"The young player Zidane values most! Locals call him the White-Clad God of Death!"
"This teenager is called Su Hang. He's Real Madrid's player with the highest winning rate, bar none!"
Sports Weekly dropped a bombshell.
The entire issue was filled with Real Madrid news.
And eighty percent of it was about Su Hang.
Domestic fans were stunned when they saw the paper.
"My God, has Sports Weekly lost its mind? Are we even living in the same reality?"
"Did they hire fantasy novelists as editors? This whole thing reads like pure fiction!"
"Unbelievable! Nineteen years old? Chinese descent? Do those labels really belong to a football star?"
"Sports Weekly has gone insane! No—it's Zhan Jun who's lost it. Every single one of these articles has his name on it!"
"Zhan Jun? Wasn't he the guy at Guangdong TV Sports who offended the wrong people, got shipped overseas, and then jumped to Sports Weekly? His reports can't be trusted!"
"Su Hang? That name sounds like something made up just to sound fancy!"
"Why not just call him something simple, like Lu Yang?"
"Or Deng Kai! Honestly, almost anything would sound better than Su Hang!"
Still, a few hardcore fans dug up related reports from Western media.
"I checked—looks like Real Madrid has a player named Siu. That could translate as Su, right?"
"Siu? Never heard of him. Anyone here who's actually been to Spain care to confirm?"
"I went to Madrid this year on a business trip. This Siu is pretty popular there. We even saw his giant poster outside a shopping mall. I'll post it on the forum later so everyone can see."
"We were all shocked. I mean, this is Spain's capital—and there's an Asian guy on a poster. My friends guessed he was Korean or Japanese."
"We didn't have time to dig deeper, but he's definitely a footballer. The Real Madrid crest was right there."
Soon, that user uploaded the photo to Sports Weekly's online forum.
The poster showed Su Hang mid-celebration, as if descending from the sky—he looked incredible.
No other information appeared—just a stylized "Siu"!
At the bottom, in tiny print: Real Madrid Football Club.
"This… has to be an official Real Madrid promo poster. It's brand imaging, high-end stuff. No product, no commercial tie-in—just pure influence building."
"Here at home, every ad is tied to a product, but abroad a lot of campaigns are just about image."
"No wonder I didn't get it. Such a massive poster with no product mentioned. My colleagues thought it was a waste."
"Different stages. We'll probably see this kind of image marketing in the future, but for now it's still all about product sales."
"From this poster, you can tell this guy's standing at Real Madrid is pretty high. The club only gives this kind of exposure to big names, statistical standouts, or local icons. Think Zidane, Ronaldinho, Iniesta."
As the discussion deepened, a veteran fan who had also been to Madrid finally spoke up.
"Holy crap! Su is Chinese? That's the first I've ever heard of it!"
"Wait, seriously? Real Madrid really has a player named Su Hang? At that age, he must be a youth product, right? Is he as famous as Messi at Barça?"
Messi was already well-known in Barcelona's academy system.
Some called him the next Iniesta.
And Iniesta himself was seen as an attacking version of Xavi.
Yes, like Russian dolls.
Xavi was already a Barcelona starter.
Iniesta had broken into the first team this season, even starting matches and impressing.
Messi had also played several first-team games, performing brilliantly with enormous potential.
So fans knew about them.
But Su?
Injuries and team competition meant fewer appearances, so there wasn't as much buzz around him.
On top of that, translation quirks, his name, and nicknames blurred things further—so back in China, hardly anyone had heard of Su Hang.
"Prince Su! He's an absolute hero in Madrid!"
"A once-in-a-generation genius! One of the strongest breakout stars this year!"
"You all know Cristiano Ronaldo, right? If Su had played more, his rise wouldn't be any less than Ronaldo's!"
Cristiano was already a household name.
Handsome.
Flashy.
Brilliant on the pitch.
The only man Ferguson personally chose as United's No.7 successor.
Of course, he was also controversial.
But his fame was undeniable.
"The White-Clad God of Death, Prince Su! With Raúl and Owen rotating this season, substitutes are common. And when Raúl isn't on the pitch, Su wears the captain's armband!"
"Guti is the second captain, Salgado the third, but Su as the fourth captain even has priority over them!"
"Hat-tricks of goals! Hat-tricks of assists! Back-to-back game-winners! Su is insanely good this season!"
"Seriously? Then why can't I find anything about him?"
"Oh, that's probably because of his family. They're wealthy—his father's a major businessman. For security, families like his pay every year to scrub personal info from the internet."
"So it's hard to find details on him. But football stuff is fine—it's just the translation and nationality issue…"
"Foreign media never emphasize that Su is of Chinese descent. And Chinese media? They don't pay him attention—and even if they did, they wouldn't believe it. Weren't we always told Asians couldn't play football?"
Gradually, Su Hang started becoming more like a legend back home.
But there was still little hard evidence.
Everyone had their own version, and no unified story.
One fake story among nine real ones, and suddenly nobody believed any of them.
During this time, at least five or six different "Su Hang" appeared online.
Different faces, ages, and stories.
One was even an entertainment company's packaged idol, claiming to have trained in football for two and a half years.
But when people checked, they discovered he had literally changed his name to "Su Hang" overnight.
He hadn't even been surnamed Su before!
...
"Ding! Your performance on the pitch reminded Makélélé of his Real Madrid years. You've received the Moment Card: 'Makélélé 2002'!"
"Ding! Your relentless spirit and fierce tackles have made Drogba wary. He thinks that even with his brute-force charges, he might not be able to shake off your defense. You've obtained: 'Drogba's Beastly Charge'!"
"Drogba'sBeastly Charge: Superstar skill. Drogba's physicality has always been the benchmark for forwards. He mastered the art of turning that strength into a unique weapon—the Beastly Charge."
...
(35 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser