Volume One: Our Own League 168: The Three Young Prodigies of the Chengdu Phoenix Birds Youth Team

Upon hearing Yangtong Mingxiong's call, the first person stepped forward, and Xu He and the others instantly cast their gazes upon him.

The very first impression this person gave was that he was tall.

Extremely tall.

At just 14 years old, his height easily reached one meter ninety-two centimeters, making him stand out like a crane among a flock of chickens within their group.

The second impression he gave was that he was sturdy.

Quite sturdy.

His build was solid with tightly knotted muscles, which, combined with his towering height, delivered a powerful visual impact.

This physique was somewhat reminiscent of the number 39 forward from the eighth and ninth-grade combined team.

He was sturdy compared to ordinary people, though he still couldn't compare to Zhong Haokun.

Even so, he was extremely strong.

Honestly, he didn't look like a 14-year-old child at all; he looked much more like a grown-up fitness coach.

Yet, he possessed a soft, babyish face, which instantly dispelled any doubts about his age. His face and his physique formed a striking and intense contrast.

However, the gaze in his eyes on that baby face was extremely sharp, and his swagger was entirely on point. He gave off a vibe that was both somewhat milky and intensely arrogant—truly baby-faced arrogance at its finest.

Xu He stared at this fellow, watching him in silence.

The tall guy looked around at everyone, still wearing that supremely arrogant and formidable expression on his baby face, and said with a self-assumed coolness, "Hello everyone, my name is Ke Dongnan. I am 14 years old, 192 cm tall, and weigh 80 kg. I spent 5 years at the Chengdu Phoenix Bird Club. Before coming here, I was the vice captain of the Chengdu Phoenix Bird U14 youth team, playing as a center-back. My hobbies are singing, dancing, rap, and basketball. I'm very glad to become teammates with all of you, and I hope you can become my good friends."

Xu He narrowed his eyes slightly. This kid in front of him was fiercely arrogant; the words he spoke matched his haughty expression entirely.

This guy made it very clear: he hoped *you* could become *my* good friends, rather than the conventional phrase people usually say about hoping *we* can become good friends. Clearly, in this fellow's eyes, Xu He and the others might not even be qualified to be his good friends yet.

Talk about arrogant, talk about conceited.

Xu He stared coldly at this swaggering milk-face and thought to himself, "Did this guy spend all five years in the professional club's youth team just working out his body? How else could he be this robust and heavy?"

Indeed, Ke Dongnan's physique was considered extremely robust even among adults. It was hard to fathom how this 14-year-old kid had trained to achieve this.

Could it be that youth teams at professional clubs focus solely on physical conditioning at the very beginning?

Compared to Ke Dongnan, over ninety percent of the players on Xu He's school team looked far too thin and frail.

To be frank, everyone remembered this arrogant milk-faced Ke Dongnan immediately.

The guy had far too much character.

As soon as the arrogant milk-face finished his self-introduction, another one of the three stepped forward, and Xu He's gaze immediately shifted to him.

This one looked much more normal to Xu He; his build was roughly similar to that of Xu He and the others.

At first glance, he looked thoroughly ordinary.

His figure was the kind that would instantly vanish into a crowd of everyday people, completely devoid of anything special.

Seeing this, Xu He and the others breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed not everyone was a freak of nature.

Freaks were truly just a minority.

This guy's physique also looked somewhat slender and frail, though he wasn't short, standing around one meter seventy centimeters tall. He wore a buzz cut, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and large eyes. At first glance, he looked just like Zhu Shimao, sporting a textbook upright and honest face.

His large eyes were brimming with spirit and glowing with sharp light.

However, it was obvious that his expression, just like the previous arrogant milk-face, was equally haughty, striking a pose that looked down on everyone else. He radiated pride.

Moreover, the most memorable thing about him was his face.

His face formed a sharp contrast with the milk-face: while the first guy had a classic baby face, this one had a textbook mature face. Looking at him, one wouldn't think he had the face of a 14-year-old at all, but rather that of a 34-year-old or even a 44-year-old—he was far too mature.

This guy stepped forward, faced everyone, and said arrogantly, "Hello everyone, my name is Dan Xiongying. I am 14 years old, 171 cm tall, and weigh 57 kg. I spent 4 years at the Chengdu Phoenix Bird Club. Before coming here, I was a member of the Chengdu Phoenix Bird U14 youth team, playing as a midfielder. My hobby is reading, especially *Tales of the Sui and Tang Dynasties*. My idol is Second Brother Dan Xiongxin, and since my name is Dan Xiongying, you can call me Third Brother. I hope you all get along well with me in the days to come and earn my respect."

Hiss!

Xu He and the others all drew in sharp breaths of cold air.

What the heck? Do all these guys coming from professional clubs share this obnoxious attitude? Looking down on everyone? Acting as if they are the most formidable beings in the world?

Xu He really couldn't stand these three fellows; they were simply too arrogant and conceited.

This one was even more conceited than the previous milk-face. What did he mean by "earn my respect"?

The crowd stared at this fellow with distinctly hostile eyes, but he didn't seem to care in the least, still wearing that arrogant smile as if everyone else amounted to nothing more than worthless dogs and chickens.

Xu He immediately turned his head to look up at the coaches on the stage, led by Yangtong Mingxiong. He wanted to see how these people would react. Weren't they going to do anything about this? These guys were starting off by provoking everyone; this was bound to ignite internal conflicts within the club and ruin team unity. Shouldn't coaches step in to manage this?

Clearly, Xu He was disappointed!

