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

The red numbers on the scoreboard jumped rapidly.

Time was ticking away, minute by minute, on the fiercely contested court.

For Mikio Kawata, the past five minutes had been a complete nightmare.

"Huff... huff..."

Miki was panting heavily.

Sweat poured down his round cheeks and onto the floor, his massive body swaying precariously.

Those eyes, which were once clear and hopeful, were now filled with unyielding fear.

A super-heavy inside player who is 210 cm tall and weighs 130 kg.

My older brother is Masashi Kawata, the best center in the country, and our team is Sannoh Industrial, which stands at the top of Japanese high school basketball.

This match should have been his perfect debut to showcase his dominance to the nation.

But now, all his pride and physical advantages have been completely crushed by this red-haired kid in front of him!

"Hey! Fatty!"

Sakuragi Hanamichi was stuck tightly behind Mikio, his arrogant face full of excitement.

He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Are you tickling me? Squeeze harder!"

"hateful……"

Miki bit her lip hard, her eyes reddening with immense humiliation.

He received a pass from Kazunari Fukatsu and once again tried to use his weight to overpower Sakuragi.

The weight of 130 kilograms suddenly swayed backward!

"Bang!"

The dull thud of muscles colliding echoed in the penalty area.

The miracle did not happen.

Sakuragi stood with his legs apart and his knees slightly bent.

The center of gravity was pressed down to an extremely low position.

The "stance training" that Lin Bei taught him was completely under the control of this abnormal physical talent.

My feet seemed to be rooted to the ground, firmly nailed to the floor.

Miki's all-out ramming not only failed to create even an inch of space, but was also thrown back by the rebound force erupting from Sakuragi's body.

"Gotcha!"

Sakuragi's eyes narrowed, and his beast-like instincts instantly kicked in.

In the half-second that Mikio lost his balance, Sakuragi, like a red lightning bolt, forcefully bypassed him.

With a long arm outstretched!

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, the basketball was cleanly and neatly sliced ​​away by Sakuragi.

"Oh no!"

Miki stared wide-eyed in horror.

"Quick attack!"

Ryota Miyagi scooped up the basketball from the floor and swept it across the frontcourt like a whirlwind.

Sannoh retreated swiftly, and Fukatsu Kazunari completely blocked Miyagi's breakthrough route.

But Miyagi had no intention of fighting on his own.

A wicked smile curled at the corner of his mouth. Without even looking, he flicked his wrist backward.

A bounce pass to the back of the opponent's foot!

The basketball flew precisely into Sakuragi's hands as he arrived at lightning speed.

"Watch this genius!"

The moment he received the ball, Sakuragi didn't need to adjust at all. He pushed off the floor with his long legs and rose into the air.

Agile footwork, terrifying leaps.

He stretched out his body in the air, facing the defensive reinforcements, and with the maximum hang time, he gently flicked his wrist.

"Whoosh!"

The basketball swished through the net, creating a white spray.

28: 22!

"Well done, Sakuragi!"

"So cool! Hanamichi!"

The Shohoku bench erupted in chaos, towels waving wildly in the air.

Yohei Mito and Sakuragi's group jumped and cheered excitedly from the stands: "Hahaha! Did you see that?!"

Ayako waved her folding fan vigorously, her eyes filled with delight: "As expected of the genius Sakuragi! That lower body strength, on both offense and defense, completely crushed that behemoth!"

Kogure Kiminobu excitedly pushed up his glasses, his voice trembling: "They completely overwhelmed Sannoh's secret weapon... Sakuragi, you've truly become Shohoku's ace!"

On the court, Sakuragi proudly raised his hands, enjoying the gasps of the crowd.

However, in stark contrast to Sakuragi's absolute dominance in the paint, Shohoku's outside shooting was a suffocatingly brutal meat grinder.

"Defensive foul! White number 11, pushing violation!"

The referee's shrill whistle pierced the stadium.

The game is dead.

"Huff... huff..."

Rukawa Kaede hunched over, his hands gripping his knees tightly.

Sweat dripped from his pale chin onto the floor, pooling into a glaring puddle.

His chest heaved violently.

Every breath felt like swallowing shards of glass, and my lungs burned with pain.

My physical strength is completely depleted.

In those five minutes, which felt both long and short.

Rukawa Kaede single-handedly shouldered the heavy responsibility of defending against Japan's top high school player, Sawakita Eiji.

There was no help defense, no double-teaming.

Only the purest and most brutal one-on-one hand-to-hand combat.

Zebei's breakthroughs were too fast, so fast that every change of direction tore at the defender's ankles and pride.

Rukawa Kaede used up his last bit of strength.

Using his animalistic instincts, he physically withstood Zebei's impact.

He barely managed to keep up with Zebei's pace.

Even so, the score was still relentlessly chipped away at by Sannoh.

The numbers on the scoreboard stung the eyes of every Shohoku fan.

Xiangbei 36:34 Mountain King.

There are five minutes left in the first half.

What was originally a ten-point lead was reduced to a mere two points by Sawakita's unreasonable and indiscriminate one-on-one attacks.

"Well done."

Zebei stood not far away, gently turning his neck, making a cracking sound.

Although he was sweating, his breathing remained steady, and his eyes revealed a condescending mockery.

"You have reason to be proud of yourself for being able to hold on so tightly."

"But unfortunately... you're out of strength, aren't you?"

Rukawa Kaede didn't say anything.

He slowly straightened up, his narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes fixed on Ze Bei.

There was no surrender, only a chilling fighting spirit.

Just then.

"beep--!"

A piercing siren blared from the technical station.

"Shohoku makes a substitution!"

The announcements from the sidelines echoed throughout the stadium.

Rukawa Kaede's body stiffened slightly.

He did not turn back to protest, nor did he show any resentment.

He knew his mission was accomplished.

He bought that man a precious five minutes of rest time.

Rukawa Kaede dragged his leaden legs step by step toward the sidelines.

He was wearing a conspicuous number 16 jersey and slowly chewing his bubble gum.

The two players crossed over each other on the sideline.

Rukawa Kaede didn't look at Lin Bei, and Lin Bei didn't look at Rukawa Kaede either.

But in that instant as they brushed past each other, their two slender hands collided violently in mid-air!

"Snapped!"

A resounding, crisp clap.

Not a single word wasted.

All the trust, entrustment, and ambition melted away in this silent strike.

Rukawa Kaede walked to the bench and collapsed into a chair.

He pulled a white towel over his head and fell into complete silence.

Lin Bei, on the other hand, stepped into the seemingly man-eating stadium with unhurried steps.

"Sh-!!!"

"Get out of here, you coward!"

"You just got beaten up by Zebei and ran away with your tail between your legs, and now you dare to come up here?!"

The moment Lin Bei stepped onto the court.

The Sannoh supporters in the stands immediately erupted in a deafening chorus of boos.

"Hahaha! Does Shohoku have no one else to play? They're just feeding kills!"

"Just surrender now! You'd only get beaten to a pulp if you came up here!"

The audience roared wildly, their malicious shouts almost lifting the roof off.

In their eyes, Lin Bei's departure five minutes ago was because he was afraid of Ze Bei, and his return now is nothing more than a desperate struggle.

"Lin Bei..."

Akagi Takenori wiped the sweat from his brow, walked over to Lin Bei, and said in a low voice:

"The score has been caught up."

"These guys are tough to deal with."

Miyagi and Mitsui also came over, panting heavily, their eyes revealing extreme exhaustion.

"Don't worry, gorilla."

Lin Bei stretched lazily, his bones cracking and popping.

He didn't even glance at the audience who were mocking him, and his gaze slowly locked onto Sawakita Eiji not far away.

Zebei's lips curled into an arrogant smile as he patted the basketball in his hand and looked over defiantly.

"What's wrong?"

Zebei's voice pierced through the noisy stadium:

"Have you had enough of watching the show from the bench?"

"Or do you think that letting Rukawa Kaede wear me down for five minutes will give you a chance to win?"

Zebei shook his head dismissively.

"In the face of absolute strength, all fancy tricks are futile."

"I will crush your championship dreams, bit by bit."

This extremely arrogant declaration caused Akagi and the others to clench their fists instantly.

However, Lin Bei didn't even flinch at Ze Bei's provocation.

"Pop".

He gently blew the bubble gum out of his mouth.

The surrounding noise seemed to be cut off by some invisible force in that instant.

Lin Bei lowered his head slightly.

The moment he raised his eyes again.

The air temperature inside the entire stadium dropped by more than ten degrees!

A cold, arrogant, and all-powerful sense of oppression swept over him from the center!

Masashi Kawata, standing in the paint, was completely stunned:

"What's going on with this feeling?!"

A crack finally appeared on Kazunari Fukatsu's expressionless face.

Sawakita Eiji, who was closest to him, felt his breath catch in his throat.

It felt as if an invisible hand was tightly gripping my throat.

Under the extremely shocked gazes of the few people present who had stepped into the Zone realm.

They clearly saw a blinding yellow lightning flash across Lin Bei's cold eyes!

That's a terrifying light that only erupts when humanity breaks through its limits and enters the unknown!

Lin Bei stopped chewing the gum.

She tilted her head slightly, looking at Zebei.

There was no anger, only a chilling calm.

"A noisy husky."

Lin Bei spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but like a heavy hammer, crashing down on everyone's ears.

"He accidentally awakened a 'wild side,' and that's how he became so wild."

"You know nothing about true power."