Chapter 1 Chen Yingxiong, the Shame of St. Petersburg Media

Chen Yingxiong has truly become the shame of the St. Petersburg media. This time, it’s not because they still don't know his origins, but because he openly provoked the media during the game, slapping a group of "uncrowned kings" in the face.

The media, always accustomed to commenting on others and casually labeling them, had never experienced such an "encounter"! They were slapped three times by an eighteen-year-old hothead, their faces swollen.

At the post-match press conference, Advocaat continued to pass the buck, claiming he knew nothing about Chen Yingxiong's background, as Chen Yingxiong was already in the youth team when he arrived.

What he said was impeccable. He really didn't know. Chen Yingxiong wasn't someone he insisted on bringing in; it happened under Petrzela's tenure. How could a coach who took over midway know? To be honest, it was already difficult enough for him to recognize all the first-team players, let alone the youth team... What did it have to do with him?

So the reporters were helpless.

How should they write the post-match news?

Chen Yingxiong's hat trick was definitely an unavoidable topic.

Some had previously suggested saying that Chen Yingxiong scoring a goal was just luck and had nothing to do with his form. That going to nightclubs must have affected his form. As for why they were so sure it affected his form… well, it just did! It definitely affected it! It couldn't possibly not affect it! Otherwise… would there still be any justice in the world?

But what could they say now? A player who scored three goals and completed a hat trick, and they were still stubbornly arguing that he was in poor form? They could expect the editor's phone to be ringing off the hook with protesters the next day!

A hat trick could definitely not be explained by luck, especially this hat trick—Chen Yingxiong, who was good at headers, was facing the strongest opponents he could encounter at this stage. Both center-backs were tall, very good at headers, strong, and experienced.

In fact, Matthew Booth and Andrei Khusin did give Chen Yingxiong a lot of trouble.

But it was precisely under such circumstances that Chen Yingxiong's three goals seemed so precious and hard-earned.

Being able to score three goals under such circumstances, if you said it was luck, just good fortune… did you think the tens of thousands of fans in the stands were blind? Or were you insulting the fans' intelligence?

So this reality made the reporters extremely conflicted…

Finally, one media outlet took the lead. In the news published the next day, they used a large subtitle to express their position.

《Even Nightclubbing Can't Stop Him From Scoring! Each Goal of the Hat Trick Was Wonderful! The Madly Arrogant Hero Makes Kirov Stadium Boil!》

Subsequently, many media outlets followed suit, saying that Chen Yingxiong's performance in the game was perfect, because he still scored three goals with his head against Booth and Khusin, who were good at defending high balls, which said a lot.

As for the nightclubbing… the clever reporters had learned to never mention it, as if that never happened.

Chen Yingxiong looked at these newspapers and smiled happily.

Slapping those reporters in the face felt really good.

Of course, the better reason was because he was about to level up.

The reward for completing a hat trick was far beyond his expectations. He thought it would just be double experience for the three goals.

He didn't expect it to increase so much at once, almost reaching the level-up mark.

Because he not only had experience from the three goals, but he also completed several tasks in one go—"Three Consecutive Wins," "Must Complete a Hat Trick," "Mass Taunt of the Media," "Admiration of Opponents," "Admiration of Teammates," and "Played the Entire Game."

The experience rewards for these tasks varied, but none were small.

The experience from these tasks alone had greatly increased his experience points. Combined with the experience he had accumulated from training, he was only a little over a thousand experience points away from reaching level five. With so little experience, he could basically level up with one AFK session.

After leveling up, of course, he would continue to add talent points to "Knockdown."

Chen Yingxiong had already tasted the sweetness of this talent. In the game against Soviet Wings, it was because he had activated Knockdown that many of his collisions were not fouls, ultimately allowing him to use his body to defeat his experienced opponents.

And he discovered a problem—talent is not omnipotent. It's not like you immediately become a top player in that area just because you activated the talent. So thinking that you are invincible as long as you activate the talent is definitely not the correct way to use talent. Activating talent and maximizing its effect is the right method.

He told Yesenin about his insights, and Yesenin smiled noncommittally.

But Chen Yingxiong wasn't the kind of person who had to get someone else's approval before doing something, so he did it according to his own understanding.

