Chapter 83: 38th Birthday, Fairness Mechanism Triggered, Ultimate Chest

【Daily Mission: Crunches * 180】

Reward: Counterattack Points * 3

Waking up on the morning of March 4th, besides the ever-present daily mission, Tang Ye also discovered something else.

【At 37, you officially step into 38 today; for a middle-aged man playing in the Eredivisie, it is already extremely difficult, and growing a year older brings you an even greater challenge.】

【Fairness Mechanism triggered; you have obtained... the Ultimate Chest!】

What the hell?

Tang Ye sat up in bed.

The Fairness Mechanism was already heaven-defying; what exactly is this Ultimate Chest?

No rush to get out of bed yet; hurry up and investigate this so-called Ultimate Chest!

【Ultimate Chest: The Balanced Scales; this is the guarantee for a middle-aged man walking the path of high-level football leagues. Based on the current situation, the chest has three trigger methods:】

1. Trigger directly without conditions. Reward: 99% chance of a Legendary Template, 1% chance of an Ultimate Template.

2. Win the KNVB Cup or the League Championship. Reward: 80% chance of a Legendary Template, 20% chance of an Ultimate Template.

3. Win both the KNVB Cup and the League Championship. Reward: 100% chance of an Ultimate Template.

Hint: You can currently open the chest directly based on Condition One.

"Damn..."

Normally, Tang Ye always felt quite groggy when waking up, but the commotion stirred up by the system this time instantly woke him up.

The Fairness Mechanism triggered, offering a 99% probability of obtaining a Legendary Template.

In other words, Tang Ye could obtain a Legendary Template without doing anything at all!

But Tang Ye certainly couldn't just open the chest directly.

As for the Ultimate Template, although he didn't know what it was for now, based on Tang Ye's judgment, this thing should be an existence even more exaggerated than the Legendary Template.

He must find a way to reach for this Ultimate Template.

Since there was no time limit, Tang Ye planned to wait until the season ended and the dust settled before opening the chest.

The end of the season sounded far away, but looking at the schedule, the time was actually approaching quickly.

It was now March; the KNVB Cup final would end in April, and the Eredivisie would end in May, totaling just over fifty days.

Actually, it was very soon!

However...

Tang Ye felt somewhat hesitant; a Legendary Template would definitely be of immense help to him.

If he took this Legendary Template directly, wouldn't Utrecht's probability of winning the championship increase significantly?

Tang Ye thought carefully about this issue and ultimately abandoned the idea of opening the Ultimate Chest directly.

Double-killing PSV Eindhoven, avenging the loss against Feyenoord; currently, Utrecht's situation was excellent.

Let's just wait and see; if the situation goes awry later, Tang Ye wouldn't mind opening the Ultimate Chest directly!

Local time March 5th, the third day after Tang Ye's birthday, Utrecht traveled away to play against Heerenveen.

This was the 26th round match of the Eredivisie.

Today's match was special for Tang Ye because earlier that morning, the Royal Dutch Football Association had announced the award winners for February.

Best Coach: Erik ten Hag!

Best Player: Tang Ye!

Not long after Tang Ye was promoted to the first team, ten Hag had said he would follow closely in his footsteps; looking at it now, that was indeed the case.

Only the Best Coach can cultivate the Best Player!

【You purchased Vardy's Red Bull】

"The match has begun; I won't introduce the away team Utrecht, but let me synchronize the starting lineup for the home team Heerenveen with everyone here!"

"Goalkeeper Mulder, the defenders are..."

"Utrecht is playing very aggressively; okay, showing the momentum of the Eredivisie league leaders!"

"Look for Tang Ye, don't just stand there, hurry up and find Tang Ye!"

Wang Chao did not start by talking about Happy Beans in the livestream room today; this was because he discovered that after Utrecht's matches became popular, a large portion of the fans in his livestream room disliked Happy Beans.

As one of the most popular streamers on the entire site, Wang Chao possessed a specialized instinct for traffic.

At such times, the most important thing was to keep the fans in the livestream room, letting them form the habit of watching Utrecht's livestreams right here.

Then, guide them little by little!

"We can see that the camera is now focused on Utrecht's number 99, Tang Ye; this afternoon, the Eredivisie officials just announced the winner of the February Best Player award."

"Tang Ye, beyond any dispute! Utrecht achieved a perfect record in both the league and the KNVB Cup in February, and Tang Ye was the absolute core of it all!"

"De Jong is advancing very quickly!"

"Passing to the wing, Haller cuts it back to Tang Ye; will he shoot himself? Tang Ye chooses to curl it toward the far corner!"

【De Bruyne Far-Corner Curling Shot, Lv2: Similar】

Proficiency: 58/70

The curling shot flew out; goalkeeper Mulder leaped out with all his might, but Tang Ye's shot struck the junction where the post and the crossbar met.

