American Football: King of the Bay Area

Damn it.

Lu Ke cursed under his breath. A powerful tug on his ankle felt like a truck had slammed into his left calf. The sheer force of the impact was so ferocious it completely destroyed his balance. His upper body pitched forward, and he began to stumble.

The three seconds were up. The Absolute Step skill wore off, and he was back in control of his own body. He had to fight to control his center of gravity, stumbling to avoid falling flat on his face. Looking ridiculous was one thing, but if he went down, the play would be over. That was what would be truly disastrous.

Gritting his teeth, Lu Ke refused to go down. He was completely off-balance, his body spinning uncontrollably like a top. He had been facing the sideline, but a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn left his back facing it instead. To make matters worse, he was still falling backward.

Despite all this, Lu Ke remained cool and focused, relentlessly scanning the field for a target.

’Found him!’

At the last possible second, with disaster looming, Lu Ke spotted his target. He raised his right hand and, from an incredibly awkward position, whipped it sideways. Unleashing a burst of power, he flung the ball forward in a sweeping motion like a windshield wiper.

He couldn’t even finish his throwing motion before he crashed hard onto the turf in a pathetic heap.

But Lu Ke had no time to worry about how he looked. His eyes were glued to the arc of the football as it flew through the air. His heart seemed to stop. The roar of the stadium vanished, the world fell silent, and all he could see was the ball.

The moment the football left his fingertips, Lu Ke gritted his teeth. ’With such an awkward throwing motion, any real control was out of the question. The direction and power were fine, but my aim for the landing spot was absurdly off—I basically lost all control. It’s a total unknown. Even I don’t know where this ball is going to land.’

...

”Danger! It’s a blitz! The Detroit Lions have suddenly opted to blitz the quarterback, and wouldn’t you know it, the San Francisco 49ers called a screen pass! It’s a disastrous mismatch! Two linebackers have broken through the Offense Line’s blocks and are charging right at Lu Ke! The 49ers’ Offense Line has been outstanding today, but they’re facing a serious error in judgment right now.”

Kirk’s shoulders and arms tensed up. Before he even realized it, his hands had balled into fists. The thrilling tension sent a jolt of adrenaline through him as he watched the San Francisco 49ers leave the pocket wide open, practically inviting the defenders inside. The offense was instantly thrown into peril.

”He escapes the tackle! San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Lu Ke avoids what looked like a surefire tackle from Tulloch! The play is still alive, the 49ers’ drive continues! A second one! My God, Lu Ke breaks a second tackle! Levi’s powerful takedown attempt can’t catch him; he misses the crucial tackle, and the 49ers’ drive is extended!”

His hoarse shouts betrayed his sheer excitement. He stared wide-eyed, holding his breath, afraid he’d miss something incredible if he so much as blinked. His intense focus had him slowly, involuntarily rising to his feet, instinctively trying to get closer to the gridiron, and then closer still, as if that would let him feel the suffocating rush of adrenaline firsthand.

”But at the last second, Levi hooks Lu Ke’s ankle! It causes Lu Ke to lose his balance, completely throwing off his footwork! He stumbles, but he gets the pass off! My God, just before he falls, Lu Ke completes the pass! But… the target is…”

Kirk’s voice trailed off, his eyes locked on the football as it cut a flat arc through the air. It seemed as if the entire stadium, all sixty-thousand-plus spectators, held its collective breath, staring at that small football, searching for its target.

...

After the snap, a short five-yard sprint brought Logan Newman into the short-pass zone. He moved with the fluid ease of a fish in water, running an unpredictable route designed to throw the opponent’s defensive coverage into disarray. But Logan quickly noticed the chaos in the pocket. The screen pass had been blown up, and the whole play was now in jeopardy.

The original play was broken, but Logan didn’t hesitate for a second. His eyes immediately found Lu Ke.

Logan knew his best friend. Lu Ke would never, ever give up on making a pass—not until the last moment, not until the ball was dead, not until all hope was lost.

It was just like in their routine team practices. The coach would have them running short passing drills from the pocket, and the Defense Team would apply heavy pressure, collapsing it and forcing Lu Ke to scramble. Normally, leaving the pocket meant the drill was over. But not for Lu Ke. He would keep moving, keep looking for a target, and ultimately connect with Logan to complete the pass.

