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Chapter 216 - 216: One Step from Glory

Under the London night sky!

The colossal Wembley Stadium erupted with an indescribable roar!

The entire city of London trembled as if struck by an earthquake!

For several kilometers around, one could feel the vibrations!

"GOALLLLLL!!!"

"Kai! Kai!"

"Amazing—absolutely unbelievable! A wonder goal! Another wonder goal from Kai!"

"The difficulty of that shot is beyond imagination!"

The commentary booths at Wembley shook with chaos.

The roaring cheers from the stands

almost drowned out the commentators' voices entirely!

"This is Wembley! The stage of the final! And tonight, the Red Devils' defense has been breached for the third time!"

"Kai, Arsenal's super captain! A hat-trick before halftime!"

"De Gea, are you okay? Manchester United fans, are you okay?"

"Arsenal 3:0! This League Cup Final may already be within the Gunners' grasp!!"

Beneath the night sky at Wembley,

the Arsenal stands erupted with fanatical chanting!

Supporters clutched their heads in disbelief,

eyes brimming with uncontainable excitement and joy!

The ball had gone in!

Another goal!

3:0!

Though Arsenal fans had already witnessed Kai leading the team to crush United before,

tonight was the League Cup Final!

It was Arsenal's closest moment to a trophy in eight long years!

And they were 3:0 up at halftime!

"King of the Gunners!"

"King of the Gunners!!"

"We're going to be champions!!"

The Arsenal faithful roared in unison,

a surging red wave flooding the stands!

Inside the VIP boxes—

Stan Kroenke leapt to his feet,

applauding furiously!

Like the fans,

Kroenke too had been waiting far too long

to see Arsenal on the road to glory!

"We're going to win the cup! Arsenal are going to win!"

"Just one more half, steady the game!"

"Our young Gunner King will lead this team, trophyless for eight years, to the championship!"

The Arsenal executives in the box pumped their fists and shouted with joy!

Most of them, graying veterans of the business world,

could no longer contain their excitement.

Some even tore off their suit jackets,

swinging their fists wildly in the air!

On the touchline—

in the Arsenal dugout, Wenger and Rice embraced with excitement!

The Professor's eyes shone with indescribable joy.

"I know, I know we can't pop the champagne early! But I can't hold back anymore!"

Rice was trembling as he spoke,

the lifelong Arsenal assistant coach shaking with passion.

"One more half, just one more half to go! We must be patient!"

"Leave it to Kai! Our Gunner King will deliver a flawless, unbeatable performance!"

Wenger forced himself to remain composed.

Arsenal's first trophy in eight years was within reach!

The moment had come—

the moment for the Gunners to declare their revival

and return to the peak!

Even the ever-graceful Professor

could no longer hide his emotions!

In stark contrast—

just a short distance away at the Manchester United bench,

Ferguson stood motionless, stunned.

The Red Devils' legendary manager, cloaked in his long coat,

looked more desolate than ever on the sideline.

United's bench sat in total silence.

On the pitch—

Kai, after scoring, was immediately swarmed by Arsenal teammates!

A hat-trick before halftime!

On the stage of the League Cup Final!

The United stands were eerily quiet.

Their fans sat in silence,

watching Arsenal's players celebrate passionately below.

Not a word could be said.

The pressure was unbearable!

In just one year, three encounters with Kai's Arsenal—

and United fans now felt only despair.

This 17-year-old, the youngest Ballon d'Or winner in history—

half a year ago, he had shattered United's treble dream.

A few months later, he demolished them again in the league,

avenging Arsenal's long-ago humiliation!

And tonight—

in the League Cup Final,

wearing the captain's armband of Arsenal,

he had scored a hat-trick before halftime!

Leading his team,

charging unrelentingly toward their first trophy in eight years!

"The hero of the Gunners! The King of North London!"

"Kai! A man who has conquered both South and North London!"

"Keep it steady, Arsenal! Your milestone moment may be at hand!"

In the Chinese live broadcast,

Zhan Jun's voice rang out, rising and falling with passion.

Under the roar of the stadium.

