Chapter 1 First Impression

The deepest impression Chen Hero got from his first meeting with everyone in the locker room wasn't the captain, nor the part-time translator Hagen, not even the team's number one star Arshavin, or even the Korean trio, but Russian!

Russian! Russian! Russian!

Chen Hero now wished he could wake up one morning and know how to speak Russian.

Not knowing Russian was too painful. He couldn't communicate with anyone, couldn't understand what others were saying. In the locker room, he felt like an outsider. The Koreans didn't understand Russian either, but they had strength in numbers. The three of them could play cards together. Chen Hero was all alone, and didn't know who to talk to. On his first day in the first team, he could only occasionally talk to Erik Hagen, but Chen Hero's English was also limited, so he couldn't have in-depth conversations. Besides, his relationship with Hagen was very ordinary, not good enough to be together all the time.

So most of the time, he appeared calm on the training ground. Yesenin could only come and translate for him when the first team coach gave him tasks. The rest of the time, he had to rely on himself.

Fortunately, many of the first team coaches were familiar with him before. His performance during the trial training was so shocking that it left a very deep impression on everyone.

After training, Advocaat kept Chen Hero behind alone and told him about things in his life—just ask if there was anything inconvenient. He also hoped that he would speed up learning Russian. After all, the language barrier made it difficult for him to integrate into the team. This wasn't the youth team anymore, where the competition wasn't fierce enough. In the first team, if you weren't careful, you could be demoted to the reserve team. If that happened, it would be difficult to turn things around.

After training, Chen Hero and Yesenin walked towards the dormitory together after saying goodbye to Advocaat.

They had to cross a large training base. At dusk, most of these areas were empty. If it weren't for the many modern facilities, people would think it was a natural forest park.

"Advocaat thinks highly of you, Hero," Yesenin said to Chen Hero on the way.

"Mmm..."

In the past, if Yesenin praised him like this, Chen Hero would immediately seize the opportunity and never waste any chance to show off.

But today he seemed a little silent.

Chen Hero suddenly stopped and turned to look at Yesenin: "Is there any way I can learn Russian overnight?"

Yesenin shook his head: "Absolutely impossible."

"Aren't you a god?"

"I'm not."

"Anyway, you have superpowers, right? Can't you let me learn Russian? By the way, let me learn English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian..."

Yesenin spread his hands: "Stop dreaming, Hero. I'm not a god, and my abilities are only effective for soccer..."

"Don't lie! Why else would you speak fluent English, Russian, and... Chinese?" Chen Hero obviously didn't believe him.

"Those are my own abilities. I know Russian myself, but that doesn't mean I can make you have the same fluent Russian as me right away, Hero."

"Then how can I learn Russian?"

"Aren't we doing that right now? On the team, I'm your translator, and at night I'm your language teacher, teaching you Russian."

"That's too slow..." Chen Hero lowered his head in frustration.

Yesenin shrugged: "Gaining the ability to head the ball overnight, and then knowing all the languages after sleeping... You can't have all the good things in the world, right?"

Chen Hero sighed. It seemed that learning a language was much more difficult than playing soccer...

"But, if I don't know Russian, I won't be able to communicate and chat with them, and I won't be able to integrate into the team."

"Before I came, how did you integrate into the youth team without a translator or a language teacher?"

Yesenin asked Chen Hero.

Chen Hero was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

"Treat them to another meal!"

"Idiot!" Yesenin scolded. "You have a lively and cheerful personality, and you're the youngest on the first team. Aren't these all advantages for you to integrate into the team?!"

"Uh..." Chen Hero scratched his head. He was actually scolded by Yesenin... He thought it was incredible!

Seeing Chen Hero's expression, Yesenin asked strangely, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with what I said?"

Chen Hero smiled: "No, no... Heh, heh heh. I was just thinking... This is the first time you've scolded me, Mr. Aurora."

Yesenin was stunned, then he realized. "I haven't done this before?"

Chen Hero shook his head resolutely.

"Oh... Do you think I'm more like a human now?" Yesenin asked.

Chen Hero shook his head again resolutely: "It's still early! Real human emotions are much richer, and... they change so quickly, almost without reason or warning. Just one 'smile' has so many kinds. You... still have a long way to go, learn slowly!" Chen Hero had just been scolded by Yesenin, so he immediately found an opportunity to fight back, giving Yesenin a hard blow.

But privately, Chen Hero had to admit that this Mr. Aurora was becoming more and more like a human...

The qualities Chen Hero showed in training were very mediocre. At least, if most of his teammates observed carefully, they wouldn't think that this big guy was qualified to enter the first team... To be honest, his abilities in some areas weren't even as good as those of the youth team players.

Advocaat was also surprised that Chen Hero's qualities in these areas were not high. This gave Potter more room to play.

"I told you he was just lucky... He just happened to play well in those two games. We should have observed him for a longer period of time... Watching training is better than watching games, Dick."

Advocaat frowned and didn't comment on his assistant's opinion.

