Chapter 1188 The Focus of Discussion

Originally, the farewell ceremony for Chen Hero should have been the main focus, filled with emotions of parting.

But after the farewell ceremony ended, if you picked up a newspaper, turned on the TV or radio, and logged onto the internet, you would find that the focus of everyone's discussion was not Chen Hero's farewell, but rather the words he spoke at the ceremony.

He said that in the future, Liverpool would still be the kings of the Premier League.

These words later caused huge controversy.

Many people laughed at him for telling blatant lies.

What Liverpool would become after his retirement was a foregone conclusion. Anyone could be the most accurate predictor in this matter.

For Liverpool, who had grown accustomed to relying on Chen Hero, his retirement was like the end of the world. For a long time, Liverpool would be unable to recover.

At the same time, during those long years when they monopolized the championships, they had offended too many people, and countless others wanted to seek revenge.

So later, when they encountered Liverpool, one could imagine how motivated and determined they would be.

This would cause Liverpool to encounter even more stubborn resistance when playing against them, requiring them to put in more effort, but they might not be able to achieve better results.

It was very likely that they would end up dying miserably.

Perhaps in the first season, Liverpool would fall from the throne of league champion and lose all their previous glory. In the following seasons, they would struggle in the dark abyss, and they should thank God if they didn't get relegated.

Chen Hero's retirement would also bring about a vicious cycle for Liverpool—poor results, no hope of winning the championship, and the ambitious players in the team would seek transfers. The Liverpool club would also take advantage of the opportunity to sell them off while they could still make some money.

Selling off these players would naturally weaken Liverpool's strength. With a weakened team, they would be at an even greater disadvantage when facing those vengeful opponents in the league, leading to more losses and even more miserable defeats.

This would become a vicious cycle.

And the root cause of all this was Chen Hero's retirement.

Everyone had analyzed Liverpool's future to this extent, yet Chen Hero still had the nerve to say that Liverpool would remain the kings of the Premier League?

Those media and critics who hated Chen Hero and Liverpool seized the opportunity to mock him.

They believed that Chen Hero was simply哄 (hǒng -哄騙) (哄騙: to coax/deceive) Liverpool fans like they were three-year-old children.

"...Does he think that just because he has a high status and prestige in the hearts of Liverpool fans, he can say whatever he wants? He's overdrawing the trust that Liverpool fans have in him!"

"I think this is a blatant insult to Liverpool fans... because anyone with a normal IQ like me wouldn't think that Liverpool's future is bright. Chen Hero is so certain, does he think Liverpool fans' IQs are all below average?"

"Where does his confidence come from? This is truly a world mystery, hahaha!"

It wasn't just the media that was mocking Chen Hero and Liverpool.

Even Liverpool fans themselves didn't believe Chen Hero's words.

However, they were much more tolerant of Chen Hero.

They didn't think that what Chen Hero was doing was bad. On the contrary, they believed that Chen Hero's actions were out of kindness, fearing that these fans would be too sad.

That's why he chose to use these words to comfort everyone.

Although he said it wasn't comforting, everyone knew it was.

He was just trying to make everyone feel better.

He was acting out of kindness, so how could everyone blame him?

If there was blame to be placed, it could only be on their Liverpool for not living up to expectations.

Therefore, the reaction of Liverpool fans was not like those media outlets that were stirring up trouble, flying into a rage at Chen Hero's words.

This greatly disappointed those ill-intentioned media outlets.

But their disappointment didn't last long, because they knew very well what the key to this matter was.

It wasn't the words that Chen Hero said, but the facts.

The fact was that Liverpool would definitely become a weak team next season.

The fact was that Liverpool would absolutely not be able to continue to appear in front of everyone as the overlords of the Premier League in the future.

Even if they didn't succeed in stirring up trouble now, they could肆無忌憚 (sìwújìdàn - unbridled) (肆無忌憚: recklessly; unscrupulously) mock Liverpool and Chen Hero starting next season.

And they wouldn't have to worry about Chen Hero's retaliation at all.

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Liverpool finally won their club's fifteenth Premier League title, surpassing Manchester United. This was the mission objective that Chen Hero had persisted in until the age of forty-one.

If it had been before, this would have been like completing his last wish, and he would have chosen to retire calmly.

But now it was different.

A long journey still awaited him.

This was something he had sought out for himself, but he liked this kind of life. Because he had a new challenge.

