Chapter 54
Knight Combat
The next day, Li Wei suddenly realized that after becoming famous overnight, it was no longer easy for him to remain a nobody at school.
As he walked down the hallway, the high school players from the football and basketball teams who had previously rejected him would either turn to the side, bump fists with him, or try to give him a high five.
"Hey! Li, you really showed off your skills yesterday!"
Some even joked about whether they could take a photo with him or get his autograph, so that when he wins the Super Bowl and becomes a household name in America, they can brag to their friends that he was their classmate.
The girls passing by whispered among themselves in small groups, their eyes darting towards Li Wei as if hooked.
Some of the girls were more reserved and started asking the people around them for Li Wei's phone number and contact information.
"Your Majesty, look, isn't that Li Wei?"
At the end of the corridor, next to the notice board, an Indian girl nudged a Chinese boy next to her and said, "I heard he did a phenomenal job yesterday, turning the tide and now he's a star at school! Hey! Do you have his contact information?"
"Celebrities?" The Chinese boy frowned and said somewhat reluctantly, "Even among those who come out of the NCAA, no more than 2% can play in the NFL. Moreover, there are no quarterbacks of Asian descent in the NCAA. It's just a temporary glory, a pure waste of time."
"I think you're just jealous," the Indian girl next to her rolled her eyes. "Wang Haoran, are you jealous that he's popular because he's Asian like you?"
Wang Haoran lowered his head and awkwardly pulled up his sleeves to cover his yellow-skinned arms.
"It's not that I'm jealous of him," he said, adjusting his glasses and forcing a smile. "You see, if he didn't have that mixed-race gene and looked like a white person, do you think the cheerleader would even give him a second glance? You'll see in 10 years when he can't play professionally anymore, is covered in injuries, and is homeless. Aren't there plenty of homeless people on the streets of New York?"
Just as he was about to say something more, Li Wei happened to walk by, followed by members of the rugby team and cheerleaders.
Like a chick with something stuck in its throat, Wang Haoran swallowed back the words he hadn't said and silently walked toward the classroom on the third floor.
...
In the afternoon, Li Wei arrived at the training ground, pushed open the locker room door, and opened his locker. Instantly, a cheap scent of strawberries and perfume wafted out.
A pair of pink lace panties hung on Li Wei's training uniform, and the phone number written on his lipstick looked particularly provocative under the warm yellow light.
"Uh..." Li Wei, holding up the underwear, asked his teammates, "Whose prank was this?"
"Fuck! Levi's got lucky again!" Travis let out an exaggerated scream. "A girl stuffed his underwear in his closet!"
The exaggerated scream drew a crowd from the surrounding locker room, who began gossiping amongst themselves:
"Do you think these underwear are new or worn?"
"It's definitely new! You mean she secretly went to the locker room, took off her underwear, stuffed it into Li Wei's locker, and then ran out?"
"You're really going a bit crazy. Couldn't she have brought a spare?"
"What if..."
Li Wei wasn't particularly interested in this kind of invitation. There were only a few girls at Franklin K. Lane High School who were reasonably good-looking, and these girls had all given him their phone numbers, Instagram accounts, and other contact information.
Most people who try to contact him this way will be disappointed when they call.
What's more, this is a fucking huge pair of underwear, it looks at least XXXXL, and it's the American version of XXXXL.
Li Wei felt that even the big fat Manu Ginobili might be able to fit into it.
"If you like it, go ahead and contact them," he said, tossing the underwear to Travis with a tissue. "I'm not interested."
Travis, overjoyed, was about to lean in for a sniff when Coach Miller's booming voice echoed into the locker room: "Video session! Everyone, gather around!"
Video lessons are generally used to review match recordings and explain tactics.
Since yesterday's game was basically a one-man show by Levi, while the other positions performed terribly, this video session turned into Coach Miller's one-sided rant against players number 30 and 40, with no one spared except Levi.
Li Wei heard the most varied and endless stream of insults and brilliant metaphors he had ever heard in his life.
In the end, perhaps to balance the team atmosphere and enhance his own authority, Coach Miller casually criticized Levi's pitching form:
"Li Wei, your power generation technique is the ugliest I've ever seen! Damn it, you're not participating in training this week. Go find a boxing gym and practice your power generation technique!"
Li Wei could understand Coach Miller's emphasis on shooting form. It was like a basketball coach seeing a shooting prodigy on his team who always awkwardly and uglyly shoots with both hands while standing upright...
Laughter erupted from below. The injured starting quarterback, Craig, sat in the corner with an ice pack on his lap and laughed the loudest.
"Laugh? You still have the nerve to laugh!"
Coach Miller whirled around, the red dot of his laser pointer pointing at Craig's face. "Leeway's throw was ugly, but he can throw it 40 yards! He can run to the end zone with a running back on his waist! You, Craig, you're rolling around on the ground like a frightened little girl seeing Dick for the first time. Did you even get a point?"
The entire room fell into a deathly silence.
"From today onwards, Levi is officially a starter. Craig, once your leg heals, you'll be the starting substitute," Miller announced coldly. "Meeting adjourned!"
Because the video lesson lasted until very late today, Li Wei did not continue to work part-time in the Upper East Side.
As Li Wei left the school, he kept replaying the movements Coach Miller had shown him: push off the ground, rotate the hips, engage the core, and then move the arms.
The school bus traveled through the streets of Brooklyn, and Levi sat by the window, his gaze sweeping over the cheap fast food restaurants and tattoo parlors on either side of the street.
It feels like there are more than 20 times more tattoo parlors in Brooklyn than in China. Tattoos seem to be commonplace here, and even Coach Miller, a school teacher, has a lot of tattoos on his body.
Suddenly, a dilapidated storefront came into his view—Iron Blood Boxing and Muay Thai Gym.
Li Wei thought for a moment, then casually pressed the car bell, got off the car, and walked into the boxing gym.
As soon as Li Wei pushed open the door of the boxing gym, he heard the panel pop up again:
You have arrived at the 'Fighting Academy'.
The ancient fighting academy holds the secrets of knightly combat techniques.
【Knight's Combat Skill (Passive Skill): Proficient in unarmed combat skills, slightly improves body coordination】
This is a skill that is difficult to acquire. It requires three training sessions at the Fighting Academy, during which you must defeat a powerful opponent each time.
A formidable opponent? Li Wei glanced at the panel, then stepped forward with a smile.
No problem, in the system's eyes, Don Quixote is also a powerful knight appointed by the Duke.