Chapter One: The Farewell Letter

【System assessment: Unfulfilled potential exists.】 At eight, an email arrived from Sophie Hart in Bluehaven's sports-science department. I saw the model report. It did not tell them the whole truth. If you want, I can explain. Lin marked it unread and dialled the faded number on Greyport's website. A woman's alert voice answered. “Greyport Athletic interim office. Mara Vale.” “Hello. My name is Lin Che.” “I know. The news says Royal Bluehaven just threw you away.” “The news is incomplete. I want to meet Greyport's owner today.” “If you want to play for us, we cannot pay you.” “I came to pay the wages.” A chair scraped at the other end. “Mr Lin, do you know this club is forty-eight hours from insolvency?” “Yes.”