People in America: My Uncle Don Quixote

Chapter 79 Let me see your spider silk projectile (Seeking monthly votes)

The rain had stopped in Sunset Park, and the puddles dripped down the supermarket's awning, forming a thin curtain of water.

Inside the Fuwang Fresh Supermarket, the air was filled with the pungent smell of seafood and spices. Wang Haoran stood with his hands raised, his legs trembling, his young face filled with fear.

"Trick or treat!"

The burly man leading the group, wearing a black skull mask, roared as he pressed a heavy Glock 17 pistol against Wang Haoran's forehead. "Don't try anything funny, kid, hand over the money!"

Wang Haoran has now completely lost his fascination with America and feels an indescribable sense of regret.

Originally, with her father Wang Qiang taking care of the work, the family of three lived in the Chinese community of Flushing. Although the crime and robbery rates in the area were not low, they believed that as long as they did not go out at night, there would be no major problems.

As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind; if you can't see it, it's as if it doesn't exist.

With classmates from all over the world, cheap food in supermarkets, and affordable electronics after currency conversion, Wang Haoran even went shooting a few times with his classmates. At that time, he found that America was truly an incredibly wonderful country.

My father works two jobs: one is the night shift guarding a construction site, and the other is working for a Chinese foreman during the day. Together, he can earn $400 a day, which is close to 3000 yuan. Moreover, working for a Chinese person has the advantage of being able to use WeChat to transfer money and then exchange currency privately with people around him, so he doesn't even have to pay taxes.

Since they had just arrived from China, they were very frugal with their living expenses. Even though Wang Haoran's mother didn't work, they lived comfortably until Wang Qiang broke his leg and was hospitalized. Everything changed then.

Wang Qiang felt that $650 a month for private health insurance in the ACA market was too expensive. In addition, he saw that none of the Chinese people around him had bought insurance. They told him that medical care was free in the United States, so Wang Qiang was reluctant to spend the money. The end result was that he was burdened with a huge bill, and what followed was a series of avalanches.

The lease was refused renewal after it expired.

The hospital forwarded the bill to a debt collection agency, and the lawyer quickly sent a demand letter, followed by the collapse of the credit score.

Car insurance, insurance premiums, and other expenses have all increased as credit scores have deteriorated.

They had to move away from the relatively safe neighborhood of Flushing and into a basement, where their neighbors changed from hardworking second-generation immigrants to thugs and drug dealers with various new types of drugs in their pockets.

To supplement his family's income, Wang Haoran found a job at a Chinese-owned fresh food supermarket, but he never expected to be robbed less than two weeks into his job.

"Money! Hurry up! You yellow-skinned monkey, don't make me say it a third time!"

Beneath the black skull mask, the robber's breathing became heavy, and the hammer of his Glock 17 was already drawn, the crisp sound of metal clashing sounding particularly jarring behind the narrow supermarket checkout counter.

The supermarket owner is a demanding person. If Wang Haoran causes a theft while he's minding the store, he will never hire Wang Haoran again, no matter what.

His hands trembled as he reached for the cash register drawer. He moved too slowly, and sweat trickled into his eyes, the stinging sensation causing him to instinctively close them.

Just then, the automatic doorbell rang out in a crisp Hokkien greeting: "Ding-dong! Congratulations on your fortune!"

The robber suddenly turned his head, pointing his gun at the door.

A tall man stood at the door, wearing a dark gray Nike hoodie, faded jeans, and muddy sneakers.

He was wearing a cheap Spider-Man mask with crooked grid lines and even a hole in the white eye sockets.

"Good evening," he said casually. "Did I wander onto the wrong set?"

"Shut up, you bastard!" the robber roared. "Do you want to die? Get out!"

"Hello, I'm Spider-Man," he said, suddenly realizing, "Are you guys filming a cop movie? How far along are we? Do I have to wait until you're finished before we start filming?"

He looked up and noticed that the surveillance camera above him was flashing slightly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" the robber shouted, brandishing his pistol. "Get out of my way or I'll shoot."

"Oh, hehehe, don't get so excited," Li Wei said, taking a small step forward seemingly casually, spreading his arms in an innocent gesture. "We're all wearing masks, aren't we? In a way, we're in the same boat."

