First Start, Softie Li Yufei?

August 28th.

The third round of the Premier League kicked off.

Arsenal visited Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers.

Blackburn Rovers had a record of one win and one loss in their first two Premier League matches this season.

They narrowly beat Toffees Everton 1-0 at home in the opener, then fell 2-1 away to Birmingham City.

Against a team that's been stuck in the middle of the Premier League for years, Blackburn Rovers were exactly the kind of opponent Arsenal had to take all three points from.

Wenger had already made it clear to his Arsenal players before the match that winning this game was non-negotiable.

Of course, for Li Yufei, that wasn't the most important thing.

After two standout performances in the league, Wenger finally named Li Yufei as the starting striker for the third match.

God knows how thrilled Li Yufei was when he heard his name in Wenger's starting lineup!

And on top of that, the system graciously issued a mission for Li Yufei's first Premier League start:

[Ding! Mission issued!]

[Mission Name: First League Start]

[Mission Objectives: 1. Help the team beat Blackburn Rovers by at least three goals]

[2. Personally create at least two goals (goals + assists)]

[3. After scoring, shout "Taylor, I love you" into the camera]

[Mission Rewards: Each objective earns 100 Intermediate Soft Rice Points; if all three are completed, an additional 100 Advanced Soft Rice Points will be awarded.]

Glancing at the mission, Li Yufei had to admit it was pretty tough.

After all, no team in the Premier League could guarantee they'd easily beat an opponent by three goals.

Even the Premier League powerhouse Manchester United wouldn't dare make that claim.

Because the Premier League is just too competitive—even relegation-battling teams, when they really dig in, can tear a chunk out of title contenders.

The Premier League isn't the Bundesliga or La Liga.

The top teams in those leagues are incredibly strong, but the bottom-tier sides are practically pushovers.

A mid-to-lower-table La Liga team facing Real Madrid or FC Barcelona? Unless the referee helps out, they're getting slaughtered.

The Bundesliga is even worse. Li Yufei remembered from his past life that Northern King Hamburg, when they were still in the Bundesliga, got massacred every time they faced Southern King Bayern.

He recalled 8-0 scorelines happening more than once.

In short, Premier League relegation teams are nothing like those in La Liga, the Bundesliga, or Serie A.

Plus, Blackburn Rovers hadn't been relegated since breaking into the Premier League in 2001.

Staying in the Premier League for a full ten seasons already proved Blackburn Rovers had some real skill.

Li Yufei wasn't about to underestimate them.

Wenger thought they had to win because Arsenal just needed the three points.

But Li Yufei's goal wasn't just to win—it was to win by three goals.

Both were wins, but the difficulty gap was like night and day!

Taking a deep breath, Li Yufei walked through the player tunnel for the first time as an Arsenal starter, ready to enter the pitch.

Surrounded by the noise and chaos, he tried to clear his mind and retreat into his own world.

In that half-real, half-hazy state, Li Yufei didn't even notice the passage of time until the Main Referee's whistle blew—the match had begun!

Inside the Sky Sports studio.

Martin Tyler and Andy Gray, the old duo, were back to commentate on the Arsenal vs. Blackburn Rovers match.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the match is underway!"

"Blackburn Rovers, in their blue-and-white home kit, are attacking from left to right on your screen."

"Arsenal, in their yellow away kit, are attacking from right to left."

"Let's take a look at the starting lineups."

"Blackburn Rovers are set up in a 5-2-3 formation."

"Goalkeeper: Robinson."

"Defenders: Ryan Nelson, Phil Jones, Samba, Givet, Michel Salgado."

"Midfielders: Grella, Pedersen."

"Forwards: Diouf, Mame Diouf, Kalinic."

"Arsenal are using a 4-3-3 formation."

"Goalkeeper: Almunia."

"Defenders: Clichy, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna."

"Midfielders: Alex Song, Diaby, Fabregas."

"Forwards: Arshavin, Fry, Walcott."

"We can see that Fry, who made a brilliant impact off the bench in the previous two matches, is starting this game."

"This is the first league start of Fry's career. Let's look forward to what kind of performance he'll bring to the fans."

Back to the match.

Blackburn Rovers came out fighting hard, practically wanting to kill the Arsenal players.

Li Yufei was getting dizzy from several inexplicable collisions.

"Hey, kid, welcome to the Premier League. Don't think we're soft like Liverpool and Blackpool. I'm going to give you a proper welcome in today's game."

After another off-the-ball collision, Li Yufei nearly got knocked to the ground.

Blackburn Rovers' defender, known as "King Kong," Samba, gave Li Yufei a hit and followed it up with a taunt.

Facing one of the top five strongest players in the Premier League, Li Yufei was indeed outmatched.

Getting hit by this black King Kong hurt like hell!

Only now did Li Yufei realize that completing the task in this match was harder than he'd imagined.

He had to admit, the system never gave him easy tasks.

Some tasks that seemed simple on the surface turned out to be anything but once he actually stepped onto the pitch!

"No, I can't keep fighting this muscle-bound brute. I need to cut my losses."

After more than ten minutes of the match, following several aggressive fouls from Samba, Li Yufei finally realized he couldn't keep playing like this.

Even though the Iron Man buff meant he wouldn't get injured, constantly being fouled like this destroyed his Ball Feeling, and he couldn't seize opportunities when they came.

So Li Yufei began dropping back into midfield, no longer engaging in close-quarters battles with Samba up front.

When Samba noticed Li Yufei avoiding his strength, he sneered inwardly.

"Hmph... so this is Arsenal's super genius that the media hypes up?"

"Turns out he's just a coward!"

But considering that the entire Arsenal team played this soft style, Samba didn't find it surprising.

Could a player raised in a soft team be anything but soft?

After Li Yufei gradually dropped back, Samba stopped following him.

He didn't like chasing after opposing forwards anyway.

As long as he drove Li Yufei out of the danger zone, that was good enough in his book.

Li Yufei had seized on this very mindset of Samba's, gradually finding his rhythm after the initial disorientation at the start of the match.