Chapter 1

This was a university stadium. The low stands were filled with spectators, and on the football field encircled by the stands stood a line of twenty-three teenagers, facing several middle-aged men.

One of them stood out. All eyes were focused on him.

He was Hao Dong, the former star striker of the Chinese national team, the number one striker in Asia. Now retired, he appeared before the crowd today in casual clothes.

Not only were the twenty-three teenagers on the field watching him, but so were the people in the stands. Some even took out their cameras to take pictures.

Zhou Jianliang was also among the crowd, holding his camera and taking pictures. But his lens wasn't focused on the legendary figure of Chinese football, but on his son, Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi was among the twenty-three teenagers.

When he first persuaded his wife to let their son participate in this selection, Zhou Jianliang probably hadn't imagined that his son would be able to break through, emerge from the audition, and enter the final national finals. Although his score was the lowest of the twenty-three, he could still be considered one of the best twenty-three football teenagers in all of China.

He wanted to take more photos of his son as a memento of this unforgettable summer vacation.

In his lens, Zhou Yi was intently watching Hao Dong, just like the other kids.

For a teenager who loved football, Hao Dong, the former national team player, was a household name, an idol to them all.

To be able to get so close to this idol, Zhou Yi's face was filled with excitement. You couldn't see any sign of tension about participating in the finals on his face...

※※※

Hao Dong stood in front of the twenty-three teenagers, giving a speech.

"...First of all, congratulations to the kids for making it to the finals. You are already the best twenty-three in China in this age group. In the upcoming finals, I hope you can perform at your normal level, play well, and strive to become the winner, to gain the qualification to represent China and challenge the youth teams of top European clubs."

His words excited the children.

Going to Europe and competing against the youth teams of famous clubs was precisely the goal that these people had struggled so hard to reach in these finals.

Now, they were only one step away from that goal – as long as they could perform well in this final and win the favor of this legendary national player in front of them, their dreams could come true!

But the elimination rate was a bit high... Only one person out of twenty-three would be able to stand out in the end.

Of course, every teenager was very confident, believing that they could be the best one.

Hao Dong continued, "Before the finals begin, I'll add one more thing: Please remember, kids, football is a team sport."

After speaking, he scanned the field, taking in the expressions on the faces of each of the twenty-three teenagers.

The children didn't seem to have recovered from their beautiful anticipation of the outside world. After hearing his words, there wasn't much change in their expressions.

He knew that these excited and nervous teenagers hadn't taken his last sentence to heart.

So he waved his hand, "Okay, let Team Leader Wu take you to form groups."

After speaking, a slightly chubby middle-aged man stood out. This was Team Leader Wu.

And Hao Dong turned around and walked towards the stands on the sidelines with the others.

"Being selected from all over the country is different. I see that most of them are in high spirits and not very stage-frightened..." A man walking alongside him said. He looked a little younger than Hao Dong. "Maybe we can really discover some good talents!"

Hao Dong noncommittally said, "Let's take a look first, Xiao Wang."

He took off the sunglasses clipped to his collar, put them on his face, and then looked up at the sky. The fierce sun at four o'clock in the afternoon presented a blue-green color in the sunglasses. The light wasn't so dazzling and was a little softer, but the temperature hadn't dropped. It shone on everyone's heads, making them feel like they were in an oven.

※※※

Hao Dong left, and Team Leader Wu clapped his hands beside him, "Alright, let's divide into teams."

The teenagers reluctantly shifted their gazes from Hao Dong's back to Team Leader Wu.

"Those whose names I call, come out and take this." Team Leader Wu raised his hand, holding a red training vest with white numbers on the back.

"Huang Zhihua, Zhang Yihao, Liu Yiwei, Li Haoran..."

Each teenager whose name was called ran out of the line with a happy face to receive their vest, while those whose names hadn't been called looked at the lucky ones with envy and anticipation, hoping their names would be called.

Unlike the various selection modes in the audition, the rules of the finals were simple - the twenty-three people were divided into two teams to play a game. The player with the best performance could win the spot to participate in the reality show.

Eleven people were quickly selected.

Then Team Leader Wu picked up a blue training vest and said, "Those whose names I call, come and take this."

This was the blue team.

"Liu Yadong, Yang Fei, Li Xiang, Liu Haowei..."

