Tank

Seeing that Zhu Zhan was not angry in the slightest, Jie Xiaoliang was the one who got worked up instead. He shot Zhu Zhan a fierce glare and said coldly, "It won't help even if you keep quiet. Just wait and see how Class 1 crushes your Class 5 today!"

Zhu Zhan replied softly, "Oh."

Jie Xiaoliang said, "You..."

Jie Xiaoliang was practically going insane. He had originally wanted to provoke Zhu Zhan and make his emotions fluctuate, which would further weaken Class 5 and greatly increase Class 1's chances of winning.

But Zhu Zhan was practically like an idiot who could not be swayed by anything. No matter what Jie Xiaoliang said, he remained indifferent, only succeeding in infuriating Jie Xiaoliang himself.

Naturally, Zhu Zhan had no time to pay attention to Jie Xiaoliang. All his focus was on Li Ke. Just as he settled into the left corner, Li Ke had already dribbled to the three-point line.

On the other side, Liu Yong, Zhai Fei, and Li Zirong also spread the floor, leaving the entire area under the basket open.

Seeing Li Ke dribbling beyond the three-point line, Wang Cheng widened his stance and guarded Li Ke personally. He knew Li Ke's ability very well. In Class 1, only by defending Li Ke himself could he feel at ease.

As Li Ke dribbled, he read the defense. Seeing Wang Cheng already in a defensive stance in front of him, he smiled slightly and gave Liu Yong on the left a look.

Liu Yong understood immediately and hurried up to set a screen for Li Ke.

But before Liu Yong could even complete the screen, Li Ke moved. He suddenly stepped forward and drove straight to the right. Wang Cheng's brows furrowed as he quickly slid over to stick to Li Ke, giving him enough physical contact in an attempt to stop him from breaking through.

Li Ke and Wang Cheng were roughly equal in physical attributes. Although Li Ke far surpassed Wang Cheng in jumping ability and flexibility—the two were not even on the same level there—Wang Cheng held the advantage in sheer toughness. That was also what allowed Wang Cheng to secure a place on the school team and repeatedly play the role of a disruptive nuisance.

Pressing against Li Ke, Wang Cheng sneered coldly. "You want to get past me? Dream on!"

Li Ke smiled softly as well. "Is that so?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Ke suddenly accelerated again. Rather than continuing his cut toward the paint, he moved toward the baseline, toward Zhu Zhan's position.

Zhu Zhan, who had already been stationed on the baseline, understood Li Ke's intention almost instantly. The chemistry between them was sometimes so strong that they did not even need to exchange glances.

Seeing Li Ke move toward the baseline on his side, Zhu Zhan immediately moved as well, running along the outside of the three-point line toward the top of the arc.

The instant the two crossed at the forty-five-degree angle, Li Ke gave up control of the ball and came to a sudden stop, assuming a stationary defensive stance that directly blocked Jie Xiaoliang, who had been chasing Zhu Zhan from behind.

As Zhu Zhan crossed Li Ke, he snatched the ball into his hands and, without slowing down at all, dribbled straight toward the top of the arc.

Wang Cheng was instantly shocked by the sight. He hurriedly stopped, turned around, and chased after Zhu Zhan, who was already dribbling toward the top of the arc. At the same time, he shouted to Jie Xiaoliang behind him, "Switch!"

But by the time he turned back to chase Zhu Zhan, it was far too late. Zhu Zhan had already left him two steps behind.

After dribbling to the top of the three-point arc, Zhu Zhan came to a sudden stop. He bent his knees slightly, raised the ball above his head, and instantly assumed a shooting motion.

Naturally, Zhu Zhan would not let such an open shooting opportunity pass. After adjusting his breathing, he pushed off lightly with his legs and rose from the floor.

"Swish!"

The ball left his hand, tracing a perfect arc through the air before dropping straight through the net.

Clean and decisive, it gave Class 5 the first basket of the game.

Class 5 took a 3:0 lead.

"Nice one, Xiao Zhan!" Seeing Zhu Zhan drain the three so cleanly, Li Ke excitedly ran over from the corner and gave Zhu Zhan's shoulder a hard slap.

"The coordination between you two was incredible!" Liu Yong ran over as well, saying excitedly.

"That's right, you two are a perfect match!" Li Zirong said.

The group surrounded Zhu Zhan and began running back toward their own half.

On the other side, seeing Zhu Zhan shake free so easily and bury a three-pointer, Wang Cheng's face had darkened so much it looked ready to drip with water.

Jie Xiaoliang beside him also frowned tightly.

Taking a deep breath, Wang Cheng said bitterly, "This one was my fault. I actually overlooked that move of theirs. Xiaoliang, we need to pay attention to switching from now on. We can't let them shake us so easily and get such comfortable shooting opportunities."

Jie Xiaoliang nodded. "That move of theirs is considered a killer weapon even on the school team. We really were careless just now."

Wang Cheng nodded. "It's fine. We only let them score one basket. Now it's our turn. Inbound the ball!"

Hearing that, Jie Xiaoliang nodded to signal for his teammate to inbound from the baseline.

The ball was passed directly into Wang Cheng's hands. Jie Xiaoliang hurried toward Zhu Zhan's half, while Zhu Zhan stood beyond the three-point line and waited for Wang Cheng to dribble across half court.

Seeing Wang Cheng advance with the ball, Zhu Zhan's eyes flashed, and he quickly stepped up to meet him.

However, he did not guard him tightly, instead leaving roughly two steps of distance between them.

Wang Cheng held the ball at the top of the arc, while all four of Class 1's other players spread out.

Seeing Zhu Zhan standing in front of him, Wang Cheng snorted coldly and abruptly drove to his right. He was incredibly fast, like a heavy bulldozer. Zhu Zhan raised a brow, then quickly shifted his body and stepped across to block Wang Cheng's driving lane.

However, Wang Cheng did not choose to drive straight through. As he reached Zhu Zhan, he suddenly slammed on the brakes, took a step back, and pulled the ball back with him.

Zhu Zhan had long been guarding against this move from Wang Cheng, so he immediately stepped forward and spread his arms to enlarge his defensive coverage.

But Wang Cheng did not care in the slightest. Taking advantage of Zhu Zhan's unstable footing, he charged directly toward the basket like a tank.

Zhu Zhan inwardly cried out in alarm. Even when set, he had difficulty containing Wang Cheng's tank-like charge. Now that he was off balance, there was no way he could stop him with just one arm.

However, at that moment, a figure swiftly appeared beside Zhu Zhan, directly in Wang Cheng's path.