"Only seventeen years old, how is that not a kid?" John Carter glared at his son, then looked at his son's somewhat thin body and sighed. "Originally, I told your mom that if you failed this time, it would at least put an end to your dream of playing soccer. But now, look at you—you won the finals and directly got the qualification to go to Europe. We father and son came out together, but now I'm the only one going home. I don't even know how to explain this to your mom."

"Hey, what's so hard about that?" David Carter didn't care at all and offered his dad a suggestion, "Just say we were supposed to come back together, but the train was too crowded—it's summer vacation, after all, so that's normal. Then we got separated in the crowd, you couldn't find me, so you had to go home first... Ouch!"

Before David Carter could finish, his dad smacked him on the head. "What nonsense! What goes on in that head of yours all day?"

"I'm just giving you ideas..." David Carter said, holding his head and looking aggrieved.

"Well, thank you so much for that," John Carter snorted. "Forget it, don't worry about anything else. Just train well here. Now that you've made it in, do your best and don't embarrass your dad."

"I know." David Carter started looking around, observing his surroundings. He realized this place was really remote—everywhere he looked, there was only a small convenience store and nothing else. No internet cafes, no restaurants. The straight road had been empty for so long that, besides them, he hadn't seen a single person, and even cars passing by were rare.

Looks like sneaking out to have fun is impossible—there's nowhere to go!

"I'm leaving now. Hurry up and go check in, don't leave a bad impression on the coach on your first day."

With that, John Carter picked up his bag and was about to leave.

"Hey, let me walk you to the station, Dad." David Carter quickly tried to grab his dad's bag.

"No need, no need, it's just across the street. You go on in." John Carter picked up his bag, waved his hand, and walked straight across the road without looking back.

David Carter didn't listen to his dad and go in right away. Instead, he stood at the gate, watching his father's back.

He saw his dad carrying the heavy bag, his body leaning a bit to one side, taking uneven steps. Now, standing by the roadside, he looked both ways to make sure there were no cars coming, then slowly walked toward the bus stop across the street.

Suddenly, a sentence welled up from deep inside David Carter's heart, and he couldn't help but call out, "Dad!"

John Carter stopped, turned to look at his son, seeing him standing all alone at the gate, with a big suitcase and a large backpack by his side, making him look even thinner and more fragile.

Thinking about not seeing his son for three weeks, John Carter also felt a pang of reluctance.

He figured his son called out for the same reason, out of emotion.

But as a father, how could he let himself do something as embarrassing as crying in front of his son?

So John Carter forced himself to stay calm and asked, "What is it?"

David Carter raised his hand and pointed into the distance. "Use the crosswalk, Dad!"

...

Watching his father cross the street at the crosswalk, David Carter finally shouldered his bag, dragged his suitcase, filled with anticipation for the training camp life, curiosity about his new teammates, and excitement for the trip to Europe... and walked through the gates of the training base.

Fifteen minutes later, after crossing most of the training base, sweating all over, he arrived in front of a white, three-story building.

The white exterior walls reflected the blinding light of the summer morning, making him squint hard just to look at the building, but it was still dazzling. So he made a makeshift visor with his hand over his brow, just like the Monkey King.

After this somewhat silly and childish gesture, David Carter grabbed all his luggage and dashed into the office building—he really did dash, because he was running. He couldn't wait to join the team and challenge the youth academies of those European football giants.

That was the only reason he took part in this tryout, his ultimate goal.

The check-in process went smoothly. After handing in his registration form and a few ID photos, it was all done. He didn't even have to pay—every expense for the young players' training camp life here was covered by the sponsors.

After checking in, David Carter took his dorm room key card and, dragging his luggage, headed toward the dorm area, away from the office building.

But after walking for a while, he started to hesitate.

The people at the check-in desk had only given him a general direction, not a clear route. Now, in front of him, there were three roads heading that way, and he didn't know which one to take...

Just then, David Carter saw someone walking toward him. Looking closer, the person seemed quite a bit older. David Carter guessed he must be a staff member, so it was a good chance to ask for directions. He quickly walked up and very politely called out, "Uncle."

But the man walking toward him acted as if he hadn't heard, trying to walk right past him.

David Carter wondered if his voice was too soft, so he raised his voice and called out, "Uncle! Sir!"

The other person still kept his head down and didn't respond, but sped up his pace.