Chapter 2059: Chapter 2260: Starting to Score!!!

Zheng Jun would still be useful later on, so in the second quarter the plan was to let him rest and really recharge. As for Wu Jun, his shortcomings had already been fully exposed in the first quarter. The first quarter didn’t matter much—Hao Jian had basically played it with a give‑up mindset—so letting Wu Jun on then wasn’t a big deal.

But now that the score gap had already been stretched this wide, they obviously couldn’t play the second quarter the way they played the first. So he subbed off Wu Jun and Qu Liucheng, whose skills weren’t that great, and sent on a guy whose skills were decent, plus Hu Lai.

Hu Lai’s skills were actually not bad. In ball-handling and such he was a notch above Zheng Jun. So with Hu Lai and that other guy coming on now, the chances of a comeback went way up. Hao Jian of course had his own layout in mind. For the moment he let Class Five score as they pleased, let them strut and act wild.

But once a bit more time passed, their edge would slowly disappear. They’d already burned up a ton of stamina in the first quarter, and on top of that they were so arrogant they hadn’t even prepared a single substitute. Once Hao Jian had his guys grind their stamina down to almost empty, then it would be Class Three’s world.

There weren’t many people in Class Three who could really play, but as long as they could drag Gao Yanfei and his few guys until they were out of gas, and then at that point Hao Jian stepped in and went all out, the result clearly wouldn’t look like it did now. When that time came, they’d see who got to laugh last.

Timeout was already over and both sides’ players started taking the court. When Gao Yanfei saw Hao Jian take Zheng Jun and Qu Liucheng off, a smile crept onto his face. He’d seen through Hao Jian’s calculations—nothing more than trying to wear them down with a rotation. But he wasn’t worried about that at all. He practically lived on the basketball court, not like those people who never exercise all year; he could play the whole game and still have gas in the tank.

Thinking this, he felt he’d completely seen through the other side’s tactics, and he shot Hao Jian a mocking grin.

Hao Jian ignored him and led Hu Lai and the others onto the court. When the last segment ended, the ball had been in Zheng Jun’s hands, but Zheng Jun was now on the bench resting, so it was replaced by Hu Lai, who subbed in for him. The ref simply tossed the ball straight to Hu Lai.

Hu Lai caught the ball and dribbled a few times to get a feel for it. With a blast of the referee’s whistle, the game started up again. Right from the tip, Class Five’s No. 2, who’d been guarding Zheng Jun earlier, rushed over immediately and closed in on Hu Lai.

A grin suddenly appeared on Hu Lai’s face. He dribbled and just blew by No. 2. No. 2’s face showed surprise—maybe he’d been too comfortable defending Zheng Jun just now, and suddenly switching to Hu Lai, he couldn’t react in time and let him go right past. A flicker of anger crossed his face—anger at being played by Hu Lai—and he chased after him at once.

They’d already been past half-court just now, so the moment Hu Lai took off with the ball, he was quickly under Class Five’s basket, and the players of Class Five hurried back to defend.

Same as last time, Class Five kept using their previous targeted strategy. As soon as Hu Lai got the ball, two people stuck to him. Right away, a troubled look flashed across Hu Lai’s face. It was obvious he was having a bit of a hard time handling two people. But it was still better than Zheng Jun—at least he could make sure the ball wouldn’t get picked off that easily.

Hao Jian shot a look at Ma Yantao, and Ma Yantao instantly cut in behind Hu Lai. Seeing this, Hu Lai immediately passed the ball back to Ma Yantao. Since two people were guarding Hu Lai, no one was on Ma Yantao. With that opening, Ma Yantao caught the ball and charged inside the two‑point line.

"Ball to me!" Hao Jian shouted.

Ma Yantao quickly swung the ball to Hao Jian. Once Hao Jian caught it, two defenders immediately rushed at him. But he was already inside the two‑point line now, and if Hao Jian wanted to drive, how could anyone possibly stop him? With the ball in hand, Hao Jian blew past the two of them in a flash.

Right then, Gao Yanfei stepped in front of Hao Jian, cutting off his path. He was sure he could stop Hao Jian—worst case, if Hao Jian tried to shoot, he was confident he could block him and absolutely wouldn’t let the shot go in. Letting Hao Jian hit that last three-pointer was just carelessness, and this time there’d be no repeat. He wanted to freeze Class Three’s score at that three, never let them score again, and then set some kind of school joke record—make Class Three and Hao Jian forever into a punchline, the guy who went all out in a basketball game and only managed three points.

But just as Gao Yanfei was thinking all that and wearing an ultra-confident smile, Hao Jian suddenly drove with the ball and slipped right past his body, dribbling straight to his back.

