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"Mr Lance, you were substituted after 60 minutes as a starter. In those 60 minutes, you achieved a hat-trick, bringing your personal league goals to 46, setting a new Bundesliga single-season scoring record. Are you aiming to reach 50 league goals?"
"No, my goal count isn't important. What's important is that we won 4-0 against Hoffenheim, securing three points and maintaining our lead at the top of the Bundesliga."
"Hello, Mr Lance. I'm a reporter from the Munich Evening News. In the final league match of the season, Bayern Munich will play Mainz, and Bayer Leverkusen will play Frankfurt. Currently, there's only a one-point difference between your team and Bayern Munich, so the Bundesliga title suspense will last until the very end. Do you have confidence in defending the title and achieving the club's first-ever back-to-back championships?"
"Of course, we've worked hard all season, and our goal is the final championship. I trust my teammates, I trust the coaching staff, and I'm grateful for the fans' support. We will do it."
After Bayer Leverkusen's 4-0 victory over Hoffenheim, at the press conference, Lance became the centre of attention.
So much so that coach Hyypiä, who was supposed to answer questions alongside him, became a mere prop.
No wonder, Bayer Leverkusen's two coaches, Sascha and Hyypiä, had little presence.
Unlike famous coaches like Mourinho, Wenger, Klopp, or Guardiola, almost all the team's media attention was stolen by Lance.
The media, following the principle of traffic first (traffic above all), mainly focused on Lance.
A 17-year-old Chinese-German prodigy, with all the buffs stacked, it was hard for him not to be popular.
After the press conference, Hyypiä still felt a bit awkward.
"Lance, it feels like you've drawn all the club's firepower, but correspondingly, you'll bear greater pressure."
Exposure is a double-edged sword.
If you keep winning, the whole world will carry you. No matter how arrogant you are, or how outspoken, it will be interpreted by the media and fans as "personality," and you'll be praised in various ways.
But if you lose a game or perform poorly one day, you will face the collective criticism of the world.
All your past statements will boomerang, dug up and repeatedly used against you.
Most players would find it difficult to withstand such immense pressure, but Lance seemed at ease.
Hyypiä often forgot his age.
"Don't worry, coach. Nothing from the outside will affect me."
"You're truly amazing. What exactly sustains you?"
"To be honest, I don't know either."
Lance lied; he knew very well why he had come this far.
Was it the system?
Not entirely the system.
Regarding "prophetic dreams," ever since he could remember as a child, these strange dreams about the future had never stopped, occurring daily, like memories from another parallel universe.
Unfortunately, most dreams were fragmented and quickly forgotten upon waking, until they were suddenly triggered by chance.
He remembered having a long prophetic dream in junior high, one of the few complete dreams.
It was around the time he awakened the system.
Lance dreamt that after being expelled from Bayern's youth academy, no professional team wanted him.
His path in professional football was blocked, Lance could only continue high school and enroll in a university in Germany.
After graduation, something happened back in his hometown, an elder fell ill and needed long-term care, so his parents simply transferred their shop in Munich and took Lance back to China with them.
With his overseas education, Lance worked at a foreign company in Xiamen, living a nine-to-five life.
His salary was neither high nor low, and his days were ordinary.
At an appropriate age, his family arranged a match with a girl, he bought a house and got married in Xiamen, starting his own small family.
Since it was an arranged marriage, there was no talk of love or dislike; it was just about living life.
A decade of monotonous, routine life, even in the dream, it was a bit boring.
His life as an office worker had worn down Lance's passion for life.
There was a public football pitch at the entrance of his residential complex, and every time he passed by, Lance couldn't help but stop and watch the people playing football.
Only then could Lance feel less numb.
He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had continued on a professional path.
His "wife," whose face was blurry in the dream, would encourage him to go into the pitch and play for a whilst.
Lance would just smile and shake his head, holding his wife's left hand and carrying the groceries in his right, heading home.
Without looking back.
Until late at night, after his wife had fallen into a deep sleep.
Lance would tiptoe out of bed, go to the balcony, and light a cigarette.
