Chapter 1 A Bear From the North

"A Bear From the North" was the headline used by the local Naples media when reporting on Chen Hero's successful medical examination. The news quoted the doctor who examined Chen Hero as saying, "His body is as strong as a bear!"

The accompanying photo was of Chen Hero shaking hands and smiling with club chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Under the bright sunshine of southern Italy, Chen Hero in the photo smiled particularly happily.

Just looking at his appearance, he was a sunny young man. Who would have thought that this was the person who gave the entire Russian media a headache, who left Advocaat helpless and had to let him do as he pleased, who had the national football association and media of his country in a state of utter confusion, and who still hadn't stopped causing trouble, and was estimated to continue until the Olympics, and might even have a more far-reaching impact...

He was not an easy guy to get along with, he was a troublemaker, and a big one at that, a super troublemaker.

But obviously, the Naples media lacked understanding of Chen Hero. They knew that Chen Hero often went to nightclubs in St. Petersburg, often argued with the media, and provoked opponents and their fans... but what they knew was not enough.

They also lacked the most direct understanding. After all, they had only heard others say it, and seen it from elsewhere.

Many reporters even felt a great fondness for this young man after seeing Chen Hero's performance yesterday, and believed that he must have been misunderstood by the outside world—how could such a sunny, cheerful, and lively child be the super troublemaker in everyone's eyes?

But it didn't matter, Chen Hero would soon let this group of Italians see for themselves.

※※※

July 1st, the sun was still bright and shining. At the Stadio San Paolo, dozens of reporters poured in, including about twenty from Italy and another twenty from China.

Chen Hero was not the first Chinese player to join a Serie A team, but he was very likely to become the first Chinese player to appear in a Serie A match—his predecessor, Ma Mingyu, had joined Perugia, but had never played for Perugia in Serie A.

Therefore, Chen Hero received attention from the media of both countries.

In recent years, with the increasing strength of China, the name China has appeared more and more frequently on the international stage. Although Chinese football is not very good, considering the overall rise of China's strength, many foreign media are very interested in everything about China.

In addition, with the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing this year, Chen Hero, as a representative of Chinese sports, joining Napoli and landing in Serie A, was of course an important reason for many Italian media to pay attention to his debut. They felt that this must be a day worth writing about for Chinese sports.

This could be seen from the large number of Chinese reporters who came to the scene.

Chen Hero turned China upside down, but he didn't care. The country was in chaos, but it didn't affect his expansion in Italy. Nor did it affect his popularity among Chinese fans and the media. Being expelled from the national Olympic team and blacklisted by the Chinese Football Association did not affect his personal image at all. On the contrary, it sublimated his image—he was touted by those media outlets that liked him as a "hero who dared to declare war on evil forces, was not afraid of powerful forces, and bravely said no to the dark secrets of Chinese football," and his status in the hearts of fans rose instead of falling.

Even those Chinese companies who were still hesitant about endorsing their products with him before had dispelled their concerns and planned to sign Chen Hero for product endorsements.

Chen Hero "benefited from the disaster"—if being expelled from the national Olympic team, unable to participate in the Olympics, and being blacklisted by the Football Association was "disaster" for Chen Hero...

In addition to these reporters, there were also more than eight thousand fans who came to the Stadio San Paolo to welcome Chen Hero's arrival.

This number could not be compared with those of superstar players at all, let alone Maradona's welcome ceremony with 80,000 people.

But for Chen Hero, who joined Zenit St. Petersburg silently and was unknown at the time, and whom everyone still didn't know how he joined Zenit after he played two games in the first team, it was already a very grand welcome ceremony.

Chen Hero was not arrogant enough to demand that tens of thousands of people buy tickets to attend his joining ceremony when he joined Napoli.

He just felt that one day, he would make his joining ceremony a grand event that the whole world would pay attention to!

※※※

According to the program of the welcome ceremony, first the media collectively witnessed Chen Hero signing the contract and took photos as a souvenir.

Then there was the press conference, where Chen Hero would answer questions from reporters.

Finally, he would meet the fans in the stadium, show off his skills, kick the prepared "gifts"—footballs—to the fans, and then hold up the Napoli scarf in front of the reporters to take pictures.

Ceremony complete.

Signing the contract was purely for show. In fact, Chen Hero had already signed the contract, this was just a show.

