Academic genius: Arcane Invasion of America

After rejecting the burly Latino man, Li Ang finished his workout for the day, packed his things, and prepared to wash up and go home.

The burly man didn't give up; he followed behind Li Ang, continuing to persuade him.

During the conversation, Li Ang learned that his name was Tingen O'Neill. Considering that Tingen kept smiling and saying that he was thinking of him, Li Ang thought that he had not been harassed by marketing during his training at the Atlas Iron Arena these days.

He quite liked the overall atmosphere of the gym.

If this matter isn't clarified now, he'll inevitably be nagged by others when he trains in the future.

With that thought in mind, Li Ang asked, "Since you said you wanted me to arm wrestle or throw the discus, how are your results in those two sports?"

Upon hearing this, Tinggen immediately understood what Li Ang meant.

Li Ang wanted to test his abilities.

Then Tingen chuckled and said, "Both of these are easy. Arm wrestling is a direct competition, and as for discus throwing, my best record in the 4kg category is 50.1 meters."

Tingen spoke with great confidence, after all, in the Atlas Iron Arena, there were only two people who could surpass him in discus throwing.

Li Ang nodded. "Is the discus thrown outdoors? Take me to the field to take a look."

"Good!" Tinggen was overjoyed. He had made up his mind to conquer Li Ang today.

The commotion quickly attracted people who came to exercise.

"Look, someone wants to compete with Tingen in the discus throw?"

"Looks like he's a guy who hasn't been at the Iron Man gym for long."

"He could arm wrestle with Tingen, but in a discus throw, wasn't the outcome already decided?"

"Arm wrestling? Look at Tingen's size, then look at the little guy's, is there even a comparison?"

"Quiet!" Tingen shouted, then looked at Leon, "Friend, come with me."

The group soon arrived at a fenced-off construction site behind the Atlas Iron Pavilion.

Several gym instructors quickly drew the throwing sector.

"Shall I go first?"

Tinggen looked at Li Ang.

"Can."

Amidst the whistles of the surrounding spectators, Tingen didn't hold back, picked up the discus, spun around, and finally threw it 49.8 meters.

While this wasn't his best performance, it was still comparable to the level of second-tier American athletes.

Tingen is confident that this result is enough.

Facing the confident Tinggen, Li Ang stepped forward and picked up the discus.

No running start, no spinning, just a casual toss.

With a combined physical strength of 1.3 and intelligence of 1.8, Li Ang accurately threw the discus to a distance of 50.2 meters.

He didn't accidentally break a record, nor did he overdo it, but he was just 0.1 meters taller than the best record mentioned by the Latino giant.

This caused Tinggen, who was smiling at him, to freeze instantly.

The onlookers looked at each other in disbelief, as if they had seen a ghost.

Li Ang left the scene expressionlessly, packed his bag, and went home.

……

Martin's Grocery Store.

"Li Ang? Haven't seen you for a few days. The coffee pot is over there, pour yourself some."

"Thank you, Martin." Li Ang walked to the old-fashioned coffee machine next to the counter and poured himself a cup of black coffee.

He hasn't come to the grocery store for the past few days.

Although he brought back a lot of things from Ioria, none of them were really suitable to be "transferred" to Martin.

However, Li Ang was worried that Martin might be in trouble because of what happened in the dark alley.

Li Ang felt that he was almost capable of helping this cunning old white man who had helped him many times, if necessary.

"How's school? Are you adjusting well?"

"It's alright."

"By the way, have you found any suitable items recently?" Martin rubbed his hands together, smiling and revealing two large gold teeth.

Li Ang glanced at the various collectibles scattered in the display case, shook his head, and said, "None of them are suitable. If I had any, I would have given them to you immediately."

"Hmm." Martin took a sip of coffee, and the two chatted idly until an old Ford truck rattled past outside. Martin then casually remarked, "By the way, did you hear about what happened at 'Brick Alley,' which is four blocks away from here, on Tuesday night?"

A slight thought crossed Li Ang's mind.

The brick alley that Old Martin mentioned is the very place where he "facilitated" the gang conflict a few days ago.

I wonder if that scoundrel named Nathan, who went offline, is still alive.

Moreover, the "Shuyue" and "Kadio" pills scattered at the scene are still being kept by Li Ang, who has been considering whether to return them to Martin.

Making money from generic drugs is a good idea. If he could team up with Martin and quickly consolidate the Chicago drug market through magical means, it would definitely be of great help to his future as a legendary wizard.

This is actually one of the reasons why Li Ang came to see Martin today.

With that thought in mind, Li Ang nodded. "I've heard that the Chicago Police Department cordoned off the area, and it was quite chaotic at the scene."

"It's not just a bit chaotic," Martin said, his expression turning serious. "It's absolutely in chaos! There's been a brutal gunfight in the alley, a lot of people are dead, and there are corpses everywhere."

Li Ang took a sip of coffee and asked calmly, "Do you know who did it?"

"I wasn't there, I just heard... there were Mexicans dressed like they were attending a carnival, with bones and feathers hanging from their bodies, and another group was probably the Italian Mafia. Nathan was the unlucky one; he was apparently talking to someone nearby when he got caught up in it, and he's still in the hospital."

"Nathan?"

"A kid who helped me sell drugs, yes, the same batch of generic drugs I told you about before, 'Shuyue' and 'Kadio'. Li Ang, isn't that amazing? Out of so many people there, only Nathan survived, and most importantly, all the generic drugs he was carrying have vanished without a trace."

"Medicine? So he brought expensive medicine?"

Martin shook his head, looked up at Li Ang, and said, "The medicine itself is fine, not worth too much money. I'm just a little scared. What if I had let you sell the medicine back then, and now you're the one lying there in bed?"

Emmm...

Li Ang felt that Martin's expression and tone were a bit too cheesy when he spoke.

I must never use suggestive techniques on others lightly in the future, especially on men.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. has a charlatan-like streak, the results of divination do have some influence on his decision-making.

However, Li Ang does not rule out the possibility that the two instances of "suggestion" had a subtle influence on him.

"So... Li Ang, try not to go out at night, especially not to unfamiliar places, such as the South Side near the River Estuary and the area near Little Italy. Chicago nights don't belong to college students like you." As he spoke, Martin opened a drawer under the counter, took out an oil paper package, and pushed it in front of Li Ang.

When Li Ang opened it, he saw that it was a well-maintained M1911.

"I got you a handgun license these past couple of days. I think your rifle is still not good enough; it's inconvenient to carry around. Keep this handgun. If you absolutely have to go home from the University of Chicago at night, be sure to take it with you."

Li Ang looked at the pistol; he could sense Martin's goodwill.

"I don't need this, Martin."

"Take this with you. When I was your age, on the Pacific battlefield, the only thing I could trust was the gun in my hand. In a critical moment, it can save your life."

"Alright, thank you." Li Ang didn't refuse any further, nodded, and picked up the pistol.

"You're welcome. Take care of yourself and focus on your college studies." Martin waved his hand. "By the way, I have some things to take care of recently, so the grocery store might be closed for a few days. Don't come over unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Do you need any help?"

Martin glanced at Leon. "What can you do to help? Talk to the Mafia about math formulas? You just need to focus on your studies."