June 2013!
At the Boca Juniors Club youth training ground in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A black-haired boy was sweating profusely as he practiced the most tedious drill in soccer: keeping the ball in the air.
He had delicate features and a well-proportioned build. The only thing that set him apart from the other local Argentine kids was his unusually tall frame.
At sixteen, he was already 1.85 meters tall!
Even in Europe, that height was enough to tower over his peers.
But, unfortunately!
He wasn't on a basketball court. His teammates—and even his opponents—were all a bunch of nimble Argentine boys.
He had never been especially talented, and as they grew older, the kids who had joined the Boca Juniors youth academy alongside him had left him further and further behind!
If his father weren't an incredibly wealthy Chinese businessman, he would probably have been kicked out of Boca Juniors long ago!
After all, Boca Juniors was the greatest club in Buenos Aires, if not all of Argentina. Even its youth teams stood head and shoulders above the rest of the country.
On the sidelines stood a bald, middle-aged man with a potbelly and sunglasses, talking with a Boca staff member.
A few reporters stood nearby with cameras, filming!
"Director Zhu, that's the young man. He's the only Chinese-descended player at Boca Juniors—and in all of Argentina. Both his parents are pure-blooded Chinese, and his technique is absolutely top-notch!"
"This is Boca Juniors, where talent is everywhere. Countless prodigies have come through here!"
"The player you're looking to recruit is absolutely the best fit for your standards!"
"Of course, the price is a little..."
As Boca Juniors Club's marketing manager, Carl Vannu knew just how wealthy the Chinese were. The officials from the Chinese Football Association were especially generous with their money. If they worked together...
He might even be able to pocket a little extra on the side!
"Other than being tall, I don't see anything special about him! We've got plenty of players like that at our sports schools back in China."
One look at the chubby man told Carl Vannu that he was trying to drive down the price.
"Director Zhu, let's talk in my office. It's so hot out here, and I've got the best coffee in there. We can take our time discussing the price. I know it must've been a long, hard trip all the way to Argentina!"
"Ahem, all right! Li Feng, take our reporter friends and get some good footage. Let's see how the kid does in the training match later!"
Zhu Yige wiped the sweat from his brow. He caught Carl Vannu's look and understood what he meant!
This foreigner knew how things worked. He understood that this wasn't the place to talk, with so many people around!
As deputy head of the Chinese Football Association's player recruitment program, Zhu Yige had never been to Argentina before. He had eagerly boarded a flight to Buenos Aires.
But the trip was nothing like the luxurious journey he'd imagined. The weather here was unbearably hot.
And he'd already visited several clubs.
There were a few Chinese-descended players, but they were all in amateur clubs. This was the only one in a professional club.
But the budget was limited. If he spent it all on this guy, what would he have left?
The association's plan was to buy players cheaply from youth teams and bring them to China, then have Chinese Super League clubs pay for them.
Naturally, those clubs would be charged the inflated prices they set.
They'd already found a young Chinese player who was good at freestyle soccer. He'd never played in a proper match, but he was cheap.
Since they were already at Boca Juniors, and this foreigner seemed to know how things worked, they only needed to give the player a little promotion, get Boca to sign him, and then sell him on to a Chinese club.
Heh!
Cooperation was the only way for everyone to win!
This guy named Su Bai looked like a big, dumb oaf.
Could he even play soccer?
He couldn't play worth a damn. Back in China, kids built like him were throwing shot put!
And so Zhu Yige went off to discuss business in the office with Carl Vannu, wearing a genial smile.
Li Feng, a newly hired intern at the association, stayed behind with the reporters and set about filming in earnest!
On the sidelines, Su Bai had no idea that in the blink of an eye, he had lost his chance to return to China as part of the association's recruitment program!
He just kept practicing his keep-ups.
"Look, that guy's still practicing keep-ups!"
"I don't get it. With a body like his, why not play basketball? Why come play soccer? He's already that tall at sixteen!"
"Shh! Keep your voice down. Don't you know he's crazy? I don't want to get beaten up!"
In the shade beside the training ground, a few boys around his age whispered among themselves.
But!
Su Bai had no intention of paying them any attention.
Those guys were all talk and nothing else.
It had been a month since Su Bai had transmigrated into this body.
For the past month, he had spent every day at the club, training nonstop!
As his memories merged, he had truly felt just how passionately the original Su Bai in this world had loved soccer.
That passion had naturally remained after his memories merged with those of Su Bai, a poor soul from another world who had suddenly died of a heart attack after watching the Chinese national team lose to Vietnam.
But!
Passion was one thing!
Passion didn't mean he had any skill.
Especially not on a youth team like Boca Juniors.
This place was full of prodigies.
Whatever the position, the players they recruited were the finest talents in all of Argentina.
