Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 76 My Happiest Day in Memphis

Many things will happen, many costs will be paid, and many people will die. There is little bloodshed on the basketball court, but it is more brutal than war: it can forever etch a person's defeat into their memory.

Rudy Guy didn't participate in any of the celebrations; he didn't even take a shower. He just sat stiffly in front of his locker, a towel draped around his neck, head bowed, like a failed sculpture.

He could hear his teammates' suppressed excitement in hushed tones as they packed their things, each laugh pricking his back like a needle. Xu Ling's stats of 44 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists were like a hot iron, relentlessly grinding through his mind.

"Everything is fine without you."

That sentence rang out again, vicious and clear.

"Impossible!" he roared inwardly. "The Nets are just too bad! They're just having a good night! It's impossible for them to keep making those three-pointers!"
He suddenly raised his head, his gaze sweeping fiercely across the statistics table, trying to find flaws in Xu Ling's impressive data—26 shots taken, with a success rate of over 50%. Faced with such superb efficiency and a comprehensive triple-double, even a demon couldn't find a fault.

Gay's gaze finally settled on his pitiful stats: 12 points, 4 rebounds, and a plus-minus of -11. Like a cold slap in the face, it left him speechless.

“Rudy?” Assistant coach Andy Greer approached cautiously. “The reporters are all waiting.”

Guy suddenly stood up, the movement so forceful that the chair next to him screeched. The locker room fell silent instantly, all eyes fixed on him.

He ignored those gazes, which contained pity, embarrassment, and an unbearable sense of understanding—see, he was the problem.

He grabbed his bag, roughly pushed open the locker room door, and, head down, like a wounded beast, strode quickly away down the corridor.

Later, Darko Milisich was found praying.

"Dako, what are you doing?" Hakim Warrick asked with a laugh. "Praying to God to give you a nice girl tonight?"

Milisich finished his prayer quickly and rolled his eyes at Hakim: "Vulgar!"

“I’m just praying that God will find Rudy a good place.” As he spoke, Milicic glanced at Xu Ling, seemingly casually. “He’s definitely leaving, right?”

Xu Ling did not answer, as if he had installed an isolator that blocked all topics related to "Rudy"; he had heard enough about it from the media.

Pau Gasol, however, made a lame joke: "Maybe he'll leave before me."

Then laughter erupted in the locker room.

The happiness belongs to them; this feeling doesn't belong to Guy.

Guy was like a wounded beast, refusing to go to the media interview room to answer questions from the media, but this did not get rid of the all-powerful reporters.

When he arrived at the perimeter of the Continental Airlines Stadium, reporters were already waiting there. As soon as Guy appeared, they all swarmed around him, their microphones almost poking his face.

"Rudy, what do you have to say about Eli's statement?"

"Has your relationship completely broken down? What happened in the locker room?"

Do you think the team's tactical change in the second half was the right one?

"Are you and Eli truly incompatible?"

"What do you think about Eli publicly thanking you for not playing in the second half?"

Guy suddenly swung his arm, almost knocking a microphone away.

"Get the fuck out of my way!!!"

Gay yelled those words, his face turning ashen, and then, escorted by security, he went straight into the team bus.

Seeing his reaction, the reporters who wanted to stir up trouble smiled knowingly.

Sometimes, the parties involved can cause more serious consequences without even facing the problem directly.

Guy's anger spoke louder than a thousand words.

An hour later, after finishing their post-game duties, the Grizzlies returned to their hotel by bus.

In his hotel room, Guy paced back and forth like a caged animal, while sports news played on the television. On the screen, a close-up of Xu Ling's calm, even slightly mocking face was magnified, and his words, "I thank all my teammates who contributed to the victory," were like a missile exploding in a vulnerable spot, precisely piercing through Guy's defenses.

"Ahhhh!!!"

Guy, enraged, grabbed the remote control and slammed it against the TV screen with a loud bang.

This was undoubtedly a humiliation and a complete showdown; Xu Ling would not allow him to have any place to stay in Memphis.

Guy picked up his phone and angrily dialed his agent, Arne Treme.

