Surpass Him

The two continued playing one-on-one for another half hour. Zhu Zhan and Jiang Shi took turns attacking and defending. Naturally, Zhu Zhan lost more than he won, but today's training left him feeling greatly rewarded. Especially in terms of defense, it felt as though the clouds had parted.

After saying goodbye to Jiang Shi, Zhu Zhan returned home. His mother, Wei Qun, was already back.

After eating a little and helping his mother clean up, Zhu Zhan returned to his bedroom to continue reviewing his lessons. Tomorrow was the second round of the Class League, so he went to bed a little earlier than usual.

Early the next morning, Zhu Zhan arrived at school. As soon as he entered through the gates, he saw Li Ke practicing his shooting on the court.

Seeing Li Ke, Zhu Zhan smiled faintly. This guy was really motivated. He usually loved sleeping in, yet he had actually kept his word and arrived at school an hour early. Zhu Zhan knew exactly how difficult that was.

From afar, Li Ke spotted Zhu Zhan approaching and immediately called out loudly.

Zhu Zhan rolled his eyes and walked toward Li Ke.

When Zhu Zhan came close, Li Ke grinned and walked over, giving Zhu Zhan a hard slap on the shoulder. "Xiao Zhan, I knew you'd come! Come on, put down your bag. Let's get started!"

Zhu Zhan frowned and looked at Li Ke. "Start what?"

"What do you mean, start what?" Li Ke said. "One-on-one, of course! Let's play! Let me see how much you've improved!"

Zhu Zhan's gaze flickered. After returning home last night, he had thought over many things regarding offense and defense. Some of them he had figured out, while others still puzzled him.

So, he had already planned to test them out against Li Ke in actual play this morning.

Hearing Li Ke's words, Zhu Zhan nodded slightly. "All right, but let me warm up first."

With that, Zhu Zhan placed his jacket on the ground and began jogging around the track.

After two laps, once his body had warmed up, Zhu Zhan returned to Li Ke's side and said softly, "Come on, we can start now."

Li Ke smiled. "Then let's do it. I'll attack first, and you defend!"

Zhu Zhan nodded without speaking.

Dribbling the basketball, Li Ke moved beyond the three-point line. Zhu Zhan walked over as well, but he did not rush to assume a defensive stance. Instead, he maintained his distance from Li Ke as he moved back and forth with him.

Li Ke kept dribbling outside the three-point line, searching for an opening. Several times, he deliberately exposed flaws, hoping to lure Zhu Zhan into reaching for a steal. But Zhu Zhan knew Li Ke too well. Li Ke's reaction speed was astonishing. The moment Zhu Zhan went for the ball, he would lose his position and let Li Ke blow past him with ease.

Li Ke's trick had worked every time since middle school.

Naturally, Zhu Zhan was not going to fall for it.

Zhu Zhan watched Li Ke cautiously, paying close attention to maintaining their distance. He was putting into practice what he had learned—Jiang Shi had used this exact method against him last night.

Now, he wanted to see how effective it would be against Li Ke.

Seeing that Zhu Zhan was not attempting a steal, Li Ke, who was slowly moving while dribbling, smiled slightly and said, "Xiao Zhan, you've really improved. You actually saw through me!"

Zhu Zhan snorted softly. "There's more for you to be surprised by."

Li Ke laughed again. "Is that so? Then I'll have to take a good look!"

As he spoke, Li Ke suddenly moved. Relying on his explosive power, he took a fierce step forward and drove straight toward Zhu Zhan's left side.

Li Ke's step was enormous. In an instant, he had pushed past Zhu Zhan and reached a position parallel to him.

In the past, the only thing Zhu Zhan could have done was quickly stick close to Li Ke and use his body to contest him, disrupting Li Ke's movement during the drive.

But Li Ke was far stronger physically than Zhu Zhan. Even when Zhu Zhan pressed against him, it often had little effect and could not make a decisive difference. It also easily resulted in a blocking foul.

So this time, Zhu Zhan did not use his old method. Instead, just as Jiang Shi had done while defending him last night, he quickly retreated half a step the instant Li Ke drove forward.

When Li Ke saw that Zhu Zhan had not chosen to press up against him, he froze for a moment. But since this also opened up a bit of space between them, Li Ke changed his approach. Instead of forcing his way to the basket for a layup, he chose to pull up for a jump shot.

Seeing Li Ke pull up, Zhu Zhan's eyes flashed. He immediately took a large step forward and raised both hands high, trying to smother Li Ke's shot, but Li Ke was incredibly fast and had already leaped into the air.

The ball left his hand in an instant and flew toward the hoop.

Zhu Zhan's heart tightened, and he hurriedly turned to look...

Swish!

The ball dropped cleanly through the net.

Watching the ball slice neatly into the basket, Zhu Zhan sighed inwardly and blamed himself for his lack of experience.

If, instead of stepping forward just now, he had jumped directly upward, he could have blocked Li Ke's shooting lane and sent his shot flying.

But he had taken it too much for granted, thinking he could quickly smother Li Ke and stop him from shooting.

The ball fell through the net and bounced onto the ground.

Li Ke looked toward Zhu Zhan, but there was no excitement over scoring on his face. Instead, he stared at Zhu Zhan as though he were some kind of monster.

Zhu Zhan's expression shifted. Seeing Li Ke looking at him like that, he frowned and asked quietly, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Li Ke took a deep breath and hurriedly asked, "Xiao Zhan, who taught you that move just now?"

Zhu Zhan's gaze shifted. "What move?"

Li Ke immediately said, "When you defended me just now, you didn't press up close at the end. Instead, the moment I cut in, you retreated half a step. If, when I pulled up, you had jumped straight up for the block rather than stepping forward, then with your jumping ability, you definitely could have blocked that shot!"

Zhu Zhan's heart stirred. Sure enough, I couldn't hide this change from this guy.

He curled his lips and looked at Li Ke. "Your eyes are really sharp."

At once, Li Ke looked smug. He grinned and said, "Of course they are. Who do you think I am? Hurry up and tell me, who taught you that move? That person is definitely an expert. Anyone who could come up with that kind of defensive idea is no ordinary person. I want to meet him!"

Zhu Zhan's eyes darted around, and he quickly shook his head. "It was just someone I ran into during a pickup game yesterday. I copied it from him."

He did not want Li Ke to know about Jiang Shi. That was his secret. Through Jiang Shi's private training, he wanted to keep growing stronger until he surpassed Li Ke in one stroke.