Martin O'Neill was indeed frightened, and quite a bit at that.

At first, he thought he had misheard. The plane was somewhat noisy, but Chen Hero was facing him, and he was speaking loudly. He heard everything clearly, not a single word missed.

Chen Hero said he was going to score at least twenty goals in the Europa League this season!

"Are you crazy?" he blurted out.

Then he realized that saying that to his player was inappropriate, so he tried to explain, "Uh... I mean you're too crazy, Hero..."

Chen Hero was used to this kind of reaction from others. When he first told the members of the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Gang about his idea, he got the same response.

He didn't take O'Neill's words to heart, but instead explained his thoughts to the manager.

After listening, O'Neill's mouth hung wide open, unable to close.

A moment later, he recovered.

"You mean... you want to surpass Messi? Just because Messi scored eighteen goals in the Champions League last season, you're going to score at least twenty goals in the Europa League this season?" O'Neill repeated the main points of Chen Hero's words with a tone of surprise and doubt.

Chen Hero nodded.

"Um... why do you have such an idea, Hero? I mean... uh, the idea of surpassing Messi."

"It's simple, because I want to be number one in the world!" Chen Hero pointed to himself with his thumb.

Chen Hero spoke this reason with such confidence that Martin O'Neill didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Because this reason seemed like something that shouldn't appear in reality, too lofty and distant, more like something from movies, novels, and other literary and artistic works.

Like "Our journey is the sea of stars," "Conquer the whole country," "Become the strongest man in the world"...

If you heard someone say that in real life, they would probably be scorned and called crazy, a lunatic, an idiot, or accused of being a show-off or creating hype...

But based on his understanding of Chen Hero, he knew that Chen Hero was not crazy, nor an idiot, and he didn't do things to show off, and he didn't need hype...

So, he was serious?

"Are you serious, Hero?" O'Neill asked.

Chen Hero nodded. "Of course. Otherwise, why do you think I've been desperately scoring goals this season?"

Chen Hero didn't tell O'Neill that scoring twenty goals in the Europa League was just one part of a mission called "Nemesis."

Martin O'Neill thought about it carefully and realized that it was true.

He had previously felt that Chen Hero was in particularly good form, and he had vaguely wondered if it was a bit abnormal, but he hadn't delved into the issue. After all, Chen Hero being in good form benefited him. Now that Chen Hero had pointed it out, he realized that Chen Hero's form was indeed unbelievably good...

"You're doing this to surpass Messi?"

"Yeah," Chen Hero shrugged. "So, I absolutely have to play in the home game against Grika, Boss. Look, in the entire group stage, I've only scored ten goals so far..."

O'Neill rolled his eyes in his head, thinking: What do you mean "only" scored ten goals? Don't you see how many goals you're ahead of the second-place scorer in the Europa League right now!

"My stamina is not a problem at all, really, Boss. When have you ever seen me run out of steam on the field? To be honest, rotation really doesn't work for me. You could have me play all seventy-plus games, and I still wouldn't feel tired, Boss."

Martin O'Neill thought about it seriously. It was true that he had previously thought that Chen Hero's constant flying back and forth between England and Italy would affect his stamina and form. But in reality, Chen Hero had responded with more goals and even better performances.

Using stamina as an argument was too unconvincing...

Since Chen Hero wasn't really trying to challenge his authority, but rather was pursuing "number one in the world," Martin O'Neill had no reason to make things difficult for Chen Hero. It would be outrageous for a manager to prevent his player from improving. Who wouldn't want their players to have such lofty ambitions, all striving to be number one? That would greatly improve the team's strength.

So, he couldn't refuse Chen Hero's request.

He nodded. "Alright, I'll let you start."

Chen Hero smiled.

"But I want to ask, how long will it take you to achieve this goal?"

"I'm planning to make it to the final, at best," Chen Hero said.

"And then?"

"Bring a championship back."

Martin O'Neill thought: I knew it!

"But it's going to be very difficult," he said.

"I know, that's why I want to try, Boss. Who cares about things that are too easy?"

"Do you have confidence?"

Chen Hero didn't answer immediately, but looked at his manager. "That depends on whether the Boss supports me."

