Chapter 146: Chapter 100: Mission: Capture the Evil Santa Claus

Li Wei was taken aback for a moment. He circled Don Quixote twice but couldn’t figure out what he was up to.

"Sit down, my friend," Don Quixote said, his eyes closed. "We must capture this invader tonight."

[You have received a quest: Capture the Evil Invader]

[Knight Don Quixote has received intelligence that a mysterious creature will invade his castle tonight. He is lying in wait, hoping to capture it in one fell swoop.]

[Assist Don Quixote in capturing the evil invader. Quest Reward: Free Attribute Points +0.1]

’Is there really an invader? An evil Santa Claus?’ Li Wei’s mind started to wander.

He sat down on the sofa, took out his phone, and started killing time.

He ended up sitting there for a whole hour. By the time Anya had already set sail on Sergey’s hundred-meter-plus superyacht, the fireplace before him remained completely still.

Of course it did. The fireplace was just a decoration now.

Li Wei waited and waited, but no invader appeared. He felt that just sitting around wasn’t a solution.

"Knight Don Quixote, I’m going to patrol the area," he said. "If I capture the invader, can I deal with it myself?"

"That would be for the best," Don Quixote nodded. "Be careful. The invader may be extremely dangerous."

Li Wei shook his head, went back to his room to change, then pushed open the door and walked out.

Dyker Heights was utterly silent. The snow was deep enough to cover the soles of his shoes, and it crunched under his feet with every step.

Each of Li Wei’s breaths was now long and deep, every exhale releasing a large cloud of mist.

’Now, what kind of invader should I find?’ Li Wei wondered as he looked around. ’I can’t just haul a trash can back like last time and say, "I’ve captured a goblin," can I?’

As he walked, he suddenly heard a faint cry.

Following the sound, Li Wei discovered a faint... meow? coming from a bush by the side of the road.

Li Wei walked over and pushed aside the branches. A small calico kitten, a mix of Ragdoll and Maine Coon, was huddled in the grass, shivering and letting out weak cries.

"Perfect!" Li Wei was overjoyed. "You’re the evil invader... uh... the Mixed-blood Demon Dragon!"

He snatched up the kitten, wiped the grime off its fur, and tucked it into his coat before striding back to the house.

Don Quixote was sitting silently in front of the fireplace like a statue, waiting to capture the evil Santa Claus.

Still radiating cold air, Li Wei pushed the door open and entered.

"Look!" He presented the kitten to Don Quixote. "This is the invader I caught, the Mixed-blood Demon Dragon."

The kitten let out a soft, weak cry: "Mew~"

Don Quixote ’inspected’ the kitten carefully, then looked up at Li Wei.

"Are you mistaken?" He pointed at the kitten. "How is this a Demon Dragon?"

Just as Li Wei was about to say, ’As expected of you, you actually realized it’s just a normal cat,’ Don Quixote declared with utter conviction:

"This is clearly a Demon Tiger! Well done, my friend!"

[Quest: Capture the Evil Invader has been completed.]

[Free Attribute Points +0.1]

"Alright, a Demon Tiger," Li Wei said. "What do we do with it now?"

"It appears to have been sealed," Don Quixote said, cradling the kitten in his palm and looking at the Demon Tiger that was about the size of his hand. "Let’s raise it. We’ll train it for a while and see if we can turn it into a mount."

"Mew?"

Li Wei vaguely pictured it. It would probably look something like this:

Okay, it was weird no matter how he thought about it.

"So you’re not planning on... dealing with it for now, right?" Li Wei didn’t want Lily to wake up in the morning and find a squashed cat in the house.

"Of course not. After all, you’ve already sealed it, haven’t you?" Don Quixote placed it on the floor and stood up. "I can see it has no Magic Power left."

He walked to the refrigerator, skillfully took out a huge slab of raw beef—larger than the kitten itself—and placed it in front of the little cat.

"Eat," he said with a grave expression. "When you break your seal and ride with me onto the battlefield, the world will sing praises of your name—Bucephalus."

The Demon Tiger named Bucephalus glanced uncertainly at Don Quixote, then at the mountain of meat before it.

"Meeeowr!" It pounced ferociously but failed to tear off even a single shred of meat.

"Excellent," Don Quixote nodded in satisfaction. "Tear it apart with great, big bites."

After saying this, he stood up unsteadily and walked up the stairs.

Li Wei looked at the kitten on the floor, shook his head, and cut the large piece of meat into small portions. Then he tore it into thin strips and gave them to the kitten.

After pouring it a bowl of water, Li Wei also went back upstairs to rest.

He now had 0.2 free attribute points available. With almost no hesitation, he put them directly into Strength.

[Strength 2.3] -> [Strength 2.5]

The instant the increase took effect, Li Wei felt his body grow denser from the inside. His tendons became harder, and the rigidity of his structure showed a marked improvement. This was especially true for his joints; it felt as if a new, indescribable layer of power was covering them.

Although he couldn’t describe it clearly, it didn’t stop him from feeling as if his skeleton had been reinforced with concrete, or had turned into some kind of hydraulic piston. It was an incredibly reassuring sensation.

At the same time, his body felt like it had been zapped by electricity. His muscles were like gunpowder, ready to create a world-shaking explosion the moment they were ignited.

However, the feeling dissipated quickly. It was just a momentary illusion.

「The next day.」

Lily let out a surprised shriek!

"A kitty!" she screamed, grabbing the bewildered calico cat and hugging it tightly. "Did Santa Claus bring this for me?"

"Er, besides this," Don Quixote scratched his head, looking a little dazed, "Santa Claus was supposed to have brought you a bicycle."

"I love them both!" Lily said loudly. "Lily Cervantes is a good girl, so Santa Claus brought Lily two presents!"

Don Quixote looked at Li Wei and whispered, "What’s the deal with this cat?"

"I found it last night," Li Wei said. "It looked like it was about to freeze to death, so I brought it back."

"What’s its name?" Lily asked, refusing to let go of the calico. "Does it have a name?"

"It does," Li Wei cut in before the question could fall flat. "Its name is Bucephalus."

Lily: ?

"I’ll just call him Bubu," she said after staring at the cat for a moment. Then she shrieked again, "Ah! I love him so much."

"Yeah, but you need to take him for his shots first," Li Wei reminded her. "He looks clean, but just in case, he still needs a check-up."

"Come on, Bubu," Lily said, pretending not to hear Li Wei. "Let’s go play with toys."

On Christmas morning, Susan, Coach Miller, and Wen Si the scout also came to visit at different times, wishing Li Wei, Don Quixote, and the others a Merry Christmas.

At the same time, Li Wei unwrapped the Christmas present from Don Quixote—an Apple laptop worth 1,499 USD.

He was a little disappointed.

Susan’s arrival solved the problem of how to care for the kitten. She took Bubu to the vet for a check-up and registration, bought a ton of cat food and supplies, and even offered to look after him for Lily for a while.

「A few days later, the new year arrived.」

Don Quixote, Li Wei, and Lily boarded a flight from New York to San Antonio City, Texas.

That was the host city for the All-American Bowl, where Li Wei would spend an entire week training, getting media exposure, and finally playing in the main game on Saturday.