"Gawain...Gawain?"
A ball of warm chaos surrounded Gawain. The ups and downs of wandering made his consciousness gradually blurred. The focus of his vision escaped into a halo, and the contours could not be seen clearly. He could only vaguely catch a touch of blue. The clear blue makes me want to reach out and touch it involuntarily.
Come closer, come closer.
"Gawain!"
There was a call in the ear, and it exploded like thunder. The rolling air waves burst out with ferocious power, breaking the balance of the body. The pull of gravity instantly made the feeling of weightlessness firmly clamp down on the heart, and the limbs swayed reflexively. Trying to regain balance, grasping at straws.
He plunged headlong into the blue, and then... his feet stood firmly on the ground. A sense of solidity came from the soles of his feet, which reflected the panic of his beating heart and his chest, and there was a roar above his eardrums. , the focus of the sight was refocused, the blue gradually evolved into gold, and the gorgeous and dazzling gold just hit the depths of the pupils.
In front of him is a square baby face with black hair and eyes. The deep facial features with thick eyebrows and big eyes reveal a hint of handsomeness. Although the corners of the mouth are slightly pursed, you can still feel the slight smile between the eyebrows, revealing There is a trace of joy and the excitement of youth.
This...is this Macdonald?
Gawain was a little confused.
Mackenzie McDonald was his alumnus and tennis teammate when he was a student at UCLA. They spent countless days training and competing together, but after graduating from college, they fell apart. Taking a completely different path——
He gave up tennis because of a knee injury and returned to China to become an ordinary office worker; MacDonald became a professional tennis player and performed well.
The last time I saw news about Macdonald was on TV.
At the Australian Open at the beginning of this year, Macdonald defeated three players in a row to reach the top 16, tying his best record in a Grand Slam, and performed very well.
Gawain was sincerely happy for his friend who once fought side by side and sent blessings from a distance. However, due to the difference in life trajectories, the two of them have not been in contact for a long time, let alone talk face to face.
So, what is going on at this time?
With his head full of questions, Gawain finally noticed that the environment they were in was not a company or an apartment, but...a tennis court.
The dark blue collides with the light blue hard tennis court, and the tennis nets are piled up in a mess like fishing nets. The stepped seats extend all the way up along the four sides to form a deep well space. The tall trees planted neatly along the site are blown by the breeze. Rustling.
So strange, yet so familiar.
The sunlight that had just risen in the morning penetrated the trees and dappled the field. Gawain couldn't help but stretch out his right hand, feeling the warmth of the golden sunlight falling on his palm. Then he could see the supermarket shopping trolley full of tennis balls in his hand - those tennis balls Their hair began to explode due to excessive use, just like Angry Birds, recording the memories of their youth.
Huh.
A gust of wind blew, the treetops rustled, and the light and shadow flowed. Then Gawain noticed the familiar sign on the edge of the stadium:
UCLA Bruins.
Wait, this is his college alma mater? But, how did he get from Shanghai to Los Angeles? Why is he on the school tennis court?
Could it be that all this is just a dream?
But if it is a dream, all this is too real, so real...perfect.
"...Gawain, what's wrong? Are you still awake?"
MacDonald bumped Gawain's shoulder and winked.
"Or do you want to be lazy and leave the preparations to me?"
Looking at Macdonald's wheat-colored skin, it seems that you can feel the traces of sunlight left on it, and the collagen from his youthful years is still full of vitality.
Gawain's thoughts were brought back a little, he spread his hands and made a helpless gesture, and replied.
"Oops, the trick is revealed."
MacDonald was just joking. Seeing Gawain "admitting" like this, he felt a little embarrassed and touched his nose, "Okay, okay, I wasn't feeling well the day before yesterday. It was you who had to clean up after the training." It’s all done by humans, let me do the preparations for today.”
Sure enough, MacDonald is an honest man. Just like in his memory, before Gawain said anything, he had already taken the initiative to think things over.
Gawain deliberately raised his eyebrows at his friend and made a "V" gesture of victory to celebrate his success in escaping the "preparation work".
MacDonald looked depressed and protested with his eyes. He took a step forward and was ready to catch Gawain. However, he didn't expect that Gawain's reaction speed was even faster and he retreated in advance to dodge.
"You guy!"
