Toyotama on the Verge of Breaking Down (Part Two)

Whenever the ball bounced off the rim, Yu Zhu used his incredible height and leaping ability to slam home the putback.

As the seconds ticked by, Ryonan's score kept climbing: 16–0, 19–0, 22–0. Toyotama High still hadn't made a single basket. What was going on?

Another attack was cut off by Sendoh, and the ball fell into Ryonan's hands again.

Anben Shili stopped short, panting hard. His voice cracked with frustration. "Why can they stop every single one of our attacks?"

He refused to believe what was happening. Toyotama had reached the National Tournament's final eight, yet against a team making its first appearance, they couldn't put together one decent attack.

Sweat ran down his cheeks and dripped onto the floor, but he felt no relief—only heat and frustration. His earlier determination to make Ryonan suffer had been worn down by failure after failure, leaving him with nothing but a helpless roar.

Shiyu Jinping stopped running too. He wiped the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. The composure once in his eyes had given way to confusion.

He watched Chi Tong dribble calmly nearby, his brow furrowed.

"Damn it. I've been guarding him the whole time. Why does it feel like I'm not even there?"

Whenever he tried to close in and disrupt a pass, Chi Tong slipped away with the simplest of steps. There were no flashy crossovers or sudden bursts of speed. It was as though he had anticipated Shiyu Jinping's every move.

It felt as if an invisible barrier surrounded Chi Tong. No matter which direction Shiyu Jinping approached from, he was kept outside it, without so much as a chance to touch the ball.

What unsettled Shiyu Jinping most was that Chi Tong had never once looked directly at him. Whether he