Chapter 25 Not Area, but Coordinates

Inside the office, Wei Lai stood before Old Man Chen. To be honest, he felt a bit nervous and uneasy. Whether in his past life or the present, this was his first time facing Old Man Chen alone like this.

Old Man Chen pursed his lips tightly, arms folded, and looked at Wei Lai. "Coverage?" His expression carried a hint of strangeness and suspicion. After all, it was the first time someone in this age group had discussed the concept of defensive coverage with him.

"How is your physical conditioning?" Old Man Chen asked.

Wei Lai was puzzled, but he still replied, "It should be very good!"

"What are the specific numbers?"

"The new semester testing hasn't happened yet, but I am confident I'll be ranked first."

"That’s a bold claim!" Old Man Chen chuckled, picking up his teacup for a small sip.

At this moment, Wei Lai dropped a bombshell: "I've run He Chaoyue into the ground!"

*Cough, cough!*

Old Man Chen choked, coughing repeatedly before asking in surprise, "You ran Little He into the ground?"

"Not just He Chaoyue, but Yang Fan as well," Wei Lai said seriously. "I am very confident in my physical fitness."

He wasn't joking; he possessed the cardiovascular capacity of Casemiro. Even though it wasn't fully developed yet, his stamina remained overwhelmingly superior for his age group.

Old Man Chen cleared his throat, his brows furrowing and then smoothing out. After a moment, he asked, "How much do you understand about coverage?"

Wei Lai spilled everything, including the insights provided by Coach Iron Wall. At first, Old Man Chen remained calm and indifferent. Soon, however, he began to stare at Wei Lai with a blank expression. By the end, he looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"Are these all your own interpretations?" Old Man Chen was finally moved.

Wei Lai nodded. "Yes! But I can't seem to connect them. I can manage them individually, but I don't know how to link them together. For example, it’s a simple logic: if I’m in the front court, I can't cover the back court. Once the opponent launches a long ball, the back is completely empty—that doesn't count as coverage!"

Wei Lai noticed Old Man Chen’s expression was extremely peculiar. He looked him up and down before saying, "You can manage observation, anticipation, and reading the game?"

"Barely," Wei Lai replied, pursing his lips. "Though not yet entirely at ease."

Old Man Chen couldn't help but shake his head. "You've mastered the key nodes, yet you can't grasp the simplest principle? Is that it?"

Wei Lai’s eyes lit up. "Exactly. It feels like there should be something to bridge it all, but I just can't figure it out!"

Old Man Chen sighed. "Should I call you stupid or smart..." He stood up slowly and pointed to his legs. "What are these?"

Wei Lai answered honestly, "Legs?"

"And what is their purpose?"

"To run!"

Old Man Chen nodded. "Run, then! If you don't run, how can you cover the defense?"

Wei Lai blinked. "Is it that simple?"

"Of course, it’s not that simple. If it were, any defensive midfielder with good stamina could do it," Old Man Chen explained. "Observation, anticipation, reading the game, and most importantly, positioning—these are all essential elements. You must make decisions while running; your decisions will determine the success rate of your defense, and that success rate dictates the area of coverage."

"Simply put, you need to run constantly—run without fatigue. This requires abundant stamina. You must observe, anticipate, and read the game while running, then reach the correct position and make decision after decision to shift your defensive coverage area. Only by combining all of these can you appear at the most critical spot at the right time!"

*Clap!*

Old Man Chen clapped his hands. "That’s the trick! It’s called an area, but it’s also a single point! Don't overthink useless things; you only need to appear at the critical nodes at the right time. Do that, and you can cover half the field—or even the whole thing!"

Wei Lai frowned. "Just hearing that makes me want to throw up!"

"If you feel like throwing up, you're on the right track!" Old Man Chen gave a rare smile. "Your name is Wei Lai, right?"

Wei Lai nodded.

"I see. Now, go explore it on your own. No one can help you with this; you can only master it through match after match!"

Wei Lai bowed in gratitude and turned to leave the office. Watching Wei Lai’s departing back, Old Man Chen drifted into a daze.

"Is the tide really turning? First Little He, then Yang Fan, and now this kid! This is just the Weili Football School; there are plenty of promising talents hidden at Guangfa and Hongyun as well. Xiang Ming from the network youth academy, Pei Le from school football... it feels like things are really about to explode!"

...

On the training field, a scrimmage was underway. It was the A-League against the B-League again. Ever since the A-League lost face a few days ago, they had been pestering the B-League for matches. They called it "exchange and improvement," but it was clearly for revenge.

What made them even more frustrated was that Wei Lai seemed completely erratic.

*Bang! Bang!*

Wang Xiaomiao and He Chaoyue executed a fluid one-two, cleanly bypassing Mao Biao, followed by a powerful shot from He Chaoyue that found the back of the net. At that moment, Wei Lai arrived late.

"My fault! My fault!" Wei Lai raised his hand, apologizing profusely.

His teammates and opponents alike looked on with strange expressions. This wasn't the first time. Wei Lai’s performance was erratic—sometimes god-like, sometimes garbage. When he was "god-like," even He Chaoyue was suppressed and couldn't get the better of him. When he was "garbage," he would appear in inexplicable positions, then run to other inexplicable spots.

Sometimes he played perfectly logically; other times, completely irrationally. Sometimes, like a magician, he would appear at a critical node to stifle an attack. Other times, he would stand at the other end, staring in astonishment at an attack unfolding far away.

"Hey, Old Wei! What are you doing?" Yang Fan asked, bewildered. "Why do you keep running around blindly?"

Wei Lai turned his head. "I'm not running blindly!" He curled his lip and added, "I just misjudged it, but I feel like I'm slowly getting into the zone. I believe I can do it!"

"Do what?" Yang Fan covered his forehead. "Big brother, I have no idea what you're trying to do!"

He Chaoyue walked over and suddenly spoke up, "You thought Weng Shaojie was going to chip the ball, didn't you?"

Wei Lai’s eyes lit up. "You saw that too?"

He Chaoyue nodded. "But you moved too fast. Because you ran, Weng Shaojie changed his mind."

Wei Lai grinned. "That’s the part that gives me a headache. My speed is slow; if I don't act in advance, I might not make it to that spot. But once I act too quickly, the opponent catches my movement and changes their attack!"

He Chaoyue replied, "But the fact that you can capture this information and make judgments is already quite remarkable."

Wei Lai sighed. "It's useless if I can't piece it all together."

"Take your time! Don't rush," He Chaoyue comforted him. "I believe you can do it!"

Wei Lai nodded. "I hope so!"