Custom Weapons

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

Tek Knight rubbed his fingers together in that universal gesture.

Li Wei was speechless. Well, compared to Tek Knight, he really was a dead broke pauper.

It looked like he'd have to find a way to make money next—at minimum, he needed to set up a small power station. He couldn't just go stealing electricity from other people every time he needed to charge, could he?

But even the smallest power station, if it was going to run stably long-term, would probably cost tens of millions.

Relying solely on making movies—how long would that take? Vought's cut was way too extortionate.

Just as Li Wei's mind wandered slightly, Tek Knight suddenly burst out laughing.

"As it happens, a new batch of blacks is being sent to my family's prison today. Would you two be interested in a tour?"

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

Li Wei, however, completely ignored Blue Hawk. He knew full well this was no simple tour.

Beyond showing off his family's resources, Tek Knight mainly wanted them to hand over a pledge of allegiance.

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

He immediately nodded with a light smile. "Nate, I've been looking forward to it. Then I'll trouble you!"

And indeed, just as Li Wei had guessed, Tek Knight really did want Li Wei and Blue Hawk to personally lay hands on some serious criminals, to prove their genuine disgust for blacks.

He'd even deliberately chosen a place with absolutely no cameras, to show he wasn't leaving any evidence or leverage—just verifying that everyone was truly on the same side.

And honestly, with Tek Knight's wealth, if he really wanted to screw someone over, evidence or not didn't matter.

America was a society where capital reigned supreme, and Tek Knight's family were the top-tier capitalists.

But this little test wasn't any kind of problem for Li Wei and Blue Hawk.

Back when they were beating up The Boys every day, to avoid causing too much commotion, they'd deliberately held back their strength, never showing the caliber a super should, and never killing anyone in the street.

Now that Tek Knight was handling the cleanup, what was there to hold back?

So they really let loose, using up roughly the next week's worth of beatdown quotas.

Midway through, Tek Knight got fired up too and joined in the little celebration. In a way, the three of them had now fought side by side as comrades.

Though after they finished, those blacks could never be reused by Tek Knight—he conservatively estimated a loss of several hundred thousand.

But Tek Knight didn't care at all. He was just thrilled to have gained two more steadfast allies.

In recent years, America had gradually stirred up some trends he deeply loathed—that bullshit "Black Lives Matter" and the like.

In his view, where were black lives valuable? Weren't they just something you could buy for a few thousand bucks?

But plenty of his friends, constrained by their public image, didn't dare openly oppose it, which often made him sigh in private.

After today, though, he was no longer fighting alone!

However, Tek Knight had basically never received any physical enhancement. When dealing with these blacks, he relied more on technique, and his efficiency was far worse than Li Wei's or Blue Hawk's.

After Li Wei took a moment to block a few attacks aimed at Tek Knight, he casually remarked that fists and feet were too slow, and a bit crude too.

He actually preferred the feeling of blades spilling blood, but ordinary swords couldn't bear his strength.

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

What else could Li Wei say? Compared to Tek Knight's many virtues, his few flaws were utterly negligible. He was even starting to like the guy.

Sure, ordinary aerospace alloy might cost a few hundred bucks a kilo, but since Tek Knight had brought it up himself, it definitely wouldn't be something settled for a few hundred or even tens of thousands—otherwise, wouldn't that be slapping this super-rich guy in the face?

But Li Wei didn't plan to keep taking advantage, or rather, owe these small favors.

Still, Li Wei hadn't specifically trained in any special martial arts. The only reason he'd learned a bit of staff technique before was to make his Gambit identity more believable, and even that was just flashy nonsense.

After thinking it over, Li Wei decided that since he'd already opened his mouth, he might as well get a few spares in one go. Who knew if he'd have new hidden identities later that needed different weapons?

So he gave Tek Knight a rough rundown of his requirements—one of each: blade, spear, sword, and halberd.

Then he immediately transferred a million as a deposit, and also paid fifty thousand on Blue Hawk's behalf.

Sure, as a Vought super, Blue Hawk made money fast. But like most Americans, he had zero concept of saving.

