“No, no, I’m telling you, the Mission District might have a bad reputation for crime, but you can’t deny that Latino kids always know how to have a good time with alcohol and women. The bar scene there is incredible. The Italian and Japantown districts are nice, but they’re only for old people and families…”

Aldon and Logan were arguing about which part of San Francisco had the most interesting bars. Aldon, clearly a pro at this, was talking endlessly and expertly about bars, showing off his expertise. But as they walked, the two suddenly stopped, causing Lu Ke and Marcus, who were two steps behind, to stop as well.

“What’s wrong? A traffic jam?” Marcus made a bad joke and then chuckled to himself. Meanwhile, Lu Ke, using his height advantage, saw the massive crowd in front of them.

A dense mass of people had completely blocked the entire arrival hall. From the automatic doors at the exit, the crowd surged backward, so much so that it seemed like the doors couldn’t even close. Not only that, but looking up at the atrium, the departure hall on the second floor was also bustling with countless people. Even the area near the subway connection on the second-floor sky bridge was completely occupied by the crowd.

People, people, and more people. The sight of a bustling, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd was like a volcanic eruption, roaring and completely taking over the airport’s arrival hall. A rough estimate showed at least two to three thousand people, if not more, which was a spectacular sight even in a busy airport.

In the United States, the design of airport terminals in major cities follows the same blueprint. Terminals are assigned by airline, not by domestic or international flights. Large airlines like American and Delta have their own terminals, which handle all their flights 24 hours a day. Smaller airlines share a terminal.

Because of this, airport terminals are not always crowded. The crowd size depends on the airline’s flight schedule, so some terminals are bustling while others are quiet.

When the San Francisco 49ers’ flight arrived at the airport, there were only two other flights landing at their terminal. The area around the baggage carousel was incredibly quiet, with only a large group of athletes and team staff bustling around. Seeing the sight of a sea of people now, the strong contrast created a visual shock that made everyone stop in their tracks.

Lu Ke had witnessed 100,000 people at the Rose Bowl and experienced the noise attack at Lincoln Financial Field, but at this moment, the small arrival hall in front of him brought a visual shock that was ten or even a hundred times greater. The heart-pounding grandeur and vastness washed over him, as if he were in the midst of a meteor shower, and he felt a sense of his own insignificance that he had never felt before.

“Wow…” The exclamation escaped his lips uncontrollably. He stared at the scene in disbelief. Even seeing it with his own eyes and feeling the surging heat on his skin, the unbelievable shock didn’t diminish. On the contrary, it grew even stronger.

“What’s wrong?” Marcus’s view was blocked by Aldon and Logan, so he had no idea what was going on. He looked up at Lu Ke and asked, but Lu Ke didn’t know how to describe it. He opened his mouth. “…See for yourself.”

Marcus, however, felt a powerful critical hit. ‘Are you discriminating against my height?’

Grinding his teeth, Marcus took a step to the side, poked his head out from behind Logan, and saw the magnificent scene. His jaw dropped, and he almost hit the ground. He blinked, realizing that he hadn’t seen wrong. But he seemed to have lost the ability to speak. He just turned around, looked at Lu Ke in disbelief, and was speechless.

Lu Ke nodded and spread his hands, as if to say, ‘See? Words can’t describe this.’

“Jesus… Christ…” A stunned gasp came from the side. Even the words were drawn out for a long, long time. Lu Ke turned his head and saw the small mustache on Patrick Willis’s chin trembling slightly, which was so funny that Lu Ke couldn’t help but smile. He gradually recovered from his shock.

“Haven’t you ever seen a scene like this?” It was normal for Lu Ke, a rookie player, to have never seen such a scene, but Willis had been in the league for four years. Had he never experienced this either?

Willis shook his head. “No.” He shook his head again and shrugged. “I mean, we’ve had fans come to the airport to greet us, but at most, it was a hundred or two hundred? I’ve never seen so many people. The team’s record has been really bad over the past few years. It’s already amazing that the fans haven’t canceled their season tickets. To be honest, the attendance for the first two games of the regular season was already great, considering it’s a new season.”

He didn’t say much, but it was enough.

