Maikov's whistle didn't sound again, perhaps because there really wasn't anything wrong with the goal, or perhaps because Maikov himself was so shocked by the goal that he forgot to blow the whistle. In any case, his whistle didn't sound.

After coldly questioning his opponent, Chen Hero didn't linger in front of the goal. He turned and walked towards the sidelines.

From the moment the coach arrogantly ridiculed him and his father, Chen Hero had no intention of starting his career with this team, regardless of whether he was good enough to be noticed by CSKA Moscow.

There was no need to stay where he wasn't appreciated. This was a team that didn't know how to respect people, especially that coach.

Despite being a powerhouse in the Russian league, they lacked the demeanor of one.

Amidst the surprised gazes of the crowd, Chen Hero walked straight to his father on the sidelines.

"Let's go, Dad." Chen Hero bent down and picked up his large backpack. He and his father were like this, each with a backpack and a bag slung over their shoulders, traveling north and south, all over Europe.

Chen Tao asked, "Just like that?"

Chen Hero nodded. "Yeah, I don't want to play for a team that looks down on me."

Chen Tao thought for a moment, and felt that what his son said made sense. There was no need to force oneself on someone who didn't appreciate them.

But...

"Then we can only go home, Hero."

"Home it is then! I'll just get a job!" Chen Hero said decisively.

Deep down, Chen Hero was naturally unwilling to give up his football dream just like that. But the game was already over, so what else could he do? The outcome couldn't be changed, losing was losing, and he lost this most crucial game, losing the chance to advance.

All he could do now was...try to leave with dignity.

"Let's go, Dad!" Chen Hero took the lead and strode away from the training ground.

Chen Tao also felt sorry for his son, but what else could he do? They had put in all the effort they could, endured hardships that ordinary people couldn't, and the ending was unsatisfactory, but there was nothing they could do. He put on his backpack and followed his son's footsteps.

The two of them turned and left the training ground in full view of everyone.

Latysh was stunned for a moment, then suddenly grabbed Valery Minko beside him. "Go! Stop him for me!"

Minko was a little surprised. "Who?"

"Who do you think?" Latysh glared at his clueless subordinate.

"Uh... you really intend to..." After realizing who he was talking about, Minko was even more surprised.

"Give him a week's trial, take a closer look at his abilities, and then make a decision." Latysh gave Minko his orders, and also made a decision.

His previous view that he had no talent now seemed to be wrong. His physical qualities were indeed quite outstanding. If he could use them properly and focus on special training for headers, maybe he wouldn't be a complete waste... At least give him a week's trial to see what level he was at.

When Minko chased after them, Chen Hero and his father were almost at the gate. These two were still easy to recognize, with their conspicuous large backpacks, and each with another bag slung over their shoulders, they stood out in the crowd. CSKA Moscow wasn't one of those famous European powerhouses; there were very few out-of-town fans who came to watch the games with all their belongings. So Minko spotted his target in the crowd at a glance.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute..." He waved and shouted from behind. "Hey!"

But the two people in front didn't react at all, didn't turn their heads, and didn't stop their pace.

He had no choice but to catch up directly...

Finally, he stopped the two of them at the gate.

Minko, still panting, didn't bother with pleasantries and asked Chen Hero directly, "Do you want to stay and play for CSKA Moscow?"

He asked directly, and Chen Hero answered just as frankly, "Not at all!" There wasn't the slightest hesitation on his face.

Minko didn't expect to get such an answer.

He certainly knew what this father and son were doing at the training ground. Wasn't it just hoping that the team would give them a trial opportunity, so that they could be noticed by the team and sign a contract to become professional players?

Now that the kid in front of him had finally earned Latysh's "special attention" through his efforts, shouldn't he accept CSKA Moscow's trial request without hesitation, and thank Latysh for his magnanimity?

"What?" He thought he had heard wrong.

"I said I don't want to stay and play for any CSKA Moscow!" Chen Hero said slowly, word by word, in English, to make sure that the Russian in front of him understood and wouldn't have any more questions.

