Mission Complete, Fame Still Too Low!

But looking at the current situation, Li Yufei is fully capable of meeting Wenger's requirements for a starting player.

In this match against AC Milan, Li Yufei scored one goal and assisted another, single-handedly creating two goals.

For a young player making his first-team debut, you couldn't ask for more.

Still, Wenger wouldn't be rash enough to immediately hand Li Yufei a starting spot.

After all, this was just a friendly, even if the opponent was a European giant like AC Milan—you can't ignore the warm-up nature of such a game.

Wenger would need time to assess who should start in the league, domestic cups, and even the Champions League.

Li Yufei's debut was a success, but that doesn't guarantee he'll keep performing at this level.

That said, Wenger would give him plenty of opportunities—more than the average newcomer!

This could also be considered a perk from Li's Father acquiring Arsenal.

Out on the pitch, Li Yufei had no idea what the Old Man was scheming, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

Because that kind of thinking would help him secure a spot in the first team faster—it was a good thing!

Li Yufei just didn't want outsiders to see him as a nepotism case, but that didn't mean he'd refuse a shortcut.

In his view, anyone who deliberately avoids a shortcut just to prove themselves is either crazy or stupid.

As time ticked by, Pato launched a sudden strike in the final moments, the ball grazing the post and going wide.

That shot made Li Yufei, still up front, break out in a cold sweat.

Too close for comfort!

If Pato had scored that, Li Yufei would've been screwed!

"BEEP, BEEP—BEEP——"

With the two short and one long whistle, the preseason friendly between Arsenal and AC Milan came to an end.

Thanks to Li Yufei's goal and assist, Arsenal beat AC Milan 2-1.

The moment the match ended, the pleasant system notification sounded:

[Detected that the host has successfully completed the system-issued task. Completion level: 3/3]

[Task completion reward: 300 Intermediate Soft Rice Points, 100 Advanced Soft Rice Points]

Perfect!

A single match netted him 400 points, enough to raise his specialized ability by 4 points.

Li Yufei felt amazing!

Bring on more tasks like this!

But he knew that was wishful thinking—this match earned so many points only because it was his professional debut.

Otherwise, for a mere friendly, unless they were playing aliens, the system wouldn't bother issuing a task.

After the game, Li Yufei didn't give any interviews and headed straight home with Taylor.

For this kind of warm-up friendly, interviews weren't mandatory.

Wenger stayed behind for a few words, singling out Li Yufei's performance for praise:

"Everyone saw it—this kid has still shown excellent competitive form after joining the first team. Clearly, he's not one of those false prodigies who only shine in youth training, but a true talent."

"Yes, I'll give him plenty of chances in the new season. I believe he can perform well in the league."

The media quickly reported Wenger's comments and the match result.

Li Yufei's debut performance was the main selling point.

If you can't find the book by title, try searching by the author—maybe it's just been renamed!

In the years since arriving in England, Li Yufei had always drawn attention due to his identity as the son of a mega-billionaire.

After all, the world had never seen the son of one of the planet's richest men playing football!

Many people wanted to see Li Yufei embarrass himself—there were plenty of jealous folks out there.

Even those who weren't jealous were happy to watch a lucky guy born in a Roman palace fail, just to spice up their dull lives.

Add to that his public relationship with Taylor last year, and Li Yufei's profile rose another notch.

You could say Li Yufei was the only player in Europe who'd become famous before even playing a single official match.

Sponsors had been lining up with endorsement deals, but his agent turned them all down.

Of course—what kind of deal could a youth player's endorsement offer?

Li Yufei's agent, Alan, was personally arranged by Anne, and his professionalism was beyond doubt.

He'd never let his client get shortchanged!

As the media spread news of Li Yufei's one-goal, one-assist debut against AC Milan, even more people started paying attention to him.

Li Yufei got home, opened his Twitter, and damn—his follower count had jumped by 10,000 in just three hours.

Keep in mind, this was 2010, not some later era where hundreds of millions of followers were the norm.

Back then, the most-followed star on Twitter was Lady Gaga, with over 7 million followers.

Close behind were Britney Spears and Justin Bieber, each with over 6 million.

And Li Yufei's superstar girlfriend, Taylor Swift, had around 4.7 million followers.

Put that in perspective, and you'd realize what gaining 10,000 followers in three hours really meant.

Over the years, Li Yufei had barely scraped together 200,000 followers on Twitter—and that was after the surge from going public with Taylor.

Before the relationship announcement, his follower count was a pitiful 40,000.

"Sigh, the road to living off a woman is long and hard," Li Yufei muttered, sighing as he stared at his follower count.

After a few years of trial and error, he'd figured one thing out: the system's point calculation was directly tied to fame.

He'd chosen to latch onto Taylor as his meal ticket partly because he liked her, and partly because her fame level met the bar.

The soft rice system had a high threshold for a target's "social recognition."

Otherwise, Li Yufei could've used his parents' connections to find a top-tier rich woman to support him the moment he got the system.

That wouldn't have been hard for him.

But sorry—the system said those rich women, despite crushing Taylor in wealth (who was still a rookie singer at the time), didn't meet the fame requirement to be bound.

Li Yufei had no choice but to pick carefully, eventually settling on Taylor—someone who fit both his heart and the system's demands.

And he knew exactly where Taylor was headed.

With the unprecedented Eras Tour, arguably the greatest concert tour in human history, his girlfriend's fame would leave everyone else in the dust.

All he had to do was sit back, eat his soft rice with pride, and call it a day.

Li Yufei had roughly calculated it based on his girlfriend's growth pace.

Within a year at most, his soft rice points would skyrocket.

Every mission reward would get way juicier too.

Given his current skill base, he might only need one season to fully take off.

For now, all Li Yufei had to do was wait patiently, polish his craft, train hard, and give it his all in every game.

Leave the rest to time... wait, no—leave it to the cheat code, that's more like it.