Chapter 203 PS

Chen Hero left after nine o'clock. A full moon hung in the clear night sky. Dalglish came out to see Chen Hero off, patted him on the shoulder and said, "I know the outside world is overwhelmingly optimistic about you winning the Premier League Golden Boot. But I still have to remind you that you're only one goal ahead of Van Persie, Hero."

Chen Hero nodded: "Don't worry, Boss. I'm definitely not going to spit out the meat that's already in my mouth."

Dalglish nodded: "Just don't underestimate your opponent."

After seeing Chen Hero off, Dalglish didn't immediately return inside. He looked up and saw the bright moon in the sky.

The weather was good today.

This was his last game at Liverpool, and he was already sixty-one years old. If nothing unexpected happened, he wouldn't have the chance to coach Liverpool again.

Of course, returning to Liverpool didn't necessarily mean he had to do so as a coach. But as long as those two Chinese guys were around, he would definitely not choose to come back. Even if those two people really led Liverpool back to the top one day, he still wouldn't come back.

It was a matter of dignity.

He could praise Liverpool's performance in the newspapers, but he would absolutely never return to the club, no matter what position he held.

So his only hope could only be placed on Chen Hero. If Chen Hero left the team after a few years, he would probably be very helpless. Because it would prove that Liverpool still didn't have the ability to retain talent. Nowadays, Liverpool was almost reduced to a stepping stone for talented players before they transferred to the big clubs.

That would definitely be considered a downfall.

But he no longer had the ability to change any of this. All he could do was cheer for Chen Hero.

The hope of Liverpool's revival rested entirely on this arrogant kid...

Hopefully, he wouldn't let him down.

***

May 13th, the final round of the Premier League kicked off simultaneously.

The battle for the championship, the battle for the top scorer, and the battle for Champions League qualification all entered their final climax at this moment.

Chinese fans were most concerned about the battle for the top scorer.

Liverpool were away against Swansea, a mid-table team.

Fifteen minutes into the game, after the commentators introduced the starting lineups for both sides, they began to incessantly discuss the battle for the top scorer.

Chen Hero and Van Persie were both excellent. Currently, Chen Hero was one goal ahead of Van Persie. This gap was very small, but everyone was optimistic about Chen Hero. This was related to Chen Hero's previous brilliant record.

Since everyone was so optimistic about him, how could Chen Hero let everyone down? The kind of thing where you were highly anticipated before the game but performed poorly and disappointed everyone would never happen to Chen Hero.

The commentators hadn't even finished telling the story of the competition between Chen Hero and Van Persie this season when Liverpool scored first.

The scorer was none other than Chen Hero!

"Although the suspense has almost disappeared, Hero still scored his thirty-seventh goal of the season! This goal completely eliminates the suspense!" the commentator exclaimed.

"Hero! Hero! Hero... He-ro! What can we say? Facing such an outstanding center forward, what else can we say? It's just too amazing! Thirty-eight league games in a season, and he's scored thirty-seven goals!"

After scoring, Chen Hero waved his fist forcefully, like a boxer wildly punching a sandbag.

Yes, you want me to spit out the meat that's already in my mouth? Unless it's the end of the world, don't even think about it!

Chen Hero finished waving his fist and roared at the sky.

His teammates rushed up and surrounded him.

Swansea's players were a little helpless. They were playing at home in this game, but why did they feel like they were just supporting characters from the start?

"Hero doesn't need to worry about whether Van Persie has scored or not. Now he just needs to keep running forward! Because he's the leader!"

The Chinese commentators were the most excited. Chen Hero was the source of their passion. In the past, Chinese commentators were often criticized for not being passionate enough, but they felt wronged—they were talking about foreign teams' games, and they were required to be objective and neutral. If they were all objective and neutral, how could they be passionate?

Now, that problem no longer existed. They could naturally be objective and neutral when commentating on other teams' games. But when it came to Liverpool's games, they didn't need to be objective and neutral. Even if Liverpool's opponents were big clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea, who had a large number of fans in China, they could still wave their fists unbridled and shout passionately: "Goal!" "Great goal!" "Long live Hero!!" without worrying about receiving angry phone calls from fans complaining to the station the next day.

