Volume One: Our Own League 164: Who on Earth Are These Three Strangers

Xu He and the others did not let their gazes linger on the stranger for too long. Instead, they all looked at Yangtong Mingxiong, the head coach of their school team, with burning intensity in their eyes.

Starting from today, they were officially members of the school team.

From now on, he was just a humble foot soldier under Coach Yangtong Mingxiong.

Seeing this group of vibrant and energetic young men, a faint smile appeared on Coach Yangtong Mingxiong's face, and his mood improved significantly.

Coach Yangtong Mingxiong waved at the students, prompting cheers and roars to erupt from the crowd.

The atmosphere at the scene instantly surged to a high point.

Yangtong Mingxiong and the others arrived at the podium, nodded to Principal Wang and the stranger, and then picked up a megaphone to address the students below, "Alright, everyone stop chatting and hurry over to assemble!"

Hearing this, Xu He and the others rushed toward the podium.

Yangtong Mingxiong instructed, "Using my finger as a reference, split left and right, and form six rows and six columns. Move quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Xu He and the others immediately began scrambling to find their positions and stand in formation.

Since this was their very first assembly, everyone appeared somewhat flustered, not knowing where they should stand, resembling a swarm of headless flies.

Up on the stage, Yangtong Mingxiong, Xu Dongsheng, and the others remained silent, offering no interference as they watched quietly.

At this moment, Zhu Ge and a senior from the third year of junior high stepped forward, gesturing for everyone to arrange themselves by height, from low to high, from left to right and front to back.

Having some organization made all the difference; soon, everyone found their spots and stood at attention.

On the stage, Yangtong Mingxiong nodded slightly, looking quite satisfied.

The students below performed much better than he had imagined and much faster than he had anticipated, leaving him no choice but to be pleased.

Xu Dongsheng and Luo Dongqing, standing beside Yangtong Mingxiong, also nodded slightly, somewhat pleasantly surprised.

Yangtong Mingxiong immediately said, "Not bad. You were much faster than I expected. Very good!"

A wave of delight washed over Xu He and the others—they had just received praise!

Yangtong Mingxiong continued, "However, you are still a long way from meeting my standards. If a simple assembly wastes this much time, how are we going to train in the future? How much time are we going to waste down the road?"

The smiles on everyone's faces instantly vanished, and some even lowered their heads.

Ignoring this, Yangtong Mingxiong went on, "You are well aware that we are not a professional football school; we are students of a regular middle school. Our primary goal and our primary task remain our studies. This means we will not have excessive time for professional football training. Therefore, time is extremely precious to us—extremely, extremely precious."

Xu He and the others turned serious and focused.

Others might feel differently, but Xu He had joined the school team specifically to learn how to play football properly, to learn professional training methods, and to genuinely improve himself.

Thus, he deeply agreed with Coach Yangtong Mingxiong's words: time was precious, and not a single second could be wasted.

Yangtong Mingxiong said, "Today is your first assembly, so I am not going to criticize you. On the contrary, I am going to praise you. You did very well, even better than many professional youth teams I've coached in the past. That is the truth!"

Xu He and the others instantly lit up, their faces beaming with smiles.

At the same time, a shock ran through Xu He's heart. Their coach had quite an impressive background, having previously led professional youth teams. This was the real deal! Xu He was overjoyed at the prospect of learning many professional skills from this coach.

Joining the school team this time was truly the right choice.

Yangtong Mingxiong declared, "Now, remember your positions. For every future assembly, line up in this exact formation. From now on, when I give the order to assemble, you better be fully gathered within one minute. Otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite, understood?"

Xu He and the others drew in a sharp breath. A serious atmosphere instantly descended, weighing heavily upon them.

Yangtong Mingxiong immediately added, "Today is our school team's very first gathering and training session, so I haven't prepared too much training content. The main tasks for today are to get to know each other and understand one another. At the same time, you need to get to know us, understand us, and also get to know and understand the teammates standing right beside you, understood?"

Xu He immediately nodded and shouted loudly, "Understood!"

Only after shouting did he realize he was not even the loudest one.

It was evident that the students at the scene were all thrilled, enthusiastic, and full of high spirits.

Yangtong Mingxiong said with satisfaction, "Very good. This kind of mental state is excellent, and I hope you can maintain it consistently!"

Yangtong Mingxiong then announced, "Now I will begin calling the roll. Whoever hears their name called, step up to collect your team uniform and sports gear, and let everyone get to know you!"

Xu He and the others felt their gazes instantly heat up as their eyes locked onto the jerseys displayed on the stage.

They were all filled with curiosity—what would the school team's jerseys look like?

Yangtong Mingxiong handed the roster in his hand to Xu Dongsheng, who promptly took it and began calling out in a loud voice, "The first player I am calling is for the goalkeeper position, Xu Donglai!"

Hearing this name, both Yangtong Mingxiong and Luo Dongqing looked at Xu Donglai, and then at Xu Dongsheng. They couldn't help wondering if the two had some special relationship; their names were far too similar.

Xu Dongsheng rubbed his nose to mask his reaction.

Xu Donglai immediately stepped out of formation, ran toward the podium, and went to where Li Liying and Ye Ziqing were standing to collect his jersey and sports gear. It was at this moment that Xu Dongsheng noticed three unfamiliar boys standing alongside Li Liying and Ye Ziqing, helping to distribute the uniforms and equipment.

