Many people compare me to soccer kings Maradona and Pele, but I can clearly tell you the answer: I am the greatest number 10 in this world. If they competed with me on the same field, they would still need to submit and show respect. However, I also have someone worthy of my own submission and respect—he taught me how to become a true number 10 on the field.
—From 'Memoirs of Football Caesar Jiang Yiyan'
The young man was both shocked and excited by Ye Wudao's feints, practically boiling with bloodlust - he couldn't wait to charge with the ball. This only ever happened when he competed with professional footballers in Italy. The fighting blood that had been extinguished by the boring first half finally began to surge！
At this point, Zheng Yan finally couldn't hold back and demanded to play. A defender he replaced secretly breathed a sigh of relief - finally off the field. Being toyed with like a monkey by Ye Wudao made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles, and he had long wished to get off and stop losing face. The other two defenders looked at their retreating teammate with envy.
Zheng Yan looked at Ye Wudao, who was even more arrogant than him, and felt pissed off no matter how he looked at it. Aren't you just the son of a deputy mayor? My dad is a deputy governor. One day I'll just fuck your hot mom and see what you call me then. I'll chop your legs off first - how are you going to compete with me for women? （Perhaps it's because this kind of scum has a narcissistic perversion of seeing arrogance as their own patent and can't stand anyone else being better, much like how jealous women can't stand seeing a beauty.）
"As professional matches become increasingly brutal, scoring goals has gotten harder and harder. Free kicks have instead become the best weapon to break a deadlock on the field. Take some time to study the footwork of Mihajlović, who scored a hat trick of direct free kicks against Sampdoria in 1999."
Returning to midfield, Ye Wudao looked at the right stand where everyone was staring at him. The calm on his face made it seem like all this incredible stuff was just trivial matters. He said flatly, "Of course, there are also several free kick kings worth slowly learning from, including Brazil's 'Left Barrier' Branco, Holland's 'Heavy Tank' Koeman, Romania's 'Midfield Schemer' Hagi, 'Madman' Pearce, and 'Short-legged Tiger' Hassler."
The originally aloof No. 10 boy, for the first time, willingly accepted a lesson from someone and humbly took their advice. Having just returned from Italy after undergoing systematic training incomparable to anything in China, he had never looked down on anyone his age. But Ye Wudao's appearance made him realize that there really is always a higher mountain, prompting him to resolve to make Ye Wudao his role model and the target to surpass.
With a few beautiful short passes in midfield, Zheng Yan charged straight at Ye Wudao, who looked completely casual. The latter actually stepped aside when the opponent rushed at him like a raging bull. Frustrated, Zheng Yan was wondering why this was so strange when he suddenly noticed the ball under his feet was gone. It turned out that the No. 10 boy, lying in ambush behind Ye Wudao, had made a successful steal. He then burst forward like the wind, keeping a certain distance from Ye Wudao, who immediately sprinted after letting Zheng Yan break through.
Executing a brilliant one-two pass with Ye Wudao, the ball returned to the boy's feet. By now, he had already penetrated deep into the opponent's half, and a fierce defender charged forward to intercept.
"A bunch of clowns. The first half was just a warm-up. If you weren't so pathetic that you bored this genius, I'd have already scored four or five goals against you！ Now begins my—genius Jiang Yiyan's—showtime！"
While dribbling at high speed, the boy suddenly slowed down. Shifting the speed and force of his center of gravity forward, he quickly switched to crossing his legs in a spinning motion, while naturally swaying his upper body left and right. A move only seen in top-tier matches—a stepover—was flawlessly executed by this middle school freshman. The defender was fooled, lost his balance, and fell to the ground, leaving the audience both stunned and amused. The coach felt his heart couldn't take any more shocks, tears streaming down his face.
That kind of move requires one's body to have extraordinary flexibility and explosive power in the legs and core, with fast muscle contraction speed and sufficient force. Generally speaking, only top South American football players might achieve this level！
The young man suddenly spotted a tiny gap between the goalkeeper and the goal, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth as he took a shot without warning. This caught Ye Wudao, who had originally thought he was going to pass the ball to him, completely off guard. This kid was really unusually confident; could such a shot really go in？
Ye Wudao, who had been a bit displeased at first, saw that arrogant guy twist his entire body with all his might, striking the ball with the inside of his foot sideways at a position nearly a zero-degree angle to the ball. He then changed his initial slight disdain—turns out this guy was still stronger than he had expected. That move was meant to emphasize the speed of the ball and the lift of the curve, maximizing the ball's inward spin and thus increasing its rotation.
The football traced a graceful arc and went straight into the top corner of the net! It was as elegant as the 'Beckham curve,' used by British research experts as their study subject! As graceful! As aesthetic! As precise as a scalpel! It seemed this kid had still been hiding his strength. Ye Wudao, watching the genius midfielder grab the ball from the goal and run back, had an idea that could influence the future of Chinese football born in his mind.
"I'm going to surpass you！" said the number 10 young man named Jiang Yiyan, running up to Ye Wudao and making a solemn vow, the determination in his eyes not to be underestimated.
Ye Wudao shook his head, revealing a rare serious expression, and said, "Your goal shouldn't be me, but them, who are worshipped as gods — the two greatest number 10 players in history — Pelé and Maradona！"
In the ensuing match, despite going all out, Zheng Yan still couldn't break through the defense of the golden duo Ye Wudao and Jiang Yiyan, and it seemed that the goalkeeper's fighting spirit was also ignited by the two, revealing skills completely unseen in the first half, rendering every attack by the high school department fruitless.
The entire scene was just as one-sided as the first half, only this time the momentum was in the hands of the junior high department—or more precisely, in the hands of Ye Wudao and his two teammates. A humiliated and furious Zheng Yan's gaze turned even more terrifying. Several vicious tackles nearly sent Ye Wudao straight to the infirmary. The tension on the field grew increasingly intense, and the referee could no longer control the pace of the game, as Zheng Yan's complex background made him timid and afraid to blow his whistle, making him a mere figurehead and drawing boos from the stands.
Wu Nuanyue glared at the tyrannical Zheng Yan with intense hatred, wishing she could skin him alive for daring to treat her little husband this way！ If not for her good upbringing and the need to maintain a lady-like image in public, she would have started cursing a long time ago. On the other side, among the group of beauties, Murong Xuehen furrowed her delicate brows, loudly cheering for Ye Wudao—making a large crowd of heartbroken boys insanely jealous—while rallying her friends to protest Zheng Yan's unreasonable behavior. Under her lead, a wave of anti-Zheng sentiment actually rose up. Shi Ya, sitting beside her boyfriend, had her heart racing like a startled deer from the few glances Ye Wudao stole at her, and she unconsciously kept a certain distance from her boyfriend.
In the stands, the three undisputed top figures of the school—Situ Xuan, Li Tianyang, and Bai Qiuyi—all watched Ye Wudao's brilliant performance with keen interest, each harboring their own plans.