The Fox in the Forbidden Zone

"Mr. Hu Lai, in today's football world, the survival space for forwards who only score goals like you is getting narrower... But despite that, you have achieved remarkable success. What is the secret to your success?"

On a warm winter afternoon, Hu Lai was showing the highest honor he had just won to journalists from all over the world. A reporter asked him this question.

Facing the journalists' gazes, Hu Lai's thoughts drifted back to that afternoon in middle school. He stood alone by the field, watching other classmates play. They wouldn't let him join, thinking he was there to cause trouble. He also remembered the coach's stern words: "Hu Lai, if you can't put in ten times the effort of others, your talent is nothing but worthless stone." And a disdainful voice: "Modern football demands more and more from center forwards—they need to be well-rounded. What use is it if you can only shoot?"

Finally, his thoughts settled on that moment. Night was already faintly visible in the eastern sky. In the middle of an abandoned lot overgrown with weeds, a girl said to him very seriously: "Hu Lai, you actually have talent—and it's an amazing talent! Because you know where the goal is!"

Hu Lai stared into the girl's eyes and saw the setting sun behind her in those pupils.

The sunlight reflected in her irises, flowing, burning, condensing into a halo, as if it wanted to melt him into that light.

Snapping back to the present, Hu Lai returned to that warm winter afternoon. Facing the eager journalists, he smiled slightly: "Because I know the goal is right there."