155: The Lion's Hunt! The Queen's Trial

Scarlett Johansson!

S.J.!

This name was like an electric current, instantly surging through Lin Feng's entire body!

His body, which had become somewhat stiff due to a massive sense of powerlessness, suddenly tensed up!

She... why would she send him a text message?!

And she was actually watching this game, where he was being beaten like a dog?!

Lin Feng's heart began to pound uncontrollably!

The hand holding his phone even began to tremble slightly.

He stared intently at that short sentence on the screen.

He read it again, word by word.

"I see a lion being besieged by two Cheetahs."

"Though in a sorry state, the look in its eyes is very interesting."

In this sentence, there was no comfort.

No sympathy.

There wasn't even a hint of encouragement.

It was a tone that was scrutinizing, calm, and even... playful.

Lin Feng's brain worked rapidly.

He repeatedly mulled over every word in that sentence.

Lion.

Instead of a loser who lost the game.

Cheetahs.

Instead of the victors who won the game.

Besieged.

Instead of defeated.

A sorry state.

But, the look in its eyes is very interesting!

These words were like keys, suddenly unlocking the door in Lin Feng's heart that had been tightly sealed by 'despair' and 'self-doubt'!

He understood instantly!

He understood completely!

A woman of Scarlett Johansson's caliber!

The way she viewed things was completely different from ordinary people!

In her world, there were no simple wins or losses, no cheap sympathy!

What she saw was something deeper, the most essential aspects of power, conquest, and will!

She didn't see a pathetic wretch who had been blown out by his opponents.

But a King of Beasts who had temporarily fallen into a predicament!

She didn't care if this lion was covered in blood or in a sorry state.

What she cared about was whether, while being besieged by two top-tier hunters, the unyielding flames of a king still burned in that lion's eyes!

"The look in its eyes... is very interesting..."

Lin Feng repeated these words in a low voice.

That massive sense of powerlessness from being crushed by talent, which had been weighing on his heart and making it almost impossible to breathe.

At this moment, it quietly dissipated.

Replacing it was a more dangerous, more aggressive, and unfamiliar emotion!

He realized.

Scarlett Johansson was sending him a signal through this text message.

A trial!

A cruel yet fascinating trial from the Queen!

What she wanted to see wasn't how he could put up flashy stats like in G1 and then lose the game.

Nor did she want to see how he would be smashed to pieces by his opponents' savage collisions in G2.

What she wanted to see was how this besieged lion would use its wisdom and claws to tear apart this damn cage that had put him in such a sorry state!

What she wanted to see was how he would take control of and destroy this 'hunting ground' belonging to the Cheetahs!

"Hunting ground..."

A flash of inspiration struck Lin Feng's mind!

This term happened to resonate most strongly with that third, most mysterious power sleeping within him, symbolizing 'Absolute Control'!

The Eye of the Heavenly Emperor!

In that instant, the image of being posterized by Russell Westbrook surfaced clearly before his eyes once again.

He had activated the Eye of the Heavenly Emperor.

He had predicted everything Russell Westbrook would do.

But he was still sent flying.

Why?

Where exactly did I go wrong?

Before, he couldn't find the answer, thinking it was purely a matter of being crushed by talent.

But now.

Under the guidance of Scarlett's unique, queen-like perspective.

He found the root of the problem!

He was wrong!

From the very beginning, he had been using the Eye of the Heavenly Emperor incorrectly!

The core of the Eye of the Heavenly Emperor's ability wasn't 'prediction' at all!

It was 'control'!

It was to look down upon the entire chess match like an emperor, and then dominate every piece on the board!

His previous thought process was to predict the opponent's actions and then use his own body to block them.

That was a defender's mindset!

That was the mindset of someone passively taking hits!

What would a true emperor do?

He wouldn't personally take the field to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the opposing soldiers.

He would use his eyes to see through the entire battlefield.

Then, he would mobilize his vast armies to set traps, to divide and encircle, to let the enemy walk into a tailor-made dead end themselves!

Lin Feng's breathing became rapid!

He realized that to defeat irrational, pure collections of talent like the Thunder's duo.

What was needed wasn't a stronger spear!

Aomine Daiki's Unrestricted Shot was a spear!

What was needed wasn't a more accurate arrow either!

Shintaro Midorimas Full-Court Three-Pointer was an arrow!

When the opponent was a mobile wall cast from the hardest granite.

No matter how sharp the spear or how precise the arrow, they all seemed so powerless!

What he needed was a pair of emperor's eyes that could see through the entire chess match and dominate all the pieces!

What he needed was the true evolution of the Eye of the Heavenly Emperor!

What he needed was to evolve himself from a general charging into battle into an emperor who controlled the whole court!

But... how could he make the Eye of the Heavenly Emperor evolve?

How could he obtain that kind of absolute control belonging to an emperor?

Lin Feng's gaze fell upon that text message once more.

He looked at the initials representing Scarlett Johansson.

S.J.

A thought, like a bolt of lightning, pierced through the fog in his mind!

He understood!

The key to unlocking this power!

It lay with the woman who had sent him the text!

It was she who, with her unique perspective, had awakened him!

It was she who had allowed him to see the direction forward clearly!

This trial wasn't just about basketball.

It was even more about whether he, Lin Feng, was qualified to enter her world and become that 'interesting' conqueror in her eyes!

The corners of Lin Feng's mouth slowly curled into a smile full of ambition and desire.

Upon the ruins in his heart named failure.

A brand new palace named 'Emperor' was rising from the ground!

He no longer paid attention to that damn 0-2 scoreline.

Nor did he care about the overwhelming mockery and doubt from the outside world.

His gaze had already pierced through the Oklahoma night.

It was cast toward the upcoming home court in Los Angeles.

Staples Center.

That was his true hunting ground!

Lin Feng picked up his phone, his slender fingers quickly tapping on the screen.

He found that unknown number from Scarlett Johansson.

He didn't hesitate for a moment.

He drafted a reply.

"A lion needs a larger hunting ground."

Message sent successfully.

Lin Feng turned off the phone and casually tossed it aside.

He stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel room.

Outside was the unfamiliar night view of Oklahoma City.

His gaze became calmer and deeper than ever before.

The anxiety and unwillingness caused by being crushed by talent had vanished without a trace.

In its place was an absolute confidence that controlled everything.

He knew.

The key to winning or losing this Western Conference Finals was no longer in Oklahoma.

G3.

Los Angeles.

Staples Center.

Another confrontation outside the court had already begun.

And the outcome of that confrontation would determine the final direction of this series.