Dunn wandered aimlessly, lost and disoriented, crossing one street after another, not even knowing where he had ended up, until he felt tired. He sat down on a bench by the roadside. He had just been in a fight, but it hadn’t made him feel any better; instead, he felt even more troubled. Because he realized that it seemed he could only accept this helpless reality—he had become British, and there was no way back.

Damn this sky. He looked up, but all he could see were thick clouds, nothing else. He still didn’t understand why he had become that person. If all of this was fate’s arrangement, did fate have any special reason for choosing him? Or was fate just like a lottery, randomly picking a ping-pong ball from a pile, and whoever got picked was just unlucky.

I don’t want to be this damn coach! I don’t want to be a foreigner! Let me go back, let me go back! Could Dunn shout this out? No, in his twenty-six years of life, Dunn had never bowed his head to anyone or anything. He was like a stone in a latrine—stubborn and foul. That’s why he had achieved nothing: from elementary school, he was listed by teachers as the most difficult student to manage; in college, because he was unpopular, he missed out on all the good things like joining the Party or staying on as faculty; after graduation, he was ostracized at work, and to this day, he didn’t even have a girlfriend... In short, it had been a rather unsuccessful twenty-six years.

Dunn lifted his head again, gazing at the pitch-black night sky. Suddenly, he had a revelation. Since his “previous life” had been so lousy, why not use this opportunity to live a different kind of life? Although he had never been a football coach, he had watched football for over a decade, played every version of Football Manager, and had some understanding of what a coach’s job entailed. Wasn’t this a great chance for a new challenge?

He stopped thinking about why fate had chosen him—such pointless questions. Now, he only needed to consider how to act more like a real professional coach. Even though it would be hard, it was worth a try.

“Hey, buddy. You broke into my home without my permission. I’ll count to ten, and if you don’t leave, I’m calling the police!” Suddenly, an old voice sounded beside him. “Ten, nine, eight…”

Dunn looked blankly at the old man standing across from him, who was clutching a pile of newspapers in his arms and holding a half-eaten hamburger in his hand.

“This... is your home?” He pointed at the bench beneath him.

“Of course.”

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude…” Dunn stood up from the bench. The old man immediately plopped down and then lay back, covering himself with the newspapers and wedging them tightly between the bench back and his body.

Watching the satisfied beggar eating his hamburger, lying in his “newspaper nest,” Dunn even felt grateful to fate for not letting him “possess” this man. Fate hadn’t treated him too badly.

A taxi dropped off a passenger in front of him. He quickly walked over and got in. From the car, Dunn took one last look at the beggar enjoying his “dinner” in the cold wind, then told the driver to take him back to that unfamiliar home.

From today on, a brand new world was slowly unfolding before Dunn.

Chapter Two: Mr. Chairman

Dunn didn’t sleep well the entire night.

Having left his familiar old bed, he tossed and turned on the much larger one, his mind filled with strange dreams. In his dreams, he saw himself, youthful and energetic, standing at the entrance of a city stadium with a travel bag; then he was standing beside a lush green football pitch, with a strange middle-aged man next to him, surrounded by dozens of young players listening intently; that middle-aged man appeared several times in his dreams, and each time, he stood silently beside him, like a statue; later, it was still that green pitch, but the middle-aged man was gone, and this time he was surrounded by the young players, talking to them. Then the scene changed—he saw a familiar sight: the pitch he had been on during the day, with another middle-aged man in a suit standing on the sidelines directing the match, while he remained silent. The dreams shifted, and the man beside him grew more irritable and angry, until one day there was no one beside him. An old man stood in front of him, patting his shoulder, his mouth moving, but Dunn couldn’t hear a word.

And then... he woke up.

When he opened his eyes, the sky outside was still gray, and the sound of drizzle came from the window. He sat up in bed, his eyes gradually adjusting to the dim room. Looking at the completely unfamiliar furnishings, he still couldn’t quite believe he had come to England and become a football coach, even if only an interim one... He rubbed his face with both hands to wake himself up a bit more. Dunn jumped out of bed and pulled open the tightly closed curtains.

It was already morning outside, with few pedestrians on the street. The wet pavement reflected the lights from street lamps and cars—it was raining.

This kind of weather reminded him of his hometown, a small city in Sichuan, which was also a rainy place, wet all year round, whether in summer or winter. Seeing a morning like this, he felt a touch of warmth in his heart.