Energy Source

Energy Source

It was said that America's first president, George Washington, had once made high-quality boots from Native American skin.

And for quite a long time, Black people had served as little more than tools for picking cotton on plantations. Given their extremely low status, had they ever suffered similar treatment?

Li Wei had no interest in sympathizing with what the other man had gone through. It was just that Blue Hawk had somehow found several special collectibles related to it and solemnly swore that they were genuine.

They did indeed look like antiques, and since Li Wei was no expert at appraising buried treasures, he truly couldn't tell whether they were authentic or fake.

Fortunately, after they were presented to Tek Knight as a gift from the two of them, Tek Knight's heartfelt delight was impossible to fake.

At the very least, Tek Knight believed they were real, and that was enough.

After exchanging some jokes about Black people, fried chicken, watermelon, basketball, and fathers, both sides were thoroughly convinced that the other shared their hobbies.

Then Li Wei and Blue Hawk enjoyed an extravagantly lavish reception in Tek Knight's castle, which supposedly had over two hundred years of history.

What left Li Wei somewhat speechless was that Tek Knight was obviously a racist, yet his butler was Black. Could he have been an inheritance left behind by his ancestors?

During that time, Tek Knight's sidekick also made an appearance. This guy wore a green bodysuit, and his helmet, belt, and left chest all bore a capital "L." He was also a third-rate Superhero, nicknamed Radio.

But aside from basic physical enhancement, he had no other superpowers. There was very little information about him online, and even Li Wei had no idea what his nickname was supposed to mean.

It was only when the equally curious Blue Hawk asked that question that Li Wei learned, somewhat speechlessly once again, that Radio was actually his surname. His family had served Tek Knight's family for generations.

Well, that was another inheritance. Radio hadn't taken off his mask, though, so Li Wei couldn't accurately determine whether he was Black as well.

But what really made Li Wei struggle to keep a straight face was that he smelled Tek Knight's bodily fluids on Radio.

Then there was the scent of lubricant, urine, feces, and the like. Li Wei immediately realized that the rumors were true—Tek Knight's tastes were exceptionally unusual.

Li Wei once again hated his overly sensitive sense of smell. Why couldn't it be freely adjusted? Otherwise, why did he have to suffer like this?

At the same time, he silently made up his mind. Tek Knight had already polluted his sense of smell, so that barely offset his invitation and hospitality. As a magnanimous man, Li Wei wouldn't hold this grudge against him.

Hopefully, he was smart enough not to set his sights on Li Wei. Otherwise, no matter how influential his family was, Li Wei guaranteed that he wouldn't let him live!

Fortunately, Tek Knight wasn't that stupid. Or perhaps he was simply thrilled to have encountered Superheroes who shared his interests and dared to express them openly. He remained extremely enthusiastic toward Li Wei and Blue Hawk.

Blue Hawk also took the opportunity to ask if he could visit Tek Knight's Tek Cave.

Tek Knight hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

But what confused Blue Hawk was that Tek Knight didn't invite the nearby Li Wei, while Li Wei acted as if he hadn't heard a thing and merely studied the oil paintings on the wall with great concentration.

Being fairly familiar with Li Wei's personality, Blue Hawk tacitly refrained from asking. In any case, once he went down and took a look, the mystery would soon be solved.

A quarter of an hour later, Blue Hawk emerged from underground with a blank look in his eyes. He glanced at Li Wei, clearly wanting to say something but stopping himself.

Li Wei chuckled and merely patted Blue Hawk on the shoulder in consolation.

The reason he hadn't gone down was because he had long known what was inside.

There were no Tek Cars, Tek Planes, or anything of the sort. Instead, there were all kinds of rubber products, electric toys, restraint gear, and more—everything Tek Knight liked!

Tek Knight, however, behaved as if nothing had happened. He considered his little hobbies perfectly normal among Superheroes. At the very least, there wasn't much blood on his hands.

After taking Li Wei and Blue Hawk around for another tour, Tek Knight brought out a series of documents he had prepared in advance.

Li Wei casually flipped through them and found that they were endorsement contracts and advertisements.

With only a little time invested, they could bring each of them returns of at least five million. This was Tek Knight's sincerity—he was using real money to win over Li Wei and Blue Hawk.

In a sense, this counted as one of Tek Knight's superpowers as well. He was super rich.

However, Li Wei didn't accept them. Somewhat embarrassed, he said, "Thank you very much, but I actually came to ask you for a favor this time. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to accept such an expensive gift as well."

Tek Knight's smile didn't change. "No need to be polite, Li Wei. You know this is nothing to my family, merely a small token of our friendship. Just call me Nate."

His family's wealth was measured in the tens of billions. Even if it were all sitting in a bank, the daily interest alone would exceed a million.

Blue Hawk was nothing much, but if this could be used to befriend Li Wei, a second-tier Superhero from The Seven, as well as Starlight, with whom he might turn their fake relationship into a real one, then it was an incredible bargain.

Then he asked curiously, "What is it that you need my help with? I've always been very generous toward my friends."