And him?
His speed was decent, and he was much taller than his peers, but apart from those two things, he had no outstanding qualities.
His footwork was average, his stamina was average, and he fell well short in passing, shooting, and just about everything else.
The only reason he was still with Boca Juniors U18 was—
His father was a sponsor of Boca Juniors.
That's right. His father owned the biggest supermarket chain in Buenos Aires.
Every year, to keep his soccer-mad, rather dim-witted son at Boca Juniors, Su Bai's father gave the club 500,000 pesos!
As for Su Bai's salary?
1,500 a month!
That was already about what an ordinary senior white-collar worker in Argentina earned. And that was only because they were youth team players. Once they made it to the first team, their salaries would be more than ten times as high.
All in all, Su Bai's father's sponsorship was enough to keep the entire Boca Juniors youth team afloat.
It wasn't long before Boca Juniors U18 head coach Ignacio walked to the sidelines with a notebook tucked under his arm.
The club had just told him that reporters from China were here to film Su Bai.
He needed to give Su Bai a chance to make himself look good so they could sell him for a better price.
Of course, that price had to be higher than what his father was sponsoring the club. Otherwise, the club would lose money.
As if any club in Argentina would ever make a deal at a loss.
With Ignacio's arrival, the players who had been relaxing in the shade hurried to their feet.
Ignacio glanced at the kids who had been slacking off, then looked at Su Bai, still training hard under the scorching sun. He could only shake his head helplessly!
The kid was hardworking!
Not just hardworking—extremely hardworking!
But, unfortunately, soccer wasn't something you could master through hard work alone.
The higher-ups had told him that, because of Su Bai's father, he was to give Su Bai plenty of playing time and keep him motivated to stay at Boca Juniors.
Fine!
Those bloodsuckers at the top were just trying to squeeze more sponsorship money out of Su Bai's father.
How could anyone abandon their most basic morals for money?
Pah!
What a bunch of shameless people!
After silently sneering at the club's management, Ignacio smiled and walked over to Su Bai.
"Su! You're such a hard worker. If you keep this up, I'm sure you'll make Argentina's U-20 National Team for the World Youth Championship at the end of the year. And not just the World Youth Championship—even at next year's World Cup, you'll be Messi's partner and help him win the title!"
Su Bai turned to look at Ignacio's smiling face.
He didn't answer.
He just looked utterly contemptuous!
This...
Ignacio felt a little awkward. Su Bai had been at Boca Juniors for three years, and in the past, whenever he said something like that, the kid would happily head back to the substitutes' bench and even help his teammates carry water.
But over the past month, the kid had been acting like a completely different person.
He'd become like a little lion. Domingo had called Su Bai a "yellow monkey," and Su Bai had beaten him so badly he ended up in the hospital.
After that incident, no one on the U18 team dared badmouth Su Bai again.
Watching Su Bai join the lineup, Ignacio decided not to dwell on it.
He opened his notebook.
"We're facing San Lorenzo U18 this weekend! Here are the starters!"
"Goalkeeper: Bozenik!"
"Defenders: Emmanuel Yin!"
Su Bai wasn't on the roster!
As usual, he was assigned to the B team.
The B team!
Naturally, they were there to train the A team's starters.
Su Bai took his familiar spot on the right wing.
He waited for the whistle!
"Tweet!"
And just then!
As the temporary referee blew his whistle, Su Bai charged toward the A team's half.
At the same moment, an unbelievable voice rang out in his mind.
"System loading complete!"
"Congratulations, host! You have obtained the Pro Evolution Soccer System!"
"Congratulations, host! You have received the beginner's gift pack!"
"Generating gift pack!"
"Congratulations, host! You have received the Max-Level Strength Gift Pack!"
"P.S.: The host will receive 100 shooting power and 100 body balance!"
"Host's basic attributes generated!"
"Training point mode activated!"
Su Bai stood motionless on the pitch!
Just then, after the B team kicked off, the ball happened to be passed to his feet!
Su Bai felt the terrifying power the system had given his thighs.
When he saw the soccer ball at his feet, he felt as if he'd finally found an outlet for all that power!
He raised his right leg high!
He aimed roughly toward the goal.
Then he slammed his right foot into the ball!
"BANG!!!"
A thunderous crack rang out!
Even Ignacio, on the other side of the field, heard the sound of the ball as if it were about to burst.
After stretching into an absurd shape beneath Su Bai's foot, the ball shot away like a streak of white light!
The goal was an astonishing forty-three meters away!
Li Feng stared wide-eyed at Su Bai's shot from the sidelines!
This...
The reporters were even more excited as they filmed. They'd struck gold. With that one shot, the kid was already far better than anyone his age in China.
No!
He was better than every active player in China!
Before you continue