Clearly, this grand welcoming was also a first for Patrick Willis, and the shock was so overwhelming that he couldn’t recover.

“Ahhh!” The buzzing noise suddenly erupted into a frenzy of roaring and yelling, surging down like a torrential storm and crashing waves. It instantly filled the entire airport space, and even the air began to churn and resonate, as if the whole world was shaking.

The fanatical shouting turned into a hot wave of air that swept over them, slamming against their eardrums. For a moment, their ears went deaf. The shouting disappeared instantly, and the world fell into an endless silence. It seemed that there was no sound at all, not even a buzzing noise. The whole person felt a sense of weightlessness.

Not even at the Rose Bowl or Candlestick Park had Lu Ke ever felt this way. So this was what it felt like to be at the center of the world, surrounded by support and admiration.

The powerful wave of sound hit them head-on, almost knocking them off their feet.

All the San Francisco 49ers players looked at each other, exchanging glances. A similar excitement, a similar passion, and a similar enthusiasm surged through their veins. After a game with many twists and turns, they had to face the regret and bitterness of their first loss of the season. But at the same time, they received the long-lost support of the city of San Francisco. Everything was so beautiful and so happy that it made them forget themselves.

“Ah!” Someone was the first to join in the roaring. Then, the other players also joined in, yelling and releasing their emotions to their heart’s content, like a pack of wolves that had found their comrades. They cheered heartily, and then more and more wolf howls joined in, eventually forming a single roar that echoed throughout the forest.

Jonathan Baldwin stood in the crowd, looking with great excitement and enthusiasm at this young, vibrant team. It reawakened the passion and obsession that would forever belong to the 49ers deep within him. Then he jumped high and waved to his friends, signaling that this was the moment.

This was the moment.

Cliff Hart held up the flag in his hand. With Noah Parker’s help, he waved it vigorously in the wind. The red flag with golden lines had a picture of a baby deer, Bambi, on it. The adorable image, however, was wearing a crown. The title “King of the Bay” was displayed magnificently for all to see as the flag waved.

Jeff Locke, Nate Chandler, and Danny Rees, among others, raised their fists and shouted, “Bambi!”

The faint shouts were like a small boat in the midst of a fanatical roar, precarious and on the verge of capsizing. But gradually, little by little, the trickling streams converged into a mighty river, and finally transformed into a powerful waterfall that roared down, echoing and re-echoing throughout the entire hall.

“Bambi!”

Everyone was shouting the same name. An undrafted rookie, a Chinese-American quarterback, a player who had only played four games—it sounded unbelievable, even absurd, but it was happening right now. It wasn’t because he had achieved greatness, but because he had reawakened the soul of this team.

A brilliant smile bloomed on Jeff’s face. He turned to look at Nate and Danny, and their eyes exchanged similar colors. The Rose Bowl. They were once again reminded of that game, where everyone cheered the same name, hoping for a miracle and witnessing a miracle.

Now, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, they felt the same pulse and heartbeat again.

“Bambi!” Jeff roared with passion, enthusiasm, and elation.

…

Standing among his teammates, his ears filled with the sound of cheering. His hearing had returned, instantly magnified ten or a hundred times, and it roared over his eardrums like a hurricane. The momentary shock brought an endless afterglow. Lu Ke was frozen in place, his face full of shock, completely unaware of what was happening.

As a rookie quarterback, he didn’t have much interaction with the fans of this city. The few memories he had weren’t very pleasant. But today, he was suddenly in the vortex of a cheering crowd. Everything came at him like a meteor, pouring down hard.

On instinct, Lu Ke turned his head, trying to find answers from his teammates, only to see Logan and Marcus raising their hands with big smiles, cheering along with everyone. “Bambi!”

Lu Ke stared at his two friends for a moment, then laughed to himself. Then, Patrick Willis also raised his fist and put it near his shoulder, shaking it. “Bambi! Bambi!” He shouted along in a low voice and then bumped Lu Ke with his shoulder. “Man, this is your moment. Enjoy it.”

Amidst the roaring noise, Willis tried his best, but his voice was still intermittent. He laughed happily. “It looks like you’ve won the support of this city. This is just the beginning.”

It was a sleepless night at the San Francisco airport.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep