But he couldn’t say that.

"I’m so sorry," he said, patting Michael’s shoulder. "If you need anything, just ask."

"Kevin left me something," Michael said, shaking his head. "A shoebox, filled with old bills that reek of blood. But now I’m so torn about what to do."

He tugged at his hair in anguish. "I want to be a doctor, Li Wei. I want to save people. But am I supposed to use blood money to pay my tuition? It just feels so... disgusting. I don’t want to use it, but I can’t bring myself to hand it over to the police or just throw it away. Kevin gave his life for this money."

"So, what are you thinking right now?" Li Wei asked. "Don’t make any big decisions just yet. You probably need some time to process all this."

"What time is it, the day after tomorrow?" he asked again.

"10 AM, at an old cemetery in the Bronx," Michael said, then added, "You shouldn’t come. A lot of shady people might show up, and there could even be cops watching. It’s not a good idea for you to be seen there."

Li Wei neither agreed nor refused. He just nodded, stood up, and said, "My condolences. Since Kevin wanted you to study hard, you have to work twice as hard now. Become a doctor and give your mother a good life."

For the next two days, Li Wei didn’t disturb Michael. He didn’t text him, either.

It wasn’t that he was trying to lie low. It was just that Michael was at the lowest point of his life, while Li Wei was riding high. At a time like this, any comfort from someone so "successful" could easily be misconstrued as flaunting it, which would do more harm than good.

’In Li Wei’s opinion, this was just life in the United States of America. For people at the bottom, once a family member got mixed up with drugs or gangs, they were bound to face this kind of pain and sacrifice sooner or later. Looking at Kevin’s death, deep down, he didn’t feel it was something to be pitied. How many other families had been torn apart and lives destroyed by the crack cocaine he’d been peddling?’

He went back and told Don Quixote what had happened. Don Quixote sighed, lamenting the situation.

"This is why I never did drugs or smoked weed, even when times were at their toughest," he said. "I knew that once I started, I’d never be able to crawl back out. I’d just fall into a bottomless spiral."

Although Li Wei didn’t say he would go, he still attended Kevin’s funeral. He personally stood before Kevin’s gravestone and tossed a single white rose into the open grave.

Beyond that, he had also contacted the Wen Si Scout beforehand. On the day of the funeral, he had the scout reach out to the local police precinct to dispatch some officers, who arrested several people planning to make a move on Michael and his mother. The moment he’d heard Kevin had left Michael a sum of money, Li Wei guessed it was dirty money Kevin had grabbed after a violent showdown with his boss.

Sure enough, under police questioning, they admitted to being members of Kevin’s old gang. They had targeted Michael’s family after finding out Kevin had run off with a large sum of money and were planning to make their move after the funeral was over and the police had cleared out.

But now they wouldn’t get the chance. Police precincts were places where money talked. ’No cash and you want to post bail? Not a chance.’ First, the department would fleece them for everything they had, and then they’d be thrown into a private prison to be squeezed dry.

With Michael’s situation handled, Li Wei turned his focus back to his studies and flexing. Occasionally, when he had nothing better to do, he would just drive around. He was waiting for his contract to activate when he came of age, while also wondering when he’d be able to quickly gather all the attribute points he needed.

But something that happened on Saturday made him consider moving again.