Li Du watched the parade of cars curiously. It was obvious that whoever was inside was not just any man. Treasure hunters were not showoffs, and they had no power to be showoffs anyway. In his mind, there were only superstars, rich men, or senior officials who would use such a car parade.
When the parade of cars arrived a few men got down. They were all hunks dressed in black suits and black sungla.s.ses. After they appeared they stood around the cars, watching their surroundings carefully.
But the main person in the car did not come for a while. Li Du waited for quite some time curiously, but the main person still did not appear. By this time Bell was waving at him at the door, so he walked inside.
The charity event was very simple. They were going to give their presents that they brought for the people in the slum. The people in the slum would be fulfilled by the materialistic gain, and they would be fulfilled by the spiritual gain. To each it"s own.
The treasure hunters brought in a lot of sports equipment. There was fitness equipment, all sorts of b.a.l.l.s, and there was also sports attire and sports shoes. Someone even pulled in a car of Jordan"s and Nike"s.
There were exercise courts inside the abandoned factory. Among those, there was an especially nice basketball court. It had a plastic floor, was evenly covered, and was kept very clean. Some youngsters changed into their sports shoes and grabbed a basketball as they went to play.
Bell gathered a few treasure hunters together. There was Li Du, as well as Conrad. There was a basketball team formed by treasure hunters, and they were about to go into a friendly match with the basketball team from the slum.
Seeing Li Du on the team, Conrad made a despicable face as he said, "Chris, I don"t want to join this match anymore. Basketball is supposed to be about teamwork. Without a suitable team, what meaning is left here?"
Li Du knew that he was being sarcastic, so he turned his words against him. "That"s true. People like us can"t be young master Anthony"s teammates—he"s an NBA superstar. We"re not his match."
He purposely used these words to go against Conrad and also beautifully pulled the other treasure hunters to his own side, standing in opposition to Conrad.
Conrad was not stupid. He understood Li Du was being sly. He would rather lose the mask so he said, "I don"t want to be your teammate. There"s no need to be fake, we should just open up and speak the truth. Li, I hate you."
Li Du let out a sigh and said, "What a coincidence, I hate you too. Phew, that was nice to say out loud. I was really afraid that you might say you like me."
Conrad pointed at him and said, "Fight me with your fists if you dare Chinaman. Stop fighting with your mouth. Are you all b*tches? How can you have such a b*tchy mouth?"
Chris Bell frowned deeply. Li Du didn"t say another word and he let Bell handle the situation. He was the organizer; he should give Bell some face.
Looking at Conrad, Bell said in a dissatisfied manner, "Young man, didn"t your dad teach you that you should work with your colleagues at work? Never mind, if you don"t want to play, just drop out. I hope you don"t regret it."
Li Du added, "Or maybe you can join the opponents. That way you can fight me on the basketball court."
Conrad was always targeting Li Du, and the other treasure hunters around them were kind of annoyed with it too. Also, his dad"s reputation was not good, so the treasure hunters were not friendly to him.
This made him really upset. He held onto this anger and joined the community basketball team from the slum.
The people from the slum were all perplexed. Who the f*ck did he think he was to join their team? But seeing that he had brought many gifts for them, the basketball team could not say too much and accepted him reluctantly.
Conrad could see that they were reluctant, so he said, "I swear, buddies, wait till you see my abilities. You will definitely like me as a teammate!"
"You"re good?" a young man wearing a number 24 Lakers jersey asked.
Conrad replied proudly, "Since childhood, I have never met my match in any street games."
Bell and a middle-aged white man walked onto the ball court. The middle-aged white man raised his hands. All the young children playing and all the people trying out different types of home appliances stopped. They were all looking at him from the sides of the ball court.
Hans spoke in a low voice: "This fella"s reputation is good, he must be a big guy around here."
Putting down his arms, the white man pointed at Bell and said in a loud voice, "All my buddies from the Steel Castle, tell me, who is this?"
"Chris! Bell! Our comrade!"
"Brother Bell! Brother Bell!"
"Savior!"
The entire site exploded into a fierce roar. Bell was very popular here. Obviously, this was not his first time running a charity event here.
The white man waited until the cheering quieted down a little. Then, he loudly said, "Yes, our brother Chris Bell came to help us again. He brought along his good buddies from work to help us all. Let"s give them all a round of applause!"
The applause was growing stronger. The people from the slum kept clapping their hands with all their might, and the applause sounded like strong winds and thunderous rain.
The white guy kept hyping up the atmosphere. And the atmosphere around the ball court became really exciting.
Finally, it was Bell"s turn to give his speech. He kept it simple. "Hey everyone, do you like the gifts that we brought for you all?"
"We like it!" the people from the slum all shouted simultaneously.
Bell shook his finger and said, "But this is not it all, buddies. I still have the biggest gifts that haven"t been brought out yet. I bet that if I bring them out now, all of you will give your best applause and scream even harder."
As he spoke, some people walked in from the front door.
Li Du turned around to see a few fit hunks dressed in black. He remembered these men—they were the bodyguards who had first exited the car when the parade had arrived earlier.
Standing among these hunks, there were two even taller men. Both of them were above two meters tall, they had long legs and broad shoulders, big hands, and big feet. When he saw these two men, Li Du screamed, "Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom!"
Yes, these two were famous NBA stars. Big brother of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant, and super sixth man of the year who used to play for the Lakers, Lamar Odom.
This was the first time he had seen NBA stars. He could not help but feel rather excited.
But the people of the slum were even more excited than he was. Once Kobe and Odom appeared, the screaming immediately raised to the roof.
"Black Mamba! Kobe!"
"Kobe! Kobe!"
"D*mn cool, it"s Kobe!"
The treasure hunters could not help but scream too. Kobe was super popular in Los Angeles and throughout all of California. He was the king of sports amongst the locals.
Kobe took off his sungla.s.ses as he entered the factory and waved at the crowd. The people of the slum swarmed forward like bees and surrounded both Kobe and Omar.
Their bodyguards were nervously but orderly opening both their arms to stop the excited fans from coming close as they escorted Kobe and Omar to the basketball court.
Kobe nodded at Chris when he saw him. "Chris, long time no see. What are we playing today?"
Bell laughed, " We will be playing your best game. But I"m not playing with you. You"re going to play with my buddies and your fans."
When the basketball stars Kobe and Omar appeared, the cameramen had immediately turned their cameras to focus on them, and they kept snapping photos.
Even more people came to the factory building after hearing the news. They were shouting "Kobe!" as if they were believers who had met a real G.o.d. They were fanatic and pious at the same time.