A few minutes later, the second quarter came to an end. A basketball game is divided into four quarters, with a relatively long halftime break after the first and second. Now that the second quarter was over, it was time for that break, and both sides’ players began to come off the court to rest.

Next up, it was time for the two cheer squads to come on and perform. A lot of people quietly glanced at the scoreboard. When the first quarter ended, Class 3 only had a single three-pointer, while Class 5 had more than twenty points, who knew how many times that of Class 3. Back then, plenty of people had already flat-out declared Class 3 was doomed, that this game was totally pointless to watch, just a chance to see Class 3, to see Hao Jian make a fool of himself.

But now, many people’s gazes turned back to the scoreboard. They could see very clearly that the deficit Class 3 was facing had been unknowingly erased—they had already caught up. Class 3 had twenty-seven points, Class 5 had twenty-five. The Class 5 that had been leading was now actually behind Class 3.

In the first quarter, Class 5’s score was several times that of Class 3’s, but by the end of the second quarter, they were already trailing Class 3 by two points. Two points might not look like much, but when you realize that in a single quarter Class 3 had not only made up a gap of over twenty points but even overtaken them, you knew how terrifying that was.

You could say Class 5 barely scored at all in the second quarter; it was basically Class 3 scoring non-stop. And more than eighty percent of Class 3’s points came from Hao Jian. So when Hao Jian walked off the court, every gaze in the place was locked on him.

A lot of people were wondering who exactly this Hao Jian was. Ever since he showed up at Yawen’s, he’d drawn so much attention, and it wasn’t just a one-time thing. Every time everyone thought he was about to embarrass himself, he’d immediately flip the script and slap everyone in the face with a big play.

Like just now: in the first quarter, Class 3 only got a single three-pointer thanks to Hao Jian, and everyone figured Class 3 was dead meat, that this time Hao Jian had really humiliated himself. But now, in just one quarter, he’d immediately dragged the score back, and that dunk just now was way too explosive—it was basically the highlight of the entire game.

People had originally come prepared to laugh at Hao Jian, but with how things stood now, a lot of them suddenly flipped from haters to fans. They quietly started becoming Hao Jian’s fans. When Hao Jian walked off the court, one after another they looked at him with the kind of eyes you use on a male god.

Among them were quite a few girls. After watching Hao Jian fully unleash his masculine charm with that huge dunk, they all planned to hand him water and strike up a conversation when he came down. But once they saw the Killing Intent in Zhang Danlin’s eyes, they all backed off. Especially after seeing Liang Xiaohan standing next to Hao Jian, they completely dropped the idea.

When Gao Yanfei came off the court his expression was ugly. He sat down, and Zhang Jin handed him a bottle of water. He took it and directly threw it on the ground.

"Brother Fei!" Zhang Jin wanted to say something, but didn’t know what.

At that moment, Gao Yanfei looked at No. 2 and the others and said, "Speed it up a bit next quarter. On their side, only Hao Jian can really drive and score. The rest are nothing to be afraid of. Just lock Hao Jian down, and the others will be easy. A few of them are the type who can’t hit even when they’re wide open. Next quarter just clamp down on Hao Jian and that’s it."

No. 2 listened, wanting to speak but holding back, unsure if he should say it. In the end, he still spoke up: "Brother Fei, actually that Hu Lai is pretty good too. I feel like he’s a lot stronger than Zheng Jun. How about we switch up our strategy?"

As soon as Gao Yanfei heard someone actually daring to contradict him, he glared fiercely at No. 2, scaring him into immediately dropping his gaze. Gao Yanfei said, "My tactics don’t work? If they don’t, you come play starter then!"

No. 2 heard that and lowered his head even further, already regretting saying that just now, and regretting agreeing to play this game for Gao Yanfei at all. Among this group, he was the best player after Gao Yanfei, and at this point he’d already sensed something was off. If they kept going like this, things could get even worse. But it was obvious that Gao Yanfei was set on his own way and had no intention of listening to his opinions or ideas.

He quietly shook his head, thinking, forget it, Class 3 still doesn’t have a big chance to win. As long as they push harder later, they can still leave Class 3 far behind on the scoreboard. So he didn’t say anything more.

