Chapter One: The Number After Two Hundred Million

Forty-two seconds remained, and the Linhai Whales were down by ten. People were already leaving. Rows of blue plastic seats emerged like fish bones after the tide. Head coach Zhou Yan slapped his clipboard against the bench, looked past a circle of million-yuan starters, and fixed his eyes on the man beside the water cooler. “Lu Chen. You're in for Gao Yuan.” Lu Chen froze for half a second. This was his seventh year with the Whales and the seven-hundred-and-twenty-first game of his career spent on a bench. He was twenty-nine, nine days from the end of a minimum contract, and averaged three minutes and twelve seconds per game. The internet had a nickname for him: the league's most expensive towel attendant.