Carrying an old science teacher with him

Chapter 1 Harmonious Coexistence

Northwest of Northwest, September 18, 1998.

The county town is located on the edge of the Loess Plateau. Summers are dry but not scorching, with the highest temperature only reaching 34 or 35 degrees Celsius, but the sunshine is extremely strong.

The midday sun was particularly scorching, but that did not dampen the passion for football of a group of thirteen- or fourteen-year-old "hot-blooded teenagers"!

The French World Cup just ended two months ago. This World Cup was the first World Cup that Chinese people born in the 80s truly watched on color television.

The passion of Samba football, the efficiency of the French national team, the tragic spirit of the Three Lions, and the exuberance of the Dutch windmills.

When information, whether real or fictional, was broadcast on color television and made available to this new generation of young people, it was only natural that football began to become the biggest trend among this generation.

Although the county is located in the northwest, this does not hinder the children in the county from loving and pursuing football.

Perhaps not all families had a color television at that time, but as long as a few families did, and as long as a few children had a soccer ball, this black and white "elf" would inevitably be sought after by boys.

Wang Kai is one of the few children whose family has both a television and a soccer ball.

Born in 1985 in the county town, Wang Kai is considered a well-known "second-generation rich kid" in the county. After all, his family started in the catering industry in the 1980s, from the small restaurant to the largest restaurant in the county town. Wang Kai has lived a life with meat at every meal since he was a child.

In 1992, while other children were still playing with marbles, Wang Kai already had his first soccer ball.

This football, which cost as much as 92 yuan at the time, was a birthday gift that Wang Kai’s extraordinary father brought back for him when he went to Shanghai for sightseeing and “market research.”

It can be said that it was this football that made Wang Kai the "king of kids" in the school and neighborhood in the years to come.

Having never lacked nutrition since childhood, coupled with heredity—Wang Kai's father was a retired basketball player from the county sports school, standing at 1.94 meters tall and serving as the county's main "second center" on the basketball team—Wang Kai grew to 1.6 meters tall by the age of 13. Even when facing "big kids" two or three years older than him, Wang Kai was not intimidated at all.

Since the French World Cup, Wang Kai has been bringing a football to the stadium every summer afternoon.

During summer vacation, it was the county's sports field, and after starting school, it was the school's playground. Even though it was an extremely simple hard earthen field with a lot of sand, gravel and bricks, it did not prevent the "county town teenagers" of this era from showing themselves on the field.

The tough, resilient post-80s generation can boldly shovel on such hard dirt fields, and when they are thirsty after the game, they can put their mouths to the rusty faucet and guzzle raw water.

Among a group of children who are 1.4 or 1.5 meters tall, the tall and strong Wang Kai is naturally the focus. He can dribble past opponents, use his body to push past attacking players in the backcourt, and conquer territory in the frontcourt.

As usual, when Wang Kai once again used his body to push past the defender on the playground, intending to get past the goalkeeper before shooting, the goalkeeper, who was a temporary participant in this afternoon game and was four years older than Wang Kai and used to only play basketball, suddenly fell to the ground and tackled the football and Wang Kai together.

Caught completely off guard, Wang Kai fell to the ground headfirst and lost consciousness after being tackled...

Leaving aside the group of "hot-blooded teenagers" who were thrown into chaos at the scene, and Wang Kai's parents who were panicked after receiving the news, let's talk about Wang Kai, who fell into a deep coma. The thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy inexplicably came to a pure white space after falling into a coma.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

In the pure white space stood a tall black man, who Wang Kai felt was probably even taller than his own father.

"I am Kobe Bryant! Who are you?"

"Kobe Bryant? Wait, why do I understand English? Who are you? Let me tell you, my dad is really tough. You'd better let me out right now, or he'll beat you up."

In the young Wang Kai's mind, his father was the most powerful person he had ever met.

Even his father wasn't as tall as this black man.

