"Are you sure?" Old Bing asked mechanically.
Yang Yang nodded firmly. "Yes, I'm sure."
Old Bing said no more. The star-player apparitions standing around the field suddenly dimmed, as if all their light had converged on Ronaldo, making the superstar in the red-and-blue jersey dazzlingly radiant—so bright that he was almost blinding.
Ronaldo's Rush!
This was the decision Yang Yang had made after careful consideration.
Speed was currently his greatest advantage. His hundred-meter time was basically around eleven seconds, and with more professional training, breaking eleven seconds would not be difficult. So he had been considering how to maximize his natural advantage.
But everyone who had played football knew that a player's technique deteriorated badly and became far less effective in three situations.
One was under intense pressure. Another was when the player had expended a great deal of stamina. The last was during a high-speed sprint.
Yang Yang chose Ronaldo's Rush not only because Ronaldo's high-speed dribbling breakthroughs, changes of pace and direction, and ability to beat defenders all suited Yang Yang's current strengths, but also because Ronaldo's technique never broke down during a high-speed attack. For a speed-based player, that was extremely important.
Besides Ronaldo's Rush, there was another Star Skill that suited Yang Yang very well: Henry's Left Cut.
As the name suggested, this was Arsenal superstar Henry's signature scoring method. He received the ball on the left wing, used his speed to cut inside, and then scored. Compared with Ronaldo's Rush, however, Henry's Left Cut was restricted by the area of the field.
As for Van Basten's Shot, although it was also highly practical, it was not Yang Yang's first choice for the time being. After all, he was not a team's striker. Forget taking a shot—he probably would not even get the chance to approach the goal.
After considering everything, Yang Yang felt that Ronaldo's Rush suited him best.
When all the surrounding star-player apparitions merged into the darkness, Ronaldo's figure became extraordinarily dazzling. Finally, it seemed to explode, transforming into a beam of light that shot straight into the center of Yang Yang's forehead.
With a thought from Yang Yang, all the movements displayed by Ronaldo's star-player apparition during those high-speed attacks suddenly appeared with exceptional clarity in his mind. Even the tiniest details—including the force exerted by each muscle—were presented before him with perfect clarity.
In that instant, he understood.
When Yang Yang opened his eyes again, a defender had appeared in front of him, and a black-and-white ball had appeared at his feet. Clearly, it was time for his special training that night.
"Considering the limited time, I suggest you focus on practicing one move first: the Pendulum Dribble," Old Bing advised.
"The Pendulum Dribble?" Yang Yang was somewhat surprised. This was Ronaldo's signature move.
"Ronaldo's Pendulum Dribble had an extremely wide range of motion and placed tremendous demands on flexibility and balance. But I made some slight modifications, adding footwork changes and deceptive feints in advance. Its effect is no worse than Ronaldo's, and more importantly, it won't cause serious damage to the knees."
A star's signature technique was not something other people could not attempt. For example, countless people could use Ronaldo's Pendulum Dribble. But why did so few people actually use it?
Apart from the demands it placed on flexibility and balance, a major reason was that it severely damaged the knees. Ronaldo himself had suffered greatly because of it, spending his entire life dealing with knee injuries. Naturally, other people were unwilling to take such a risk lightly.
If the Super Training Ground's modified Pendulum Dribble really could reduce its reliance on physical qualities and lessen the damage to the knees while remaining no less effective than Ronaldo's original version, then it would be almost unbelievable.
At that thought, Yang Yang was already rubbing his fists and eager to try.
"The ability of the defender in front of you has been set according to the average level of defenders in the Dutch Fourth Division League. If you play tomorrow, the defenders you encounter should not be any stronger than him."
Omnibus's parent club was currently in the Dutch Fourth Division League, so the defenders in its youth team should be somewhat weaker.
"Can I start?"
"Whenever you're ready."
Yang Yang looked at the dummy ahead of him. It was roughly twenty meters away. Recalling what he had just learned—Ronaldo accelerating with the ball at high speed before suddenly changing pace and direction to perform the Pendulum Dribble—he wanted to try it himself.
He gently kicked the ball forward, planted his right foot forcefully, and chased after it at full speed.
Once he caught up with the ball, Yang Yang charged straight at the defender. But just as he was about to execute the Pendulum Dribble, the figure in front of him flashed. The defender suddenly closed in and stuck out his foot, forcibly taking the ball away before knocking Yang Yang to the ground. He fell hard, completely dazed, his insides churning.
It seemed that this defender had not only reached the level of a player in the Dutch Fourth Division League; he had also mastered all kinds of sneaky tricks.
Yang Yang lay on the ground. His body hurt, but shock overwhelmed the pain.
Throughout the entire process, he had used all his ability and his fastest speed, following the Pendulum Dribble movements in his mind. Yet he had not even managed to perform it before the defender saw through him.
Previously, he had been fast but lacked fundamentals. His control of the ball and ability to regulate his footwork had been poor. But after several weeks of special training, his fundamentals had improved. He felt that both his ball control and his command of his movements had clearly advanced. It could be said that this was his best attempt at beating a defender in all his years of playing football.
