"Tomorrow morning, at six o'clock, the team's training base."

After saying this, Lu Ke didn't stop any longer, and turned straight away from the meeting room of the line guard group, and then the crowded figure in the corridor immediately came into view.

At this time, the members of the coaching staff came back to their senses, and the behavior of "eavesdropping" was actually caught in this way, and the coaches' expressions were a little embarrassed. The first reaction was to look away jerkily and clumsily, pretending to be busy, but obviously, the coaches of the San Francisco 49ers have no acting talent, and their acting skills are too exaggerated, and they can be seen through at a glance, but they make people laugh and cry.

It's just that now is not the time for jokes.

Lu Ke couldn't laugh.

He stopped at the door, turned his head and looked away, trying to say hello to Hubble and gesture, but Hubble was "thinking about it" at this time and did not see his eyes.

On the contrary, the coach of the defensive team, Vic Fangio, calmly raised his head, took the initiative to smile at Lu Ke, and gestured to his jaw to express his gratitude in this way.

Those words, what the coach told Aldon, still lacked strength after all, more like a kind of coercion and pressure in an authoritative capacity, for a genius like Aldon, he has never been able to really impress him, let alone shake him - when the coaching staff decided to remove Aldon from the starter, Hubble and Fangio have talked to Aldon alone, but ...... The effect can be seen from Aldon's reaction just now.

Now that Lu Ke has completed the conversation on behalf of the coaches, Fangio sincerely expressed his gratitude.

At this time, Lu Ke just felt a period of tiredness, mental powerlessness and fatigue brought about by loss, just like when John Ward decided not to participate in the draft and retired directly, their life trajectories will eventually change, go to different ends, and deduce different stories, this is life, isn't it? But even if you understand the truth, when you really face it, that kind of bitterness and confusion can still hit the softness of the center and bottom hard.

In the face of Fang Jiao's thanks, Lu Ke tried to raise the corners of his mouth, but he still couldn't squeeze out a smile after all, he nodded lightly at Fang Jiao, and then turned around, didn't say anything, and took a step towards the elevator again.

In the corridor, the members of the coaching staff all turned their heads one after another and cast their eyes towards Lu Ke's back.

The slender figure stretched the old elder under the white swaying corridor light, the fourteenth who was always full of vitality, never gave up, and never resolute, but at this time he was slightly bent because of the pressure and burden, as if shrouded in a shadow, that deep tiredness, lingering, as if a little heavier could break his spine.

Only then did they remember that the captain of the San Francisco 49ers' offensive team was only a third-year student, and he had only been in the league for three years, but he had already carried the burden of the entire team.

But as the footsteps continued to move forward, the backbone of the back was re-erected little by little, straightening his waist, opening his shoulders, raising his head and chest, and struggling away, as if any difficulty and danger that stood in the way of his progress could not stop him from going upstream.

That young and immature shoulder, all of a sudden, has grown back into a giant who stands up to the sky.

"You say, will Aldon show up tomorrow morning?" Craig Roman asked in a low voice, but he still didn't look away, just looked at the direction where Lu Ke disappeared, stared at the empty corridor in front of him for a long time, and asked, not even sure who the object of the inquiry was.

After waiting for a moment, no one made a sound.

Fangio slowed down several beats before he replied, "No one knows the answer, except himself." But whether he shows up or not, I believe we can handle everything that comes next. ”

As for the reason, Fangio didn't go on to explain, but everyone around knew what he meant.

After a moment of silence, Hubble's worried voice rang out, "You say, we put all the pressure on him alone, is it really no problem?" He was only twenty-four years old. ”

"He's a natural leader." Kip's plain words reveal a firm conviction.

He believes in Lu Ke, and he believes in the temperament of this young man - this unwavering belief and will has allowed that No. 14 to create an impossible miracle, and every footprint is writing its own history, no one can copy it, and no one can question it. Now, as never before, he believed that Fourteen could fulfill their dreams that they couldn't.

"What's more, he's not fighting alone, is he?" Kip went on to say, and Patrick Willis, and David Akens, and every player on the team, and — Kip turned to his colleagues again, "Well, should we get back to work now?" After all, we are also his comrades-in-arms, what do you say? ”

The night is getting deeper, but the lights at the San Francisco 49ers training base have never been extinguished, just like the perseverance flowing in the blood of this team, carrying the name of "Nine", each of them has become a real fighter!

