Chapter 1 Naples Prepares

Naples was in preparation.

Raúl’s arrival didn’t cause massive waves in the team’s locker room. Having transferred from Real Madrid to Naples, he seemed to have a good grasp of his position, acting with humility. In the locker room, he would greet his teammates with a smile, despite the language barrier, and wasn't unlikeable.

Many people were whispering privately: “He truly is from a super club like Real Madrid. His interpersonal skills are better than ours…”

Seeing that Raúl wasn't aggressive towards the Naples locker room, many people were relieved and went about their usual business.

During this time, Chen Hero had visitors.

※※※

Outside the Volturno training base, many fans gathered. With Raúl’s arrival, the popularity of Volturno had increased, drawing many Spanish media outlets in addition to the fans. Due to Raúl's influence and popularity, many people in Spain still cared about him even after he arrived in Italy, so many media outlets sent reporters to track and report on Raúl's news in Naples.

Just like usual, Chen Hero came out of the locker room and was heading to the parking lot when he was surrounded by fans, who took out their prepared celebrity cards, posters, and jerseys, and handed over their pens, asking him for his autograph.

Some fans even asked to take a photo with Chen Hero after getting his autograph.

Chen Hero was now used to this scene. But when he first transferred to Naples, he didn't have this kind of treatment. At that time, all of Naples was his enemy. He had to have bodyguards and police escorts whenever he went anywhere, even to the training base.

Autographs? Forget about it. The fans here would be doing well if they didn't spit in his face.

Now, as he continued to score goals, the Naples fans were gradually being conquered by him. The lineup that once hated him was also gradually being divided.

Chen Hero signed autographs and took photos without looking up as he walked toward his car. Seeing him walking over from a distance, his bodyguard and driver, Cabrella, also jumped out of the car and stood in front of the rear seat door, ready to open it.

Just as he was about to reach the car, a business card appeared in front of him: "Please sign this, Hero."

Chen Hero had seen all kinds of items on which people asked for signatures. Celebrity cards, posters, and jerseys were the usual things. There were even crazy female fans who rushed up to him, tore open the front of their clothes, revealing their ample bosoms, and excitedly asked him to sign his name on them.

But, using a business card to ask him for a signature was really… a first.

So, out of curiosity, he looked up.

"Eh?" With just one glance, he recognized the person in front of him. Although it had been a long time since they had last met, he had eaten and drank at the person's place without spending a penny, and they had addressed each other as brothers, so the impression was quite profound.

"Brother Chen?" He couldn't help but address him directly in Chinese.

Chen Xing laughed heartily: "I'm surprised you haven't forgotten me, kid!"

He was about to exchange a few more pleasantries with Chen Hero when he saw Cabrella standing behind Chen Hero.

His eyes lit up, and he immediately forgot about exchanging pleasantries with Chen Hero, bypassing him and heading straight for Cabrella.

"Beautiful lady, let me introduce myself, my name is Chen Xing, you can also call me Chris…" He walked over, ready to take Cabrella's hand.

But he suddenly let out a scream, precisely because Cabrella had given him a shoulder throw, pinning him to the concrete floor. The fans around him who were planning to ask for autographs all took a step back, startled by this scene. Everyone had heard that Chen Hero had a very powerful female bodyguard, but they didn't know exactly how powerful she was. They only knew that this bodyguard drove very fast…

Now that they had seen her skills, a strong man over 1.8 meters tall was taken down as soon as she wanted… truly someone you couldn't afford to provoke!

When Chen Hero turned his head, he saw Chen Xing's embarrassed appearance as Cabrella pinned him to the ground with her elbows and knees. He laughed gleefully: "This is the consequence of being distracted by beauty, Brother Chen."

Chen Xing coughed loudly on the ground, feeling awkward.

Chen Hero waved at Cabrella: "Let him go, Christine. He helped your brother pay off his debts."

Only then did Cabrella release him. If it were normal circumstances, she would have stood up on her own and let the other person get up by himself. But this time, because Chen Hero said that this man had helped her brother pay off his debts, she naturally knew what was going on, so she gave him special treatment and personally helped Chen Xing up.

Chen Xing originally wanted to shake hands, which could be considered a goal achieved, but the price was a bit high…

A man who had been standing next to Chen Xing shook his head with a helpless smile.

Only then did Chen Hero notice this person. He had black hair and yellow skin, but his features were not like those of a traditional Asian person. Instead, they were angular and distinct, with obvious European characteristics. At the same time, his pupils were blue…

"That's my university classmate!" Chen Xing's voice rang out from behind. After being helped up, he thanked Cabrella, which was truly absurd for outsiders to see – who thanks someone after being thrown to the ground?