"Have you thought it through?" Minko was a little surprised. "I know... uh..."

He stopped talking.

Chen Hero smiled.

It seemed that the other party also knew where the problem lay. He appreciated the embarrassment of the coach in front of him.

His smile enraged Minko, who was already a little embarrassed—CSKA Moscow was a powerhouse in Russia, and as the team's coach, the fact that I was willing to personally persuade you to stay was already giving you a lot of face, kid! Don't push your luck!

"Don't think that you have some kind of capital just because you scored a goal in the test just now... I'm telling you that was just the youth team, and they might not even be able to play as starters..."

Chen Hero interrupted him directly. "I don't care what you are, even if you call the first team's main defense over, I can score goals over their heads!" Chen Hero and Minko butted heads. Even if he couldn't really blow up CSKA Moscow's main defense in the game, he definitely couldn't lose momentum in his words, and he had to be tough to the end!

Minko laughed—why was he arguing with an arrogant kid who didn't know his own weight here?

He shook his head. "I hope you think clearly about what you came here for. You know better than I do. This is your chance. But we won't always give you such opportunities."

"I don't care about the opportunities you give me at all. Aren't I rejecting you right now?" Chen Hero shrugged. He, Chen Hero, wouldn't eat food that was offered condescendingly. "Anyway, it's not my loss to let me go, it's your loss."

Minko found the big guy in front of him even funnier.

"Our loss? Ha..."

Truly, ignorance is bliss!

He didn't want to waste any more time talking nonsense with this idiot, so he turned and left.

When he got back, if Latysh asked, he would just repeat the original words. He believed that anyone with a normal IQ would have a judgment.

In fact, that was indeed the case. After Latysh heard Minko's retelling, he sneered, "Score goals over Semberas, Ignashevich, and the Berezutsky brothers' heads? Ha!"

He laughed, and the others next to him laughed as well.

Deividas Semberas was a Lithuanian international, and although he was only twenty-six years old, he had already played forty-three times for the national team.

Sergey Ignashevich was twenty-five years old and had played for the Russian national team twenty-one times. He had long been the main center back of the Russian national team. Before the 2004 European Cup, he withdrew from the national team due to injury, and as a result, Russia suffered a crushing defeat in that European Cup. Perhaps the only thing worth mentioning was that they were the only team that defeated the Greek team that won the tournament...

And the young Berezutsky twins, although they were only twenty-three years old, were already regulars on the Russian national team. The older brother, Alexey Berezutskiy, had played fourteen times for his country, as a left back. The younger brother, Vasily Berezutskiy, had been selected for the national team ten times, as a right back. At the same time, they were also CSKA Moscow's main full-backs.

These four people formed CSKA Moscow's main defensive line.

All of them were national team level players, and that oriental kid dared to say that he could score goals over their heads?

Latysh shook his head and waved his hand. "Forget it, forget it. There's no need to get so angry over a fool..." He now regretted that he had used the youth team to humor a fool. Maybe this person's physical qualities were indeed outstanding, and he had a little bit of talent in heading, but what could such a performance prove? Anyone could get lucky, and he had no interest in letting such an ignorant and arrogant person join CSKA Moscow, otherwise it would only be a disgrace to CSKA Moscow.

"Is it really okay to just reject them like that, Hero?" After walking out of the CSKA Moscow training base gate, Chen Tao asked his son.

"What's wrong with it, Dad? Didn't you notice how those people were treating us? They were looking at us like we were idiots and clowns!" Chen Hero said angrily. At the training base, his dad asked him to restrain himself, and he had nowhere to vent his anger, so he had long been unhappy. He even felt that he had been too polite to that coach just now. He should have said something harsher, preferably to make the other party furious.

"It's just that in this way, you..." Chen Tao seemed even more unwilling and couldn't let it go more than his son.

