Chapter 14: Champion Hurts Team
“…the video shows how sad Wang Lie’s fans were when they heard the club terminated their contract…”

In the video, a huge poster of Wang Lie is being dismantled in the distance, while in the foreground a young Chinese fan wearing Wang Lie’s Sofia United jersey is crying loudly.

Because he was so sad, his expression was even a little funny. Although it was a sad picture, many people saw the humor in it.

“Xiao, you’re famous! I’ve seen this video and screenshots of your expression in many places… You’re going to be famous! Don’t forget your brothers when you become famous!”

The friend yelled at Xiao Cheng with his phone, but Xiao Cheng didn’t care about it. He just said casually, “Okay, John, don’t worry. I will never forget you even if I die…”

John didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with this. He was looking through the photo album on his phone, and said happily, “I have to save our photo. Then I can say that the famous ‘Crying Wang Fan’ is my roommate!”

Xiao Cheng didn’t care at all about what John was going to do. His attention was now completely focused on confronting others online.

His fingers moved across the phone screen so fast that they left afterimages. Sentences of English with machine-translated Chinese style appeared on the screen and were then sent out.

“…You are useless garbage, not even as good as a cesspool! At least feces and urine can be used as fertilizer. But your blood plasma and rotten flesh are dirty and poisonous, not even qualified to be fertilizer! In the land after your death, not even a blade of grass or a flower can grow! If you go to the toilet to take a shit, your whole family will be suffocated to death, and even your cats and dogs will become crazy and bloodthirsty!”

“Your mother farted just now, and you were born. It’s so unfortunate that your birth caused your mother’s permanent anal prolapse. There was a deity in ancient China named ‘Nuwa’, who used colorful stones to patch up the sky. Congratulations, you can become a deity now, as long as you dive back into your mother’s anus, you can patch up her asshole!”

“If your eighteen ancestors saw that their descendant is now an ugly and dirty racist, they would immediately gather together to discuss which generation the problem started. Was it your father or your grandfather who had promiscuous sex with wild dogs, which caused your family’s genes to undergo a malignant mutation in you…”

“Talk about reason? Why should I talk about reason with a maggot whose brain is full of feces? Only humans can understand reason, and you, sorry, you are not even a human. Do you know what ‘reason’ means? You don’t know, you only know how to eat shit.”

“Wang Lie refused to be substituted? Yes, but so what? It doesn’t change the fact that you are an idiot who licks his own balls every day. Wang Lie is arrogant? Then you are still an idiot. Wang Lie deserves it? You are still an idiot… No matter what Wang Lie does, it can’t change the fact that you are an idiot. How pitiful! A poor wretch with such a failure in life can only live in the fantasy of a better life by showing his teeth to heroes… If your dead father knew how pathetic your life was, he would definitely prefer to shoot you directly into the exhaust pipe of a motorcycle.”

While he was madly outputting, many people in his comment section were cheering:

“Ohhhh! The great Chinese bard @WangisKing strikes again!”

“Well done! @WangisKing! Let them experience the wrath of Wang Lie’s fans!”

John thought that Xiao Cheng would become famous because of that video, meaning famous in the real sense. But in fact, Xiao Cheng, who used the pseudonym “@WangisKing”, was already a celebrity on the Internet.

To be precise, Xiao Cheng is a celebrity in the online fan circle, especially in Wang Lie’s fan circle.

Because he always uses the craziest language to fight against Wang Lie’s haters on the Internet, and his way of cursing is very unique. So over time, he has become very famous in the online fan circle and has many fans.

However, Xiao Cheng only cursed people online, but never posted anything related to his studies and life, not even photos or videos of him watching games.

Therefore, some people thought he was some kind of “digital life” at the beginning.

Later, as he kept cursing in different ways, it no longer mattered whether he was a “digital life” or not…

So what is the most important thing?

Swearing is the most important thing.

Those who were scolded by him didn’t care whether Xiao Cheng was a “digital life” or not. After being scolded and their defenses were broken, they would definitely scold back.