When he had cash, he burned through it—gambling, women, drugs, he touched it all. Forget fifty thousand; he couldn't even scrape together five thousand.

Well, actually, according to recent surveys, at least forty percent of American adults couldn't come up with four hundred bucks in emergency cash. A bunch of broke bastards.

And they all lived on credit. If their jobs were stable, they could barely scrape by, looking decent enough to outsiders.

But the moment they lost their jobs, they'd likely go bankrupt instantly. If they couldn't pay their loans, their credit would tank, leading to their houses and cars being repossessed, and it'd be hard to find decent work again.

Going from a white-collar office worker to a homeless guy scraping by under a bridge at breakneck speed—that was a very common and frequent phenomenon in America.

Did they really think all those homeless people chose that life? They just had no better options.

Unless they joined the underworld or hit the streets, they could only survive on welfare.

And once their credit was ruined, without outside help, it was nearly impossible to recover on their own.

The most obvious example was that Florida congressman whose credit collapsed a while back. He tried to move to Washington but couldn't even rent a place.

Since Li Wei was very firm about it, Tek Knight didn't refuse, and instead grew even more appreciative of him.

That amount of money meant nothing to him; what he valued more was Li Wei's approach and attitude.

Greedy people are easy to control, but the overly greedy rarely make good friends or allies.

The fact that Li Wei could recognize this now and restrain his own greed already put him ahead of over ninety percent of people.

After a bit more polite exchange, Li Wei left with Blue Hawk to return to New Jersey.

Halfway there, Blue Hawk uncharacteristically didn't crack his lame Black jokes, staying silent for a long time.

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

He might be a bit thick-headed, but he wasn't completely brainless. He understood that Tek Knight's courtesy toward him—shared hobbies aside—was mostly due to Li Wei and Starlight's influence.

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

Maybe at the start, Li Wei had only seen Blue Hawk as a simple tool, but after this time together, his attitude had gradually shifted.

From any angle, Blue Hawk was definitely a solid friend.

Not just a fair-weather one either; he was genuinely loyal. Whatever Li Wei asked, he'd do his best to deliver.

Like this time—to get in touch with Tek Knight, he knew making racist remarks in public would seriously damage his reputation, stir up hostility from other Black supes, and even affect Vought's stance toward him, yet he still did it without hesitation.

Just that alone had raised his standing in Li Wei's eyes.

"Haha, that's right, we're friends. Li Wei, if there's ever anything you need me to do, just say the word. Even if it's going after Homelander, make sure to call me!"

Li Wei smiled and said nothing. It was rare enough that Blue Hawk had that kind of heart, but if a real fight broke out, Li Wei wouldn't let him throw his life away.

An ordinary supe who couldn't fly was far too passive against Homelander, who could fly at supersonic speeds.

In an open area like the wilderness, he'd just be a live target for Homelander's Heat Vision.

Now that he had Starlight's defense and Kimiko's regeneration, all he needed was some kind of levitation or flight ability to boost his mobility, and he could barely hold his own against Homelander head-on.

By then, even if his real identity was exposed, as long as he didn't act too stubborn about going against Vought, offending Homelander wouldn't be that big a deal.

At the end of the day, the massive leak of Compound V was Homelander's personal move, not Vought's or CEO Edgar's idea.

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

Without even looking, he knew it had to be Hughie and the others stirring up trouble again.

It even annoyed him a little. Damn it, coming to him for help every other day—did they think he was their free babysitter?

Li Wei had even considered just tying them all up and forcibly injecting them with Compound V to force their powers to manifest.

Then he could copy them, so they'd stop causing chaos out there and leaving him to clean up the mess.

But considering that if they turned hostile, the system's copy function might stop working, and that he only had one vial of Compound V, nowhere near enough for everyone, he shelved that idea for now.

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

Hmm, right, he should take some time to check out that Sage Sister—see if she was all talk or a hidden gem.

With that thought, Li Wei answered the call: "Hey, Hughie, what's up?"

"Gambit, help! A-Train found my place and grabbed my dad!"