Kelsey swore he didn’t mean to throw cold water on the situation, he just hoped the team wouldn’t pile all the pressure on Li Wei alone.
After all, the League was crazy enough already. They were teammates, comrades in arms; at least inside the team, they should share the pressure together.
Of course, in a teasing manner.
In the midst of all the teasing and attacking, Kelsey turned to look at Li Wei, raised his hands in surrender, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled into a smile.
Then, he mouthed silently, "Sorry."
Li Wei certainly didn’t mind, he looked at the other teammates in the locker room and waved his hand lightly, "He’s just jealous."
Then, looking at Kelsey, Li Wei opened his arms in a hug gesture, "Don’t worry, Travis, I’ll take you flying with me."
Looking at Li Wei’s brimming confidence, he was almost like Jesus Christ himself, just short of a halo around his head. The locker room erupted in whistles and cheers, with the continuous banging on lockers creating an endless noise—a raucous celebration, as the victory party had just begun.
At last, Li Wei finally got some personal space.
Turning to face his locker, under the guise of tidying his things, Li Wei then summoned the system in his mind.
The opportunity to flip a card had arrived!
Before, Li Wei had speculated that as time advanced and, most importantly, as his personal abilities improved, it would become increasingly difficult to accumulate progress on the system’s progress bar; but at the same time, with intensified training and increased professional competition, the scale of the upgrade would also increase slightly.
Between the two, there should be a balance to maintain the pacing of progress.
After all, in essence, this was a straightforward training system.
Indeed, that was the case.
Since the last card flip lottery, the speed of the progress bar’s accumulation had noticeably slowed, as the intensity of daily training seemed no longer capable of bringing about effective improvement.
However, with the kickoff of the NFL season and two back-to-back intensely competitive games, Li Wei’s consecutive high-intensity, high-efficiency performances turned in a perfect scorecard, and the progress bar that crawled like a snail these past months suddenly returned to the initial speed when the system was first launched, soaring like a rocket.
In front of him, the progress bar was full again, and just now, Li Wei had received another opportunity to flip a card.
After taking a moment to adjust his breathing, Li Wei was not ready to wait any longer—
Now was the perfect time.
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Just as Mahomes had said, today people realized that Li Wei’s professional career had been undefeated in official competitions so far, almost as if possessed by the Goddess of Fortune.
Without any hesitation, Li Wei immediately chose to flip a card.
A card floated in mid-air, enveloped in a pale blue glow.
"Card: Injury Negative Impact Reduction Card (50%)"
It was a pleasant surprise, an absolute delight!
It was so close, just a bit more, and Li Wei was about to clench his fist and shout out in celebration, but he still controlled himself, keeping a low profile.
Indeed, today was a lucky day.
On the day the training system was launched, Li Wei opened the newbie gift pack, and Adrian Peterson’s S-class training template was undoubtedly the most eye-catching, setting the foundation for Li Wei to shine on the football field; but as time went on and Li Wei’s understanding of football grew deeper, he truly confirmed that the highlight of the newbie gift pack was:
The Injury Negative Impact Reduction Card.
The running back was a position that required confrontation, contact, and collision. Every game and even every training session had to endure countless impacts. Even without injury, the body was constantly under pressure.
Injuries, they are almost unavoidable.
The fact that Peterson could be considered a strong candidate for the greatest running back since the millennium lies in his stability and consistency; injuries did not pose a serious threat to his career, which is incredibly important and precious for a running back.
Without going into distant examples, at this year’s draft, the reason Fournette was able to gain recognition over Li Wei and McCaffrey in the discussions around the trio of running backs was the same:
Collision resistance.
Fournette’s robust build is considered a rare treasure for a running back’s position. Having recovered quickly from injuries in the 2016 season and then putting on a strong performance was an added bonus, securing his high draft position.
Li Wei could feel it himself.
He had only played two official NFL games, and while he wasn’t injured or feeling unwell, his body’s response to the intensity and pressure did not lie. The overall strength and density was indeed a notch—or even two—higher than in the NCAA—
Which is why the cooldown, massage, and recovery steps after the game, and even the pre-game warmups, were more intricate and their importance could not be overlooked.
Everything was to avoid injury.
At this moment, the significance of the Injury Negative Impact Reduction Card became evident.
Even without any injuries, the card could still work on the negative impacts felt by the body and minimize the damage to the body as much as possible.
Together with the Recovery Effect Doubling Card, their joint effect was not only crucial for extending the latter half of Li Wei’s season performance but also key to prolonging his career.
The only pity was that the Injury Negative Impact Reduction Card from the beginner’s gift pack only had a 10% effect.
At that time, Li Wei was curious about the maximum limit of this effect, but as more than a year had passed, he had not seen a similar card, which highlighted the preciousness of the beginner’s gift pack even more.
The effect was as high as 50%!
Without hesitation, Li Wei summoned the system; he needed to conduct an experiment to see if the effects of cards of the same type could stack. If successful, two Injury Negative Impact Reduction Cards would amount to 60%.
Li Wei temporarily removed the Training Effect Doubling Card, attempting to install this 50% Injury Negative Impact Reduction Card.
"Cards with the same effect cannot be equipped simultaneously."
The system popped up a prompt box.
Despite a touch of regret, he was not disappointed. One should not be too greedy—
50%, this was already a leap forward.
He replaced the original 10% card and re-equipped the Training Effect Doubling Card and the Injury Negative Impact Reduction Card, letting out a long breath of relief.
Regardless, the gains from the opening two games of the season were far beyond expectations, and just one Injury Negative Impact Reduction Card was enough to exhilarate him.
Li Wei couldn’t help but rub his hands together in anticipation.
He was looking forward to the upcoming games, eager for the continued high-intensity collisions. Who knows, maybe the system’s card flipping chances could bring even more surprises.
Just as he was about to close his locker, ready for his post-game recovery, he noticed his phone buzzing. He casually picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID—
An unfamiliar number.
If it were any other time, Li Wei wouldn’t have answered; who knows whether it’d be a tedious scam call or a fan harassment call. But having just won a prize, Li Wei was in a good mood. Even if he couldn’t share the joy with someone else, the world through his eyes looked exceptionally beautiful.
So, he answered the call.
"Hey, this is Li Wei, who’s this?"
"Yo, brother, this is LeBron."