76: The Ultimate Midfielder 

The outside world knew all too well—

The battle over Kai was far from over.

For the next few months, there would be no signs of this transfer war slowing down!

That evening,

After finishing his training, Kai returned home.

As usual, it was time for his system settlement.

This time, after using the "Guaranteed Free Kick Goal Card" in the match,

his free kick attribute saw a huge boost!

[Free Kicks: 37 → 50!]

A direct increase of 13 points!

Kai's eyes lit up!

This improvement was far greater than the boost he got the first time he used the same card.

He vaguely remembered—

that time, his free kick stat had only gone up by 2 points.

But this time—13 points in one go!

After the clash with Chelsea,

he also received a special reward: a Chelsea Player Treasure Chest.

In front of him, golden light flashed!

Thanks to his SSS-level post-match rating,

the quality of the Chelsea chest had successfully upgraded to Gold!

[Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have opened the Chelsea Gold Chest!]

[Reward acquired: Kanté's "Iron Lung Beast Midfield Module"!]

A surge of pure energy flooded through Kai's limbs and bones!

Massive amounts of data and instinctual awareness flooded his mind!

In an instant, Kai felt a qualitative leap in his cardiovascular strength!

Sure enough, two major attributes soared like crazy:

[Stamina: 82 → 90!]

[Tackling: 60 → 80!]

His stamina and tackling ability had skyrocketed!

Kai was overjoyed!

This was N'Golo Kanté, after all!

Though not tall, he was legendary for his immense defensive coverage,

ferocious pressing, and his superhuman endurance.

The "Beast Midfielder" of Chelsea!

With this module in place—

Even without using any defense-oriented divine cards,

Kai's defensive abilities had now exploded in strength!

From this point on, he had truly become a super player with both offensive and defensive mastery!

Historically, many midfielders who excelled in "king-style" play were often weak in defense.

And players like Beckenbauer, pioneers of the sweeper system,

tended to have less powerful attacking stats.

But right now—

Kai was different.

He had become a player of complete balance—

An unprecedented, ultimate footballer!

Following the match against Chelsea,

the entire English football world was still buzzing about that game.

Crystal Palace had returned to South London.

But they had no time to be distracted by the chaos outside.

There was about one month left before the FA Cup semi-final.

And during that month—

there would be no room for relaxation.

The league was now entering its final sprint!

This season, Crystal Palace was fighting on two fronts.

Every single player was operating at full tension.

There were only two or three months left in the season.

At this moment, the gap between them and Queens Park Rangers, who topped the table,

was a mere four points.

A razor-thin margin.

It looked small on paper,

but a single slip-up from Palace would basically mean elimination from the title race.

Queens Park Rangers, on the other hand, had a slightly higher margin for error.

As the season reached its critical phase,

the fixture schedule became ridiculously tight.

In the month before the next FA Cup round,

the Championship crammed in a full ten rounds of league matches!

Players and coaches from all clubs were barely holding it together,

many on the verge of collapse.

But Crystal Palace—

thanks to a clever squad rotation system,

and Kai's ironman full-attendance streak—

swept through all ten matches!

Kai had now raised his season assist count to a terrifying:

65 assists!

European football was once again set ablaze!

This number… was simply beyond belief!

Even among the world's most elite assist makers,

few could match this tally over the course of an entire calendar year.

Kai had now rewritten the Championship's assist record.

He had pushed it to an unprecedented, legendary level

—one that no one before or after might ever reach.

Some leading media outlets confidently declared:

"Once Kai leaves the Championship, his assist record may remain untouched for a hundred years!"

And over on the Championship scoring chart,

Kai and his teammate Vaughan were neck-and-neck.

The two kept trading places at 1st and 2nd in the Golden Boot race.

The media went wild.

Every major statistical leaderboard this season in the Championship

had practically become an internal team leaderboard for Crystal Palace!

And what left journalists even more stunned was—

Since Kai joined Crystal Palace,

the team had gone on a furious winning streak in all competitions.

In the league, they had even achieved a mind-blowing:

29 consecutive wins!

The absurd length of this winning streak shocked the media around the world!

Many sighed with relief:

"Thank goodness Palace are still just a second-tier team in England."

Because if this record had come in one of the top five leagues,

it would've undoubtedly become historic.

To this day, the longest win streak in a top league still belonged to Johan Cruyff's Ajax from the previous century,

with a record of 26 straight wins.

Right now, Crystal Palace fans had undoubtedly become the happiest fanbase in the Championship!

This team—once struggling in the relegation zone—

had transformed, after Kai's arrival, from a small South London club

into the center of attention in all of English football.

Their exposure and fame had skyrocketed from rock bottom to the peak!

And just as Crystal Palace fans were still basking in their joy,

an even more electrifying piece of news came their way!

In Championship Round 40,

Queens Park Rangers (QPR) were held to a draw at home by Swansea.

They earned just one point this round!

Crystal Palace fans erupted with excitement!

In contrast, Palace themselves had once again delivered a clinical victory,

defeating Norwich away from home.

That completed a double over Norwich for the season!

Another three points for Palace!

Now, with QPR only taking one point—

the gap between the two teams had narrowed to just:

TWO POINTS!!

The moment Crystal Palace fans had been dreaming of had finally arrived!

In the final sprint of the season,

QPR had made two unexpected slip-ups back-to-back—

It was basically like handing Palace 4 points for free!

The mere two-point gap now had Palace fans on the edge of delirium!

With six rounds left in the Championship—

Even if QPR didn't slip up again,

Crystal Palace would still get a head-to-head rematch with them at the very end of the season.

That clash would be:

The ultimate battle to seize control of their destiny!

From relegation zone survivors to title contenders—

Crystal Palace fans were in disbelief!

This entire season… felt like a dream.

Kai's arrival didn't just shatter the football world's perception of what a genius could be.

He had also given a small club like Crystal Palace

a season of glory worthy of being forever written into history!

Time quickly marched into mid-April.

The season had now reached its final stretch.

It was time for:

The FA Cup Seventh Round — the Semi-finals!

Once again, the eyes of the entire English football world turned to them!

Crystal Palace fans held their breath—

Who would their next opponent be in the FA Cup semi-final?

Which Premier League giant awaited them this time?

~~----------------------

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