Custom Weapons

Tek Knight smiled. "I don't need any help for the time being. I can handle most problems myself, you know."

Tek Knight rubbed his fingers together, making a universally understood gesture.

Li Wei was speechless. Fine, compared to Tek Knight, he really was dirt poor.

It seemed he needed to find a way to make money next. At the very least, he needed a small power station. He couldn't exactly keep stealing electricity from other people whenever he needed to charge up, could he?

But even the smallest power station would probably cost tens of millions to operate reliably over the long term.

Relying solely on making movies, how long would that take? Vought's cut was downright extortionate.

Just as Li Wei was slightly distracted, Tek Knight suddenly burst into laughter.

"A new batch of blacks is being sent to the prison at my place today. Would you gentlemen care to take a look?"

Blue Hawk, who had been listening from the side, couldn't help muttering, "What's there to see in a prison?"

Li Wei ignored Blue Hawk entirely. He knew perfectly well that this was no simple tour.

Besides wanting to show off his family's influence, Tek Knight probably wanted them to offer proof of loyalty.

After all, no matter how nicely they talked before, nothing was more direct than blood and death.

Li Wei immediately chuckled and nodded. "Nate, I've been looking forward to it for a long time. Then I'll be troubling you."

Things turned out exactly as Li Wei had expected. Tek Knight wanted Li Wei and Blue Hawk to personally deal with some serious criminals, verifying their heartfelt hatred of blacks.

He had even deliberately chosen a place with absolutely no cameras, showing that he was not trying to leave behind evidence or leverage. He simply wanted to confirm that they were truly on the same side.

And honestly, with Tek Knight's wealth, if he truly wanted to deal with someone, whether there was evidence or not was irrelevant.

America was a society where capital reigned supreme, and Tek Knight's family belonged to the very top tier of capitalists.

But such a small test was no challenge at all for Li Wei and Blue Hawk.

When they had been beating people up every day before, they had deliberately restrained their strength to avoid causing too much commotion. They had not displayed the qualities expected of Superheroes, nor had they killed anyone in public.

Now that Tek Knight was handling the cleanup, what was there to worry about?

So they thoroughly let loose, using up nearly all of their beatdown quota for the coming week.

Tek Knight became fired up watching them midway through and joined the little revelry himself. In a sense, the three of them had now become comrades who had fought side by side.

Although, after they finished, those blacks could no longer be reused by Tek Knight, costing him at least several hundred thousand by his conservative estimate.

But Tek Knight did not care in the slightest. He was simply delighted to have gained two more steadfast allies.

Over the past few years, some trends he deeply despised had gradually emerged in America, like that damned Black Lives Matter nonsense.

As far as he was concerned, how were black lives expensive? Weren't they things that could be bought casually for a few thousand dollars?

Yet many of his friends were constrained by their public image and did not dare oppose it openly, which often made him sigh to himself.

But after today, he was no longer fighting alone!

However, Tek Knight had basically received no physical enhancement. When dealing with those blacks, he relied more on technique, and his efficiency was far worse than Li Wei's or Blue Hawk's.

After taking a moment to block several attacks from the blacks for him, Li Wei seemingly casually remarked that fists and feet were too slow and somewhat crude.

He actually preferred the sight of blades making blood bloom, but unfortunately, ordinary weapons could not withstand his strength.

Tek Knight immediately said that his family owned a company researching Space Alloy, which might be able to help, and asked Li Wei what kind of weapon he liked.

What could Li Wei say? Compared to Tek Knight's many virtues, that tiny flaw of his was not worth mentioning. Li Wei was even starting to like him a little.

Ordinary Aviation Alloy might cost only a few hundred dollars per kilogram, but since Tek Knight had brought it up himself, it certainly would not be something that could be settled with a few hundred or a few tens of thousands of dollars. Otherwise, wouldn't that be slapping this filthy rich man in the face?

Still, Li Wei did not intend to keep taking advantage of him, or rather, to owe him such a small favor.

Li Wei had not specifically studied any special martial arts yet. Previously, he had only found time to learn some staff techniques to make Gambit's identity seem more believable, but they were merely flashy moves.

After some thought, Li Wei decided that since he was making the request, he might as well get several spare weapons at once. He might have new hidden identities in the future and need different weapons.

So he told Tek Knight his general requirements. He wanted one each of saber, spear, sword, and halberd.

Then he transferred one million dollars to Tek Knight on the spot as a deposit, and conveniently paid another five hundred thousand for Blue Hawk.