In his twenty-four-year professional career, he didn't know how many "teenage prodigies" he had destroyed.

Which of those people wasn't touted by the media as a talent that only appears once every ten years, thirty years, fifty years, or even a hundred years?

There were also those who arrogantly issued challenges to him.

And the result?

These prodigies who only appeared once every n years all died without a burial ground. Some were simply beaten back to their original form, becoming completely ordinary, while those who were more resilient were only between quasi-first-class and first-class, with no great room for development.

It wasn't to say that these geniuses were all undeserving of their reputations. In fact, before they met Chen Hero, they were all the best among their peers.

If they continued to develop like this, perhaps they would become the next Messi, the next Ronaldo... and so on.

But the confidence in their own strength made most of these geniuses very arrogant. From the time they began to receive professional football training, Chen Hero had already become famous in the world of football. Chen Hero led Liverpool to win championships for many consecutive years, proving his strength. Even when Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had not yet retired, he was still the number one player in the world of football.

However, what was not proportional to his achievements was his personality. Because of his personality, many people hated him, and those proud and arrogant young geniuses were no exception.

They believed that with their talent, they should sit on the throne of the world's number one player. And with their personalities, they would gain more fans than Chen Hero and win more cheers from the media.

So some of them launched challenges to Chen Hero before their wings had fully grown.

And then they died.

The latecomers learned from the experience and lessons. They waited until their wings had hardened and they were no longer labeled as "teenage prodigies." At the same time, when they grew up, Chen Hero also began to gradually age, and they launched challenges to Chen Hero.

And then they also died.

These people, no matter how successful they had been, were greatly impacted after their failures, completely devastated by Chen Hero.

Anyone who had witnessed Chen Hero scoring thirteen goals in that game at the Etihad Stadium could understand the blows that those geniuses had suffered.

Before, the geniuses believed that they possessed the most outstanding talent in the world. They were ambitious, full of aspirations, and complacent.

Then, when Chen Hero demonstrated his strength in front of them, these people immediately felt that their talent was not even worth a fart compared to his strength. No matter how hard they tried, they could not defeat this man who was like a mountain range stretching for thousands of kilometers and towering into the clouds.

They lost confidence and the motivation to continue to strive forward. So many people fell into depravity and沉淪 (chénlún - degradation; to sink; to degenerate).

But now it was different, he had a new toy.

This toy was called "Giovanni Leon Amoruso."

What Chen Hero hoped most now was that this toy would be more durable, and not be broken after playing with it for a while.

What if Amoruso surrendered after only one or two seasons? Would he retire again? With such a short interval, it would make him seem like a fickle villain.

So for the sake of his own reputation, Chen Hero also hoped that Amoruso could persevere a little longer.

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Quique had also been a teenage prodigy, but in terms of absolute talent, he was not even comparable to some of those who challenged Chen Hero.

But his emotional intelligence and IQ were clearly stronger than his predecessors.

Because he had never expressed his provocation against Chen Hero in any occasion. He had never said that he wanted to challenge Chen Hero's position.

Even when Chen Hero announced that he would retire after this season, he had not said so.

So he didn't have to bear the burden of being "another Chen Hero challenger." He could grow up in a pressure-free environment. Naturally, he wouldn't crash and shatter to pieces on Chen Hero's Wailing Wall.

He knew his own strength very well, and he also knew Chen Hero's strength very well. He knew that he could not challenge Chen Hero's position as the world's number one player. But there were other ways to become the world's number one player.

He couldn't defeat Chen Hero. There was no one in this world who could defeat Chen Hero.

But just because humans couldn't defeat Chen Hero didn't mean that he wouldn't be defeated.

The only thing that could defeat him was time, and only time.

He believed that Chen Hero would eventually retire.

He had to thank himself for being born in a good era, because when he had just begun to emerge, Chen Hero's career had reached its end. When he entered his prime, Chen Hero announced that he would retire soon.

Time defeated Chen Hero, and the next time was his. Relying on the powerful platform of Barcelona, he believed that he could completely sweep the world of football and achieve his own霸氣 (bàqì - overbearing) (霸氣: domineering spirit), and his ambition was also revealed after Chen Hero's retirement.

He didn't think that Amoruso could pose any threat to him.

Although this kid's rise was very sudden and legendary, he was just one person, and what about himself? He had the entire Barcelona!

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ps, There will be five more chapters tomorrow, and The King of the Forbidden Zone will come to an end!