“They can’t do this to me!!” Guy roared as soon as the call connected. “That arrogant bastard! He and that stupid coach teamed up to mess with me! That coach is his puppet! No, that damn son of a bitch coach is his dog! You hear me? I’m getting out of this damn place! Right now! Immediately! Call Jerry West and tell that old man to trade me! Now! I don’t want to be here another minute! If I have to share a locker room with that Chinaman tomorrow, I’m done!”

At this time, November was not yet halfway over.

“Then let them fire me right now! Buy me out! I don’t care! I don’t want to step into the FedEx Forum for a second longer! I don’t want to see those traitors’ faces!” Guy’s roar almost shattered the microphone, his voice filled with hysterical despair, like a giant baby deprived of its most beloved toy, unable to think of any solution other than destruction. “They can’t do this to me! I’m Rudy Guy! They begged me to be their star! Now because of that damn… they… they…”

Guy became increasingly incoherent, his words reduced to nothing but primal anger and humiliation.

Tremey sighed silently on the other end of the phone. He knew all too well these gifted but immature young players, who were arrogant when things were going well and seemed to be at odds with the whole world when things were going badly.

What we need now is rationality and conviction.
So Tremem continued to reassure him, "Rudy, listen, it's precisely because they treat you this way that you can't let them have their way. The more you make a scene now, the lower your trade value will be, and in the end, you'll be the one who suffers."

“Value? What value do I have left?!” Guy recalled Xu Ling’s remarks at the press conference, “That damned Chinese guy made the whole world believe I’m a cancer!”

“Your value lies in the fact that you’re still one of the most talented forwards in the league,” Tremem said firmly. “But right now, you need to be patient. Go to practice on time, sit on the bench, and keep quiet. Believe me, anger won’t solve anything, but silence will build strength.”

All that could be heard on the other end of the phone was Guy's heavy, unwilling breathing. He knew his agent was right, but the anger in his chest was almost burning him up.

Finally, he stopped talking, slammed the phone down, and threw it violently onto the hotel's soft carpet.
The following day, ESPN's morning sports news did not focus on Rudy Gay, but instead turned to the winner.

"Eli Xu ended the losing streak with a legendary 44-point performance, and also completely ended Rudy Gay's era in Memphis." Host Stuart Scott's tone was calm and sharp. "The intense confrontation during the game and the cold 'thank you' after the game all proved that the cracks in the locker room were not rumors."

"Xu Ling won the victory, but he did not show the warmth and humility of Yao Ming. Instead, he displayed a ruthless and decisive nature that would stop at nothing to win. He was a sharp sword that cleared away the obstacles and showed us his true colors. A powerful, arrogant, yet chilling superstar."

"Memphis has gotten the leader they've been longing for, but this leader's reign will begin with a ruthless purge."

FedEx Stadium

The air in the CEO's office seemed to freeze. Jerry West wasn't sitting behind his desk, but standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, his back to the door, overlooking the gradually brightening lights of Memphis.

On the television screen, sports news was playing Xu Ling's words, "Thank you for his absence," on a loop.

Xu Ling pushed open the door and stood quietly in the center of the room. He didn't speak first. After a long while, West turned around. His face no longer showed the intense anger he had displayed when he reprimanded Xu Ling on Media Day; instead, it showed a deep, almost embarrassing disappointment. He held a newly printed set of technical statistics in his hand, the paper trembling slightly.

"44 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists." West's voice was deep and cold. "A fucking legendary performance, Eli. A fucking historic game!"

The man with the logo took two steps forward, gently placed the statistics sheet on the table, then looked up and said, "Now, tell me. Behind these impressive statistics, what have you truly won for the future of our team?"

Xu Ling remained silent, awaiting the other party's accusations.

"You won a regular season game! You delivered on your promise of no consecutive losses! Great!" West's voice suddenly rose, his suppressed anger finally erupting. "But you also gained a mortal enemy! A liability whose value has been completely reduced to zero, making it almost untradeable! You gained the eyes of the entire league to laugh at us! You gained the media's attention to watch like vultures scrutinize every crack in our locker room for the next few months!"

