Chapter 265 - 163: Knight’s Path Stage 3
Several brawny Chinese coaches immediately reined in their usual gruffness and bowed respectfully to Li Wei.
"How’s Chen Haisheng doing?" Li Wei asked casually after sitting down.
"Not good," one of the coaches said, his expression grim. "His opponent is a local Black boxer from Brooklyn, Marcos. He’s much better at cutting weight than we are, so he has a huge size advantage."
Li Wei nodded.
Boxing is divided into weight classes. Generally, when skill levels are comparable, the closer a fighter is to the upper limit of their division, the greater the disparity in strength.
For example, in the middleweight division (154-160 lbs) where Chen Haisheng fought, the difference could be a full 6 pounds of muscle, and—
"Is this fucking middleweight?" Li Wei pointed at one of the Black men in the ring. "He’s got to be 175 pounds, right?"
He pointed at Chen Haisheng’s opponent. In front of him, the 155-pound Chen Haisheng looked like a middle schooler.
"He’s a boxer with one foot in the pros," another coach leaned in to say. "He used professional techniques like dehydration and fasting to drop from 180 pounds to 159 in a short period of time, just barely making weight at the weigh-in."
"So you’re saying this guy is 25 pounds heavier than Chen Haisheng?" Li Wei shook his head. "How is he supposed to fight that?"
"The Golden Gloves tournament is on a point system. If he loses this one, Hai Sheng can’t afford another loss," Lin Daohang sighed. "But maybe a loss would be good for the kid. It’s not a bad thing to face some hardship when you’re young."
No one thought Chen Haisheng could defeat the Black boxer before him, especially when his technique and reach were also far inferior.
Barely ten seconds in, Marcos used his terrifying reach advantage to land two precise jabs, shattering Chen Haisheng’s guard. Chen Haisheng’s footwork seemed stiff. Eager to impress Lin Daohang, he tried to force his way in to fight on the inside.
But according to the laws of professional combat, emotionally charged haste is often fatal.
The 26th second.
Chen Haisheng feinted, his left foot just taking a half-step forward. A cold glint flashed in Marcos’s eyes. With no extraneous wind-up, in a stunningly counter-intuitive move, he twisted at the hip while retreating. His rear hand drew a brutal arc, landing a precise check hook on Chen Haisheng’s chin!
"THUD!"
Accompanied by a sickening, dull thud of impact, the 10-ounce glove smashed squarely into the right side of Chen Haisheng’s jaw.
His brain suffered a violent, rotational shock. The vestibular system, responsible for balance, instantly crashed.
Chen Haisheng didn’t even let out a groan. His eyes instantly lost focus. Like a marionette whose strings had been cut, he toppled forward, ramrod straight, and crashed hard onto the ring’s canvas.
The crowd instantly erupted in a fanatical roar that threatened to tear the roof off.
"Back up! To a neutral corner!" The referee rushed forward, shoving away Marcos, who was moving in for a follow-up strike. He then knelt beside Chen Haisheng, waved his fingers in front of the fighter’s eyes, and began the count in a loud voice:
"One... two... three..."
Below the ring, Lin Daohang shot up from his folding chair, his face instantly turning deathly pale. The hand holding his cigar trembled uncontrollably.
’This is bad. I’ve embarrassed Mr. Li...’ The thought flashed through his mind.
Just as Lin Daohang was sinking into despair, he caught sight of Li Wei rising from his seat out of the corner of his eye.
Lin Daohang’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach. ’Just as I thought. He’s bored and is about to leave.’
"Mr. Li, I—" Lin Daohang spun around in a panic, attempting one last plea to make him stay.
But before he could finish, he realized Li Wei wasn’t heading for the exit at all. Instead, with his hands in his hoodie pockets and a calm expression, he took long strides directly to the edge of the ring, stopping less than two meters from where Chen Haisheng lay.
"Six... seven..."
