The game between Shohoku and Miuradai was still ongoing.
"It was just an accident. Stay focused." Murasame Kengo encouraged his team.
As soon as he finished speaking, he passed the ball straight to Naito Tetsuya. "Naito, show them what you've got."
"Got it." Naito Tetsuya caught the ball and replied.
But in the next moment—
Smack...
A soft sound rang out.
Naito Tetsuya suddenly felt the ball vanish from his hands.
When he looked down, the basketball was already gone.
What?
Boom...
Boom...
Boom...
A series of bouncing sounds rang out behind him.
At the same time, a voice reached his ears. "Sorry about that! You were taking so long that I got tired of waiting."
Naito Tetsuya instinctively turned around.
He saw Qing Junce dribbling the ball and charging toward his own basket.
Miuradai's players had never expected the ball to be stolen immediately after the pass, so no one had managed to react.
In the end, Qing Junce effortlessly completed a three-step layup.
The ball went through the net.
Shohoku 49–44 Miuradai.
"Damn it, why is that guy everywhere?" Murasame Kengo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. His mindset, which had nearly recovered during halftime, began to waver again.
Naito Tetsuya was furious.
His face was filled with anger as he glared straight at Qing Junce.
He merely believed that he had been careless and that Qing Junce had gotten lucky. He had never considered the difference in strength between them.
"Brat, you've angered me. I'm going to take you down." Naito Tetsuya threatened Qing Junce.
Qing Junce simply let the words go in one ear and out the other, completely ignoring his threats.
As the seconds ticked by—
Naito Tetsuya gradually began to realize that something was wrong.
No matter what he did, he felt unable to escape Qing Junce's clutches.
Qing Junce was like a festering wound attached to his bones, slowly becoming his nightmare.
His attacks were always intercepted.
His dunks were always blocked.
His defense was always broken through.
Yet no matter what he tried, he could neither stop Qing Junce nor break through or make a shot.
The feeling made him feel utterly miserable.
The confidence he had once possessed was gradually developing cracks.
Miuradai's players had not expected this either.
Their secret weapon had been completely dominated by the opposing side the moment he entered the court.
Miuradai's coach was both anxious and furious on the sidelines. He gritted his teeth so hard that his eyes nearly turned bloodshot.
Under Qing Junce's unreasonable offense, the score continued to change.
55–44.
60–44.
70–44.
80–44.
Just as Qing Junce faced another triple-team from Miuradai—
It was like fate replaying itself.
Once again, Qing Junce sent the ball through the gap between the three defenders in an extremely unnatural posture.
At the same time, whether by coincidence or intentionally, Naito Tetsuya's body collided with Qing Junce's.
Tweet—
Before the ball had even reached the air above Miuradai's basket, the referee had already blown his whistle and pointed at Naito Tetsuya, signaling a foul.
Under everyone's excited, shocked, expectant, and bewildered gazes, the ball once again fell into Miuradai's basket.
"Miuradai number nine, defensive foul. The basket counts, plus one free throw." The referee's merciless voice reached everyone's ears.
The score had now reached 89–44.
The second half was already more than halfway over.
What left everyone speechless was that ever since Qing Junce entered the game, Miuradai had not scored a single point.
Qing Junce had also taken care of every attack since entering the court.
Most astonishingly, every one of Qing Junce's attacks had succeeded.
Swish—
The ball went through the net.
Qing Junce made the free throw.
The electronic scoreboard changed once again.
Shohoku 90–44 Miuradai.
Tweet—
Shohoku requested a substitution.
Just then, the whistle suddenly sounded.
Everyone looked over in confusion, unable to understand why Shohoku wanted to make a substitution now.
They saw Sakuragi Hanamichi walk onto the court and stop in front of Qing Junce.
With his hands on his hips, he threw his head back and laughed smugly. "Hahahaha... Godless ghost, this genius is going back in. Hurry up and get out of my way."
Qing Junce looked toward Coach Anzai, who was leisurely drinking tea on the bench.
This should have been Coach Anzai's intention.
He did not say anything.
He found this kind of game boring as well.
There was nothing interesting about crushing a bunch of weaklings.
Qing Junce walked off the court.
Exactly ten minutes had passed in the second half.
Shimizu Kanon hurriedly stood up and handed him a towel and some water. "A-Ce... thanks for the effort."
