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Spain exploded.
To be precise, the whole world exploded. Especially the fans in China who had just woken up.
"What's going on!"
"Huh? 3-0?"
"Wait, is Barcelona that weak?"
"Could it be that God Lance is simply too strong?"
"Hat-trick! God Lance descends like a divine soldier, scoring a hat-trick at Camp Nou!"
"Simeone: Signing Lance was the best decision the club ever made; he is the final piece of the puzzle to lead us to the championship."
"The True Messi Nemesis! Lance maintains a perfect winning record against Messi!"
"Atlético Madrid Secures the Lead! They solidify their spot atop the La Liga table, and the title race suspense is about to be settled."
"Spanish Media: Lance Equals League Champion. Half of Madrid erupts in celebration."
"Barcelona 0-3 Atlético Madrid. Fact proves Lance > Messi. The battle for the world's best player is now only missing a Champions League title."
WeChat Official Account pushes, Weibo news pushes, QQ bottom-right window pushes... Overnight, the result of the Barcelona vs. Atlético Madrid "Spanish El Clásico 2.0" became the hottest topic at the end of April 2016.
A player holding an ID card was dominating Europe, consecutively defeating Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi head-on. If that's not awesome, then what is?
Domestic netizens were practically going crazy. Even casual observers who usually don't watch football couldn't help but pay attention to this major battle.
Wait, didn't everyone used to criticize the National Football Team? There truly is a genius among 1.4 billion people?
Some netizens also provided explanations online.
"Why is God Lance awesome? Because he played football in Belgium since childhood, and his youth training was in Germany. If he had been in China, he'd probably be worrying about retaking the Chinese university entrance exam right now."
"That's true. The two years God Lance debuted were the most crucial time before the university entrance exam. Ordinary families wouldn't let their kids play football, and even the children of the wealthy wouldn't play; they'd definitely be sent abroad to study."
"All we can say is that the domestic environment isn't suitable for a genius to grow."
"We're talking about La Liga, don't bring that up."
"God Lance is doing great in Europe, it has nothing to do with the National Football Team."
"Now there's no controversy about him being the world's best, right?"
"No, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo fans still have something to say. How can you be the world's best without a Ballon d'Or or a Champions League title?"
"Lance is worthy? He's not even fit to carry Messi's shoes."
"Where did this troll come from?"
"Blind followers, shut up! We'll crush you in the Champions League Final."
"Get past Atlético Madrid first!"
On April 23rd, Matchday 35 of La Liga concluded. Looking ahead, the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals was on April 28th, less than a week away. Barcelona had just finished playing Atlético Madrid, and now they had to play them twice more in quick succession. This season truly proved that rivals are destined to meet!
"Why is it Atlético Madrid again?"
In the Barcelona Forum, some Barcelona fans were practically in tears. While some of them genuinely liked Lance, Barcelona was the team they had supported for ten years, and seeing them lose still hurt immensely. There were also some fans who intensely disliked Lance and became his irrational haters.
"That dog Lance must be cheating, or maybe he's doping! The Spanish Football Federation should drug test him and report him!"
"Don't bring bad luck to Barcelona. Routine post-match drug tests happen every game. If God Lance had a problem, it would have been found out long ago."
"There's no need to talk about irrelevant things. The La Liga title is probably out of reach; we can only focus entirely on the Champions League. Although God Lance is awesome, if the MSN Trio gets into form, we might still have a fighting chance."
"That's right, the knockout stage is two legs. What if we eliminate Atlético Madrid? The biggest favorites often fall."
"Now Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are the two biggest favorites to win the title. Maybe we actually have a chance."
"If all else fails, there's always the Copa del Rey..."
Someone mentioned this weakly, and the thread quickly fell silent. Everyone was starting to feel a little afraid. What if they really got eliminated by Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, falling in the semi-finals for two consecutive years — how deflating would the Copa del Rey be! And that wasn't the scariest part. The scariest part was... what if they couldn't even beat Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey?
Messi's zero win rate against Lance had already created a mental block for Barcelona fans. Many Real Madrid fans outside were still jeering: Lance is Messi's strictest father.
They didn't want to admit it, but it seemed to be the truth. Lance dominated five trending topics on Weibo in China, and it was the same across Europe.
German fans were the happiest. Although three Bundesliga teams were trying to corner Real Madrid, they would probably be swept 3-0 by Real Madrid. But this didn't stop people from using the Spiritual Victory Method. Lance had debuted at Bayer Leverkusen, making him half a Bundesliga person. Belgium and Germany have close ties, and Lance also had a kinship with Germany. Therefore, Lance was roughly equivalent to a German player, meaning the Bundesliga had someone who could reach the final.
It must be said that while La Liga was gaining tremendous momentum and the Premier League and Bundesliga were weakening, Lance was the only hope German fans had left.
As for Bayern Munich? Seriously, could they beat Real Madrid? Guardiola was flirting with Manchester City and was about to be sacked!
As for Spain itself, three distinct groups were still clearly separated. The Big Three — Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid — each held different attitudes.
Barcelona was naturally the most dejected party. Many of their fans had simply drunk themselves into oblivion on the night of the match and were too dizzy the next day to join the online discussions.
Real Madrid fans were initially gloating. They mocked Messi's inaction and laughed that the entire MSN Trio combined wasn't worth a single Lance. They laughed at Barcelona for holding the top spot all season only for Atlético Madrid to snatch the prize at the end. They laughed that Barcelona was about to be crushed by Atlético Madrid again soon.
But soon, the more Real Madrid fans thought about it, the more they realized something was wrong, and they quickly stopped laughing.
"We shouldn't get too smug. What if Atlético Madrid really makes it to the Champions League Final? What do we do then?"
"Exactly, we only managed one draw against them this season, and we haven't won yet."
"Didn't Cristiano Ronaldo beat Lance once before?"
"That was two years ago, and Bayer Leverkusen's lineup was terrible back then."
"How is Real Madrid supposed to beat Atlético Madrid!"
Suddenly, Real Madrid was equally panic-stricken. The more they reviewed the match, the more terrified they became of Lance! If a demon king like this continued to grow, now that he had even mastered off-the-ball movement, how could they possibly stop him later?
...Lance was unaware of the inner turmoil of Real Madrid and Barcelona fans. In fact, after the game, he paid no attention to the online chatter. When he first debuted, he had liked lurking online and using an alias to compliment himself a bit. Now, seeing it too often was boring; neither the criticism nor the praise had any effect on him. At worst, if there was a public opinion crisis, he trusted that Ms Hanna Müller would contact him immediately.
More than netizens, Lance was focused on the system!
That's right. After the match the previous night, he had briefly looked through it. Taking advantage of the team's day off, Lance spent the morning at the gym, doing cardio on the treadmill. While doing so, his mind wandered, immersing himself in the system.
The system interface remained unchanged. Aside from Personal Status and Template Equipment Slot, there was the [Wishing Pool]. Inside were the Gold Coin Wish and Silver Coin Wish. So far, he had quietly accumulated 14 Gold Coins, enough for a 10-pull character card draw. He had also accumulated nearly 2,400 Silver Coins from the Silver Coin Wish, enough for one 10-pull.
Leaving the Silver Coin items aside for now, Lance went straight for a 10-pull draw!
"Will I be lucky this time?"
With a thought, Lance looked up at the wish effect. Several streaks of light floated across the top of the System Hall. Since Lance had automatically set the System Hall environment to the Wanda Metropolitano stadium, the current sight was quite spectacular. When he had time, he could try this trick in the real Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
"Gold! Gold!!"
Lance stared intently at the light above!