A 99.999% Chance of Starting

"What? Why is it 99%?"

Tang Ye suddenly stood up and slowly broke it down for Erik ten Hag on his fingers. "Each time is 10%. Before training just now, I was at 90%, so I should be at 100% now. Sir, you can't confiscate my 1%!"

Erik ten Hag shook his head. "Do you remember what I said? Hard work brings rewards. It's 99% now, which means you still haven't worked hard enough."

Tang Ye lowered his head, looking rather speechless. Seeing this, Erik ten Hag immediately added, "Tang, you should focus on the good side of things. You're at 99% now. Doesn't that mean you're only one step away from securing a starting spot?"

"..."

Tang Ye said nothing.

Erik ten Hag could be a little sly, but Tang Ye simply could not find anything wrong with the Dutchman's reasoning.

99%...

To be honest, Tang Ye was no longer very eager to run, but he was currently in Grealish draft-beer mode.

In the end, Tang Ye negotiated with Erik ten Hag and said that he was willing to stay behind for extra training after dinner tonight.

"Excellent. That's more like it."

Erik ten Hag placed a hand on Tang Ye's shoulder. "I can feel your determination. You'll get closer and closer to that starting spot!"

After training, Tang Ye sat with the teammates he was more familiar with in the first-team cafeteria.

He picked up the raw herring fillets from his plate and expertly transferred them to Amrabat's.

Mitchell van der Gaag had imposed very strict dietary requirements on Tang Ye, but Tang Ye was clever. He knew how to lighten his own burden.

Amrabat had long grown used to Tang Ye's behavior. He did not like raw herring either, so he simply left it untouched on his plate.

Haller quickly finished eating, then stared at Tang Ye beside him. "Will you start the next match?"

"Not sure yet."

Tang Ye chewed on his oversized Angus beef burger, which had three extra beef patties, as he spoke. "Erik always announces the lineup very late. I reckon he won't tell us which players are starting until tomorrow night."

"But I saw you talking to Mr. Erik about starting."

Balazhit, seated opposite Haller, reminded him. Tang Ye nodded. "Yeah, I've talked to him about it lots of times, but..."

"But what?"

Ayoub, who had not spoken much, suddenly opened his mouth.

Tang Ye asked Amrabat to grab some salad dressing from the next table. As he added it to his salad, he explained, "Mr. Erik didn't guarantee me a starting spot. He told me that if I want to start, I need to keep training. Only then will he consider letting me start."

Erik ten Hag had emphasized this to Tang Ye many times.

The current Tang Ye was nowhere near good enough to start in the Dutch Eredivisie.

So if Tang Ye wanted to start, he needed to make a little "sacrifice." That "sacrifice" was his rest time.

"Erik has a sadistic streak. He just wants to watch me suffer in training!"

Hearing that Erik ten Hag had not made Tang Ye's starting position clear, Ayoub let out a sigh of relief. Then he asked, "You're eating so much for dinner. Are you still training later?"

"I'm training tonight."

Tang Ye took another bite of the huge burger in his hand.

Four fried eggs and three huge beef patties—the nutritional value was through the roof! "Wow, I couldn't tell, Tang. So you're actually this hardworking!"

Haller took a sip of juice and gave Tang Ye a thumbs-up, making Tang Ye feel a little embarrassed.

"Eh, it's nothing special. As a professional player, this is what I should be doing."

"You just get used to hard work!"

"Hahahaha!"

Amrabat pointed his fork at Tang Ye across the table. "Bullshit, what are you even talking about? Stop lying, okay? Tang, I know your true colors!"

"Hey, people can change!"

Tang Ye put the burger back on his plate, wiped his hands on his clothes, and began explaining. "People always change. I'm completely different from who I used to be, you know? I asked for tonight's extra training myself!"

Extra training, requested voluntarily! Tang Ye's shocking words completely stunned Amrabat.

Damn it!

We both got promoted from the second team. If you suddenly start working this hard, it makes me look stupid!

That evening, after two hours of massage and stretching, Tang Ye arrived at Utrecht's first-team indoor football pitch.

Erik ten Hag was sitting on the bench. He had already been waiting there for nearly ten minutes.

"The bird that stays up late gets the worm, Tang. Start warming up!"

"I just finished stretching. My body's still warm."

Tang Ye sat down on the turf and immediately began putting on his boots.

His progress had now reached 99%. He was only a hair away from being an absolute starter in the next match.

Quick battle, quick finish!

Tang Ye wanted to begin training as soon as possible, and Erik ten Hag naturally did not refuse. He quickly had the staff working overtime set up the training ground.

Thud, thud, thud. Several mannequin walls were planted along the edge of the arc. Erik ten Hag led Tang Ye over, speaking as they walked.

"In that Dutch Cup match against Sneek, you scored a far-corner curl. Do you remember?"

"I don't," Tang Ye said, shaking his head.

"..."

"Ahem, fine. It doesn't matter if you don't remember. I saw it, anyway."

Erik ten Hag pointed to the top-right corner of the goal, then at the five-man wall in front of them. "You pulled off that kind of curling shot without any prior training. That shows you have some talent in this area."

"Talent!?"

Tang Ye's eyes lit up.

De Bruyne Far-Corner Curl was only level 1 right now, so the chances of it producing results were not high.

But Erik ten Hag had actually praised his talent.

God, Tang Ye suddenly felt appreciated.

"Hey, what are you so happy about?"

Erik ten Hag sensed something was wrong and hurriedly corrected himself. "What I mean is, your talent for curling shots into the far corner is only a little better than an ordinary person's. Do you understand? Compared to the players on this team, your talent is still average!"

"Okay..."

Tang Ye let out a sigh.

It seemed De Bruyne was still too weak.

The system was probably about as useless as him—most likely another slacker.

If Tang Ye really wanted to develop his abilities, he still had to rely on his own hard training! Under Erik ten Hag's guidance, Tang Ye began his shooting practice.

After checking his balance, Tang Ye could not bear to buy Cristiano Ronaldo's broccoli. Besides, there was still a long way to go before the curling shot leveled up, so he would practice on his own first.

Smack! Smack! Clang!

The sound of boots striking the ball and balls crashing into the crossbar rose and fell in succession.

De Bruyne Far-Corner Curl, Lv. 1: Imitation

Proficiency: 2.4/50
Proficiency: 2.5/50
...

Proficiency: 12.2/50

"Fuck... huff..."

Tang Ye stood with his hands on his hips, catching his breath, then found Erik ten Hag reading a newspaper nearby.

The latter raised an eyebrow. "Okay, good training. Your chance of starting has now reached 99.99%!"

"But I was already at 99.99% just now," Tang Ye reminded him.

Oh? Erik ten Hag put down the newspaper. "I know, but you're still at 99.99% now. The remaining 0.01% requires ten fragments."

"Since you completed your training with such outstanding results just now, I can give you nine fragments in advance!"