Cultivating through increasing my stats in America-Chapter 34 - Killing to Punish the Heart

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 Killing to Punish the Heart

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 Killing to Punish the Heart

In the eyes of many American waiters, Asians basically don’t have the habit of tipping, or if they do, it’s just a dollar or two, which means they’re not particularly favored.

Many waiters gather during their breaks to discuss whether the Asians they encountered today left a tip.

Then they would blacklist that customer, so when they came in next time, they’d deliberately serve them slower, or even sneak something extra into their food.

Li Ang had certainly noticed his performance and directly took out a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet.

He watched as the waiter’s face underwent an instant transformation akin to the magical face-changing act of Sichuan opera, nearly laughing so hard that his face folded, as he bowed and moved closer to Li Ang.

But Li Ang, holding the bill, stopped halfway through the motion.

He frowned and asked,

“Did you wash your hair this morning?”

The waiter opened his mouth, seemingly confused, but still answered with a smile,

“Yes, sir, I washed my hair this morning.”

“Then why does your hair smell like rotten fried chicken slathered with ketchup that’s been sitting for three days? Tell me, what shampoo do you use?”

Li Ang’s expression grew increasingly angry as he questioned the waiter.

The waiter, frightened by Li Ang’s demeanor, answered in a quiet voice,

“It’s Adidas, I used Adidas shampoo.”

“Bullshit. I knew it, I fucking hate their shampoo the most, and yet you use it. So, your punishment is, this bill will no longer belong to you. This, this is what you deserve.”

As he spoke, Li Ang retracted the hundred-dollar bill and instead presented a one-dollar coin.

The waiter from before could only receive the coin with fearful gratitude.

Once the waiter was at a distance, Charles whispered,

“What if he hadn’t used that shampoo?”

Facing such a question, Li Ang, somewhat helplessly holding his forehead, replied,

“No matter which one he used, as soon as he used it, it would become my most hated one. Do you understand now?”

“Hahaha, you’re a genius, brother.”

“You didn’t see his regret just now. I suspect he’ll be consumed with the sorrow of losing a hundred dollars all day.”

“Of course.”

Li Ang sipped his milk tea and continued,

“Giving a dollar outright means nothing. Making him think he was going to get it, only to lose it in the end—that’s the real pain. This is ‘killing with psychological warfare’.”

“Idiot… pig star.”

Charles repeated the Chinese phrase Li Ang had used under his breath.

“Li, I think I’ve got the hang of the phrase now.”

Although the servers at this restaurant were somewhat lousy, the taste of the food was quite good.

The saying “you get what you pay for” still holds some truth.

The aroma of the fried chicken was very enticing, and the beef burgers were tender and juicy.

At first, when they ordered, Charles kept urging Li Ang to order less, worried they wouldn’t be able to finish everything.

But now, the two had cleaned the table, even the dressing in the salad bowl had been scraped up with fries by Charles.

And he himself had gained a full 0.14 Breakthrough Points.

“I have some things of my own to do this afternoon. What are your plans?”

Li Ang walked outside and asked Charles, who was still rubbing his belly beside him.

He hadn’t forgotten that he now had a job as a coach and was supposed to go to the martial arts gym in the afternoon.

To avoid Charles coming along, Li Ang could only make it clear verbally that he wanted to go alone.

“That’s too bad. I wanted to invite you to play some games together.”

Charles also walked to his bicycle.

“See you tomorrow!”

“Goodbye, and thank you for the meal you treated me to.”

In the afternoon at the martial arts school, Li Ang was still in the training phase with the coach.

After briefly learning about their teaching process, Li Ang started practicing Tongbei Fist on his own.

Initially, the headmaster wanted to pick a bone with him regarding this, until Li Ang recited the course content flawlessly from memory.

Today, Li Ang didn’t seek out the coaches for sparring either. He wasn’t a fight junkie, and the injuries from yesterday hadn’t fully healed yet. Another real battle wouldn’t yield as good results as the first one.

In four hours that afternoon, Li Ang’s proficiency in [Tongbei Fist] increased by 32 points, reaching 136/400 (Mastery).

At the same time, his [Physique] and [Strength] increased by 0.26 and 0.02, respectively.

On the way back home, Li Ang opened his attribute panel:

Name: Li Ang

Strength: 8.80

Constitution: 13.04

Response: 10.40

Spirit: 15.22

Breakthrough Points:

Skills:

[Cycling] 958/1000 (Master Level)

(Trait: Lower limb strength, stamina increased by 40%)

(Trait: Cycling stamina consumption reduced by 10%)

[Running] 36/400 (Mastery)

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(Trait: Lung capacity increased by 20%)

[Tongbei Fist] 136/400 (Mastery)

(Trait: Response, Nerve Aggregation Ability increased by 20%)

[Sports Massage] 12/100 (Beginner)

He found that his [Cycling] was about to break through to the next level.

These days, although he hadn’t intentionally trained his [Cycling] skill, he primarily relied on his bicycle for transportation, so he rode quite a lot.

He was also quite looking forward to seeing what the next level would be like after having reached the Master Level.

Li Ang controlled his cycling route and deliberately took a longer detour, just managing to max out his cycling proficiency before arriving home.

The sensation of [Cycling] reaching a new plateau wasn’t like before when large amounts of memories flooded his mind as he advanced from Mastery to Master Level.

This breakthrough instead continuously generated many new ideas on his own.

At this moment, he noticed that although many movements and postures were as standard as they could be, that didn’t necessarily mean they were the best angles for him.

He realized that many details could dynamically adjust according to his own body’s condition.

If before Li Ang was merely applying a high-scoring mold, then now he has essentially tailor-made a set that completely suits himself.

From a technical perspective, once a certain height is reached, improving even a little is an incredibly difficult challenge.

And only now did Li Ang realize how much room he had for improvement.

He had found that pushing his body to the limit could make such a big difference.

[Cycling] 1/5000 (Grandmaster)

(Trait: Lower limb strength, stamina increased by 60%)

(Trait: Cycling stamina consumption reduced by 20%)

Looking at the skill description, Li Ang couldn’t help but exclaim that the level being described as “Grandmaster” was very apt.

He had now blazed his own trail.

What he hadn’t expected was that the Grandmaster level wasn’t the final limit of the skill, even though the proficiency requirement had skyrocketed to 5000 points. As long as there was a number, it meant there was still a path ahead.