Chapter 211: Chapter 132: Li Wei’s Diary
"Thank you," Li Wei said. "Your Chinese is quite good."
Li Wei heard Elizabeth’s soft laugh.
"Actually, I’ve been learning it since I was a child..." she said slowly. "I just rarely show it off."
"You should speak it more often," Li Wei said with a smile. "It’s nice to hear."
"Congratulations again on signing with the NFL and joining the Giants. This will be very beneficial for your future in New York," Elizabeth Mellon said. "I’ll be sure to invite you... and Anya to any relevant events."
"Thank you, Miss Elizabeth," Li Wei said. "When I have the chance, I’d like to take you to... dinner to show my appreciation."
"Don’t mention it," Elizabeth said. "I’m still waiting for you to lead your team to the Super Bowl and get me a ticket to a private box. That would give me so much face with my classmates and friends."
Although Li Wei knew she was just being polite, her words were certainly pleasant to hear.
The next few days were uneventful yet fulfilling. Li Wei couldn’t wait for the official games to start next week so he could start raking in the Gold Coins. His account only had a little over four million USD, but his contract was for a full 200 million over two years.
But before he could start raking in the gold, Li Wei first had to figure out a way to get through the layers of paparazzi surrounding him just to get to school and finish his last bit of coursework.
Just as Li Wei was considering whether to use [Stealth] to bypass the paparazzi, Principal Herman stepped up. With a wave of his chubby hand and a fawning expression, he granted Li Wei’s car the same privilege as the teachers’ vehicles, allowing him to drive directly into the school’s parking lot.
No one had any objections, because in the United States of America, this was the privilege of the strong.
The midterm exams in April were a complete non-issue for Li Wei, Travis, Craig, and the others. The teachers weren’t about to give them a hard time. Even for the sake of Franklin K. Lane High School’s college acceptance rate, Principal Herman wouldn’t allow these players, who had already secured their university offers, to be left without a school to attend because of a failing grade.
For the rest of April, Li Wei’s life went like this:
April 10th, school, midterms.
April 11th, school, midterms.
’High school exams are way too easy. I’ve already started studying third-year university coursework.’
April 12th, weekend. Anya came over. Tumbled the dragon and overturned the phoenix. (To prevent Lily from peeking at this diary, I won’t write any more details.)
April 13th, weekend. Anya didn’t go home. Continued tumbling the dragon and overturning the phoenix.
April 14th, should have been a school day, but Anya refused to admit defeat and drove over again. Today, she bought a Catwoman cosplay outfit and a Batman one. It got me super excited, so I played out a scene with her.
While Batman was giving Catwoman a harsh lesson, Lily suddenly came home.
I could feel Catwoman’s tears of regret, so I covered her mouth and continued the punishment. In the end, of course, justice prevailed over evil, and Batman was victorious.
April 15th, ’Li Wei, oh, Li Wei, how could you have become so depraved? You can’t go on like this. Have you forgotten your goal? Hmm, what was my goal again? The goal is to get everything to 3.0 first.’
April 16th, Anya bought another new set of tricks. This time, it was Black Widow and Spider-Man costumes.
’Hmm... I wonder if role-playing can trigger a quest? I should give it a try.’
’Hope Lily doesn’t see the costume fragments in the trash can when I take out the garbage today.’
...
Time flew by, and soon it was late April.
Anya recently got her period, which finally gave her an excuse to let her body rest.
When Li Wei got home today, he found Don Quixote watching TV. A live broadcast of the NFL Scouting Combine was on.
"What are you watching?" he asked with a smile. "Scouting out my competition?"
"Yes," Don Quixote said, putting on a pair of glasses and carefully studying the stats of the rookies on screen. "I’m seeing if there’s anyone who could pose a threat to you."
"There shouldn’t be," Li Wei said.
’Unless they have a system too.’
"From the looks of it, no, there isn’t," Don Quixote said. "But I’m not a professional, after all. After the live broadcast, I still have a meeting with the Giants’ data analysis team to go over the footage carefully."
Having lost everything once before, he cherished this hard-won favor from fate more than anyone. After becoming Li Wei’s agent, Don Quixote didn’t just lie back and enjoy the good life as Li Wei had expected. Instead, he threw himself into the work with a passion that hadn’t diminished with age.
Li Wei nodded. "By the way, I feel like I haven’t heard anything about your ex-wife in a long time."
"She and that vice president from some-trust-or-other have been gone for four or five months now," Don Quixote sneered. "I saw her social media posts before. She’s living it up, wining and dining, seems happier than ever."
Li Wei recalled his earlier conversation with Elizabeth but said nothing, simply heading upstairs with his backpack.
That night, perhaps prompted by Li Wei’s reminder, or perhaps because the pressure of work had indeed been getting to him lately, Li Wei once again heard sounds coming from Don Quixote’s room.
He went to the living room and saw Don Quixote, fully clad in his armor, pacing back and forth with his eyes shut tight.
