"This Ethan Yi is way too arrogant, isn't he?"
"Well, he's a future national team player. It's only natural that he's good at soccer."
"Isn't it totally normal that Mason He and Liam Liu can't beat Ethan Yi?"
Up in the stands, Ethan Yi's trash talk spread like wildfire—one person told two, two told four, and soon the whole crowd was buzzing with excitement.
A lot of Capitalview First High School students who had admired Ethan a moment ago now felt a sense of united outrage, but the visiting students from Capitalview No. 2, Capitalview No. 3, and Peiying High were all fired up, giving Ethan huge thumbs up from the stands.
"This Ethan Yi is the real deal, haha!" Luke Lu laughed, looking genuinely entertained.
"Jason Liu, your school is even worse than I thought. If this were Peiying High, even if Ethan Yi said something like that, our students would've rushed the field and beat him up. No wonder First High can't compare to Peiying!" the girl beside him said proudly.
Students from Peiying High generally came from wealthier backgrounds than those at First High, and while Capitalview First High was still a public school, Peiying's kids were a lot more unruly and bold by comparison.
"Ethan Yi, you're just a bit better at soccer, and this is supposed to be a friendly match. There's really no need to talk like that, is there?" Mason He said, his face darkening, anger flashing in his eyes as he looked at Ethan.
"That's just how we talk—got a problem with it?" Ethan Yi's teammate shook his head. "If you guys have the guts to step on the field with us, you'd better be ready to get stomped!"
"If you don't have what it takes, don't show up on the field. Or you can just admit defeat now—keep playing and you'll only embarrass yourselves even more." Another player snickered, eyes full of mockery.
"Sorry, but I only care about winning and losing. Friendly match or not, it makes no difference—and we're not friends anyway. Actually, I've changed my mind. I was just going to put five past you, but now I'll make it ten. Ten–nil—that's our ultimate goal against you rookies!" Ethan Yi grinned broadly.
Liam Liu's teammates all felt a heavy weight settle in their hearts when they heard that.
The keeper kicked off, sending the ball to Mason He, who charged forward with everything he had!
"Come on, Ethan Yi! If you've got the guts, try taking the ball from me! Damn it!"
Relying on his status as the sanda club captain and his powerful physique, Mason bulldozed ahead, muscling past three defenders in a row!
"Go Mason He!"
"Go for it! Score the first goal for Capitalview First High!"
"Let's go!"
The entire Capitalview First High section erupted, chanting Mason He's name like a tidal wave, watching him charge forward on the field with spirits soaring.
Deep down, Mason He felt a new sense of mission—a burning drive to fight for the honor of Capitalview First High!
He charged forward, blood boiling, almost at the opponent's penalty area—when suddenly, Ethan Yi came streaking in from behind and, with a crisp slide tackle, cut him off clean!
Mason He crashed to the turf, while Ethan Yi booted the ball deep into Capitalview's half. The ball arced through the air, was picked up by a teammate, and after a few slick passes, they broke through First High's defense and scored again!
2–0!
Mason He's fierce attacking run was perfectly shut down by Ethan Yi's slide tackle, and the Reserves instantly turned it into a deadly counter.
"How did this happen..."
Liam Liu and the others stared at the ball in the net, faces pale as ghosts.
Up in the stands, the First High students who'd just been shouting with excitement now looked stunned, like eggplants hit by frost, staring blankly at the field.
"Is this really your strength? And you still dream of scoring against us? Overconfident much." Ethan Yi sneered coldly.
He walked past Mason He, slowly sweeping his gaze around, soaking up all the admiration and anger focused on him. Being the center of attention in the stadium filled him with a rush of satisfaction.
Every time he faced off against a school's team, Ethan Yi always went all out, determined to crush their pride underfoot. Only by doing this could he wash away a bit of the anger that had haunted him ever since that guy named Lin Yi from Minghai No. 2 dominated him.
"Lin Yi, I'm going to climb to the very top of Chinese soccer, stepping over the corpses of countless school teams! When that day comes, I'll talk about you live on CCTV Sports, in front of the whole country, and make you a laughingstock for everyone!"
"Right now, you're probably still stuck on that tiny field at Minghai No. 2, feeling smug about beating me once! A frog at the bottom of a well—just pray you never meet me again!"
Ethan Yi grinned, but in the next instant, his expression suddenly hardened.
"Ethan Yi, I think he's looking over here!"
"Linyan, maybe he's got his eye on you?"
"Whoa, is he actually coming over here?"
Capitalview's keeper had already kicked off, but Ethan Yi ignored it completely, striding across the field toward the Experimental Class 2 stands.
Even with Ethan Yi off the pitch, Capitalview First High still couldn't withstand the Reserves' relentless attacks!
More and more people noticed Ethan Yi's strange behavior and turned to watch him.
Finally, Ethan Yi stopped on the field about twenty meters from Chen Linyan. He stood there, lifted his head, and looked up at her in the stands, suddenly breaking into a grin: "So it's you, Chen Linyan!"
"Linyan, he really does know you!"
"He's definitely looking over here!"
The girls beside Chen Linyan couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Chen Linyan glanced at Ethan Yi, frowning slightly, then instinctively looked across at the opposite stands, toward where Lin Yi was sitting.
Seeing Chen Linyan ignore him, Ethan Yi raised an eyebrow, then turned his head slightly to look at the other side of the stands.
His gaze swept quickly across the crowd, and when Ethan Yi spotted a seemingly ordinary figure, his smile grew even wider!
"It's you—so it really is you!"
Ethan Yi muttered to himself. Under everyone's gaze, he raised his right hand, and across most of the field, one of the Reserves snatched the ball from Liam Liu and booted it hard toward Ethan Yi.
Ethan Yi's eyes locked onto the section where Lin Yi was sitting, gaze sharp, right foot bent and ready, waiting for the ball to arrive!