Chapter 144: The Unreasonable S-Ball
Martínez's dive didn't track the lower-left; the ball brushed the inside of the left post and, at an impossible angle, slid in.
Martínez was helpless — he could only watch the ball slip past his fingertips.
Son Heung-min saw the net ripple, first glanced toward the referee, and only after seeing the official point to the center circle to signal a valid goal did he run to the corner flag, waving for the teammate who'd assisted him, Christian Eriksen, to join him. Eriksen beckoned the others…
The Spurs players at the corner flag raised their arms and roared toward the Spurs fans in the stands.
Tottenham fans responded in kind; in an instant the Emirates felt like White Hart Lane.
The more excited the Spurs fans were, the angrier the Arsenal fans became. They booed deafeningly, only to be met by even louder cheers from the Spurs end…
Arsenal supporters grew even more furious; they sang the club anthem and called for their heroes: "Xia Qi, you're a goal machine… Mario, strong as an ox… Cazorla, you play like a violin…"
Amid the singing, the Arsenal players steeled themselves, and when the whistle blew they charged toward Spurs' goal.
Xia Qi burst forward down Arsenal's left. Mousa Dembélé tried to chase from around the halfway line but only trailed farther behind until he had to stop, dejected, watching Xia Qi's departing back.
Kyle Walker came across to cover. Youthful and full of bravado, he barreled into Xia Qi with a rugby-style charge, trying to knock him off the pitch.
In the center, Mario Balotelli was jogging; he was waiting for Xia Qi's break. Seeing Kyle Walker attempt that hit, Balotelli immediately turned and darted into the box.
As expected,
Xia Qi never let his teammates down.
With a second burst of speed during the run, he flashed past Kyle Walker like lightning.
Walker's momentum didn't stop; he crashed into the sideline advertising board.
Xia Qi kept the throttle down and ran to the left flank of the penalty area, and Hugo Kirikesh (?) could only step out in front to try to block.
Xia Qi didn't try more dribbles; instead he laid the ball across the box to the edge of the six-yard area.
In the center, Balotelli charged in.
Just as he received Xia Qi's pass, Étienne Capoue shoved him to the ground from behind.
The referee didn't blow his whistle!
But Capoue didn't profit from the foul. Santi Cazorla launched a fierce front tackle and knocked Capoue over.
In a normal match Cazorla would have surely received a yellow card, but tonight the referee only gave a verbal warning.
"The referee tonight has been lenient — several yellow-card actions went unpunished."
"Maybe because it's a derby…"
In the next five or six minutes, tackles and shoves spread like an epidemic; players from both sides kept getting involved, and bodies hitting the deck became commonplace…
"This is the North London Derby at its most volatile."
Xia Qi was Spurs' primary target for fouls and one of the most fouled players on the pitch…
In the South Stand, Xia's father regretted bringing Xia's mother to the match.
He'd wanted to give his son support for Arsenal's first home game of the season and secure a bit of good luck.
But as a casual fan he'd forgotten one thing: this was a derby.
He knew the difference between a derby and an ordinary match.
No red cards, no derby!
He'd simply forgotten.
Derbies are more intense than regular matches; heavy physical clashes are more frequent and the risk of injury higher.
Sure, the game is more exciting, but for a mother who only cares about her son's health it's cruel.
"Xia Qi, be more manly — hit him back, damn it!" Alice, standing next to Xia's mother, shouted in exasperation.
On the pitch, Xia Qi was AI-Xia Qi; asking him to defend with dirty tricks like "the little black hand" was nearly impossible.
"Nearly" only because Xia Qi had a patch update that included a "little black hand" routine, but if he could defend cleanly and openly, why use tricks?
Human tit-for-tat emotion is something AI didn't understand.
Alice's shout resonated among many in the stands, and they cried, "Tackle him! Be manly, Xia Qi! Tackle him!"
Xia's mother retorted angrily, "My son gets up quickly every time — how is that not manly?"
On the pitch, because the match was now fragmented into skirmishes and Arsenal had lost their organizational core, they grew increasingly desperate.
Pochettino, seeing this, smiled — there was a chance!
This chaotic approach accidentally disrupted Arsenal's organized play.
He waved his hands: "Come on, lads!"
AI-Xia Qi, being tactical, began to drop back and take over the team's command.
Wenger's 3-6-1 is actually a multi-core system; sometimes Xia Qi and Mikel Arteta act as captains.
