Do You Want to Be a Football King?

"I'm so screwed!"

At five-thirty in the morning, Su Dong wandered aimlessly through the streets of Lisbon, his heart feeling like a spilled spice rack.

He didn't know how to describe his current mood, nor did he know who to tell about his predicament.

He had been walking along this brightly lit, spacious street for half an hour without encountering a single pedestrian; only the occasional passing vehicle and their unfamiliar license plates served as a reminder of his situation.

He had transmigrated.

Half an hour ago, he was still at home in a small, second or third-tier city in southern China, grinding away at a pirated copy of Championship Manager 00/01 he had just bought. He was leading Inter Milan, the club of his idol Ronaldo, to sweep across the Apennine and Europa, securing ten consecutive Champions League titles.

The veteran Ronaldo had decided to retire and bid farewell to him, his mentor, and Su Dong had decided to accept an unprecedented, god-level challenge: taking over the national team to make a run at the World Cup.

Just as he clicked the "Accept" button on the invitation from the national team, a pop-up window suddenly appeared in the game.

"Do you want to become the King of Football?"

What the hell?

Su Dong was baffled. He tried to close it, only to find that besides the options [Yes] and [No], there was no way to dismiss the window. He could only curse the unscrupulous pirates in his heart.

They were already charging five yuan a disc, and they still had to plant ads? That was too much!

Next time, he'd buy the three-yuan one.

With no other choice, he had to pick one.

Without hesitation, Su Dong chose [Yes].

Influenced by his football-fan father, he had signed up for training camps since he was a child. To become the King of Football, to gallop across the pitch like Ronaldo and be invincible—that was absolutely his most cherished dream.

But as he grew up, this dream had gradually faded, relegated to something he could only chase in games.

Yet, at the moment he made the choice, a faint, burning heat stirred in his heart.

But he never imagined that when his hand controlled the mouse and clicked on the [Yes] button, he would feel the world spinning, his vision would go black, and he would pass out completely.

When he woke up, he was in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

He was also named Su Dong, also sixteen years old, and also from a small, second or third-tier city in southern China, born into an ordinary working-class family.

His father was also an old football fan, and despite the family not being well-off, he had sent him to football training camps since he was a child.

Their family backgrounds, appearances, personalities, and even their life experiences were exactly the same.

Their life trajectories had only diverged a month ago.

Before the transmigration, he had just bought a computer and was obsessed with grinding games, so he had rejected his father's suggestion to sign up for a summer football camp. But this version of him, after the transmigration, had accepted his father's proposal.

What followed was a total cliché.

A scout, claiming to be a Chinese national living in Portugal, had come to the summer camp. After watching the team train for three days, he discovered that Su Dong had a unique bone structure and the talent to become a professional player. He claimed he could arrange for Su Dong to join the youth academy of a Primeira Liga team to receive the world's most advanced professional football training.

Su Dong's father, of course, didn't believe it easily, so he checked through various channels. The final result was that it was legitimate and endorsed by an authoritative football management organization.

Although the family wasn't wealthy, for the sake of his only son's football dream, Su Dong's father resolutely scraped together the funds and put Su Dong on a plane to Portugal.

Su Dong himself had arrived on the Iberian Peninsula full of anticipation, only to be met with a total scam.

The other party quickly fulfilled the contract by placing Su Dong into the youth system of a Portuguese team, but it wasn't a Primeira Liga team—it was a team in the third-tier Portuguese Second Division League.

When Su Dong discovered the issue and went to confront them, the fraudulent company told him with a straight face that this was the team they had promised all along. Even though it wasn't a Primeira Liga club, it was a satellite club of the Primeira Liga team Belenenses, and the two had a very deep partnership in youth development.

"And think about it, this team is called Sporting Portugal. It has a national-level name, a grade higher than Sporting Lisbon. You can see it's a traditional team with a long history and deep roots."

"Focus on your training here. If you can make the cut in two months, you'll definitely have a chance to reach the Primeira Liga in the future."

The money had already been paid, and he was already in Portugal. With no other options, Su Dong had to stay at Sporting Portugal.

And that brought him to today.

He didn't know how long he had been walking, but feeling tired, Su Dong wandered into a park.

The surroundings were so quiet that only the faint chirping of insects could be heard, with only a few distant lights visible.

Su Dong walked toward the light and discovered an indoor football pitch.

Calling it an indoor pitch wasn't entirely accurate, as it only had a roof and was surrounded by wire mesh. The mesh separated three indoor pitches—small, medium, and large—which likely corresponded to three-a-side, five-a-side, and seven-a-side games.

The smallest pitch was lit up. It was empty, save for a black-and-white football sitting in the center of the field.

Under the lights, it looked like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve couldn't resist, or perhaps the apple hanging over Newton's head, teetering on the edge, as if carrying some momentous mission.

Su Dong watched through the wire mesh for a moment before walking onto the pitch and approaching the ball.

He flicked his right foot, and the ball lifted gently into the air.

