Craig first nodded, then shook his head.
"What’s with the nodding and shaking your head?" Li Wei was amused by him. "Making the sign of the cross?"
"Jasmine was worried that after I recovered, you’d keep on the bench. I’d never get back on the field, and scouts would never see ," he said. "If no scouts take an interest in , even if I go to college, I’ll be saddled with student loans for the rest of my life, or I’ll end up selling K-powder for so gang on the street corner."
"Tsk, your girlfriend is pretty devoted," Li Wei nodded. "It’s not easy to find a girlfriend like that in Brooklyn."
"Yeah, I love her a lot," Craig lowered his head in sha. "She only did all this for . If you’re going to hold soone accountable, please don’t involve her."
Just then, a quest panel appeared before Li Wei:
[You have received a quest: The Eight Virtues of a Knight]
[As a Knight, faced with the plea of the weak, practice a true virtue.]
[Quest Reward: Highest Attribute 0.1]
Li Wei froze for a mont.
The so-called Eight Virtues of a Knight were Humility, Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, and Soul.
For example, Sacrifice: to give of oneself for the sake of others. That was one of the Eight Virtues.
Since the system triggered a quest here, it must want him to—
"I know this is hard to hear," Li Wei coughed, "but when I wasn’t playing, you were the Quarterback leading the team, and you got crushed 0-21 by Tottenville High School. You, the Quarterback, even got injured by the other team. At that level, even without , I doubt any scout would’ve given you a second look."
’Honesty. It must want to choose Honesty. Making Craig give up on his unrealistic fantasies is what I should really be doing.’
"You..." Craig’s face instantly went from pale to a purplish-red of humiliation. He felt as if his chest had been struck by a heavy hamr. "You don’t have to humiliate like this."
"This isn’t humiliation," Li Wei shrugged. "I’m just telling you the truth."
...
For a few seconds, Li Wei thought the system in his mind had crashed.
[You have chosen ’Honesty’]
[A true Knight never deigns to comfort the weak with lies.]
[Highest attribute is Constitution. Constitution 0.1]
Craig completely broke down. He collapsed onto the locker room bench, looking as if his spine had been ripped out.
"You’re right," he muttered to himself. "There’s no way I’ll ever be chosen by a scout..."
"I’m not going to sacrifice my own goals for you," Li Wei said after a mont of thought. "But in the six rounds of the PSAL season, we need to win four to make the playoffs. If I win the next three gas, I can talk to the coach about letting you play the last two."
"Are... are you serious?" Craig looked up, his face, which had turned a pale, dusky color, now flushing red again. "You’re really willing to give the ball?"
"As long as we secure a spot in the playoffs, it’s fine," Li Wei nodded and patted his shoulder. "Focus on recovering and try to play a little better."
"Okay," Craig was overjoyed. "I’ll stop the ds for a while to let my body recover, then I’ll hit it with a big dose right before the gas!"
’That’s not exactly what I ant by ’recovering,’ though.’
Li Wei paused, but didn’t say anything more. He patted Craig’s shoulder again and walked out of the locker room.
The mont he pushed open the locker room door, Li Wei saw several figures furtively disappearing from behind it. From their backs, they looked a bit like Manu and the others.
"So much drama in one little locker room," Li Wei sighed. "I’ll let the Old Black Ghost know, then get back to grinding those combat skill quests."
The coach’s office was right next to the stadium. As Li Wei approached the door, he could hear a cacophony of whistles and video playback sounds.
"Coach Miller?" Li Wei knocked on the door.
The video playback sound paused. Coach Miller opened the door and looked at Li Wei, a little surprised.
"What are you doing here?"
"I suggest we increase player rotation after we’ve won four gas," Li Wei said, getting straight to the point. "I need more rest ti. We can let Craig have a shot in the remaining two gas."
Coach Miller didn’t say anything, just glanced back over his shoulder.
Li Wei followed his gaze and saw that there was a guest sitting on the sofa in the office, a piece of furniture that was rarely used.
"Oh," Li Wei said. "Did I co at a bad ti?"
"No, quite the opposite," the man in the suit on the sofa said, sizing Li Wei up. "You’ve co at the perfect ti."
"Uh... are you looking for ?" Li Wei took a good look at the stranger before him. "I don’t believe we’ve t. You are—?"
"Li Wei, I’d like you to et Arthur Wens, a scout from 247Sports," Coach Miller introduced. "I think you know what it ans for him to be here, right?"
Li Wei shook Arthur Wens’s hand, sowhat surprised, then turned to look at Coach Miller. "Of course... I just didn’t expect it. The first ga was only the day before yesterday."
247Sports is a dia and data platform focused on university sports in the United States of Arica (especially football and basketball) and is responsible for the recruitnt and evaluation system for high school players transitioning to college.
"Don’t look at ," Coach Miller waved his hand. "I haven’t even sent the ga tape to the scouts yet. Mr. Wens found his way here on his own."
"Although I’ve only co across a single tweet about you," Arthur Wens said, carefully observing Li Wei’s shoulder width and height, "I couldn’t sit still after watching it. I submitted a request to your school yesterday, and I rushed over first thing today."
"Wow, I’m honored," Li Wei said, then repeated himself, "I an, I’m truly honored."
Arthur Wens pushed up the gold-rimd glasses on his nose. He took an iPad out of his briefcase and opened Twitter.
"What’s the Wi-Fi password here?" Arthur Wens asked, looking at the spinning icon. "My iPad doesn’t have a connection."
As soon as he said this, Coach Miller sucked in a sharp breath and stamred, unable to speak for a mont.
"Coach Miller," Arthur Wens looked up at Miller. "This is your office, isn’t it?"
"Yes..."
"Then... could you please tell what the Wi-Fi password is?" Arthur Wens asked, a little confused. "Was I not clear enough?"
Li Wei could see Coach Miller’s body tense up.
"It’s..." Coach Miller glanced awkwardly at Li Wei and Wens. "It’s ’ILoveWetPussy,’ all one word... So student hacked my computer and changed it as a prank. I haven’t changed it back yet."
"With a capital W and P, correct?" Wens asked as he typed in the password, clearing his throat intentionally twice. "Alright... let find my bookmarks... here’s the video."
He played a blurry video for Li Wei and Miller. In the video, a Quarterback, facing a three-man linebacker blitz, leaped clean over one of them and ran for a touchdown.
"That’s ," Li Wei said. "That was from our first PSAL ga the day before yesterday, against Tottenville High School."
"Mr. Li Wei," Arthur Wens nodded and closed his iPad. "I’ll be direct. We live in a world of AI, special effects, and staged videos for the sake of fa. That’s why I wanted to co see you perform in person. If I think you’re the real deal, I’m prepared to give you a 4-star high school player rating and push for the platform to confirm it."
"A 4-star player?" Miller couldn’t help but blurt out. "For real, Mr. Wens? But Li Wei has only played one ga!"
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