The blazing sun scorched the entire field.

The moisture evaporating from the grass made the whole field appear distorted.

As they continuously looked for opportunities in the front field, pressed, and made long passes, An’ning Experimental lost the ball more and more frequently. But with their timely defense, Hongji Eighth School still hadn’t achieved a breakthrough.

Mistakes are relative.

From the initial attempts at long passes to find the forwards until now, as time progressed, the Hongji Eighth School students’ stamina was also steadily declining.

Especially the two forwards who kept making seemingly meaningless sprints—their energy expenditure was enormous.

69th minute.

Chen Jianghe received a cross from Fu Xinshu.

Chen Jianghe’s positioning was tricky; he faced an empty goal except for the goalkeeper.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Stop the ball, adjust position, raise foot to shoot.

But due to insufficient stamina or some other reason, the ball soared over the goal like an anti-aircraft gun, crashing against the wire fence at the edge of the field with a “clang.”

Lin Wanxing’s clenched hand, just like Chen Jianghe’s, swung disappointedly in the air.

This was already their closest attempt at An’ning Experimental’s goal.

She couldn’t help looking at the young man beside her.

He showed no intense emotion, nor did he clap or encourage the players like An’ning Experimental’s coach.

He just stood at the edge of the green field with his hands in his pockets, motionless.

Chen Jianghe glanced in their direction, his gaze lingering on the young man’s face for several seconds, then wiped the sweat from his face and returned to his defensive position.

Like a tireless machine.

The ball flew out of the end line. Goal kick.

An’ning Experimental’s goalkeeper kicked the ball out with a strong boot.

75th minute.

The score remained firmly locked at 0:2.

Lin Wanxing had been standing under the sun shelter for nearly 30 minutes.

Just standing like this, she was already drenched in sweat, with droplets running down her bangs and sideburns, sometimes flowing to the corners of her eyes, blurring her vision.

She would unconsciously glance at the young man beside her from time to time.

Especially as the match progressed into the latter half, after the students’ repeated attempts and failures, she wanted to say something, but the passing of time made her feel desperate. She thought then that perhaps this was just the nature of competitive sports—sometimes even if you give it your all, you might not achieve final victory.

“Patience.”

“Okay.”

The conversation was brief.

But the anxiety in Lin Wanxing’s heart caused by the passing of time somehow subsided considerably.

She looked back at the field. Suddenly, a whistle sounded.

A few seconds earlier, An’ning Experimental had miscontrolled the ball, sending it out of bounds, giving Hongji Eighth School a throw-in.

Yu Ming stood at the sideline holding the ball.

An’ning Experimental’s midfielders were constantly waving, directing their defensive formation.

Under the continuous pressure of long passes, An’ning Experimental had also made changes, deliberately assigning players to mark the two forwards.

Yu Ming raised the ball above his head with both hands, his gaze quickly scanning the field, looking for a suitable position.

On the field, Qi Liang suddenly began jogging. Yu Ming, quick-eyed and quick-handed, threw the ball forcefully.

Qi Liang received the ball with his back in the attacking direction. However, in an unfortunate coincidence, behind him was An’ning Experimental’s number 10 player, who had repeatedly broken through his defense earlier.

Only this time, the roles of attacker and defender were reversed.

Qi Liang’s face showed no expression. After receiving the ball, he set aside his usual mockery and laziness, becoming calm and sharp.

Seeing Qi Liang with the ball, another An’ning Experimental defensive player also moved into the double-team. Not far away, Fu Xinshu’s positioning had also attracted the attention of two An’ning Experimental defenders.

An’ning Experimental’s number 10 player was physically larger than Qi Liang, and Qi Liang was under immense defensive pressure.

The other An’ning Experimental defender got into position, extending his long leg to try to poke the ball away from Qi Liang’s feet.

But just as he extended his leg, Qi Liang nimbly chipped the ball to the other side. Then, Qi Liang immediately turned, circling An’ning Experimental’s number 10. Without any hesitation, he kicked again, chipping the ball forward.

The ball flew over the heads of An’ning Experimental’s defenders, landing in a gap created by Fu Xinshu’s earlier positioning.

Yu Ming appeared at the landing spot of the ball.

Without any delay or hesitation, Yu Ming rotated his ankle, positioned his instep forward, leaned his body slightly backward, and with a loud “bang,” the ball flew toward the front field.

Qin Ao had already started sprinting.

In Lin Wanxing’s vision, all other colors faded away.

There was only the vast green, and Qin Ao’s gray figure racing after the ball.

The ball cut across the sky, transforming from a dot into a three-dimensional sphere.

Qin Ao reached the landing point, his figure becoming clear and tall. His cleats scraped across the grass, splashing tiny bits of soil.

That position gradually overlapped with the flat diagram sketched in pencil on the notebook.

Qin Ao moved his body slightly forward, using the side of his body to stop the ball toward his other side, turning to control the ball, adjusting his position, raising his foot to shoot.

“Bang.”

Another heavy sound struck Lin Wanxing’s heart.

Time seemed to stretch infinitely slow.

Tick…

The black and white ball, against the green background, traced an arc.

All the players on the field were staring intently at the ball.

Tock…

The ball descended, and the goalkeeper turned to chase back.

Long winds swept across the field, brushing over the grass.

On the field, Qin Ao leaped high, the ball landed in the net, and the referee held his whistle.

Students scattered across the field all cheered, rushing madly toward Qin Ao.

The whistle sounded, and the referee signaled the goal was valid.

Finally, the cheers erupted.

Lin Wanxing stood at the sideline, bathed in the September afternoon sun.

The warm wind blew across her face; everything felt so real, yet dreamlike.

A rumbling in her ears, her hand gently rested on her chest.

So this was what scoring a goal felt like?

It seemed joyful—to be precise, extremely, extremely joyful!