When Xia Qi took control, Arsenal's players were not surprised.
On the field, Arteta cleared Son Heung-min's ball out for a throw-in.
Son received the ball from the ball boy and fed it to Capoue.
Capoue barely got the ball before Xia Qi closed in on him.
Capoue had tussled with Xia Qi several times and never gained the upper hand.
Not waiting for Xia Qi to approach, he quickly passed to the arriving Eriksen.
At that moment a dilemma emerged: whom should Xia Qi mark?
If he marked Capoue, Eriksen would drive forward.
If he marked Eriksen, a wall-pass would return the ball to Capoue.
Arsenal were backtracking en masse, and Xia Qi had no help — he had to act alone.
He chose to pursue Eriksen — after all, the ball was at Eriksen's feet.
As he lunged toward Eriksen,
the Danish international saw Xia Qi closing; Eriksen nudged the ball a fraction ahead in Xia Qi's direction and attempted an over-the-top pass, intending to humiliate Xia Qi.
But as the ball flew over Xia Qi's head,
Xia Qi leapt, stretched in the air, stomped his left leg down and swept his right leg across.
"Overhead scissor clearance!"
"Xia Qi's airborne scissor clearance not only broke up Spurs' wall-pass but hooked the ball to Walcott!"
"Arsenal launch a counter!"
The Emirates fell silent for a split-second before erupting into deafening cheers.
Too damn brilliant!
Too damn uplifting!
Xia Qi's interception and counter were as valuable as a goal.
"Ding! [Telepathic Synchrony] attribute activated."
Theo Walcott, preparing to return to defense, stopped mid-stride when he saw Xia Qi lunging at Eriksen, having a strong premonition that a counter was about to start.
Sure enough,
Xia Qi passed the ball to Walcott.
Walcott trapped the ball with his foot, turned and drove toward Spurs' penalty area.
Xia Qi sprang up from the turf and sprinted forward.
Cazorla, Arteta and the others had already dropped to the edge of the box, then floored it to join the attack.
Everyone knew: a counterattack is a golden chance.
Each player's spirit was high and they were giving everything.
Spurs' defenders, meanwhile, were throwing themselves back into desperate defense.
Walcott on the right flew forward unimpeded to the edge of the box.
He repeatedly faked shots or passes to Balotelli in the area, forcing Spurs' defenders to focus on him.
At that moment Xia Qi ran up in the center; Walcott caught sight of him, flicked the ball with his heel and it rolled toward Xia Qi.
As if he had always known Walcott would heel-pass.
Xia Qi suddenly accelerated like a tiger descending a mountain and charged for the ball.
At the instant he reached it,
he planted both feet, his body tilted left, then hoisted his right leg high.
He struck the ball hard!
"Ding dong, [Carlos the Flea] attribute activated."
"Boom!"
A massive sound reverberated through every corner of the Emirates.
"Xia Qi shoots!"
Fans in the stands leaped from their seats, though human reactions differed.
Arsenal fans were ecstatic.
Spurs fans were terrified.
Who would have expected Walcott not to feed the striker in the box?
Who would have expected Xia Qi's first touch to be a shot?
The ball carried heavy inward spin, rose sharply, drew a rainbow and flew toward the right post.
Hugo Lloris on the line breathed a little easier — he thought it would clear the frame.
But to be safe he dived left.
While airborne his eyes tracked the ball; at the peak of its arc it wobbled unpredictably.
Lloris' unease intensified.
The ball suddenly curved again toward the left post.
The left side of the ball met Lloris' right side; Lloris dived the wrong way and now could only hope the ball flew outside the frame.
"Wow! The S-ball!"
"Carlos' S-ball!"
"Power brings miracles! Xia Qi braces, scores a second to equalize — both of his goals are exquisite."
"Xia Qi's violent strike drew an S-shaped trajectory under extreme physics and hit the net. Lloris guessed wrong and was powerless."
Although Arsenal fans were used to Xia Qi's inhuman strikes, seeing that anti-physics S-ball return stunned them all.
This was even more impressive than Carlos.
Carlos' S-ball in the Four Nations invitational was a free kick that involved a period of wind-up and adjustment.
Xia Qi, however, instead charged to the far post and pulled off a one-touch rip — the difficulty was doubled.
Seeing Xia Qi run under the South Stand with arms outstretched, claiming the world…
Arsenal supporters quickly showed their fealty…
The Emirates became a sea of joy.
