Chapter 274 - 171: No Way? That Works Too?
Troy Aikman’s prediction was spot-on.
The last time the Seattle Seahawks fell so far behind Li Wei, it was because they were completely caught off guard by the monstrous individual skill of the man.
They had never seen anyone so dominant, and they were stunned right from the get-go.
After watching Li Wei’s game tapes on repeat, the Denver Broncos spent the preseason devising multiple strategies to try and contain him.
As the game entered the latter half of the first quarter, the electric atmosphere in MetLife Stadium was stifled by an incredibly oppressive tempo.
The Denver Broncos had no intention of going head-to-head with Li Wei. Under the command of a head coach known for his cautious approach, they were like a pack of patient, seasoned hunters, executing a shameless time-wasting strategy.
"Look at that, Joe! Another three-yard rush," Troy said, exasperated. "They couldn’t care less about advancing the ball. They just want to run down the clock with short rushes. Li Wei has been watching from the bench for a full eight minutes now."
Whenever Li Wei’s offense finally got on the field, the Broncos’ defense would have at least three players abandon their positions to block Li Wei’s running lanes at all costs.
This kind of highly targeted pocket containment was a rare sight in NFL regular season history, as it usually meant the Broncos would leave other receiving targets open.
But there was nothing to be done. Besides the one-man army that was Li Wei, the Giants’ offense had almost no one who could compare to the players on the Denver Broncos.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have only made the playoffs twice in ten years.
With six minutes left in the third quarter, the score was still 10:17, with the Giants trailing.
Li Wei stepped onto the turf once again, greeted by the restless boos of over 80,000 New York fans—boos directed at the receivers who kept dropping passes and an offensive line that was as good as non-existent.
"FUCK!!" Dexter Lawrence, who had just been subbed out for a rest, roared from the sidelines. "Give me my Rolex back!! What the hell are they doing out there?! Li Wei practically shoved the ball right up their asses, but their cheeks are too loose to even hold on! It got intercepted by the damn Broncos!!"
"Hike!"
The moment the ball was snapped, the Giants’ left guard was knocked flat on his back as if he’d been hit by a bulldozer. The pocket collapsed instantly, and the Broncos’ star pass rusher charged directly at Li Wei.
As he prepared to throw, he saw his tight end pinned to the sideline by two defenders, while at least three players were rushing him, blocking his path.
"My God! Our very own Yellow God has used his personal ability to evade the sack once again," Joe Buck yelled from the commentary booth. "But there’s no one to catch his pass! All the receivers are sleepwalking out there."
"That’s perfectly normal, Joe," Troy said. "Last year, the Giants’ offensive line allowed a total of 85 sacks. That’s the second-worst in NFL history, only behind the 1986 Philadelphia Eagles. That means their Quarterback last year was getting slammed into the turf more than five times per game on average. The fact that Li Wei hasn’t been sacked yet today makes him the Quarterback of the year in my book."
Regardless of what was being said in the commentary booth, Li Wei’s gaze remained calm.
He even offered a faint smile.
Li Wei made his move.
He didn’t retreat. Instead, he charged toward the pass rusher. The instant the defender was about to wrap him up for a sack, Li Wei dug his toes into the ground, his body coming to a dead stop and then cutting at a 45-degree angle in a move that defied the laws of physics. The 300-pound linebacker felt like he’d tackled empty air and, due to his own momentum, plunged headfirst into the turf, getting a mouthful of dirt.
"He’s running! Li Wei has abandoned the pass and is running it himself!" Troy exclaimed. "Has he lost his mind? He’s running straight into a wall of Broncos defenders!"
Clutching the ball in one hand, Li Wei began to sprint across the muddy field.
Two safeties closed in from the sides, trying to knock him out of bounds. Li Wei calmly observed their closing speed. A millisecond before they collided with him, he abruptly decelerated, then followed up with an extreme juke that looked like a basketball player’s crossover dribble.
CRACK!
Unable to stop in time, the two Broncos defenders slammed into each other in mid-air with the sickening sound of helmets colliding. Meanwhile, Li Wei had already slipped through the less-than-30-centimeter gap between them like a nimble fish.
The visual effect on the field was absolutely stunning—it was like watching a master dancer performing amidst a stampede of raging elephants.
"The 10! The 20! The 30!" Joe Buck’s voice was hoarse with excitement. "He’s still going! He’s juked out the entire defensive line!"
Li Wei reached the opponent’s 15-yard line, where three defensive backs were fanning out to surround him. Li Wei knew that if he kept running, he’d be forced to reveal too much.
He stopped abruptly mid-sprint.
The sudden stop was so forceful that his cleats ripped up two large chunks of turf. Just as everyone expected him to be tackled, Li Wei, while still off-balance, whipped his right arm forward.
"Haha!" Li Wei broke into a playful grin.
The football transformed into a streak of white light, nearly invisible to the naked eye, as it flew in a perfectly straight, low trajectory, zipping right past the ears of the three defensive backs.
THUMP!
A Giants receiver who had been sleepwalking through the play didn’t even have time to react before the ball, propelled by immense force, was slammed into his arms, carrying him backward into the end zone.
Touchdown!
The referee raised both arms high.
After three seconds of dead silence, MetLife Stadium erupted in a cheer loud enough to shatter glass.
The score became 16:17, with the Giants trailing by only one point.
...
