A bizarre explosion
made Messi and Ronaldo vanish from world football.
Three months later,
two nineteen-year-old boys from rural Heilongjiang, who had been electrofishing when they were shocked unconscious,
Woke up without warning.
They were Ding Shuangzhou, a deadpan, sarcastic type,
and Li Shiguang, overflowing with confidence.
The consciousness of the two legendary footballers had taken up residence in their minds.
From then on, two young amateur players began their impossible journey to change their fates.
When everyone at a China League One club mocked them as “country bumpkins,”
Ding Shuangzhou used Messi's touch to leave the entire team in disarray,
while Li Shiguang unleashed a world-class goal with Ronaldo's swagger, face-slapping everyone who had doubted them.
From being stuck in the reserve squad, shining shoes,
to bursting onto the scene in China League One;
from being dismissed by Chinese Super League powerhouses,
to leading an underdog team in a “Kaiserslautern Miracle”;
from scoring last-minute winners against Japanese and Korean giants in the AFC Champions League,
to conquering the Premier League in Europe,
they redefined Chinese football with one face-slapping performance after another.
And all of this was only the beginning.
When the World Cup anthem rang out,
facing France, led by Mbappe, and Argentina, led by Enzo,
the two boys from rural China looked at each other and smiled.
“Bro, are you ready?”
“This time, we're going to make our national anthem ring out from the top of the world!”
