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墨書 Inktalez
The opening of the third quarter felt as if the universe had rebooted.
All the lights refocused on the court, and the air was filled not just with smoke and sweat, but with an indescribable tension, as if all the planets had paused, waiting for the next player's first move. On the court, Harden stood beyond the three-point line, his fingers lightly tapping the ground, his gaze no longer playful but sharp as a blade. He was no longer the dancing poet on the court; he was the executioner.
Five seconds into the play, he quickly dribbled past from the right 45-degree angle. Tatum came to help defend, but Harden suddenly stopped on a dime, causing Tatum to stumble backward. Harden rose up for a shot, and the ball hung in the air as if deciding whether to go through the net. Then, without any doubt—swish!
Before the crowd could even scream, Harden had already turned to Poole and made a gesture that said, "Too easy."
Curry was not to be outdone; he dribbled past half-court without hesitation and took a step over the logo before shooting. The defense couldn't catch up in time. His movements were as fluid as water, but the ball shot forth like a meteor falling from the sky, perfectly finding its mark.
The score flipped once more.
And then, the real battle began.
——
Giannis Antetokounmpo seemed to unlock a second phase. He received a pass from Harden and started from beyond the three-point line, taking one step into the Restricted Area like a beast unleashed. LeBron met him head-on; they collided mid-air, shaking the entire arena as if the earth's axis had been disturbed. The two wrestled in mid-air, elbows and knees entangled in a fierce struggle reminiscent of titans clashing. But Giannis ultimately unleashed an irresistible ferocity, slamming the ball into the hoop and landing with both hands pressed against the floor, letting out a roar towards the sky.
The audience collectively stood up, with some throwing their jerseys onto the court.
On the next play, Curry dribbled to the right high post, faked out Harden, then drew two defenders before tossing the ball into the Restricted Area. Wembanyama soared from the baseline like a being unbound by gravity; as he caught it mid-air, his body stretched to an almost unnatural proportion. He glided through for a one-handed dunk and after scoring, spun around and collided with KD!
KD took two steps back, a smile creeping onto his lips.
"Finally getting serious?"
In the next two possessions, KD went on a shooting spree—unreasonable pull-up threes and turnaround jumpers—even while being double-teamed. No one could stop him because at that moment he felt like an artist stepping back from battle to return to his studio, painting each player into his background. He was the protagonist; everyone else in his backdrop didn’t deserve to touch him.
Popo shouted from the sidelines, "Double team! Double team! He’s no longer human!"
Mother Zhang pulled out a tactical board, meticulously redesigning the KD Trap Formation. However, before she could finish, KD soared in from the corner and sank a three-pointer.
Poole tried to change the rhythm, dribbling like lightning—behind the back, a sudden stop, a retreat, and then he launched a three—only to hit the rim and bounce out.
The ball was grabbed by Bill. Instead of attacking immediately, he dribbled past half court and glanced at the audience before—
Challenging Curry one-on-one.
He executed a series of between-the-legs dribbles and hand switches with an inconsistent rhythm. Then, with an extreme change of direction, he shook Curry off by half a step. Bill rose for a three-pointer, keeping his hand up after releasing the ball as he turned to look at Jay Chou on the bench.
The shot went in. It was so clean that even the Brooklyn Nets were silent.
Jay Chou's lips curled into a smile as he softly sang, "What you want isn’t just a three-pointer; it’s respect."
The entire crowd erupted into a frenzied rhythm of applause: "Dee-fense! Dee-fense!"
But no one anticipated what would come next—the awakening of LeBron.
After receiving the ball, he drove past three defenders, first bulldozing Bill, then faking out Harden. As he entered the Restricted Area, he faced Giannis Antetokounmpo head-on. Instead of dodging, he collided in mid-air; the two players clashed like fighter jets. LeBron roared as he pulled the ball back with one hand and slammed it off the side of the backboard. As he landed, his footsteps echoed like a war god's march—one step down sent three loud thuds through the floor.
"You think I’m old? I just haven’t started roaring yet."
The score battle reached its peak.
The crowd went wild, as if every second was a hundred times crazier than the finals G7.
Xiao Jingteng couldn't help but stand up at the commentator's desk: "Every move in this quarter is like a deity descending to earth; the players aren't just playing basketball, they're using their bodies to write poetry!"
Lin Shu Wei added seriously, "I can see Tatum's footwork starting to hesitate. If the Heavenly Kings Team puts pressure on their wings in the latter part of this quarter, they might just turn the game around!"
Xiao Fu nodded vigorously: "I don't know what tactics are, but I know—if I were on the court today, I'd stand with KD. That guy is playing like a god."
With 20 seconds left in the third quarter, both coaches called for timeouts.
The camera shifted to both benches, where Jay Chou sat silently with his head down. Suddenly, he raised his pen and wrote three words on the tactical board:
"No one stops."
Popo then took out a red circle and placed it right in the center of the tactical diagram, saying, "On the next play, make sure to lock down KD."
