After drawing tens of thousands of onlookers and lasting for half a minute, the unexpected aurora phenomenon disappeared.

The sky instantly returned to calm, as if nothing had happened at all. The aurora had appeared suddenly and vanished just as quickly. Many people were still looking up at the sky, not yet recovered from their astonishment.

However, it was certain that this spectacle would appear in all the major Moscow media the next day—in fact, not long after, reports about the event had already appeared online. Netizens uploaded their own photos of the aurora, sharing with others the breathtaking scene that had just unfolded in the Moscow night sky.

But no one knew that the aurora had not disappeared, but had slipped into a guest room of a small hotel. After scanning a boy who had fallen asleep listening to music from head to toe, it turned into a wisp of starlight and vanished.

※※※

Ruslan Panchenko opened a newspaper in his car. Early in the morning, he had once again come to the training base of CSKA Moscow. As a scout, it seemed to be his duty to look for talented players for his club. Of course, these days, any genius has long since been noticed. With the rapid development of information in society, there are hardly any prodigies who go undiscovered. The battle among Europe’s top clubs for promising youngsters has already reached players under the age of ten... Those seven- or eight-year-old players, as long as their parents upload a video of their child playing football to a video website, might catch the eye of European scouts.

Speaking of information development... Panchenko clicked his tongue in admiration as he looked at the newspaper. Last night, an aurora phenomenon that is usually never seen suddenly appeared in the Moscow sky. The situation at the time could truly be described as a citywide sensation—even people who were asleep were woken up to enjoy this spectacle.

At that time, Panchenko hadn’t gone to bed yet, and he too saw the spectacle. He was indeed surprised, because at Russia’s latitude, auroras are not visible. And this aurora was very strange. He had seen auroras many times in St. Petersburg, but had never seen one so beautiful—seven colors seemed to flow and constantly shift. Even someone as familiar with auroras as he was stunned by the sight.

What happened at midnight yesterday, or more precisely, early this morning, was now being reported in detail in the newspaper.

There were pictures and text, with interviews from many people—ordinary witnesses as well as experts and scholars—trying to analyze the event from a scientific perspective.

Not only the newspaper, but also the morning news programs were broadcasting videos of the aurora. In addition, radio and the internet were full of discussions about the aurora. Everyone was very excited, because in Moscow, you simply can’t see auroras, let alone ones so beautiful.

However, Panchenko did not focus all his attention on this matter. The aurora was certainly beautiful, and its appearance over Moscow was indeed rare, but it didn’t have much to do with him.

He thought of the number he had given to that Eastern boy yesterday and looked down at his phone.

There had been no movement all night.

Maybe they thought he was a scammer?

Panchenko laughed. In his twenty-five years as a professional scout, it was the first time someone had mistaken him for a scammer.

That father and son said they had encountered someone in Italy who claimed to be a scout but was actually a fraud. So what else had they experienced? He suddenly became very interested in why this father and son had appeared at the CSKA Moscow training ground, and why they had pleaded so desperately for a trial opportunity...

Before coming to Russia, had they also been to Italy? Had they been to other countries as well? Did they go from club to club, trying to promote the son?

That really was... Panchenko didn’t know what to say.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang!

“Hello, um... is this Mr. Ruslan Panchenko?” A somewhat unpolished English voice came through the phone.

“Yes, this is he.”

“I am... uh, I’m the one you gave your number to yesterday. You wanted us to try out for Zenit St. Petersburg. I said I’d discuss it with my dad...”

“Yes, yes, I remember.” Receiving a call from the boy made Panchenko very happy—at least the father and son had chosen to trust him. Actually, he had indeed been a bit abrupt yesterday, but he was afraid of missing the opportunity and then not being able to find them again in the vast crowd, so he had been so direct... It was understandable that they might be suspicious.

“So... when can we go to St. Petersburg?”

“When do you plan to go? Don’t you want to do some sightseeing in Moscow...”

“We can go right now!” Ethan Brooks interrupted Panchenko.

“That’s great! What’s your address? I’ll come pick you up!” After confirming the address, Panchenko started up his old “Lada” car and left the parking lot outside the CSKA Moscow training base.

Eighteen years old and still undiscovered—does someone who needs to promote himself really count as a genius?

Panchenko didn’t know. He only knew that from the big guy’s performance yesterday, he had seen something that excited him.