MacDonald yelled through gritted teeth, and then he and Gawain started chasing each other around the tennis court, chasing each other in circles, like children who had not grown up, with pure and bright laughter in his chest. The atmosphere was surging, and even the sun seemed to be dancing with their footsteps.
Once, they were all so carefree, believing in the sunshine, the future, and hope. Even the simplest running and chasing could bring happiness; but gradually, as they grew up, the happiness disappeared. , happiness becomes more and more difficult, and finally they are trapped in an endless gray chaos.
Like a zombie.
Only when watching a tennis match can I feel a faint passion in my soul again. However, when I look down at the ugly surgical scar on my knee, I feel so sore every time it rains that I can't sleep all night long. , I can only turn off the TV in frustration.
knee?
It took many, many seconds for Gawain to realize that his knee was not swollen and painful as usual. Not only was it not there, but it was moving freely and as light as a swallow, as if... it had never been injured.
An emergency brake, from the toes to the calf, through the knees, and extending to the thighs. Gao Wen can clearly feel the tightness and control of the muscles. The light and elastic tension perfectly controls the body, even during the emergency brake while running at high speed. , the knees can also perfectly withstand the impact.
With a smile lingering on the corner of his mouth, Gawain looked down at his knees in disbelief——
A smooth, flat, healthy knee.
All the hideous scars left by multiple surgeries disappeared in his memory, and he could hardly remember what his knees looked like without scars before the surgery.
but now? No scars, no pain, no swelling, nothing, just as good as new.
"boom!"
Gawain's emergency braking was so sudden that Macdonald didn't expect it at all. Like a high-speed train, a collision occurred without control. He was about to fall into a ball, but he didn't expect that Gawain could withstand the momentum. After several footstep adjustments, he not only controlled his center of gravity balance, but also successfully prevented MacDonald from falling.
"Sorry, sorry sorry sorry."
MacDonald's first reaction was to apologize. Although he didn't understand what was going on, he blurted out the apology anyway.
Gawain looked down at his knees, carefully feeling the flexibility of the healthy knees. He could even clearly feel every detail of the operation of the muscles and bones. It was like a brand-new machine with plenty of oil. Everything was original. configuration and performs well.
Naturally, joy and happiness surged in my chest.
He raised his head and looked at Macdonald's nervous look. He didn't even adjust his breathing before he expressed his apology in a confused manner. A smile bloomed at the corner of Gawain's mouth, "Haha...haha...ha." Haha!" He chuckled, the more he laughed, the happier he became.
Like a fool.
Macdonald was stunned for a moment, looking at the stupid Gawain inexplicably, and looked back around to make sure no outsider could see them being stupid, between "keeping a distance to avoid being infected by stupidity" and "joining friends to be stupid together" , hesitated for a moment, and finally chose the latter.
Phew.
After all, Macdonald couldn't hold it back. He watched Gawain shake his head again and again, and then he also laughed. When he smiled, his laughter burst into full bloom. His powerful laughter reverberated around the tennis court, stirring up a ray of sunshine.
Gawain's smile grew brighter.
He is back.
Second chance?
In the darkest, most exhausting and most helpless years of his life, he had thought more than once that it would be great if everything could be repeated.
Unexpectedly, now things really happened, he really won the second chance to load the file and come back. The happiness was simply indescribable.
But what time is it now?
He will never forget that the first time his knee was injured was on February 15, 2014; now that the knee is still intact, it should have been before that time.
Looking at Macdonald, whose face is still green and immature, and then looking at the tennis court waiting to be set up at dawn, those memories that were buried deep in the dust slowly came to life——
At this time, it should be December 2013.
The specific date needs to be further confirmed. If there are no surprises, this should be the day when the tennis school team is undergoing winter training, preparing for the spring season that will kick off in two months.
Gao Wen and MacDonald are both freshmen. They have just joined the team for less than half a year. They are the first to arrive at the stadium to set up and the last to leave the stadium to pack their equipment every day.
In November of this year, he had just turned eighteen. A vast world spread out before his eyes, and even his breathing was full of vitality.
Buzz…
There was a slight shock in my mind, and the next second, a set of light blue fonts appeared on the retina.
"System activated."
This... what?
Just when Gawain thought he was dazzled, another set of light blue fonts appeared.
“Growth potential +0.01%.”
Um? Is this some sort of rebirth benefit?