As the ball was inbounded, Harden dribbled past half court. KD received the ball at a 45-degree angle, turned, jumped, and two defenders closed in—
But just as the double team formed, KD didn't take the shot.
He slipped the ball under his arm and passed it out to Bill, who was cutting in from the baseline.
Without waiting for anyone to react, Bill jumped and dunked—
Bang!!!
The third quarter ended, with the Heavenly Kings Team leading the Trick Team 86 to 85.
The crowd erupted like a volcano, even the floor of the stands shook, spilling drinks everywhere.
Silver's face was flushed with excitement as he spoke into the camera, "This is no longer a game; this is the dawn of a new legend."
The audience went wild. The players exchanged breathless glances, speechless, with only one thought lingering in the air: just as the buzzer signaling the end of the third quarter echoed through the arena, the Heavenly Kings Team had briefly taken a one-point lead. The spectators were still immersed in the aftershocks of that explosive dunk, but in a corner of the court, a real battle was about to begin.
In the Trick Team's bench area, the atmosphere suddenly turned strange and eerie. Mother Zhang sat quietly behind the substitutes, her laptop open in front of her. The screen displayed not tactical diagrams or data analysis but a black system interface named "ShareBasket," with strange red lights flashing at the bottom.
Her fingers glided over the keyboard like a snake, her gaze calm as she manipulated rows of numbers.
"Allocate the Heavenly Kings Team's energy drink budget under 'Supplies,' then adjust the cross-subsidies to transfer to our hotel expenses... and move the VIP Box income from 'Bonus Items' to 'Promotional Expenses.'"
She spoke softly while operating, her voice almost inaudible, as if casting a spell to steal the soul of the entire game.
A staff member who had just finished signing off whispered, "Chairman Zhang, won't this operation be too blatant?"
Mother Zhang didn't look up. "You don't understand; true victory is never achieved on the court but is determined in the reports."
As she spoke, she pressed the "Submit" button, and in the next moment, the system displayed:
✔ Account review in progress...
✔ Automatically triggered "Opaque Financial Model"
✔ Note: Authorization for Honeymoon Period Popo has been automatically downgraded to observer.
At that moment, a virtual golden light suddenly faded from Popo's tactical board, as if a part of his commanding power was being "softly taken over."
He furrowed his brow but didn’t notice Mother Zhang's actions; instead, he suddenly fell into a strange meditative state. He gazed up at the ceiling of the court and began to murmur, his voice wavering as if he had just graduated from some kind of Mind Course.
"Actually... the score doesn’t matter... what’s important is the inner balance... You must ask yourself, why do you play? Who are you?"
Poole stared in disbelief. "Hey coach? Are you... okay?"
Popo smiled as if he had just finished an entire plate of mushrooms. "I just saw a Golden Goat during my meditation. It told me, 'The game is just an illusion; the real enemy is your obsession with winning and losing.'"
Tatum looked confused. "So do we still need to guard against KD?"
Popo nodded seriously. "Defending him is also defending against the greed within your heart."
The atmosphere in the room became oddly surreal.
Mother Zhang, overhearing this conversation, shot him a cold glance before beckoning to Poole. "Kid, do you want to earn more bonuses?"
Poole immediately sat up straight. "Yes!"
Mother Zhang patted his head. "Then you’d better listen to me. In the fourth quarter of the next game, don’t worry about tactics; just shoot when you get the chance. You’re the main character, understand? We have plenty of budget for trending topics; you just need to keep the cameras on you."
Poole's face was filled with excitement as he nodded vigorously, "Got it, my protagonist script has arrived!"
Meanwhile, Popo suddenly pulled out a crumpled booklet from his pocket, titled "Awakening the True Self: Level Seven - The Free Throw Line of the Soul."
He began to preach to Tatum, "Do you know that the act of shooting free throws actually represents the release of the soul? In that moment of shooting, you’re not just scoring; you’re letting go of control... You need to embrace that failed version of yourself to make the shot—"
Tatum slowly draped a towel over his head, pretending not to hear.
As Popo became more animated, he even stood up and shouted to the audience, "Everyone, close your eyes and imagine you are the soul at the free throw line! Release your attachments—GO!"
To everyone's surprise, someone in the audience actually complied. A middle-aged woman closed her eyes and struck a shooting pose, tears streaming down her face as she said, "I’ve finally let go of my resentment towards my ex-husband..."
Amidst this chaos and mystery, the Heavenly Kings Team observed the Trick Team as if they were in a yoga class. Harden furrowed his brow and asked, "What on earth are they doing?"
KD coldly replied, "No matter what they’re playing at, in the fourth quarter... we only play one thing—truth."
Bill clenched his fists and stood up, declaring, "Give me the ball; I’m going to wake them up."
Jay Chou rose as well, his gaze clear as he looked up at the electronic scoreboard and softly sang, "You say I’m not crazy enough... then let me show you how crazy wins."
The lights in the arena focused once more on the court as the fourth quarter was about to begin. The schemes off the court, the madness on it, and the beliefs within the players’ hearts would collide in this final period.
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