Perfect Ending

In just two short possessions, Wu Yufei had given everyone a preliminary glimpse of his strength.

But for Wu Yufei, his show had only just begun!

It was still the red team's possession.

This time, Araki no longer dared to act so arrogantly and instead brought the ball up with considerable caution.

"Tch!"

Seeing Wu Yufei pounce on him, Araki immediately passed the ball away. Wu Yufei's Death Grip had clearly left quite an impression on him.

Takatsu Hiroshi caught the basketball, then bullied Kurosaki one-on-one, backing him down step by step into the paint.

"Give it to me!"

Araki had now successfully shaken off Wu Yufei's pressure and cut into the paint. Takatsu did not hold onto the ball and immediately passed it back to Araki.

With the ball in hand, Araki launched a fierce attack on the restricted area.

Aoyama Masaaki did not dare let his guard down and hurriedly pressed up on him, denying Araki any chance to get a running start.

But seeing his teammate Miyamoto left wide open, Araki decisively fired a bounce pass to Miyamoto, who caught it and finished with a layup.

"Hmph!"

After picking up the assist, Araki Kazuo raised an eyebrow at Wu Yufei in a show of pride as he turned to get back on defense.

"..."

What could Wu Yufei say to that? He could only smile and shrug.

Blue team's possession. Wu Yufei brought the ball up and, upon reaching the frontcourt, drove hard straight at Araki.

Using his speed to force his way into the paint, Wu Yufei came to a sudden stop and assumed a jump-shot stance.

"Don't even think about it!!"

Seeing this, Araki immediately leaped high into the air, ready to serve Wu Yufei a monster block.

But the next second, Wu Yufei pulled the ball back and then, with a flashy behind-the-back pass, fed Murasame Kengo, who had cut in from the side.

"Mm..."

This was also Murasame Kengo's first time receiving such a perfectly placed pass, and his appreciation for Wu Yufei deepened by several degrees.

He rode the momentum into the paint and finished a three-step layup off the backboard.

"Damn it!"

Having been fooled by Wu Yufei once again, Araki was thoroughly annoyed.

On the next possession, Araki intended to return the favor. After reaching the frontcourt, he drove hard straight at Wu Yufei.

But Araki had forgotten that Wu Yufei could drive past him because of his advantages in height, weight, speed, and more. Against Wu Yufei, Araki was at a disadvantage in every one of those areas.

Slap!!

Wu Yufei seized the moment, shot out his long arm like a dragon thrusting from the sea, and poked the ball out of Araki's hands.

"What?!"

"Thanks~"

Ignoring the shock on Araki's face, Wu Yufei darted around him, secured the basketball, and charged straight toward the red team's half.

"Damn it!!"

Araki hurriedly spun around and gave chase. No matter what, he would not allow Wu Yufei to keep showing off like this.

The two left all their other teammates far behind and stormed into the red team's paint in less than four seconds.

Swish!

One step inside the free-throw line, Wu Yufei took off.

"Hah!!"

Araki Kazuo, following closely behind Wu Yufei, also soared into the air, ready to deliver a chasedown rejection.

But just as Araki happily thought he was about to succeed, the basketball vanished directly from his field of vision.

"Whew..."

Wu Yufei let out a soft sigh, pulled the ball back, made a small double-clutch in front of his chest, switched it to his left hand, and gently flicked it toward the hoop.

Swish!

Spinning through the air, the basketball obediently slipped through the net.

"How... is that possible..."

Did this guy have eyes on the back of his head too?

At this moment, Araki Kazuo finally began to understand. Perhaps he and the guy in front of him truly were not players on the same level.

At 3:16, Wu Yufei advanced down the left side. Facing a double-team from Araki Kazuo and Takatsu Hiroshi, he somehow threaded the ball cleanly through the gap between them to Murasame Kengo, who had come over to receive it. Murasame drove into the paint and scored with a floater.

At 3:45, Takatsu Hiroshi's buzzer-beater clanked off the rim. After Naito Tetsuya grabbed the rebound, the blue team immediately launched a fast break.

Wu Yufei called for the ball from Naito, then immediately directed him to sprint toward the basket.

Only then did everyone realize in shock that Wu Yufei was actually faster than Naito, who had come from a rugby background!

The two streaked into the red team's paint like lightning. Wu Yufei casually tossed the basketball at the backboard, and Naito Tetsuya behind him seized the timing and leaped into the air.

Catching the ball as it bounced off the backboard, he grabbed it firmly with both hands and viciously slammed it through the hoop.

At 4:26, Wu Yufei slowly brought the ball outside the three-point line and called for power forward Aoyama Masaaki to come set a screen for him.

Using the screen, Wu Yufei successfully broke into the paint. Facing Miyamoto, who rushed over to help defend, he stepped back to create space and rose for a jumper.

Clang!!

The move looked cool, but unfortunately, it did not go in. However, Naito secured the rebound and immediately rose for a one-handed slam.

At 4:50, Wu Yufei and Murasame Kengo ran a give-and-go. The basketball changed hands between them three times, bypassing every red team player along the way.

After charging into the paint, Wu Yufei and Murasame also pulled off an alley-oop, letting Murasame experience the thrill of hanging from the rim.