West's roar echoed through the office.

"Is this what you want? To gamble the stability of the entire locker room with the victory of one game?! Is this how you lead the team?! To solve a problem that could have been handled in a smarter, more professional way using the most brutal and ruthless methods?"

“I remember our conversation before the season, Eli. I told you that you needed to learn how to lead, not just dominate. I told you that a true leader makes the people around him better! Look what you’ve done now? You’ve completely crushed someone and then told the world, ‘Look, we’re better off without him!’ That’s the cruelest victory and the stupidest declaration!”

“You’ve left me with no choice, Eli.” West’s voice trembled slightly with anger. “You’re forcing me to sell our second most talented player for a pittance less than ten games into the season! Because you’ve burned down all our escape routes! Because you’ve left him, and the team, with absolutely no room for maneuver!”

“Tell me,” the man with the logo took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, “when you did all this, when you said those words into the microphone, did you even think for a second about the overall interests of this team? Did you think about how much trouble this would bring to me, to the management, and to everyone trying to make this team better?”

"Or is it that," West stared into Xu Ling's eyes and asked, word by word, "that proving you're right is far more important to you than the team's interests?"

Xu Ling did not answer immediately. He met West's almost fiery gaze and remained silent for a few seconds, a silence like a volcano gathering strength.

Suddenly, Xu Ling laughed, a mocking and utterly devoid of warmth.

“I’ve thought about it, Jerry.” Xu Ling’s voice suddenly rose, no longer calm, but filled with a fire that had been suppressed for weeks and was finally exploding. “I’ve thought about it every single day, every single second! I’ve thought about how I went from being the MOP of the NCAA Final Four to being labeled a ‘locker room cancer’ and a ‘system destroyer’ by the media! I’ve thought about why I’m the last one to leave after every extra practice, yet I have to put up with a guy who only knows how to pad his stats, is a sieve on defense, and is so self-important that he drags the whole team down! I’ve thought about why I have to keep enduring and pretending that everything is normal, just to maintain your illusion of locker room harmony!”

At this point, Xu Ling stared intently at this most influential behind-the-scenes figure in the NBA over the past few decades.

"You ask me what I won? I won the truth! I shattered that damn, hypocritical calm! I made everyone see who the real problem is! Yes! Rudy Gay is worthless now! But not because of me! It's because he was fucking worthless to begin with! It's because I and this team have been paying the price for him!"

"You say I used the stupidest method? Then tell me, what is the smart way? Is it to keep watching him ruin every offensive possession? Is it to keep watching him stand in the corner like a Buddha, and then watch Nike's media hype up his potential after the game while blaming me and Paul for the loss? Or is it to wait for him to be in a good mood one day and give us a little bit of his talent?"

“I’ve had enough! I’ve had enough of taking the blame for a piece of trash! I’ve had enough of struggling in a system that doesn’t even work! And I’ve had enough of you—Jerry West—sitting in this nice office, ignoring the real problems and only thinking about maintaining a facade of peace! You don’t care about winning, you care about fucking stability!”

Xu Ling's face, flushed red with rage, made him look like the Red Devil from a horror story, but his outburst was far from over.

"You say a leader should make the people around him better? That's right! So I fucking personally cut out that cancerous cell that was making everyone worse! That's my responsibility as a leader! As for trouble?" Xu Ling said loudly, "That's your job as general manager! If your job is just managing a bunch of obedient little bastards, then your salary is far too easy to come by!"

“That’s my answer. I’ve created this mess, how you clean it up is your problem. But if you want me to go back and continue acting in that disgusting drama? Absolutely not.” Xu Ling left West no room for compromise. “Either you rebuild the way I do, or you trade me!”

Not to mention Laura Grankole outside the office, Xu Ling's undisguised indignation spread so far that even his teammates downstairs could hear it clearly. If just one more whistleblower were to emerge, the Grizzlies would once again become the most watched team in the league for the next two weeks.

The CEO's office was deathly silent.

Jerry West stood there, his chest heaving. Xu Ling's roar, especially the last two words, "your job" and "good boy," lashed at his most sensitive nerves like a whip. A complex and intense anger surged within him.

