"A thousand USD?" he ventured. "I think it's worth far more than just its material cost."
But to his surprise, the moment Leon heard this, he jumped to his feet in shock.
"What!" he yelled. "This is extortion!"
Sensing he was on the verge of breaking free from the skill's influence, Li Wei quickly placated him with a few soothing words.
In the end, he sold the Gold Coin, which likely had a recycling value of only 400 USD, for 500 USD and made a clean getaway before Leon could come to his senses.
'Looks like this skill's current ceiling can't stretch a person's perception too far,' Li Wei mused as he walked. 'Even as a skill, it has to be based on the target's fundamental beliefs. Getting a greedy miser to shell out a thousand USD for a Gold Coin of dubious value is probably harder than killing him.'
Still, with these 500 USD in hand, he could at least solve his most pressing problems.
[Mission Complete: You have successfully exploited the weakness of the greedy.]
[Reward Issued: Free Attribute Points +0.1, Gold Coins +1]
Feeling a familiar weight settle into his pocket, Li Wei knew he had just gained the equivalent of another 500 USD.
He had no intention of turning back to cash it in, though. He wanted to hold onto it and see if his skills could be upgraded.
'If they really can be upgraded, could I one day truly bend reality, call the dead living?'
...
Right around noon, Li Wei made his way to Queens, not far from Brooklyn. He found his uncle, Don Quixote, near the construction site where he hauled bricks, standing outside a Chinese takeout joint that reeked of cheap frying oil.
He was squatting on the curb, holding a container of greasy-looking, dark-sauced fried noodles and devouring it with relish.
"Want a bite?" Seeing Li Wei approach, he wiped the grease from his mouth. "It's from your neck of the woods. Fuzhou fried noodles, I think it's called? If I remember correctly. Only twelve USD a serving, and no tip."
New York's Chinatown was mostly populated by immigrants from the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. People from Min Province tended to gather around Eighth Avenue, which was near where Li Wei lived.
"I already ate," Li Wei replied casually. "What are we doing next?"
Don Quixote got to his feet, casually tossed the empty food container into the trash, and patted the dust off his pants. "Seeing as you sold something today, you're paying for gas. Get in the car. We've got business to attend to."
For the next few hours, Don Quixote drove his beat-up Toyota, which looked ready to fall apart at any moment, taking Li Wei to various offices around the Brooklyn District. They got him a city ID card and a metro card, and even stopped at a few charities to pick up free bread that was nearing its expiration date.
"Listen, kid, I'm only teaching you this stuff once, you get me?" Don Quixote said, steering with one hand while picking his teeth with a grimy finger. "In New York, being poor is the original sin, but being stupid is even worse. See those psychos in uniform? They're not like the cops from the Celestial Dynasty. Give them a wide berth. If you see an empty subway car, stay away. No telling if someone took a crap in there, or if some junkie is out of his mind on hallucinogens."
Li Wei nodded along, his eyes on the view outside. The buildings were becoming more and more refined, police cars were more numerous, and they were getting closer to New York Central Park. He knew they were leaving Brooklyn far behind.
"So where are we going now?" He turned to look at Don Quixote. "This isn't the way back."
"We're headed to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It's rare to have an extra hand," Don Quixote said smugly. "I'm going to give you a taste of how New York's true high society lives, and we'll do some 'shopping' while we're there."
"Shopping?"
A little over half an hour later, the car finally stopped on a quiet street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Compared to Brooklyn, this was a completely different world. The streets were clean enough to eat off of, every building was a large, detached villa, and even the lawns were all cut to a uniform height. Li Wei rolled down his window and realized the air here lacked the eye-stinging stench of urine and weed so common in the Brooklyn District. There was only another strange, yet alluring, scent.
The smell of money.
[You have arrived at 'Noble Courtyard']
[The dignitaries and nobles of the empire reside here. Guards patrol day and night.]
[No triggerable missions have been detected at this time.]
"I didn't realize you did business here," Li Wei said, looking at the brand-new Mercedes, Bentleys, Porsches, and other luxury cars parked along the street. "Or is your 'shopping' just picking a rich person's house at random and breaking in to steal things?"
"What? Steal things? No, no, no," Don Quixote said as he skillfully parked next to a fire hydrant and casually stuck the fake disabled permit on the dash. "We're here to clean up their garbage for them."
"Throwing things out in New York is a huge pain, and selling used stuff is a security risk for them," Don Quixote said, leading Li Wei to a trash can on the curb to give him a real-time lesson. "And these rich people care more about appearances than anything. Can you believe they need approval from the homeowners' association just to decide what kind of plants to put in their lawns?"
As he spoke, he leaned halfway into the trash can and began to rummage. Soon, he pulled out a Dyson vacuum cleaner that looked perfectly functional.
"Don't just stand there gawking," he said, walking back to the car while gleefully holding the vacuum. "If this thing works, it'll sell for at least 150 USD..."
Li Wei stared at Don Quixote's back, and just as he was about to speak, he heard a hoarse female voice with an Eastern European accent from up ahead: