These players clearly knew each other before the ga, each belonging to their own strict social cliques.
Most of them hailed from prestigious NCAA universities or were stars from high schools across the country. They were either old rivals or longti friends. They high-fived, fooled around, and loudly discussed the agents they’d just signed or the shoe sponsorship offers they’d received.
As for Li Wei, a few scrutinizing gazes would occasionally land on him, but they would quickly shift away.
Li Wei was perfectly content to not interact with them, focusing instead on the food before him.
Just then, a figure walked over. The small groups in the room, both Black and white, all flocked to him, scrambling to be the first to say hello.
He was a tall, well-proportioned young white man with a buzz cut.
Li Wei had heard of him. Trevor Carson. Besides Li Wei himself, Carson was the undisputed number one high school player in the nation. He was ranked first on both the ESPN and Rivals lists.
As for the 247Sports list, however, the top spot was held by Li Wei.
Rumor had it that two years ago, the head coaches of Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State University had already made ho visits. This year, he also won the Gatorade National Player of the Year award at the Gatorade Cup. He was a true chosen one.
With his arrival, the atmosphere in the dining hall shifted instantly. A few high-status, five-star recruits who had been sitting at the central round table imdiately put down their cutlery, their faces plastered with smiles as they prepared to greet him. Many more were itching for a chance to make an impression on the future NFL number-one draft pick.
"Hey, Trevor! Over here, there’s a spot!" soone yelled.
However, Trevor rely offered polite greetings to those around him, his gaze ultimately landing on the corner of the room.
The next mont, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Trevor Carson turned down two requests to share a table and strode straight through the hall toward the most remote corner.
Li Wei had just stuffed a piece of beef into his mouth when a shadow fell across his table.
Chewing, he looked up, a little surprised to see the "chosen one" standing before him.
"Li Wei... You’re Li Wei, right? The only Asian player, number one on the 247Sports list," Trevor asked. "You’re playing for the East team this ti?"
Li Wei swallowed his food, calmly pulled a napkin to wipe his mouth, and nodded. "That’s ."
The surrounding crowd, their ears pricked, all began to speculate about what would happen next. So were even ready to watch a show.
East versus West, number one versus number one. It wouldn’t have been surprising if they started fighting right then and there.
But the next mont, Trevor pulled out the chair opposite Li Wei, leaned forward, and lowered his voice. "Oh my god, it’s really you. Dude, I’m a fan!"
Li Wei: ?
"Is this seat taken?" he asked excitedly. "Can I sit here?"
"Uh..." Li Wei hesitated. "Be my guest."
Seeing the two of them getting along so well, the onlookers gradually lost interest and dispersed.
After returning with so food, Trevor looked at Li Wei’s plate and whispered a warning, "Dude, soone here might be targeting you. Be careful."
"What?" Li Wei frowned. "What have you heard?"
’To him, Trevor’s behavior was rather strange.’
’He’s a star high school prodigy, the center of attention, yet he cos over to talk to , then drops this bombshell that soone might be targeting . It all seems very calculated.’
"I just heard it through the grapevine," Trevor said in a low voice. "The people at the NCAA Alliance aren’t too happy about the NFL making an exception for you."
"Thanks," Li Wei nodded. "Why are you telling this?"
Seeing Li Wei’s completely unsurprised expression, Trevor realized he must have already been prepared.
"Because I want you to be the one to break the mold, man!" He rubbed his hands together and whispered, "Who wants to play in the NCAA if they can get into the NFL? In the NCAA, you can only make money off your NIL, and that’s a few hundred thousand USD a year, max."
"If you beco the first to do it, maybe I can ride your coattails, just do one year and then jump straight to the NFL."
"I see," Li Wei nodded. "Thanks. I’ll be careful."
「anwhile, in the back of the kitchen.」
"You sure he ate it?"