The spectators who watch Xiao Cheng scolding others don’t care whether he is a “digital life” or not. They just want to see Xiao Cheng scolding the haters and feel comfortable and happy.

Many of Wang Lie’s fans, especially those outside of China, like to watch Xiao Cheng scold haters. They even take screenshots of Xiao Cheng’s scolding and save them as a collection of quotes, and try to learn and master them. When “@WangisKing” doesn’t make a move, they can also follow suit and try to scold Wang Lie’s haters to the point of breaking their defense.

In the eyes of Wang Lie’s haters, people like Xiao Cheng are very typical extreme fans “Wang Weibing” – they gave this group of people such a title with very Chinese characteristics.

Xiao Cheng doesn’t care about the comments about him on the Internet. He goes online to curse people just to defend his idol and vent his anger.

He is very angry now.

After returning from Manchester, he not only failed to successfully see Wang Lie off, but also became a clown ridiculed by the public on the Internet.

However, his anger was not because he became a clown, but because after he returned from Manchester, he saw a strange article on the BBC website.

The author is Lawrence Dadome, a well-known “Wang Liehei”.

When Xiao Cheng saw the author’s name, he knew that there would be nothing good in this article.

But when he saw the title, he realized that he had underestimated the bottom line of some racists.

“Does the championship hurt the team? Exploring the root cause of Sofia’s decline”

By Lawrence Dadomo.

“A well-known fact: We generally believe that the decline of Sofia United began in the 2033-2034 season three seasons ago, because in that season, Sofia United failed to get the top four in the league and qualify for the Champions League next season. But is the well-known fact the whole truth?
“You have to know that just three seasons before the 2033-2034 season, Sofia United was the league champion. Four seasons ago, they even won four championships. So why did Sofia United fall from the peak of the ‘seven championships’ to the bottom in such a short time?

“I have a unique view: I think the decline of Sofia was doomed when they won the unprecedented seven titles. In other words, it was the glory of the ‘seven titles’ that led to their decline.

“Perhaps this sounds counterintuitive at first, but please think carefully, is it because of the ‘seven-time champion’ that Sofia has produced too many ‘meritorious players’ who rest on their laurels? These players, relying on their status as ‘seven-time champions’, wantonly demand high-priced contracts, squeeze the team’s resources, and are unwilling to work hard on the field.

“Sofo United has shouldered a heavy financial burden on these meritorious players. Even though there are more outstanding young players in the transfer market, they cannot come up with more transfer funds to compete, nor can they offer sufficiently attractive contracts. Even though they know that these meritorious players have become blood-sucking insects lying on the club, they dare not clean them up and replace them… Otherwise, how can we explain Sofo United’s sudden and precipitous decline?
“Is a championship a good thing? Of course, no one doesn’t like championships. But Sofia United’s ‘seven championships’ seem to have exhausted all their resources and luck for the next ten years. ‘Seven championships’ are unprecedented and are indeed very impressive. Sofia United also temporarily surpassed Scouse with this honor and became the most successful club in the history of English football. Everything seems very good, but… what is the price?

“The glory of the seven-time champions in the past was like a scale that could not be touched by the Sofia League. Everyone was proud of this glory. But I just felt that perhaps it was the brilliance of the seven-time champions that covered up many problems at the time. But everyone knows that once a problem exists, it will not disappear, it will just hide and then explode at the right time…

“Although ‘champions hurt teams’ is a very counterintuitive conclusion, the facts are there. I think anyone with the ability to think critically, without any emotional color, can come to this conclusion… Competitive sports certainly need champions, but what kind of champions are needed and how to win them are probably more worthy of everyone’s consideration.”

In fact, this article never mentions the name “Wang Lie” from beginning to end.

But everyone knows who this article is really referring to.

Wang Lie’s fans have been promoting the “Seven Crowns” as Wang Lie’s highest achievement, as if Wang Lie could be on par with Arthur and Ronald with this “Seven Crowns”.

The achievement of “Seven-time Champion” is indeed impressive. When Wang Lie won the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year that year, he also won the World Cup.