Everyone knew that. But... the audience needed this symbolic scene.

The main events were actually the latter two items.

Chen Hero, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, followed his agent Dekura and club chairman De Laurentiis, team general manager Marino, and coach Reja, into the press conference venue.

The cameras of the photographers flashed.

The sound of shutters clicking was endless.

Chen Hero finally had the feeling of "I'm a star"...

He couldn't help but straighten his chest in this flash of lights and sound of shutters, raising his head slightly, looking very confident... even a little conceited.

Then he sat down and began the press conference.

※※※

In front of the outside world, the club's operations were still the responsibility of the club's general manager Marino, so the speech introducing Chen Hero was also given by him.

In his speech, Marino welcomed Chen Hero to Napoli and introduced Chen Hero's past achievements to the media.

"...He scored fifty-eight goals in fifty league games for Zenit St. Petersburg. In the season he just left, he scored twenty-one goals in eleven league games. I think everyone can already understand what a prolific scorer he is, right? Not to mention that he became the most outstanding scorer in the UEFA Cup since its reform at the age of nineteen. Napoli values his super scoring ability and his youth..."

Such a speech was unoriginal, basically the same old stuff, nothing interesting. What the reporters were looking forward to was not such official platitudes, but the opportunity to directly confront Chen Hero.

They all knew that Chen Hero was a controversial player, so how controversial was he exactly? Was he the super troublemaker that the Russian media reported him to be?

When Napoli's press officer Baldari signaled that reporters could ask questions freely, almost all the reporters in the room raised their arms at the same time.

This startled the press officer, who was stunned for a moment.

For a moment, he didn't know who to call on to ask a question.

At this time, De Laurentiis laughed next to him, attracting everyone's attention.

The club chairman laughed because this scene was too interesting. Every reporter's face was full of impatient expressions, as hungry as women in the throes of passion.

After attracting everyone's attention, De Laurentiis waved his hand: "Just pick one at random." He said to his club's press officer.

So Baldari called on a reporter from *Gazzetta dello Sport* that he was more familiar with.

"Napoli had a glorious history in the Maradona era. What are your thoughts on being able to join Napoli, Hero?" Such a question was quite conventional, causing the surrounding Italian colleagues to glance at him with dissatisfied eyes—aren't you wasting time? Press conference time is limited, how can you ask questions that we all know the answers to?

"I am very happy to join Napoli." Chen Hero did not speak Italian, so his agent Dekura once again doubled as his translator. "This is a very promising team. I am also very interested in playing in the Italian football league."

Sure enough, Chen Hero's answer did not surprise the reporters at all. It was too bland. Any player who joined a new team would say the same thing, just a little more sensational.

So from the moment the second reporter stood up, the pace of the scene suddenly accelerated.

"Do you know about Napoli's past history?" a local Napoli media reporter asked Chen Hero with a hint of pride.

For the locals of Naples, the past history of course refers to the glorious achievements of the Maradona era. That was the only time in their club's history that was worth being proud of, and it was also the passionate years that many Napoli fans still remember to this day.

But obviously, Chen Hero misunderstood...

"I know that Napoli went bankrupt before, and the situation was very bad. But everything ends here, because this team now has many excellent players like me!"

Sure enough, Chen Hero didn't hold back for too long, and immediately revealed his true colors...

The local Napoli reporter who asked the question was stunned for a moment, his brain unable to connect this answer with his question.

He sat down blankly, and other reporters were called upon to continue asking questions.

It took several minutes for this reporter to react after sitting down—God! Was his answer just now too arrogant?

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Chen Hero again.

The person on the stage was answering the third reporter's question.

"Maradona? He is a great player, but I think Napoli fans can't always live in the memories of the Maradona era, they must look forward. Maradona can't help the current Napoli anyway, everything depends on ourselves..."

After he finished speaking, he looked at the translator Dekura.

Dekura asked, "Are you sure you want to say this?"

Chen Hero nodded, he didn't think there was anything wrong with this answer: "Just translate it as it is."

After Dekura translated Chen Hero's words, many reporters who were taking notes lowered their heads and raised their heads one after another, with surprised expressions on their faces. But immediately after this surprised expression, a gleam of excitement flashed!

Here it comes! Here it comes!

The legendary bombshell is here!!

And even club chairman De Laurentiis turned his head to look at Chen Hero with interest after hearing these words, with a playful smile on his face.