American Football: King of the Bay Area

Chapter 382: Chapter 379: A Ray of Hope

“We are! Warriors! We are! Warriors!”

The perfectly synchronized chant, vast and thunderous, erupted across the entire area. It instantly transformed the bustling city center into Candlestick Park, as if they had returned to the electric atmosphere of a home game. Every fan screamed at the top of their lungs, waving their arms high in the air to show their support and approval.

The sea of people in sight was like boiling water, bubbling and churning, stretching out endlessly as if it could reach the ends of the earth. The immense power of their cheers made the whole world seem to tremble, truly letting everyone feel Lu Ke’s immense popularity.

It wasn’t just Under Armour; even Lu Ke himself was completely stunned. He had originally thought it would be just a routine signing event and hadn’t held any expectations at all.

In Lu Ke’s mind, having even twenty fans show up would have been quite remarkable. Before setting out, he had even joked with Lech, “If there are only two or three cats out there, Under Armour will have to send its own staff to pretend to be loyal fans and ask for my autograph, just so the scene isn’t too embarrassing.”

But now, looking at the frenzied adoration before him, Lu Ke was utterly dumbfounded.

The passionate chants gradually merged together, growing louder and more intense. Amidst it all, someone was the first to change the chant, and it slowly spread. “Bambi! Bambi! Bambi!” The unified shouts were overwhelming, like an earthquake or a landslide, sweeping over them like a tornado.

At this moment, it wasn’t a moment for the San Francisco 49ers, nor was it a moment for football. It was a moment for Lu Ke. Especially after just winning a hard-fought battle, Lu Ke had finally earned a moment that was all his own.

The long line snaked like a winding dragon, its end completely out of sight. It seemed that at the tail end of the line, fans were still continuously arriving to join the queue, creating the illusion that half the city’s population had gathered here.

Jonathan had arrived at the scene early this morning, getting into the line early, but he still had to wait for nearly forty minutes before he finally reached Lu Ke. However, all the waiting was worth it. Jonathan eagerly stepped forward and greeted him, “Good morning, Bambi.”

“Hey! Jonathan, it’s great to see you again.”

Sitting in the stadium stands, a player in a helmet seems like a moving stick figure. All facial expressions and the light in their eyes are hidden beneath the helmet, everything like a component in a precision instrument, arranged and combined to march toward victory. But standing face-to-face, with the helmet off, the face before him began to feel real and distinct.

Jonathan Baldwin couldn’t help but study that youthful, sunny face. In their eyes, people from Asia always had baby faces; he would have believed it if someone told him Lu Ke was still a college or high school student.

Lu Ke’s nickname, “Little Deer Bambi,” came to mind. ‘How fitting,’ he thought. On the field, however, Lu Ke’s style of play was completely different. That ruthlessness and audacity deep in his bones would definitely make any opponent who underestimated Bambi suffer. This cute contrast, in Jonathan’s eyes, was simply perfect.

“Hey! Jonathan, it’s great to see you again.”

Lu Ke greeted him with a smile. Surprise flickered in Jonathan’s eyes. “You remember me?”

They had only met once before, briefly, at the airport. That night, the entire San Francisco International Airport was packed with a surging crowd of fans. Jonathan never expected that Lu Ke would actually remember that fleeting encounter.

“I was praying I hadn’t mistaken you for someone else. Looks like my prayers worked,” Lu Ke said cheerfully, making Jonathan laugh. Lu Ke then lowered his head and began to sign the jersey.

Overexcited and a bit distracted, Jonathan was a beat too slow. “Wait,” he called out urgently, stopping Lu Ke just as he was about to put pen to fabric. It startled Lu Ke, and Jonathan quickly explained, “This jersey isn’t for me. It’s for someone else. Could you sign it ‘To Ryan Baldwin,’ and then…”

The line for autographs was still incredibly long, the store’s air conditioning was whirring, and the noise was incessant. But Lu Ke stopped what he was doing, not rushing, and looked up at him intently. In Jonathan’s hesitant words, Lu Ke could sense a trace of struggle and bitterness. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he knew there was a story behind this jersey.

So, Lu Ke didn’t press with questions, but waited patiently.

Jonathan hesitated for a moment. “And then just write, ‘Please don’t give up hope. Even if you feel insignificant, don’t give up.’” Lu Ke still didn’t start writing. He waited until Jonathan nodded again in confirmation. “That’s the gist of it. As long as you get the meaning across, you can write it in your own words.”