At that very instant, a stream of information flashed rapidly through his mind.

"System [Path to the King of Football] has been activated."

"Binding in progress, please wait..."

Su Dong was greatly astonished. The Path to the King of Football system—what on earth was this?

Could it be something brought about by his transmigration?

"System binding successful."

"Congratulations on successfully binding to the [Path to the King of Football]. Please confirm your identity."

"Name: Su Dong?"

Su Dong glanced at it, his consciousness immediately landing on the [Yes] option at the bottom left, and he quickly entered the next page.

"Nationality: China?"

Yes.

"Age: 16?"

Yes.

"Gender: Male?"

Nonsense, of course, definitely, one hundred percent yes!!

"Height: 183cm, Weight: 61kg?"

Yes.

"Identity verification complete. Please select your position on the pitch."

"Striker, Winger, Attacking Midfielder, Midfielder, Wide Midfielder, Center Back, Goalkeeper, Full Back..."

Su Dong gradually sobered up from his daze. Being a young man, he began to vaguely realize that after his transmigration, he seemed to have obtained some kind of superpower, which made him feel both excited and full of anticipation.

Path to the King of Football!

Did this mean he had the opportunity to realize his dream, to gallop across the world stage like Ronaldo, invincible and scoring goals in waves, to become a king of football for the ages?

Thinking of this, the young man was suddenly filled with heroic spirit and chose [Striker] without the slightest hesitation.

A transmigrator who doesn't want to be a striker is definitely not a good football fan.

After the selection, the system automatically entered the personal attribute panel.

"Welcome to [Path to the King of Football]."

"Current Level: Ball Zero, entry-level rookie."

"Next Level: Ball One, King of Football Points required for upgrade: 10,000."

Ten thousand points?

Su Dong was already a bit dumbfounded; wasn't that a bit too much?

Also, where was he supposed to earn King of Football Points?

The system provided no explanation for any of this, leaving Su Dong completely confused, and he could only continue reading.

Upon entering the current ability interface, the system quickly popped up a reminder.

"Given that you are currently at the lowest level, Ball Zero, the system has defaulted to integrating all attributes."

Su Dong felt very depressed, because if this were translated into plain language, it meant: your level is too low, so there's no need to complicate things with detailed subdivisions.

This was simply looking down on him, wasn't it?

What was wrong with being Ball Zero?

Did Ball Zero not have human rights?

I will upgrade as soon as possible; I won't let you look down on me.

Su Dong made a resolution in his heart, but the personal attributes evaluated by the system left him deeply disappointed.

"Attack: 33; Defense: 28; Physique: 29."

These were his ability scores?

Weren't they a bit too low?

With a maximum score of 99, even if he were to just pass, he should at least have a 60, so why were they so low?

But when Su Dong combined this with the memories in his mind and recalled his experiences in Lisbon during this period, he had to admit that the system's evaluation was indeed very rigorous.

How should he put it?

Over the past few years, the reason he had overestimated himself was largely because he was a standout in the youth football training camp in his city and the ace of his school team, which meant he was always highly praised, making it inevitable that he would overestimate himself.

However, if compared to his peers nationwide, he wasn't that outstanding.

And if the reference point was shifted to Portugal, even in a third-tier team like Sporting Portugal, their youth players were significantly stronger than Su Dong, let alone compared to the youth players of the top Portuguese league teams.

Compared to his peers in world-class youth academies like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Barcelona, and Ajax, the gap was even more like heaven and earth.

Realizing this and feeling the gap, Su Dong did not feel the slightest bit discouraged.

This was a common strength he possessed in both his lives: he never admitted defeat.

In his past life, the reason he was able to lead Ronaldo's Inter Milan to ten consecutive league titles lay in his stubborn and persistent habit of reloading his save files time and time again. The most absurd instance was against Juventus, where he had grinded through over twenty matches in a row before finally defeating his opponent.

In this life, he was equally unwilling to admit defeat. Even after falling into a scammer's trap and realizing the inadequacies in his own abilities, he still stubbornly wanted to carve out a place for himself at Sporting Portugal.

He had possessed such determination even before transmigrating, and now that he had, with a cheat like the Path to the King of Football, he was even less likely to be easily discouraged.

Isn't it just a matter of grinding?

Who's afraid of whom?

Having figured things out, Su Dong once again flicked the soccer ball up from the grass, starting with the most basic juggling practice.

He needed to warm up.

After every successful touch, a message would flash rapidly through his mind.

"Obtained 1 King of Football Point."

"Obtained 1 King of Football Point."

"Obtained 1 King of Football Point..."

"Obtained..."

Fine, isn't it just ten thousand juggles?

I'll grind it out!

As the first rays of the morning sun spilled onto the grass of Edward VII Park, Su Dong was still buried in his intense training.

He was completely hooked, having forgotten the time and everything around him, with his heart and mind set solely on the soccer ball.

He didn't even notice that outside the wire fence, a Portuguese boy of similar age and build had been watching him train with great interest.