"You haven't heard of my name? Alright, child, I forgive you. Now, can you tell me who you are? And where exactly is this place? I know I'm dead, but I want to know if this is heaven or hell, and even if this is hell, I will find my Gigi."

"My name is Wang Kai. I don't know where this is. I was playing soccer when someone tackled me, and that's how I ended up here. Who is Gigi?"

"GiGi is my daughter. We were in a helicopter crash together, and we're probably both dead. I think you're probably dead too. Uh, you're Chinese, right? I think I can understand what you're saying. Oh, by the way, you haven't heard of me? That shouldn't be the case. I have so many fans in China. Even if you don't play basketball, you should know about my retirement, right? I heard that my last game before retirement, on April 14, 2016, was watched by hundreds of millions of Chinese people. Didn't you hear about that at all?"

"What? I'm dead? No, that can't be right! I haven't even spent all my New Year's money yet, and I haven't even joined the Chinese national football team yet! Ugh, I want to go back, I don't want to die! Wait, you just said you retired in 2016? That's not right, I was just in 1998, are you kidding me? I'm definitely not dead."

Young Wang Kai didn't really have much of a concept of life and death; he was more thinking about the nearly 1,000 yuan of New Year's money he had left with his mother and his unfulfilled football dream.

"What? You mean you're living in 1998? Shit, God, thank you. Listen, kid, I think you're not dead. I really hope you're not dead. Yes, you'll definitely wake up. You're probably just unconscious. Now, listen, when you wake up, after you leave here, go to America, go to Los Angeles and find me. Tell me now, don't take a helicopter. You absolutely must tell me now, don't take a helicopter."

Wang Kai's words stirred the tall black man's emotions; only those who have died truly cherish life.

"Are you kidding me? The furthest I've ever been is the provincial capital. I've never been to America, and I have no idea how to get there!"

"You must go to America. If you go there and find me now, I will give you a lot of money. You can have more money than you can spend. Just go to Los Angeles and find me now."

The tall Black man seemed very anxious and persistent.

"Alright, I don't even know how to leave here, let alone go to America. Besides, my family is rich!"

Wang Kai's words silenced the tall black man. Having experienced life and death, he had come to terms with many things, but he couldn't let go of his daughter.

"Okay, I won't force you to go to America immediately after you get out. I hope you'll have the chance to go to America once you're out. As long as you go before 2020, you'll have a chance to save me and my daughter, okay? It's only 1998 now, you still have 22 years. If you save my Gigi, I'll give you all my assets, which are hundreds of millions of dollars. Think about it!"

"Okay, I promise you, once I grow up and become a player for the Chinese national football team, I will definitely come to America to find you, but you have to promise to give me all the money."

Although Wang Kai thinks his family is quite wealthy, he can still distinguish between hundreds of thousands and hundreds of millions.

Kobe Bryant gradually calmed down after hearing Wang Kai agree to his request. He began to analyze his situation. Based on his previous conversation with the Chinese boy in front of him, it was not hard to tell that he was in a soul state, but this place was definitely neither hell nor heaven.

Therefore, Kobe Bryant felt that his current state was very likely like that described in some Hollywood movies, that he had traveled through time, and that his soul had traveled through time. Thus, Kobe Bryant felt that he was largely bound to the soul of the Chinese boy in front of him, and that the space he was in now should be the soul space of this Chinese boy.

"So your dream is to become a professional football player, right?"

After calming down, Kobe Bryant felt it was necessary to speed up the process of achieving his goals to some extent.

"Yes, I want to be China's Vieri. I'm only 13 years old, but I'm already the best striker in our school. I'm better than all of them."

"Hey kid, your dream is probably unlikely to come true. Even though I'm a professional basketball player, I know that Chinese football has no future!"

"You're lying. You're just a basketball player, you don't know anything about football. My dad is the same, he doesn't know anything about football either."

Although Wang Kai's father bought him a soccer ball when he was seven years old, at that time he just wanted to let young Wang Kai get more exercise. Wang Kai's father always wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, so he often said that playing soccer had no future.

