Worlds’ Apocalypse Online - Chapter 9: A gamble

Eric Maddox, a 70-year-old American retired football coach once hailed for his tactical brilliance, now forgotten by time—closes his eyes for what he believes is a normal nap in his quiet Florida retirement home.But when he opens them, he's not staring at ceiling tiles, instead, he's on a touchline.Wearing boots in the rain.With players running on the pitch, fans jeering behind barriers, and the smell of cheap turf pellets in the air.“What the hell is this?”He’s twenty-five again, but it’s not Earth. It’s a world where football reigns supreme. A world where the sport is religion, its practitioners, deities in cleats. Coaches are revered, players are worshipped, and even the kit man gets treated like royalty.But there's one catch: none of it is familiar. The clubs, the players, the leagues, the competitions, and even the currency—they're all different. Alien. Like waking up in a dream where the rules are the same, but the language is foreign.As if that wasn’t enough, the body he’s now in? A youth coach with a laughable win record, a looming divorce, and a measly fifty thousand in the bank that his ex-wife is fighting tooth and nail to take. All of it.Just when the spiral seems inevitable, a monotone chime pierces the noise.[Initiating Golden Finger…][…45%… 75%… 100%][System Integration Complete.][Welcome, host. You are now bound to the Pro Manager System. Objective: Dominate the Football World. A new era begins]From washed-up has-been to chosen one of destiny, Eric Maddox is about to trade arthritis pills for tactical boards, and shuffleboard for Prestigious Cup glory.Because in this world, tactics are power.And on this touchline, he’s about to become a god.

"Marry me. Once we're married, I will be loyal to you for life—as long as you keep me alive." Qiao Jiusheng was pushed into the water by her older twin sister, had her identity stolen, losing her old love and life. With no other choice, she seeks out Fang Yusheng, the blind man rumored to have no interest in women. With blank and empty eyes, he says, "Sure." In her past life, she was betrayed by her sister and trapped in the basement. Her tongue was cut off as she watched her sister take her place, winning overall her loved ones, marrying her lover of six years, and starting a family with him. Now that she's back to a time before it all went wrong, Qiao Jiusheng escapes from the river and goes to her boyfriend's older half-brother. She puts on a mask and marries him, to fight their common enemy. The wheels of fate begin to spin, and the severed threads of destiny are once again entwined... Before their wedding, he tells her, "Don't peek at me so openly just because I'm blind and can't see you." On the night of their wedding, he tells her," You don't have to dress like a bear. I don't care for women." Half a year after their wedding, just because she gives another man another look, Fang Yusheng covers her laptop, phone, bedside drawers, desk, and wallet with nothing but his selfies.

I was the reason my idol cancelled her stream…?

Just like how everyone adored heroes in their childhood, a certain young man adored those powers hidden in shadows. After hiding his strength and living the mediocre life of a mob character by day while undergoing frenzied training by night, he finally reincarnates into a different world and gains ultimate power. The young man who is only playing at being a power in the shadows, his misunderstanding subordinates, and a giant organization in the shadows that gets trampled…. This is the story of a young boy who had adored powers in shadows possibly eventually reigning over the world of shadows in another world.