In 2003, at Rutgers University in the United States.
Long Yi leaned close to Lin Feng, wearing a sly smile as if he had big - news:
"Hey, Lin Feng! Something terrible has happened. Your goddess Taylor Swift might be falling for someone else!"
"Huh?!"
Lin Feng almost jumped up on the spot, his eyes wide as bells.
"Long Yi! You can eat whatever you want, but don't talk nonsense! My goddess is pure and innocent. How could that be possible!"
Long Er, who was watching the fun and not afraid of trouble, immediately added fuel to the fire:
"Tsk - tsk, wake up, Fengzi. When did she become 'yours'? It's not even close to happening yet!"
Long San picked up the thread tacitly and nodded frantically:
"That's right, that's right. He's a full - blown late - stage one - sided love delusional patient! Diagnosis completed!"
"Damn! You two underachievers don't know anything!"
Without saying a word, Lin Feng gave each of them a loving "head - butt", making them grimace in pain.
"This is called 'future continuous tense'. Do you know grammar? Do you know romance? She's not'mine' now, it's just 'temporary storage'! In the future, she will definitely be 'private property'! It's a done deal!"
The little man in his heart was already roaring madly:
Mine! Taylor Swift must be mine! Who dares to touch her? I'll scatter their ashes!
In fact, Lin Feng harbored a earth-shattering secret in his heart—he wasn't even from this world at all!
He'd traveled through time!
Bad news? It was terrible!
His time-travel posture was abysmal. Lottery numbers? He remembered zilch! Stock trends? Wiped clean from his mind!
His starting point was straight-up hell mode, so poor he could barely jingle a coin.
BUT! When God closes a door, he opened a diamond-inlaid floor-to-ceiling window for him!
Because the second he landed in this world, the very first person standing before him was Taylor Swift!
That's right! The one on your phone lock screen—the future Grammy-sweeping, album-selling-by-the-hundreds-of-millions, global-superstar-with-fans-circling-the-earth-N-times, the kind of mega-diva who could make the entire entertainment industry tremble with a single stomp—Taylor Swift!
And! At this exact moment, Lin Feng was the only person on the entire planet who knew just how astronomically, earth-shatteringly awesome this slightly young blonde girl would become!
This feeling? It was f**ing* amazing!
At this moment, Lin Feng's mind automatically conjured up that face he'd been obsessed with—
The setting sun filtered through the palm leaves, casting her golden-brown curls in a honeyed glow, each strand shimmering.
When the wind blew, they swayed gently, like a blonde princess who'd just escaped from Disney.
Those azure eyes, as clear as the purest glacial lakes in the Rocky Mountains, seemed to reflect thousands of future stars with every flutter of her lashes.
And the most lethal part? Those legs! Unreasonably long, with proportions that defied all rules.
Even in simple skinny jeans, she carried herself with the aura of a Victoria's Secret runway star, each step landing right on a mortal's heartbeat!
Name? Taylor Swift! Looks? Taylor Swift! That soul-stirring voice? Taylor Swift!
If this wasn't the real deal, Lin Feng would've eaten the basketball court floor!
And! Just a few days ago, this campus goddess—still innocent, unaware of how mind-blowingly awesome she'd become—had actually sent him an ultra-sweet voice message invitation:
"Hey, Lin Feng, you're really tall. Wanna try joining our basketball team? I think you'd be perfect for it!"
Join?
Lin Feng's heart had exploded into fireworks right then:
"Join! Definitely join! Even if I had to crawl in with broken legs, I'd do it! This is an invitation from a future diva—an original stock offer! Finally, a mountain of fortune has fallen on my head! Takeoff!!!"
Why would Goddess Taylor take the initiative to extend the olive branch?
It had to be because Brother Feng had real skills, of course!
The current Lin Feng carried a time-traveler's "prophet cheat" in his head, and his body was a top-tier athletic model that the gods themselves had spoiled with blessings!
Height? 201cm! (And still growing!)
Standing in a crowd, he was like a walking human signal tower—even on a basketball team, he'd be a solid center, with a wide enough vision to spot the opponent's defensive gaps at a glance!
Physique? The perfect definition of "slim in clothes, muscular when undressed"!
Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, long legs—his muscle lines flowed like a meticulously carved Greek statue, brimming with explosive power.
His stamina was beast-level!
Running like he had a V8 engine, he could zip from the backcourt to the frontcourt in a flash!
Most importantly—this hardware configuration had received a personal stamp of approval from none other than future international diva Taylor Swift herself!
(Imagine the scene: Taylor blinks those beautiful blue eyes, earnest as can be: "Lin Feng, you were born to shine on the court!" Tsk, that's more authoritative than any NBA scout report!)
Lin Feng grinned, mentally calculating with a clatter of abacus beads:
Step one: Dominate the NCAA!
Duke, North Carolina—crush 'em all!
Posterizing dunks, game-winning threes—nonstop, every game a trending topic!
Make Taylor scream from the sidelines!
Step two: Hit the NBA, go first overall!
Jordan's successor? Please.
