The Dwarf and the Giant

It was Monday and many in school got the news that Shu Guang's team was defeated by Tie Yi High, not to mention the big difference in their score. Even Liu Qi particularly ran to the third class to get an explanation from Zhang Jun.

"Yes! Yes! You're not wrong! We lost, 0: 4. I wasn't in the match!" Zhang Jun replied without waiting for Liu Qi to say a word.

"How did you know I was going to ask about this?" Li Qi asked shockingly.

"Damn it! Ever since I arrived at school in the morning, about 10 people have approached me and they all asked the same question. I've already decided to write the answer on a paper. If anyone comes to ask, I'll just show it to them!"

"But it doesn't make sense! Why did you guys lose?"

"Sorry, no comments!" Zhang Jun gave a diplomatic gesture.

Liu Qi thought of asking him more, but the first bell for class rang. For the first time, Zhang Jun felt like the class bell was music to his ears. How cute.

...

 An Ke sat beside him and winked at him. "We lost that Saturday because we weren't together. I've got some news and I assume that it's going to be pretty shattering."

"What happened?"

"During their warm-up match last Saturday, Zhongyuan lost too. They lost to an unknown soccer team"

Zhang Jun raised an eyebrow and replied, "Which school was it?"

"I think its called Yingcai High School."

"What was the score?"

"2: 0. Those two goals were shot by one person. Also, they got passed Li Yongle's kicks."

Zhang Jun felt his heart tightened and asked, "How did you find out about this?"

"My cousin sister's the new manager for Zhongyuan. She's the one who told me."

During the remaining time of the class, Zhang Jun was not paying any attention to what the teacher was saying in class. He was not listening to any of the words because his thoughts were entirely on the match between Zhongyuan and Yingcai High School. He could not imagine how they got pass Li Yongle's kick. Although he did not admit it on the surface, he considered Li his only worthy opponent. Now that he actually heard news that his opponent was defeated, he was in deep shock.

...

School ended at noon.

Zhang Jun had been very silent and Su Fei asked Yang Pan about it, "What happened to Zhang Jun? He's been like this since the previous two classes."

"The Zhongyuan team lost and Li Yong Le was defeated. This guy here, he keeps saying that it doesn't matter but honestly, he's always been concerned about the match between him and Li Yongle."

"The Zhongyuan team lost?" Su Fei's reaction was as expected. "How could that happen?"

"How is it not possible? Soccer's just like that; anything can happen. Oh, speak of the devil and he shall appear!"

Yang Pan looked at three people who were walking ahead as he said that.

Li Yongle stopped in front of Zhang Jun.

"Why did you lose?" Both Li Yongle and Zhang Jun pointed at each other and spoke at the same time.

The two boys stared at each other, but in the end, Zhang Jun defeated him. He slapped his head and said, "Tch! Our coach arranged for me, Yang Pan, Kaka and also Ren Yu De to not play in the match. Can you imagine how that match went?"

"Hmph! And here I thought you were injured and couldn't play in the match. So your coach was the one who arranged this. You gave me a fright!"

"You're in such a hurry because of this?"

"Of course, what else could it be? You think that I have no problems training at all?! I don't care about your team's results as long as you're not injured again."

"Hey, soccer's supposed to be a team of 11 players..."

"You're my only opponent!"

Zhang Jun looked at him helplessly and replied, "Why did you lose to a school that no one's even heard of then?"

"We were being lax at that time. Let that kid take all the credit; I didn't place him in my sight at all."

"Hehe, it's worth mentioning that for someone who's come back from the National Championship, your tone of speech sure is different!" Zhang Jun laughed.

"Truth be told, even if it's the National Championship, I think there's no one as good as you."

"Are you joking?"

"I'm serious." Li Yongle looked at Zhang Jun and said, "Today, no matter what happens, I want you in the finals too! Until then, don't disappoint me."

After all was said and done, Li Yongle turned and walked away with Zhang Yang as well as Zhang Lintao. "Lunch breaks are precious. Players should pay attention to their physical condition."

"Is that what you say after being defeated?" Zhang Jun pointed at Li Yongle and the two people beside him.

"I think his mind is full of thoughts about you in the finals. You didn't even play during Saturday's match," said Su Fei.

Yang Pan did not say anything.

"What are you thinking about?" Zhang Jun returned to his normal state and asked Yang Pan who was in an abnormal state now.

"Nothing. My training schedule needs to change."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. The gloves that Zhang Lintao were holding... They're giving me a bad feeling."

"Hey! Since when did you become a superstitious person?" Zhang Jun laughed and patted Yang Pan on the shoulder.

"From today onwards, the number of shots will be changed from 50 times a day to 100 times a day!"

"…To be honest, sometimes I feel like you're not human…"

...

"Look at the stage over there. Don't you think that person's acting pretty suspicious?" Su Fei pulled Yang Pan to her side.

Yang Pan looked up at the stage and a person was visibly there. He was wearing a windbreaker despite the sunny day and his collar was raised while his baseball cap was pulled down. He also wore a pair of sunglasses and a mask. After he realized that someone was looking at him, he hurriedly ran down the stage.

Yang Pan laughed as he said, "He's only a low-level spy, don't bother about him. While he was talking, they heard a voice.

"Oh! Is this Shu Guang's soccer field? Look at this yellow piece of land! There's a cracked platform here too! Tsk, tsk!"

Su Fei looked to see where the sound was coming from; a guy with a short body frame could be seen gesticulating around the field. There was a bigger and taller guy standing right beside him; it was pretty hilarious looking at these two standing together.

The short one was creating a lot of noise. "No wonder this lousy team lost to Tie Yi High School! Just one look at this environment and you'll know why!"

He walked inside the field and said to everyone, "Hey! Who's Zhang Jun!"