"Knight Don Quixote," Li Wei said softly, walking over.
"Shh," Don Quixote said, eyes still closed. "I sense a surge of Magic Power."
"A surge of Magic Power?" Li Wei asked, surprised. "How is there a surge of Magic Power?"
The term ’Magic Power’ was quite novel. In Li Wei’s memory, Don Quixote rarely mentioned anything related to Magic Power in his dream-like states.
"It’s the Witch," Don Quixote said, his brow furrowed. "I can feel her trying to use her last ounce of strength to launch a counterattack and destroy us in one fell swoop."
[You have received a quest: Assist Knight Don Quixote in constructing a War Array]
[Your several expeditions with Knight Don Quixote have successfully destroyed the Witch’s avatars and the vast majority of her minions. Now, she is cornered and plans to gather all her remaining strength for a concentrated counterattack on the Royal City. Knight Don Quixote has keenly sensed this crisis. He will lay an Array around the entire Royal City using Mithril powder, uniting the power of the Knight Legion to resist the Witch’s final Magic Power.]
[Quest Reward: +0.1 Free Attribute Points]
Seeing the words on his retina, Li Wei’s Spirit was roused. He grabbed his jacket from the coat rack and threw it on.
"I’ll help with this," he said. "When it comes to stopping evil, it’s my duty."
"Excellent!" Don Quixote nodded in satisfaction. "You are worthy of the title of champion. A true Knight."
One after the other, the two of them exited through the double doors of their apartment and arrived in the lobby.
It was past 2 AM, and the doorman was on duty behind the front desk.
When he saw Don Quixote clanking over in his armor, his eyes filled with delight.
"Mr. Li Wei, Don Quixote... Mr. Knight," he said, immediately coming out from behind the desk. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Guard Captain!" Don Quixote said with his eyes closed. "Why are you still wearing such flimsy armor? Did the Royal Capital’s Minister of Finance still not issue your pay after I spoke to him?"
"Well..." The doorman hesitated, looking helplessly at Li Wei. "I..."
"It’s because this is the new model issued to the Royal Capital’s Praetorian Guard," Li Wei interjected, casually handing over a 20 USD bill as a tip. "It’s crafted with new dwarven techniques, right, Guard Captain?"
"Yes, yes, that’s right," the doorman nodded hurriedly. "Mr. Li Wei is correct."
"Alright then," Don Quixote said, patting the doorman’s shoulder with concern. "If you are ever treated unfairly, you must tell me. Knight Don Quixote will see that justice is done for you."
"Understood," the doorman said, his heart warming as he spoke. "Knight Don Quixote, is there something you need?"
"It’s like this," Don Quixote said. "We need to set up an Array around the Royal City. We require a horse-drawn carriage."
"A carriage... you mean the shuttle cart, right?" the doorman thought for a moment. "That’s easy. I’ll go get it now."
"Thank you for your trouble," Li Wei said, slipping him another 50 USD tip. "Guard Captain."
Honestly, the doorman’s heart had softened for a moment, and he had almost refused the money Li Wei offered. But in the end, he accepted it. Taking the cash, he ran off and returned a moment later, driving a small shuttle cart.
Li Wei got into the passenger seat while Don Quixote sat in the back. He kept grabbing handfuls of air from the pockets of his pajamas worn under the armor, muttering incomprehensible spells and scattering the "powder" along the way.
The doorman kept glancing at Li Wei’s profile as he drove the shuttle cart.
Driven by curiosity, he finally couldn’t help but ask:
"Mr. Li Wei," he said cautiously, "if I’m not mistaken, are you the Li Wei who signed with the Giants a while ago?"
Li Wei nodded. "Yes, that’s me."
"Oh my god," the doorman said, unable to resist another glance in the rearview mirror at the muttering Don Quixote. "I never thought I’d be this close to a superstar one day."
"Am I that famous?" Li Wei asked curiously.
"Famous? No, no, no," the doorman said, carefully navigating a turn. "Right now, anyone who knows even a little bit about football knows your name."
"Aha!" Don Quixote suddenly shouted. "Stop here! This is a weak point in the Array!"
The moment the shuttle cart came to a steady stop, Don Quixote jumped out impatiently. He pulled something from his empty pockets and began drawing patterns on the ground with it.
"Here, the power of the entire Knight Legion will be gathered," he said. "This is the aural power of the War Array."
"Forgive me for being nosy," the doorman said, finally unable to hold back after watching Don Quixote, "but now that you’re so successful, have you ever thought about hiring someone to take care of him? I mean, you must be quite busy these days."
’Take care of him?’ Li Wei was stunned. ’If I hire someone to look after my uncle, who’s going to reliably help me farm attributes?’
He thought for a moment and came up with an explanation. "Well... my uncle is completely normal during the day when he’s not sleeping. He’s still my agent and handles some business matters for me."
However, this simple excuse immediately took on a different meaning in the doorman’s ears.
