Chapter 1 The Number

The team's training for the new season had already begun, and one thing needed to be decided: Chen Hero's jersey number.

Actually, when Chen Hero signed his personal terms with Niang, he had already said he wanted the number nine. He liked this number, which symbolized a powerful center forward. His love for it didn't start with Zenit St. Petersburg; he had loved it since he first started playing soccer. In sports school, in the youth team, in the junior team, he was always number nine. As a child, he had even fought with other teammates for the right to use this number, truly defending it with his own blood and…snot.

When he arrived at Zenit St. Petersburg, because he joined the team late, the number nine was already taken, so he could only wear number ninety-nine on the field. Later, as soon as he had the opportunity, he switched to number nine.

At Liverpool, Chen Hero's special request couldn't even be considered a request, because Torres had just left, and the number had been vacant ever since, with no one using it at all. Giving it to Chen Hero now was nothing, just a favor.

So, the number nine jersey with Chen Hero's name on it was officially put on sale in Liverpool Football Club's store.

According to the Liverpool business development department's statistical report, the number nine jersey with Chen Hero's name on it sold very well. On the first day, over a thousand of Chen Hero's jerseys were sold.

That was because Chen Hero had already won over many new fans with his brilliant performances for Napoli last season, and the media had been hyping him up, boosting his popularity. People chase stars, and they chase the brightest stars, right? Whoever is the most popular now is the most well-received.

Liverpool fans really liked Chen Hero joining Liverpool. They even instantly forgot about that Spanish traitor who had defected to Chelsea—with Chen Hero, who still cares about Torres!

Liverpool fans were constantly talking about the club's new owner, Chen Xing, and the general manager, Niang, praising their courage and ability. But they all forgot that when Torres left the team, it was the same two people they had been cursing…

The hot sales of Chen Hero's number nine jersey not only reflected the fans' love for him, but also the media's high expectations for him.

Because this number had a very special meaning for Liverpool…

Although Torres had made this number shine again for a brief moment, it was too short. Before, some media outlets that didn't understand Liverpool's history said something like "Hero has taken over Torres's number, which is both pressure and motivation for him," which was a big joke and made people laugh their heads off while also getting scolded badly.

But this also simultaneously illustrated an embarrassing situation for Liverpool Football Club—they had really been too颓废 *tuifei* (depressed) in recent years. One Torres almost became synonymous with Liverpool's history. Many people didn't have a deep understanding of Liverpool, all because Liverpool didn't have any impressive achievements. Nowadays, people's impressions of them were fading, after all, there were fewer and fewer old-timers, and a large influx of fresh blood was coming in, but Liverpool lacked the means to let the fresh blood understand them and like them.

Now, it was already good that many people still remembered Robbie Fowler wearing Liverpool's number nine jersey. Further back than that, only true Liverpool die-hard fans knew.

In fact, Liverpool's number nine was not as simple as just the number that Torres and Fowler had worn. If it were just those two people, it wouldn't be enough to make this number have a special meaning for Liverpool.

In Liverpool's history, number nine was a true legend, because this was the number belonging to the super scorer Ian Rush. Rush scored three hundred and forty-six goals for Liverpool, making him the top scorer in the Red Army's history.

Giving the number nine to Chen Hero also showed Liverpool's confidence in Chen Hero.

But as for pressure… actually, there really wasn't any, because for so many years, except for Torres, Liverpool's number nine was basically unlucky for whoever used it. Even if you didn't perform well and didn't make the number nine shine again, it didn't matter, it was normal.

This number had been沉沦 *chenlun* (in decline) for too long after all.

In the years before Torres, Liverpool's number nine was a joke. Diouf could only dribble past people but couldn't shoot, and Cissé spent most of his time in the hospital bed. For a while, the number nine had become a curse at Anfield.

Finally, Torres came, perhaps able to make the number nine shine again. But he transferred to Chelsea, which many Liverpool fans couldn't forgive.

So, the number nine was still like an unwanted orphan, and no one wanted to be associated with it.

After the number nine was vacant for half a season, Chen Hero came.

He specifically asked for the number nine. If numbers also had their own consciousness, who knows if it would excitedly activate a recognition system?

Anyway, this number was now being worn by Chen Hero.

He hadn't thought about so much; he simply chose this number because he liked the number nine. For him, the number nine was the number of the traditional center forward, symbolizing a strong body, outstanding finishing ability in front of the goal, and lethal shooting skills. And, of course, endless goals.