At 5:15, Wu Yufei once again forced his way into the paint. After drawing a double-team, he dished the ball to Naito Tetsuya, who had run beneath the basket, and Naito once again finished an easy feed.

At 6:23, Wu Yufei and Araki battled on the perimeter for several seconds. Then, right in front of Araki, Wu Yufei hurled the ball toward the basket.

That kind of wild shot could not possibly go in!

"Rebound!!"

Araki Kazuo immediately turned and shouted at his center, but what he saw was Naito Tetsuya's massive body gliding through the air.

Catch, dunk!

Naito Tetsuya had gone crazy. He had never played this enjoyably before!

By the tenth minute of the first half, the blue team had already stretched the score to 28:10.

Wu Yufei had already recorded 12 points and 7 assists. It could be said that he had single-handedly led the entire blue team in completely crushing the red team.

At 10:15, Wu Yufei used a between-the-legs bounce pass to get past Araki Kazuo and burst into the paint. With a shoulder fake and spin, he beat Miyamoto Kazunari, who had come over to help, then charged into the restricted area. A pump fake sent Kawasaki Akio into the air, and Wu Yufei followed it with Immortal Guides the Way, calmly laying the ball into the basket.

A perfect one-against-three.

[So strong... This guy is unbelievably strong...]

[He's not even weaker than that A Maki from Kainan...]

[Is someone like this really our teammate this year?]

For a moment, every Miuradai player was filled with excitement.

They had trained hard for an entire year just to avenge last year's crushing defeat at Kainan's hands. For that goal, they had even willingly given up nearly half their vacation and returned early to the school gym for intensive training.

Now, Wu Yufei's sudden emergence gave them even greater confidence.

For the remainder of the game, Wu Yufei continued his wild performance, repeatedly feeding Murasame Kengo and Naito Tetsuya with brilliant passes until the two were practically stuffed from all the easy finishes.

As for the other two teammates, Wu Yufei naturally had not forgotten them either. As long as they got themselves open, his passes would arrive immediately.

The blue team players only felt that this was the easiest game they had played in years.

Meanwhile, the red team was sinking into utter despair.

Their helplessness against Wu Yufei allowed their defense to be ruthlessly pierced time and again.

In the end, they even sent three players to double-team Wu Yufei, hoping to stop his performance that way. But it was still useless.

After all, the blue team still had Miuradai's top scorer, Murasame Kengo!

If they used three men to defend Wu Yufei, who was going to defend Murasame Kengo?

The gap gradually widened, and Coach Harada's smile grew brighter and brighter as he watched from the sideline.

[What a treasure I picked up!]

Originally, his expectation for this year had only been for Miuradai to reach the final round-robin stage of the Prefectural Tournament. As for whether they could defeat Kainan or Shoyo and claim a ticket to the National Tournament, that would have depended largely on luck.

But as he became more and more satisfied with Wu Yufei, Coach Harada's ambitions gradually grew bolder.

Forget Kainan and Shoyo. Forget merely reaching the National Tournament.

With Wu Yufei, Murasame Kengo, and Naito Tetsuya, Miuradai might even make the quarterfinals... no, they might even reach the semifinals!

The National Tournament semifinals! That was a height no school team or club in Miuradai's history had ever reached!

If that day truly came, would the benefits he received as coach possibly be small?

Wealth, fame, status...

Coach Harada seemed to see an incomparably bright and glorious future waving at him!

Beeep--!!

In the end, when the game concluded, the blue team had brutally crushed the red team, which was also led by two starters, by the enormous score of 55:25.

That was only because, in the final five minutes, Wu Yufei had lost interest in continuing the slaughter and voluntarily asked the coach to take him out, giving the red team a chance to narrow the gap.

Otherwise, as long as Wu Yufei remained on the court, he was confident he could have stretched the lead even further!

As for the mission, it had naturally been completed perfectly as well.

Wu Yufei did not hesitate to add the rewarded attribute point to his [Physique] attribute.

After all, among his current four core attributes, physique was the only one still in the seventies and had not reached 80+.

Basketball was ultimately a physically demanding sport. Without sufficient stamina, one could not maintain strong endurance on the court and would easily become a target for opponents.

Take Rukawa Kaede, for example. His physique attribute was probably only around 70, while Sakuragi's was likely at least 90. In an actual game, that meant Rukawa could only go wild for one half against Kainan University Affiliated High School before he could no longer hold on in the second half. As a result, he had to conserve his stamina in the following game against Ryonan.

Sakuragi, on the other hand, could completely ignore the toll on his stamina and stay bursting with energy from tip-off to the final whistle in every game. That was the difference.

There was also Mitsui Hisashi. After wasting two precious years, Mitsui's physique attribute was probably not even 70. But what made him formidable was that whenever his stamina dropped below the red line, he could still unleash one final burst, sinking several consecutive three-pointers to help his team mount a comeback from the brink. That was a little unreasonable.

According to Wu Yufei's own plan, after three years of high school, all four of his core attributes needed to reach at least 90, or even 95.

Only by reaching that level could he establish himself in American college basketball after going to university in the United States.

Otherwise, all those grand ambitions of his would be nothing but empty talk.

As for more detailed attributes like mid-range shooting, those could all be improved through later practice, so Wu Yufei had no intention of wasting his precious skill points.