That night, after Li Wei’s incredible display of individual heroism dragged the half-dead Giants to a victory over the formidable Denver Broncos, a new topic shot to the top of Twitter’s trending list.
#WhoCanStopLiWei?
But even the most knowledgeable armchair experts and keyboard warriors found their discussion on the topic shifting from initial technical analysis to a philosophical debate tinged with despair.
After a full night of feverish debate, the internet’s top minds came to two nearly absurd conclusions:
"There’s no way. There’s really no way," an analyst said on a livestream, spreading his hands in helplessness. "Normally, when you want to stop a star Quarterback, you either cut off his passing lanes or you collapse his protection pocket. But Li Wei? The Denver Broncos were already playing shamelessly. They sacrificed their entire secondary and assigned three guys to stick to him like conjoined twins."
"But this guy can still throw an almost impossible, laser-straight pass while completely off-balance," he concluded. "My suggestion is to let the defensive players carry guns onto the field."
Besides arming the defense, the most-liked comment—and the one that broke the hearts of Giants fans—was to hope that Li Wei’s teammates would get even worse.
"Our only hope is that the Giants’ management continues to display their disastrous eye for talent, keeping Li Wei in a constant state of 1 vs. 21 isolation."
But below that comment was a retweet that read:
"What if they win the lottery and draft another player like Li Wei?"
"..."
After a full day and night and millions of tweets, the American sports media finally reached a depressing consensus:
"You can’t stop Li Wei. You can only pray he’s in a bad mood."
The New York Post, a paper that always loves to stir the pot, once again gave Li Wei a massive front-page headline:
_Should the Giants Consider Firing Everyone and Just Keeping Li Wei? It’s Not Like There’d Be a Difference._
However, no matter what the outside world discussed or thought about him, Li Wei’s main concern was when he would be able to upgrade his attributes.
To his surprise, after becoming a Silver Knight and joining the Royal Knight Academy, he could actually gain attributes from playing football!
[You have led the Knight Order to victory in the weekly grand tournament, defeating the opposing Demon Army.]
[This Demon Army was composed of a large number of Dark Elves and Half-Beastmen, enhanced with alchemical potions, making them powerful and well-coordinated.]
[During the battle, you embodied the virtue of ’Valor’—fearless, valiant, facing the enemy head-on, defending your beliefs, and triumphing over an unimaginably strong foe.]
’Unimaginable?’ Li Wei scratched his head. ’It wasn’t that bad.’
[You have obtained 0.1 Free Attribute Points.]
[Free Attribute Points +0.1]
Regardless, this was fantastic news for Li Wei.
After all, he had a total of 18 regular season games and 3 playoff games to play this year, and the Super Bowl was waiting for him beyond that.
Even as a baseline, he could gain 2.2 free attribute points.
’But why didn’t I get any from the preseason games?’
Li Wei thought for a moment before figuring it out. During the preseason, school hadn’t started yet, and he hadn’t formally enrolled in the Royal Knight Academy. The quest probably hadn’t been triggered yet.
Beyond the attribute points, there were other consequences that brought him both pain and joy.
Tuesday was payday for the Giants.
"Just tell me the after-tax amount," Li Wei said weakly, lying on the sofa. "Don’t tell me the pre-tax number."
"Let me see..." Don Quixote said, picking up his phone to check the pay stub while holding his coffee. "For last week’s game, you received 1.44 million USD after taxes."
Li Wei covered his face.
With his current Spiritual Power, Li Wei could already reverse-calculate the pre-tax amount from that number.
During the post-game review, Dabor had mentioned that Li Wei’s long pass percentage was below the incentive target, so he would only receive 90% of the incentive bonus.
His weekly appearance fee was 500,000 USD, plus a basic weekly salary of 550,000 USD and 2.01 million USD from the 90% incentive bonus. That brought his pre-tax weekly income to a staggering 3.06 million USD. This meant that taxes plus Don Quixote’s agent fee came out to... 53.1%!
A 53% tax rate! That meant the IRS was sucking 1.62 million USD out of him every week!
Li Wei closed his eyes at the thought.
"The IRS is truly ruthless, though," Don Quixote said, clicking his tongue as he checked his own agent’s pay stub. "My pre-tax income was over 90,000 USD, and I’m getting hit with the same tax rate as you. I only took home 46,000 USD."
"Still, this isn’t bad at all," he said, taking a satisfied sip of his coffee. "Kid, you just focus on playing well. I’ve heard through the grapevine that Rolex and Mercedes are both interested in you. You’ll be a billionaire in no time."
"But whenever I think about having to pay 53% in taxes," Li Wei said, "I feel miserable."
"Stop feeling miserable," Don Quixote said, standing behind the sofa with his coffee and patting Li Wei’s cheek. "I have a task for you."
"What task?"
"Go buy something. Something expensive," Don Quixote instructed. "You still have over 700,000 USD in cash from commercial endorsement deals. If you don’t buy something before the end of the year, you’ll have to hand over 300,000 USD in taxes next April."
"What!" Li Wei shot up. "I won’t allow it!"
"But what should I buy?" He turned his head to look at Don Quixote. "I can’t afford a house, and I already have two Cadillac Escalades. I can’t just buy another one, or a truck, can I?"
Don Quixote gave him a strange look and said, "When did you get the idea that the Cadillac Escalade is the only vehicle that weighs over 6,000 pounds?"