The checkup was over; the results were in.
Seeing Walter breathe a long sigh of relief, Lu Ke smiled. "Feeling better now? I told you I'm fine, I'm great, and I feel like everything is okay now."
His answer earned him a disdainful roll of Walter's eyes, and he instantly returned to his professional demeanor. "Are you sure? Didn't you feel dizzy and short of breath today? Didn't you have sore muscles and a lack of energy? Didn't you have unstable sleep, even having nightmares all night and breaking out in a cold sweat..."
"Stop, stop." In the face of a series of aggressive attacks, Lu Ke quickly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, stopping Walter's nagging "monk-like" complaining. He then put on a sincere and serious expression. "Yes, I'm not good. I'm really not good."
After he said that, he saw the constipated expression on Walter's face. Lu Ke looked innocent. "Is that not right either?"
Walter almost choked on his own saliva. He forced himself to swallow, and then he opened his mouth and said, "Of course not! You're great!" After a second thought, he felt it wasn't right again. "No, you're not." Then Walter saw Lu Ke blink his eyes. Even though he didn't say anything, the sarcasm was more than obvious.
Walter took a deep breath, and another one. Getting the news out that he had hit the quarterback would definitely not be good for the team's public image. As for whether he could beat Lu Ke in a fight, he chose to ignore it.
Knock, knock. The sound of knocking came from the door. Then Leigh pushed open the door to the VIP lounge and walked in with a steady pace. Without any unnecessary words, he looked directly at Walter. "How is it? Do we need to invite Martin over?"
The first sentence choked Walter. He choked on his own saliva and couldn't help but cough. Then, to avoid any misunderstanding, he quickly waved his hands. "No, no."
Walter quickly took a sip of water to calm down and immediately explained. "The entire checkup was fine. It's just a viral cold. Besides that, his right arm muscles are a little overworked. He needs a good massage to relax for the next two days, and he needs to be careful with his recovery training. It's no big deal."
Inviting a big shot for a cold was truly a joke.
"A viral cold? Is it easily contagious? Does the team need to be careful?" This was the first question that came to Lu Ke's mind. Professional athletes were also human. They were physically strong and rarely got sick, but that didn't mean they couldn't. Now, all the questions had been answered. No wonder he felt heavy all over today, his energy drained more quickly, and he was sweating more than usual.
It turned out to be... a cold.
He felt a sense of relief and a feeling of "of course" at the same time. But he also felt like he had been bamboozled and almost stumbled. But Lu Ke still realized that he hoped the cold wouldn't spread to his teammates, or it would be a disaster for the entire team. With the playoffs approaching, the thought of the entire team getting a cold was too beautiful to imagine.
Walter smiled and said, "Don't worry, this isn't the seasonal flu, so it won't have a big impact on the team."
Now he could finally relax. The sudden drop in body temperature yesterday was partly due to the weather and partly due to the cold. After the virus severely weakened his body's resistance, the trouble caused by the low temperature during the game was further amplified. Now that he had a detailed checkup, those unnecessary speculations could be ruled out.
"However, when you go to practice, it's best to wear a mask to prevent the virus from spreading," Walter still advised. Lu Ke's situation also gave him a heads-up. With the first snowfall in San Francisco in 35 years, besides Lu Ke, the other players also had to pay attention to their health. Even if they hadn't gotten sick yet, it was best to take precautions to avoid panicking when a problem actually arose.
"What about Bambi's competitive state? Will it be affected?" Leigh slightly lowered his jaw. After confirming there was no problem, his mind quickly started to work, thinking about the relevant issues ahead of time.
Walter nodded affirmatively. "It will definitely have an impact. He has a cold now, so his recovery training needs to be more cautious. A full warm-up is needed to avoid unnecessary injuries. And after he recovers from the cold, he needs to get back into the rhythm. We'll observe him closely in the next few days, but I believe it won't be a big problem."
Leigh agreed. "We still have enough time before the playoffs arrive."
"I'll discuss it with the strength and conditioning coach and arrange a recovery training schedule. Everything will be focused on the playoffs. We want to give Bambi more time to rest and adjust," Walter said with a smile.
For the San Francisco 49ers, the top priority now was the playoffs. The importance of the last two regular season games had become secondary, and everything had to be arranged around the playoffs. If necessary, the starting players could be rotated in the last two regular season games and play for a few downs to give the backup players more opportunities.