No one bothered to respond.

"Who's Zhang Jun?"

Still no one bothered to respond.

"Are you all deaf? Fine!" When his voice was on the low, he rushed in a single dash and grabbed the ball from Xie Yu. Then, with extremely agile movements, Lin Xiaofang, who was next to Xie Yu was pushed towards the goal.

"Dammit!" An angered Chen Bo grunted. He rushed to the scene and slammed the person in a foul manner. It was not going to be fun for him to get bumped by Chen Bo in such a close distance. However, incredibly enough, that person flashed away from Chen Bo in an instant. Chen Bo could not stop the car, and fell into the group, stunned.

After that person escaped from Chen Bo, he delivered a massive shot and the ball flew pass the unresponsive An Ke into the goal.

"Tsk, Tsk!" The person looked at the members of Shu Guang who were beside him and shook his head. "With such a lousy level, you deserved your defeat against Zhongyuan High! Hmph! Yingcai―"

...

Zhang Jun dashed pass one person after another as he ran quickly towards the field. "Damn that Math teacher! I was only reading comics in class and he asked me to stay back for detention! It delayed my training!"

He accelerated, rushing into the field like a gust of wind. When he finally entered the field, he heard the sound of a soccer ball crashing into the goalpost.

...

Yang Pan clenched his fist as he rushed towards the dwarf and said, "Kid! I dare you to repeat what you just said!" He stepped on the soccer ball that was beneath his feet and the short one turned to look at the shaken goal post, then back at Yang Pan.

The big guy who had only been a spectator from the side, walked into the field. He was still looking at the quaking goalpost.

"Shu Guang's No. 7, Yang Pan. Your long shots can reach speeds of up to 180 km/h, not to mention, you can hit the goal. Looks like those stories from the journalists aren't just for show. However, do you think that you can win the game just by scoring goals? He looked up at Yang Pan.

"Interesting!" Yang Pan indicated An Ke to step aside and the others stood aside as well.

The giant then proceeded to stand in front of the goalpost.

"Not going to use gloves?" Yang Pan asked him.

"I'm afraid that there isn't a suitable pair of gloves for me?"

This is the moment where Yang Pan noticed his opponent's huge hands―they were like fans.

The opponent got his posture ready; it was a very formal posture, not one that showed contempt or nervousness. His huge body stood in front of the goal and he naturally exuded pressure. Excellent goalkeepers could keep their composure and not be angry, thus exuding an invisible force that could make opponents misfire. Normally, Yang Pan would never miss his shot however, he had to admit that the person right in front of him was an excellent goalkeeper.

Yang Pan was about 30 m away from the goal. He took a deep breath, moved the ball forward and launched it with full force!

It was like a cannon ball, rushing towards the goal... no, it was rushing towards the goalkeeper. The meaning of Yang Pan's shot was pretty obvious. It was meant to be directed at people. If you did not hide, it would hit you as you waited! If you did hide, you would lose for sure.

Seeing how the ball would hit his face, the goalkeeper was still motionless. Su Fei could not help but scream. 

With a muffled sound, the person actually used his hands to catch Yang Pan's shot! In fact, he did not fall at all. He was still standing in front of the goalpost!

"Haha! You see that? This is Yingcai High's powerful goalkeeper!" The short one's voice rang out again. "What's the meaning of a 180-km/h shot?! Your most powerful person here can't even score a goal with him as the goalkeeper! So don't talk about anything else!" He laughed arrogantly.

"Is that so?" Another voice rang. "I think as long as Yang Pan moved forward by another five meters, that silly big man will be rolling with the ball into the net."

The short guy heard what he had to say and went to see his companion. He discovered that he was clenching his teeth and the heel of his right foot was stepping on the goal line.

In front of his feet, there was slip marks of about one meter.

"Who are you?"

"Me? Zhang Jun."

"So you're Zhang Jun?" The dwarf stood in front of him and shot him a fierce glare.

Zhang Jun glared back at him.

"You listen!" the short one pointed at Zhang Jun and said, "I defeated Li Yongle; Li Yongle is my opponent, not you!"

Shortly after, the giant approached him. "Let's go back."

The short one looked at him and spoke to Zhang Jun once again, "You better start praying from now on that you won't bump into us during the preliminaries. Otherwise, you'll all die an ugly death!"

...

"What is up with that idiot?" Zhang Jun asked Su Fei.

"He was looking for you but you weren't here. He said stuff like 'You guys deserved to be defeated by Zhongyuan'. Yang Pan then gave them a little taste of his power," Su Fen said, clearly irritated.

"He really said that?"

"Yes! It pissed us off!"

Zhang Jun clenched his fist. "Then he better start praying from today that his team won't bump into us during the qualifiers. Otherwise, I'll make him take a good look at us!" Zhang Jun was furious this time, it even scared Su Fei.

...

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Both of my hands are swollen. You think I wanna look like a clown in public?"

"Is it…"

"If he did make another shot from five meters away, I'm sure that I would have been lying inside the goalpost. What a powerful shot…"

...

Character Profile 2.

Name: Yang Pan

Birthday: 1st September 1983

Blood Type: AB

Horoscope: Virgo

Height: 175 cm

Weight: 62.5 kg

Hobbies: Music and reading x-rated books

Favorite Color(s): White and red

Favorite Food: No particular favorites, as long he can eat it

Favorite Song(s): Zhou Hua Jian's "Let Me Be Happy, Let Me Be Worried"

Favorite Movie(s): None

Favorite Book(s): X-rated ones

Favorite Soccer Star(s): Robert Baggio

Favorite Soccer Team(s): Bayern Munich and Italy

The Thing He Wants Most: To be photographed with Zhou Hua Jian

Ideal Type: In the future, he will ride together with Zhang Jun in the top European League