Kuroko's Basketball template: the king of slacking off, Shohoku's strongest sixth man.

There were no feints.

Sendoh met the defense by forcefully straightening his back in mid-air.

With a burst of core strength, he forcefully shoved the ball under Maki Shinichi's arm.

Then, he swung his arm in a wide arc.

A tomahawk dunk!

"What?!"

Mu Shen's eyes widened, but it was too late to back down.

"boom--!!!"

A deafening roar shook the heavens, and the basketball hoop thudded in despair!

Sendoh Akira, a powerful dunk over an opponent!

The basketball slammed into the net, creating a white wave that seemed to engulf the entire stadium.

The red light is on.

"beep--!!!"

Final whistle? No, it's the end of regular time.

82:82. A draw!

"roar!!!"

Immortal Dao landed, looked up to the sky and roared, releasing all his pent-up emotions.

At this moment, he was no longer a fisherman; he was the king of Ryonan!

The entire venue erupted in cheers!

"It's in!! A game-winning dunk!!"

"Holy crap! This is so awesome! Is this what Immortal Cultivation is all about?!"

Jun Uozumi cried like a baby: "Coach! There's still a chance!!"

As soon as Mu Shen landed, his chest heaved violently as he looked at the back of number 7, who was being swallowed up by his teammates.

His eyes were incredibly complex. Anger, resentment, and a hint of... trembling.

"They...didn't pass the ball?"

Maki Shinichi wiped away his sweat, but a sinister smile crept onto his lips.

"Okay, very good."

"Sendoh Akira, you've finally become a true ace."

The announcement rang throughout the venue:

"It'll be split evenly!"

"Two-minute break, then overtime!"

The battle between monsters has only just begun.

However, the seats in the stands that originally belonged to Shohoku were now empty.

Only a few unfinished bottles of water stood there forlornly, bearing witness to the hasty departure of the group of teenagers.

The real battle was divided into two battlefields.

One is the overtime battle on the field.

One is a life-or-death race in the hospital.

……

Amidst the overwhelming cheers, a corner of the press box remained eerily quiet.

Nakamura's pen hovered in mid-air, his eyes wide open.

The scene that happened in a flash was still playing on repeat in my mind.

"Miss Aida..."

Nakamura swallowed hard, his voice slightly unsteady.

"Did Amu...go easy on the opponent just now?"

As a reporter, Nakamura may not be a great player, but he does have a good eye for things.

Just now, Maki Shinichi's defensive retreat was so fast it was like teleportation, and his jump height was so high it blotted out the sky.

Logically speaking, given the "Emperor's Shepherd's" unreasonable physical condition...

That's an absolute volleyball block, big enough to send the ball flying out of the galaxy.

The results of it?

The immortal path was actually included.

Aida Yayoi did not speak.

She crossed her arms and stared intently at Maki Shinichi, who was panting heavily on the sidelines.

The shock in his eyes was slowly turning into a feeling called "lingering fear".

"You noticed it too?"

Aida Yayoi took a deep breath, her voice tense.

"To the untrained eye, it's just a defensive blunder."

"But think back carefully to the slow-motion footage from just now..."

She held up her finger, gesturing to a distance that was almost invisible.

"In the final moment of their aerial confrontation, Amu's hand withdrew."

"It shrank?!"

"Why? That was a game-winning block!"

"If we cover it, we win!" Nakamura almost jumped up.

"Because it's a trap."

"Don't you find it strange?"

"Given Sendoh's speed, wasn't Maki chasing that quick attack a bit too easily?"

Aida Yayoi's face was so solemn it looked like it was about to drip water.

"You mean...?"

Nakamura felt a sudden chill run down his spine.

"He's fishing."

Aida Yayoi pushed up her glasses, a cold glint flashing across the lenses.

"Sendoh deliberately slowed down the pace, intentionally exposing the ball to Maki's blocking radius."

"They even actively seek confrontation in the air."

"He's trying to lure Amu into doing it."

At the back of the audience, Kenji Fujima also saw through this multi-layered game of strategy.

His gaze passed through the crowd and landed on Sendoh, who had a towel over his head and seemed to be slumped on a bench.

The man whose breathing trembled.

At this moment, in Fujima's eyes, he was simply a complete madman.

"Sendoh, what's going on in your head...?"

Fujima cursed inwardly, but couldn't hide the horror in his eyes.

"Losing by two points with four seconds left, in this desperate situation, he deliberately let Maki catch up..."

The surrounding spectators were still cheering wildly for the equalizer.

Only those who truly understand football know the breathtaking calculations that took place in their minds just a second ago.

That wasn't a fast break; it was an all-in bet on one's career.

"One minute left."

The prompts from the technical support desk were like a bucket of cold water, waking everyone from their reverie.

Fujima looked at the scoreboard: 82:82.

"If Maki hadn't held back, if he had instinctively blocked with all his might..."

Fujima closed his eyes, and in an instant, another ending was simulated in his mind.

The whistle blows, the ball goes in, penalty kick added.

"He committed a foul at the gambling den."

Fujima suddenly opened his eyes, a chill running down his spine.

"Goal! Penalty kick in! The score is now 83-82."

"This is the script that Sendoh wrote in that one second."

"The Ultimate Killer Script"

Sendoh knew very well that Ryonan had run out of ammunition and food.

Uozumi was sent off, revealing Fukuda's strong offense but weak defense.

Meanwhile, the side effects of activating "Zone" were frantically devouring his last bit of stamina.

He didn't want to play overtime.

Or rather, he knew that Ryonan couldn't play in overtime.

Therefore, he needs to be in the last 4 seconds of the regular time.

With a seemingly reckless dunk, he tricked Maki Shinichi into committing a foul, and then sealed the game with a "2+1" play.

What confidence!

How insane is that?

On the other side of the stadium, in the Hainan rest area.

Coach Gao was giving instructions on tactics with great enthusiasm.

But Maki Shinichi didn't seem to hear a single word.

He was tilting his head back and chugging water; the icy liquid rolled down his throat, but it couldn't extinguish the fire in his chest.

The sensation from that moment is still lingering on my fingertips.

If only one centimeter forward, if only a tiny bit more wrist pressure, that ball would be dead.

But at the same time, the referee's whistle will definitely blow.

As a seasoned and experienced king, Maki Shinichi sensed a trap in the air in that instant.

It was his animalistic instincts that saved him.

He forcibly withdrew his strength.

Although Sendoh scored, he avoided a foul and the fate of being defeated in the final moments.

Maki Shinichi put down his water bottle, his gaze sharp as a knife, piercing the opposite Ryonan rest area.

The figure covered by the towel was trembling slightly, clearly trying to make the most of every second to recover health.

"This guy, he's really willing to gamble."

An unprecedented emotion welled up in Maki Shinichi's heart.

It wasn't anger, but a sense of dread from meeting a worthy opponent.

I was even a little...excited.

To dare to gamble the team's fate on a single foul in a life-or-death moment.

"If it were me, I probably would have done the same."

At this moment, Maki Shinichi mentally raised the threat level of the Immortal Path to the highest level.

When I watched Xian Dao before, it felt like watching a talented junior.

But now he admits that this guy, who usually looks like he hasn't woken up yet, has the same blood flowing through his veins.

That's the blood of apex predators—mad, greedy, and ruthless in their pursuit of victory.

"beep--!!"

The whistle was sharp and piercing, tearing apart the calm before the storm.

"Overtime begins! Players from both sides enter the field!"