It didn't go in, but standing right at the landing spot was Di Di Bala.

!!!

Di Di Bala and Kluivert both ran toward the ball's location; ultimately, the faster Di Di Bala arrived a step earlier, poking the ball into the net to score.

Tang Ye raised both hands to celebrate.

It was a pity he didn't get any Counterattack Points, but the goal went in!

The match continues.

In the first half of the league, Utrecht and Heerenveen played a rather tense game, but the current Utrecht is completely different from the Utrecht of before.

Score more goals!

"Come on, come on, give it to me, give it to me!"

Tang Ye took the ball from under De Jong's feet.

Jansen was injured during training, so Ten Hag moved De Jong into the starting lineup.

This guy De Jong is truly formidable, especially his ability to advance while controlling the ball; watching it made Tang Ye quite envious.

Control the ball, lift his head to observe, look to the right flank!

On the right flank, there was a full-back making a run down the line: Kleiber.

Tang Ye was thinking about whether or not to pass to Kleiber.

Pass it directly!

Slap!

This was a low driven through-ball from Tang Ye; the ball flew out from a position slightly left of center, passing between Van den Berg and Klaeveren, precisely finding the baseline on the right flank.

Kleiber felt very comfortable; he only needed to keep running forward to control the ball.

"Woww!!"

The away stand erupted in cheers as Utrecht's full-back displayed his excellent dribbling skills.

Looking closely.

Hiss, Kleiber's dribbling technique is even better than that of a certain possession-oriented midfielder on the team who wears a double-digit jersey number!

Seizing the opportunity, Kleiber sent out a cross, whipping the ball directly to Allé on the left flank.

Oh?

A familiar feeling; Tang Ye hurriedly ran forward.

As it happened, Allé did not rush to pass; he initially chose to engage in a one-on-one duel with his opponent on the flank, which gave Tang Ye the chance to gradually get into position.

Allé played a cut-back pass!

"Mine, mine!"

Tang Ye loudly called for the ball, not expecting Malzo to actually try and steal it.

Tang Ye naturally refused to yield, using his body to shield the ball.

He stepped on the ball with his right foot, then pulled it back between his legs!

This was a nutmeg; Tang Ye not only nutmegged the defender but also nutmegged himself!

"Tom!!"

He turned and accelerated.

Locking onto the position of the goal.

Curling it toward the far corner!

【De Bruyne Far-Corner Curling Shot Lv2: Similar】

Proficiency: 60/70

Executing a curling shot during a match only adds 1 point of proficiency, but since Tang Ye scored with this shot, an extra point was added.

"2:0, Tang Ye! A perfect curling shot!"

"This is Tang Ye's signature move; the angle is as razor-sharp as ever."

"And did you see that? Tang Ye's shot speed is now much faster than before!"

Once Wang Chao said this, the bean warriors and fans in the live stream finally noticed.

Indeed, Tang Ye's physique is much stronger than before!

【A nutmeg from behind; Meng-ge's imagination is still ridiculously heaven-defying as ever.】

【Damn, Meng-ge actually didn't dodge the physical confrontation this time; not bad, being 17 really makes a difference.】

【My Meng-ge has finally stood up.】

【Who says my Meng-ge doesn't train? If he didn't train, where would all these muscles come from? Haters, speak up!】

【Is Utrecht this strong this season, damn? This winning streak must be 4 or 5 games by now?】 The first half ended, and Ten Hag led the players back to the locker room.

"For the second half, we don't have any other tactics; I just have one requirement."

Ten Hag raised his index finger and waved it in front of the players.

"Press them!"

"Just press them!"

Tang Ye sat on a chair, chewing gum while rubbing his hands together.

The heating in the locker room was terrible, but Ten Hag's words were incredibly passionate.

Fired up!

"Pass to me, Tang!"

Allé tightly grabbed Tang Ye's upper arm, handing this arduous task over to Tang Ye.

!

"This depends on luck."

Tang Ye wanted to say a few more words to Allé, but the guy had already walked out of the locker room.

"Uh..."

Tang Ye scratched his head and looked at Amrabat, who had sat back down: "Why is Allé so excited?"

"It seems if he scores one more goal, he'll be top of the scorers' list."

"Damn, that's this powerful?"

Tang Ye clicked his tongue.

When he first joined the first team, Ramselaar had told him that Utrecht was just a relegation-battling side.

Haller is about to win the Golden Boot; is this the strength of a relegation-battling team?

"Damn, I feel like I'm being carried!"

Tang Ye felt somewhat excited.

Amrabat didn't quite understand what Tang Ye meant by that; frowning, he tapped on Haller's avatar in the top scorers list.

