One Year Left to Play

Chapter 543 - 165: Lifespan Finally Exceeds 1,000 Days!

Aprile Clark couldn’t stop praising Mr. Zhang for his increasingly impressive trash talk, which left him speechless.

"I said it’s because Payton reminded me to save money and kindly reminded Kemp to read more after the game. Do you believe that?"

"I believe it!"

You’d have to be a ghost to believe that!

Seeing that the person lying next to him on the bed didn’t buy it either, Zhang Hao admitted it.

"So that time Payton was just showing off his car to me... Whatever, there are already so many people who hate me, two more wouldn’t matter. Winning and losing in games these days can easily breed hatred...

But why are the things I’m famous for always so bizarre?"

...

As the game against the SuperSonics began, the Lakers kicked off a series of five consecutive home games. After a day’s rest on March 16th and 17th, the Lakers first defeated the visiting Bucks 117 to 101, and then narrowly edged out the Blazers 105 to 104 at home.

In the game against the Bucks, it was a dominant victory with nothing much to see, and the home crowd returned to their usual relaxed state, eating, drinking, and chatting away, which annoyed the visiting players.

The Lakers were used to it by now, and even if the fans ignored them, they didn’t mind. Tonight was just a happy occasion, earning their 50th win of the season, becoming the third team to do so, following the Bulls and the Magic. The SuperSonics also won that night, but having lost to the Lakers earlier, they stood at 49 wins and 14 losses.

The game against the Blazers was intense the entire time, with the biggest point difference only being seven. In the final moments, Zhang Hao, who had been fiercely competing on both ends of the court for 46 minutes and was nearly unable to move, was standing unmoving in the paint. However, when the Blazers, leading by one point, missed a close-range shot by Rod Strickland with no one defending him in the final seven seconds, Zhang Hao grabbed the rebound, instantly rejuvenated, and raced to the other basket for a layup, scoring the decisive basket.

After the game, Zhang Hao made yet another appearance in the media. It was his fifth game-winner of the regular season!

But in recent days, the spotlight has been on David Robinson, with the Spurs on a 10-game winning streak...

After this back-to-back, the Lakers got a two-day break.

The opponents in this back-to-back weren’t actually strong, including the Blazers, who just put on a great performance. Similarly, despite the Lakers supposedly not being as strong as the SuperSonics, they managed to win due to various factors. The difference was the Lakers won, and the Blazers lost with a game-winner.

And after the two days of rest, the true formidable opponent in the Lakers’ minds would show up—the Orlando Magic!

On the 18th, the coaching staff only allowed the players half a day to sleep in before convening a strategy meeting at 1:30 PM to prepare for the upcoming game against the Magic.

By this point, having played 64 games, there’s just over four weeks until the playoffs. Facing a tough opponent requires preparation akin to playoff readiness, starting to adapt a month in advance.

Besides, both the Spurs and the SuperSonics have already reached 50 wins and are closely trailing behind, so the Lakers can’t afford to be careless.

They’ve sat comfortably in first place for so long that the brief four-day period when they weren’t the top seed in the West felt quite unsettling; after experiencing that, they don’t want to go through it again.

Meeting is hard work. They haven’t played against the Magic at all this year. Although there are numerous games to analyze this season, the Lakers’ playstyle is more team-oriented, without the advantage of star power, so naturally, the discussion drifted towards the currently trendy "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy.

Discussing the whole afternoon yielded no results, which was expected. Finding a solution from pure discussion without any prior matchups would truly be strange.

After the strategy meeting ended, Zhang Hao was getting ready to drive his recently popular sports car home when a new subtitle alert popped up!

...

The Hoya Dog Team won against the Nashville Predators, and Wang Zhizhi performed well, unlike in the Round of 64 where he only got 2 points and 6 rebounds, relying on Iverson to advance. Zhang Hao was quite happy, but immediately thought of the defeated Pierce.

This meant Pierce’s University of Kansas had been eliminated in the Round of 32 this year.

After receiving the news, Zhang Hao called the manager of the Kansas basketball club and asked for Pierce.

Pierce thought Zhang Hao must have seen the game and called to console him, as he hadn’t mentioned today’s Round of 32 game, which made him quite touched.

Seeing that the other had misunderstood, Zhang Hao didn’t correct him. Originally, he did feel a bit guilty for not watching Pierce’s game due to the team meeting.

"Signed player Wang Zhizhi, as a starting player, represented the Hoya Dog Team in the NCAA basketball championship round of 32 elimination game against the University of Kansas Nashville Predators, playing 26 minutes, shooting 5 out of 9, scoring 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks, helping the Hoya Dog Team defeat the Predators and advance to the 1996 NCAA March Madness Sweet 16.

Congratulations to the host for earning a total of 9 days of life extension rewards. Since Wang Zhizhi is the host’s first signed player, the reward is doubled, granting the host 18 days of life extension rewards.

Remaining life: 1,001 days, usable life: 1,000 days."

Looking at this alert again, Zhang Hao’s heart was still pounding.

There was no extra reward for advancing to the Round of 32, but on reaching the Sweet 16, besides the regular 4-day reward, there was a 5-day advancement bonus, totaling an 18-day life extension reward!

He could now live for over 1,000 days!

Although this was a huge difference compared to the over 20,000 or even 30,000 days he should likely enjoy at 19 years old, compared to the initial one-year life countdown, it felt like a dream come true.

"If I were a player... roughly playing for 20 years, could I accumulate around 50 years of life? If I were a coach for another 20 years, could I gather another 30 years of life? Become a centenarian? Set a world record for lifespan?"

As this marvelous thought came to Zhang Hao, a subtitle notification appeared.

"Analysis indicates that if there are no unexpected incidents, the host’s final life expectancy is 81 years, so the host should be cautious not to exceed the remaining life expectancy to avoid wasteful usage and utilize life wisely."

"Damn! I’m 19, and you’re already telling me when I’ll die, that’s too much! Whatever, I have 1,000 days of life now, plus an extra Silver Lottery draw! The Bronze Lottery has refreshed too!"