Yangtong Mingxiong and the others stood calmly on the stage as if it had nothing to do with them, paying no mind to it at all and simply chatting among themselves.

Xu He's pupils constricted slightly. Weren't they indulging these people way too much?

Or did Yangtong Mingxiong hold these three in such high regard that he thought their arrogance was justified? Or perhaps, the reason these three guys were acting so arrogant was entirely due to instructions from Yangtong Mingxiong and the rest?

It seemed these three fellows really were the three catfish introduced into the tank by Yangtong Mingxiong and his staff.

Xu He stared intently at Yangtong Mingxiong and the others, wondering what they were thinking.

At this moment, the third fellow stepped forward.

This third guy was undoubtedly the most eye-catching of the three, primarily because of his skin color—it was extremely dark. At first glance, he didn't look Chinese at all, but rather like a Black person from Africa.

Could this one also be from the Chengdu Phoenix Bird Club's youth team?

Everyone was full of doubt.

This Black player wasn't tall, about the same height as Dan Xiongying. He kept his head shaved completely bald, and his build also looked somewhat slight.

Aside from that, there were no other notable features, but his expression was just like the previous two: arrogant!

Furthermore, his arrogance was even more intense, if anything.

He acted almost as if he were the leader of the three, the most conceited of them all. When he looked at Xu He and the others, he looked down at them entirely through his nostrils, tilting his head almost up to the sky.

Naturally, Xu He and the others felt extremely displeased in their hearts, casting contemptuous glances at him.

This Black player introduced himself in stuttering English: "Hello, everyone! My name is Romelu Okocha!"

Xu He frowned slightly, finding it extremely awkward to listen to.

What the heck? Call that a foreigner? His English is even worse than mine! This guy's English is probably worse than even the worst English speaker among us!

In the crowd, members of the Chengdu No. 17 High School school team all frowned. Clearly, they were beginning to doubt whether the fellow in front of them was even a genuine foreigner; his English was just too terrible! Of course, they also suspected that this Black player was doing it on purpose, clearly mocking them.

Everyone was furious, glaring fixedly at the Black player.

Suddenly, the Black player switched to fluent Sichuan dialect for his self-introduction: "Hello there, brothers and buddies. My name is Romelu Okocha, Chinese name Fu Yingjun. I am 14 years old, 171 centimeters tall, and weigh 56 kilograms. I spent 6 years in the youth team of the Chengdu Phoenix Bird Club. Before coming here, I was the captain of the Chengdu Phoenix Bird U14 youth team, playing as a winger and wide midfielder. My hobbies are playing video games, especially CrossFire and League of Legends, and my preferred position is top lane... I hope you all can earn my approval and barely manage to become my good friends."

Xu He and the others all stared with wide eyes—not because of this guy's haughtiness and arrogance.

They had already witnessed that haughtiness and arrogance, so it wasn't worth being surprised by.

Xu He and the others would only have been surprised if this guy *hadn't* been arrogant and conceited.

What surprised them now was that this Black player could actually speak fluent Sichuan dialect. If they hadn't looked at his face, they would have absolute conviction that the speaker was a native-born Sichuanese. Discovering that this Black player could speak such fluent Sichuan dialect truly opened their horizons.

Xu He couldn't help taking another look at the Black player, wondering if he had simply gotten extremely sunburned.

Noticing everyone's confusion, the Black player added, "My father is Cameroonian, and my mother is from Shanghai. I was born in Chengdu, China, and grew up here. I am a genuine Chinese person."

Hearing this, Xu He and the others suddenly understood—so this guy was of mixed heritage.

However, they truly couldn't see a single trace of mixed heritage in this Black player; his African ancestry was far too pure, completely devoid of any visual characteristics of a Chinese person.

The moment he walked out anywhere, people would undoubtedly assume he was a foreigner.

Seeing that the three of them had finished their introductions, Yangtong Mingxiong stepped forward and said, "Alright, now that you've all met, no more needs to be said. Get back into formation immediately! Starting today, they are official members of the Chengdu No. 17 High School school football team. I can tell you clearly: their abilities are formidable, and they will be your benchmarks moving forward. I hope you will all work hard and train diligently in the future, striving to catch up with them as soon as possible and not holding them back. They came here aiming for the championship of the national tournament!"

Huffs and puffs!

Xu He and the others were furious, breathing heavily with slightly reddened eyes as they glared at Yangtong Mingxiong on the stage. They were extremely displeased by the words Yangtong Mingxiong had just uttered.

Yangtong Mingxiong looked down on them far too much. In what way were they inferior to these three fellows?

Was it just because our skin isn't as dark as this Black guy's? So that makes us inferior to them?

A surge of competitive fire burned within Xu He and the others. They were determined to perform brilliantly in the subsequent training sessions, display their true strength, and severely slap these three guys and Yangtong Mingxiong right across the face. They were no worse than anyone else, and certainly no worse than these three fellows.

Filled with fighting spirit, Xu He and the others eagerly anticipated the training session that was about to begin.

Evidently, Yangtong Mingxiong had taken note of Xu He and the others' expressions and reactions. The corners of his mouth curved upward slightly; this was precisely the effect he had wanted to achieve. He hoped these students would become serious, active, and hardworking. After all, they weren't here to play around, nor were they here to act as babysitters—they were aiming for the championship of the national tournament.

He had to demand strict standards from these youngsters, making them feel the pressure and the gap in skill so that this group of kids would truly train with all their might.

Yangtong Mingxiong felt that persuading these three fellows to come over from the Chengdu youth team was an absolute masterstroke. The current effect was fantastic, and he was thoroughly satisfied. His catfish had officially started stirring the tank.