Chapter 404: A Carefree Rabbit

Feng Jiaolian sat huddled in the sofa, watching the screen with a restless mind.

Ji Xiang's sofa was large, soft, and comfortable, yet he felt as if he were sitting on countless steel needles, unable to find any comfort.

Because it was not a professional satellite broadcast and relied entirely on people at the scene using their mobile phones to stream, the signal was somewhat stuttering.

Zhao Dali was already warming up, and every one of his movements made Feng Jiaolian feel as if his leg would snap the next second.

Although Feng Jiaolian also knew his worry was quite absurd, he just had this feeling, or perhaps an illusion.

"Feng Jiaolian, don't worry." Ji Xiang noticed Feng Jiaolian's unease and comforted him.

Feng Jiaolian did not speak, watching the projection with deep concern as Zhao Dali had already begun jumping and jogging.

"When I was an intern, there was a Head Nurse in another department who developed a Malignant Tumor. Theoretically, the situation wasn't too bad; it was early-stage, and there was a chance of recovery after surgery," Ji Xiang began to gossip. "Her family kept it from her, telling her it was a benign thing and that it would be over once she was hospitalized and had it removed."

Feng Jiaolian looked at Zhao Dali on the screen and asked distractedly.

"Everything was going smoothly at first, but one night, the Head Nurse went to the Doctor's Office to check her Medical Record and fainted in the office after discovering she had a Malignant Tumor."

"Uh..."

"The next morning, she was gone." Ji Xiang shrugged, looking at Feng Jiaolian and saying, "Scaring yourself is very easy to actually scare yourself to death."

"Doctor Xiao Ji, I am not scaring myself. Over so many years, I have seen how many athletes have fallen due to Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries; I don't even know the number myself." Feng Jiaolian sighed.

But wanting to refute Ji Xiang's words, Feng Jiaolian found that whatever he said seemed wrong. That Head Nurse who scared herself to death was a classic example.

"Let's watch the game first."

"I originally wanted him to recover for at least three months, but Dali had bad luck, catching the time when the Borussia Dortmund Youth Team was short on people. Damn it." Feng Jiaolian said indignantly.

"There shouldn't be any problems." Ji Xiang offered a word of comfort and then watched Zhao Dali on the screen with great interest.

Zhao Dali had finished warming up; he was doing vertical jumps with his knees straight, looking like he couldn't wait to get on the field.

With a whistle, the match began.

Just as Feng Jiaolian had described at the beginning, Zhao Dali ran faster than a rabbit, sparing no energy, and seemed not to care about the injury to his left knee's Anterior Cruciate Ligament at all, as if he had never been injured.

Several instances of on-the-spot pressing in the front court made Feng Jiaolian's expression quite conflicted.

Zhao Dali's performance was very good and lived up to expectations, but Feng Jiaolian's gaze did not pay too much attention to Zhao Dali's technical movements or the results of the pressing, but instead kept staring at his left knee joint.

But after watching for a few minutes, it seemed there was nothing wrong.

Zhao Dali was as light and agile as a young cheetah, recklessly splashing his energy about.

He ran tirelessly; this was originally the point Feng Jiaolian liked about Zhao Dali, but at this very moment, every step Zhao Dali took felt like it was stepping on Feng Jiaolian's heart, making him feel terribly uncomfortable.

Ji Xiang, however, was very relaxed. After all, the System NPC had mentioned some related cases; let alone just an incomplete tear of the left knee's Anterior Cruciate Ligament with an intact meniscus, even athletes with major injuries to both legs could, with high probability, recover to their peak level after surgery.

The game continued. In the 11th minute, Zhao Dali received the ball and performed a move whose name Ji Xiang did not know.

His knees kept swaying left and right. Ji Xiang didn't know if the feint looked realistic or not; his point of focus was that this type of feint would cause pressure on the knee joint, which was a huge stress for the just-operated left knee's Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

Seeing Zhao Dali perform this move, Feng Jiaolian's face looked as if it had been smeared with soot from the bottom of a pot; he stood up with a "whoosh," his hands tightly clenched into fists.

The next second, the opponent fell for Zhao Dali's feint and lunged to the left, while Zhao Dali easily dribbled past him.

Feng Jiaolian looked at Zhao Dali's running posture, slightly surprised; he knew very well what kind of impact this move would have on the knee.

Yet Zhao Dali did it very naturally, like flowing clouds and water, basically displaying the highest level he usually showed on the training ground.

The next covering player lunged over; Zhao Dali used his speed advantage to pass him and lifted his foot to shoot at the edge of the penalty area.

The football drew an arc and hit the goal in the top right corner.

There were not many spectators in the stands, but at this moment, a sound like a mountain collapse and a tsunami came through.

Zhao Dali stood in front of the penalty area, still maintaining his post-shot posture; he seemed to be confirming repeatedly. The confirmation time was a bit long, and before he could perform a celebration, Zhao Dali was pinned under his teammates, and they began to celebrate wildly.

"Not bad." Ji Xiang was very satisfied with the effect of the surgery.

"..." Feng Jiaolian stared blankly at this scene, his eyes a little wet.

Zhao Dali scored?

Zhao Dali scored!

Although it was only a Borussia Dortmund Youth Team match, this was also a top-tier competition that a young person of Zhao Dali's age could participate in.

As for playing in the Bundesliga now and winning the Golden Boot...

In just an instant, Feng Jiaolian had already imagined Zhao Dali leading the team to three consecutive Champions League titles, imagining him lifting the big-eared trophy.

"Feng Jiaolian, Dali has recovered very quickly, and it looks like there's no problem playing at this level of the league." Ji Xiang smiled.

"Doctor Xiao Ji, looking at his movements, it seems there are no sequelae at all." Feng Jiaolian returned to reality from his fantasy and muttered.

"Yes." Ji Xiang said, "Not only are there no sequelae, but the left knee's Anterior Cruciate Ligament has also been reinforced, so the possibility of it snapping again in the future is not high."

"..." Feng Jiaolian was silent.

"A minor surgery, you are too nervous." Ji Xiang said, "Sit down and watch the game. How many goals do you guess Dali will score in one match?"

Feng Jiaolian was speechless. He didn't answer Ji Xiang's question but stared blankly at Zhao Dali, who was celebrating the goal.

Zhao Dali seemed not to believe his own eyes. After the celebration ended, he even performed another feint at the air, twisting his knees left and right.

At this moment, Feng Jiaolian vaguely felt his own knee hurting terribly.

But Zhao Dali did not. He proved on the field that the movements he could do during training could still be done on the field, and he did them perfectly.

Only then did Zhao Dali grin and wave from afar at the person recording the video, as if greeting Feng Jiaolian and Ji Xiang, telling them that his injury had fully recovered!

The match restarted, and Zhao Dali scored a hat-trick in just the first half.

Ji Xiang could tell that Zhao Dali was having a blast; he really was like a carefree rabbit running on the grassland.

The second half began, and Zhao Dali was substituted off. Only then did Feng Jiaolian let out a long breath.

"It's fine." Ji Xiang patted Feng Jiaolian on the shoulder, "Facts have proven that Dali's recovery is no problem."

"The surgery was very successful."

(End of this chapter)