BEEP!

The whistle blew, and the game resumed.

Su Xi made his free throw, and the Pacers retained possession.

The Auburn Hills Palace was in an uproar, putting constant pressure on the head referee and the Pacers players.

But Su Xi was completely unfazed.

He calmly sank the free throw, then took the ball from Little O’Neal.

He dribbled to the top of the arc as Tony Battie came over to set a screen.

Su Xi drove in a straight line with explosive acceleration, charging directly for the paint. Ben Wallace scrambled to chase him from behind, but Su Xi pressed forward fearlessly. As Su Xi leaped into the air, Ben Wallace collided with him forcefully from behind... Everyone saw the dangerous play: Wallace’s right hand slammed onto Su Xi’s shoulder, pulling him back with incredible strength. If Wallace had brought him down from the air, Su Xi would have very likely landed on the back of his head and suffered a concussion.

Anyone could see it was an extremely dangerous, flagrant foul.

Fortunately, Su Xi had jumped high enough. The moment his body lost balance, his right hand slammed the ball into the hoop. He also had excellent dunking habits.

He grabbed the rim with all his might... Even so, Su Xi’s body was swung violently by Ben Wallace’s pull, and he nearly tumbled out of the air.

"That’s attempted murder!!"

Charles Barkley screamed instantly on the TV broadcast.

BEEP!

The head referee called a common foul on Ben Wallace. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It was his fourth foul.

Tony Battie rushed in from the arc, looking furious and ready to go after Ben Wallace, but Su Xi held him back. Su Xi didn’t want Tony Battie to start a fight; there was no need for it.

Su Xi looked at Ben Wallace. "Not bad, Big Ben. You’ve finally learned a skill that isn’t basketball. Like a rabid dog trying to jump the fence."

A sarcastic smile blossomed on Su Xi’s face.

But within that smile was a hint of joyful satisfaction.

TNT put him in a close-up. At that moment, fans all over the world saw Su Xi’s smile and Ben Wallace’s despicable act.

There are many ways to show toughness on the court.

Some people like to beat their chests and roar. Some like to headbutt their opponents. Others shove and curse.

"I love Jack’s response. That’s the highest level of toughness in basketball. That bastard Jordan used to do the same thing. After getting fouled, he’d just shake his head with a straight face, or condescendingly tell his opponent: You! Can’t stop me!" said Barkley. "Then he’d sink the shot and walk away with the win."

Su Xi walked to the free-throw line, his mood unaffected. He even felt a sense of joy.

Because, in the instant Ben Wallace committed the flagrant foul and shoved Su Xi, his Super Strength talent suddenly increased from 96 to 97.

What would Ben Wallace think if he knew his dirty foul was not only futile, but had also gifted Su Xi a precious point in his Super Strength talent?

SWISH!

Su Xi sank the and-one.

He turned and gave Ben Wallace an elegant, thankful bow.

Watching on TV, Larry Bird was both gratified and worried.

He was gratified that he had a successor, one whose style was so graceful and exceptional—the very picture of a King Bi.

But he was worried: what if this completely enraged Ben Wallace and made him do something desperate?

The Pacers fans felt the same way.

Meanwhile, an infuriated Ben Wallace held up two fingers at Su Xi. "Two times. I’ve still got two fouls to give."

The threat was palpable.

Su Xi looked at Ben Wallace with disdain. "You think a pathetic trick like that can scare me? Your stupid brain doesn’t even know how to foul properly. Get ready to accept a miserable defeat."

With that, he headed to the frontcourt.

Su Xi locked down Billups at the top of the arc. The Pacers’ defense was missing a key piece with Artest gone.

So, Su Xi had to work that much harder.

He clamped down hard on Billups.

With his Super Strength talent now at 97, the power of his Super Entanglement Defense talent increased exponentially. It allowed him to put intense pressure on Billups.

Every bump from him made Billups extremely uncomfortable, quickly breaking down his technical moves. Moreover, Su Xi was exceptionally flexible and explosive, and his Coordination talent was actually well above average.

Billups had no choice but to call Oko up to help with a screen.

But just as Oko came up and prepared to set his position,

he was forcefully pushed aside by Su Xi.

Su Xi’s ’pure strength’ now surpassed that of the big center, Oko. While Oko had a significant advantage in size and weight—meaning Su Xi couldn’t overpower him in a static post-up, even with superior ’pure strength’—it was a different story when they were in motion. With Su Xi off the ball, shoving him aside wasn’t difficult.

Su Xi unleashed his full explosiveness and quickly caught up to Billups. Like a rabbit chased by a cheetah on the savanna, Billups hastily passed the ball to Prince. Prince shot... CLANK!

A miss.

The rebound was grabbed by Little O’Neal.

He passed it to Su Xi.

"Run!"

Without a moment’s hesitation, Su Xi took the ball and furiously pushed it up the court.

The Pistons hadn’t even had time to react before Su Xi was already driving into the paint, drawing Hamilton’s defense. He then kicked it out to the corner, where Reggie Miller caught it and shot... SWISH!

A three-pointer.

The Pacers took the lead and began to pull away.

The Auburn Hills Palace was stunned into silence.

Larry Brown hadn’t expected the Pacers to push their fast break so decisively and swiftly.

This was simply... a betrayal of basketball fundamentals.

Larry Brown hated this style of play. Su Xi had actually launched an attack before three of his teammates were even in position, and on top of that, he passed the ball from the paint out to the three-point line.