0001 The Insider of the C-Level Team (Please Support and Vote)

Reggio Calabria, Church of the Madonna.
Farewell ceremony.
The priest wore a solemn expression.
After the Mass, guests approached the coffin one by one to pay their respects to the deceased.
The deceased, Lu Ming, was Chinese, yet almost all those present were Italian.
Lu Deyang stood to the side as the sole relative, seeing his uncle off on his final journey.
Orphaned from a young age, he had been adopted by his uncle who did business in Italy.
Unexpectedly, even after being reborn in 1988, he still could not avoid missing his uncle’s tragic maritime accident.
Just turned eighteen, he was currently a patron player for the Serie C2 team Reggina. The club’s owner, Bianchi De Rosso, was his uncle’s business partner.
De Rosso had a cousin named Giuseppe Morabito.
Morabito was gradually supplanting the Sicilians as the head of the Calabrian mafia, controlling most of Italy’s olive oil production.
Ever since Americans discovered that despite poverty, Mediterranean people lived long lives, they began researching the secret. They found olive oil to be the key to longevity. American newspapers and TV programs then relentlessly promoted olive oil as the secret to a long life, making Italian extra virgin olive oil a coveted commodity worldwide.
Often, however, many Calabrians would blend olive oil with cheaper vegetable oils and sell it at a huge profit.
There was a popular saying in Calabria: even the best chefs in Parisian restaurants might not be able to distinguish genuine extra virgin olive oil from the counterfeit.
His uncle was in the olive oil business, supplying high-end restaurants in parts of Asia.
He had a modest reputation in Reggio Calabria.
Even the Morabito family attended today, so no unexpected incidents were likely.
Though it often rained by the Calabrian coast, the day was bright and sunny.
The sea breeze carried the scent of summer.
After the burial, many expressed their condolences to Lu Deyang.
Old Bianchi approached and advised, “You love football, but football can’t be your whole life. Now that you’re the only one left in your family, you should take over your uncle’s business.”
“I’ll consider it,” Lu Deyang replied.
“If you run into any trouble, you can talk to me. Lu Ming was my best friend.” Old Bianchi shook his head and left immediately.
To him, Lu Deyang was already an adult, still chasing an impossible football dream.
No matter how close the relationship, he couldn’t dictate someone else’s life path.
Once everyone had left, Lu Deyang glanced at his uncle’s tombstone before departing.
If he didn’t love football, he wouldn’t have ended up as a patron player in a Serie C2 team.

Normally, given the circumstances, he really should take over his uncle’s business; olive oil was quite profitable.
Perhaps that was the best choice.
What a pity for their shared football dream.

[Notification: Successfully activated “If We’re Brothers, Come Play Football” system.]
[“If We’re Brothers, Come Play Football” system assists every player in need of brothers.]
[Activation task: The future dual stars, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, are gradually emerging. As an ambitious player, become a brother to either Ronaldo or Messi and embark on your brotherhood football journey. To achieve greatness, you must have the strongest brothers! (Complete the task to receive a beginner’s gift pack.)]

Lu Deyang: ???
His mind was filled with question marks.
He, Lu, survived out there by relying on many brothers; becoming brothers with future football legends made sense.
But this was 1988!
They were only beginning to appear?
A few years earlier, those two were still toddlers!
One born in ’87, the other in ’85.
They probably couldn’t even speak properly yet—damn it!

After some thought, Lu Deyang realized the task was still achievable.
Even if he wasn’t a fan of those two players, as a football enthusiast, he knew their stories well.
Friendships across generations were nothing new.
What was wrong with making friends in kindergarten?
Some even took oaths of brotherhood in elementary school!

When he got home, Lu Deyang immediately used Bianchi’s connections to hire a private detective. With the full name, finding the person shouldn’t be too difficult.
After a few days off, Lu Deyang returned to team training.
Even at this Serie C2 level, he was among the weaker players.
Sports were unfair that way—no matter how hard you trained, some people could barely try and still surpass you.
Talented players could drink every day and skip training yet still make the national team and become legends in football history.

Still, Lu Deyang never lost heart.
After all, his talent was undeniable; it simply hadn’t been developed yet.

October 1988.
The team was performing well, and by the season’s end, promotion to Serie B still seemed possible.
After dinner, Lu Deyang casually turned on the television, where the host was reporting football news.

At this time, Italian sports programs were still relatively serious, not yet resorting to scantily clad female hosts to attract viewers—something the LPL had long abused in the sports arena.

“Recovering from injury, Van Basten finally proved his worth as Europe’s Footballer of the Year. In the second leg of the first round of the European Champions Cup, he scored four goals to help AC Milan defeat Sofia Levski 5-2. After the match, Paolo Maldini, participating in the Champions League for only the second time, declared Van Basten the world’s best forward... Diego Maradona was spotted frequenting nightclubs, and his wife Claudia Velli, when interviewed, repeatedly expressed her belief in Diego. Perhaps she is the only person in the world who still believes in him...”

This was the golden age of Serie A.
Maradona, the Three Tenors, the Three Musketeers... every top Italian team boasted star players.
It was not easy to attract the attention of Serie A clubs.
Chinese fans could say they had witnessed the best era of Serie A.

Lu Deyang was just eighteen and wasn’t in a hurry.
At worst, he could first play in other countries, then compete in the Champions League, and from there attract the attention of Serie A giants.
Three years in the Champions League, five years in Serie A—this timeline was perfectly acceptable.
Yet, to fulfill his potential, it all depended on his brothers.
Football relied on having many brothers.

Just as Lu Deyang stared at the ceiling, the home landline rang.
He dove for it instantly.
On the other end, amid some static, the detective complained, “Boss, do you know how hard I’ve worked? To find the Ronaldo you wanted to meet, I stayed in Madeira for three months... The person’s been found. Apparently, the woman couldn’t afford to keep the child and tried to terminate the pregnancy by drinking and running. It’s ridiculous...”

“Yes, that’s him!!!”
Lu Deyang said excitedly.

After calming the agitated detective, Lu Deyang immediately called his coach to request leave.
The coach didn’t make things difficult.
After all, Lu Deyang was just the team mascot.

He then rushed to the airport and bought the first ticket to Rome.
From Rome, he flew to Lisbon, then from Lisbon to Casablanca, and finally took a boat to Madeira.
This archipelago was closer to Morocco than to mainland Portugal.
Although Madeira had an airport, its extremely short runway combined with frequent storms made it one of Europe’s most dangerous airports; pilots had to undergo special training before flying there.
Lu Deyang had no intention of risking his life.
Better to take it slow.

Before his rebirth, Haha Jie and Dong Wang were still competing. He wondered if the outcome had been decided.
He even hoped Trump would come to power and leak some videos.
The United States was so vast it could easily split into two countries: USA and USB.