"Here I come," Zhao Yuan announced, just like last time.
"Bring it on!" Liu Zhu's eyes widened, his focus absolute. He was pumped, ready to put Zhao Yuan in his place.
This time, Zhao Yuan didn't just rely on speed to force his way through. He dribbled the ball at a leisurely pace right up to Liu Zhu.
'Now!' Liu Zhu saw his chance. His hand shot out like lightning, grabbing for the ball. But a second later, he was shocked to find he'd grabbed nothing but air.
The basketball had vanished into thin air!
"The ball? Where'd the ball go?" Liu Zhu froze, stunned.
In the instant he was distracted, Zhao Yuan had already gone around him on the left, driven to the basket, and made a jump shot. The ball swished through the net.
After a moment of stunned silence, the spectating basketball team members erupted in cheers.
"That was a beautiful move!"
"To pull off a crossover that slickā¦ he's in a league of his own!"
"Poor Old Liu, he's totally bamboozled."
"Hey, don't laugh at Old Liu. After that move Old Demon Zhao just pulled, anyone would be just as confused!"
Liu Zhu couldn't see how the ball had disappeared, but the onlookers had a clear view.
Just as Liu Zhu reached out to steal the ball, Zhao Yuan had suddenly flicked and spun the ball with three fingers. The ball's trajectory instantly changed, wrapping around his back and appearing on his left side.
Not only did this move cause Liu Zhu's steal to fail, but it also allowed Zhao Yuan to seize the opportunity and break past him on the left. Because Zhao Yuan had completed the move with just three fingers, it was incredibly subtle and lightning-fast, making it almost impossible to perceive. This is what created the illusion for the defender that the ball had simply vanished.
Liu Zhu was utterly astonished after hearing what had happened from his teammates.
'A beginner is actually pulling off fancy moves like that, and they're even effective in a real matchupā¦ This is just unbelievable, beyond comprehension.'
Taking a deep breath, Liu Zhu comforted himself internally, 'A coincidence. That must have been a coincidence!'
He wasn't the only one with this thought; the rest of the basketball team all thought the same.
"I was careless just now. Again! I won't let you get past me this time!" Liu Zhu adopted his defensive stance once more, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. At this point, he no longer saw Zhao Yuan as a beginner, but as a formidable opponent.
"Alright, again," Zhao Yuan said with a smile, bouncing the ball. "Basketball is actually pretty fun. How come I never realized it before?"
Liu Zhu couldn't help but roll his eyes, retorting in his head, 'Pretty fun? Let's see if you can still say that after I steal the ball from you!'
However, despite giving it his all, Liu Zhu was broken through by Zhao Yuan once again!
This time, Zhao Yuan didn't use a fancy behind-the-back crossover. He beat Liu Zhu with a simple fake.
It wasn't that Liu Zhu was a poor defender; it was that Zhao Yuan's fake was just too convincing. He looked for all the world like he was about to make a real break to the right, his whole body lunging forward. But the instant Liu Zhu committed to defending that side, Zhao Yuan, while in a full charge, impossibly twisted his body and switched direction, swapping from the right to the left in the blink of an eye.
Liu Zhu's reaction wasn't slow, either; he immediately tried to turn and block him. But his body couldn't handle such a sudden change. He instantly lost his balance and fell right on his butt, truly and utterly faked out by Zhao Yuan.
The spectating teammates cried out in amazement once more.
"My god, Old Demon Zhao's fake was slick as hell!"
"That drive just now was a fake? With that momentum and speed, it looked like a real drive no matter how you looked at it!"
"To be able to change direction in an instant during a high-speed driveā¦ Old Demon Zhao's body and technique are just monstrous!"
In fact, Zhao Yuan's fake just now wasn't merely a fake.
If Liu Zhu had assumed it was a fake and not defended, he would have just driven straight through on the right. The moment Liu Zhu did defend, he would instantly adapt and force the change in direction. To counter this move, you either had to be strong and skilled enough to keep up with his change of pace, or you needed two or three people to double- or triple-team him.
Sitting on the ground, panting heavily, Liu Zhu sighed from the bottom of his heart, "Third Bro, oh Third Bro, you really are a monster!"
With Liu Zhu getting beaten by Zhao Yuan twice in a row, the happiest person was the classmate who had set up the bet earlier.
The guy laughed excitedly, "Haha, none of you bet correctly! It didn't take Old Demon Zhao five times, or ten timesāhe broke through Old Liu's defense on his first try! So all the money you bet is mine! Come on, let's start another bet. This time, we'll change it up. Bet on how many tries it'll take Old Liu to successfully stop Old Demon Zhao!"
"No bet!"
"Seeing how Old Demon Zhao just played, it'll be a miracle if Old Liu can stop him alone! I'm not in on this bet; it's obviously just giving away free money!"
"Yeah, there's no way one person can defend against Old Demon Zhao."
The chatter from his teammates gave Liu Zhu an idea. He quickly shouted, "Lu Quan, get over here and help me defend against Old Demon Zhao."
"Coming!" The burly Lu Quan strode over. On the basketball team for Class Three of the Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine program, his defensive skills were second only to Liu Zhu's.
Liu Zhu got to his feet and formed a zone defense with Lu Quan. He said, "Third Bro, we're upping the difficulty. The two of us are gonna double-team you!"
"Alright," Zhao Yuan nodded, looking very pleased.
The higher the difficulty and the greater the intensity of the exercise, the more he liked it. Only this way could he truly temper his body.
The double-team was effective. The ball in Zhao Yuan's hands was successfully stolen by Liu Zhu.
"Yeah!" Liu Zhu pumped his fist and shouted excitedly, pulling Lu Quan into a passionate hug as if they had just won a major championship.
Zhao Yuan, who had just lost the ball, wasn't discouraged at all. Instead, the corner of his mouth curved up into a wide, happy smile. "Basketball really is fun."
Amid their celebration, Liu Zhu and Lu Quan both shivered involuntarilyā¦
In the practice that followed, Zhao Yuan figured out how to deal with the double-team. He gave them no more chances to steal the ball and proceeded to execute a series of successful breakthroughs.
His ability to learn, his eye for finding weaknesses, and his lightning-fast reactions amazed everyone and drove Liu Zhu and Lu Quan to despair.
"Get another person!"
The number of people defending against Zhao Yuan quickly grew to three, then fiveā¦ and in the end, all eight members of the basketball team were on him, crowding the space under the basket.
"Let's see you get past this!" Liu Zhu gasped, breathing heavily. He had been so thoroughly broken through by Zhao Yuan that he was starting to question his own existence. He had no other thought in his mind except to stop Zhao Yuan just one more time.