After the wild celebration at the sidelines, Kai led his teammates back to their own half.

On the other side of the halfway line, the Manchester United players were already completely silent.

Each of them had a look of struggle and complexity in their eyes.

Every time they encountered Kai, they were crushed from head to toe.

United's psychological barrier could not be broken.

They were already at a loss on the pitch.

With the ball kicked off again from the center circle,

in the remaining minutes of the first half, United still played in great difficulty.

Amidst the unceasing roar of Arsenal supporters,

the whistle for half-time soon blew.

Halftime: 3–0!

The United stands were dead silent.

This was one of the most one-sided finals in recent years—at halftime!

The players of both sides walked toward the tunnel with very different expressions.

When Kai approached the tunnel,

a sudden cheer erupted from the stands!

Kai waved to the fans.

The London media on-site were already hyping it up:

Arsenal's first trophy in nearly ten years might be born in just an hour's time!

Under the night sky at Wembley,

the heated atmosphere swept everywhere.

The Manchester United stands looked especially gloomy.

The more than forty thousand Red Devils fans present tonight felt like they were sitting on pins and needles.

Inside the dressing room at halftime.

Ferguson paced back and forth at the center.

The United players looked exhausted,

collapsing into their seats one by one.

It wasn't that their physical fitness was drained in just one half.

The reason they slumped in their seats as if their strength had been sucked out,

was purely the immense pressure brought by Kai leading Arsenal in the first half!

The combined mental and physical strain was terrifying beyond words.

"We have no way back! Yes, we still have other competitions this season, but for the League Cup, we've fought so hard to reach the final. No matter what, we must fight until the very last second!"

Ferguson's brows were tightly furrowed.

Even as the godfather of the Red Devils, Ferguson wasn't sure if his halftime talk could make an impact anymore.

The Arsenal led by Kai was like a mountain.

Pressing down right in front of United.

So suffocating.

Meanwhile, in Arsenal's dressing room.

It was a scene of pure jubilation.

The players could hardly contain their excitement.

For the young Van Dijk and Giroud, this was the first time in their careers to play in a domestic cup final!

And for many of the other Arsenal players,

this too was the first time in their lives they were standing on the stage of a final.

Leading 3–0 at halftime!

They were only one step away from the championship!

Every heart surged with uncontrollable excitement!

Kai stood at the center of the dressing room.

All of Arsenal's players turned their eager, fiery gazes toward him in unison!

"Remember, don't pop the champagne at halftime! Victory is just one step away, but we still have to stay focused!"

"In the second half, hold the advantage, stay steady, sweep United aside!"

"We must completely finish this final, and lift our first trophy in eight years!"

In an instant,

his words echoed throughout the dressing room!

Wenger led the applause.

The Arsenal players erupted in passionate shouts, pumping their fists in the air!

Thunderous applause filled the room!

In every player's eyes blazed the ultimate desire for the championship!

Champions!

Champions!

As the Arsenal players charged out of the tunnel with their burning determination,

Wembley's feverish atmosphere engulfed them instantly!

The media were stunned.

After the halftime team talk,

Arsenal's morale had somehow risen even higher!

It was as if in every player's eyes there flickered blazing flames!

In the stands, Arsenal fans were already impatiently pulling open a corner of the championship banners they had prepared in advance.

Their restless hearts and burning thirst for glory

were about to become reality after forty-five more minutes!

Everything—

would be settled then!

BEEP!

The referee's whistle blew!

The second half had begun!

Wembley once again roared to life!

It was Arsenal's kick-off in the second half.

Giroud and Van Persie tapped the ball forward.

The ball was delivered to Kai's feet.

Both sides adjusted their formations.

Right from the start of the half,

United seemed to understand that if they didn't attack proactively, the consequence would be waiting to die—handing the trophy away before their eyes.

The Red Devils began to increase their movement all over the pitch.

From the very first minutes of the half,

physical clashes became more frequent.

Confrontations!

Body-to-body duels!

This was the Premier League clash in its purest form!

Two of England's oldest giants, ranked first and second in the table,

faced off fiercely in the second half!

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