Nowadays, Chen Hero was the common idol of all Chinese fans. Although his image off the field wasn't great, his performance on the field lived up to everyone who supported him. And only he could bring some comfort and excitement to Chinese fans at this time.

Therefore, everyone supported Chen Hero. Even if the commentators were biased towards Chen Hero when commentating on the game, it wasn't a big deal, but rather human nature—who else should we support if not our own country's players?

***

While Chen Hero and his teammates were celebrating the goal, Liverpool fans in the stands cheered, and the momentum even suppressed the home team Swansea fans.

It wasn't that the Liverpool fans' voices were so loud, but rather that the Swansea fans didn't make any booing noises.

At this moment, even rival fans remained silent.

Many people were amazed in their hearts—this Chen Hero, he's too damn amazing, isn't he? Is he even human? How can he do it? Thirty-seven goals in thirty-eight league games!

No one in Premier League history has ever scored so many goals in a season. It should be noted that this was achieved even with Chen Hero being suspended for six games, meaning that Chen Hero's goal rate had already broken through an average of one goal per game!

If he hadn't been suspended for six games, his final goal count would definitely have exceeded forty!

What a terrifying person!

The Swansea fans were intimidated.

So the only cheers in the stadium were from the visiting Liverpool fans.

The English commentators were also shaking their heads: "I feel sorry for Robin van Persie. His performance this season has been good enough, no, it's simply the best season of his career, but he's run into an alien monster..."

"Since we already have Van Persie, why do we need a Chen Hero? Poor Dutchman!"

"I think the Premier League Player of the Season and Best Foreign Player of the Season should be no-brainers, right? Hero has only been here for one season and has already conquered everyone. Think about his performances at his previous two teams... He debuted at Zenit Saint Petersburg, and after just eleven league games, he conquered Russia starting from his second season. He also won the Serie A Golden Boot in just half a season at Napoli, and from then on, he began his three-year monopoly of the Serie A Golden Boot. I dare to bet that if he had continued to stay at Napoli, he would definitely have been able to continue to monopolize this honor... Now it's his turn to monopolize the Premier League Golden Boot. This isn't good news for the Premier League strikers..."

***

With Chen Hero scoring, it didn't matter whether Van Persie scored or not. The battle for the top scorer suddenly lost its suspense.

With Liverpool playing Swansea away and Arsenal playing West Bromwich away, the number of people watching these two games suddenly decreased. Everyone switched channels to watch Manchester City playing Queens Park Rangers at home and Manchester United playing Sunderland away.

At this time, the battle for the league championship also reached its climax.

***

Wenger had already heard the news of Chen Hero's goal. He didn't know if Van Persie had heard the news. He didn't plan to tell Van Persie either—the news was meaningless.

He no longer cared whether Van Persie could win the top scorer award. He felt that the competition with Chen Hero had aroused Van Persie's fighting spirit and made him more mature, which was the best outcome.

The top scorer was just a meaningless title, so why care so much?

"Tell everyone not to tell Robin about Hero's goal during halftime," he said to his assistant coach, tilting his head.

This was Arsenal's away game, so the big screen at the home stadium wouldn't be so out of place as to show the live score of Chen Hero's goal. As for whether enthusiastic fans would tell Van Persie through some other means, Wenger couldn't control that. He just hoped that nothing would happen in the team that would interfere with Van Persie.

***

Although Chen Hero scored a goal for the team, his goal didn't bring the team victory. This was also a common occurrence for Liverpool and Chen Hero this season—Chen Hero worked hard to score goals, but the team either drew or lost, which made Chen Hero feel very helpless.

In the end, Liverpool were held to a draw by Swansea away, with the score being 1-1. Liverpool had no other goals besides Chen Hero's.

Swansea scored the equalizing goal in the second half. Then the two teams started playing a "friendly game." After all, they were both unmotivated. Liverpool definitely wouldn't qualify for the Champions League, and Swansea had no worries about relegation or hope for European competition.

The friendly atmosphere lasted until the end of the game.

On the other side, Van Persie also scored a goal. He scored a record-breaking thirty-six goals this season, but he still couldn't win the top scorer award. This achievement would have won him the top scorer award in the Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 this season, but not in the Premier League, because he ran into a terrifying Chen Hero.

When the game ended, Van Persie's first reaction was to ask the people off the field if Chen Hero had scored. He had asked his teammates and coaches during halftime, but because everyone had been instructed by Wenger in advance, everyone said to Van Persie: "He hasn't scored yet!"