Qing Junce habitually accepted the towel and water, wiped the little sweat from his forehead, and replied, "This level doesn't even count as a warm-up. There's nothing interesting about it."
Ayako blinked when she heard that. "Oh?! Our hero isn't satisfied with this game? We've basically already secured the victory."
Qing Junce curled his lips and said disdainfully, "With Miuradai's level of strength, isn't winning perfectly normal?"
Coach Anzai suddenly spoke up. "Qing Junce, you seem very dissatisfied with this game!"
Qing Junce shrugged. "Huh?! It was just so-so. I can't say I'm satisfied or dissatisfied, but none of them are particularly strong. It was a little too boring."
"I see..." Coach Anzai fell into thought.
Shimizu Kanon understood Qing Junce and hurriedly said, "This is only the first game. It's normal for the opponent not to be very strong. In the games ahead, we'll definitely encounter some powerful opponents."
As she spoke, she turned and winked at Ayako. "You think so too, right, Ayako-senpai?"
Seeing Shimizu Kanon's meaningful look, Ayako immediately understood and nodded. "That's right. There are quite a few strong teams in Kanagawa! Not to mention Shoyo and Hainan, Takezono has the formidable Oda, and Tsukitake High School has Godai. None of them are simple opponents."
Qing Junce could no longer clearly remember exactly how strong those people were.
However, hearing Ayako say this still made him feel a little expectant.
At some point, he had gradually become lazy and indifferent toward basketball.
He knew very well that this was not his true intention. It should have been the influence on his mentality caused by merging with the template.
He had always restrained these psychological changes, preventing himself from truly becoming like Aomine Daiki in the anime.
Name: Qing Junce
Age: 16 years old
Height: 192 cm
Weight: 85 kg
Character Template: Aomine Daiki (99%)
Talent Abilities: Super-Speed Dribbling (Awakened), Formless Shots (Awakened)
Wildness: Black Panther (Awakened)
Zone (Semi-Awakened)
Qing Junce fell into deep thought as he looked at the system panel only he could see.
It seemed that apart from this panel, his system had no other functions.
As for the Zone that had yet to awaken, he had tried many different methods.
According to the original anime, Aomine Daiki should already have been able to enter the Zone on his own during high school, right?
He always felt that something was off, as if he had overlooked something.
"A-Ce... A-Ce... A-Ce..."
Suddenly, several calls pulled him out of his thoughts.
Qing Junce turned his head and saw Shimizu Kanon calling him. "What is it?"
Shimizu Kanon looked at Qing Junce strangely. "What do you mean, 'what is it'? You've been spacing out this whole time. You didn't even respond when I called you. Are you feeling unwell?"
Qing Junce shook his head. "I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."
Hmm?
Shimizu Kanon tilted her head and stared carefully at Qing Junce for a long while.
She felt that Qing Junce had seemed different for a brief moment just now.
Had it been her imagination?
Time passed.
The game between Shohoku and Miuradai was nearing its end.
After entering the game, Sakuragi Hanamichi could not be said to have had no effect at all. Rather, he had accomplished absolutely nothing.
Having already committed four fouls, he was restrained on the court, afraid that he would commit another foul if he made the slightest mistake.
Miuradai's players noticed this as well and immediately adjusted their tactics to target Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Miuradai consequently recovered quite a few points.
However, it was nothing more than a futile struggle.
Without Qing Junce—
Rukawa Kaede, Mitsui Hisashi, and Miyagi Ryota seemed to have flipped some kind of switch. They broke through Miuradai's players one by one and scored furiously.
Rukawa Kaede especially displayed the strength befitting a Super Rookie, drawing the attention of the various colleges and reporters.
One thing worth mentioning was that near the end of the game, Sakuragi Hanamichi performed an incredibly flashy dunk that landed directly on Naito Tetsuya's gleaming bald head.
Naito Tetsuya collapsed to the floor, his whole body trembling as he foamed at the mouth and fainted.
Sakuragi Hanamichi consequently received his fifth foul and was mercilessly ejected by the referee.
Tweet—
The final whistle finally sounded.
Shohoku versus Miuradai ended with the final score fixed at 125–61.
Everyone on Shohoku's bench surged onto the court to celebrate their first victory.
However, no one noticed that Qing Junce had scored more in the first ten minutes of the second half than everyone had scored in the final ten minutes combined.
Thus, Shohoku's first battle in the Prefectural Tournament ended in perfect fashion.
Before you continue