2. Haller (Utrecht), 19 goals

Top Assist Provider: Tang Ye

Number of Assists: 15

Hmm...

Amrabat turned off his phone.

In a certain sense, he had indeed been carried, that was correct.

The second half begins!

"Tang Ye, Tang Ye's form in today's match is excellent!"

"Here comes a tackle!"

"Perfect, Tang Ye successfully intercepted the Heerenveen player dribbling forward on the wing."

"Although he didn't keep the ball at his feet, he defused the crisis!"

"..."

"Another tackle; does Tang Ye seem addicted to tackling today?"

"Yellow card, Tang Ye made a mistake, that's a yellow card!"

Damn!

Tang Ye jumped up from the ground.

He had clearly gone for the ball, yet in the end he actually kicked Thorsby's shin!

yellowcard: y. tang

Tang Ye felt a bit embarrassed and reached out to help Thorsby up.

Since Tang Ye had done this, Thorsby certainly had no objection, but the other Heerenveen players did!

"Get lost!"

Malzo shoved Tang Ye away.

Tang Ye hadn't been standing very steadily to begin with, and with Malzo's push, he landed squarely on his butt.

"What the hell?"

Haller and Di Di Bala almost rushed up simultaneously; the 1.9-meter-tall Haller grabbed Malzo by the collar, making the latter look like a toy in Haller's hands: "Kid, what are you doing?"

Damn, they're going to fight!

Tang Ye quickly stood up and reached out to pull Haller back, but Haller seemed to have lost his cool too, pressing his forehead against Malzo's, making the latter feel somewhat panicked.

He's not really going to hit someone, is he?

A large number of players from both sides rushed over; this confrontation ultimately ended with yellow cards for both Malzo and Haller.

"Fuck you!"

"Get lost, you idiot!"

Although they had received yellow cards, Malzo and Haller did not calm down, continuing to trade verbal insults.

Fortunately, teammates held them back; otherwise, these two guys would probably have been sent off with red cards.

Hiss—

Tang Ye paid no attention to all this, rubbing his butt.

He had landed on his butt when he fell just now, but landing suddenly on one's butt actually hurts quite a bit.

"Tang, are you okay?"

Haller suddenly asked, looking as if he still wanted to go up and beat Malzo to a pulp, which startled Tang Ye.

"It's fine, it's fine, it's okay, I'm already fine, I'm already fine."

The match continued; Ten Hag substituted Amrabat for Ramselaar.

This was a somewhat conservative substitution.

With Utrecht leading by two goals at the 70-minute mark, this substitution was indeed quite reasonable.

When the match reached the 80-something minute mark, Tang Ye secretly ran into the penalty area, hoping to unleash a volley.

However, Tang Ye did not have such good luck this time; his shot went wildly off target, nearly hitting a fan in the stands on the head.

Tang Ye raised his hand to acknowledge the fans in the stands.

It seems I still have a long way to go before becoming a super striker!

"Beep, beep-beep—!!!"

The full-time whistle blows; neither side scored in the second half, and the final score is 2:0.

Tang Ye now felt somewhat excited.

Because after this match, he would receive the award for Player of the Month for February!

This is the first time in his professional career!

Click!

Crack! Crack!

The Football Association chose the match pitch as the venue for the award ceremony; Tang Ye faced the reporters, with an oversized billboard behind him.

"Tom, oh, sorry, um... Tang!"

The reporter struggled to pronounce Tang Ye's surname: "You've won the Eredivisie Player of the Month trophy at the age of 16, breaking the league's record. Do you have any comments?"

The reporter extended the microphone; Tang Ye, slightly embarrassed, said, "What I want to say is, um... actually, I'm already 17 today."

"It's all the same; 17 is still a record. Before you, no underage player had ever won the Eredivisie Monthly Best. At most, they could only make it onto the field as substitutes, whereas you are an absolute starter."

Realizing he had misspoken, the reporter proceeded to lavish excessive praise on Tang Ye to make amends, nearly making Tang Ye's face turn red.

"Thank you, thank you."

Clutching the small crystal-colored trophy in his hands, Tang Ye said, "I will continue to work hard; this is not the end."

"Continue to work hard?"

The reporter seized upon the key information in Tang Ye's words: "To... Tang, fans of the Eredivisie generally consider you a genius. In your own view, which has helped you more: hard work or talent?"

"It's hard work."

Tang Ye answered with utmost decisiveness.

Front-page headline of the Utrecht Evening Post: "At 17, Wins Player of the Month; Utrecht Rookie Breaks History."

Utrecht RTV reporter Fan De: "Ten Hag Wins Monthly Best Again; Utrecht Welcomes a Savior!"

(End of Chapter)