This news made Van Persie work very hard in the second half, and he finally scored a goal.

If Chen Hero hadn't scored in the entire game, then Van Persie's goal would have allowed him to share the Premier League Golden Boot with Chen Hero.

He could also be considered to have won the first top scorer award of his career.

Wenger didn't let anyone tell Van Persie the truth. He felt that it was better for him to do it himself.

He walked directly over and put his arm around Van Persie's shoulder: "Bad news, Robin. He scored."

Van Persie was stunned for a moment after hearing this. But apart from this daze, he didn't show any other emotions. You couldn't even see any frustration or disappointment on his face.

He just asked, "How many did he score?"

Wenger held up his index finger: "One."

"Just one more than me?" Van Persie asked.

Wenger nodded. "I'm sorry, Robin..."

Van Persie bit his lip and didn't say anything for a long time. Although he had said that he would try to keep a calm attitude, how could he easily let go of such a thing? Especially losing the Golden Boot by a one-goal difference, he would always be very unwilling, repeatedly asking himself in his heart: If I had scored one more goal in a certain game, would the result have been completely different?

Wenger saw that Van Persie wasn't saying anything and knew that he was feeling uncomfortable. So he directly took a step forward and hugged him, and said in his ear: "Although you're not the Golden Boot, Robin, you're a Golden Boot-level player, you're the best! It doesn't need a trophy to prove it."

Hearing Wenger's words, Van Persie raised his head again: "I said, Boss, even if I lose this season, I still have next season."

Wenger heard him say this, patted him on the shoulder lightly, and didn't say anything.

***

The battle between Chen Hero and Van Persie for the top scorer came to an end, and the battle for the Premier League championship also ended. In the end, both Manchester United and Manchester City won, with Manchester United winning their twentieth English top-flight league title by a two-point advantage over their cross-town rivals.

And Manchester City, after leading for so long and investing so much money, ultimately ended up empty-handed—this season's league title belonged to Manchester United, the League Cup title belonged to Liverpool, and the FA Cup title belonged to Everton, who defeated Chelsea in the final.

Chelsea also achieved a good result, completing a comeback in the final round and reversing to win fourth place in the league, squeezing Tottenham Hotspur into fifth place. This meant that Chelsea would qualify for the Champions League qualifying round next season, while Tottenham could only sadly play in the Europa League.

Liverpool would also return to Europe next season, qualifying for the Europa League thanks to their League Cup title.

And Chen Hero would return to Europe after a year away from the European stage, and he would use this opportunity to announce his return.

The Chen Hero who swept Barcelona and Messi in the Champions League last season made many people tremble with fear. After a year away, he wondered if anyone missed him.

But he himself couldn't wait any longer.

And for Chen Xing and Niang, who were sitting in the stadium's VIP box, next season would be the starting point for Liverpool's full revival and rise. Large-scale cleansing and reinforcements would be gradually launched. This season had proven that even if Liverpool had Chen Hero, without outstanding teammates and the courage to start from scratch, the team would still have no future.

To increase the value of the Liverpool assets in their hands, they had to get the team to win more championships.

It was a win-win situation.

Chen Xing stood up, looked at the Liverpool players on the field who were saying goodbye to Dalglish one by one, and said to Niang beside him: "You don't have a vacation to rest, Lao Lu. The empire, it's time for a full-scale reconstruction!"

Niang stretched out his hands: "Let's tear it down first!"

"Then you don't know how many people will scold you, haha!"

Niang shrugged, looking indifferent. "The British are always too nostalgic. Old is good. But that's not going to work now. If they don't want to, there's nothing they can do. It's not up to them. We've tried gentle methods, but they don't work. Either tear it down and rebuild, or die."

Chen Xing looked at the players in the field and said: "Lao Lu, do you think we made a mistake when we decided to buy Liverpool? This team isn't as easy to make money as we thought... To make Liverpool rise, I don't even have confidence myself. It's too difficult..."

"When you say that, I think of Hero's words." Niang laughed when he heard his old classmate complain.

"What?"

"Such a difficult thing..." Niang turned to look at Chen Xing and smiled. "I want to try."

(Volume 4: Sunset of the Empire End)