Modern soccer tactics required increasingly blurred and diverse roles and functions for players' positions on the field, and many players had become jacks-of-all-trades. Even if they were wearing the number of a center forward, the most frequent thing they did on the field was not to shoot and score, but to defend, pull wide, cross, screen…

This number had gradually become something that not only center forwards could have, and slowly lost its original color and symbolic meaning.

Although Chen Hero was a post-1990s guy, his views on this point were quite traditional—number nine should be the number of a powerful center forward, and a center forward who can't score shouldn't wear number nine!

As for the true meaning of this number in the Liverpool team, he only discovered it after returning to the hotel, when he habitually browsed the task list.

※※※

Just as Chen Hero took over the number nine jersey, the task system also opened another task.

"Make the Legendary Number Shine Again."

"Legendary number?" Chen Hero wondered. Although he knew a little bit about Liverpool's historical data, it was only limited to introducing the history of the team. He only knew Bill Shankly because this person was too famous. He certainly couldn't know what number Ian Rush used to wear…

Fortunately, the task introduction was particularly considerate, explaining the causes and consequences of the task very clearly.

Chen Hero only knew after reading it that he had this kind of relationship with Ian Rush, so the number nine was considered a legendary number at Liverpool.

"Three hundred and forty-six goals…" Chen Hero stroked his chin, muttering this number.

Do I have a chance to surpass him?

Just as he was thinking, he heard a sound effect in the computer that he was once particularly familiar with—the sound effect of successfully accepting a task in World of Warcraft!

Chen Hero looked down at the web page on the computer screen, and a red task had appeared in the task list!

"Damn it! This Dracula is too lazy! He even directly copies the sound effects from World of Warcraft!"

After cursing, he went to see what this task was.

As a result, he knew the content from the name.

"Surpass the Legend": Score more goals than Ian Rush for Liverpool!

Chen Hero was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized the problem—this task was red! That is to say, the system judged that it would be very, very difficult for Chen Hero to complete this task!

The reason for the difficulty might be that Chen Hero's ability was insufficient, or it might be that he didn't think it was possible for him to stay at Liverpool for fifteen seasons and score at least three hundred and forty-six goals…

In short, Chen Hero, who had come to his senses, was furious—he felt that he had been underestimated and offended by the system!

Three hundred and forty-six goals, an average of thirty-five goals per season, wouldn't ten seasons be enough? I'm only twenty-three years old this year, and I'll only be thirty-three years old in ten years, what's there to be afraid of?

I'm going to try it!

Originally, Chen Hero didn't plan to do this task, but now he had the ambition to compete with those legends in history.

Just like in Naples, the city was full of Maradona's worshippers, and they would rather live in the beautiful memories of the past. But Chen Hero insisted on competing with Maradona's myth and pulling the whole city of Naples out of the beautiful dream of the past.

As for the result… he felt that he had done it.

Who says only sweet dreams are wonderful? Open your eyes and see the sunlight dancing all over the room, and you'll feel good too. People can't live in illusory memories and dreams forever; they still have to live in reality.

Ian Rush is a legend, so I'll write my own new legend!

Let's start with… surpassing Ian Rush!

※※※

No one knew that Chen Hero had made such a decision in his heart, and Chen Hero wouldn't be stupid enough to tell others everywhere, "I'm going to surpass Ian Rush."

Surpassing Rush was something that would take a long time to do, but that didn't mean it was too early to start now. In fact, the completion of anything requires meticulous and lengthy preparation and effort.

Even now, he could still make some efforts for it. For example, train hard and have a good relationship with his teammates—if he wanted to surpass Rush, he needed a lot of goals, so of course he had to rely on his teammates to pass the ball to him. If his relationship with his teammates was very strained, and no one passed the ball to him on the field, then no matter how much ambition he had, it would eventually be just a joke.

And Chen Hero's number nine jersey was still selling well, and among the fans who appeared in Melwood, there were already more and more people wearing number nine jerseys with "hero" printed on the back.

This once belonged to Ian Rush, to Fowler, to Torres.

Now it belonged to Chen Hero.

Back then, Ian Rush, wearing this number, became the greatest shooter in English football in the 1980s, and was among the top in world football.

Now he wanted to make this long-dusty number shine again, but not only to find this number back, but also to find Liverpool's long-lost glory… to catch up with the fading figure of that empire.