His dad was a football coach, so playing football naturally became Zong Xiaoye’s hobby. He started professional football training when he was six.

Originally, Zong Xiaoye thought his life would go like this: start at 6, work on physical fitness at 8, technique at 9, tactics at 12, matches at 14, go pro at 16, peak at 20, step onto the international stage, win countless awards, and retire at 35.

Zong Xiaoye did, in fact, successfully make one part of that come true: retirement.

Because his old man thought the football scene was trash and ordered him to retire on the spot after graduating primary school.

And just like that, his pro path got cut off.

But the football soul in Zong Xiaoye never died.

He planned to train hard on his own, play at street pitches, then join the university team in college, dominate the college league, then enter the city league and return to the pro stage!

Come on, my road of football!

The match continued.

Zong Xiaoye got the ball again.

Duan Shigang shouted, "Mark him!"

Dan Kaiquan and Guo Kunnan pressed up; with his instep glued to the ball, Zong Xiaoye slid it away.

Then Duan Shigang came over to block; Zong Xiaoye moved insanely fast, the ball dancing rapidly between his left and right foot, completely confusing Duan Shigang’s line of sight.

He nudged it with his heel, the ball popping to the diagonal behind him; Zong Xiaoye twisted his body, turning toward where the ball was rolling, dribbling all the way to the goalmouth.

Chai Wei: "I’m fully prepared for this!"

Zong Xiaoye threw in a feint and easily slipped the ball into the net.

Another wave of noise erupted around the field.

As the core of the whole team and the focus of everyone’s eyes, he turned around and shot back, "You guys? Stop me?"

Even the senior girls from Grade 3 outside the field were looking over now, not to mention the girls from his own class.

But Zong Xiaoye only looked at one person: his classmate Luo Yingzhu. She was walking on the track with a friend; at this moment, she gave him a slight nod.

It had a bit of that Condor Heroes-level silent understanding.

Zong Xiaoye immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "Anyone else?"

Gai Shixun ran over, slung an arm around his neck, and said bluntly, "Playing you guys is like stomping ants!"

Up on the podium, Wang Yong said, "That Zong Xiaoye is pretty damn strong!"

Gong Jin watched the pitch. "Different league entirely."

The guys from Class 8 on the field all had dark faces, feeling ridiculously suffocated.

Duan Shigang cursed, "Fuck, if Wu Xiaoqi had trained football, we’d have kicked them into pieces!" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Tao Nian shrugged helplessly. "We can’t beat them."

Grade 3 losing to Grade 1—what a fucking disgrace.

Liu Chuandao tossed sportsmanship out the window. "Watch me send him flying later!"

Cui Yu waved his hand. "Fuck it, brothers, come with me to call for backup!"

Cui Yu ran up to the podium and said, "Jiang Ning, we’re asking you to come out of seclusion!"

Chen Siyu chimed in, "Go, Jiang Ning!"

Gong Jin: "Uh, you know how to play?"

Jiang Ning, having nothing better to do: "I’ll give it a try."

Yang Sheng shouted, "Jiang Ning, the badminton match is about to need you."

Jiang Ning: "You guys play this round first, I’ll be right there."

He followed them toward the football pitch.

Gai Shixun also recognized Jiang Ning; he still remembered and said, "Xiaoye, I’ve got a bit of history with that guy, help me teach him a lesson."

"And judging from the look of it, he’s the ringer they just called in." Gai Shixun said with a grin.

Zong Xiaoye didn’t take it seriously at all. In this school, there was literally no one who could last a single round with him.

Zong Xiaoye smiled faintly. "Let me score two more, then I’m planning to take a break."

His words made his classmates laugh; they weren’t even putting the opponents in their eyes!

After Cui Yu came over, he said, "We’re swapping a player, hope you don’t mind?"

Zong Xiaoye glanced at Jiang Ning, still calm as ever. "Mm, doesn’t really make a difference."

Cui Yu thought to himself, Damn, look at this cocky bastard.

Gai Shixun flipped him the bird. "You mad?"

The match resumed.

With Gai Shixun’s cooperation, Zong Xiaoye easily got the ball again, ready to pull off another dribbling show; this time, he wanted to cut through their entire defense all by himself!

Just as he dribbled into the opponent’s penalty area, a figure on the diagonal came flying in at insane speed; it was so fast that Zong Xiaoye didn’t even have time to react before the ball was gone.

Right after losing the ball, Gai Shixun, Zong Xiaoye, and the Grade 1 players swarmed toward him from all directions.

Jiang Ning couldn’t be bothered to dribble; he swung his right leg like a steel whip and whipped the ball with a booming "bang."

From eighty meters out, the ball shot across more than half the playground like a cannon shell and slammed into the back of the net.

The charging Zong Xiaoye froze on the spot.

Gai Shixun’s brain crashed: Is this even fucking legal?

The other student players were also stunned. Isn’t this the kind of thing you only see in real pro matches?

Jiang Ning looked at the stunned underclassmen and encouraged them, "You guys have a bright future."

After saying that, Jiang Ning didn’t stay, just turned around and walked off the pitch.

Zong Xiaoye watched that departing back and suddenly felt like football was kind of a pointless sport.

Cui Yu shot them the middle finger in disdain, then hurried off as well.

When Jiang Ning came back to the track, Yang Sheng looked at him with a hint of surprise in her eyes.

Chen Siyu: "They were acting so cocky just now, why didn’t you flip them off?"

Jiang Ning: "No need."

Bai Yuxia felt that Chen Siyu was both weak and overly competitive and really deserved a beating, so she said, "Si Yu, your badminton skills are, are..."

She held up her middle finger, waving it up and down; it somehow looked kind of cute.

Chen Siyu cried out, "Your fingers are so thin and long, and your nails are long too—if you dig with those it must really hurt."

Yang Sheng: "Si Yu, no wonder people say you’re dumb. Yuxia probably doesn’t dig, and even if it hurts, you can just cut your nails. Small issue."

Bai Yuxia’s expression froze; she couldn’t believe it: Yang Sheng, you’ve been infected by Si Yu too?

She couldn’t imagine cool, short-haired, heroic Yang Sheng falling this low.

Yang Sheng: "But I still suggest digging less, it’s not hygienic and doesn’t look good."

Chen Siyu fumed, "Not just that, it’s downright indecent—an insult to basic morals!"

Yang Sheng was surprised and said, "Uh, that’s a bit much. Just don’t do it in public. At the end of the day, humans are still advanced animals."

Bai Yuxia suddenly had a bad feeling and asked, "What exactly are you talking about digging?"

Yang Sheng looked puzzled. "Noses, obviously."

Bai Yuxia repented in her heart.