"How is that possible?" His face showed a look of utter disbelief. In his eyes, he’d been so close to Hao Jian—how could he not stop him? How could he just let Hao Jian blow by him so easily?

However, by the time he reacted, Hao Jian was already dribbling under the basket. One step, two steps, three steps, layup. The ball went in. The whole motion was smooth and fast—a perfect finish on a three-step layup.

Maybe it was because it had been too long since they scored, but this sudden bucket from Hao Jian set Zhang Danlin and the others off; they started yelling his name excitedly. Even the usually stern-faced Li Weiwei couldn’t help showing a faint smile. Only Liang Xiaohan’s expression stayed calm.

She knew what kind of person Hao Jian was—he never fought a battle he wasn’t prepared for. Since Hao Jian had taken the initiative to throw down a challenge at Gao Yanfei like this, he definitely wasn’t just asking for humiliation; he had his own plan. Other people might not believe in Hao Jian, even Li Weiwei was still skeptical of him. But Liang Xiaohan was different—she hadn’t doubted Hao Jian from beginning to end; she trusted him completely.

Seeing Class Three react like they’d won the lottery, some of the guys in Class Five were displeased. With mocking faces they said, "Yo! You scored one basket, so what? One basket and you’re this happy? Maybe check the scoreboard—we’re how many points ahead of you? You know how many more you’d need to even catch up?"

Zhang Danlin was feeling seriously pissed as she listened, especially when she saw that person talking with that smug, mocking face. That made her even more upset. She’d never been the type of girl who could hide what she was thinking, so the moment she saw that, she was about to march over and lose her temper.

But before she could get over there, He Qiqi stepped in and stopped her. She said, "Danlin, ignore them."

Zhang Danlin was still fuming, totally annoyed, but when she saw that He Qiqi was also holding back her temper, she angrily shook off her hand and let out a heavy snort.

The game went on. After Hao Jian scored, it was Class Five’s turn to inbound. Now that Hao Jian had sunk his second shot, Gao Yanfei started adjusting his strategy, tightening the double-team on Hao Jian. Even when Hao Jian didn’t have the ball, there were still two people glued to him.

But doing that meant those two had to run even more, because they not only had to stick to Hao Jian, they also had to switch back and cover their own men when necessary. Otherwise, since the two teams were basically evenly matched, this kind of defense would leave someone wide open. And if you leave somebody open, that’s a fatal flaw—very likely they’d seize the chance and score.

So having to follow Hao Jian and another guy at the same time was obviously cranking up their workload. Seeing this, a smile appeared on Hao Jian’s face.

They’d already shown off in the first quarter. Next, it was his turn, Class Three’s turn.

Hao Jian glanced back and smiled to himself. Hu Lai and the others instantly got it; they understood what Hao Jian meant.

Class Five’s number five inbounded the ball to Gao Yanfei. Gao Yanfei took the ball and prepared to attack, but just then, without anyone knowing when he’d moved, Hu Lai had slipped behind him. Catching him off guard, he suddenly picked his pocket. By the time Gao Yanfei reacted, Hu Lai had already passed the ball to Hao Jian.

The Class Five players had all run up to midcourt with Gao Yanfei, leaving only one man back on defense. Hao Jian dribbled the ball—one defender was nowhere near enough to stop him. He stopped outside the three-point line, rose up, leaned back, let the ball fly, and three seconds later, it went in.

"Badass!"

In an instant, exclamations erupted around the court again. Clearly, no one had expected Hao Jian to suddenly hit two shots in a row, putting up five points in such a short time.

Rage flashed across Gao Yanfei’s face. He’d originally wanted to hold Class Three to just those three points and really make them lose face, but he hadn’t expected Hao Jian to suddenly nail a three. He was furious. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Trash, you can’t even guard one guy!" Gao Yanfei shouted angrily.

The number four who’d stayed back on defense heard that and his face immediately darkened with displeasure. Gao Yanfei was scolding him in front of so many people—wasn’t that just making him lose face?

Of course, that wasn’t even the main thing. The main thing was that earlier, when Gao Yanfei himself was guarding Hao Jian, he’d been blown past just as easily. And now he had the nerve to call him out, saying he couldn’t stop Hao Jian.

If you’ve got the ability, you go stop him. You can’t stop him yourself, so what right do you have to yell at me?

But he only dared to be angry in his heart; he didn’t dare say it out loud.

Gao Yanfei’s face was twisted with anger, and he obviously hadn’t noticed this little detail.

He suddenly shouted at the Class Five players, "All of you tighten up on defense, you hear me?!"

The other four silently nodded.

They inbounded again and the ball landed in Gao Yanfei’s hands. This time he was on high alert, so when Hu Lai came over to try and steal the ball again, he didn’t let him succeed and quickly dribbled past Hu Lai.