"Same to your mother!" The robber pressed the gun against Li Wei's forehead. "If you take another step forward, I'll shoot."

"Is this a Glock 17?" Levi looked at the pistol pressed against his forehead. "Not bad, the same model used by the NYPD, uses 9mm ammunition, stable and excellent, with moderate stopping power."

Wang Haoran thought the person's voice sounded somewhat familiar, but he was about to burst into tears and didn't have the mind to think about it any further.

"Don't do this, buddy," Li Wei said, a gun pointed at his head, but he remained calm and sighed. "We live in a more diverse narrative world now. You can't use these racist terms. Don't use things like 'Qing insect,' 'Qinqiang poor,' or 'yellow-skinned monkey.' Don't you know how offensive that is? It's like me calling you a nigger."

"What the hell did you say?!"

Enraged, the robber pressed the muzzle of his gun tightly against Spider-Man's mask, trying to overpower him with the gun.

But for some reason, the man in front of him was like an iron tower; when he touched the man with his gun, it was as if he were touching a solid steel statue.

"Nigger, stop joking," Levi sighed. "Admit it, what you're holding is just a toy, nigger."

"I told you to shut up!" The robber was completely enraged. His attention was entirely drawn to Li Wei's incessant chatter, and his finger slammed into the trigger. "You asked for this!"

"Bang!!"

A 9mm bullet exploded with a deafening roar at close range, the muzzle flash appearing in front of the narrow cashier counter, and the smell of gunpowder instantly filled the air.

Wang Haoran was so shocked by the gunshot that he fell to the ground, his ears filled with a sharp ringing sound.

He closed his eyes in despair, thinking that Spider-Man's head must have been blown apart.

However, the expected sound of a heavy object falling to the ground did not occur.

0.3 seconds before the robber fired, Li Wei moved his head slightly to the side by 10 centimeters.

The bullet grazed past his ear, whistling through the air, and precisely shattered a $12.88 bottle of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce on the shelf behind him, splattering dark red chili oil all over the floor.

"Oh no! I almost went to see Stan Lee," Levi exclaimed, reaching out his right hand to precisely grip the handle of the Glock 17. "Kids shouldn't play with such dangerous toys."

He exerted force with his five fingers, his fingers like hydraulic clamps, causing the robber to cry out in surprise and release his grip on the gun.

"You One"

Before the robber could even shout, Li Wei had already moved into his arms like a ghost.

"By the way," he said, delivering a powerful punch to the robber's waist, "that skull mask you're wearing is really ugly; it makes your face look even bigger."

With the support of the Knight's Combat Technique, Li Wei was adept at close combat, his power precisely avoiding the ribs' block and penetrating deep into the liver through his abdominal muscles.

The robber's face, which had been contorted with rage, turned deathly pale in an instant. All his roars were choked in his throat, turning into gasps for breath.

His body writhed up in extreme pain, like a lobster that had lost power, his eyes instantly becoming bloodshot due to the intense reaction from his autonomic nervous system.

"Hey!" Li Wei grumbled, "We're not allowed to sleep here!"

However, the robber was no longer able to utter a single word; he simply lay on the ground convulsing and even vomited some bile.

Li Wei turned his head and looked at Wang Haoran, who was still slumped on the ground.

Wang Haoran subconsciously shrank back, his back hitting the tobacco rack and causing a slight sway.

"Don't be nervous," Li Wei shrugged. "If I were you, I would call 911 right now, but before that, I suggest you tie him up first."

He pointed to the robber lying on the ground.

"Also..." Li Wei took a bag of Huang Feihong spicy peanuts from the shelf, skillfully tore open the packaging, but thinking that he was still wearing a mask, he could only reluctantly stuff it back into his pocket.

He took five dollars out of his pocket and put it on the counter.

"Give me my change," he said. "One cent, thank you."

Walking into the deserted alley, Li Wei took off his mask, pinched a few pills and popped them into his mouth, making a crisp sound.

He looked at the system panel in his eyes:

[Mission: Righteous Action Completed]

The poor apprentice at the elven inn, having only been working there for a few days, is robbed by dark elves. He manages to resolve the crisis without causing too much damage.

