Super Wingstorm

Yang Yang opened his eyes. It was the next morning.

He leaped out of his single bed, frantically patting his head and body. Then he rushed to the mirror on the wall. Only after confirming he was safe and sound did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He had been so worried he’d run into aliens and been completely transformed and mutated.

But soon, he discovered something strange.

He had slept for a good ten hours last night, and he had also spent over ten hours juggling the ball in Super Training. Yet, when he woke up this morning, he was full of energy, without a trace of fatigue. It was unbelievable.

It seemed just as Old Ice had said. Everything that happened in Super Training would have a real effect on his body, but it wouldn’t affect his sleep in the slightest. This was an incredible blessing. It meant that from now on, Yang Yang would have several more hours of practice time than others every day, and it would be with the assistance of a professional training system like Super Training.

At this thought, all the hesitation and anxiety from last night vanished completely.

’Old Ice, Old Ice,’ Yang Yang called out in his mind.

The most important thing for him now was to confirm that Super Training was real, and not just a vivid dream.

”Stop shouting. You’re not dreaming,” the cold voice returned. ”Also, don’t call me Old Ice.”

He vehemently protested the name Yang Yang had given him. It was too tacky and crude.

”Ha.” Yang Yang let out a sigh of relief and laughed aloud. He suddenly felt that his luck was about to change.

”Old Ice, you said it, right? Can I only enter Super Training to practice when I’m dreaming?”

”Mm,” Old Ice replied, still as cold and emotionless as ever. ”But I can also help you at any time during the day.”

”What if I can’t sleep? What if I have insomnia?” Yang Yang was in high spirits, his whole demeanor brightening.

”Don’t worry. As long as you want to sleep, you’ll be able to fall asleep anytime.”

”I didn’t expect you to have a sleep-promoting effect,” Yang Yang said joyfully.

Good sleep is crucial for everyone, especially for professional athletes.

He had even heard John Reep say that in the world of professional soccer, you can only succeed if you sleep well.

This just went to show how important sleep was.

”Super Training has many other uses. You will gradually experience and learn to use them. But for now, I suggest you hurry up and wash your stinking body, change your clothes, eat some breakfast, and then start practicing.”

”Practice more?” Yang Yang glanced at the alarm clock on his nightstand. ”It’s time for me to go to school.”

”Juggle the ball on your way there.”

”I’ll be late.”

He usually took the bus to school.

”That’s your problem. I am only responsible for training,” Old Ice replied without a hint of emotion.

This made Yang Yang curse inwardly.

...

...

Although Yang Yang’s performance in the Almere youth academy had always been at the bottom of the team, at school, he perfectly embodied the saying, ”God is fair.”

As a transfer student who had traveled all the way from China to the unfamiliar Netherlands, he not only learned Dutch quickly but also rapidly caught up with his studies, consistently earning top grades in his class.

In stark contrast, several of Almere’s rising stars who shone in the youth academy were absolute failures academically. A few of them even struggled to pass, giving their homeroom teacher a constant headache. Almere even had to hire tutors to give them extra lessons.

In Dutch youth training, you weren’t allowed to participate in training or matches if you failed your academic classes.

It was precisely because of Yang Yang’s excellent academic performance that both John Reep and his homeroom teacher thought he should give up soccer and focus on his studies. He could get into a good university in the future; with a little more effort, even getting into the University of Amsterdam wasn’t entirely out of the question.

But this model student, in the eyes of his homeroom teacher, was uncharacteristically late this morning—by a full class period.

Under the gaze of the entire class and the teacher, a sweat-drenched Yang Yang stood awkwardly at the door and apologetically offered an excuse.

”Sorry, I missed the bus and got lost.”

The whole class burst into laughter, and even the teacher couldn’t help but smile. The excuse was just too ridiculous.

But top students get special treatment. The teacher simply said, ”Don’t let it happen again,” and let Yang Yang in.

Having scraped by, Yang Yang breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to his seat.

He had barely sat down when the bell for the end of class rang.

”Chinese kid, we all thought you’d packed up and run away,” his teammate behind him, Henk Demyer, said with a laugh, poking Yang Yang’s back hard with the end of his pen.

Henk Demyer was a typical ”dragon on the field, worm in the classroom.” To use the teacher’s critical words, if it weren’t for the partnership between Almere and the school, Demyer couldn’t hope to set foot in his classroom in a million years. But Demyer was the captain of Almere’s U17 team and a rising star in everyone’s eyes.

Yang Yang looked around. His teammates were watching him with malicious intent, clearly sharing Henk Demyer’s sentiment. He knew that one of their daily amusements at school was guessing whether he would give up and run away.

”Don’t you worry, I don’t give up that easily,” Yang Yang retorted, curling his lip.