Lu Ke thought seriously for a moment, then quickly wrote a line on the jersey, signed his name, and handed it to Jonathan with a broad smile. “I’ll be looking for you at the home game next week.”

“Of course, of course. We’re still hoping for a win. You know, we never get tired of it.” Jonathan laughed along with him, took the jersey, and started to move, yielding his spot to the rabid fan behind him. Following the staff’s directions, he left the Under Armour flagship store through the back door.

After leaving the surging crowd, Jonathan realized he was completely soaked, drenched in sweat as if he’d just stepped out of a sauna. As he breathed in the fresh air, his overheated brain finally felt the crisp, cool relief of oxygen.

Standing amidst the bustling crowd, Jonathan unfolded the jersey in his hands and carefully read Lu Ke’s inscription:

To Ryan Baldwin,

If they say, “Who cares if one more light goes out in a sky of a billion stars?”… I care.

Lu Ke.

Jonathan read the words over again, carefully, and couldn’t stop himself from reciting them aloud. Suddenly, his nose stung, and he quickly folded the jersey, getting his emotions under control. He took several deep breaths, and the deep feeling of being moved slowly settled in his heart.

He turned, looked up, and saw the giant poster hanging on the building’s outer wall. It was Lu Ke, wearing an Under Armour tank top, the football just having left the fingertips of his right hand, flying toward his left. His youthful face wore a confident and composed smile, and his intelligent eyes seemed to break free from the poster’s constraints, becoming vividly lifelike.

‘This is our quarterback.’

Jonathan walked with a spring in his step toward the nearby parking lot. Thirty minutes later, he arrived at San Francisco General Hospital. After parking his car, he walked quickly to the hospital’s rehabilitation center, but he couldn’t find the familiar figure in the rehab room. After looking around twice, he found his target in the usual spot, just as he’d expected.

A figure was curled up in a wheelchair. His thin, frail shoulders seemed to hold no trace of life; the encroaching fragility of age was devouring his flesh and blood bit by bit. His hands and feet were placed awkwardly on the wheelchair, bent into a strange posture, yet they held no sense of vitality.

He just sat there quietly in his wheelchair, gazing at the sunlight on the horizon, motionless, as if time itself had frozen eternally in that single ray of light.

It was a small balcony in a corner of the rehabilitation center’s floor. From there, you could see the mountains and the coastline in the distance, bathe in the sunlight, feel the gentle breeze, and also sneak a cigarette to enjoy a moment of peace.

Ryan always liked to hide here, escaping rehab, escaping the nurses, escaping life. He would sit here quietly, watching the sunrise and sunset, pretending that nothing had ever happened. That he hadn’t been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, that he wasn’t facing the cruel reality of being a “frozen person,” that he hadn’t been handed a death sentence by the doctors, waiting for death’s arrival like the living dead, his life forever frozen in those beautiful memories.

Jonathan let out a soft breath. Two years. It had been two years since Ryan’s diagnosis, but it felt like two centuries had passed—for Ryan, and for him as well.

What was worse, the San Francisco 49ers’ performance had never improved. They were floundering in a bottomless abyss, dark and sunless, with no hope in sight. He was a loyal fan, but Ryan was an even more fervent one—

The San Francisco 49ers were Ryan’s entire life, everything he had poured his heart and soul into. The team’s terrible performance seemed to have snuffed out his last shred of hope, to the point that Ryan was no longer willing to even try at rehab. Listless, as if he had given up the will to live, he had fallen into a vortex of self-abandonment.

After the season began, the San Francisco 49ers’ record finally started to improve, but Jonathan began to feel anxious and insecure. He hoped the team’s excellent performance could reawaken Ryan’s will to live. On the other hand, he worried that the team’s resurgence was just a shooting star streaking across the sky, and that if their performance fell into a slump again, it would be a double blow that would truly sever Ryan’s lifeline.

So, he started to distance himself. He started to mock. He started to get angry. He started to act like an outsider.

He knew it was unfair to Lu Ke, but it was also unfair to Ryan.

It was only now that Jonathan could finally be sure—sure of the team’s hope, and sure of Ryan’s hope.

Gingerly, Jonathan approached Ryan’s side, placed the jersey on his lap, and slowly crouched down. “Hey, Ryan, did you know? Our team has become the dark horse of the Alliance now. Not just because we have a five-and-one record, and last week we beat the undefeated Detroit Lions, but also because we’ve found our team’s core quarterback for the next ten years.”

“So, what do you say? Are you interested in learning a bit more about it?” Jonathan murmured, and saw a faint light slowly appear in Ryan’s eyes.