As he walked, he roared at the top of his lungs, "From strategy to secret weapon, Sakuragi Hanamichi is taking the court! Liu Chuanfeng, get down here!"
Seeing this, Shohoku's substitutes immediately rushed forward and grabbed Sakuragi Hanamichi, preventing him from causing trouble.
"Ryonan's bench seems pretty lively."
Xiangtian Yanyi tilted her head slightly, her gaze crossing the court to the chaotic scene unfolding on Shohoku's bench. She spoke with a puzzled expression.
Tiangang Maoyi followed her line of sight, his gaze landing on Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was being dragged back to his seat by several teammates.
With his arms folded across his chest and his brows slightly furrowed, he studied the restless guy for a few moments. He was quite tall, with broad shoulders, long legs, and a solid frame. At a glance, he seemed like prime basketball material.
His body looked the part too, with defined muscles and decent explosive power. The only question was how good he actually was.
However, he quickly withdrew his gaze. With Sendoh and Chi Tong on his team, he did not bother dwelling on such irrelevant matters. He had absolute confidence in his current squad.
Chi Tong merely cast a casual glance at Sakuragi Hanamichi, who was still shouting about getting on the court. His eyes were calm and utterly unmoved, as though he were looking at a noisy child by the roadside.
He offered no evaluation. An immature player was not worth his attention. A player who could not even control his emotions would only be climbing a tower of sand, no matter how gifted he was.
From the instant the jump ball hit the floor, Ryonan had firmly seized control of the game's rhythm.
They moved like a precision war machine, organized in both offense and defense, advancing and retreating with measured discipline. Every move carried overwhelming pressure. Shohoku tried every offensive method they could think of—outside drives and kick-outs, strong interior attacks, pick-and-rolls—but no matter how they changed things up, every attack was ruthlessly strangled by Ryonan's defensive net just as it was about to take shape.
They could not break into the paint, could not pass into open space, and could not find their shooting rhythm. It was as if they were trapped in an invisible net; the more they struggled, the tighter it bound them.
Then, following that suffocating defense, Ryonan's counterattack surged forth like a tide. Sendoh pushed the ball upcourt again, his steps unhurried as his hawk-like eyes swept over the floor.
The instant Liu Chuanfeng pressed tightly against him, Shandao Ryoji flicked his wrist. A brilliant pass pierced through three defenders and went straight into Ikegami's hands as he cut into the open lane. Ikegami caught it, rose for the layup, and scored!
The basketball dropped cleanly through the net!
"Great ball!"
"Ryonan!"
The bench exploded at once. Cheers erupted like a volcano, and thunderous applause filled the air.
Tiangang Maoyi stood at the sideline, his eyes flashing as he nearly clenched his fists in excitement.
Watching the team on the court execute his tactical intentions perfectly, a long-lost surge of passion rose in his chest.
The team was performing far too well. Their transitions between offense and defense were smooth, the players showed flawless chemistry, and their tactical execution was as precise as a textbook.
What stirred him even more was the fact that Chi Tong, whose strength was in no way inferior to Sendoh's, was still sitting on the bench.
Thinking of how this year's Ryonan possessed not only Sendoh's talent and Yu Zhu's iron-blooded toughness, but also an entirely new tactical dimension brought by Chi Tong, flames had long since ignited in Taoka Moichi's heart. He was full of hope and anticipation for this year's National Tournament.
Five minutes had passed since the start of the game, but those brief five minutes had felt like a merciless crushing. The score stood at 15:0, with Ryonan temporarily in the lead.
Taoka Moichi could no longer suppress his excitement. He sprang to his feet, his eyes blazing as his thunderous voice pierced through the gymnasium's noise. He roared toward the court, "This is only the beginning! You have to stretch the lead to thirty points!"
The moment those words came out, everyone on Shohoku's side changed expression.
Kogure Kiminobu frowned deeply, his lips moving as he muttered under his breath, "A thirty-point lead?"
"They're seriously not taking us seriously at all!"
Akagi stood where he was, his muscles tense and his gaze dark. His iron-like fists clenched until they cracked.
Liu Chuanfeng remained expressionless, but his slightly narrowed eyes revealed a trace of rage at being underestimated. Worry, gravity, anger, and all kinds of emotions churned together on Shohoku's bench.
Yet amid that oppressive atmosphere, no one noticed the faint disappointment and dissatisfaction that quietly passed through the depths of Chi Tong's otherwise tranquil eyes on Ryonan's bench.
He was not surprised that Ryonan could perform like this.
In the original story, this team had already possessed the strength to challenge the nation. They had Sendoh's talent, Yu Zhu's toughness, a mature system, and abundant experience.
But the problem was that this Ryonan was no longer the team from the original story.
Over the past week, he had forcibly integrated the lineup and rebuilt their tactical system.
He had thought that the team he had personally trained would only be stronger than in the original story, faster in rhythm, and more oppressive.
Yet while they were indeed brimming with momentum and playing with seamless fluency, a sense of relaxation—as though victory were already assured—hung over the whole team like an invisible fog.
It gave Chi Tong the feeling that all his effort had been for nothing.
That was right. They simply lacked ambition.
Ryonan did hold every advantage now, and the 15:0 score was enough to prove the gap in strength.
But the problem was that, deep down, they still did not regard Shohoku as a genuine opponent. In their eyes, this was merely an ordinary blowout. This was not an issue of strength, but of mentality.
Otherwise, with the current pace and level of suppression, Ryonan should have been leading by more than twenty points.
It was not that Chi Tong was being overly harsh. On a basketball court, victory and defeat were often decided in an instant. He never demanded perfection, but he could not tolerate underestimating the enemy, because in his view, carelessness was equivalent to defeat.
Even one lazy defensive recovery, one distracted help-defense, or one self-righteous missed assignment could become the starting point of an opponent's comeback.
And Chi Tong would never allow such an irreversible situation to occur.
At that moment, his mismatched pupils suddenly flickered, as if he had noticed something.
He spotted a red figure sneaking along the sideline like a cat stealing food, quietly creeping up behind Tiangang Maoyi.
It was Sakuragi Hanamichi.
Chi Tong raised a brow, amusement flashing through his eyes, but he did not make a sound or offer any warning. He simply watched quietly, as though enjoying a farce about to unfold.
Tiangang Maoyi was completely unaware. He only felt a chill run down his back, as though a gust of wind had passed by, or as though something were watching him.
He subconsciously hunched his shoulders, an inexplicable sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
Sakuragi Hanamichi pressed his palms together, his index and middle fingers held straight like two sharp spears.
His eyes gleamed with mischievous light, and a wicked grin spread across his lips. He leaned forward slightly, coiling himself to strike.
The next instant, he launched himself with lightning speed, his spear plunging into the courtyard.
In that instant, it felt as though even the air had been pierced through.
"Aaaah!" A shriek so miserable that it changed pitch exploded from Taoka Moichi's mouth, like a wounded beast's howl echoing into every corner of the gymnasium. In that instant, he felt an indescribable current surge violently from deep behind him, shooting straight to the crown of his head.
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