The Upside Down Phenom

The arena felt cavernous. The stands were practically deserted, not even a quarter full. Yet, despite the sparse crowd, the roar from the fans was loud enough to make Link Lin nervously lick his lips.

"Link! Get your head in the game today!" A bald man in a sharp suit barked at him from the sidelines – the head coach. "Stay sharp on the bench. Be ready. I don't want a repeat of last time – you step on the court and immediately start coughing up turnovers!"

"Huh? Oh... yeah," Link mumbled, nodding mechanically. He blinked, taking in his surroundings: the unfamiliar jersey clinging to him, the hulking Black teammates towering nearby. He swallowed hard.

He was really here. On a professional basketball court. Okay, so it was just the NBA G League. But still... professional basketball.

Technically, it wasn't his first G League game. But it felt like the first. Because the body wearing jersey number... whatever... wasn't controlled by its original owner anymore. As the rest of the team huddled up, pounding chests and shouting encouragement, Link stood slightly apart, looking dazed. Lost in thought? Not exactly. His mind was racing, replaying the impossible events of the last few days.

Three Days Earlier...

Link's eyes fluttered open. Sterile white ceiling. The sharp tang of antiseptic hung in the air. Hospital. Definitely a hospital.

"How are you feeling?" A nurse, her smile warm as sunshine, appeared beside his bed during her rounds.

"I feel... okay, I..." His voice trailed off, choked mid-sentence. The words coming out weren't Chinese. The nurse wasn't Chinese either – she was blonde, blue-eyed. American.

What the hell?! Panic surged through him. He mentally scrambled, searching his own memories. Before the blackout, he was a nobody. A 2019 graduate from a third-rate Chinese university. No car, no house, no savings. His mom had split when he was little, remarried, vanished to another city. His dad? A deadbeat, barely involved, radio silence for years.

Last night, holed up in his crappy rented room, the die-hard basketball fan had been watching game footage on a beat-up secondhand laptop. A sudden thunderclap outside. The laptop died. He popped open the case to check the guts... and then... zap? Nothing. Just waking up here, in this impossible room.

"Sir? Are you alright?" The blonde nurse asked, concern etching her face. Still in English.

Link's college English was rusty as hell after four years of coasting. Yet, he understood every word she said perfectly.

"I... where am I? Can you speak Chinese? Why is there a foreign nurse?"

"Huh?" The nurse stared, bewildered.

"Uh... never mind... thank you. I'm tired. I need to rest," Link stammered, waving her off. The questions he wanted to ask? He suddenly had the answers. Another set of memories, alien yet vivid, flooded his mind.