Chapter 1 China's Media's Speed

Chinese media is very fast when it comes to matters of national interest, such as the attention from soccer fans nationwide.

In the early hours of the morning in Switzerland, and the morning in Beijing, China, as people arrived for work or school, white-collar workers opened their computers, habitually wanting to see the news first. Those fans who regularly followed soccer news saw a large photo of Zhou Yi wearing a Borussia Dortmund jersey and training with the Dortmund players, prominently displayed on the sports page of the portal websites they browsed.

Next to the photo was an eye-catching headline.

Different websites had different headlines.

But they all expressed roughly the same meaning, which was a positive evaluation of Zhou Yi's performance in his first tactical training session at Borussia Dortmund.

And they all unanimously wrote about Klopp's criticism of Zhou Yi in the afternoon's defensive training as an interlude.

Between the lines, there was no criticism or pessimism towards Zhou Yi, but rather appreciation and praise.

Any fan who read these reports, regardless of whether they knew Zhou Yi beforehand, would likely have a deep-rooted image of Zhou Yi as an outstanding attacker, a poor defender, but a hardworking and confident player.

They weren't too worried about shortcomings. Who doesn't have shortcomings these days? Even Messi has flaws!

Besides, what kind of flaw is poor defense for an attacking midfielder? Would anyone ask Zhou Yi to complete several successful tackles, several successful slides, or several goal-line clearances in a game?

Of course not.

Everyone was happy to see that Zhou Yi was integrating into the team quickly and showing many highlights in attacking training.

As for Zhou Yi's confidence?

After seeing the reporters focus on his outstanding performance in attacking training, and then seeing Zhou Yi confidently state that his goal was to stay in the first team after the training camp and strive to play in official matches as soon as possible, fans wouldn't think Zhou Yi was just talking big without any basis.

Fang Shuai, who had been relatively free during the summer vacation, slept in, so it was already noon when he saw the article.

When he excitedly wanted to switch to the online forum, he found that someone had already shared it, and not just one person.

It was clear that everyone was very excited and enthusiastic. Seeing Zhou Yi performing well in first-team training, all his supporters were genuinely happy for him.

Fang Shuai added this news to his constantly updated main post, and also felt that he might not need to disturb Zhou Yi's training anymore, because in China, he could learn about Zhou Yi's various situations through these domestic media outlets.

As Zhou Yi became more and more famous, Fang Shuai, as Zhou Yi's classmate, also felt honored.

※※※

Although the hellish physical training phase was over, Borussia Dortmund's training intensity did not decrease in the slightest.

In the training camp in Switzerland, Borussia Dortmund still had three training sessions a day for five days a week. During these five days, the morning training for one hour would have half an hour devoted to physical training.

This shows how much coach Klopp values the team's physical fitness.

Having three training sessions a day for five days a week should have been something that made the players complain, but no one complained much.

Because they had a comparison object, and happiness is all about comparison. Or rather, one's own happiness is deeply felt only when seeing people who are worse off than oneself.

And their comparison object was... Zhou Yi.

On the second morning after arriving in Switzerland, the team had an hour of morning training.

Everyone completed half an hour of physical training according to the plan, and it was time for ball training.

Zhou Yi followed his teammates to the field, but was stopped by head coach Klopp at the entrance of the gym: "Hey, Zhou Yi."

Zhou Yi looked at Klopp standing at the door: "Is there something wrong, coach?"

"Yeah, there is." Klopp tipped the brim of his baseball cap. "It's like this, Zhou Yi, for the next half hour, you will continue to stay here."

"Here? Where?" Zhou Yi didn't quite understand.

"The gym, of course," Klopp said.

"Ah? Why?" Zhou Yi was very surprised.

"Because your physical training isn't over yet."

Zhou Yi looked at the smiling Klopp, his eyes widened.

"From now on, you have to train here for an hour every morning at seven o'clock, Zhou Yi," Klopp said with a smile.

"This... why?"

"Because your physical fitness hasn't reached the standard."

"Hasn't reached the standard?" Zhou Yi couldn't believe it. He had worked hard for half a month on physical training, and it hadn't reached the standard? His current physical data was already at 75! Four points higher than the 71 after a week of physical training.

"That's right, it hasn't reached the standard," Klopp said. "Maybe in some teams, your physical fitness meets the standard, but in my team, it doesn't. So you have to continue training. Oliver will be in charge of you."

Zhou Yi looked back at physical coach Oliver Bartlett, who was beckoning to him: "Come on, kid."

