第46章 唯一出路(3.5k超大杯更新!)

After the morning AP Calculus class ended, Li Wei and Michael headed to different classrooms.

AP courses at American high schools were electives. Michael was taking AP History, while Li Wei had chosen AP Macroeconomics.

The macroeconomics teacher was Mrs. Mosley, a very stern-looking elderly Black woman. She showed more or less displeasure at Li Wei joining the class midway through the year.

"Listen," she said, looking at Li Wei. "You may not have studied AP Economics in high school back in your country. To get an A within one year—no, within the remaining half-year or so—I seriously doubt you can keep up with the pace."

"Then you can pick any material from the textbook," Li Wei said. "Maybe I can keep up after all."

"Fine." Mrs. Mosley snapped Mankiw's Macroeconomics shut and stared at Li Wei. "Mr. Li Wei, could you please tell me about the period after the Great Depression in America..."

Five minutes later.

"..."

Mrs. Mosley fell silent for a moment, then unwillingly picked up the thick copy of Mankiw's Macroeconomics and flipped through it again and again.

Li Wei stood with his arms folded, watching her calmly.

"Memorizing a textbook and understanding the logic behind how an economy operates are two different things, Mr. Li Wei." Mrs. Mosley returned to the podium and pointed at an empty seat in the back of the classroom. "Please find a seat. I hope you can hand in equally flawless work when it comes to case analysis."

Li Wei shrugged, took his textbook, and returned to his seat.

At noon, Li Wei had originally wanted to have lunch with Michael or Travis, but Franklin K. Lane High School was a large New York City high school with as many as 3,500 students. The lunchtime crowd in the cafeteria was easy to imagine.

Every ethnic group sat together in its own clusters, and only a few parts of the cafeteria had mixed seating.

Black students, Latino students, Asian students, and the sports teams all had their own groups.

Even after Li Wei finished the food he had brought, he still hadn't found either of them.

By a little after two in the afternoon, the war room in the gym smelled like a sauna soaked through with sweat stench.

A huge group of burly high school athletes with nowhere to vent their hormones squeezed into the small tiered classroom, shouting, shoving, and jostling one another.

The moment Li Wei walked through the door, the entire war room abruptly went cold and quiet.

"Yo." Coach Miller and the assistant coach came in behind him. Seeing this, Coach Miller clicked his tongue in amazement. "You actually got this bunch to shut up. Looks like I really didn't make a mistake picking this backup quarterback."

He walked up to the podium in the war room and picked up a megaphone.

"Get your fat, lardy asses off those benches! Get the fuck up front!" he bellowed. "You idiots!"

"This is your last year of high school! It's also the only chance in your whole lives to climb out of this goddamn gutter!" he said. "Either you fight like your lives depend on it, show those college scouts you're beasts, and earn yourselves D1 scholarships; or get the hell out of my locker room right now, sell drugs on the corner, and die like stray dogs in a filthy ditch during some gang shootout! Pick one, geniuses!"

Travis beside Li Wei suddenly let out a roar, startling him.

"When did you get here?" Li Wei turned to look at Travis. "How did I not see you?"

"I just went to the gym, man." Travis's head was covered in sweat. "The school gym has plenty of equipment. No need to go to an outside gym anymore."

"Next week, we'll be entering the PSAL season," Coach Miller continued roaring from the podium. "If we win four out of six games, we make the playoffs. What's our goal?"

"Championship! Championship! Championship!"

"That's right!" Coach Miller roared. "The championship! Only if you show up in the playoffs, even the championship game, can you get on the scouts' radar and receive invitations to training camps! Only then can you fucking make the NCAA! If you can't win, then get ready to rot behind iron bars in Brooklyn!"

"Also, I know some of you boys don't have much of a foundation, and your families can't afford expensive steaks and private trainers," he said. "If any of you need my help, come to my office afterward. I'll give you some 'targeted advice.'"

Though he said any students who needed his help, Coach Miller's gaze fell on Li Wei and Travis.

"Why's he looking at me?" Li Wei found it baffling. "What help would I need from him?"

"I know," Travis said, wearing an expression of sudden understanding. "Come with me."

After the pep talk ended, Travis led Li Wei to the door of Coach Miller's office.

"I know Asians are shy." He patted Li Wei on the shoulder. "I'll ask for you."

With that, he knocked and entered Coach Miller's office. Before long, he sneaked back out carrying two bags.

"What's this?" Li Wei looked at the bags rattling in Travis's hands. "Workout supplements from Coach Miller?"

"No," Travis said. "This is all testosterone and anabolic steroids, along with growth hormone, plus some stimulants and diuretics."

Li Wei was startled and lowered his voice. "Why would the coach give you this stuff?"

"You... train natural?" Travis scratched his scalp. "Damn it, the coach and I saw how fierce you were, so we thought you were on gear too."

"You've been taking this stuff since high school just to play football?"

