Inspired by this magic trick, Brian Carter suddenly felt as if he had found a golden road to wealth. He imagined himself becoming a master magician, with every TV station scrambling to invite him to perform. The money would surely come pouring in like snowflakes—no, nowadays it would just be wired directly into his bank account, and the numbers in his account would increase exponentially. The thought made him feel absolutely delighted.

However, Brian Carter quickly realized that this might not be such a good idea. After reading so many urban supernatural novels, he also felt that if a person truly became extraordinary and flaunted it too much, exposing their special abilities, it would only bring huge trouble later on. Living a low-key life in the city, earning enough money for himself, flirting with girls when he had nothing to do, and doing whatever he wanted—that was the real joy in life.

A year ago, Brian Carter still had big dreams and ambitions. Back then, he studied diligently every day, hoping to get into a good enough university, then major in something decent, and after graduation, land a well-paying job, or maybe even become a scientist specializing in that field.

But because of his parents’ divorce, Brian Carter gave up on himself out of a sense of revenge against his father. From then on, the books he read were no longer textbooks, but all sorts of miscellaneous ones, especially online novels.

Although none of these books could be called classics, many of their plots reflected certain aspects of real society. Plus, since he often skipped class and went out, he came into contact with some things in society and saw a bit of the world’s realities. So, while his thinking wasn’t as mature as an adult’s, compared to his classmates who were still buried in textbooks, he was a bit more realistic.

But after all, he was still a teenager. With such a treasure, if he couldn’t use it to his heart’s content, that would really be a waste. Besides, how could the prospect of a glamorous life not tempt Brian Carter?

These two thoughts kept swirling around in Brian Carter’s mind—sometimes wanting to show off, sometimes wanting to keep a low profile—leaving him a bit frazzled. But then he suddenly realized: right now, he was just a high school student. Even with a treasure like a storage ring, he hadn’t actually succeeded at anything yet. All of this was still just a fantasy. Worrying about these problems was really a waste of brainpower.

He daydreamed through an entire class. When the bell rang, a few classmates came over to ask Brian Carter about the magic trick. Brian Carter repeated the same lines he’d used on Ethan Parker. Even though everyone knew what Brian Carter said made sense, the magic had happened right before their eyes, and they just couldn’t figure out the secret. It really left them itching with curiosity.

Chapter 10: The Goalkeeper

The fourth period was PE. Although everyone was young, eighty percent of the students didn’t want to go to PE class. They’d rather spend that time working through the mountain of practice problems. But since the country was now promoting quality education and the education bureau often checked up on things, PE class still had to be held.

But after just a short assembly on the field, the PE teacher announced free activity time. Most of the girls went back to the classroom, and many of the boys wanted to leave too. But a few suggested playing soccer, and quite a few boys responded.

Brian Carter really wasn’t athletic at all—he was bad at soccer and basketball, and even when he played badminton at home with Emma Clark, he always ended up getting thrashed. So he planned to sneak off to surf the internet. But just as he was about to leave, someone called out from behind, “Dongzi, we’re short one person, come join us!”

Brian Carter turned around and smiled, “I don’t know how to play.”

The one calling him was the class sports rep, Henry Scott, a guy with bulging muscles. Even though it was already late September, he was wearing a tank top and shorts to play soccer, and shouted, “It’s fine, we just need to make up the numbers. No one’s expecting anything from you.”

Ethan Parker ran over and grabbed Brian Carter, laughing, “Come on, our magic master, get some exercise.” Then he half-pulled, half-dragged Brian Carter onto the soccer field.

With Brian Carter, there were exactly twenty-two people on the field, so they split into teams.

On Brian Carter’s team was Mark Thompson, a fast-talking guy who always had the most gossip in class. When he saw the team lineups, he immediately slapped his forehead and put on a look of despair, shouting, “Oh man! Seriously? How is this fair? Your team is full of all the good players!”

On the other side, James Miller immediately said, “But your team has Henry Scott.”

Henry Scott waved his hand and said, “Let’s just play, we’re just here to have some fun, no need to worry about winning or losing. Michael Bennett and I will play forward, Ethan Parker and you three play midfield, and the rest of you can decide who’ll be goalkeeper.”

With soccer games like theirs, there was basically no teamwork—everyone just chased the ball for fun. The goalkeeper was the most boring position, mostly just picking up the ball. When it came to actual shots on goal, unless the shot was right at them, they usually couldn’t stop it anyway.

“I’ll be goalkeeper, you guys go play.” Brian Carter was happy to take it easy and volunteered to be the goalkeeper.