Yet against a defender with only Dutch Fourth Division League ability, he had not even gotten the chance to attempt the Pendulum Dribble. Could the players in the Dutch Fourth Division League really be this strong?
What exactly was going on?
"Have you noticed your problem?" Old Bing asked coldly.
Yang Yang climbed to his feet and shook his head repeatedly without answering.
That failure had dealt him quite a blow.
"Then try again."
Soon, Yang Yang was standing twenty meters away from the defender once more.
This time, he carefully studied the entire process of the Pendulum Dribble. He slowed every movement down and examined it frame by frame, and he really did notice a detail he had overlooked before.
At the beginning, Ronaldo's speed was very steady, and the distance covered by each step was nearly identical. It was easy to predict his next step. But after approaching the defender, he made a clear change of pace. His step frequency either sped up or slowed down, and his stride length adjusted as well.
"Want to try again?" Old Bing asked indifferently.
"Again."
Yang Yang stared at the defender ahead for a moment before charging forward with the ball once more. This time, he followed the demonstration from the star-player apparition. Just before closing in, he suddenly accelerated, trying to disrupt his opponent's rhythm. Then he lowered his right shoulder—but at that moment, the defender suddenly stepped up close to him and decisively poked the ball away.
This time, Yang Yang did not fall, but he still lost the ball. The Pendulum Dribble had failed again.
"What happened?" Yang Yang asked in frustration.
"I told you before: learning is easy, but using what you learn is difficult. This is only training. In a real match, your opponents will be even harder to deal with and even more unpredictable," Old Bing reminded him calmly.
Yang Yang exhaled heavily. He began to realize that Old Bing was using facts to teach him a lesson: the Super Training Ground was not omnipotent. It was merely a tool to assist him. He must never think that possessing the Super Training Ground and learning Star Skills would let him dominate the field and become invincible.
"Let Ronaldo demonstrate it for you himself."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ronaldo's star-player apparition appeared in the training ground once more.
The moment he received the ball and set off, he charged straight at the defender. Just as he had demonstrated before, his steps were steady at first. Then he suddenly accelerated before performing a Pendulum Dribble and easily beating the defender.
The entire process was as simple and clean as ever, crisp and decisive.
Afterward, Ronaldo's star-player apparition demonstrated it several more times. Each attempt beat the defender cleanly, without the slightest hesitation or wasted motion. Faced with Ronaldo, the defender was completely helpless and looked utterly miserable.
"I weakened this Ronaldo's ability as well. He is basically at the level of a Dutch Fourth Division League player, and his speed is the same as yours. But the result... you saw it yourself."
Yang Yang nodded. He truly had been shocked.
"The movements are the same. Now try defending against him, and watch more carefully."
At Old Bing's reminder, that Ronaldo immediately dribbled rapidly toward Yang Yang.
Yang Yang focused all his attention on Ronaldo.
Just as the demonstration had shown, Ronaldo's speed was steady at first, allowing Yang Yang to predict every step. But when he drew near, his step frequency suddenly increased, causing his overall speed to rise as well.
Although Yang Yang had been mentally prepared, the change happened in the blink of an eye and still left him flustered. In particular, when he saw Ronaldo lower his right shoulder and turn his head to the right, making it seem as if he intended to break through on that side, Yang Yang instinctively moved to block him.
Unexpectedly, Ronaldo performed a Pendulum Dribble and cut the ball to the left.
He had been beaten!
There had been no hesitation, no physical contact. He had not even touched Ronaldo's clothes.
Just like that, he had been beaten!
Why? Why did such an ordinary-looking technique become so powerful when Ronaldo used it, even though Yang Yang could perform it too? Was it his speed and explosive power?
No. Yang Yang was certain that even the weakened Ronaldo's explosive power and speed were not terrifying to that extent.
Then why could such a simple technique produce such power when Ronaldo used it?
"Look at this."
The scene shifted, and four sets of running tracks appeared in front of Yang Yang.
"The two above are yours, and the two below are Ronaldo's. The football marks show where the ball was touched each time. Can you see anything?"
Yang Yang studied them carefully.
He found that the two tracks above were chaotic and completely lacked structure. The distance between each step varied. The longer gaps were because he had kicked the ball too far and needed to take larger strides to catch up. The shorter gaps were because he had kicked it softly or was preparing a feint, forcing him to adjust with small steps.
The two tracks below were clearly different. During the initial stage, the two lines were almost identical. Every step landed in nearly the same place, and every touch on the ball was extremely consistent.
"With this same sequence of movements, even if you had Ronaldo try it a hundred more times, the distance of each step and the timing of every touch would barely differ. That's because this is the footwork best suited to Ronaldo."
"Think carefully. You clearly knew that Ronaldo's movement to the right was a feint, so why did you still fall for it?"
Old Bing's calm question made Yang Yang ask himself the same thing.
Yes. He clearly knew that the first movement to the right was a feint. Why had he still been unable to stop himself from falling for it?
"Because your own instincts deceived you!"