rate of improvement, he'd make a great hitting partner," Zhuang Qing thought to herself.

Wei Lin offered a proud smile while maintaining outward modesty. "Just so-so."

At this very moment, he felt an intensely strong sensation that after three rounds of biological evolution, this body of his had truly become different.

His lateral movement, running, jumping ability, and physical strength had all improved dramatically compared to before.

Furthermore, the speed at which his eyes tracked the shuttlecock and his ability to instantly calculate its landing point in a split second were absolute things of superiority that ordinary people simply could not match.

His brain processed quickly, his eyes stayed locked on the ball, and his hands and feet kept up effortlessly!

It was the athletic instincts and talent granted by his comprehensively enhanced body that allowed him to pick up the game extremely fast, thereby winning Zhuang Qing's high regard.

"Watch my serve!"

Eager to test his abilities, he tossed the shuttlecock high into the air and leaped up right after it.

"Crack!"

A crisp smacking sound rang out as the racket collided with the shuttlecock.

"Ah, don't!" Zhuang Qing gasped.

"Ah!" Wu Shilan screamed.

This time, it had been her shuttlecock that landed on Zhuang Qing's side. Just as she walked over to retrieve it, the shuttlecock smashed away by Wei Lin's racket came flying straight at her once again.

"Smack!"

The shuttlecock struck her left chest. Grimacing, Wu Shilan rubbed her chest and cried out in pain.

Zhuang Qing, who had already run over to retrieve the ball, found the shuttlecock much too close for comfort and feared hurting her further. She could only watch helplessly as it hit her companion right in a sensitive spot once again.

"I'm so sorry, are you hurt? My friend really didn't mean it."

Zhuang Qing squatted down beside her, fussing over her with anxious questions.

On the other side.

Wu Feiyu dashed fiercely up to Wei Lin, pointing his racket right at him with an expression that made it look as though he wanted to tear him apart alive. "What is your game?"

To his credit, Wu Feiyu's composure was still decent; even though he was furious enough, he didn't resort to swearing.

"Uh, buddy, calm down! It was an accident, truly an accident this time!"

Wei Lin inwardly cursed his rotten luck.

Clearly, it was that young woman who had walked over to Zhuang Qing's court to pick up a ball and happened to get hit by his shuttlecock again. How could all the blame be pinned on him?

"Brother, I'm fine! It only hurt at first, but it feels better now."

Seeing that Wu Feiyu was about to start a fistfight with Wei Lin, Wu Shilan hurriedly got up, trotted over with pattering steps, and cried out, "Brother, don't be impulsive! Let's swap positions. I'll take that sister's side, and you can go to my side!"

She knew very well that her brother had a bad temper and a rather sensitive social standing. If he really got into a fight with Wei Lin and it ended up reported to her workplace, it would be utterly humiliating.

Fuming with rage, Wu Feiyu cooled down immediately upon hearing that his younger sister wanted to swap places with him.

"Alright!" he agreed decisively.

As soon as Wu Shilan came over, he immediately moved to the opposite side to stand side-by-side with Zhuang Qing, assuming a combat stance facing Wu Shilan.

However, Wei Lin felt a chill run down his spine as he inwardly groaned, "Oh no!"

Even though Wu Feiyu was facing Wu Shilan, his eyes were darting sideways toward Wei Lin with a murderous look in them.

"This bastard is definitely looking to avenge his sister!"

Wei Lin understood instantly.

From then on, whenever he played against Zhuang Qing, he remained constantly on guard, wary of Wu Feiyu at every turn.

Yet he was no match for Zhuang Qing in the end. Almost every single rally ended in his defeat, forcing him to pick up and serve the ball.

Still, he remained extremely cautious, keeping his front turned toward Wu Feiyu whenever he bent down to pick up the ball rather than exposing his back, just in case the guy tried to launch a sneak attack.

Guard against all you want, but there are always times when defenses fail.

Once, while he was bent over picking up a ball, Wu Feiyu's shuttlecock whistled through the air and "whacked" squarely against his right shoulder, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.

"Buddy, my apologies, a slip of the hand! Accidents happen when playing sports, perfectly normal." Wu Feiyu apologized with a straight face.

"Heh, perfectly normal, totally fine."

Wei Lin rubbed his shoulder while screaming a million curses internally, though a smile plastered his face.

"Smack!"