Zhou Yi wanted to cry but had no tears—he thought he could get rid of the hell of physical training, but he had only gone from the eighteenth level of hell to the seventeenth level...

※※※

The other Borussia Dortmund players arrived at the training ground but found that someone was missing.

"Where's Zhou Yi?" Hummels asked.

Zhou Yi was very noticeable in the team, partly because he was the only player from East Asia in the entire team, and also because of his personality, being cheerful, joking, and able to take a joke. So wherever he went, he wouldn't be ignored in a corner.

"It seems like he was stopped by the head coach..." Götze said.

"Ah, with my intuition, being stopped by the coach is definitely not a good thing..." Grosskreutz spread his hands, saying with some schadenfreude, completely unaware that the teammates in front of him were silent.

"Kevin, then do you think me calling you now is a good thing or a bad thing?" Klopp's voice suddenly rang out behind Grosskreutz, startling him.

"Ah... Coach, I didn't mean that... Hehe..." Grosskreutz was so frightened that he became incoherent.

"Enough nonsense, prepare to start training!" Klopp roared, and Grosskreutz ran into the training ground as if his butt was on fire, and the other players also scattered like birds and beasts.

But many people also noticed that only the coaching staff members were around Klopp, but there was no... Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi didn't come to participate in training?

What was going on?

Götze looked back at the coaching staff.

※※※

At the same time, Zhou Yi was in the gym, stripped to the waist, sweating profusely. The running track of the treadmill was tilted upwards, and Zhou Yi felt like he was still doing mountain climbing training on the Radkesburg mountains...

He thought of his conversation with Götze at the top of the mountain.

"Hey, Zhou Yi, you're not saying that just because you don't want to continue physical training, are you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Would someone like me, who dares to challenge myself, worry about that?! I'm telling you, I like challenging my limits the most! Only in this way can my strength be demonstrated!"

Now, thinking of what he said back then, he really wanted to slap himself—why didn't he learn his lesson! When he had been training for a week, he said that the head coach valued him, and as a result, he was immediately given special treatment.

And now?

Zhou Yi hated it—it was all Götze's fault, if he hadn't said that, how could he have jinxed himself?!

"Damn... Mario..." He accidentally muttered.

"What did you say?" Bartlett didn't hear clearly.

"Ah, ah... No, no, I didn't say anything..." Zhou Yi replied, panting heavily.

"Focus on training," Bartlett reminded.

Zhou Yi thought of something and asked, panting, "Coach... You, you said, does the head coach... does, does he... think highly of me?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Then... why else... why is he... emphasizing me so much!" When Zhou Yi said this, he had to hold on to the treadmill's handrails, otherwise his legs wouldn't be able to keep up with the speed of the treadmill and he would fall.

"You're thinking too much, Zhou Yi. It's just because your physical fitness is currently the worst on the team," Bartlett said, then he tapped the treadmill's handrail. "Don't hold on to the handrails."

Zhou Yi quickly let go of his hands, then exerted force with his feet, accelerating to keep up with the speed of the treadmill.

"Since you still have the strength to talk, should we increase the intensity?" Bartlett asked.

Zhou Yi was so frightened that his face turned pale. He wanted to wave his hand, but he was afraid of losing his balance, so he could only run hard while shaking his head.

At the same time, he thought of what Klopp had said to him.

"In my team, your physical fitness hasn't reached the standard yet."

Hasn't reached the standard yet?

Zhou Yi decided to prove to Klopp in the warm-up match that his physical fitness was completely capable of playing!

※※※

Every night and during his midday nap, Zhou Yi would practice with his virtual teammates in the virtual system, bringing the training projects from the real world into the virtual world, repeating them again and again and again.

In the real world, when the whole team had morning training, he would stay in the gym alone for a full hour. Afterwards, everyone could see Zhou Yi slumped on the table in the cafeteria, sticking out his tongue, looking as exhausted as a dog.

Grosskreutz pointed at Zhou Yi to prove to everyone that his previous statement was correct—being left behind by the head coach after training is 100% a bad thing!

However, Zhou Yi's roommate, Götze, acted a little strangely. He just looked at Zhou Yi, but didn't say a word.

And on the two days when everyone didn't have morning training, the gym was occupied by only Zhou Yi and Bartlett for a whole hour from seven to eight in the morning.

He was alone, completing super-difficult training. For him, the first warm-up match was the only reason that supported him to persevere—he had to use his outstanding performance in the warm-up match to prove to Klopp that he could stop receiving this kind of physical training and could meet the team's requirements for matches!