A Few Casual Words

I've already replied to many, many readers of this book: I'll write about the Chinese national team, there will be a small amount of national team content, and it will be indicated in the title.

From my previous site all the way to What Is a Destroyer Midfielder?, I've written many, many "foreign" protagonists. I no longer wanted to write "foreign" protagonists. (This isn't meant as an attack on foreign protagonists—Destroyer Midfielder itself has a foreign protagonist.)

Before starting this book.

I asked myself several times.

The answer I got was: this time, write a Chinese player.

Many readers said: "You wrote Number Nine and a Half like that? Blah blah blah, and if you write national team content, you'll end up abandoning it."

I just went back and checked the data again:

Number Nine and a Half occasionally stopped updating even during its free period. During serialization, it often updated twice a week, sometimes once a month. But whenever I wrote national team content, the follow-up subscriptions would rise to five or six thousand. Even when I returned after a six-month hiatus to finish the final World Cup ending, there were still over two thousand follow-up subscriptions. (I'm sorry, I don't mean anything else by this. I've apologized many times already. I won't disappear like that again in the future. I really don't dare to anymore. Sorry to the readers who subscribed.)

For What Is a Destroyer Midfielder?, the chapters during the European Championship arc, "Sunlight Kisses His Fertile Soil," were, in my own opinion, the best twenty thousand words I had written in my life up to that point. Yet the final subscriptions were only a little over four thousand. (Once the European Championship arc ended, subscriptions for the club arc rose again, though the updates were still slow.)

I poured all my heart and soul into those chapters. Why were the subscriptions so poor? The chapter comments were all praise, too.

Number Nine and a Half only had a little over six thousand average subscriptions, while What Is a Destroyer Midfielder? had thirteen thousand. Their overall results were vastly different.

But for national team content, the former genuinely performed far, far better than the latter.

I wasn't being stubborn.

Nor was I fixating on one thing.

Setting aside the data and the results, I asked my own heart:

"I've truly written so many, many 'foreign' protagonists. I don't want to keep writing them. I've written the storyline of leading a foreign team to win the World Cup seven or eight times, amounting to several million words altogether. I really don't want to repeat that cycle anymore. It hurts so much, it really hurts so much—a cycle with no end in sight."

"Even if someone held a knife to me, I still couldn't write it."

This isn't meant as an attack on "foreign" protagonists. Destroyer Midfielder has a foreign protagonist; I couldn't possibly attack my former self.

Now, this is my own problem.

It has nothing to do with anything else.

Back then, I was immature. I used to think, why were there so many readers who were so aggressive over a novel?

So as I wrote, I would add notes to chapter titles like, "Daily-life transition chapter, don't click if you mind."

Those were happy days. I didn't want that many people reading my book.

Especially when What Is a Destroyer Midfielder? was performing poorly in its early days. During that time, I'd finish the chapter outline during my lunch break at work, then write the actual chapter after getting home at night. Once I finished, I'd watch football matches or movies.

How wonderful that was.

Every now and then, a few readers would pop up and say, "You need to write it this way and that way, or I'll drop the book." "Hardly anyone's reading it. The author needs to properly reflect and learn from experience." "Still not changing? This mute-style writing is doomed to flop."

At the time, I was extremely proud and didn't care at all.

Later, the number of readers gradually increased.

Why did that book require a comment value of 500?

Because Destroyer Midfielder was constantly being insulted. I felt like I was being "cyberbullied"—hundreds of people would suddenly curse at me without reason, like a raging storm. They literally cursed that book's fan title into existence.

They literally cursed that book's fan title into existence.

How did the fan title come about?

It was cursed into existence.

I'm sorry to Red Flag, who handled operations back then, for making him endure so much negativity every day and affecting his mood.

No matter how this new book performs, I'll keep updating it properly and write it seriously through to the end.

You don't need to worry that poor results will make me abandon it.

Because Destroyer Midfielder performed very poorly in its early days, yet I still steadily wrote it to completion.

When Number Nine and a Half stopped updating, or updated weekly, monthly, or once every six months, it wasn't because of its results. It was because other things in real life got in the way.

There's also no need for everyone to argue over the "Chinese national team" and ruin their moods. (I deleted all the chapter comments I saw that involved arguing or insulting people. Please don't be angry, a few readers. Everyone reads to relax, after all. If it really comes down to it, just curse me a few times.)

Let me repeat this one last time:

"This new book will include the Chinese national team, and there will be a small amount of national team content."

One reader pointed out that Manchester United Crown Prince, this new book, lacked intense emotions and strong short-term anticipation. It didn't have the revenge and face-slapping of Li Kang's first match against MSN Barcelona in Destroyer Midfielder, nor did it have Gao Qi's high spirits and heavy burden during the Asian arc of Number Nine and a Half. The new book's results would probably be worse than those of the previous two.

No revenge and face-slapping, no burden of fate, no bitter suffering, no strong short-term anticipation.

You're right.

But I write it very easily every day.

The protagonist of Manchester United Crown Prince will also have a much easier time than Li Kang and Gao Qi.

No matter how poor the results are, I'll still write it easily all the way to the final ending.