"I cooked the steaks for him myself—two of them!" another chef, a heavyset man in a toque, replied in a low voice while pretending to wipe the counter. "I did what you said. I put in a triple dose of a powerful laxative. Forget a person—even a bull would spend all night kneeling at the toilet."
"Then why isn’t he showing any reaction?" the assistant cook who had spoken first asked with a frown. "Look at him. He doesn’t look like he has a stomachache at all."
The two of them stared intently at Li Wei.
By now, the laxative should have had him breaking out in a cold sweat, clutching his stomach, and desperately searching for a bathroom. But in reality, Li Wei was sitting there perfectly composed, even casually patting Carson on the shoulder.
Just then, Li Wei triggered another quest.
[You have encountered a trace amount of alchemical toxin]
[Assessing based on "Knight · Silver Body"... Assessnt passed.]
[You are immune to this toxin.]
[New Quest: Impervious to All Poisons (1/5)]
[Push your body to its limits through training, then ingest 4 tis the current amount of alchemical toxin.]
[Reward: Free Attribute Point 0.1]
Li Wei looked at the system prompts and raised an eyebrow, lost in thought.
’So this was their idea of "targeting" ? The thods were even more despicable and direct than I’d imagined.’
’But...’
He glanced at the (1/5) progress bar, his gaze sweeping over the crowd and landing precisely on the teppanyaki station in the distance. The two chefs t his eyes and, looking guilty, imdiately lowered their heads and pretended to be busy.
"Trevor," Li Wei said, suddenly standing up with his empty plate. "The steak here is pretty good. Want so more?"
"Huh?" Trevor Carson stared, glancing at the mountain of empty plates in front of Li Wei. "You’re still not full? Dude, your appetite is insane. I know we burn a lot of calories, but we can’t just binge like this. The activities director is supposed to speak soon..."
’I didn’t have my protein shake today, so a little extra food won’t hurt.’
He walked straight to the station with his plate.
"Did he find out? Is he here to cause trouble?" The assistant cook’s hands trembled.
However, Li Wei simply placed his plate on the counter and held up four fingers.
"Four more, please," Li Wei said. "Both ribeye and sirloin. And extra sauce. That flavor from before was really special. I liked it a lot."
The two chefs stared at each other, seeing utter disbelief in the other’s eyes.
’He wants more? And with extra sauce?’
They exchanged a look, a hint of suspicion in their eyes.
’Maybe sothing went wrong with the first batch. Since he didn’t notice, let’s give him more!’
SZZZZLE—
Oil splattered on the griddle. As the fat chef cooked, he kept his back to Li Wei, his hand trembling like he had Parkinson’s as he slathered on the special sauce as if it were free.
With a dose like that, a normal person would probably have to get their stomach pumped at the hospital just to survive.
Five minutes later, four neatly stacked steaks were placed in front of Li Wei.
Li Wei returned to Trevor’s side, continuing his conversation as he casually speared a large chunk of at with his fork.
In the end, he even used a piece of bread to mop up every last drop of sauce.
"Th-this... how is this possible?" The assistant cook’s voice trembled. "That was a powerful veterinary-grade laxative I bought! Did it expire? Or did we buy a counterfeit?"
"Impossible!" the fat chef gritted his teeth, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "The vendor said this stuff could take down an elephant!"
"Then how do you explain that kid eating all that and acting like nothing happened?" The assistant cook glanced in the direction Li Wei had gone, then at the bit of leftover sauce on the side of the griddle. "There must be sothing wrong with the stuff you bought. Either that or it was swapped out."
"Fuck, I don’t believe it!"
The fat chef was a stubborn man. The panic of failing his mission made him lose all reason. The person who had given them this task had been very generous—offering enough to pay off a fifth of his student loans at once. He wasn’t about to let this chance slip away.
He grabbed a small spoon and scraped up the dregs of black pepper sauce from the bottom of the bowl. "I’m going to taste it and see if the stuff has actually gone bad."
"I’ll try so too." The assistant cook leaned in.
Each of them took a tiny sip.
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