Chapter 17
Taking a Taxi to Slay the Dragon
"Of course, I have conditions," Li Wei thought for a moment and said, "You graduated from the University of Chicago, so you should know the AP course content, right? Calculus, macroeconomics, and things like that, right?"
"Of course," said Don Quixote, "you want me to tutor you?"
"Just help me fill in the gaps in my knowledge," Li Wei said, standing up. "I'll ask you if I don't understand something."
Don Quixote jumped up from the sofa excitedly and hugged Livy tightly.
If Livy's strength hadn't increased to 1.1, Don Quixote's foul mouth would probably have already been imprinted on Livy's face.
After giving Li Wei a hug, he excitedly rushed into the bathroom and began shaving his beard and grooming himself.
After washing up, he rushed out of the basement, jumped into his car, and sped off towards Manhattan.
When Li Wei saw Don Quixote again around 10 p.m., he found that Don Quixote seemed happier than ever before.
He held up his phone, scrolling through the photo album as he excitedly recounted how he had spent a wonderful afternoon with his little angel.
"Look, this is Central Park, this is on the horse-drawn carriage... This is hot chocolate from Arcana 3, isn't Lily adorable with her face covered in chocolate? Haha! What a pretty little kitten..."
Li Wei watched as the man in front of him boasted incessantly about his daughter. After a while, he couldn't help but ask:
"And what about you?" Li Wei asked. "Why aren't you in the photo?"
"I..." Don Quixote rubbed his hands together. "I'm too embarrassed to stand next to her. I'll just take some pictures of her."
"That's worth it, isn't it? I mean... even though it'll take me a week to save up that $300, I fucking don't regret it," he turned to look at Levi, "I'll pay you back, I promise."
"Alright, alright, we can talk about the sentimental stuff later," Li Wei waved his hand. "It's almost midnight, time to go to sleep."
Don Quixote's long-awaited emotional words were aborted, and he looked at Li Wei with a hint of resentment as he drew the curtain of the cubicle.
The desk lamp was turned off, and the entire basement returned to silence.
Li Wei, however, was waiting for Don Quixote to fall asleep. Now that he had spent so much money in one go, he needed to finish the Knight's Path quest as soon as possible so that he could get the money back and move out.
Don Quixote, perhaps exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster of the day, collapsed onto the mattress that Li Wei had torn in half and began snoring in less than a minute.
After hearing the snoring, Li Wei glanced at his phone and, estimating that it was about time, got up, quietly dressed, and waited for Don Quixote to begin his sleepwalking.
I spent $3500 on him during the day, and I need to squeeze more attribute points out of him to make up for the pain in Li Wei's heart.
After an unknown amount of time, the snoring in Don Quixote's cubicle suddenly stopped.
The sound of armor clashing rang out, and Li Wei, having timed it perfectly, pulled back the curtain and slipped out.
"You've arrived, my dear squire!" Don Quixote exclaimed triumphantly. "Through my investigation, I've learned from the Duke how to find the witch!"
"My esteemed knight," Levi said calmly, "what method is it?"
"Follow me, squire!" Don Quixote strode towards the door. "We must find the earth dragon guarding the map!"
Earth dragon?
Li Wei wondered to himself, "What new trick is this? What in New York can be mistaken for a dragon?"
Despite some doubts, Li Wei followed Don Quixote out the door.
Don Quixote went to bed early today, and his sleepwalking started earlier than usual. Occasionally, one could see some hurried figures on the street.
Li Wei looked around. Fortunately, because there were many strange people in New York, there were all kinds of people, and no one thought there was anything wrong with someone wearing a suit of armor wandering around in the alley in the middle of the night.
When he turned around, he was so startled he almost jumped up—
Don Quixote had somehow opened the car door, squeezed himself into the driver's seat, and was about to start the car with the key in his hand and his eyes closed.
Fuck! Can a sleepwalker drive with their eyes closed?!
Livy took three steps in two and pulled Don Quixote off the carriage with a forceful tug.
"Squire! What are you doing!" Don Quixote shouted. "Why are you stopping me from mounting my horse!"
"Uh..." Li Wei quickly said, "The paths in the forest are difficult to navigate. I suggest we proceed on foot to hunt the dragon, otherwise, something might go wrong—"
"My riding skills are unparalleled in the kingdom!" Don Quixote declared loudly, not allowing his squire to disobey him. "Squire, if you are afraid to ride with me, then find another mount yourself!"
After saying that, he prepared to climb into the car again.
Li Wei was about to pull him down again, but seeing Don Quixote's eyelids twitching wildly, he was afraid of waking him from his sleepwalking state.
After some thought, Livy used the term "poor oratory" on Don Quixote.
"Sir Knight, don't you think riding a horse there would be too tiring?" Li Wei advised. "How about we rent a carriage instead?"
With his current mental strength and skill level, it would be relatively easy for him to persuade a sleepwalker.
After hearing his words, Don Quixote paused for a moment and then said:
"Why didn't I think of that! You're the one with the brilliant ideas, servant!"
After saying that, he got out of the car and walked towards the roadside on his own.
Li Wei took the keys out of the car, locked the doors, and then chased after them.
"Sir Knight, where exactly is this dragon?" Seeing no taxis by the roadside, Li Wei opened the Uber ride-hailing app. "We'll take a taxi—no, we'll take a horse-drawn carriage there."
"Right here where I trained during the day!" Don Quixote said bitterly. "That wretched witch actually hid the map guarded by the dragon right under my nose. Why didn't the Duke tell me before?"
"You must be busy carrying bricks during the day," Li Wei thought to himself, and chose the address as the construction site of the White Paradise Quixote.
"Robbery?! The taxi fare is $105!"
The ride-hailing service was outrageously expensive late at night. When he saw that a short 3-kilometer trip would cost him $105, Li Wei almost felt so heartbroken that he couldn't breathe, and even his fingers started trembling.
He only spent $3500 during the day, and then it would cost him another $200 or so for a taxi ride back and forth at night. Could he earn that back in a month?
However, considering that this would almost certainly trigger a reward mission, and judging from the description of the mission, the rewards seemed quite generous, Li Wei still reluctantly clicked the order button and stood by the roadside with Don Quixote, waiting for an economy Uber ride to take them to the construction site to slay the dragon.