When he bent down to pick up a ball once again, his chest was assaulted by another of Wu Feiyu's shuttlecocks. The pain made him bare his teeth and shout, "Can you aim properly or what?"

"Sorry about that, buddy. I'll definitely pay attention next time!" Wu Feiyu apologized without the slightest trace of sincerity.

"I'm so sorry, my brother, my brother..."

When Wu Shilan hurried over to pick up a ball, she desperately wanted to say that her brother hadn't meant it, but she simply couldn't bring herself to say the words.

"It has nothing to do with you."

Seeing that her apology came genuinely from the heart with an anxious expression, Wei Lin flashed a grin.

"Damn it! Instead of letting you keep targeting me from afar, we might as well just go at it directly!"

After that.

When it was Wei Lin's turn to serve, he didn't hit it toward Zhuang Qing at all, aiming straight for Wu Feiyu instead.

"Here it comes!"

Wu Feiyu let out a roar, swung his racket, and went to war with him.

Zhuang Qing and Wu Shilan exchanged wide-eyed stares as they watched the two grown men fighting across the net in their respective courts, using their rackets as weapons to mess around.

People on the other courts would occasionally glance over during breaks simply because these two groups were undeniably eye-catching.

Wei Lin, Zhuang Qing, and the Wu siblings all possessed attractive appearances and good figures.

Handsome men attract women, and beautiful women attract men; the four of them had drawn the gazes of every single person of both sexes on the grounds.

With Wei Lin and Wu Feiyu clearly having lost their tempers and trading blows obliquely across the net, the surrounding crowd watched with great amusement.

"Why don't the two of you just play each other?"

Zhuang Qing had been standing idle for a long time, so she simply swapped places with Wu Feiyu and said to Wu Shilan, "Never mind them, let's play our own game."

"S- sure," Wu Shilan smiled awkwardly.

With his guard up and only a single shuttlecock between him and Wu Feiyu, Wei Lin didn't suffer losses anymore.

Even if he couldn't beat him, whenever the shuttlecock landed on his side, Wu Feiyu had no extra balls in his hand to use.

During the rallies, Wei Lin only needed to keep his eyes on the shuttlecock coming toward him; even if he failed to hit it, he at least wouldn't get hit by it.

After a few such rounds, Wu Feiyu felt that if things kept going this way, it would just turn into him practicing with Wei Lin.

"This is boring, I'm done!" Wu Feiyu quit first.

Glancing over at the adjacent basketball court, a thought crossed his mind, and he abruptly asked, "Buddy, do you play basketball?"

Badminton yielded no physical collisions even when things got heated, and once Wei Lin was on his guard, there was no longer any way to land blows on him with shuttlecocks.

Basketball, however, was different.

That was his specialty, filled with intense physical contact. The moment Wei Lin agreed, he would have plenty of opportunities to deal with him.

"Basketball?"

Wei Lin lowered his racket, rubbed his chin, and smiled. "Just like badminton, I don't really know how to play."

"Recreational game, just for fun, win or lose doesn't matter." Wu Feiyu raised an eyebrow with a clear look of provocation, though there wasn't a single trace of "just for fun" on his face.

"Then you'll need to mind the boundaries of physical contact," Wei Lin stated his condition.

"Don't worry. I'm famously clean and civilized on the court, no dirty little tricks up my sleeve." Looking rather excited, Wu Feiyu threw down his racket and bolted toward the adjacent basketball court, shouting before he even arrived, "Two on each side, let's play four-on-four!"

"Brother Wu!"

"Hey, Yu-ge!"

"Brother Wu, didn't you say today was strictly for practicing with your sister?"

"Haha, whatever Yu-ge says goes! Let's split up and form teams!"

Six young men who were currently playing three-on-three on half the court all greeted him with smiles the moment they saw him approach, some calling him "Brother Wu" and others "Yu-ge."

Seeing this setup, Wei Lin immediately realized that this fellow was probably no ordinary person and that his basketball skills might even surpass his badminton.

"You really shouldn't play basketball with him. I've seen him play on the sidelines before, and if you go up against him, you'll just get abused," Zhuang Qing kindly warned from across the court.

Wu Shilan also chimed in anxiously, "Don't play basketball with my brother. He likes to charge around recklessly when he plays, I'm afraid he'll hurt you!"

Wei Lin smiled, discarded his racket as well, and strode toward the basketball court.