……

In the early morning of the next day, Lu Ke's biological clock was still on time. But today, Lu Ke rarely didn't get up immediately to wash, but lay quietly, in a dark room, staring at the ceiling above his head, his sight revealed a trace of confusion: Aldon, will he appear on time?

He didn't know either.

Last night, after returning home, Lu Ke himself was also a little uneasy, and after venting his emotions mightily, he couldn't calm down immediately, thinking of Alton Smith, thinking of John Ward, thinking of Patrick Willis and other injured teammates, and then thinking of the Seattle Seahawks...... The whole person seemed to be impetuous, and there was no way to calm down and watch the game video.

In the end, Lu Ke still made a call to Candace.

It's been the busiest time for models lately, and Candace has been busy in New York, and they've only been talking on the phone occasionally; But Candace still felt Lu Ke's upset.

Lu Ke didn't say, and Candace didn't ask, just chatted endlessly about his work and life in New York, all of which were trivial matters, but his tone was very relaxed, deliberately complaining about the weather in New York, joking about his colleagues' troubles, and complaining about the fun things on the catwalk.

But it was precisely these meaningless trivial things in life that made Lu Ke's emotions gradually calm down.

Later, Lu Ke took the initiative to talk about Aldon, and he also had an uncertain mood for the first time, "You say, will Alton appear tomorrow?" ”

"What kind of answer do you want?" Candace didn't answer directly, but asked rhetorically. Of course, she can simply comfort Lu Ke: Aldong will definitely appear tomorrow! But she is not Aldon, nor is Lu Ke, and there is no way for them to guarantee that Aldon will definitely appear.

Lu Ke also knew this truth, but he himself was immersed in the emotions of gaining and losing, which raised such a meaningless question.

Candace's words weren't finished, "You should know that Aldon isn't your responsibility alone, right?" You are not anyone's savior. Outside of Aldon, there's Logan, there's Marcus, there's Kendall, you've all joined the team in the same year, you've played side by side until now, and of course, there's Colin, you should have them all on board, and maybe things will be different. The bottom line is, you've done your best, and that's all that matters. ”

"Whew...... Maybe it's because most of the time, everyone thinks of me as a hero, and I also have the illusion that I think of myself as a hero. Lu Ke let out a long breath and said self-deprecatingly, the smile on the corner of his mouth reappeared.

"Even superheroes, they're not omnipotent, you say?" Candace said playfully. The subtext is that Lu Ke is indeed a hero.

"Huh." Lu Ke reacted instantly, and then followed suit, "It seems that we should watch less Hollywood movies in the future, so that there will be no illusions." ”

After the call, Lu Ke's mind calmed down again, and after sorting out his mood, he devoted himself to the study of game videos and tactical manuals.

Now, "tomorrow" has become today, and the answer is about to be revealed, and Lu Ke is inevitably looking forward to it. Shaking his head, he threw out the messy thoughts in his mind, and then Lu Ke got up and started today's training step by step.

After finishing his morning run, after cleaning up, and preparing to go to the training base, Lu Ke found his mobile phone and unexpectedly found that there were still unread text messages.

It was Candace's text message, and the sending time should have been when Lu Ke was running in the morning, "You are my hero", it was just a text message, but the curvature of Lu Ke's mouth rose slightly, and he replied to a text message easily, and then quickly packed up his things and set off towards the training base.

"Good morning. The hero is ready to go to work. ”

Candace, who was far away in New York, lay on the edge of the bed in a daze, heard the text message, opened her eyes and glanced at the reply, she knew that Lu Ke had recovered, so she was relieved, closed her eyes again, and fell asleep again - she could sleep for a while, there was no need to get up so early.

I arrived at the training base in Candlestick Park with ease, and the journey was smooth and smooth, without encountering anything special, and parked the car in the parking lot.

After getting out of the car, Lu Ke stood in place and took a look: there were many vehicles parked in the parking lot, some of them belonged to the staff, and some of them were not driven away when the players went home, but he did not find Aldon's car.

I took out my phone and looked at the time, there was still a quarter of an hour until six o'clock.

Lu Ke took a step forward and walked in the direction of the training ground, no matter what happened to Aldon, his day still had to go on step by step, there were still three days left in the home game against the Seattle Seahawks, and he still had a lot of work to complete. Aldon is not his sole responsibility.