Martin O'Neill didn't say anything, but looked back at Chen Hero. After they stared at each other for a moment, he smiled and shook his head. "You've given me another problem, Hero..."

"Boss, don't you like championships?"

"Who doesn't? But you have to act according to your capabilities..."

"It's okay, Boss. Let's give it a try. Even if we fail, we'll have gained experience," Chen Hero said righteously.

O'Neill was defeated by him, because what Chen Hero said really made sense. Liverpool couldn't always be in a state of front-line combat, couldn't always give up some opportunities to win championships to fully fight for one championship. That wasn't the characteristic of a powerhouse. A powerhouse would take as many championships as it could get, a treble, a quintuple, a sextuple, the more the better.

Although the team's bench depth wasn't enough right now, Liverpool could try it out at this time and give the players some experience.

"Alright, Hero, you've successfully convinced me. I've decided to carefully consider this matter in the second half of the season."

Chen Hero smiled.

He had finally told the manager about the most important thing this season and gotten his support. Now there was nothing to worry about, he just needed to focus on scoring goals.

He returned to his seat. Suarez leaned over and asked him, "How did it go?"

Chen Hero made an "ok" gesture.

"Got it!"

Suarez slapped him on the back. "Good job! Now we can run wild!"

"Yeah! Let's shock all of Europe!" Chen Hero clenched his fist.

※※※

Back in the league, Martin O'Neill continued to insist on his rotation, and Chen Hero continued to sit on the bench. Although Chen Hero had reached a consensus with Martin O'Neill, it was a consensus about the Europa League, not that he didn't have to rotate in the league either.

Rotation should continue in the league.

The result of the rotation was that Liverpool unexpectedly lost to Norwich on the road. The team lost 1-3, with the returning Klasnic scoring a consolation goal for the team.

Losing the game, Liverpool dropped to second place, and first place was regained by the in-form Manchester City.

After the game, Martin O'Neill insisted that there was nothing wrong with his rotation. "A team can't go through a season without losing a single game. This is normal... What's wrong with being second in the league? I'm very satisfied with the team's current situation."

This wasn't just stubbornness. Anyone who had experienced Liverpool's terrible performance last season would agree with Martin O'Neill, because even if this Liverpool unexpectedly lost to 13th-ranked Norwich on the road and lost first place in the league, it was still much better than last season...

Last season, if the team lost one game, it would likely lose a second. But this season, even if they lost a game, it wasn't a world-ending event for everyone. Liverpool could still put on a decent performance in the next league game.

Everyone was full of confidence. A phrase had been said so many times it was cliché, but it really applied to Liverpool now—one game lost isn't the end of the world.

※※※

On the fourteenth, Liverpool welcomed Grika, their opponent in the final game of the Europa League group stage, to their home stadium.

Before the game, everyone analyzed that Martin O'Neill would make a large-scale rotation, and all the main players would probably rest, and the players who would play would be the second-team players.

Even the unwavering starting goalkeeper Reina would be sitting on the bench.

Some media even offered advice to Liverpool's players—what to do when you're bored watching the game on the bench? They could use their smartphones or tablets to play Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies, and they could also bring snacks to eat, recommending sunflower seeds.

This showed everyone's attitude towards the game—almost no one treated it as a Europa League match, but more like a picnic.

The result of the game didn't matter. Even so, few people thought that Liverpool could lose to a team from Slovenia at home. Even if Liverpool used its second team, it could defeat them without any effort.

The Liverpool media's contempt naturally aroused the anger of the entire Grika team.

Although we are the weakest team in this group, and although we have been eliminated, we also have dignity!

As the runners-up in Slovenia, how can we allow you to humiliate us like this! Don't think that just because you are an English powerhouse, you can be so disrespectful to your opponents. Be careful of kicking a stone when you get too carried away!

You can ignore us now and laugh at us loudly... but we will make you pay the price! You will know that even a fish belly has teeth!

Thus, with anger, the Grika players stepped onto Liverpool's home ground, Anfield.

When they passed the sign that said "This is Anfield," they glared at the metal plaque with anger. The anger in their eyes seemed to melt the plaque...

Chapter 1 The Beginning
Silently Writing
Hu Die Lan