Generally speaking, in years with major tournaments such as the World Cup and the European Cup, the performance of the candidate players in continental competitions will become an important reference for the selection of the Ballon d’Or and the World Footballer of the Year.

But Wang Lie defeated all his opponents that year and won the 2030 “Ballon d’Or” with absolute advantage – winning both the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Footballer of the Year titles.

This shows the value of the “Seven Crowns”.

But Lawrence Dadomo now wants to deny the achievement of “Seven Crowns”, insisting that it is because of the seven crowns that Sofia has fallen into the abyss today.

Everyone knows what he means.

First deny the “Seven-time Champion” and then deny Wang Lie’s achievements. This is an old trick used by Western media.

It’s like shooting the arrow before drawing the target. They first want to deny Wang Lie’s idea, then force a bunch of other ideas into account and come up with the logic and argument that “the championship hurts the team.”

If people only understand superficially, they will be bewitched by his words and think that he is right.

As for why such an outrageous article as “Champions hurt teams” could appear on the BBC website…

This is actually the least surprising thing.

After all, the BBC can even endorse such absurd remarks as “China’s sand control and afforestation are destroying the ecological environment”, so what does a mere “the champion hurts the team” matter?

Xiao Cheng was angered by this article. He never expected that some people would go to such extremes to discredit Wang Lie. Not only were they shameless, they even threw away their brains and professional qualities.

In fact, before he discovered this “great article”, the article had already spread all over the Internet.

Wang Lie’s haters, like they had found a magic sword, excitedly forwarded the news everywhere, using the BBC report to add a new crime to Wang Lie’s account. Did the champion hurt the team?

At first it sounded like bullshit, but after reading it carefully, I actually felt that what Dadomo said made sense!
Forward!

Must forward!

Let me make it clear in advance that we are not slandering Wang Lie, we are just listening to both sides to gain a better understanding, and we want to provide everyone with another perspective on the issue…

Hey, how did you, the “king’s guards”, break your defense? There is not a single word about your master in this article!

Under every repost, there are haters and Wang Lie’s fans fighting together.

The most intense battle was under the article released by the official Twitter account of BBC Sports.

That was also the place where Dadomo’s wonderful article was first published.

Xiao Cheng’s battlefield is here.

Although Wang Lie has left Sofolian, the feud between Wang Lie’s haters and fans will not end there.

The war between them will probably continue until Wang Lie retires…

※※※

“Champions hurt the team?” Wang Lie looked at the article on his phone and couldn’t help laughing. “Well, it has evolved from ‘scoring hurts the team’ to ‘champions hurt the team’… Dadomo is really getting more and more abstract. It’s amazing that he could come up with such a ridiculous logic…”

His agent, Fernando Clemente, asked anxiously, “Are you really going to send that…letter?”

He didn’t care what Dadomo, the famous “Wang Liehei”, said, because a dog can’t spit out ivory anyway.

What he is more concerned about now is the farewell letter that Wang Lie is going to post online. In name, it is a farewell to the fans of Sofia, but in fact… it contains a lot of revelations about the management of the Sofia club and the current head coach Sven Helden.

The team’s public relations director, Ms. Melissa Ross, expressed her concerns to Clement, fearing that Wang Lie’s letter would mean a public break between him and Sofia United, and that not many Sofia United fans would support him because he was attacking the club.

But Wang Lie still insisted on issuing this open letter. There are some things he must say and some things he must do. This is his consistent style.

Facing Clement’s concerns and questions, Wang Lie didn’t care: “Of course I have to send it. There are some things that must be said. If I don’t say them in this letter, I can only say them on Phil Evans’ show.”

Clement closed his mouth.

Phil Evans is a famous British host and journalist. He has interviewed many celebrities. No matter how famous or what their status is, his questions are always very aggressive. Because of this, he can often dig out some explosive news when interviewing those celebrities, which makes each of his interviews attract much attention, and in turn makes many people willing to appear on his show.

Over time, his “offensive interviews” have formed a tacit understanding between him and the interviewees, a bit like “Zhou Yu fights Huang Gai – one is willing to fight and the other is willing to be beaten”.