One by one, people walked out of the crowd and took their vests.

Twenty-three people were divided into two teams. A team of eleven, two teams, that was twenty-two people, so the last unlucky guy wouldn't get the chance to start.

When the team leader finished reading the last name, Zhou Yi was still standing there.

He paused, raised his hand, and asked, "Team Leader, what about me?"

"You're a substitute," Team Leader Wu glanced at Zhou Yi and said.

A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd opposite him. Twenty-two out of twenty-three people had gotten the chance to play, and the remaining one was definitely a substitute. They laughed at Zhou Yi for even asking, wasn't that just embarrassing himself?

No one was surprised that Zhou Yi was a substitute. He had the worst score in the national audition, so who would be a substitute if not him?

Zhou Yi seemed to understand this as well, so after the team leader said that, he just said "Oh" and didn't say anything else.

※※※

Zhou Jianliang, who had been observing his son, also noticed that his son had become the only substitute.

When the players from the red and blue teams ran onto the field to prepare for the game, only his son, Zhou Yi, turned around and walked to the long bench on the sidelines and sat down with a plop.

Zhou Jianliang recalled a conversation he had with his son after his son successfully entered the finals.

At that time, he had already successfully entered the national finals, and this result had exceeded Zhou Jianliang's expectations. He didn't want to put too much pressure on his son, so on the way to Beijing, he talked to Zhou Yi about his expectations for the finals. He told his son that he was already very proud and satisfied that he could make it to the finals.

The point was to not put too much pressure on his son.

But his son's answer surprised him.

"But I want to go to Europe, Dad."

Sitting on the train to Beijing, Zhou Yi said to his father with a smile.

Zhou Jianliang still remembered his son's expression, it wasn't a cheeky smile, but a smile of longing.

As a father, Zhou Jianliang could see that his son really wanted to go to Europe, really wanted to join that team, and challenge the youth teams of those famous clubs that he could only see on TV.

Before this, his idea was just to leave his son with a beautiful memory in the last relaxing summer before the crucial college entrance exam. And his wife, his son's mother, must have just wanted to use this failure to dispel his son's "unrealistic" fantasies about football.

What they didn't expect was that his son's goal was very clear from the start. He wasn't here for a vacation.

Seeing his son sitting there alone on that iron bench, Zhou Jianliang felt a surge of unwillingness deep down in his heart.

※※※

As the head coach of the team in this reality show and the final judge of the selection, Hao Dong was sitting at the rostrum, propping his chin on his hands.

He frowned as he stared at the field.

He wasn't deliberately imitating Commander Ikari from *Neon Genesis Evangelion* to appear profound, it was just that the current situation really gave him a headache.

The national auditions for the *Green Field Successor* reality show had been going on for a month, and now it was finally coming to an end, which should have been a happy thing.

But Hao Dong couldn't be happy now, because he didn't see anyone from the twenty-two teenagers on the field who was qualified to join his team.

Although the production team had told him that this audition was just a gimmick, the main purpose was to attract widespread public attention and the participation of more fans, so in the end, they only needed to symbolically select one person. No one expected that person to be a genius, or whether they could really gain a foothold in the team that would be fighting in Europe and make a contribution...

But Hao Dong, as a successful former professional player, had his own pursuit and principles for football itself.

He still hoped to be able to unearth some good talents through this method as much as possible. This was also why he turned a blind eye to the fact that those who had received training in the youth teams of professional football clubs also came to sign up - you should know that the registration rules stated that any teenager who had received professional football training was not allowed to register.

The reason why Hao Dong did this was because he felt that only those who had been trained by professional football clubs had the ability. Football was a very professional thing, and it was difficult for someone who had not received professional football training to compete with foreign geniuses who had been immersed in the highest level of training since childhood. In addition, as someone who had been there, he also knew about the dirty things in Chinese football. It was not guaranteed that some very talented seedlings would be expelled from the team because they had offended the coach or leader, right?

This audition was actually giving them a chance.

But unfortunately, after the national auditions came to an end, twenty-three people were finally selected to come to Beijing for the finals. Among these twenty-three people, there were some with good skills and abilities, but if Hao Dong really wanted to see someone who could catch his eye and meet his internal standards... So far, he hadn't seen one.

Could it be that my requirements are too high?

Hao Dong asked himself in his heart.