Chapter 23: Relocation and Zonal Restrictions

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“Whoa! I’m not wasting my second chance!” Mu Mu Ti roared excitedly.

The others charged over in high spirits as well.

In the match between Team A and Team B, they had actually scored first.

What thrilling news!

Guo Fan was even more excited. “You’re the punching bags! Come over here and take a beating!”

The players from Team B were celebrating, while the expressions on Team A’s faces shifted between gloom and anger.

They felt utterly humiliated.

They had to restore their pride. They needed to take the match more seriously.

“Stop fooling around! Play properly—we can’t lose!”

“Stabilize the situation first, then bring the score back.”

“Don’t panic. As long as we stay calm, they won’t get any chances!”

The players of Team A encouraged one another, but the anxiety on their faces was impossible to hide.

Facts proved that some things could not be stabilized simply by saying so.

Bang!

Weng Shaojie sent a long pass, attempting to exploit the space behind the defense.

But Yang Fan got into position first and headed the ball away.

Unfortunately, his clearance was poor.

“Cover me!” Yang Fan shouted.

Wang Xiaomiao hurried toward where the ball was dropping, intending to bring it under control.

But just as he was about to receive it, someone closed in even faster. A large hand landed on his waist and pressed down.

Wang Xiaomiao suddenly felt an irresistible force. His whole body was forced downward, throwing his balance off.

Taking advantage of the moment, Wei Lai tightened his instep, raised his leg, and volleyed the ball in midair back to Mao Biao.

“It has to be you!” Mao Biao said.

He received the ball with ease and passed it onward.

He felt comfortable from head to toe.

So this was the security of having a beast of a defensive midfielder behind you?

Wang Xiaomiao clutched his waist and turned toward Wei Lai, muttering, “What kind of monstrous strength was that?”

“It’s not just a matter of strength!” He Chaoyue said gravely. “He also got his positioning exactly right. Let alone Wang Xiaomiao—I wouldn’t have been confident of winning that ball either!”

Wei Lai’s physical ability was far beyond theirs.

Trying to overpower him was simply asking for death!

He Chaoyue looked at Wei Lai. That moment had given him the feeling of facing the German defensive midfielder.

No.

Wei Lai was even more aggressive.

And his presence was stronger.

Team A’s attack down the right side had completely stalled.

“Counterattack!”

After receiving the ball, Zhao Jun immediately turned around.

He took a quick look, then sent the ball to Ma Chenchen before accelerating forward himself.

As he approached the back line, he turned his head and shouted, “Pass it to me!”

Ma Chenchen slipped the ball through.

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He angled the ball toward Zhao Jun, who was charging toward its landing point from another direction in an X-shaped run.

The point where Zhao Jun and the ball would meet was directly in front of Wei Shangzhi.

Sweat broke out on Wei Shangzhi’s forehead. He did not know whether he should rush out.

After hesitating for a moment, he charged forward anyway.

Just as Zhao Jun was about to receive the ball, he suddenly turned his head.

Wei Shangzhi saw the sly smile on Zhao Jun’s face. To his astonishment, the man simply ran past the ball and let it roll through.

Behind him, Cheng Chong carried the ball forward, taking a powerful stride straight through the defensive line.

Faced with the panicking Wan Tao, he calmly placed his shot into the far corner.

Swish!

The ball hit the back of the net again!

Team B 2, Team A 0!

“Are we good or what?” Cheng Chong turned around and shouted.

The others came sprinting over, answering loudly one after another.

“Good!”

“Damn right!”

“Hahahaha! Two-nil!”

Everyone was celebrating. Yang Fan squatted on the ground, staring ahead with his mouth slightly open.

“My God, is this really Team B? They’re this strong?”

Mao Biao walked over with a grin. “Our attack was never weak. Whenever we got beaten by you guys before, it was because our defense couldn’t hold up!”

As he spoke, he pointed toward Wei Lai.

“But now we have a super beast of a defensive midfielder.” Mao Biao beamed proudly. “Let’s see if you can withstand us now!”

Yang Fan turned his head. “Captain Mao, what are you talking about? I’m in the second division too!”

Mao Biao froze for a moment, then grinned. “Got mixed up! Got mixed up!”

Yang Fan did not take offense. He looked ahead and sighed.

“But seriously, this guy would be an undisputed starter in the top division. He could even be the core of the defense!”