Looking at the darkened football pitch downstairs, he would let out a long sigh.
Yes, no matter how much he suppressed or concealed it, his football dream could not be extinguished.
Even if the flame had burnt out, and only a faint glimmer remained, that sliver of light was enough to illuminate Lance's heart.
Fortunately, waking from a long dream, Lance opened his eyes and was back to being 12 years old, back in Munich, back to his youth academy days.
So now, looking at Coach Hyypiä, and at the training ground not far away, only Lance himself knew how much he cherished this opportunity.
External opinions or pressure, none of that mattered.
As long as he could continue playing football, that was enough!
"Coach, we will win the championship."
"That's right, Lance, I believe in you!"
Recently, due to being busy playing in the Champions League and competing for the league title, and with many away games, Lance, as a core player, was constantly travelling, training, and competing, incredibly busy.
This caused him to fall behind significantly in his high school courses.
German secondary schools implement a "tracking system"; Gymnasium students can directly take the "German Abitur" to apply for universities.
The Realschule (technical secondary school) where Lance was enrolled required students to obtain a "qualification for vocational higher education."
He didn't need to worry about the vocational training part; the club had already handled everything for Lance.
At that time, schools like Cologne Sports University, University of Duisburg-Essen, and Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences all had "green channels," allowing professional or youth academy players to apply for admission.
The prerequisite was passing the academic exams.
"Student Lance, considering your recent situation, the school won't make things difficult for you. I've already outlined the key points for your exams, and the corresponding e-learning materials have been sent to your email. However, there are still physical books that you need to pick up at school. Don't worry, the questions aren't difficult; you'll pass with a little review. Remember to come and get the materials today if you have time."
There were two days left until the end of the league season.
Training tasks were light that day, with all content completed in the morning.
A group of players were soaking in the spa pool, discussing where to go in the afternoon to relax before the big battle.
Lance was just silently being "tortured" by the physiotherapist.
In some novels or football TV shows, the club's physiotherapist is a beautiful woman, and the massage process might even be quite sensual.
In reality, Bayer Leverkusen's club physiotherapist was a man, with incredibly strong hands, making Lance wince in pain.
After the physical therapy finally ended, he changed clothes and left, Lance almost couldn't walk straight.
Considering he had to go to school today, Lance's Lamborghini was too flashy, so he deliberately switched to a more low-key 2015 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.
The white two-seater sports car's engine sound still drew attention, and when he drove into the school, it was precisely dismissal time, immediately attracting everyone's notice.
"Oh no, this is bad."
Sure enough, as soon as Lance parked his car and got out, the surrounding students rushed forward like zombies, excitedly surrounding him to ask for autographs and photos.
As a legendary alumnus of "Theodor Heuss Realschule," Lance was rarely seen, like a dragon whose head is seen but not its tail.
Now that he was caught, how could these students let him go?
"Lance!! Can I get an autograph?"
"Smile, Lance!! Thanks, this photo is great!"
"Lance, do you have a girlfriend? What do you reckon of me?"
"Good luck with this match! We'll all support you!"
"Please, keep the championship in Leverkusen!"
Good news, Leverkusen is a small place.
The total number of students was not large, and in less than 10 minutes, all the students left satisfied.
When Lance signed an autograph for a female high school student, the girl was a bit excited, and when she hugged his arm for a photo, she deliberately pressed very close, his right arm clearly feeling her well-developed figure.
After the photo, the blonde girl excitedly pecked him on the cheek.
"Thank you, Lance! Thank you!! My God, today was truly wonderful!"
Wow, she's really crazy.
Lance breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to sign for the last student, to finish quickly and go get his study materials.
But when he looked up, Lance suddenly froze.
The other person's gaze was quite resentful, and she imitated the blonde girl's cutesy tone with a pinched voice:
"Oh~~ Thank you, Lance! Today was truly wonderful!"
"Chloe, are you jealous?"
Lance crossed his arms, looking at her playfully.
The girl in front of him was none other than the Barbie-doll-like Chloe.