If Wang Lie really wanted to go on Phil Evans’ talk show, Clement believed that Evans would definitely welcome it. After all, the matter between Wang Lie and Sofolian was a hot topic at the moment. Wang Lie needed Evans’ traffic, and Evans also needed Wang Lie’s traffic.

But Clement didn’t want Wang Lie to go. If things became too awkward, it would not be good for anyone.

So he could only accept Wang Lie’s approach of posting an open letter on his own online account.

It feels like Wang Lie said he wanted to open the window, but he disagreed. Then Wang Lie said he wanted to lift the roof, and he agreed to Wang Lie opening the window…

※※※

Zhao Zhou put down his phone. He just searched the Internet and found an abstract article titled “Do Championships Hurt Teams? Exploring the Root Causes of Sofia’s Decline” written by Lawrence Dadomo, a famous “Wang Liehei”.

There is a lot of noise online about this article, but he is not interested in participating.

He just took a quick glance, cursed “idiot” in his heart and put it down.

He originally wanted to find out if there was anything else that Sofia had reported about Wang Lie’s departure that was not in other news reports.

As a result, apart from some revelations such as “all traces of Wang Lie have been cleared from the first-team locker room” by “insiders”, “well-informed people” and “informed people”, there is nothing else.

As for the removal of Wang Lie’s giant poster on the outer wall of the Red Stone Stadium, there was no need for internal disclosure. The stadium was there, and anyone could go and see it.

When they were dismantling the building efficiently, there were many people at the scene holding up their cell phones to record the video. The short video is now all over the internet, and even an emoticon of “Crying Wang Fan” was created, so it’s not really a secret.

It has been almost a day, and the official tweet from Sofia regarding Wang Lie’s departure from the team is still the same.

More than a hundred words, plus a picture.

Nine and a half years, nine and a half seasons, 454 appearances, 411 goals.

With the 18th most appearances in the team’s history, he became the top scorer in the club’s history.

Forty-six goals set a record for the most goals scored in a single season in Premier League history.

The single-season goal record in Champions League history.

There is also the unprecedented “Seven Crowns”.

And many, many records that are worth remembering and writing about.

It was not mentioned at all in the tweet of more than 100 words, or it was condensed into two words: “contribution”.

what!
Zhao Zhou just thought it was funny.

He decided to make a video overnight. On the one hand, it was to lead everyone to review Wang Ge’s brilliant career in Sofia, and on the other hand, it was to severely expose the various evil deeds of Sofia Club in the past six months. Through the timeline, he tried to restore the truth behind the disputes between Wang Ge and Sofia in the past six months.

To this end, he has been collecting information and writing copy.

I picked up my phone just now just to see if there was any latest news so as not to miss anything.

The cell phone he put down kept ringing. Today, both his own fan group and the various Wang Lie fan groups he belonged to were more lively than usual.

The continuous notification of new messages always interrupted Zhao Zhou’s thoughts and emotions, so he picked up his phone and prepared to mute it temporarily, and then he saw that someone in his fan group had tagged him, and there was more than one person:

“@周周足球, Zhou Zhou, look, Brother Wang has posted a long article!”

“@周周足球, UP! Brother Wang wrote a long article to hit back at the things that happened in the past half season! It’s so cool!”

“@周周足球, Brother Zhao’s material is here! Hurry! Hurry up and make a video!”

Not only did they remind him, they also sent pictures and links.

Zhao Zhou clicked on the picture and found that he needed to download it first, otherwise what he saw would be blurry and he wouldn’t be able to see the content at all.

I immediately realized that this is a really long article…

So he didn’t download the pictures and went directly to Brother Wang’s official Weibo. His fans also took screenshots from there anyway.

Moreover, Brother Wang usually updates his Weibo and external social networking platforms simultaneously, and the content is exactly the same. He is not like some people who differentiate between internal and external platforms.

Sure enough, Brother Wang’s latest Weibo post is several thousand words long, and it is that “long article”!
(End of this chapter)