There was anger at being offended, the embarrassment of an elder being so contradicted by a junior, and the frustration of the situation spiraling out of control. But at a deeper level, there was also the embarrassment of having the truth exposed. Xu Ling's words were sharp, but not entirely without reason.

At the very bottom of that chaotic swamp of emotions, a darker ripple was stirred. The undisguised, almost savage, aggression emanating from this young man clashed sharply with his subconscious stereotype of Easterners as humble and tolerant. That familiar, assertive demeanor from the distant East, like a rusty key, inadvertently touched a box he had locked away with reason for many years—a box containing the winter his brother David never returned, a box containing his entire bleak childhood.

No, he immediately stopped himself. The matter at hand had nothing to do with those things; this was just basketball.

But this desperate attempt at self-restraint only made the offensive feeling that went beyond the realm of basketball and made him extremely uncomfortable even more real and sharp.

West's face turned from pale to ashen, his lips pressed into a thin, bloodless line. He found himself unable to immediately mount a powerful counterattack. All reason, all considerations, seemed pale and powerless in the face of the other's insane declaration of "it's either him or me." This left him feeling an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

This sense of powerlessness ultimately transformed into the most primal urge to expel.

West raised his hand, his fingers trembling slightly as he struggled to control his anger, and pointed towards the door.

His voice was no longer loud, as if he was using all his strength to say those words.

"Get out!" West paused, as if gathering his last bit of strength to utter his final words, "Now! Get out of here right now!"

Without any hesitation, Xu Ling turned around and walked straight out.

Outside the door, Assistant Grankole turned pale with fright at the last growl from inside the office. Looking at Xu Ling, who walked out expressionlessly, she couldn't help but ask timidly, "Eli...is everything...is everything alright?"

“It couldn’t be better,” Xu Ling said. “This is the happiest day I’ve ever had in Memphis.”

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Memphis Business Journal

Publication Date: November 15, 2007

Tearing and Rebirth: Crossroads of the Blues City

Author: Frank Murtaugh

Memphis — If the sporting soul of this city has a voice, then what echoed in FedEx Forum last night was not blues, but a thunderclap that tore everything apart.

Eli Xu, the controversial third overall pick, not only crushed the Nets with a 44-point triple-double and a cold "thank you," but also completely destroyed the Grizzlies' crumbling old era.

Rudy Gay, the rising star we once had high hopes for, was absent from today's event citing "illness," becoming an awkward presence on the bench, hidden behind a towel. His talent is undeniable, but his indifference to victory and post-game avoidance force us to face the harsh reality: perhaps we loved the wrong person.

Yes, Elijah's methods were ruthless and cold-blooded, far from traditional leadership. This caused headaches for the management and attracted a global media frenzy.

But ask yourselves honestly, Memphis, do we really need another period of “seemingly harmonious but actually mediocre” times?
Xu Ling brought the most precious thing: clarity.

The locker room is no longer ambiguous about power and responsibility, and the court no longer has two incompatible core players. The road ahead may be thorny, but the signposts are clear.

Change always comes with growing pains. In this "city of bluster," we are weary of endless failures. We crave victory, we crave a leader who dares to overturn the table.

Whether Xu Ling is the answer remains to be seen.

But with a stunning performance, he has pushed us to a crossroads where we must choose: to gloss over a mediocre past or to embrace an uncertain future?
The city of blues, the answer lies within your heart.

PS: Starting tomorrow, it will be two updates a day as usual, at 10 AM and 12 PM. 8 AM is still a bit early, and sometimes I have to rush when I have to make last-minute changes. Yesterday, we gained a few more patrons, which means a few more chapters for them. I think I can still make up for the few chapters I owe, but please be rational when following the story. I'll be happy if you can even read and subscribe.

Finally, here's a report on the initial subscription figures: when I woke up, it was 7600. But what's ridiculous is that the highest subscription count wasn't for the first chapter after its release, but for the subsequent chapters. Anyway, this initial subscription figure surpasses that of "Pride," thank you all for your support.

(End of this chapter)