"Open the diamond chest for me!"
Ye Chen took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, and sat up straight on the bus, his entire being tense with excitement!
Any SS-rank skill brings significant physical changes and greatly enhances one's abilities!
He could hardly wait!
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining Inzaghi's Positioning!"
Hiss...
Ye Chen gasped!
Inzaghi's positioning!
The world-class positioning of the legendary "Nine"!
Suddenly, Ye Chen's mind was flooded with Inzaghi's positioning techniques!
There was no better word to describe it thanâelusive.
In videos, he could see how Inzaghi evaded offside traps, timed his reverse runs, accelerated into open spaces, and drifted unpredictably to shake off defenders. His lateral movements stretched defenses to their limits...
A ghost!
He was the ghost lingering on the offside line!
Incredible!
Absolutely incredible!
With this skill, Ye Chen would become the man dancing on the offside line!
His heart raced, and his hands trembled with excitement!
Ye Chen opened his attribute panel.
His attacking ability surged, rising from 84 to 90!
This "attacking ability" was essentially his off-the-ball movement.
To truly become a ghost on the offside line, a positioning stat of 90 was merely the entry point!
Additionally, his explosiveness increased, jumping from 85 to 88!
With the boost from his boots, his explosiveness broke past 90, reaching 91!
Even his ball control saw a subtle improvement, climbing from 79 to 82âa three-point boost, just like his explosiveness!
No doubt about itâan SS-rank skill indeed.
For someone like Ye Chen, whose stats were already high, such significant improvements were rare.
After all, his winter training taught him just how difficult it was to raise his stats!
To put it into perspective, under normal training and match conditions, raising his ball control from 79 to 82 would typically take at least half a season!
But that's the terror of SS-rank skills!
"Ding! SS-rank Poacher skill detected, highly compatible with Inzaghi's Positioning. Fusion conditions met. Proceed with skill fusion?"
Ye Chen's eyes widened in shock!
"Fusion!"
No hesitation!
Ye Chen's first-ever SSS-rank skill appeared!
"Ding! Fusion complete. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the SSS-rank skillâPhantom Poacher!"
Phantom Poacher?
It was the first time he'd heard such a name.
But something about it sounded terrifyingly powerful!
Ye Chen opened his stats panel once again...
He wanted to see just how transformative an SSS-rank skill could be!
But when he saw his attacking stat glowing in bright red at 92, he was utterly stunned!
His attacking ability surged once more, rising from 90 to 92!
Even his shooting, which hadn't improved earlier, skyrocketed from 85 to 90!
His explosiveness, just boosted to 88, had already reached 90 upon a second glance!
And it didn't stop thereâhis ball control rose further, from 82 to 85!
Hiss...
The power of an SSS-rank skill was simply overwhelming!
Ye Chen countedâhe now had five attributes rated at 90 or higher!
With those stats, claiming to be the top striker in the Bundesliga was no exaggeration!
Perhaps his physical strength wasn't as dominant as someone like Gómez, who excelled at aerial duels, but his elusive positioning and exceptional finishing made him unstoppable!
Thinking ahead, wasn't the German national team missing a forward like him?
Ye Chen glanced at his overall ratingâit had jumped from 84 to 86!
A 17-year-old striker with an 86 overall rating... If this were a video game, players would fight tooth and nail to sign him!
And it wasn't just in gamesâteams in real life were equally eager.
Since the start of the winter break, numerous clubs had inquired about Ye Chen.
The most enthusiastic were Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Manchester United also expressed interest, but Dortmund's uniform response was clearâ"Not for sale."
So many inquiries left Watzke feeling a little uneasy...
Was the â¬88.88 million price tag too low?
Looking at Ye Chen's current stats...
28 league goals and 2 assists!
In the German Cup, he topped the scoring charts with 10 goals in two matches!
His five-goal performance in just five minutes during the second match left the football world in awe!
Even after half a month, the internet was still buzzing about it!
Watzke was considering renewing Ye Chen's contract, but Klopp advised against it.
Despite Ye Chen's outstanding performance, he hadn't secured any major personal or team accolades yet.
No club would spend â¬88.88 million on a young player without proven achievements.
Remember, even Cristiano Ronaldo, after winning the Premier League, Champions League, and Ballon d'Or, was transferred for â¬96 million!
At this stage, Ye Chen couldn't be compared to Ronaldo just yet.
But none of that concerned Ye Chen. His focus was on performing well and helping Dortmund win more titles.
That was all that mattered!
At the post-match press conference, Torsten Fink brought Son Heung-min with him.
Son was in tears, repeatedly bowing at 90 degrees and apologizing to Ye Chen.
"Ye Ge, that foul was my fault. My mind went blankâI just wanted to win the ball back! I had no intention of hurting you! I deeply apologize for my reckless tackle from behind. I'm grateful you weren't seriously injured, or I would've regretted it for life! Ye Ge, I'm sorry!"
Following Shinji Kagawa's kneeling incident, another Asian talent, Son Heung-min, apologized to Ye Chen with a bow!
This caused a stir on Chinese social media!
"Ye Shen is just too powerfulâhe's got Son Heung-min bowing to him!"
"He's only doing that to get a lighter suspension from the Bundesliga."
"But hey, an apology is better than nothing. Ye Shen is just too strong!"