Football: Salary System - Chapter 167: Resistance Evolution? (Patreon)

December 24, Christmas Eve.

Angelina lay on Zayn's chest, tracing circles over his collarbone with her fingertip as she said coquettishly, "I'm hungry."

Zayn rolled over at once and pulled Angelina into his arms.

"Perfect. I haven't..."

Realizing that he had completely misunderstood her, Angelina immediately became both embarrassed and alarmed. She planted both hands against his chest and hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Please spare me... I'm really hungry. My stomach is hungry! I haven't eaten anything since this afternoon."

The flush on the girl's cheeks had yet to fade, while her eyes were already glistening with moisture. She looked thoroughly worn out.

Only then did Zayn realize what she meant. He checked the time. It was already eleven at night.

Ever since they had returned that afternoon, neither of them had gotten out of bed.

Feeling a little sheepish, he released her and scratched his head.

"Then let's go out and get something to eat?"

...

Snow was still falling over Turin, although it was much lighter than during the day.

Sparse flakes drifted down, and a few tiny snowflakes settled in Angelina's hair. Zayn could not help looking at her a couple more times.

Angelina did not notice his gaze. Her legs were still a little weak, and even with her arm hooked around Zayn's, every step was slightly unsteady, leaving uneven footprints in the thin layer of snow.

A short walk down the road in front of the Principi di Piemonte hotel brought them to San Salvario.

It was the center of Turin's nightlife. Even on Christmas Eve, when Italians placed enormous importance on gathering with family, several small shops along the streets still had their lights on.

The two wandered around for a while before sitting down in a pizzeria.

How could they come to Italy and not eat pizza?

Zayn did not order the classic Margherita or Marinara, however. Instead, he chose Turin's local specialty, pan pizza.

It was a specialty of Piedmont and difficult to find outside Turin.

Zayn had learned about it from Raiola.

Compared with classic Italian pizza, pan pizza had a much crispier crust, even carrying a faint fried aroma, while the inside remained exceptionally soft, fluffy, and moist.

Crispy outside and tender inside, it tasted far better than Zayn had expected.

Even Angelina, who was usually extremely strict with her diet because of her modeling career, finished her entire portion.

When they stepped outside, snow once again settled on their shoulders.

Angelina leaned against Zayn's arm and lazily complained that she could not walk anymore.

Zayn bent down and carried her on his back, retracing the route to the hotel.

The moment they returned to their room, Zayn wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and closed the door with one hand.

The girl laughed and pushed him, but failed to move him at all. Instead, she was the one who fell back onto the bed.

One piece of clothing after another landed on the carpet.

Outside the window, the snowfall grew heavier again.

...

December 25, morning.

The two had no choice but to part ways.

In many European countries, including Italy, Germany, and Norway, Christmas Eve on the twenty-fourth was the most important day of the year, while Christmas Day on the twenty-fifth was comparatively relaxed.

Britain was different. Christmas Day was the most important family holiday, while Christmas Eve was merely the prelude.

That was why Zayn could remain in Turin to shoot Domori's commercial and spend Christmas Eve with Angelina.

But no matter what, he had to return home today to reunite with his family.

For Russians who followed the Orthodox Julian calendar, meanwhile, Christmas fell on January 7. Their most important winter holiday was not Christmas at all, but New Year's Day on January 1.

Angelina's own schedule had already been arranged as well. She first needed to fly back to South Korea to deal with her house and some personal belongings there, completely severing the last of her ties with her former agency.

After that, she would fly directly to Milan to meet "God's" girlfriend, Helena Seger.

That was right. Although Helena and Ibrahimović had known each other for sixteen years and already had two sons together, they had never officially married.

Unlike some European football stars who avoided marriage to protect their assets in the event of a divorce, Ibrahimović had actually proposed. Helena was the one who turned him down. She did not want the outside world to overlook everything she had achieved through her own efforts simply because she was "Ibrahimović's partner."

