The Great Demon Lord of the American Comics World

Chapter 8, Where Did Peter Parker Go?

Gym.

Li Xingzhou channeled his inner energy, then with a sudden wave of his hand, his forearm instantly transformed into a blurry afterimage barely perceptible to the naked eye, while his fingertips whistled out a sound like a sharp blade tearing through the air.

This chop to the neck, if it were to strike a person, could easily sever the skin and muscles, and even break the bones.

Li Xingzhou then stood seven steps away from the sandbag and struck it with his palm from a distance.

Bang!
A muffled thud rang out, and a palm print dent appeared out of nowhere on the sandbag, taking quite a while to slowly bounce back.

Li Xingzhou flicked his finger at the barbell ten steps away, and the barbell plate made a crisp "ding" sound, followed by a short buzzing vibration.

"His palm strikes can reach seven steps away, while his finger strikes can reach ten steps away. The power is quite considerable. Not bad, his true qi martial arts can be considered usable."

For Li Xingzhou, striking seven steps with palm force and ten steps with finger force was nothing.

In terms of martial arts alone, at his peak in his previous nine lives, Li Xingzhou's palm strike at the Innate Realm could split stone tablets and shatter rocks from seven zhang away. His self-created "Innate Formless Sword Qi" could even unleash sword qi with his finger, reaching as far as ten zhang, capable of splitting gold and severing jade—this was the level of power that many novice cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining could achieve when first learning magic.

Now, my palm strikes can only cover seven steps, and my finger strikes can only cover ten steps. They also lack the sharpness of a blade, making them far inferior to what they used to be.

However, Li Xingzhou was still quite satisfied.

After all, he had only just begun his retraining and had only been formally practicing for a little over half a day. To have achieved this much was already quite impressive.

……

At six o'clock in the evening, before the night market opened, Li Xingzhou had dinner and called a few key employees over for a short meeting.

Okay, he only has three core members under him—

Andrew, a spirited young man who rose from humble beginnings in the Black ghetto, is brave, skilled, and fiercely loyal. Though his appearance is intimidating, his eyes, untouched by any intellectual taint, are remarkably clear.

Harry, the white youth with a rectangular face and a bob with bangs, was not only a sharpshooter who could skillfully use various firearms of different lengths, but also had a good level of knowledge. He dropped out of high school in his second year and could do mental arithmetic up to 100 without a calculator.

The last one is Bancells, the old man left behind by his father.

Bancells is thirty-seven years old. He is a slender, gold-rimmed white man who appears refined and cultured. He also has the highest level of education. Although he only completed high school due to family circumstances, he is ambitious and self-disciplined. After dropping out of school, he persisted in self-study and audited classes at Brooklyn College for three years. He is Leonardo DiCaprio and his son's most capable assistant.

These three are considered the core members of Li Xingzhou's small group.

As for the other people in the club, such as security guards, DJs, bartenders, etc., they can only be considered peripheral henchmen, and some are just regular employees.

"Harry, how's the lunch date?"

After the three key members arrived, Li Xingzhou first asked about Harry's dating situation.

Harry shook his head in frustration:

“This is terrible… She said I’m a good person, but she only sees me as a good friend…”

Poor Harry.

Li Xingzhou glanced at Harry's bob with bangs with a look that was hard to describe, offered a few words of comfort, and then promptly changed the subject:
"I have errands to run tonight. If anything goes wrong at the store, just give me a call, and I should be able to get back in time."

Upon hearing this, Andrew asked excitedly:

"Boss, are we going to collect debts for Mr. Fisk tonight? Take me with you!"

Mr. Fisker, naturally, is Li Xingzhou's "old boss," Kingpin.

Kingpin's real name is Wilson Fisk, and his lair in Hell's Kitchen, the Kingpin Building, is also officially named "Fisk Building." "It's not about collecting debts," Li Xingzhou said calmly, "just a personal matter. It's inconvenient to involve you."

"Personal matters?" Andrew winked. "A date?"

Li Xingzhou didn't pick up on the topic, but instead tapped his fingers on his desk and said:
"Alright, let's get back to business. Banssel, have you had any trouble at the shop these past few days?"