Li Wei didn't hide it. "I think you know that Vought has recently been arranging publicity for Starlight and me as a couple. As we kept spending time together, I discovered that I really might be starting to like her. But there's a rather obvious gap between us—she's one of The Seven."

Li Wei deliberately paused, putting on a slightly troubled expression.

Tek Knight couldn't help clapping softly. "Wow. For love."

Li Wei nodded helplessly. "So I want to give her a special gift. Her superpower is electricity conversion. She needs to draw electricity from the outside world to gain power, and I heard that your Tek Suit has a very special Energy Source."

At this point, Li Wei said with particular seriousness, "I know my request may be very presumptuous, but I hope you'll consider it. I'm willing to pay a price for it."

"I see. I understand."

Tek Knight nodded lightly. As a superpowered individual who had debuted through a nationwide American talent show and eventually become one of The Seven, Starlight was something of a legend. Her superpower had long ceased to be a secret.

It had to be said that Li Wei had given him a not-insignificant problem.

He did indeed possess a special Energy Source, but like the Tek Suit, the raw materials used to make it came from meteorites and were completely impossible to replicate. If he gave one to Li Wei, he would lose one forever.

Still, it wasn't entirely out of the question. After all, after so many years of use, a certain special substance within them had gradually been depleted. They had changed from Energy Sources into pure energy-storage devices.

They had to be charged in advance before they could function. They could basically be understood as power banks, which caused their value to plummet drastically.

They were just oversized power banks capable of storing hundreds of thousands or even millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity at once, despite not being very large, so they still retained some value.

His suit had also been severely damaged from repeated use, yet he had never found suitable materials to repair it. Naturally, these Energy Sources had been useless to him.

If it had only been Li Wei's own request, he might have refused. But with the recently red-hot Starlight added to the equation, it was worth considering.

Even so, he deliberately frowned and pondered it carefully for a while before nodding with slight reluctance.

"If it's your request, Angel, then as a gift for Starlight, I'm willing to support it. After all, we're friends, aren't we?"

Li Wei froze for a moment. It was not merely because Tek Knight had agreed so readily, but because the system had informed him that he could now copy the other man's superpowers!

Well damn. His system might not have been smart enough to handle even basic questions and answers, but when it came to copying abilities, it was incredibly flexible.

Not only could he ask directly, but if the other party voluntarily declared himself to be Li Wei's friend, that also satisfied the rules!

Codename: Tek Knight

Type: Physique Type

Special Ability 1: Primary Enhanced Smell;

Special Ability 2: Primary Enhanced Perception;

Special Ability 3: Primary Enhanced Touch.

Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 5 seconds for each.

The time required to copy them made it clear that these three abilities were nothing remarkable. After all, superheroes were already enhanced in such aspects.

Even so, a mosquito leg was still meat. Li Wei had no intention of refusing, especially since it was merely a matter of doing it while he was at it.

He immediately put on a highly delighted expression, repeatedly thanked Tek Knight, and proactively offered him a handshake.

Tek Knight smiled in return, and the two appeared utterly friendly. Though he felt that Li Wei held the handshake for a little too long—more than ten seconds, in fact.

Still, it was understandable. This matter truly was very important to Li Wei.

However, Tek Knight made a point of explaining the drawback of the Energy Sources. They could no longer generate energy on their own and needed to be charged in advance.

To make up for that weakness, he decided to give Li Wei two of them, so Starlight could use them in rotation.

Naturally, Li Wei thanked him profusely. This was already more than enough for him.

Soon, Tek Knight took out two long, sci-fi-looking batteries about a foot in length and told Li Wei that one had a capacity of 500,000, while the other had a capacity of 800,000.

He had already charged them in advance. If Starlight drained them later, they would probably need to be recharged at a power plant. Ordinary household electricity could not satisfy their enormous appetite.

But this already delighted Li Wei. Ever since obtaining Starlight's superpower, he had specifically traveled to small power plants in other states and secretly conducted several experiments.

Even if he completely exhausted his energy, it would take roughly 250,000 kilowatt-hours to fully replenish it.

Moreover, he absorbed electricity at an extraordinarily fast rate, usually finishing the job completely in just over ten seconds.

At the time, he had found himself marveling at how utterly unscientific superhero bodies were. A typical hundred-meter building probably consumed only about that much electricity per day.

At the same time, according to his estimates, activating Otherworld Teleportation once would consume around 80% of his energy—roughly 200,000 kilowatt-hours.

Now that he had these two Energy Sources as backups, they were enough for him to make several round trips!

Although he had some reservations about Tek Knight's personal tastes, he had to admit that Tek Knight had been a tremendous help!

Since the other party had been so generous, Li Wei could not fail to reciprocate. He repeatedly asked whether there was anything Tek Knight needed help with, promising that he would give it his all.

He had even thought it through already. If Tek Knight asked him to take out a superhero, or some other tycoon he held a grudge against, Li Wei could agree depending on the circumstances.

The greater the demand, the more cleanly he could repay the favor he owed.

He did not want to owe too much, because if it came to that, there would likely be only one way to erase the debt: death.