He straightened his clothes and then stylishly gathered his disheveled hair, walked between the two, and introduced Chen Hero.

"Lu Ang, you can call him Nion, either works. A mixed-blood."

"Lu Niang?" Chen Hero's first reaction upon hearing the name was this. (Niang can mean "womanly.")

The two people opposite him were stunned, and then Chen Xing laughed heartily without any conscience, while laughing, he patted Lu Ang's back: "Haha! Lu Niang, Lu Niang… what a great nickname! I'll call you 'Lu Niang' from now on too!"

Lu Ang next to him didn't fly into a rage, but just glared at Chen Xing, who was mocking him.

However, this person was fair-skinned and wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, giving him a refined appearance. He did look… pretty effeminate.

Withdrawing his gaze from Chen Xing, Lu Ang extended his hand towards Chen Hero. Only then did Chen Hero notice that his hand was as fair and clean as his face, slender and delicate like a woman's hand.

"The 'Giant Bear' of Naples, I've heard so much about you."

He spoke in Mandarin, but it wasn't very fluent, though it was enough to understand the meaning completely.

"I'm very sorry… my Chinese isn't very good…" After saying these few sentences, he quickly switched to Italian. "My father came to Italy a long time ago. I was born in Italy and haven't been to China, so I don't speak Chinese very well."

"You're Italian?" Chen Hero was a little surprised.

"From Florence, Italy."

Chen Xing chimed in: "Nion and I… haha! Okay, okay…" Seeing Lu Ang glare at him again, as if saying, "Do you believe I'll kill you with my eyes?" he quickly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Nion and I were in university for four years. This kid is a crazy fan. Even crazier than me. He studied economics, but he knows everything about the world football scene. But he's not a Naples fan, he's a Fiorentina fan. Haha!"

Chen Hero shrugged: "Oh, we don't have any feud with Fiorentina."

Lu Ang smiled: "Fiorentina is included in Naples' list of arch-rivals, and Naples also has a place among Fiorentina's main competitors."

Chen Hero was a little surprised. He, a Naples player, didn't even know these things. But actually, he didn't need to know. For him, it didn't matter who the opponent was. He just needed to try his best to defeat them and score goals against them.

Chen Xing laughed beside him: "How about it? I told you he knows a lot about football, right?"

※※※

Confucius said: "Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters?"

Chen Hero was very happy that his friends, especially his elder brother, came to see him. So, he treated everyone to dinner at the Margaret Flower King Restaurant that night, with Cabrella accompanying them at Chen Xing's strong request.

"That… I'm really sorry." As soon as the four people sat down, Chen Xing began to apologize to Chen Hero. "I originally said that I would come to see you soon… who knew, alas…" He sighed deeply, "It's a long story! In short, I spent half a year sorting out the family's businesses in France. France is now managing the gambling industry more and more strictly, and our old business is not doing so well…"

Chen Hero listened to him complain for a while. Chen Xing's family was in the gambling business in the UK, which was naturally their old business. However, due to France's policies and the impact of the online gambling industry, the family's business in France was not doing so well, and profits were getting smaller and smaller. This was why the family sent the eldest son to France, to reorganize the family business.

He spent more than half a year to sort all of this out. In fact, not only in France, but the entire family's business was now transforming, and the family was planning to venture into other fields.

"I have two things to do this time I came to Italy, one is to see you, and the other is to find him." Chen Xing poked Lu Ang next to him.

"I'm looking for him to help me…"

Speaking of this, Chen Xing's voice suddenly lowered a lot, and then he leaned on the table, brought his head closer, and said to Chen Hero with a mysterious expression: "I'm telling you this now, but don't tell anyone else, Hero."

"What's so mysterious about it? Could it be that your family is planning to get into match-fixing?" Seeing his cautious look, Chen Hero joked with him.

Match-fixing is divided into legitimate and illegitimate forms. The legitimate form is naturally sports betting, while the illegitimate form is called match-fixing. European football has been affected by match-fixing for many years, which is no secret.

Chen Xing shook his head: "It's not match-fixing, but it's related to football."

"Eh?" Chen Hero found it strange.

"My family is planning to buy a team."

It's not uncommon for large consortia and wealthy people to buy teams in today's football world, so Chen Hero didn't act surprised. He just raised his eyebrows: "Oh? What team?"

Chen Xing's voice was even lower, almost inaudible.

"Liverpool."