Arshavin cast a doubtful look at Chen Hero. He didn't know what abilities this big guy had to be selected for the first team...

There were many people who had the same idea as him.

Until Advocaat conducted corner kick tactics training.

People of Chen Hero's height should of course be arranged in front of the goal. On the one hand, he had the ability to head the ball, and on the other hand, he could attract defensive attention and create opportunities for his teammates.

In fact, Chen Hero was very clear about his weaknesses and strengths. This was even clearer after he met Mr. Aurora. He knew that apart from the unexpected gift of the head ball skill, his other abilities were actually still at the level of training in the domestic club youth team. Of course, he couldn't compare with these players who were trained in the top Russian leagues, or even those who were already famous.

He was particularly confident in his heading ability. This was the case even before he knew it was brought about by superpowers.

He also knew what kind of eyes his teammates were looking at him with, especially that Korean guy named Li Hao, who was full of disdain for his performance... Chen Hero didn't know why Li Hao was so obvious, perhaps he was used to thinking highly of himself?

But now he had an opportunity to let everyone see the reason why he was transferred to the first team.

But Advocaat poured cold water on him.

"Your role in this corner kick tactic is to feint and pull, run forward from your current position, make a feint to head the ball at the near post, pull the attention of the defenders, and then provide an opportunity for your teammates to insert from the back and head the ball to attack the goal." Yesenin translated Advocaat's words to Chen Hero.

Chen Hero stared at Yesenin with wide eyes: "Did he really say that?"

Yesenin nodded.

"So I don't have a chance to head the ball to attack the goal?"

"No." Yesenin shook his head.

Chen Hero clicked his tongue.

The one in charge of taking the corner kick was twenty-three-year-old Anyukov. Last season, he transferred to Zenit for 110 million rubles, or about three million euros, and quickly became a starter.

The corner kick was kicked to the front of the goal. Chen Hero followed Advocaat's tactical requirements and cut diagonally from the middle to the near post, attracting the defender who was defending him to move with him, thus opening up the space.

The soccer ball passed over him, and center back Martin Škrtel, who was inserted from the back row, jumped up and headed the ball!

The soccer ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.

Applause rang out from the sidelines and on the field, as a compliment to the beautiful completion of the tactic.

His teammates were also joking with Škrtel, saying that it was a pity that he didn't score the goal.

Chen Hero saw all of this. This was the first time he had been a foil for others... The feeling wasn't very good.

Chen Hero now urgently wanted to prove his heading ability, especially to let that Li Hao stop rolling his eyes at him. And the best thing was that Li Hao was in the defensive lineup, responsible for defending in the penalty area.

If he could head the ball into the goal over his head, he believed it would be able to pull his eyeballs back to their normal position...

The second corner kick was taken, and Chen Hero still followed the tactical requirements and cut from the middle to the near post. But this time, something was different...

When he ran to the spot, he suddenly jumped high!

No one would have thought that Chen Hero would jump up, and then... shake his head to attack the goal!

Škrtel was originally planning to follow up and head the ball from the back, just like before. But he didn't expect that he had just prepared to jump when he found Chen Hero shaking his head in front!

Chen Hero very accurately headed the ball, and the soccer ball was thrown by him to the near post!

Goalkeeper Malafeev didn't react at all, and watched helplessly as the soccer ball was headed into the goal by Chen Hero!

When Chen Hero landed, he was a little proud—you know my strength now, right?

But before he had time to observe the expressions of his teammates, he heard the whistle.

Assistant coach Potter walked in angrily, followed by Yesenin, who had to trot all the way to catch up.

He shouted a bunch of things, and Yesenin simply said: "He said don't act on your own initiative, and strictly follow the coach's requirements."

Chen Hero immediately put on a smiling face and said to the assistant coach: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I saw the ball flying over, and I couldn't help but make that move..."

Yesenin glanced at him. He didn't believe that Chen Hero said it was unintentional. How could he not know what Chen Hero was planning? He, the translator, could also see the way those teammates looked at him. Chen Hero urgently wanted to prove himself, even if it meant violating the coach's requirements.

This kid... was a little fearless.

What's the Chinese saying?

A newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger.

After listening to Chen Hero's explanation, Potter couldn't say anything more. At least, his attitude was pretty good... He just warned Chen Hero again, telling him to strictly follow the tactics arranged by the coach for training and not to act on his own initiative, before he withdrew.

As soon as he returned, he complained to Advocaat: "It's too chaotic!"

Advocaat smiled and remained noncommittal. "Continue training, Kurt," he said.

Chen Hero on the training ground was very helpless, but there was nothing he could do, so he had to continue to be a supporting role for others. He didn't know if his header had attracted the attention of his teammates and made them change their opinion of him. Maybe it had an effect, maybe nothing at all.

Regardless of whether his header had attracted everyone's attention, at least he let some people make such a comment about him—not very obedient.

But that's right, he, Chen Hero, was indeed disobedient.