Chapter 78 — Thought Lü Bu Was Invincible, Didn't Expect This Man to Be Even Braver
Jack Wilshere swung in a corner from the left, aiming for Xia Qi's spot.
Xia Qi saw his signal and positioned himself early, preparing to leap and contest the header.
But John Terry was very gentlemanly in shadowing him.
Calling Terry "gentlemanly" was because he didn't grab and pull like other defenders.
He simply followed Xia Qi and didn't try to steal the near post — on the surface he looked like a decent teammate.
Then the ball flew in, landing with precision.
Xia Qi tracked the flight and timed his jump according to the AI-calculated moment.
But Terry leapt a half-beat earlier than the AI's timing.
This was—
An overjump!
The AI calculation had to be right.
Half a beat later Xia Qi launched upward.
Terry descended.
It looked like Chelsea's goal was in danger.
Terry calmly, without fuss, reached down and yanked at Xia Qi's shirt from behind.
With that tug, Terry used Xia Qi's momentum to give himself extra hang time, then thrust his chest forward to press down on Xia Qi's shoulders.
Xia Qi was jerked and compressed by the sudden pull and shove, and his balance was ruined.
Terry stole the ball right over Xia Qi's head,
heading it toward Juan Mata.
[The Pillar That Steadies the Sea — the name is well deserved!]
[How did a football match turn into a spy thriller?
Terry first lurks behind Xia Qi. To lower Xia Qi's guard he doesn't rush at him; when Xia Qi is completely relaxed, he stabs from the front…]
[So sly. That shirt tug was in the referee's blind spot; from the ref's view Terry's header clearance is a legitimate defensive play.]
Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun saw the live-stream comments spelling out Terry's defense in vivid detail and quietly panicked — if they didn't say something themselves they'd be out of a job!
"Xia Qi's too honest. That will cost him on the pitch. He could have pretended to steady himself, swung his arm back and accidentally elbowed Terry…"
Zhang Lu's commentary was widely praised online.
[Exactly. Xia Qi is too sincere. Wenger is too gentlemanly to teach impudent students.]
[An elbow would have been more than a turning point — it would protect him. Others would hesitate before trying dirty tricks.]
On the pitch,
Terry waited for Xia Qi to explode in anger or to complain to the referee — but Xia Qi didn't.
He didn't even glance back at him!
After landing Xia Qi sprinted straight back toward his own goal.
By now Mata, who had received the ball, was charging into Arsenal's half.
Facing Kieran Gibbs's press, Mata played a wall pass, sending the ball to Ramires,
Ramires returned it—
the ball was lost.
At the moment he passed, Xia Qi slid in.
He tackled the ball cleanly to Santi Cazorla.
Cazorla laid it back to Per Mertesacker.
Mertesacker launched a long pass; the ball fell to Jack Wilshere's feet.
Arsenal immediately pushed forward as a unit, launching a quick counterattack.
But then the unexpected happened.
Wilshere slipped while carrying the ball.
Mikel Arteta and Juan Mata both raced for the loose ball. Mata was faster and reached it first, stroking it with the right side of his boot.
The ball flew from the right to the left, almost across the whole width of the pitch.
"Danger!"
From that position Eden Hazard sprinted forward to meet the incoming ball and hit it on the volley!
The ball blasted like a cannon toward the near post. Emiliano Martínez dove quickly, but the ball strangely described an "S" in the air and arced toward the far corner.
Martínez was aghast — he hadn't expected his luck to run out so soon, encountering a once-in-a-decade "S" ball.
"'S' ball! The S-ball from the Carlos Invitational."
"Hazard lives up to last season's price tag — that strike is unanswerable."
"What a pity — Xia Qi's thousand-mile recovery was wasted."
"It's the unexpected moments in football that make it endlessly charming."
Eden Hazard, who had scored, raced toward the corner flag in celebration.
Stamford Bridge turned into a joyful ocean of blue.
Roberto Di Matteo waved his arms and ran along the touchline.
Even if beating Arsenal wouldn't erase the threat of being sacked, knocking the Premier League leaders off their perch was still an impressive achievement, wasn't it?
Wilshere was despondent — the counterattack Xia Qi had worked so hard to win was squandered by his mistake, and the slip had led to his side falling behind.
The match resumed after Chelsea's celebration.
Arsenal, trailing, intensified their attacks.
Facing Arsenal's fierce onslaught, Chelsea were forced to drop deep and blunt the attack.
Except for Torres and Hazard, everyone else retreated; at home Chelsea switched to a defensive counter style.
