135: Silence in the cage!

Leonard, Green, and Splitter were like iron pincers, once again locking Lin Feng down tightly.

The exact same recipe.

The exact same flavor.

The cage that had crushed all his dignity in G5 descended again from the very first second of the game.

The boos from the stands turned into gloating laughter at this moment.

"Look! The cage is back!"

"Haha! Popovich isn't giving him any chance at all!"

"The game is over! He's locked up again!"

At the commentary desk, Barkley shook his head.

"The Spurs aren't doing any feeling out; they intend to use the same method to kill Lin Feng once more."

Kenny Smith's expression was grave.

"Now, it depends on how Lin Feng responds. If he's still like the last game, letting anger cloud his mind..."

Everyone thought that what followed would be a repeat of the G5 tragedy.

They expected to see Lin Feng's angry struggle.

They expected to see him take impulsive, unreasonable forced shots.

They expected to see him, once again, crash into these three iron walls until he was battered and bloodied.

But.

None of that happened.

Everyone was wrong.

Lin Feng, sandwiched tightly between the three men, had no expression on his face.

No anger.

No impatience.

There wasn't even a ripple of emotion.

He just stood there silently, allowing the three bodies to constantly squeeze and shove him.

His footsteps moved within that narrow space at a steady, unhurried pace.

It was like taking a stroll in the eye of a storm.

A strange feeling rose in Leonard's heart.

Something wasn't right.

This guy was too calm.

Abnormally calm.

Just as Leonard attempted to use a fiercer physical confrontation to provoke Lin Feng,

Lin Feng moved.

He didn't choose to force a breakthrough.

He didn't choose to force a shot.

He simply used an extremely light spin move—one that didn't seem like it was being executed under a triple-team—to find a fleeting gap.

With a flick of his wrist,

the basketball, like a bullet from a gun, was passed precisely from under Green's arm!

The ball went to Steve Nash at the top of the arc!

An absolute wide-open opportunity!

Nash caught the ball and, without the slightest hesitation, took the shot!

In the Staples Center, everyone's hearts leapt into their throats!

"Clang!"

A crisp sound of iron!

The ball bounced off the rim!

The rebound was easily gathered into Duncan's arms.

The Spurs immediately launched a counterattack.

Parker and Duncan executed a textbook pick-and-roll.

The French supercar was like a bolt of black lightning, tearing through the Lakers' defense for an easy layup.

0:2.

The Lakers' first offensive possession ended in failure.

At the other end of the court.

Boos erupted everywhere.

"Hahaha! What's the use of passing? Your teammates are all trash!"

"Lin! You're just a softie who can only shoot threes!"

The Lakers attacked again.

Lin Feng was still locked in that cage.

He remained calm and unhurried.

His eyes were as cold as a supercomputer collecting data.

He was feeling.

Feeling the strength of Leonard's every bump.

Feeling the angle of Green's every harassment.

Feeling the frequency of Splitter's every little movement.

Then, once again, he found a passing lane through the gaps of the three men.

This time, the ball went to Howard in the corner.

Another open look.

Howard caught the ball, adjusted slightly, jumped, and took a mid-range shot!

"Clang!"

Another desperate sound of hitting the iron!

Howard slapped his own head in frustration.

Meanwhile, the Spurs had already launched another fluid, mercury-like attack.

It was Parker again; this time he drove and kicked, assisting Danny Green on the perimeter for an open three-pointer!

0:5.

Barely a minute into the game, the Lakers hadn't scored a single point, while the Spurs had gone on a run.

D'Antoni was pacing restlessly on the sidelines.

He didn't understand.

He completely didn't understand what Lin Feng was thinking.

Giving up his own offense to trust teammates with ice-cold shooting hands?

That wasn't his style!

In the stands.

The spectators booing Lin Feng became even more triumphant.

"See? He's done for!"

"His magic halo has vanished! He's nothing!"

"Without those unreasonable threes, he's just an ordinary player!"

The camera panned to Yoona again.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with worry and anxiety.

Seeing Lin Feng being hemmed in by three people on the court, forced to pass helplessly, her heart clenched.

Then, the shot shifted.

It went to Taylor Swift.

She was still leaning back in her chair, wearing sunglasses, her eyes obscured.

But the curve of her lips seemed a bit more pronounced than before.

It was a playful smile, full of appreciation.

As if she were watching a brilliant play that she had personally helped orchestrate.

She knew.

Before hunting, a beast always shows its most harmless side first.

Time ticked away, minute by minute.

Halfway through the first quarter.

The score had become 4:14.

The Lakers were already trailing by a full 10 points.

And on Lin Feng's stat sheet, points, rebounds, assists—every stat was zero!

On the court, he was like a ghost forgotten by everyone.

He just silently endured the collisions and attrition of that cage in one defensive possession after another.

The Spurs players already had relaxed expressions on their faces.

Danny Green even leaned into Lin Feng's ear during a defensive play and mocked him in a low voice.

"What's wrong, Lin? Did your God Mode run out of batteries?"

"Or were you too tired last night?"

Splitter and Leonard both showed knowing smiles.

They believed this game had completely lost its suspense.

The man who had attained godhood in G4 had been thoroughly reduced to his original form by them.

D'Antoni finally couldn't take it anymore and signaled for a timeout toward the scorer's table.

"Tweet—!"

Dead ball.

The referee's whistle blew.

Just as everyone expected Lin Feng to walk dejectedly toward the bench,

he stood where he was, motionless.

He slowly closed his eyes.

He tuned out Danny Green's sweaty mockery beside him.

He tuned out the deafening boos of the Staples Center.

He tuned out Yoona's worried gaze and Taylor's playful smile.

The entire world instantly became quiet in his perception.

All that remained was himself and the beast within his body, which had been suppressed to the limit and was about to completely explode.

The next second.

He snapped his eyes open!

A wild flash of light, filled with a primal desire for destruction, burst from the depths of his pupils!

Danny Green, who was making faces in front of him, felt his heart skip a beat, terrified by that gaze.

Then, he saw it.

He saw the corners of Lin Feng's mouth slowly curl into a smile.

A cold, cruel, bloodthirsty smile, like a beast baring its fangs.

Lin Feng's lips moved slightly.

In a voice only the three of them could hear, he spoke a sentence that almost made their blood freeze.

"Warm-up's over."

In his mind, a cold voice spoke at the same time.

"ZONE, activated."