"I'll do it," Li Wei said. "Let me see if I can get it inside."
"Oh, come on, honey," Emma teased. "I know you're all muscle, but even three grown men can't move this thing."
Li Wei walked up, crouched in front of the crate, and examined it carefully.
It was a wooden crate, just barely small enough to fit through the boutique's main entrance. It wasn't huge, reaching about waist-high, and was reinforced with iron bands on its sides, giving it a very sturdy appearance.
"About how much does this weigh?" Li Wei wondered, turning to the mover. "300 kilograms? 400 kilograms?"
The mover was a burly white man. Hearing the exchange between Li Wei and Emma, he sized Li Wei up, a flash of disdain in his eyes.
"At least 300 kilograms," he replied. "It's solid."
Li Wei noticed the mockery in his eyes, but he didn't react for the time being.
He did a quick mental calculation. His current Strength of 1.2 was enough to lift a 125-kilogram barbell. On his way over, he had roughly estimated that every 0.1 point in Strength increased his lifting capacity by 20 to 40 kilograms.
'If I use [Frenzy] to double my strength for a short time... it should be worth a shot.'
"What kind of art piece is in here?" Li Wei asked, returning to Emma's side. "Do I need to be gentle with it?"
"Of course you need to handle it with care! If I remember correctly, it's a sculpture," Emma said, rolling her eyes at him. "It wouldn't be called a work of art if it wasn't valuable, would it?"
"So, what if I can lift it and move it inside?"
Hearing Li Wei's boast, Emma looked him up and down before saying:
"You might be a little young, but you're totally my type. If you want to ask me out, just say so."
"I don't," Li Wei said, pointing to a high-end all-you-can-eat steakhouse outside. "If I can move it, how about you treat me to a meal?"
"Jeez... you sure know how to pick a place. Lunch there is 150 USD a head..." Emma's lip twitched. She said, half-joking, "But okay, fine. If you can't move it, you're treating me. How about that?"
Li Wei nodded, placed the small bag he was carrying to the side, walked up to the crate, and took a deep breath.
The mover's eyes flashed with annoyance when he saw the elegant Emma take the initiative with some Asian kid.
"Be careful, kid, don't throw out your back," he said, half-mocking, half-advising. "This isn't one of your little dumbbells at home—"
[Frenzy] activated!
An unprecedented, scorching torrent pumped from his heart, surging like a bursting dam into every one of his muscle fibers.
[Strength 1.2] → [Strength 2.4]
[Agility 1.1] → [Agility 2.2]
[Constitution 1.1] → [Constitution 2.2]
In an instant, Li Wei felt the world slow down. His pupils contracted, and the chattering voices around him seemed to pull away, growing distant and indistinct.
The only thing clear was the roaring power inside him.
He squatted down, his hands gripping the reinforcing iron strips at the bottom of the crate.
He tightened his core, his lats locking like iron gates. His thighs tensed like a pair of jacks. And just like that, the wooden crate—the one that weighed over 300 kilograms and had defeated three strong men—lifted smoothly, almost lightly, off the ground.
The veins on Li Wei's arms bulged like coiled dragons, but his face wasn't twisted in a grimace as everyone expected. Instead, he was only slightly out of breath.
"My God..." Emma couldn't help but cover her mouth. The playful warning about his back died in her throat.
Cradling the crate, Li Wei took one step, two steps, three steps, and then, under the astonished gazes of the onlookers, placed it steadily in the corner.
He even gently avoided bumping the glass door, a clear sign that 300 kilograms was nowhere near his limit.
"Strange..." Li Wei muttered. "Wasn't this thing packed properly? It feels like it's not completely full inside..."
After he put the crate down, everyone stared at the handsome, unassuming Asian part-timer as if he were a monster.
That was 300 kilograms! And unlike a barbell with a bar to grip and a balanced center of gravity, this was an awkwardly shaped object weighing over 600 pounds!
The mover who had just advised him rubbed his eyes, walked over in disbelief to test the crate, and found that he couldn't move it an inch.
"This is pretty light," Li Wei said, patting the man's shoulder. "I'm surprised, man. For a guy with muscles as big as yours, you don't seem to have any strength at all."
The man's face flushed beet-red. He turned, wanting to say something, but couldn't get a single word out. Gasping like a fish out of water, he was forced to swallow Li Wei's sarcastic jab.
The movers' truck had barely left when a Bentley Bentayga pulled up in front of the boutique.
Lady Delores was uncharacteristically a little late, but she maintained her usual elegance and composure.
"Why did they leave?" she asked. "Emma, didn't you tell me the sculpture I bought was stuck at the entrance and couldn't get in?"
"That was the case, Lady Delores," Emma said, glancing at Li Wei. "But Li Wei moved it in by himself."
For the first time, Li Wei saw a flicker of doubt and shock on Lady Delores's face.
"Did you open it?" she asked. "Otherwise, how could you possibly have moved it by yourself?"
"Maybe I was just born strong," Li Wei shrugged. "Or maybe those movers were just all show. Too many steroids."
Lady Delores walked over to the corner and inspected the seals on the crate from all sides.
Seeing the expression on her face, Li Wei knew his mission must be complete.
Sure enough, a moment later, a quest completion dialog box popped up in his vision:
[Quest Complete: Helping Others is a Knight's Virtue]
[Reward Issued: Free Attribute Point +0.1]
'Yes!'
Li Wei secretly clenched his fist and mentally assigned the attribute point to Constitution.
[Constitution 1.1] → [Constitution 1.2]
Li Wei suddenly took a deep, quiet breath.
The breath was long and deep. He could feel his alveoli expand with unprecedented efficiency, wringing every last bit of oxygen from the air. Then, his powerful heart pumped blood, sending energy to his fingertips and the roots of his hair.
He now felt that if he wanted to, he could maintain a 4-minute-per-kilometer pace and run all the way from the Upper East Side back to Sunset Park. One of the main benefits of increased Constitution was a huge upgrade in stamina.
But before he could savor the changes in his body, Lady Delores called all four sales associates over and said with a serious expression:
"I'm going on a business trip for the next few days," she said, looking at Li Wei and the others. "While I'm gone, it's business as usual."
Her gaze suddenly focused on Li Wei. "The rest of you can get back to work. Li Wei, you stay."