Over on Hao Jian’s side, as soon as he sat down he started laying out tactics for Hu Lai and the others. There were only two quarters left. In the second quarter they had subbed out a few players and put in guys like Hu Lai who were still fresh, but Gao Yanfei and his crew had never subbed once from start to finish—they hadn’t brought a single sub. The first quarter was fine; they played with passion and energy. But by the end of the second quarter, clearly because of nerves and the fact that they hadn’t rotated at all, two or three of them were already showing signs of running out of gas.

They had originally planned to come in and utterly crush Hao Jian’s team, so they figured it didn’t matter if they didn’t sub; after all, against Class 3—who basically didn’t even know how to play—they could stomp them without spending much energy. Reality proved they’d been thinking way too much. Their lack of substitutes was already starting to show.

But at this point, it was impossible for them to go looking for subs. Sure, they could find some; there were plenty of guys in the class who could play ball. But the way they’d strutted onto the court earlier was clearly contemptuous, not even bothering to prepare substitutes. If they suddenly started to struggle and then turned around to add subs now, wouldn’t that just make it look like their skills weren’t up to par and they were scared, so they hurried to get subs to go on, giving their starters a chance to recover?

That would make it look like they were afraid of Hao Jian’s team and rushed to bring in reinforcements, and that alone would hurt their momentum. If you lose the momentum in a game, the odds of losing the game itself go way up.

Right now, Hao Jian was sitting on the bench, talking over the next plan with Hu Lai and the others, sharing what he’d observed, including the fact that Gao Yanfei was already showing signs of fatigue. There were only two quarters left. They’d only scored three points in the first quarter, then immediately pulled the score back in the second.

Next, Gao Yanfei’s side would definitely come at them relentlessly. Even if they were tired, they wouldn’t let Class 3 have many scoring opportunities. So the main mission in the third quarter was to score, and the other was to keep Class 5 from scoring. Even if they themselves couldn’t score, they couldn’t let Class 5 score.

As long as they made it through the third quarter, even though they often played ball and their stamina was okay, they rarely played a full game like this. Add in the mental pressure of nerves, and they were bound to show real fatigue. That would be the moment for the fourth quarter explosion.

As for Hao Jian, stamina was a non-issue—he could play a few more games in a row no problem. And Zheng Jun and the others were already rested; going all out for two quarters would be fine. So now that they were going into the third quarter, all the non-ballers had to come off. From here on out, it was the starters’ show.

The final lineup was set as: Hu Lai, Fatty, Zheng Jun, a tall guy, and Hao Jian. The last two quarters would be played by these five.

Don’t be fooled by Fatty’s size—Hu Lai had said that when it came to handling the ball, Fatty’s skills were not bad at all. He looked like he couldn’t run, but once the ball was in his hands, he could take off. He had one flaw though: he couldn’t play too long. If the intensity stayed high, he’d be gasping for breath and would need a good rest. So Hao Jian told him to pace himself and play steady for now, save his burst for the last quarter.

As for that tall guy, Zheng Jun said his skills were decent, about on par with his own, maybe even better. Plus he was tall and lean, good on the boards. They’d have him crash the glass; if Class 5’s shots didn’t fall, the rebounds would all be theirs.

In that short break, they’d already finalized their plan—thanks entirely to Hao Jian’s long view and grasp of the whole game. They’d rested for a while now; it was almost time to go back on.

Just then, Li Weiwei walked over and said to Hao Jian, "Winning or losing isn’t important, just don’t lose too badly."

Hao Jian immediately shot back, "No. Losing is impossible. I’ll never lose in this lifetime. Class 3 will never lose. Just wait and watch us win."

Li Weiwei smiled and said, "Fine! I’ll be waiting. Don’t let me down." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Hao Jian smiled quietly. "Absolutely."

Zhang Danlin walked up to Hao Jian, handed him a bottle of water and said, "Hao Jian, come on! I believe you’re the best!"

Hao Jian took the water and took a sip, saying nothing. The break was already over; it was time to get back on the court. He took a sip and handed the bottle back to Zhang Danlin.

Then Hao Jian led his group back onto the court, and Gao Yanfei led his own onto the floor as well.

All eyes in the gym were on the two teams, waiting for them to put on a show.

What had looked like a dull, foregone-conclusion kind of game had suddenly turned intense, and countless people were now guessing what the final result would be.

Would Class 5 still win for sure? Or would Class 3, led by Hao Jian, pull off the comeback?