These three boys were complete strangers to him.

What shocked him even more was that one of these three boys was a dark-skinned African.

Their school didn't seem to have any foreign students, so who on earth was this African black youth? Why was he here?

Upon closer inspection, Xu Donglai noticed that all three of them were wearing the exact same blue sportswear, which looked very similar to the training shirts in his hands. Could these three also be members of their school team?

Probably not, since none of them belonged to their school.

Ordinarily, receiving his jersey and sports gear should have left Xu Donglai thrilled and excited, but at this moment, his mind was flooded with the images of these three individuals. All excitement vanished, replaced entirely by confusion.

Xu He and the others noticed the puzzled expression on Xu Donglai's face and wondered why he looked that way.

When Xu Donglai returned, no one dared to ask him. Talking within the formation was forbidden, and provoking Yangtong Mingxiong's displeasure would be disastrous. Yangtong Mingxiong looked far too stern and unapproachable; no one dared to challenge his authority.

After that, names were called one by one to go up and collect their sports gear. Xu He observed closely, wanting to memorize every teammate's name so he could bond with them as quickly as possible.

However, Xu He noticed that many people walked back down with faces full of puzzlement.

This left Xu He extremely bewildered—what was going on?

Were they unhappy with the school team's jerseys, or was there another reason? Why did none of these people look happy after receiving their kits?

Xu He glanced at the teammate beside him, desperate to ask, but managed to restrain himself.

Just then, Xu Dongsheng called out from the stage, "Class 11, Year 1, Xu He!"

Hearing this name, the strange middle-aged man standing beside Principal Wang grew interested. Just like when he had looked at Xu Dongsheng and Zhong Haokun earlier, his eyes flashed with a bright light.

Xu He immediately stepped out of the crowd and sprinted toward the podium.

The strange middle-aged man beside Principal Wang kept his gaze fixed on Xu He, as if trying to see right through him.

Feeling this burning gaze, Xu He looked back.

Catching sight of this unfamiliar middle-aged man, Xu He's mind was filled with confusion. Who on earth was he? Judging by his positioning, he didn't seem very familiar with Yangtong Mingxiong and the others; instead, he seemed much closer to Principal Wang. Could he be a school leader?

Xu He truly had never seen him before; the man was a total stranger.

Still, Xu He didn't dwell on it right now. His heart had already flown over to the jerseys, and he desperately wanted to grab one and put it on immediately.

Reaching Li Liying, Xu He flashed her a slight smile.

Li Liying nodded back slightly and told her helper, "This is Xu He, give him his jersey and sports gear."

At that moment, a pair of dark hands reached out from the side, holding a plastic bag containing the jersey, with Xu He's name written on it. Evidently, these kits had been organized and bagged in advance.

However, Xu He's attention wasn't on the jersey anymore, but on those dark hands.

Through those hands, Xu He caught sight of the dark-skinned African youth.

This African youth had a pitch-black shaved head and looked very youthful, about the same age as Xu He—his peer.

Xu He was extremely surprised. Who was this black guy? Why was he here?

At that moment, Xu He also noticed the other two boys standing beside him. They looked to be around the same age, and they were all wearing the identical blue sportswear, complete with their school emblem emblazoned on the chest.

Xu He's eyes widened in sudden realization, finally understanding why his teammates had worn such bewildered expressions earlier.

Who on earth were these three?

Could these three also be students at their school? Were they members of their school team too?

Yet he hadn't seen any of them during the team tryouts! And as far as he knew, their school didn't have any foreign students, let alone any black students!

Black people stood out far too much; if there were any in their school, the whole campus would have known about it ages ago.

Yet no such rumors had ever circulated before.

Who were these three?

Why were they wearing training gear bearing their school's emblem?

When Xu He walked down from the stage, his face was full of confusion, accompanied by a faint undercurrent of worry. He desperately wanted to figure out who these three really were.

Walking back, Xu He had his back to everyone on the stage. Facing his teammates, he mouthed the question to them, "Who on earth are those three?"

Naturally, no one answered him.

For one, the teammates weren't allowed to talk in formation; for another, they had no idea who those three were either. They were completely clueless themselves, so how could they possibly explain it to Xu He?

After returning to the formation, Xu He's mind kept replaying the images of the three teenage boys on stage, especially the uniquely striking African youth. He couldn't help wondering if those three were genuinely members of their school team.

Before long, Xu Dongsheng finished calling the roll, and the sports gear on the stage had been fully distributed.

Yangtong Mingxiong stepped forward once more and announced to everyone, "Alright, I believe you all now have a preliminary understanding of one another. Of course, this is still not enough. I hope you will quickly familiarize yourselves with each other during future training sessions so that we can truly be called a real team."

Xu He and the others nodded in unison, indicating they understood.

Up on the stage, Yangtong Mingxiong continued, "Now that you've all met each other, let me introduce ourselves. I am your head coach, Yangtong Mingxiong. These two beside me are my assistants and the team's assistant coaches, Xu Dongsheng and Luo Dongqing!"

While Xu He and the others already knew these two, what they really cared about right now was finding out who the three boys standing neatly in a row beside Yangtong Mingxiong actually were.