The referee in the ring was still counting. Chen Haisheng’s fingers gave a single, unconscious twitch, but his eyes remained shut.
Li Wei looked at Chen Haisheng and quietly activated [Knight’s Aura · First Sequence (Silver)].
[Activation Effect: Slightly restores stamina, Spirit, and Magic Power for friendly units within 10 meters.]
’Though I’m not sure if this Chen Haisheng counts as a friendly unit,’ Li Wei thought. ’After all, my impression was that he wasn’t exactly friendly to me earlier.’
But he had just received a quest.
[You have encountered a quest: The Eight Virtues of a Knight - Valor]
[To draw one’s sword against a stronger foe is the mark of the valiant. The moment this Knight’s Servant charged an opponent far stronger than himself, he fulfilled the knightly virtue of Valor. You admire his spirit and have decided to help him embody this virtue.]
[Quest Description: Help the Knight’s Servant before you obtain the honor he desires.]
[Quest Reward: Free Attribute Points +0.2]
’Another quest? This must be for the third stage of the Knight’s Path, right? One based on the Eight Knightly Virtues?’
Li Wei looked at the unconscious Chen Haisheng and at Marcos, who was circling the ring, and fell into thought.
’Who am I supposed to help?’
’It must mean Chen Haisheng.’
"Eight... nine..."
In the final moment before the referee could end the match, Chen Haisheng, who had been completely unconscious, suddenly sat bolt upright with a sharp gasp of air—as if he were drowning in the deep sea and had just been forcibly injected with pure, high-pressure oxygen.
"He’s up! Ref, he can still fight!" a Chinese coach behind Lin Daohang yelled excitedly, but his expression immediately changed. "But... his legs are still shaking..."
In the ring, Chen Haisheng managed to get to his feet, but he still looked to be in terrible shape.
The mild concussion from the blow to his jaw wasn’t so easy to shake off. He gasped for air, biting down hard on his mouthguard.
The referee walked over, wiped down Chen Haisheng’s gloves, and loudly asked a few basic questions. After confirming that the fighter could not only understand but also raise his arms into a standard guard, he swung his arm down. "Continue!"
Marcos grinned and pressed his advance.
He had already confirmed the gap in their strength.
With nimble footwork, he closed in on Chen Haisheng like a predator toying with its prey. Capitalizing on his several-inch reach advantage, he once again threw an incredibly swift left jab.
Chen Haisheng tried to dodge instinctively, but the neurological lag from the concussion left him half a beat too slow.
"SMACK!"
The jab landed squarely on Chen Haisheng’s brow ridge. An old cut that had never fully healed split open instantly, sending a mixture of blood and sweat trickling into his right eye.
But something astonishing happened: Chen Haisheng only stumbled back half a step.
Under the continuous influence of Li Wei’s [Knight’s Aura · First Sequence (Silver)], a gentle yet unceasing stream of energy was pouring into his body.
Chen Haisheng chalked it up to an adrenaline rush and, with a roar, charged at Marcos again.
Marcos was a little surprised to see that his punch hadn’t completely knocked Chen Haisheng out.
But unfortunately, in the face of the absolute disparity in weight, reach, and technique—not to mention the fact that Chen Haisheng had just been knocked out—the slight boost to his stamina and Spirit wasn’t nearly enough to turn the tide.
Marcos found his opening and landed another vicious punch on Chen Haisheng’s jaw.
The terrifying force of the blow spun Chen Haisheng around in a half-circle before he collapsed onto the mat like a rag doll, completely unconscious.
The arena fell silent for an instant, then erupted into the most frenzied cheers of the night.
The referee didn’t even bother with a count, immediately waving his arms to signal a knockout.
Medical staff immediately rushed into the ring. Lin Daohang and two of the coaches scrambled through the ropes as well.
Li Wei stood ringside, watching the unmoving Chen Haisheng and sighing to himself.
’Getting these 0.2 attribute points is harder than it looks.’
’This Chen Haisheng guy really sucks.’