[Task Reward: +0.1 Free Attribute Points]

[Rewards for the task have been distributed]

Li Wei looked at his available free attribute points, which had reached 0.5, and let out a satisfied hum.

If I save up a little more, I can get to 0.9 and directly increase my Agility to 3.0, which might unlock a new constitution trait.

Adding this is such a wonderful thing.

Looking back, the police car had arrived late. Two policemen rushed into the fresh food store, and Li Wei slowly retreated into the shadows.

In fact, he had just recognized that this was his classmate Wang Haoran. Out of concern for his classmate and compatriot, he still lent a helping hand, even though this man and his family seemed to have some mental issues.

Li Wei shrugged, recalling the Indian girl who had come to him to tell him that Wang Haoran had spoken ill of him and then wanted to add him as a friend.

He has a bright future ahead of him and unlimited prospects. There's no point in arguing with this little black kid who's not even 8 years old. If he really wants to cause trouble for him, he can just tell Travis, Craig, and the others, and those burly rugby players will do it for him.

Oh no, he suddenly realized, "Am I the school bully?"

Chewing away, Li Wei casually tossed the packaging bag into the trash can, put on a mask, and blended into the crowd. After a few subway stops, he arrived near Times Square.

Halloween is a very important celebration in New York, and in some ways even more exciting than Christmas.

Because Christmas is like Chinese New Year in China, a time for everyone to get together for a meal and to make dumplings. Except for lonely people without friends or Asians who don't celebrate Christmas, most people choose to stay at home and spend it with their loved ones.

Although it was past midnight, Times Square was still bustling with activity. Neon lights reflected a mesmerizing glow in the rain-soaked puddles, and a giant GG logo illuminated half the sky, creating a constantly shifting light and shadow effect. Even though it was the early hours of the morning, the square was still teeming with people and incredibly lively.

Wearing a Spider-Man mask, Li Wei weaved through the crowd dressed as zombies, vampires, and various politicians, and he had already spotted four or five people wearing golden hair masks.

Before he had even crossed Broadway, Li Wei was stopped by several young girls dressed as sexy wildcats.

"Hey! Spider-Man!" A white girl with exaggerated purple eyeshadow saw Levi's chest muscles and slim waist, her eyes lit up, and she pressed herself against him. "You have such a great body? Did Thor take out Spider-Man's mask and come out?"

"Wow! Ma'am," Levi said, "please maintain social distancing, or I'll get a spider-sense!"

The girls giggled, completely ignoring his words, and instead swarmed around him even more aggressively, their flashes going off everywhere.

"Come on, poor little spider, give me a smile, even though we can't see it," another girl said, wrapping her arms around Li Wei's waist from the side, her hands wandering over his abs. "Where's your silk? Where does it shoot from? I can't feel it!"

"Is your spider silk projectile big?"

The girls all burst into laughter.

"Calm down, ladies," Levi shrugged. "The great Spider-Man still has to fight crime and save civilians!"

"We're criminals," a girl breathed in his ear. "We're the 'Criminal Wildcats,' Spider-Man, are you going to arrest us?"

However, their looks and figures were not Li Wei's type, and besides, he hadn't stepped out of the mission.

If it were someone like Samantha or Daphne, he would probably have used a web-shooting device to punish them severely.

As for someone like Anya... Li Wei shook his head; Anya wouldn't know how to do those kinds of things.

He spent some time shaking off the clingy girls, then mingled with the crowd for a while until three or four in the morning, when the crowd dispersed, before catching the last special subway train in New York to go home.

The night at Bell Ridge remained quiet. The sea breeze, blowing in as November began, grew increasingly cold, and the water stains on the uneven ground reflected the ever-burning lights of Manhattan in the distance.

Today was unusually quiet, Li Wei thought, noting that Uncle Don Quixote hadn't come out for a sleepwalking session.

He walked up to a trash can, took off the Spider-Man mask, and threw it into the trash can.

It wasn't until he pushed open the door that he realized he seemed to be talking a lot of trash today.

Is this what I'm really like?

They appeared to be wearing a mask, but in reality, they had taken it off.

As I lay back down on the bed, I could hear Don Quixote's steady snoring coming from downstairs.

"Go to sleep," Li Wei closed his eyes. "Tomorrow is the final, and many media outlets will be coming to watch the match."