I'll launch the "Lin Feng Era" myself!
Max contract? That's just the starting line! Signature shoes flying off shelves!
Ultimate goal: Marry the sweetheart diva, reach life's peak!
Left hand clutching an NBA championship ring, right hand holding global superstar Taylor's little hand, mountains of cash piling up behind...
The vision was so sweet, Lin Feng nearly drooled just imagining it!
Tsk, this script's solid! Takeoff! Wuhu~~~
But Lin Feng's glittering, peak-bound perfect script was teetering on the edge of collapse!
What the hell? Taylor might be falling for someone else?!
He'd been reborn once—destined for both career and love to flourish.
Now his most critical path to success was about to be hijacked? How the hell could he stand for that?
Lin Feng's heart lurched, like a rollercoaster suddenly losing power, plummeting from the clouds.
He knew Long Yi—though a smartass, he was always reliable on matters of principle.
Long Yi clapped Lin Feng's shoulder, wearing a "brother I feel you but I gotta hurt you" look of gravity:
"Bro Feng, take my advice—there are plenty of fish in the sea. This hole's too deep. Let's cut our losses early!"
"What's that supposed to mean? Speak plainly!"
Lin Feng's brows twisted into a knot.
"You idiot!"
Long Yi rolled his eyes,
"A treasure like Taylor—you think you're the only one who notices? The guys chasing her could line up from our campus to Wall Street! You really think every man's blind?"
Lin Feng stroked his chin, looking profound:
"Hmm... Logical, well-argued. I can't even refute it. But—"
He suddenly shifted tone, his gaze sharp:
"What does that have to do with Taylor 'falling for someone else'? Doesn't it just prove my taste is good, there are many rivals, and fierce competition is normal?"
(Subtext: I'm the one who's meant to be with her in the future!)
Long Er, beside him, immediately chimed in with a sour tone:
"It's all because of that damn freshman! He's stolen all the spotlight lately!"
Long San nodded frantically, looking constipated:
"Exactly! Ran into him at the basketball court the other day—dude's cocky as hell, scowling like everyone owes him eight million! But..."
He paused, gritting his teeth to admit,
"Gotta give credit where it's due— that guy's actually got some serious skills! His hardware's off the charts!"
Hardware? What the hell? CPU? Graphics card?
Lin Feng was baffled, his brain practically overheating—mysterious freshman? Where the hell did this guy come from?!
Long Si pushed up his glasses, adding details in a serious tone:
"Bro Feng, here's the key point! That guy's a walking giant just like you—definitely over 195cm! Stands there like a small mountain!"
Long Er pouted sourly, his face screaming "life's unfair":
"Not just tall! That face looks like it was kissed by an angel then kicked by a devil—unfairly handsome! Even hotter than the me in our dorm mirror (in my opinion), if only by a little!"
Long San jumped right in, delivering the killer blow:
"So bro Feng! Time for some logic! Why wouldn't Taylor go for a top-tier catch like that? If you were a girl, would you pick him, or..."
He glanced at Lin Feng, the rest left unsaid.
"Fuck!"
Alarm bells blared in Lin Feng's head. He grabbed Long Yi—their info chief—by the collar,
"Long Yi! Is your intel even reliable? Are they telling the truth?! Does Taylor actually like that guy?!"
Long Yi, choking, rolled his eyes and nodded weakly:
"Tru... true! Everyone's been talking lately—Taylor Swift has a thing for this new guy..."
"Dammit!"
Lin Feng felt a boulder lodge in his chest, growling,
"Quit beating around the bush! What the hell is that fox's name?!"
"Kobe!"
Long Yi blurted out.
The air went dead silent.
Lin Feng's expression froze instantly, like a paused video. His eyes bulged like glass marbles about to shoot out:
"Ko... Kobe???"
His head buzzed, his brain frying like an overloaded CPU:
The 96 Golden Generation! The Purple and Gold Dynasty! The Black Mamba!
This was 2003, for fuck's sake! Kobe Bryant should've been dominating in Los Angeles right now—what the hell was he doing in college?!
Did the Time Management Bureau get drunk on fake booze?!
Long Er keen ly spotted the loophole:
"Huh? Bro Feng, how do you know his full name?!"
Long San immediately broke into a "gotcha" smirk:
"Tsk tsk! Acting like you didn't know him a second ago! Say one thing, mean another! You secretly checked out your love rival, didn't you?!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Three crisp, loud headbutts landed with precision! Sending Long Er, Long San, and Long Si scrambling, clutching their heads.
"Shut the hell up, all of you!"
Lin Feng's temples throbbed with bulging veins, a surge of rage boiling up!
Fuck! Where'd this no-name freshman crawl out from?!
Daring to strut around under the SSSSSSR-tier legend ID "Kobe Bryant" like a fraud?!
This wasn't just riding coattails—this was strapping on a rocket launcher to blow up his fishpond!
And he even had the gall to steal his Taylor?!
Uncle might tolerate it, but Aunt sure as hell wouldn't!
If he didn't strip this fake "Kobe" bare today, he'd reverse his own name!