Inside the hospital, no one tried to persuade Su Hang right away.
Convincing a football amateur to accept retirement was easy.
Convincing a professional player was hard—football put food on the table.
Convincing a star player was even harder, because the money was simply too good.
And Su Hang… judging by his performance this year, even if he wasn't unanimously the best player in the world, he was at least the undisputed world's best forward.
And he wasn't even twenty-one yet!
How could someone like that just retire?
But everyone soon noticed that Su Hang's gaze had been fixed on the doorway the entire time.
Su's mother assumed he wanted to talk to Jennifer and Clara.
Men were like that.
A gentle embrace was a man's safe harbor.
At a time like this, perhaps only those two could talk sense into him.
At Su's mother's prompting, Jennifer and Clara entered one after another.
"Su, it's okay. Not playing football isn't the end of the world. If you need me, I can take two years off and stay with you the whole time," Jennifer said first.
She was putting on a show of sincerity in front of her future mother-in-law—lock down her Su Hang, marry into a wealthy family!
Then she wouldn't have to rely on stripping naked on camera to earn the world's highest paychecks.
Too bitter!
"You're so athletic—your kids would definitely inherit it. Why not have a child early? In eighteen years, he could be playing football!"
However, Su Hang ignored both of them and instead beckoned toward the only man outside the door—Modrić.
Modrić's face instantly went pale.
Captain Su… wasn't going to settle scores after the fact, was he?
Su Hang looked him up and down. The kid had clearly put on quite a bit of muscle already, so why hadn't he reached the system's "lean and muscular" rating yet?
What exactly was the problem?
Su Hang's parents exchanged uneasy glances.
Two peerless beauties right there, and you're staring at a Croatian shepherd boy instead?
Don't tell me—
Oh my god!
They felt as if lightning had struck them.
"How's your training going lately?" Su Hang asked.
Modrić replied cautiously, "It's been getting better and better! After finishing the strength training, I went through a short adjustment period."
"But now I can control my body's power much more effectively."
"My speed, agility, explosiveness, footwork, and ball feel have all come back!"
Zidane nodded. "In the most recent passing-and-receiving test, Modrić ranked second on the team."
First place was Beckham.
Zidane himself hadn't fully recovered yet and didn't take part in the test, but he had already begun light recovery training with the squad, so he knew the results.
"I think I'm ready to play in matches now!" Modrić said confidently.
Su Hang nodded.
Still not enough training.
Modrić's body was simply too deceptive.
He looked thin, which was why Su Hang had previously been reluctant to push his strength training too hard, preferring to increase it gradually.
Who would have thought that even after completing this round of development, he still hadn't triggered the "muscular" tag?
That could only mean one thing—his physical ceiling was extremely high. He needed even more load to reach the standard.
Who could have imagined that?
Modrić's physical talent was terrifyingly good.
You really couldn't tell just by looking.
"Fly back to Madrid immediately. I'll have a new strength training program prepared for you. Until you complete it, you're not playing any matches," Su Hang said, sounding a little anxious.
After all, his entire career now depended on this brat.
Modrić's world collapsed on the spot.
"What? Why?! I finally got my form back—why do I still need more strength training?"
"My physical duels are already better than Higuaín's and Negredo's! They're both over 180 centimeters tall!"
If Su Hang hadn't been lying in a hospital bed—and if there weren't so many people around—Modrić would have already rushed over and beaten him senseless.
This was too damn much!
Is this campus bullying or what?!
Who do you think you are, dictating my training plan?
Is Real Madrid yours?!
"If you complete this round of strength training, you'll immediately become a Real Madrid starter," Su Hang cut in before Modrić could explode.
He knew it sounded like he was messing with him.
"Really?" Modrić's heart practically melted.
"As long as I'm still at Real Madrid, as long as I can still step onto the pitch, you will always be my fixed partner—an irreplaceable starting midfielder for Real Madrid," Su Hang promised solemnly.
Modrić went wild with joy.
"Dad! No—Captain Su! You'll always be my Captain Su!"
"From now on, you're my boss. If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west."
"I'd go through fire and blood for you!"
"I know you've always been doing this for my own good, wanting me to stay healthy. I misunderstood you before! I'll never trash-talk you in the Su Hang Global Fan Group again!"
"I voluntarily abandon all 365 of my alt accounts used to slander you! I'll never leak dirt about you to The Sun again!"
"I—"
As Modrić continued pledging his loyalty, the number of people in the ward who wanted to stab him steadily increased.
"Go," Su Hang said. "Make the most of every second of your life. You must finish the training before the start of next season at the latest. Otherwise…"
His voice suddenly dropped.
"Have you ever heard of the Spanish mafia?"
"A piece of news about a fringe player kicked out of Real Madrid getting accidentally run over at an intersection probably wouldn't attract much attention."
"Huh?" Modrić's legs nearly gave out.
Was it really that serious?!
"Then… should I go catch a flight right now?" he asked.
"I've already had the ticket booked. Go get it done," Su Hang replied efficiently.
He had arranged Cristiano Ronaldo's full physical conditioning program from his first three years at Manchester United for Modrić.
And Modrić had less than half a year to complete it all.
Why go this far?
Because once Modrić reached the "lean and muscular" rating, Su Hang's Star Path (Strength) would be completed.
And then he would obtain—
Injury Immunity.
So what if his injury resistance attribute was forcibly reduced to zero?
Injury immunity, damn it.
Injury resistance represented how prone a player was to getting hurt.
A value of zero meant extremely injury-prone—but not guaranteed injury, and certainly not guaranteed severe injury.
Take Hazard's later time at Real Madrid as an example: constant minor injuries, never fully healed—that was basically injury resistance at zero.
But injury immunity?
That was getting injured and having it count as nothing at all—completely unreasonable.
It utterly crushed the injury resistance stat.
Only magic could defeat magic.
Modrić probably never imagined that the greatest achievement of his life would be turning fragile Su Hang into Iron Su Hang, Gundam Su Hang, Ultraman Su Hang.
So Su Hang's decision was already clear.
He would not undergo surgery.
He was choosing Plan B.