System Bug

After leaving the gym, Li Wei went to the communal laundry room and washed and dried all his clothes.

By the time he came out with his bag on his back, it was already past midnight.

Rain in New York in August was nothing unusual. Sparse raindrops pattered against his arms, making him pull his hood tighter and hurry back to the basement.

The moment he stepped back into the basement, a rumble of thunder exploded beside his ears. The ground was instantly soaked as rain poured down, trying to wash over the city people jokingly called the Hive City.

Don Quixote was still washing dishes at the restaurant, with no sign of coming home.

Li Wei had originally wanted to fulfill his duty as both a roommate and a nephew by giving Don Quixote a call.

The old man had a filthy mouth, loved money, and always took petty advantage of others, but he was still Li Wei's only guardian. Besides, he was already so old and still worked two jobs. Either way, Li Wei should at least show some concern.

"Beep... beep..."

It rang for a long time before the call was answered.

"Hello? What is it?" Don Quixote sounded irritated. The background was filled with the sharp clatter of dishes and curses in Spanish.

"It's pouring outside," Li Wei said, trying to sound friendlier. "Do you need any help?"

"Ha! Are you still nursing, young master?" Don Quixote seemed to have the phone wedged between his neck and shoulder as he shouted while working. "It rains all the time in New York. This little rain is nothing. And don't cry like a woman just because thunder scared you. I won't give you any milk. That's it, I'm hanging up!"

The call was mercilessly cut off.

Li Wei took a deep breath, and a vein throbbed on his forehead.

"That damned old bastard," he muttered. "I shouldn't have bothered worrying about him."

So Li Wei went to sleep in his clothes, putting the old bastard out of his mind. For the moment, he even forgot that he was supposed to sleepwalk that night.

But after he fell asleep, the rain in New York only grew heavier.

In his haze, Li Wei seemed to hear something cracking.

Then he caught a damp smell, tinged with the scent of leaves and mud.

He opened his eyes and pulled back the curtain. The long, narrow window set at ground level was hissing as it leaked water into the basement, where puddles were gathering across the floor.

Li Wei hurriedly jumped up and went to Don Quixote's partition. Don Quixote was still snoring on his battered mattress, with no intention of waking up. His beloved knight novel had fallen to the floor, and one corner had already been soaked through.

"Wake up." Without the slightest guilt, Li Wei shook him awake. "The window's leaking."

Hearing Li Wei's voice, Don Quixote suddenly sat upright in bed with his eyes still closed.

"Squire!" His voice was as vigorous as ever, completely unlike the dead-alive weariness he had shown during the day. "Why have you summoned me?"

Li Wei could tell from his tone that he was still sleepwalking.

He had been about to tell Don Quixote that the window was leaking and they needed to seal it with tape, then scoop out the water.

But when the words reached his lips, they suddenly became, "Sir Knight, come take a look. What exactly has happened?"

Since he was sleepwalking, Li Wei thought to himself, could he use him to reliably trigger the system? Could he treat him as a fixed respawn point for farming stats?

Don Quixote touched the floor and shouted, "It's the black tide of the abyss! Leviathan's saliva! Damn it, those sewer-dwelling sea monsters have finally lost their patience and want to devour my castle!"

He sprang from the bed in a single motion, nimble enough that he looked nothing like a middle-aged man who had been worked to death during the day. He grabbed the mop behind the door, gripped it with both hands, and pointed it at the leaking window crack.

"Back off! Evil elemental creatures, back off!" He swung the mop at the filthy water flowing in, trying to chop the stream back outside.

"Wait, Sir Knight," Li Wei called loudly. "Could you let me handle it?"

As he spoke, [Clumsy Eloquence] in his skill list kept flashing.

Then he heard a ding inside his head.

Don Quixote had responded to his request.

"My good squire," Don Quixote said joyfully, "come help me drive off the elemental creatures."

[Adventurer Li Wei, you have received a quest issued by Knight Don Quixote: Drive Away the Water Elemental Creatures]

[Quest Requirement: Assist the knight in sealing the breach and disperse the water elementals within 3 hours]

[Quest Reward: Constitution +0.1]

It really triggered!

Li Wei was overjoyed. He rushed into Don Quixote's partition, yanked up his cheap sponge mattress, tore off a strip with all his strength, and stuffed it into the wet window.

The soft sponge was squeezed into the gap in the window frame under pressure. It rapidly absorbed water and expanded, turning the river-like influx into a thin trickle.

Li Wei tore off several smaller pieces of sponge from the corners, then taped up the window and sealed the flow.

Afterward, he found a bucket and spent more than two hours clearing all the standing water from the floor and dumping it into the toilet.

"Good thing the pipes didn't burst," he muttered as he poured out another bucket. "If the sewers backed up, that'd be a real disaster."

He had to move out as soon as possible.

After who knew how long, the bucket in Li Wei's hand finally struck the floor with a crisp clack. All the standing water had finally been cleared away.

[Quest: Drive Away the Water Elemental Creatures completed]

[Reward: Constitution +0.1]

Strange. Li Wei looked toward Don Quixote.

There wasn't even a gold reward this time? Was he dissatisfied with me?

But when Li Wei turned around, Don Quixote had somehow already curled up on the sponge mattress and fallen asleep.

[Constitution 0.9]--[Constitution 1.0]

In an instant, another wave of heat emerged from inside Li Wei, slowly washing over his aching body and exhausted nerves.

The soreness in his waist and back from bending over to scoop water for two hours receded like the tide, replaced by a steady stream of renewed strength.

Even his heartbeat became slower and more powerful, no longer racing wildly at the slightest exertion.

"So this is..." Li Wei clenched his fist. "A healthy body?"

Though the lack of a gold reward left Li Wei slightly disappointed—apparently the "Sir Knight" had fallen asleep and could not issue post-battle rewards—the improvement of 0.1 Constitution was far more valuable to Li Wei than gold.

Still, there was no way to test exactly how much improvement 1.0 Constitution had brought him. Li Wei could only yawn and return to his own partition, then fall into a deep sleep on the only intact mattress in the room.

The next morning.

"Which damned animal did this?!"

A shrill scream jolted Li Wei awake.

When he pulled back the curtain, Don Quixote was standing before the wrecked mattress, clutching a piece of torn sponge. His whole body trembled, and his face was livid.

"Oh, I did that." Li Wei pointed at the remaining marks on the window. "And you have the nerve to complain? The rain was so heavy last night, and I couldn't wake you no matter what I did. I had no choice but to use this method to block the window and stop the water from seeping in."

"I..." Don Quixote blinked in confusion. "I really slept that deeply?"

Li Wei nodded. "I saw how hard you worked, so I didn't force you awake. I cleaned up the room myself."

"But..." Don Quixote accepted Li Wei's explanation and turned to look at the surrounding floor. "Why did you tear up my mattress?"

Li Wei would not tell him that part of the reason was a small response to Don Quixote deliberately mocking him the previous night. Instead, he asked:

"It's almost nine in the morning. Don't you need to go to the construction site?"

"Oh, not today." Don Quixote waved a hand. "The rain in Queens hasn't stopped, so the site shut down for the day. Damn construction site, costing me money. Today, I'll take you to school to handle the paperwork."