"A little thing."

Bancel took off his gold-rimmed glasses, wiped the lenses, and said slowly and deliberately:
“Last night, two outsiders sneaked into our store to sell medicine and were caught by security. I’ve already dealt with them, but there might be some minor trouble afterward because they claimed to be from a new gang called the ‘Bloody Hands’.”

Banssel always spoke like this: his pace was slow, his tone was calm, and he had a slight London accent, making him sound like an old-fashioned gentleman from the foggy city.

His outward appearance is always that of a suit and tie, gold-rimmed glasses, making him look refined and cultured, but in reality he is quite cold and ruthless, a typical suit-wearing thug.

"The Blood Hand Gang?" Li Xingzhou searched his memory for a moment, then shook his head. "Never heard of it. Does anyone know anything about this Blood Hand Gang?"

"I've heard of this gang; the members are all niggers."

The genuine Nig Andrew interjected:

"Most of them are scum from the slums. The leader of the Blood Hands gang is named Badman. He is an outsider whose origins are unknown. He just arrived in New York a year ago. He is ruthless, lawless, and dares to do any kind of business and kill anyone. It is said that he has many lives on his hands. But because of his ruthlessness and willingness to fight and kill, he is respected and worshipped by many small-time thugs."

“This is New York. Thugs who don’t follow the rules don’t last long,” Li Xingzhou said calmly. “In short, as long as nothing serious happens, we don’t need to pay them any attention. If that so-called Blood Hand Gang dares to cause trouble, you know what to do.”

Nightclubs do not prohibit the sale of drugs, but only if the seller is one of Kingpin's men; outsiders are not allowed to sell drugs in this establishment.

Li Xingzhou had no intention of changing this rule.

There's no way around it; the US, especially some of the Republican-led states in the blue ocean, is known worldwide for its attitude towards banned drugs, and it keeps coming up with all sorts of bizarre and outrageous actions.

Although hundreds of thousands of Americans die each year from various illegal drugs, Li Xingzhou couldn't very well stop the American people from enjoying their sweet and free lives. Besides, he was an American in this life, and living in New York, the stronghold of the Democratic Party, so he had to support and endorse the government's work, right?
He himself would certainly not sell illegal drugs.

But Kingpin wanted to sell, and he couldn't be bothered to care.

On the other hand, although Kingpin was an underground emperor who was involved in almost every illegal business and was a major seller of banned drugs in New York, he still had to admit defeat compared to the largest seller in the United States and even the world, Catherine.

After finishing their business, Li Xingzhou sent the three out to do their work, locked the office door, picked up a newspaper, and waited for Iriana while reading it.

Li Xingzhou was slightly taken aback when he glanced at the headline of the newspaper.

The headline is a large, slightly blurry color photo:

A masked figure dressed in a red, white, and black bodysuit is leaping between two skyscrapers. Judging from the curves of her body outlined by the bodysuit, this masked figure is clearly a woman with long legs, a slim waist, and a stunning figure…

Li Xingzhou carefully examined the newspaper and confirmed that it was the renowned "Horn Daily," not some third-rate tabloid.

A closer look at the headline reveals that it was written by John Jameson, the owner of the Daily Bugle, who vehemently criticized the "Spider Woman" and called on everyone to boycott this sneaky, masked freak...

"What's going on? This world's Spider-Man... is a woman? Gwen Stacy?"

Spider-Man had just risen to prominence, and in Li Xingzhou's memories before his awakening, he only knew that there was such a masked monster, but did not know its gender.

The Daily Bugle also captured photos of "Spider-Man" for the first time, confirming that this newly emerging superhuman is a woman.

"So where did Peter Parker, the true Spider-Man, go?"

Just as I was wondering what was going on, a red light flashed beside the desk, and Iriana, wearing a tight-fitting sports vest, a short jacket, denim shorts, ripped stockings, and a plush dragon hanging from her belt, appeared out of thin air beside the desk.

New author, new book, please vote and add to your favorites!
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(End of this chapter)