On one hand, this would allow the starters to get some rest and recover their energy so they could be fully committed to the playoffs while also avoiding unnecessary injuries. On the other hand, it would give the backups a chance to shine and perhaps play a key role as a surprise weapon in the playoffs. This was the luxury of a team that had already secured a playoff spot. Even if they forfeited the last two games, it wouldn't be a big deal. Everything was for the playoffs. However, the San Francisco 49ers and the New Orleans Saints were currently fighting for the NFC's number two seed, so they definitely couldn't take the last two games lightly. As for how to balance it, that was a problem for the coaching staff to consider.
While Walter and Leigh were talking, Lu Ke's phone vibrated again. He looked at the caller ID and gestured to the two of them. Then he walked to the side and answered the phone. "Hey, bro."
"Bro, are you okay? You didn't cause any trouble after last night's game, did you?" Stephen Curry's gloating voice came from the other end of the phone, but Lu Ke was confused and full of questions. He was about to ask when Curry continued. "You went to the hospital this morning? What happened?"
"How did you know I'm at the hospital?" Lu Ke's question was not answered; instead, he became more confused.
Curry laughed cheerfully. "Bro, you don't know yet, do you? The news channel is live right now. They're at the hospital entrance. It looks like a Hollywood movie!"
Lu Ke's eyes widened. "What?"
Things were getting more and more absurd now. He quickly walked to the window and looked down. He saw a bustling crowd surrounding the entire entrance. Besides the journalists, there were also passersby who had come to watch the commotion. The scene was spectacular. Among them, he could see a live broadcast vehicle, and next to it was a camera filming a small black dot, which must be the news anchor.
The scene was so fanatical that it felt like they were shooting a movie. Lu Ke's first reaction was: The 49ers' PR team hired these media outlets, right? But he quickly denied it. After seeing Sophie's interaction with the journalists earlier, he knew that the team was prepared for such unexpected situations, but they didn't welcome them with open arms.
"What are they reporting?" Lu Ke's brow furrowed slightly. He couldn't imagine what the news anchor's lines were.
"Uh, they were just speculating that you suffered a serious injury during yesterday's game and had to play through the pain to lead the team to victory. Then the latest rumor is that after the game, the injury became more serious, and you had to come to the hospital today for a full checkup." As a professional athlete, Curry felt that all of this was too absurd and too fake. More importantly, the news anchor kept saying "rumor" and "speculation," which had no credibility. So he also took it as a joke and couldn't wait to call Lu Ke to have a good laugh together.
But after he finished speaking, Curry was also stunned and asked worriedly, "Bambi, are you okay? You didn't really get hurt, did you?"
"Leigh? Come here and take a look," Lu Ke said, turning around and calling out. "Do you know about this? Does the team know? Is this situation really okay?"
Leigh also came to the window, followed closely by Walter. "Jesus Christ!" Walter couldn't help but exclaim. "What in the world is going on? Where's Sophie? This situation needs to be handled by the team. My God, have they all gone crazy?"
"If they knew I just had a cold, I'd love to see their expressions," Lu Ke said calmly, not worried about his own problem but rather about how the team was handling it. He then saw Walter's dumbfounded expression and Leigh's smiling one. He picked up his phone again and said into the earpiece, "Stephen?"
"You really just have a cold?" Curry also heard the joke just now.
"Yes. A viral cold, so my body temperature couldn't go up during yesterday's game. I drank a lot of chicken soup and then went back on the field." Lu Ke couldn't help but laugh when he recalled yesterday's game. "Haha. Hahaha." Curry kept slapping his couch, laughing cheerfully. "My God, Bambi, you have to do an interview, okay? Then, with a straight face, tell those journalists that you just have a cold. I want to watch it live. I want to see the expressions on those journalists' faces, haha."
"Even if I go out there, the live broadcast will only show my face, not the journalists'. How about this, I'll live stream it on YouTube?" Lu Ke was still in the mood to joke. It seemed that he had recovered a lot compared to when he first woke up this morning.
Curry laughed heartily again. The boisterous laughter was a little overwhelming for Lu Ke's ears, and he couldn't help but switch ears. After waiting for Curry's laughter to subside, he asked with concern, "How about you? How are you doing now? I heard you guys have started training camp again?"
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