Henk Demyer’s lips curled into a smirk. He sneered, ”Is that so? Well, you have to be able to stay first.”

”Exactly. You’re at the bottom of the team in both the overall evaluation and the assessment scores.”

”I don’t get it. What’s the point of you dragging the whole team down like this?”

”You’re gonna have to leave sooner or later, so why not just make it quick?”

Normally, upon hearing his teammates’ ridicule, Yang Yang would have felt resentful but definitely wouldn’t have dared to talk back. But now, with Super Training, his confidence was through the roof. How could he possibly hold back?

”You all just wait and see. Not only will I pass the assessment and stay on the team, but I’m also going to fight for a recommendation to go to Amsterdam for the Ajax Talent Days selection.”

Hearing Yang Yang’s firm and confident declaration, Henk Demyer and the others were stunned for a moment. Then, they burst out laughing, doubling over as if they’d just heard the funniest joke of the century.

”You? You’re going to pass the assessment? And get a recommendation for the Talent Days?”

”My God, where did you get that confidence?”

”That’s definitely the biggest joke I’ve heard in my entire life.”

Henk Demyer even jumped onto a desk and shouted to the class, ”Everyone, our great Chinese soccer genius, Yang Yang, just said he’s definitely going to get the recommendation for the Ajax Talent Days selection! Do you all agree?”

”We agree!” a dozen or so teammates and classmates chimed in, jeering.

Everyone in the class watched Yang Yang mockingly. Although some felt a bit of sympathy, they all knew that his performance on the field was a world apart from his grades in the classroom. In fact, everyone had long since concluded that he would be leaving the team and the school after this semester.

Someone like that wanted a recommendation for the Talent Days?

Yang Yang knew his words were being taken out of context, but he didn’t bother to explain, because he knew it was pointless.

From the first day he joined the team, these teammates had never looked at him with any respect. No matter what he said now, it would be useless. He could only rely on his performance—his actual performance—to prove himself.

This further strengthened his resolve to train hard.

’I have to succeed, no matter what.’

...

...

At noon, during the midday nap break, Yang Yang entered Super Training again to continue practicing his juggling.

Having played for six years, juggling with both feet was his specialty. However, juggling the ball five hundred times consecutively was still quite difficult. After all, once you mastered that feel for the ball and became familiar with its properties, the difference between juggling five hundred times and a thousand, or even more, wasn’t that great.

But what gave Yang Yang the biggest headache was juggling with his shoulders and head. He had never deliberately practiced these before. To reach five hundred consecutive juggles, he would need to put in a lot of hard work.

Fortunately, he had the help of Super Training. While he juggled, Old Ice would tirelessly correct his form and give him the best advice, allowing him to improve at lightning speed.

Especially after finishing his afternoon classes and arriving at Almere’s youth academy for training, Yang Yang discovered another wonderful use for Super Training: he could activate an auxiliary tool that gave him a top-down view of the field, similar to a God’s Vision. This allowed him to be keenly aware of every movement of the players around him, both teammates and opponents, whether in training or in scrimmages.

Although playing while incorporating God’s Vision was still very unfamiliar to Yang Yang, he was very clear about the enormous benefits it brought. This was especially true in the subsequent game of piggy-in-the-middle, where he frequently used God’s Vision to make accurate predictions of the ball’s path.

There’s a saying: amateurs watch the spectacle, experts see the technique.

John Reep had been a very successful professional player, so he naturally knew how to spot the technique.

While everyone else thought Yang Yang was just blindly running around as usual during the keep-away game, John Reep’s brows furrowed deeply. He muttered to himself, ”That kid is a little strange today.”

But he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was strange. It was just that his years of experience playing soccer told him that something was definitely different from usual.

In contrast, the assistant coach beside him heard this and chuckled. ”Nothing strange about it. He’s just running a bit lazier than usual.”

’Is that really all it is?’

John Reep didn’t think so, but he didn’t argue.

Just when everyone thought Yang Yang would be played for a fool by his teammates for ten minutes like always, something unexpected happened. Less than two minutes into the game, Yang Yang suddenly made a feint towards one player during an attempt to steal the ball, then abruptly changed direction and charged towards Henk Demyer.

Just as this rising star of the Almere Team received the ball, Yang Yang was already upon him.

Unable to pass the ball in time, Henk Demyer could only watch helplessly as Yang Yang intercepted it.

Now, it was his turn to step into the circle and be the monkey everyone made fun of.

On the sidelines, Head Coach John Reep’s eyes lit up.

He was finally certain: Yang Yang had changed.

Although he couldn’t perceive exactly what had changed, something definitely had.

’Could it be that he suddenly got smarter? Did he have a breakthrough?’