After a hard-fought victory over Morocco, the Spanish players returned to the locker room to celebrate.
Leo Lin was named Man of the Match and attended the press conference alongside Hierro.
The room was packed with reporters. Countless hands were raised, all hoping to be called on by Leo Lin.
Only one person didn't raise his hand. He simply stared at Leo Lin, confident he would be chosen first.
The moment Leo Lin and Gerrard locked eyes, Lin smiled.
Gerrard smiled back.
Somewhere in his mind, a familiar tune started playing.
"It's just because I glanced at you in the crowd…"
Leo Lin immediately shot Gerrard a playful wink. Gerrard picked up the microphone and stood up.
The surrounding reporters looked on with envy, amazed at the unspoken understanding between the two.
"Lin, you scored twice to help Spain defeat Morocco, and more importantly, the team has advanced from the group stage into the knockout rounds."
"I'm not sure what Spain's original goal was, whether it was the semifinals or the title, but now you've reached the Round of 16."
"In the Round of 16, you'll face Japan. Do you have the confidence to beat them and reach the quarterfinals?"
At that, the smile on Leo Lin's face became impossible to suppress.
"This is football. Anything can happen."
"But I promise I will give everything I have to help Spain in the match against Japan."
"I promise that in the next knockout match, everyone will see the best version of me. A completely new me!"
Gerrard got the answer he wanted and sat down, satisfied.
And when Leo Lin said everyone would see a new version of him, he wasn't joking. After the match against Morocco, combined with the milestone rewards from previous championship trophies, his accumulated points had finally reached the threshold to unlock the final grand prize pool.
At the same time, he had enough points to make a draw from the Mystery Grand Prize Pool.
Leo Lin had been craving this Mystery Grand Prize Pool for a long time.
In the original prize pool, beneath the calm surface lay countless top-tier players, but they still fell short of true, all-time greats.
Now, a grand prize pool containing historical-level Superstar Skills was right in front of him.
After the press conference, Leo Lin hurried back to the hotel. He first had dinner with his teammates and joined in some light entertainment.
Spanish staff and fans gathered both inside and outside the hotel to welcome their heroes home.
A hard-fought victory deserved a proper celebration, and Hierro also wanted to use the moment to lift the team's morale.
Leo Lin originally wanted to return to his room early to draw from the prize pool, but Carvajal insisted on dragging him into a table tennis match.
Soon, the rest of the Spanish players seemed to catch the same bug, taking turns challenging Leo Lin.
What Leo Lin had never revealed was that his favorite pastime growing up, shared with his father Charles Lin, was playing table tennis.
Xavi acted as the scorekeeper on the side, while Leo Lin used his phone to take photos of the bright red scorelines.
"Carvajal loses 1-11 to Lin."
"David Silva loses 2-11 to Lin."
"Diego Costa loses 1-11 to Lin."
"Sergio Ramos loses 0-12 to Lin. The only one who didn't score a single point. Minus one extra point."
Leo Lin had originally wanted to spare Captain Sergio Ramos some dignity, but Ramos was simply too poor at the game.
Even after Lin deliberately went easy on him multiple times and planned to give him a point in the final round, Ramos ended up mishitting his own serve. The ball didn't even touch the table and was ruled a loss by Xavi.
In the end, Ramos was mocked by the team for losing 0-11, and Xavi took the chance to dock another point, officially recording it as 0-12 against Leo Lin.
Sergio Ramos and Leo Lin shared a room. Perhaps the crushing defeat made Ramos suddenly exhausted. After returning to the room and washing up, he was just about to chat with Lin when he instantly lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.
Leo Lin immediately opened the system.
The final grand prize pool he had waited an entire season for, deep and unfathomable like an abyss, finally began to surge.
"Warning!"
"Host, please remain calm. The grand prize pool draw is about to begin!"
"Warning!"
"Host, please remain calm. The grand prize pool draw is about to begin!"
"Warning!"
"Host, please…"
"Smack!"
Leo Lin slapped himself hard across the face.
"Are you going to draw or not!"
"One more warning and I swear I'll slap myself to death. If the host dies, you're done too!"
The slap actually calmed him slightly. At the same time, the depths of the grand prize pool began to churn violently.
Leo Lin felt the world around him suddenly darken.
It was as if he had sunk into the deep sea, watching the bottomless depths erupt into motion.
A black-gold glow split open from below, then suddenly transformed into a white-gold radiance.
Like a film replay, images began to emerge as the white-gold light faded, then turned into streams of light that wrapped around Leo Lin.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a vast, magnificent stadium, towering as if it reached the heavens.
At the center of the arena, a blurred figure flickered with light, moving as the commentator's voice roared with excitement.
"He's driving forward with the ball!"
"He beats two defenders!"
"His teammates are available, but he goes alone!"
"Incredible!"
"He's past another two!"
"Now the goalkeeper. He's past him too!"
"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!"
"GOAL!!!"
"GOAL!!!"
"Oh my God, I'm in tears!"
"A genius!"
"How did he do that?!"
"He beat five players!"
"A solo run from start to finish!"
The commentary, trembling with emotion, reached its peak before gradually fading.
The blurred figure, glowing in blue and white, completed the solo goal. The light vanished in an instant, replaced by a pure blue radiance.
The commentary disappeared. The figure slowly became clearer.
Then.
Leo Lin felt countless voices erupt in his ears, shouting the same name in unison.
"Diego Maradona!"
"Diego Maradona!!"
"Diego Maradona!!!"
...
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