St. Petersburg is not a small city, and St. Petersburg Zenit is not a small team, so what happens in this team cannot be ignored for too long…

Especially with the catalyst of a hat trick.

In football, a hat trick is definitely a topic worth talking about. A striker who scores a hat trick will instantly become the focus of media reports, even if he has been unknown before.

So Chen Yingxiong's name and photos, as well as goal videos, began to appear in some media outside of St. Petersburg.

"...In a match of the last round of the Russian Premier League, a striker from St. Petersburg Zenit scored a hat trick!"

"...It is worth mentioning that this striker was just transferred to the first team three rounds before the league, and this is his third game for Zenit's first team..."

"...Chen Yingxiong, wearing the number 99 jersey, is the biggest contributor to this game. He scored three goals in the game, completing his first hat trick in his career!"

"...This eighteen-year-old young player has black hair and yellow skin... That's right, he is a player from China... But what the St. Petersburg media has not figured out until now is—how did this Chinese player come to Zenit? You should know that no media knew about his joining... For the St. Petersburg media, Chen Yingxiong is simply a mystery..."

"Three headers, each one wonderful! But this is not a sudden explosion of this player. In the previous two rounds of the league, he started all games on behalf of St. Petersburg Zenit, and scored in every game... But if it wasn't for this hat trick, maybe we would have known about him later..."

"...Eighteen-year-old Chen Yingxiong is Chinese, he is 1.92 meters tall and weighs 93 kilograms. You can see how strong he is from this photo. His characteristic is that his header is very, very outstanding, which can be verified from the three goals. He has played three times for Zenit and scored five goals, all five goals are headers!"

Newspaper, television, and the internet all had news reports related to Chen Yingxiong.

Although Chen Yingxiong's popularity is far less than those established stars, at least many people in Russia know that there is such a person in St. Petersburg Zenit.

More and more media outlets are interested in Chen Yingxiong, but the media from other places are pouring into St. Petersburg, while the media from St. Petersburg are running outwards—they already know that they can't get more information about Chen Yingxiong from Advocaat and Popovic. So they still have to honestly go to the Czech Republic to find Petrzela, he introduced Chen Yingxiong when he was in office, he must know Chen Yingxiong's origin...

When the training was over, Chen Yingxiong habitually wanted to give himself extra training. At this time, he was stopped by Advocaat.

"Take a rest today, Hero," Advocaat said.

"But..." Chen Yingxiong was thinking about leveling up. He had now reached level five. It takes 90,000 experience points to go from level five to level six. He wanted to level up as soon as possible and max out the Knockdown talent.

"Today you will participate in a press conference with me."

Chen Yingxiong was taken aback.

"Get ready, many media will be interested in you then," Advocaat smiled.

"I'm not afraid of them," Chen Yingxiong said, shaking his head. He had never participated in a press conference, but facing reporters was not the first time. He also thought of the confrontation with the reporters in the game that day.

If there are still reporters who are not open-eyed and want to bring up the past today, he doesn't mind slapping him again.

Sure enough, at the press conference, Chen Yingxiong became the focus of the reporters. Even they did not expect St. Petersburg Zenit to invite this striker who had suddenly become popular to the press conference.

They had too many questions to ask Chen Yingxiong.

For example, how did he come to Zenit.

"I was brought by Mr. Panchenko." Chen Yingxiong still respected Panchenko, the scout who brought him to Zenit from the training ground of CSKA Moscow. Although he is arrogant, he still has basic politeness and a grateful heart. Panchenko gave him a chance when he was most difficult, and this opportunity benefited him a lot, of course he remembers such a great kindness.

"I passed Zenit's test and joined Zenit." Chen Yingxiong simply said how he joined Zenit.

"How do you feel about completing a hat trick in the last game?"

"It's so cool!" Chen Yingxiong's words left many reporters speechless. How can there be such a direct person? Can't you be a little more euphemistic?

"Five goals in three rounds?"

"Even cooler!"

The reporters below were collectively silent...

Advocaat smiled with his head down next to him.

This is the Chen Yingxiong he knew. He dared to privately change his arrangements in training, dared to come to him directly to make demands when he didn't get what he wanted, dared to righteously say that it was his personal freedom after going to nightclubs, and dared to… complete a hat trick when facing strong enemies.

This is his style, those reporters from other places, you may need to adapt—if you still want to continue to report on him...