Dead silence, an absolute dead silence.
The tremendous shock had completely silenced all sound, a stark contrast to the earlier noise and commotion. Even after witnessing it with their own eyes, they couldn't believe it. A practice player, an insignificant practice player, had completed a perfect sixty-yard pass? It was simply unbelievable!
"Woohoo!" The cheers, roars, and celebrations from the practice squad broke the deathly silence. All the starting players looked at each other, then turned to the ecstatic practice squad. They were all speechless, unable to argue or even move.
The entire practice squad was celebrating wildly. Even though it was just a successful pass, an accidental victory in a three-on-three drill, they didn't care. To them, it was a huge deal. When else would they have such a chance to get a one-up on the starting players?
Logan ran over like a maniac, bumping Lu Ke hard in the chest. With a face full of pleasant surprise, he roared, "Dude, seriously, have you been practicing on your own? The accuracy and power today were just right! That was amazing!"
Lu Ke had never hidden his desire to become a quarterback. Logan and Lu Ke had been classmates in middle school and had become friends after an initial rivalry. Since then, they had always played on the team together. Logan was a tight end, and Lu Ke was a quarterback. They trained together and helped each other—Lu Ke helped Logan practice catching, and Logan helped Lu Ke practice throwing. This had become an important part of their dynamic.
Passing accuracy had always been Lu Ke's strong suit. There had been moments of inspiration before, with good long-pass power and accuracy. However, Lu Ke's accuracy was generally around thirty-five to forty yards. Beyond that, his accuracy would rapidly decline. Forget sixty yards; even his success rate for a forty-five-yard pass was only about fifty percent.
In eleventh grade, Lu Ke had once attempted a fifty-yard pass, and Logan had caught it accurately. But today, a sixty-yard pass was successful! He had actually succeeded! It was so unbelievable that everything felt unreal, like a beautiful dream.
"Luck! That was definitely luck!" Kevin finally came to his senses, still unwilling to believe it. He shook his head frantically, shouting obsessively, "Do it again! Let's do it again! That one doesn't count!"
Seeing Kevin's red face, Rick couldn't take it anymore. Furious, he yelled, "You just summed up your entire pathetic career in one sentence!" Kevin looked stunned, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him, but Rick's anger was just getting started. He pointed at Lu Ke, who was not far away. "If you had even a tenth of Lu's dedication and hard work, you'd be an All-Star by now! Talent is a piece of fucking shit here!"
Rick's tirade left Kevin dazed, but he wasn't done. "You know what? Your performance just now successfully demoted you from the third team to the reserve squad. Now get out! Get out of my sight!"
Everyone was stunned, including the members of the practice squad. Kevin stood there blankly, at a loss. Seeing this, Logan yelled directly, "Get out, idiot!"
Kevin finally reacted, slammed his helmet to the ground, scattering grass clippings, and strode off the practice field. Other third-team players tried to stop him, but the coach's voice boomed, "Huddle up! What are you doing! Get ready for the next drill! Snap out of it, you good-for-nothing kids! Starters, your training is doubled today!"
This was the wager for the three-on-three competition.
The starters groaned, trying to protest, but Rick didn't listen. "Anyone who protests will have their training tripled!" Under this threat, the players all shut up and returned to their training, but the atmosphere was instantly dejected.
No one likes to lose, especially to practice players.
The field returned to its usual routine. Anthony walked up and patted Lu Ke's shoulder. "Lu, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." After catching his breath, Lu Ke finally took off his helmet. He was sweating profusely, revealing short black hair and a handsome face that looked out of place among a group of blonde-haired, blue-eyed giants.
Anthony didn't speak right away. He looked at Lu Ke carefully to make sure he was alright, then breathed a sigh of relief. He looked up and shouted to the rest of the practice squad watching nearby, "Disperse, everyone. Go back to training." Anthony patted Lu Ke's shoulder. "You should take a rest today. Go report to the medical room and have them give you a full checkup."
Lu Ke nodded in agreement and walked toward the bench on the sideline. Behind him, he heard Anthony's scolding voice, "Logan, I'm talking to you. Lu doesn't need your help. Get back to training." Lu Ke couldn't help but smile. Finally, he sat on the bench. He needed to catch his breath before heading to the medical room.
