Helping Others is a Knight's Virtue

Unlike before, this power was not a gentle, trickling warm current, but a raging river that violently surged through every vein and nerve in Li Wei's body.

This immense power slammed into his chest like a hammer, creating a powerful resonance.

The sudden influx of energy made him dizzy. His heart pounded violently in his chest, each beat delivering more oxygen than before.

A few seconds later, the dizziness gradually faded, replaced by a sense of all-encompassing elevation.

He tried clenching his fist.

His clothes had not puffed up, so his physique did not seem to have changed much. Yet the skin on his palm seemed tougher, and when he felt the muscles in his forearm, they were taut as steel cables.

If 1.1 strength had made him an ordinary fitness enthusiast with some training under his belt, then 1.2 strength made him feel as though he was beginning to break free from the realm of ordinary people.

He looked at the excavator beside him. Now, he felt that with a single jump, he could leap onto its tracks more than a meter above the ground.

He shifted his attention to the newly acquired [Berserk].

[Berserk: Upon activation, strength, constitution, and agility checks are doubled for 30 seconds. No side effects.]

[Uses: Once per day]

Though he had not activated it yet, Li Wei vaguely felt that once it was activated, he might even be able to bend the thin steel rebar at his feet.

"Squire! What are you spacing out for!"

Don Quixote's voice pulled Li Wei back to reality. The knight who had just "slain a dragon" was soaked from head to toe, waving that construction manual around with an excited expression.

"Look! It records the exact location of the witch's castle..." He squeezed his eyes shut, held the manual upside down, then turned it right-side up and looked again. "Although the runes in it are a little difficult to understand, trust this knight. Give me some time, and I can decipher them."

"Of course, Sir Knight." Li Wei rolled his neck. "We should head back. Tonight's gains have already been plentiful enough."

But unexpectedly, they had barely taken two steps when a flashlight beam shone directly on them.

"~Who~, who's there!"

A trembling voice, on the verge of tears, drifted over.

Li Wei recognized its owner and called out, "It's me, Mr. Wang Qiang. I'm Li Wei."

"Li... Wei? You're that young man who got scammed by a crooked merchant!"

The flashlight clicked off. Wang Qiang, whom Li Wei had previously seen at Leon's recycling shop—the man who had come to America with his whole family—emerged from behind a stack of bricks.

Li Wei could not be bothered to explain that and instead looked curiously at Wang Qiang.

"Mr. Wang Qiang, why are you here?"

Hearing Li Wei's question, Wang Qiang's old face reddened. He waved a hand. "I... can't sit still at home, so I came out at night to find something to do and pass the time."

But Li Wei could tell from his reflective vest that he probably worked at the construction site just like Don Quixote. One of them likely moved bricks during the day while the other worked night watch, so they had never met.

"Is this your uncle?" Wang Qiang pointed at Don Quixote, who was dressed in armor. "What are you doing at the construction site at night?"

Before Don Quixote could angrily rebuke this commoner for pointing at him, Li Wei quickly pulled him behind his back and explained, "My uncle works at the site during the day too. Tonight, he's preparing to rehearse for a stage play and wanted to find somewhere quieter."

"I knew it." Wang Qiang slapped his forehead and forced a smile. "You scared me. I heard something about dragons and knights just now. My English isn't good, so I thought I had misheard."

"Don't worry." Li Wei took the manual from Don Quixote and showed it to Wang Qiang. "We're just looking for a place to rehearse. We'll leave right away."

After hesitating for a moment, Wang Qiang finally took a step back. "Don't come here again next time. If the foreman finds out, they'll dock my pay."

"I understand." Li Wei pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and stuffed it into Wang Qiang's hand. "What happened today was our fault. We won't do it again. Next time, we'll find somewhere else and won't put you in a difficult position."

Li Wei's handling of the matter left Wang Qiang speechless. He opened his mouth but could not say anything, and could only watch Li Wei and Don Quixote leave.

Looking at the money Li Wei had stuffed into his hand and the way he had handled the situation, Wang Qiang thought of his own son, Wang Hao Ran. They were around the same age. Li Wei, also seventeen, could already make his way in the world and handle matters on his own, while his son was still timid and hesitant, constantly clamoring that he did not want to go to school. If he could have gotten into a good university back home, why would they have gone to the trouble of bringing him all the way to America to study?

The more Wang Qiang thought about it, the angrier he became. He resolved to go home this weekend and give his son a vicious scolding to vent his frustration.

Spending another twenty dollars made Li Wei's heart ache. He had originally only wanted to give ten dollars as a gesture, but when he took the money out, he realized he had grabbed the wrong bill. He could only go through with it and give it to Wang Qiang.

By the time they took a cab back, it was even later and the fare was even higher. It took a full 117 dollars before they managed to get one.

If Li Wei had not gained 0.3 attribute points and acquired a skill this time, he really would have felt that this trip had been a loss.

Early the next morning, Don Quixote wondered why his armor had somehow gotten covered in so much mud and dust overnight. Li Wei calmly explained that he had noticed it was already dirty three days ago, or perhaps even earlier.

In the end, Don Quixote remained half-convinced and went off to work at the construction site early.

Seeing his daughter again yesterday afternoon seemed to have restored some of his humanity. When he left today, he was even humming a tune.

Li Wei, meanwhile, returned to the gym early. Fortunately, Michael was not there this time. Otherwise, he surely would have cried out in anguish again, demanding to know whether Li Wei was using steroids or secretly taking Nine Dragons Power behind his back.

By the time he left the gym to work part-time in the Upper East Side, he had roughly figured out that his increase in strength seemed to follow a fixed scaling ratio.

Converted into numbers, every additional 0.1 point of strength seemed to increase the weight he could push and carry by roughly twenty to forty kilograms.

"Wait," he muttered to himself. "If my strength reaches 5, or even 10, wouldn't I really be able to flip a car over with my bare hands?"

When he got off the subway and arrived at the entrance to Dolores's buyer's shop, he found seven or eight people gathered around a crate, chattering away.

"What's going on?" Li Wei stepped forward and greeted his coworker Emma. "What's the situation? Why is everyone gathered here?"

"An artwork Mrs. Dolores bought." Emma pointed at the wooden crate by the entrance. "Four people can't carry it through without getting stuck, but one person can't lift it. We're waiting for a specialized company to come move it."

"But isn't it almost opening time?" Li Wei looked at the not-so-large crate. "Isn't it bad to block the entrance like this?"

"There's nothing we can do." Emma shrugged. "We'll just wait."

At that moment, another dialogue box popped up before Li Wei's eyes:

[Mission received: Helping Others is a Knight's Virtue]

[In Noble Courtyard, a noblewoman seems to have encountered a small problem. As a knight, you should step forward without hesitation.]

[Mission reward: Free attribute point +0.1]