"Hey, didn't I say it already? If it doesn't work out, I'll go home and get a job. In this day and age, as long as you're willing to work, can you starve to death? I've figured it out, Dad. If I can't play professional football, I'll just change the way I live. I was too decadent before. I've learned a lot from this trip." Chen Hero patted his dad's shoulder like an adult.

"Learned what?" Chen Tao asked with interest.

"Uh..." Chen Hero scratched the back of his head. "Too much, I can't explain it all in a moment... But, to be a hero, you can do it anywhere."

Chen Tao smiled as he looked at his confident son.

His son used to be quite confident. He had a physical advantage among his peers, and he played in the youth team of a professional football club, so it seemed like he had a bright future. But on this trip to Europe, he was afraid that he would dampen his son's confidence, make him completely give up on himself, and even start to deny his past twelve years of football...

Now it seemed that his son was still confident. He was relieved, and he also agreed with his son's words, that if you really wanted to be a hero, you could do it anywhere. Whether or not he played football in the future, he had to have confidence in himself.

"Let's go, back to the hotel. Tomorrow I'll take you to visit Red Square, the Kremlin... We've been out for a month, but we haven't been to a single scenic spot. I won't be able to explain it to your mother when we get back..."

Ruslan Panchenko, who had been observing from the sidelines, felt that it was time for him to appear.

From the moment Chen Hero's father pleaded bitterly with CSKA Moscow assistant coach Latysh at the edge of the training ground, to Chen Hero facing CSKA Moscow's entire youth team defense alone, constantly failing and constantly getting back up, and finally scoring that beautiful goal, he had been a very serious spectator on the sidelines.

Next to the parking lot outside the CSKA Moscow training base, he stopped Chen Hero and his father.

Chen Hero looked at the person in front of him with ill intentions—he regarded Panchenko as a spokesperson for CSKA Moscow.

"I'm sorry, I've already said that I won't play for you." He expressed his opinion in English, looking rather impatient.

Panchenko wasn't angry because of Chen Hero's attitude, but asked with a smile, "Would you not be willing to play for Zenit Saint Petersburg either?"

Chen Hero was stunned.

He had never heard of the name Zenit Saint Petersburg.

"What kind of team is that?" Chen Tao asked on behalf of his son. He also didn't know anything about this name, and it was very unfamiliar.

"A professional team in Saint Petersburg, third in the Super League last season." Panchenko introduced. "Your physical qualities are very outstanding. I think you have the qualities to become a professional player..."

Chen Hero suddenly asked, "You don't charge any referral fees, do you?"

Panchenko was stunned by Chen Hero's nonsensical question, while Chen Tao was a little embarrassed to explain, "It's like this, we were cheated by someone in Italy before. The other party also claimed to be a scout..."

Ruslan Panchenko shook his head and smiled. "How could that be? I won't charge you a single cent. I work for Zenit Club, and the club is responsible for my salary. I won't ask you for a single ruble."

Chen Hero still looked at the other party with suspicion.

Panchenko also knew what the other party was suspecting. When you came to a strange country and had been cheated before, you really had to be vigilant and see everyone as a bad guy.

He spread out his hands. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything to prove my identity at the moment. But this is my phone number. You can think about it and make a decision after you've thought it through. At that time, please don't forget to call me." As he spoke, he wrote down a phone number with a pen, and also wrote down his name, and handed it to Chen Hero.

He also formally introduced himself once. "My name is Ruslan Panchenko, a scout for Zenit Saint Petersburg. This is my phone number on it." He pointed to the string of numbers on the business card.

Then he spread out his hands. "I just gave you a phone number. I didn't ask you for a single cent. I hope you can believe me."

After saying that, he said goodbye to the two of them.

Chen Hero and Chen Tao stared blankly at the back of this man who suddenly appeared and claimed to be a scout for Zenit Saint Petersburg for a while, and then Chen Hero looked down at the phone number in his hand. After looking at it for more than ten seconds, he reached out his hand to Chen Tao.

"What for?" His father asked.

"Call it and try it out to see if it's a dead number!"