The bus stop on Madison Avenue wasn't much different from the ones back home, but compared to the stops on Brooklyn's Eighth Avenue, it looked at least ten thousand times cleaner.
There was no gang graffiti, no homeless people in the bus shelter, and no urine stains under the sign. Li Wei quickly found the route he needed: first, head south from Madison Avenue—any line from M1 to M4 would do—then get off between 42nd and 59th Street, and finally take the M34 crosstown bus toward Eighth Avenue.
However—
'An average of 20 minutes between buses?' Li Wei was a little surprised as he looked at the timetable. 'Still, considering a ride is only 3 USD, waiting 20 minutes doesn't seem so bad.'
After paying a 120 USD taxi fare, Li Wei was starting to feel that spending 3 USD on a bus ride was hardly a luxury.
But in reality, the bus schedule was nothing but a pack of lies.
Li Wei waited at the stop for a full half-hour before a lethargic yellow bus finally arrived.
It was a good thing he was on affluent Madison Avenue. If this had been Eighth Avenue, he definitely wouldn't have lingered in a public place for so long.
After boarding the bus and paying the 2.90 USD fare with his phone, Li Wei scanned his surroundings, bag in hand, and sat in a corner seat in the very back.
The bus held only a few Black and white people around his age, who also looked like they worked nearby.
According to the map, this bus journey would take him nearly an hour and a half. He decided to use the time to get a head start on his high school coursework.
The instant he sat down, the moment his rear touched the seat, a voice popped into his mind:
[Mission: First Reading of the Ancient Stele—Complete]
[You have successfully read the obscure ancient stele and deciphered its secrets. The Magic Council should carve your achievement into the annals of history.]
[Reward Obtained: Free Attribute Points +0.1]
'It wasn't really that great of an achievement,' Li Wei thought, rubbing his nose.
He took out the AP Macroeconomics textbook he had received from the school's basement and started reading from the beginning.
'Oh... the Real Estate Trading Commission?'
After reading for a while, Li Wei gazed out the window.
He was just now learning why New York's streets were all numbered avenues and streets. It was because of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. In order to more conveniently sell land in standardized units, capitalists had sliced Manha into a grid of standard rectangles. For the sake of efficiency, New York's streets and avenues were simply numbered, which made the city easy to manage and expand.
The yellow bus slowly swayed from Fifth Avenue all the way to Eighth Avenue. An hour later, Li Wei closed his book and tried to recall something.
"Wait," he muttered to himself, "when was the Commissioners' Plan released again?"
[Spirit 1.0]→[Spirit 1.1]
[Spirit Upgrade Detected]→[Skill: Poor Eloquence has changed]
[Effect: You have a 50% chance to persuade greedy individuals with weak willpower.]→[Effect: You have a 60% chance to persuade greedy individuals with weak willpower.]
When one of Li Wei's attributes surpassed the limit of an ordinary person for the first time, the world and his memories underwent an incredible transformation in his eyes.
The sensation was difficult to describe accurately. If he had to make an analogy, it was like an old, laggy computer bogged down with background processes that suddenly had its memory cleared and was upgraded with a brand-new solid-state drive.
Before, when Li Wei read, the words would enter his eyes and have to "spin" around in his brain, requiring laborious chewing and comprehension before they could become short-term memories.
But when his [Spirit] attribute jumped from 1.0 to 1.1, it was as if, for a brief moment, the world had changed from frosted glass to perfectly clear glass.
The text from that page about the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 resurfaced and was etched deeply into his memory.
It wasn't just his memory, either.
The hum of the bus's air conditioner, the voices of the two Black men in front of him discussing last night's NBA game, the tactile sensation of the tires rolling over the road... all this background noise that had previously jumbled together and irritated him now became distinct and layered in his ears.
He could easily focus his attention on any single sound, or he could choose to block it all out and concentrate on the textbook in his hands.
'Is this what it feels like to be a young genius?' Li Wei became somewhat addicted to the changes this enhancement brought. But the good feeling didn't last. After about half an hour, the excitement from the Spiritual Power boost, combined with the harshness of his surroundings, caused his focus to wane. Nevertheless, by the time Li Wei got off the bus and returned to Sunset Park, he could still clearly feel that his memory and concentration had improved by a huge margin.
Back in Brooklyn, the air on Eighth Avenue was once again filled with the familiar, strangely comforting yet repulsive smells of grease, leaves, and fish. This time, Li Wei didn't head straight back to the basement. Instead, he ducked into a Chinese-owned fresh market.
Now that he had earned a little money, he was no longer going to eat discounted bread and free relief food.
He picked through the meat section and ended up buying two large, thick-cut pieces of beef round—though it had less fat than ribeye or sirloin, it was high in protein and cheap. Then he also bought a large, family-sized carton of skim milk and a bag of rice.
When he got home, Li Wei pushed open the door, and a familiar musty smell assaulted his nostrils.
Don Quixote was unusually quiet today. He had been doing hard labor during the day and washing dishes at night for the past few days and seemed truly exhausted. He was currently lying on his worn-out mattress, still clutching that damp Knight novel, and snoring up a storm, showing no signs of waking.
Li Wei shook his head and walked over to the simple gas stove in the corner (thankfully, it hadn't been too waterlogged to use), then put on a pan and heated some oil.
The cheap beef round sizzled in the pan, and the meaty aroma from the Maillard reaction soon overpowered the basement's musty smell. Li Wei sprinkled on just a little black pepper, cooked it to medium-well, and then plated it.
After leaving a portion for Don Quixote, Li Wei wolfed down his own share, feeling the heat and protein dissolve in his stomach and spread throughout his body.
He wasn't sure if it was because of the system's enhancements, but his appetite had grown a lot since coming to New York. The improvement in his constitution had perhaps also led to an increase in his food intake; he could now eat a full 500g steak and other ingredients in a single meal.
Returning to his own partitioned space, Li Wei quickly immersed himself in his reading and began to study furiously.
His time was precious. Not only did he have to raise his stats within two weeks, successfully change his class, get the reward, and move out, but he also had to pass the entrance exam and the football team tryouts a month from now.