Perhaps only a woman like that could keep the Swedish tower in check.

...

After a sleepless night, Zayn's physique, already far beyond that of an ordinary person, left him energetic as ever. Angelina, however, was completely exhausted.

Since her schedule was not urgent, Zayn extended the hotel reservation by another night so she could rest properly.

He headed for the airport alone.

Only after boarding the flight back to Birmingham did Zayn finally have time to check the reward brought by Domori's €300,000 contract.

[Main Quest (8): Treasure Trove]

[Current Progress: £269,934/£10,000,000]

The system had thoughtfully converted the euros into pounds using the exchange rate from the day the contract was signed.

Unfortunately, there were still far too many zeros separating him from completion of the quest.

...

[Business Health Index: 211 → 221]

The increase was within Zayn's expectations.

Ever since the [Business Health Index] had broken through 200, its rate of growth had slowed considerably.

What surprised him was that this increase had not granted him any new injury or illness resistance. None of his existing resistance values had increased either.

Instead, something unprecedented happened.

[Flu Resistance (40%) → Respiratory Illness Resistance (40%)]

Flu Resistance was one of the earliest resistances Zayn had obtained. Like Stomach Illness Resistance, it had come from the £1,000 he earned at the Emerald Tower.

He had never paid much attention to it. With his physical condition, even without a resistance bonus, a minor illness like the flu would normally pass after a couple of days.

But now, for some inexplicable reason, the system had upgraded [Flu Resistance] into [Respiratory Illness Resistance].

That was a completely different matter.

Only Zayn knew that one year later, the "mask" outbreak that would bring all five major European leagues to a standstill, cause the 2020 Ballon d'Or to be canceled, and force the sixtieth-anniversary European Championship scheduled for the summer of 2020 to be postponed until 2021 was an infectious disease that primarily attacked the respiratory system.

Whatever the cause, this sudden evolution of his resistance could only be good news for Zayn.

He simply had no idea where the evolution had come from or what had triggered it.

Had it been an automatic upgrade activated when the [Business Health Index] crossed a certain threshold?

After passing 200, would further increases automatically evolve his basic injury and illness resistances?

"What if the system just assigned it randomly?"

The thought suddenly occurred to Zayn. If the upgrade had been purely random, then he could rack his brain forever without finding an answer.

He stopped dwelling on it.

If he wanted to discover the pattern, taking on several different kinds of commercial partnerships would be far more useful than sitting there scratching his head.

Zayn silently noted the change and exited the system space.

...

A direct flight from Turin to Birmingham took only two hours. The two cities were separated by just over a thousand kilometers, roughly the same distance as Beijing to Shanghai.

The snowy landscape outside the window was soon replaced by gray clouds, which gradually became streaked with fine beads of water.

Clearly, Birmingham was raining again.

The city probably saw snow on only three or four days throughout the entire winter.

In fact, winter rain was far more common than snow throughout Britain. Even Scotland, which received the most snow, still saw far more rain.

By the time the plane landed, a steady rain was falling.

Christmas decorations along the streets dissolved into hazy patches of warm color in their reflections on the wet pavement.

The moment Zayn walked out of the terminal, he spotted George waiting to pick him up.

Father and son shared a brief hug before getting into the car, chatting idly about the weather, football, and a few things at home.

As soon as they turned into the familiar neighborhood, Zayn spotted a familiar dark-brown figure crouched beneath the eaves of his house from a distance. This time, however, two little patches of golden fur were trembling beside it.

Rainwater dripped from the edge of the roof without a single drop landing on them.

But the wind blowing in from the side had the two puppies curled into tight balls, one pressed against each side of Biscuit. Every so often they shivered, yet neither was willing to get up and leave.

They did not even know who they were waiting for.

Zayn suddenly remembered Hachiko, a film he had watched in his previous life, and felt unexpectedly moved.

"Maybe we shouldn't have Biscuit neutered after all."

George: "?"

Hadn't you always said neutering was better for dogs?

...