"Kid, you need to know that I came back from the future. Of course I know that the future of Chinese football is dark, and extremely dark. If I remember correctly, the Chinese men's football team has only qualified for the World Cup once, until 2020."

"Huh? 22 years, and you've only qualified for the World Cup once? Well, do you know if I'll be able to lead the Chinese national team to the World Cup in the future?"

Clearly, young Wang Kai is still full of enthusiasm and hope for his future.

"I'm sorry, I really haven't heard of you in the future. You know, your country is the most populous country in the world, and in the future, your country will be very powerful. If you lead the Chinese national team into the World Cup in the future, I will definitely have heard of you."

One of the main reasons adults are adults is that they are good at using what they already know to create unknown stories. Kobe Bryant certainly paid attention to China, but it is clear that he did not follow the development of Chinese football closely. He had only seen a little bit of related information in the news, but that did not stop him from using what he knew to "fool" the child in front of him.

Hearing Kobe say he'd never heard of him, Wang Kai was a little disappointed. He hung his head, puzzled as to why he, who was so talented, hadn't become a member of the national team yet.

"I don't want your money anymore. You're so famous, you must know some great soccer players. If I go to America and fulfill your request, could you introduce me to some great soccer players so they can train me and make me even better? Is that alright?"

The speed of development of the times sometimes exceeds the general imagination of mankind. Kobe listened to the request of the thirteen-year-old child in front of him in the late 90s and felt a little emotional. He felt that the request of the Chinese child in front of him was so simple and persistent in his time.

"I'm sorry, although I'm very good in this era, I'm not that famous. It will probably be about ten years before I get to know many great football players. Look, you're thirteen years old now, and in ten years you'll be twenty-three. That's past the growth period for a football player."

Having survived a brush with death, Kobe Bryant felt somewhat embarrassed when he looked back on his own era with that afro hairstyle.

"Then what should I do? I want to play soccer, I want to be the best."

"Hey kid, even though I can understand Chinese now, could you please stop using that language? It's discriminatory against me."

"Saying that is discrimination? You guys are so petty."

"OK! Let's not discuss this anymore. Well, you can't leave now, so can you tell me why you like football, or rather, why you don't like basketball?"

"I like football because I'm the best at it, and I don't like basketball because it's not fun, and also because my dad always makes me practice the basics, which I don't like."

"So you've played basketball, and your father must have been involved in basketball, right?"

"Hey, how did you know my dad played basketball? He was the best center in our county's sports school. He broke his leg and retired, and then our family opened a restaurant. Our restaurant is the biggest in our county. If you can come out, I'll treat you to a meal. My mom's braised beef is so delicious. People from the city drive all the way to our house to buy braised beef."

"Well, it seems I can't leave right now, but I hope you can invite me to your house for braised beef someday, as a treat for you. Okay, if I told you I have a really fun basketball game that doesn't require practicing basic skills, would you like to try it?"

It can be said that Kobe, who has played basketball all his life, knows the importance of basketball fundamentals. He laid a solid foundation in basketball under his father's guidance from a young age. So even though he lived in Italy, where football has a huge influence, he still chose the path of basketball. However, he also knew that it would not be easy to get this Chinese boy who was fond of football to switch to basketball. Therefore, he felt it was necessary to guide this difficult Chinese boy from other directions.

"Really? Don't try to fool me just because I'm young. I've watched basketball games. I watched my dad play when I was a kid. A bunch of strong guys would swing their elbows at each other, and they'd start arguing and sometimes even fight. It wasn't pretty at all, it was so barbaric."

"Kid, don't compare basketball to the lowest level of games your father played. They didn't understand anything, and neither do you. Do you know Jordan? He..."

Kobe wanted to use the greatest basketball star of this era to guide Wang Kai, but he was interrupted by Wang Kai as soon as he finished mentioning Jordan's name.

"I know Jordan, you know, that bald jerk. My dad's favorite. You mean you're better than him?"