"Beep—"

With the halftime whistle blown by the referee, the entire gymnasium seemed to have its oxygen instantly sucked out from its extreme boiling state, plunging into a brief buzzing silence.

Hanamichi Sakuragi grabbed the rim with both hands, shook violently in mid-air twice, then let go and landed steadily with a "bang."

His chest heaved violently like a broken bellows, and sweat poured frantically down his cheeks, which had just been turned bright red by the basketball, but his eyes were startlingly bright, as if burning with two undying wildfires.

"Well done… Hanamichi…"

"That's amazing… This shot really boosted our morale."

The Shohoku supporters in the stands burst into hoarse cheers.

However, when everyone's eyes swept across the electronic scoreboard hanging in mid-air once again, the fanaticism that had just been ignited was like a basin of ice water poured over their heads.

Shoyo 30 to 11 Shohoku.

The huge score gap of a full 19 points, like a bottomless chasm, spanned across the people of Shohoku, exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

Inside the player tunnel.

The clamor outside was isolated by the thick walls, gradually growing muffled.

The dim light struck from above, dragging the players' tired figures very long.

The locker room door of Shohoku High School was heavily pushed open.

"Hoo… ha… hoo… ha… hoo… ha…"

As soon as they entered the door, the heavy and rapid panting instantly filled this not-so-spacious space.

The air was permeated with a strong smell of sweat, the pungent odor of bruise spray, and a heavy feeling close to solidification.

Takenori Akagi plunked down on the bench. He did not take the towel handed over by Ayako, but instead pressed his hands firmly against his knees, lowering his head. Sweat streamed down his rock-like, angular chin, hitting the floor with a "drip, drip" sound, quickly pooling into a small puddle of water stains.

His fists were clenched white, and the blue veins on the back of his hands bulged like intertwined tree roots.

"That bastard…" Takenori Akagi's voice was frighteningly low, like an injured male lion still suppressing its anger.

In the first half, he endured Shoyo's storm-like impact in the paint, especially that Zijing Cheng who was like a demon god, giving him unprecedented and terrifying pressure.

"Boss…" Ryota Miyagi tilted his head back, directly covering his face with a cold, damp towel, trying to cool down his boiling brain.

The muscles in his legs were twitching slightly and uncontrollably.

In the first half, in order to tear open Shoyo's defense line, he was almost carrying out an overloaded extreme sprint.

Hisashi Mitsui leaned against the locker in the corner, looking as if he had just been fished out of the water.

He tilted his head back, his Adam's apple rolling up and down violently, greedily gasping for air in large mouthfuls. The huge physical consumption made his face look somewhat pale.

Kaede Rukawa sat on the other side without saying a word.

His originally soft black chopped hair was now thoroughly soaked with sweat, sticking to his forehead in strands.

His eyes were as cold as ice without a shred of temperature, but his slightly trembling fingertips and heaving chest were all recounting the violent fighting spirit pent up deep inside his heart after being ruthlessly blocked by Zijing Cheng.

The air pressure in the entire Shohoku locker room was low to the extreme.

Meanwhile, inside the Shoyo High School locker room corresponding to Shohoku, it was a completely different scene.

There was no heavy panting, no oppressive atmosphere. Although Shoyo's players were also drenched in sweat, everyone's face wore unhurried confidence.

However, mixed into this composure was an extremely discordant and highly destructive sound.

"Crunch… crunch… munch, munch…"

On the bench at the very back of the locker room, Zijing Cheng's massive body of over 205 cm was curled up extremely aggrievedly.

Holding a super family-sized bag of extra-thick cheese-flavored potato chips in his hands, he shoved the chips into his mouth one handful after another, almost ventingly.

His face, which originally carried a bit of dorky cuteness and laziness, was now plastered with the words "I am very unhappy" and "I am extremely angry."

His cheeks on both sides bulged high because they were stuffed with food, looking just like a giant Jerry eating cheese while sulking.

"Mmm… crunch, crunch… infuriating… crunch…" Zijing Cheng muttered while chewing potato chips in his lazy, hoarse, and drawn-out tone, his purple eyes filled with resentful dark glimmers. "That Red-haired Monkey… actually dunked over my head… So annoying… Unforgivable… I will definitely crush him…"

Toru Hanagata pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, looked at Zijing Cheng's childish, food-guarding, and angry appearance, sighed helplessly, stepped forward, and handed over a bottle of sports drink: "A-Cheng, don't eat too many snacks. The second half is about to start. Running around with your stomach full of potato chips will be very uncomfortable."

"I don't care…" Zijing Cheng snatched the drink, gulped down half the bottle, and then tore open the packaging of a delicious stick, taking a vicious bite. "I got dunked on… I got dunked on by that Red-haired Monkey running all over the court… And that ball that hit my face… That is an insult to me… Mmm… I need to replenish your energy, in the second half I'm going to smash them and the ball flat together…"

Kazushi Hasegawa walked over wiping his sweat, with a trace of a smile at the corner of his mouth: "A-Cheng, you don't have to be so angry, we are already leading by 19 points. As long as we play steadily in the second half, Shohoku will definitely never make a comeback."

"It's still very annoying…" Zijing Cheng suddenly stopped chewing. He raised his head, and in those originally hollow purple eyes, a terrifying and murderous aura instantly erupted.

The temperature in the entire locker room seemed to drop to freezing point at this instant.

He directly crushed the remaining delicious stick in his hand into powder, his voice as low as a roar from the abyss: "In the second half, I've decided to crush them, especially that Red-haired Monkey."

Looking at Zijing Cheng's serious look, Toru Hanagata and the rest of Shoyo exchanged glances, a trace of helplessness flashing in the depths of their eyes.

They knew how terrifying it would be when this monster, who usually always found things troublesome and lazy, truly began to develop a desire to win.

…

Shohoku locker room.

In the heavy air, Coach Anzai's plump body sat quietly and upright on the chair.

He crossed his hands over his round belly, his lenses flashing with a wise white light under the dim light.

"Ho ho ho ho ho…"

A gentle and extremely penetrating laughter broke the dead silence in the locker room.

Everyone's gaze instantly converged on Coach Anzai.

"Everyone, you've worked hard." Coach Anzai opened his eyes slightly, looking at the group of scarred, exhausted youths in front of him whose eyes still hadn't extinguished their flames: "The gap of 19 points is indeed very large. Shoyo High School's strength is also truly very strong. Especially their center, Zijing Cheng."

Hearing this name, Takenori Akagi's body shook violently, and Kaede Rukawa's eyes instantly turned as sharp as a knife.

"His height, wingspan, strength, and nerve reflex speed that completely mismatch his body shape are indeed talents that defy common sense." Coach Anzai's voice was unhurried, yet it carried a heart-stabilizing power. "In the first half, he was like an unsurpassable high mountain, completely locking down our paint."

"Boss… What should we do?" Hanamichi Sakuragi leaned closer. Although he was still feeling smug about his final heaven-defying putback dunk, he also clearly knew how tricky that "Purple-haired Monster" was.

Coach Anzai smiled slightly, the white light on his lenses flashing past.

He extended his chubby finger, pointing at Hanamichi Sakuragi, and then pointed at Kaede Rukawa sitting in the corner.

"Hanamichi, Kaede Rukawa. Come over here."

Hanamichi Sakuragi was stunned for a moment, pointing at his own nose: "Calling this genius?"

Kaede Rukawa stood up and walked over without a word, a trace of doubt in his frosty eyes.

The two of them stood in front of Coach Anzai, one on the left and one on the right.

However, the words Coach Anzai said next made everyone in the locker room show expressions of surprise.