As a Vought Superhero, Blue Hawk did make money quickly, but like most Americans, he had no habit of saving.

Whenever he had money, he spent it freely. Sex, gambling, drugs—he indulged in all of it. Forget five hundred thousand; he might not even be able to scrape together five thousand dollars.

Well, according to an investigation some time ago, more than forty percent of American adults could not come up with four hundred dollars in emergency cash. They were all broke.

And they all lived beyond their means. If their jobs were stable, they could barely get by, and to outsiders, their lives even seemed decent.

But once they lost their jobs, they could go bankrupt in an instant. If they could not repay their loans, their credit would collapse, leading to their homes and cars being repossessed, and making it difficult to find suitable work again.

In America, it was extremely common and frequent for office white-collar workers to turn into homeless people barely surviving beneath bridges with astonishing speed.

Did people really think those homeless people chose that life? They simply had no better option.

Unless they joined the underworld or simply went into prostitution, they could only live on welfare.

And once their credit collapsed, without outside help, it was almost impossible to recover through their own efforts.

The most obvious example was a Florida Congressman whose credit had collapsed recently. He wanted to move to Washington, but he could not even rent a place.

Because Li Wei's attitude was so firm, Tek Knight did not refuse. Instead, he admired Li Wei even more.

This amount of money meant nothing to him. What he valued more was Li Wei's way of handling things and his attitude.

Greedy people were easy to control, but those who were too greedy often could not become qualified friends or allies.

The fact that Li Wei understood this and restrained his greed already put him ahead of more than ninety percent of people.

After exchanging more pleasantries, Li Wei took Blue Hawk back to New Jersey.

On the way, Blue Hawk unusually did not tell any of his lousy black jokes and remained silent for a long time.

Only when they were almost home did he speak. "Li Wei, thanks for today."

He might be a little straightforward, but he was not completely brainless. He naturally understood that Tek Knight's hospitality toward him was partly because they shared common interests, but more importantly because of Li Wei and Starlight.

Li Wei warmly called him by his real name. "Nico, what are you saying? We're friends, aren't we?"

Perhaps at first, Li Wei had only regarded Blue Hawk as a simple tool, but after spending this time together, his attitude had gradually changed.

In every respect, Blue Hawk was an exceptionally qualified friend.

He was not merely a drinking buddy. He was genuinely loyal, and no matter what Li Wei asked of him, he would do his best to accomplish it.

Like this time: to get connected with Tek Knight, Blue Hawk knew that making racist remarks in public would severely damage his reputation, provoke hostility from other black Superheroes, and affect Vought's attitude toward him, yet he did it without hesitation.

That alone greatly raised his standing in Li Wei's mind.

"Haha, that's right, we're friends. If there's ever anything you need me to do, Li Wei, just say the word. Even if it's beating up Homelander, you have to call me!"

Li Wei smiled but said nothing. The fact that Blue Hawk had such intentions was already rare enough, but if it truly came to a fight, Li Wei would not let him go die.

Ordinary Superheroes who could not fly were far too disadvantaged against Homelander, who could fly at supersonic speed.

If they fought in open areas such as the wilderness, they would only become living targets for Homelander's Heat Vision.

Now that he had Starlight's defense and Kimiko's regeneration, all he needed next was some floating or flight ability to improve his mobility. Then he would basically be able to contend with Homelander head-on.

At that point, even if his true identity were exposed, as long as he did not act especially reckless or show an intention to fight Vought to the bitter end, offending Homelander would not be such a big deal.

At the end of the day, the large-scale leak of Compound V was Homelander's personal act, not Vought's or CEO Edgar's idea.

Just as he was thinking about this, Li Wei's backup phone rang again.

He did not even need to look to know that Hughie and the others had gotten themselves into trouble again.

It even made him a little angry. Damn it, they came looking for his help every other day. Did they really think he was a free nanny?

Li Wei had even considered simply tying them all up and forcibly injecting them with Compound V to help them gain superpowers.

Then he could copy their abilities, sparing himself from having to clean up after the messes they kept causing outside.

But considering that the system's copying function might not continue working once both sides became hostile,

and that he currently only had one vial of Compound V, nowhere near enough for everyone, he had temporarily abandoned the idea.

Still, perhaps he could try to acquire more Compound V and find someone to crack and replicate it.

Well, this was a good chance to see whether those Sage Sisters were all talk or hidden gems.

Thinking that, Li Wei answered the phone. "Hello, Hughie. What happened?"

"Gambit, save me! A-Train found my house and took my dad!"