Arsenal had played so painfully: Kevin De Bruyne missed the match through injury, Wilshere had been injured during the game, and the referee's lenient and biased decisions had not helped…
In short, Arsenal had it rough!
But in that moment it was all in the past.
They believed this dark-haired youth would lead Arsenal forward again, like last season.
"Xia Qi's goal was crucial — Arsenal were passive at the start of the second half; this goal was like timely rain…"
"At the 75th minute the score is 2–2. Who will win is still unknown, but Arsenal's morale has risen…"
Play resumed and Spurs, not wanting to accept being pegged back, launched wave after wave of attacks toward Arsenal's goal.
Christian Eriksen played a vital role in Spurs' attacks.
"Eriksen's playing well — midfielders like him will only grow in popularity…"
On the pitch Eriksen fed the ball toward Son's front post.
Xia Qi and Son charged toward the ball landing point; Xia Qi was slightly closer and got to the ball first, flicking it back to Gustavo.
"Xia Qi has dropped very deep, down to the defensive midfield position…"
Zhang Lu hadn't finished his commentary when on the field Son collided with Xia Qi.
Son saw Xia Qi had passed the ball but didn't stop his momentum.
Earlier he'd seen Xia Qi dodge Kyle Walker's collision and thought Xia Qi feared physical contact…
So he not only didn't brake, he damned well accelerated into Xia Qi.
Koreans are sometimes mysteriously overconfident!
Boom!
The near-field microphones registered a heavy thud.
Fans cried out.
But the imagined car-crash scene didn't happen.
It was Son who fell — Xia Qi was fine.
Arsenal fans in the stands erupted in cheers and laughter.
Alice shouted loudly: "Xia Qi, you're so manly!"
Xia's mother rolled her eyes; "Luckily I've read a lot — I know pretty women lie… I never took you seriously."
Arsenal's attack didn't stop because of this minor collision.
After a couple of passes the ball reached Santi Cazorla.
Cazorla drove into the middle and was intercepted by Capoue; Cazorla dragged the ball back like he intended to bully through.
Capoue shifted his weight to the right to block him, but Cazorla nudged the ball to the right.
Cazorla's right was Capoue's left.
Cazorla skated past and seemed about to move away.
Capoue couldn't accept it.
Hot-headed, his mind had one thought: "Bastard! Stay!"
He flew in with a sliding tackle.
Cazorla rolled twice on the turf.
That showed how powerful Capoue's challenge was!
The referee's sharp whistle cut through as he went to Capoue and showed him a yellow card.
Cazorla lay on the ground clutching his ankle and looking in pain.
Wenger, the Arsenal players, and fans had a bad feeling — their hearts pounding without reason.
Arsenal's midfield had already lost De Bruyne and Wilshere; if Cazorla was injured too…
Wenger felt the Premier League and Champions League titles were saying goodbye.
The Community Shield truly was cursed — winners of that trophy often failed to win other titles.
Arsenal players felt the same; they felt Capoue's tackle hadn't just injured Cazorla but had taken their championship away.
In that mood Vermaelen charged over and grabbed Capoue by the neck.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Players from both sides surged in; some ready to fight, some to pull others back…
The referee signaled for a stretcher, then blew hard to stop the conflict from escalating further…
Two sharp whistles from the referee took Xia Qi out of AFK mode; he immediately dashed into the melee, helped Vermaelen fend off a sneak attack, and in the chaos landed a blow on someone — overall neither lost nor gained much.
Penguin's live feed immediately cut the broadcast.
Zhang Lu explained: "Derbies always have conflicts; there'll be signal updates soon…"
But the situation on site was worse than he imagined.
The referee struggled to control the match.
He gave Vermaelen a red card — on its face the decision was arguable; Vermaelen had grabbed someone by the neck and deserved to be sent off.
But in the wider context it unbalanced the game.
Capoue's dangerous sliding tackle only earned a yellow — could Arsenal fans accept that, especially at home?
Jeers rose from the stands; Arsenal supporters cursed Capoue and the referee, and some even threw objects.
When Cazorla was diagnosed as unable to continue, the mood reached a boiling point.
Extremist fans not only cursed players and the referee but also targeted Spurs supporters.
The mutual abuse escalated into flinging objects and then ripping out seats…
Riot police swarmed in like a tide…
(END CHAPTER)
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