At that, Yang Fan smacked his forehead.

He remembered telling Wei Lai that none of them had a truly outstanding defensive midfielder. They had always needed to make up for it with numbers.

“What a terrible thing to say!”

In the end, Team B defeated the top-division team 2–0 in the first round.

The result left Team A utterly humiliated.

“We have to get past that number four. Don’t challenge him head-on!” Wang Xiaomiao said anxiously. “That guy nearly crushed me to death!”

“Why didn’t you just avoid him?” Ma Chaoyang complained.

Wang Xiaomiao’s eyes widened. “Avoid him? How am I supposed to avoid him? Do you really think that guy has no brain? Can’t you see that the reason we’re playing so miserably is because he’s directing everything?”

“Do you know what it means when overwhelming strength defeats every technique?”

“I kept using feints in front of him, but he didn’t move an inch. Then, the moment I touched the ball, he sent me flying with one enormous hip check!”

Wang Xiaomiao slapped his own thigh. “Brother, I can’t take him on!”

Weng Shaojie spoke up. “We won’t attack down the right anymore. We’ll switch to the left. As long as we stay outside his defensive range, we’ll be fine!”

Ma Chaoyang froze. “You want us to beat up my little brother?”

Ma Chaoyang was Ma Chenchen’s older brother.

The two were twins, though Ma Chaoyang had been born slightly earlier.

“Are you feeling sorry for him?” Weng Shaojie turned his head.

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Ma Chaoyang slapped his palms together and said excitedly, “Beat him up! He talked back to me yesterday. Beat him up!”

In the second match, Team A had learned their lesson.

They began attacking down the weaker side—the side farther away from Wei Lai.

At that point, all Wei Lai could basically do was give instructions. Ma Chenchen was not Wei Lai; he could not hold down the center and disrupt the opposition’s positioning effectively. As a result, Team A launched attack after attack.

Fortunately, Team B’s two wings exploded into action.

Yang Fan’s diagonal forty-five-degree long passes, combined with Guo Fan’s speed, unleashed wave after wave of counterattacks in Team A’s half and suppressed part of their offensive pressure.

With Guo Fan delivering a godlike performance, Team B eventually defeated Team A 2–1.

But after that match, Team B was visibly exhausted.

“We can’t hold out anymore!” Yang Fan shook his head, then smiled. “But we’ve won two matches, so we’ve completed our task.”

At that, the others smiled as well.

Only Wei Lai could not bring himself to smile.

For one thing, they had been extremely passive in the second match. Once the opposition chose to attack away from him, there was little he could do to help.

For another, he clearly remembered how the Iron Wall Coach had sprinted all over the field, appearing at every crucial point.

Even when far from his own defensive area, the coach had still been able to make tackles and interceptions.

“Old Wei? Old Wei?”

Wei Lai suddenly came back to himself and turned around.

Yang Fan looked at him. “What are you thinking about? We’re about to go on!”

This time, Wei Lai nodded, rose to his feet, and returned to the match.

Sure enough, once they entered the third game, Team B began to run out of strength.

Their declining stamina was one reason.

Their diminishing concentration was another.

One should not underestimate two twenty-minute matches. From the very first minute, they had been fighting as though their lives depended on it.

In other words, they had endured forty minutes of extremely intense competition.

By the third match, their overall condition had begun to deteriorate.

As for Team A, they grew more comfortable as the game went on. Especially after moving their attacks away from Wei Lai, their offense began to flow smoothly.

In the third match, Team B lost to Team A 0–3.

By the fourth match, it became more a matter of perseverance.

Of course, Wei Lai had also begun a new experiment.

He repeatedly left his own defensive area, attempting to support the opposite flank.

But whenever he ran toward one side, Team A would launch an attack on the other.

Wei Lai was exhausted from running back and forth, unable to find the knack of it.

The Iron Wall Coach had clearly sprinted across the entire field, covering both width and depth, unstoppable wherever he went.

So why did Wei Lai turn into a headless fly the moment it was his turn, running and darting around aimlessly?

In the end, Team B once again lost to Team A, 0–2, in the fourth match.

After four matches, the two sides had essentially drawn.

But Team A was still left utterly humiliated.

After all, they had been thoroughly suppressed during the first two games.

Only after the matches became a war of attrition had they gradually fought their way back through experience.

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