Li Wei looked at the bags Travis had spread open: Testosterone Enanthate, Methyldrostanolone, Methyltestosterone, insulin, Ostarine, and even Ephedrine, used as a stimulant.

"High school?" Travis shook his head. "I started taking oral stuff in middle school, then began injecting after I got into high school."

Only now did Li Wei understand why Travis's cognitive level was so low that he seemed like an idiot, yet he appeared to have some athletic talent.

Travis saw Li Wei's ghost-struck expression, laughed self-mockingly, and skillfully stuffed the colorful drugs back into the black drawstring bag.

"Don't look at me like that, man. This is common all over America." Travis took Li Wei to a blind spot away from the cameras and pulled out a joint, but after thinking it over, he didn't light it. "Why do you think I managed to stand out in the youth amateur leagues and go straight into the starting lineup to play in the PSAL?"

"Can you even understand all these drugs?" Li Wei couldn't help asking. "Do you know what this stuff is?"

"To be honest, I don't. Just looking at the names makes my head spin." Travis shook his head. "But the coach told me how to take them. I just do what he says."

Li Wei suddenly remembered the first time he had gone to the gym. While changing clothes, he had overheard two people talking about using drugs. One of them had been a muscular Black guy who, from the side, looked about the same age as him.

Looking back now, that man's face seemed to gradually overlap with Manu's.

"But this will wreck your endocrine system. Your balls will shrink, your emotions will get out of control, and even your heart will become enlarged because of it..."

"My heart? Maybe I'll die in a gang shootout tomorrow." Travis smiled. "You know, Li Wei? My grandfather died at forty-five. My father had gout so bad before he even turned thirty-five that he could barely walk. Do you think I'd still be worrying about an enlarged heart at a time like this?"

"I have no money, and I don't have any talent for studying. The only thing I can say I have even a little talent for is this body of mine." He held out an arm bulging with veins and varicose vessels from drugs and training. "But I'm not talented enough to just casually get into the NCAA and make a name for myself."

"Do you know why high school leagues don't drug-test?" he said. "As long as I can get a full scholarship, even if I enter the NCAA and don't put up great results, even if I never make it into a professional league in my life, at least I can leave this godforsaken place. At least I can afford college. Then I can become a fitness coach, maybe even come back and become a sports coach. That'd still be a respectable life, man."

"If kids like me stay here, we either become gang enforcers, and only the really lucky ones live past thirty, or we spend our whole lives flipping burger patties at fast-food restaurants." He shrugged. "My dad has gouty lumps on his knees. Every day, he takes painkillers just to flip burger patties in a hamburger joint for fifteen bucks an hour. I know that if I can't make it, that'll be the rest of my life."

Kids from the streets had their own street wisdom. He might not have excelled academically, but neither was he simply a fool.

"But this stuff can't be cheap, right?" Li Wei couldn't help saying. "Can you afford it?"

"This..." Travis shook the bag. "I don't know, but none of my coaches in middle school or high school ever charged me for it."

Li Wei took the bag from him and carefully inspected the packaging boxes. In the end, he couldn't help muttering under his breath.

"Damn it. These are unfinished drugs that haven't gone on the market. They haven't been approved by the FDA!"

"Then that makes sense." Travis grinned. "The coach said he got them through a friend at an internal pharmaceutical plant. He doesn't charge me; he just wants to do me a favor. These coaches are really good people."

"Honestly, I was worried the coach had spent a lot of money getting this stuff," he said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have the money to pay him back."

Li Wei had a crueler explanation, but he couldn't bring himself to say it to this underage classmate who already had more than six years of experience using illegal drugs.

"As long as we can win the PSAL championship," Travis said hopefully, "even if we can't get into a D1 school, we can still get a scholarship from a D2 or D3 school."

As he spoke, he gripped the bag in his hand as though it were a lifeline.

With an indescribably complicated feeling in his heart, Li Wei said goodbye to Travis and took the campus bus home.

Don Quixote was lying at home watching television. When he saw Li Wei push the door open alone, he clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Well, well. Now this is something," he said. "I thought you'd bring a girl back on your first night. Don't tell me Franklin High School is some Catholic school?"

"It isn't," Li Wei answered casually. "In fact, three girls fought over me. I just haven't decided whose invitation to accept."

"Bullshit. Keep bragging," Don Quixote said dismissively. "Three people fought over you? Why not say the head cheerleader invited you to her house that very day to teach her how to stretch?"

"How did you know?" Li Wei whirled around. "Who told you?"

"Funny joke, but stop dreaming and come look at this news report." Don Quixote pointed at the television. "Do you remember the construction site where I used to work?"

"I remember." Li Wei walked over. "What happened?"

WNYW was airing a news report. The station mainly broadcast local New York news.

The screen showed a report about an attack at a Brooklyn construction site that had injured multiple people. Two anchors were commenting on the incident:

"...You're absolutely right, Brian. This attack has been alleged to be the work of the Russian mafia active in Brighton Beach. The construction company also believes that the previous hacking of its financial system was carried out by the same criminal organization..."