Today was no different.

So, Logan kept his eyes locked on Lu Ke, his feet subconsciously mirroring Lu Ke’s movements as he drifted to the left. But his line of sight was completely congested. The Offense Line, the Defense Line, the secondary—all the players were mashed together, completely blocking any clear view between passer and receiver.

So Logan adeptly adjusted, moving deeper downfield. ’Get more distance, just a little more.’ He believed Lu Ke would definitely spot his new position. Logan had unconditional faith in his friend.

He backpedaled, then backpedaled some more, and his line of sight gradually cleared. He saw Lu Ke’s hair-raising escape from the tackle, and Logan’s own heart leaped into his throat. He was so focused on Lu Ke that he lost track of his own position on the field until the figure of Chris Harris appeared in his vision. Only then did Logan realize he had entered the deep backfield, the safety’s zone.

Glancing around, Logan quickly scanned the field. Louis Delmas was on the right, moving quickly up into the intermediate zone and keying on Ted Ginn Jr. Meanwhile, Chris Harris was lurking about three or four yards away, splitting his attention between defending Logan and Ginn, covering the left and middle zones.

With a single scan, Logan made his decision. He looked back at the stumbling Lu Ke, and an alarm went off in his head. In a sudden burst of motion, he took off without warning, sprinting hard to the left. The move instantly put Harris on alert, who immediately gave chase.

However, there was already some distance between the two of them, and coupled with the slight delay in Harris’s reaction, the gap widened even more.

Even so, Harris’s speed was incredible. It was clear that his natural talent as a safety—his speed and explosiveness—was far superior to Logan’s. In a direct matchup, Harris would easily have the upper hand.

Thanks to his initial burst, the distance between them grew slightly, turning a three- or four-yard gap into five or six. But in the space of a single breath, Harris was already closing in, steadily eating away at Logan’s advantage.

But for a pass, that little bit of time was all they needed.

Logan completely ignored Harris, his eyes locked on the football hurtling toward him. The ball’s spiral was wobbling badly, a testament to Lu Ke’s lack of control on the release, which made both its arc and landing spot highly unorthodox.

But none of that mattered to Logan. Completely focused, his mind made a quick calculation, and then he stretched out his hands, launching himself toward the football in a full-on dive.

’Just catch the ball!’ That was the only thought in his head.

Logan’s body was fully extended, his arms and legs stretched to their absolute limit as he flew horizontally through the air like a glider. His fingertips could feel the wind rushing past like water. He cut through the air, sliding his hands between the football and the ground, and secured the ball in his grasp just before it could hit the turf.

He then hugged the ball tightly to his chest as his shoulder hit the ground, plunging into the emerald-green ”water” of the field like a cliff diver.

SPLASH!

...

”Logan Newman! Lu Ke’s target is Logan Newman, number eighty-eight, the Tight End, currently the number one receiver on the San Francisco 49ers offense! It seems that in such a crisis, only a player like Newman could understand Lu Ke’s intention! And sure enough, Lu Ke found him and attempted the pass!”

”The power and angle of the pass seemed a bit off, and the placement was far from the mark. It doesn’t look like Newman can get there! Wait, wait! Newman launches himself into a dive, using gravity and his own momentum to speed up, and he catches the ball in an unbelievable display!

Harris, trying for tight coverage, completely misjudged it! He’s too late! Too late! Newman makes the catch! My God, Logan Newman makes an incredible diving catch, securing the ball by a hair’s breadth just before it hits the ground! My God, they did it! Lu Ke completed the pass, and Logan Newman made the catch! MY GOD!”

The entire broadcast booth erupted. Kirk couldn’t contain his excitement and leaped to his feet, roaring into his microphone:

”That’s a… that is a forty-six-yard pass! Unbelievable! That is simply too unbelievable! In a crisis, Lu Ke overcame the impossible, defied the laws of physics, and threw a forty-six-yard long bomb, completed by his most trusted target, Logan Newman! And just like that, they’re at the opponent’s twenty-one-yard line! Unbelievable! That was truly unbelievable!”