70: Eyes of Desire

Kobe's voice still echoed in the locker room.

"You are the on-court captain of this team."

This sentence was like a bomb dropped into a calm lake.

The entire locker room was stunned.

D'Antoni looked at Kobe in disbelief.

Gasol's face was filled with surprise.

Howard's pupils visibly contracted.

On-court captain!

This was more than just a title.

It meant having the highest tactical decision-making authority during critical moments of the game.

It meant that Kobe Bryant, the absolute monarch of the Los Angeles Lakers for twenty years, was willing to hand over a portion of his authority to this rookie.

What immense trust!

What profound recognition!

Although Lin Feng lost tonight's game.

Yet, tonight, through a critical pass and his accountability after the game, he truly won the soul of this team.

He won the future of this team.

Despite gaining the trust of his teammates and the recognition of his idol, the bitterness of failure still lingered in Lin Feng's heart.

He sat in front of his locker, his mind constantly replaying the shot Nick Young took.

The image of the ball hitting the front rim repeated over and over again.

He suddenly realized a cruel truth.

Just making the right choice wasn't enough.

In this league, the right choice doesn't necessarily guarantee victory.

He needed a power that could better control the outcome.

An ability to "foresee" the future.

His desire for the Eye of the Heavenly Emperor of Seijuro Akashi reached an unprecedented peak at this moment... Late at night.

Lin Feng returned to his apartment in downtown Los Angeles.

He didn't turn on the lights and walked straight into the living room.

On the living room wall hung a huge tactical board, marked with different colored magnets representing the Lakers players and their tactical movements.

He had custom-ordered it at great expense, a perfect replica of the one in the team's training facility.

Illuminated by the city neon filtering through the window, Lin Feng stood alone before the tactical board.

He reached out and arranged the magnets representing the players into their positions during the final thirty seconds of the game.

Kobe was double-teamed in the low post.

He was positioned at the top of the arc.

Nick Young was completely left open in the left corner.

He picked up the small magnet representing the basketball, paused it over Kobe's spot, and then moved it to his own position.

Next, simulating the behind-the-back bounce pass, he drew a strange arc with the small magnet and placed it precisely on Nick Young's position.

A perfect tactical choice.

A textbook-level shared pass.

He ran through the entire sequence on the tactical board no fewer than ten times.

The result was the same every time.

The pass was the most reasonable, and highest percentage, choice at the time.

But they lost.

Lin Feng stared at the tactical board, a deep sense of powerlessness spreading from the bottom of his heart.

He realized that even if he possessed a God's perspective, capable of discerning every opportunity on the court.

Even if he could deliver the most exquisite pass in the world.

He still couldn't control the trajectory of the ball after it left his teammate's fingertips.

He couldn't control his teammate's mental state, the tension in their muscles, or the slight tremor in their wrist at that precise moment.

This feeling made him extremely uncomfortable.

It was like a designer of a precision instrument drawing perfect blueprints, yet being unable to control whether the factory processing the parts would introduce that one-in-a-thousand error.

And that one-in-a-thousand error was enough to cause the entire project to fail.

He didn't want this kind of "reasonableness."

He didn't just want to make a "reasonable" choice.

He wanted to make the "only correct" choice, the one that would ultimately lead to victory!

If, at that moment, he could have "seen" that Nick Young's state of mind had fluctuated due to nervousness.

If he could have "foreseen" that Nick Young's shot would be slightly short due to muscle stiffness.

Would he still have made that pass?

No!

He would have chosen to take the shot himself without hesitation!

He needed a pair of eyes.

A pair of eyes that could see through every detail on the court.

A pair of eyes that could perceive the muscle exertion of teammates and opponents, and their psychological and emotional fluctuations.

A pair of eyes that could see through the future!

"System."

Lin Feng muttered silently in his mind.

A pale blue light screen, visible only to him, unfolded before his eyes.

He skillfully scrolled past the unlocked skills, his gaze locking directly onto the very top of the skill tree.

The icon, still gray, representing the supreme ability.

[Seijuro Akashi's Eye of the Heavenly Emperor]

Skill Description: Can see through everything about the opponent, including all details such as breathing, heart rate, sweating, and muscle contraction, thereby seeing through the opponent's next move and foreseeing the future. On offense, defensive gaps can be easily found; on defense, the opponent can be rendered immobile single-handedly.

Lin Feng's breathing became slightly rapid.

This was it!

This was exactly what he needed right now!

His finger tapped the gray icon.

A line of cold text appeared on the light screen.

[Unlock Condition: Complete a deep intimate link with ss-rank charm target 'Scarlett Johansson'.]

Scarlett Johansson.

The woman who discussed "brokenness and rebirth" with him in the gallery.

The Hollywood superstar with fatal charm, renowned as "the world's sexiest woman."

Looking at the "ss-rank" evaluation, Lin Feng's mind flashed with Scarlett's emerald green eyes that seemed to see through people, and the playful smile on her lips.

Previously, he had approached conquering "Black Widow" with a go-with-the-flow attitude.

But now, the humiliation of six straight losses and the extreme thirst for victory completely crushed the last hint of hesitation in his heart.

He no longer hesitated.

He immediately took out his phone and found the number saved only as "S.J." in his contacts.

His long fingers quickly tapped on the screen.

"I want to visit your gallery right now and appreciate those 'broken artworks'."

The message was sent.

Lin Feng held his phone, waiting.

He didn't know if Scarlett would reply, as it was already late at night.

"Ding."

Almost the instant the thought crossed his mind, the phone screen lit up.

Instant reply.

The sender was indeed "S.J.".

"The Malibu night is waiting for a frustrated artist. My address is..."

A detailed address on Malibu Beach was attached below.

Lin Feng looked at the text message, and his heart rate sped up.

He knew that the so-called "gallery" was just an excuse.

The so-called "broken artwork" referred to himself.

This was an invitation.

An undisguised invitation sent late at night.

Lin Feng grabbed the car keys from the sofa, didn't hesitate for a moment, and turned to leave.

Just as his hand was about to touch the doorknob.

"Ring ring ring..."

The phone suddenly rang in the quiet apartment.

The name on the caller ID made Lin Feng pause.

Taylor Swift.

It was Taylor Swift.

He hesitated for a moment but answered the call.

"Lin?"

Taylor's voice, filled with deep concern and a hint of tiredness, came from the other end of the line.

"Honey, I watched the game. That wasn't your fault."

Her voice was gentle, as if carrying healing power.

"Your pass was brilliant, truly. That guy messed it up. Don't blame yourself for the loss."

"Come over. I just wrote a new song about a misunderstood hero... Maybe it can help heal you."

Taylor's words flowed like a warm current through Lin Feng's heart.

On a night when everyone else was blaming him for making the wrong choice, Taylor's understanding and support felt especially precious.

Lin Feng felt a warmth in his heart.

But he knew exactly what he needed tonight.

He didn't need comfort, nor healing.

He needed power.

The power to control everything, to seize destiny by the throat.

"Thank you, Taylor."

Lin Feng's voice also softened, yet carried a sense of undeniable distance.

"Thank you for the song, but right now... I need to face my 'brokenness' alone."

The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds.

"Alright." A trace of undetectable disappointment was in Taylor's voice. "Take care of yourself, Lin."

"You too."

Hanging up the phone, Lin Feng put his cell phone in his pocket and didn't linger any longer.

He opened the door and walked out quickly.

He drove his aston martin, speeding down the empty California Highway 1.

Outside the car window was the deep, boundless night of the Pacific Ocean, with waves crashing against the shore, emitting a low roar.

Lin Feng's gaze, however, was firmer than the night and deeper than the ocean.