Meanwhile, back in China.
The Football Home forum's servers had already crashed three times.
The administrator, "Lone Smoke in the Desert," had no choice but to post an announcement on a temporary page:
[Due to a surge in traffic, the forum is temporarily down for maintenance. The estimated restoration time is undetermined. Sorry.]
Comments on the announcement kept piling up-not through the forum, but through screenshots and reposts across the major social media platforms.
"I told you Chinese football had hope!"
"A hat trick on his debut? Is this real? It's not photoshopped, right?"
"I just watched the video. That third header was downright terrifying. He jumped so high! The defender couldn't hold him back even by pulling him!"
"...(plenty of sneering and skepticism)"
Some people even dug up Zhang Kuang's background, so doubts mingled with amazement, but more than anything, there was enthusiasm suddenly unleashed after being pent up for far too long.
Chinese football had gone far too long without news like this.
Who had been the last player abroad to lift the spirits of fans across the nation? Sun Jihai? Shao Jiayi? Or Yang Chen, even earlier?
Those players had certainly been excellent, but they had never scored a hat trick on their debut.
Nor had they ever been this young.
Nor this confident.
Nor this... wild.
During the maintenance, Football Home's super moderator, "Old Hand," could not resist posting an update: "I just looked up this kid's background. His life has been the stuff of legends.
His mother died young, and his father raised him alone by doing hard physical labor, but his father also died in a car accident two months ago.
Kicked out of the U20 training squad for fighting, banned for five years, then off to France alone for trials, a contract, and a hat trick on his debut. This isn't a football story. It's a movie script."
The post was shared over ten thousand times.
The comments were surprisingly unanimous.
"I want to see this movie."
"Who's playing the lead? Hu Ge or Wu Jing?"
"It has to be a newcomer. Nobody can act out his story."
"Stop messing around. We're talking about something real."
"I know it's real. That's why I want to see the movie even more."
The next morning, Zhang Kuang was woken by his phone vibrating.
Still groggy, he fumbled for the phone on his bedside table. The screen displayed "Jonathan Leblanc."
"Hello?" His voice was still thick with sleep.
"Zhang, are you up?"
"I am now."
"Then turn on the TV. Any sports channel."
Zhang Kuang rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. Beside him, Lina rolled over and pulled the covers over her head.
He found the TV remote and pressed the power button. The screen lit up, showing a French television station's Sports Morning News program.
They were playing his three goals from yesterday.
A header.
A volley.
A lion shaking its mane.
The screen froze on his expression as he roared "Siu-" after scoring. The French caption beside him read: "Chinese storm sweeps Ligue 1."
Zhang Kuang stared at the television for a few seconds, then said into the phone, "I see it."
"Not just France." There was a smile in Jonathan's voice. "Sports media in Italy, Germany, and Spain are all sharing your goals. There's some coverage in the United Kingdom too, but not much. They pay more attention to the Premier League over there, after all."
"Ha, that's good, Jonathan. One step at a time. As I score more and more goals, I'll get more attention too."
"Haha, right. Especially when you're this handsome, your goals are so ferocious, and your celebration is so explosive. It really draws people in."
Zhang Kuang truly had not known he had three such obvious qualities that drew people in, but he was pleased.
They chatted for a while before Zhang Kuang hung up and opened his phone's browser. He searched his own name-"Zhang Kuang"-and hit enter.
The page took a full five seconds to load, which was practically abnormal on Paris's 4G network.
Number of search results: 1,260,000.
Zhang Kuang stared at the number, his fingers tightening slightly.
He then opened China's largest sports forum. The pinned thread's title was red, bold, and one font size larger than the threads beside it:
[Zhang Kuang: The first player in Chinese football history to score a hat trick in the top five leagues-and he only needed 70 minutes.]
The thread already had over three thousand replies and more than five hundred thousand views.
Zhang Kuang scrolled through a few pages of comments, then backed out.
His fingers were trembling a little.
It was not nerves. It was excitement.
When he had transmigrated, he had never imagined he could make his mark so quickly. He had thought he would have to spend at least half a season getting by in Ligue 2, then slowly fight for opportunities, then see whether he could establish himself in Ligue 1.
Instead, he had scored a hat trick on his debut.
Videos of Zhang Kuang's goals spread quickly, drawing plenty of online comments. Even some famous retired players offered their assessments.
But by that afternoon, Zhang Kuang's post-match interview had spread too. His bold declaration that he would win the Golden Boot and his vow to take the Ligue 1 title made fans realize that Zhang Kuang really was wildly arrogant. Winning Ligue 1 was possible, at least, since they were only four points off the top.
But winning the Golden Boot? Had he lost his mind? The current top scorer, Mamadou Niang, had fifteen goals, while Zhang Kuang had only three-a gap of twelve. That was almost impossible: scoring twelve goals in half a season, while also praying Mamadou did not score again.
"Fuck, is this the East Asian I thought I knew? Aren't East Asians always really low-key? This East Asian is so arrogant."
"Uh-huh, if you knew what his name meant in Chinese, you'd know why he's so arrogant. His name is Zhang Kuang. In French, that means arrogant or insolent."
"Ooh, he's arrogant enough, but he's so handsome. That celebration was ridiculously cool."
"No, what I see is how powerful he is. He must have so much strength. It would feel amazing if he started thrusting. Ah, I want him to treat me to that kind of impact."
"Holy shit, you fucking pervert. If you want impact, go find a bull or a horse."
"Bulls and horses are too big. I couldn't take it."
"Fuck off..."
European opinion focused on Zhang Kuang's arrogance, but people back in China focused on the U20 incident he had mentioned. They had not expected this to be why Zhang Kuang had fought, or why he had been expelled.
"...(the online sneering rose again)"
"Right, that's possible, so Zhang Kuang has no voice, because whatever excuse they come up with will hold."
"Why can't Zhang Kuang be the one lying? Do you distrust other people that much?"
"..."
While the netizens were arguing heatedly, Wu Guohua called Zhang Kuang.
"Coach Wu."
"Zhang Kuang, what you told the reporters about fighting and being expelled because someone deliberately tried to injure you has thrown public opinion back home into chaos. The relevant association has issued a new notice clarifying the matter, too."
Zhang Kuang had already seen that notice. After all, he did not pay much attention to training, and he could not cultivate every waking moment, so it was only natural for him to go online now and then.
"Coach Wu, I saw the notice. I'm not planning to return to the national team. But I can't let myself be falsely accused. You know my dad died because of this. If I stay silent, that's as good as admitting I'm psychologically twisted, and my dad died unjustly."
"Sigh. All right, I understand."
After hanging up on Wu Guohua, Zhang Kuang immediately registered a Weibo account called "Player Zhang Kuang," then published a post and tagged numerous news outlets.