Against layer after layer of defense, Arsenal's midfield couldn't find an effective path into the box.
Every time the ball flew into the area it was almost immediately hoofed clear.
Even though José Mourinho had left, his bus-parking defensive philosophy was still being used by Chelsea — they were very sly about it.
If Arsenal couldn't get the ball into the box, how could they shoot?
As Arsenal's midfielders looked helpless, Xia Qi dropped back from the box and put out his hand for the ball.
Wilshere didn't hesitate and fed it to him.
Xia Qi trapped and raised his head to glance at the penalty area.
"Let's see how Xia Qi handles this."
"He drives straight into the box with the ball? Charging through? Even Messi couldn't do that — unless it's Zhao Zilong."
Xia Qi's move angered the big men in the box and they swarmed on him.
At this point speed didn't matter; bulling past players wouldn't work.
There were so many legs it was like facing a wall; Messi's dribbling wouldn't help much.
Many couldn't see what Xia Qi could do.
They imagined Xia Qi smashing into a brick wall, ending up bruised and beaten.
But in reality,
Xia Qi trapped the ball between his feet, turned to shield off Ramires' charge, stepped on the ball, bent over and, with a swift Marseille turn, sent Ramires and Mata flying back amid the fans' gasps.
The referee signaled no foul — play continued.
[Holy damn! The Iron-Hip Technique returns to the world! Can Xia Qi hip-through a penalty area?]
[It's hard. When someone tries to hip you away they can still stick a leg out and nick the ball.]
[Watching Xia Qi play never gets boring — every match has surprises.]
[This isn't surprise anymore, it's a shock.]
[Have you noticed? The way Hazard looks at Xia Qi is full of pedagogic admiration.]
[Hazard's iron-hip move is outdated. The Xia-style Iron-Hip unifies the penalty area...]
The human-grinding in the box continued.
Frank Lampard timed his run and stabbed at the ball from an angle. Xia Qi, while battling John Obi Mikel physically, anticipated Lampard's action.
He lunged forward and forcefully prodded the ball.
The ball zipped between Lampard's legs. At the same time Xia Qi relaxed his back contact against Mikel's chest and slipped behind Lampard.
He suddenly eased away; Mikel couldn't stop his momentum and crashed into Lampard.
Lampard cursed, turned and chased — his run was foiled.
The ball had been struck hard, passed through Lampard's small gate, and hit Branislav Ivanović's ankle behind him.
Ivanović was caught off-guard and couldn't control the ball at first. The ball popped up high; by the time Ivanović reacted it was a gift from the heavens. He stretched to clearance with a big boot —
Xia Qi's foot was there too. The two boots met on the ball.
"Boom!"
Ivanović's whole foot was knocked aside and he staggered and fell.
Xia Qi was completely unfazed. He chased the ball and, before Terry and David Luiz could close the door, crashed between the two of them.
"The pendulum dribble!"
Terry and David Luiz were knocked apart by Xia Qi's pendulum-like motion, sent one forward, one back.
"One-on-one with the keeper!"
"Xia Qi storms through the whole box, one-on-one with the goalkeeper."
"Shot!"
"Goal! Xia Qi lashes a shot from five meters out — the ball was struck so hard and so close that Petr Čech raised his hands in surrender and couldn't react."
After that line, Zhan Jun inhaled deeply and used every lungful to shout:
"I once thought Lü Bu was invincible in the world, but I didn't expect this man to be braver than Lü Bu.
Whose subordinate is this man?
Such bravery!
From the edge of the box he stormed all the way to five meters from goal, leaving a trail of bodies and blood — gruesome and unbearable to watch.
There are many ways to break a parked bus defense — this is the cruelest, most brutal one I've ever seen."
"Actually the Chelsea players needn't be so despondent and heartbroken. Losing to someone braver than Lü Bu is not shameful."
Online:
[Is this a Japanese anime?]
[Am I dreaming? Is this even human?]
[Serious suspicion: Chelsea players bet on Arsenal to win — gamblers die!]
[Tip: That 'cut' wasn't a slip — it was cut by Xia Qi. From now on there is no more Chelsea.]
The Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge all stared up at the LED screens with mouths agape — it was stunning!
Watching it once gave them a shock; watching it again shocked them anew.
Is this even a person?
Two-footed T-Rex!
Arsenal's traveling army went insane; their throats were raw from cheering, half of London could hear them.
After scoring, Xia Qi charged toward the Arsenal fans' stand and cupped his ear to listen.
This celebration was Roberto Baggio's celebration; Xia Qi had spent legendary effort to recreate it...
(END CHAPTER)
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