Everything had happened too fast: the confrontation, the challenge, the pass. Lu Ke had almost forgotten what it felt like to throw, especially a sixty-yard super long pass. He needed to calm down; his brain was on fire. He strongly suspected he was about to smoke.
After he calmed down and replayed the moment, he remembered the cold, stiff voice in his mind. "System?" Lu Ke shook his head, a wry smile on his face. He must have had a slight concussion when he fell, causing him to hear things. But before his smile could fully form, the voice in his mind spoke again, "Yes, how can I help you?"
"Gah!" Lu Ke was startled, gasping for air. He looked left and right, but no one was around. It wasn't a prank. So, what was going on?
Lu Ke cautiously tried again, "System? What system?"
Immediately, a voice in his mind replied, "Football Superstar System."
Along with the voice, Lu Ke could "see" a transparent blue screen floating in the center of his mind. It looked very high-tech. "Football Superstar" was written at the top, and below was a login interface with a line of information: "Host: Lu Ke."
Lu Ke felt like a video game player, except this game was in his mind, like... like an alien in a sci-fi movie.
An alien? Was that what the starry sky in his mind earlier was?
If it was a system, was the voice an NPC or a main god?
"Host." The voice suddenly spoke again, and Lu Ke was startled once more. He wasn't used to someone talking directly in his head; it was a bit creepy. "Host, I am not Voldemort." Lu Ke choked. How could he have forgotten? His thoughts could be transmitted directly. Did that mean all his thoughts would be exposed from now on? Including those... wait, something wasn't quite right.
Stop. He forced all thoughts to a halt. There was a system in his head waiting to talk. "What... are you? What exactly is this?"
"This is a growth gaming system designed to cultivate top sports superstars in real life. My name is Seven, and I am responsible for this Football Superstar System. You can choose to accept or decline..."
"If I decline, you'll leave? Leave my brain? And you won't snoop on my privacy?" Lu Ke interrupted the system's long-winded speech. But before the other party could answer, he continued asking, "I'm more curious, if you're number Seven, does that mean there were six numbers before you? And besides the Football Superstar System, are there also Soccer Superstar Systems? Tennis Superstar Systems? Is your number a total number, or just for the football branch?"
"By the way, you know the 'alien' Ronaldo-Lima? Does he have a system? Or maybe Lionel Messi. If they had a cheat, that would explain it. I always thought they weren't from this planet. What about football? Who were the previous six people? Did anyone get the system and still end up being mediocre? Wait, you're not an Earth creature, are you? And are you even a living being? Or is it artificial intelligence? Seven? Seven-y? Little Seven?"
Silence. Silence again, with only Lu Ke talking to himself. Lu Ke realized that if he only thought the words without speaking, the speed was more than twice as fast. It was practically light speed, and he had rattled off a whole bunch of questions.
"Little Seven? Hello?"
Lu Ke called out again. This time, he finally heard the voice, "Host, do you have any more questions?"
"The game manual, I need a manual!" Lu Ke wasn't sure how this worked. Before he could ask, the interface in his mind automatically refreshed, and a complete data panel appeared.
Name: Ke
Last Name: Lu
Age: 21
Birthday: November 11, 1989
Position: Blank
Jersey Number: Blank
Dominant Hand: Right
Height: 193 cm (6'4")
Weight: 78 kg (172 lbs)
College: UCLA
Professional Team: None
Physical Stats: 61/100
Mental Stats: 81/100
Daily Quests: None
Special Quests: None
The entire system menu had a dizzying nine pages. Below was a long list of individual abilities, including basic physical stats like speed, strength, and jumping, as well as professional skills for all positions on the offense, defense, and special teams, such as short passes, medium passes, long passes, agility, breaking tackles, and field vision.
After just a quick glance, without time to look carefully, Lu Ke was already overwhelmed. More importantly, the shock and excitement from the massive amount of information were surging in his chest. "So, with this system, I can become a top football superstar in real life?"
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