Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

"So what if he's bald? When your dad was bald, he was probably a fighter. Nobody on the street could beat him."

“…Violence is wrong.” Isaac returned the photograph to his father.

As they said, his parents did teach him martial arts when he was young, but he wasn't very interested in it. It was hard work, but he mainly felt that fighting was bad.

"Never mind then, just be careful yourself."

The father had nothing more to say to his son, but then he seemed to remember something and took out a box of discs from his bag.

"I went to Besta on my way back, this is what you want, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Isaac happily took the disc, the cover of which was engraved with Masked Rider Black RX, and there was a picture of a person wearing black armor.

Seeing Isaac's happy expression, his father couldn't help but laugh out loud: "You really like this kind of movie."

"Because it looks good."

After the meal, Mother started doing housework, and Chinatsu went to help. Father went to clean the garage, Erika went back to her room to do her homework, and as for Isaac…

That lazybones had already retreated to his room and started watching movies.

The family's life here can be described as harmonious and joyful.

Tomorrow is the weekend, and Isaac can finally relax at home. He doesn't have many friends, so he rarely has the chance to go out with them.

Boom boom boom!

There was a knock on the door, and Isaac's father came in.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you, your mom and I have some important business to take care of tomorrow, so you, Chinatsu, and Erica will stay home."

"understood."

"That's fine then, you know the usual rules, right?"

“I know, don’t go to that slum next to the house, right?” Isaac laughed.

His family had told him about this more than once.

Across the street from their house was a slum, a place rife with crime, drugs, and violence. Ever since they moved here, they'd warn Isaac not to go there whenever he went out alone.

Chapter 466: Strange Cards

Even in a developed country, there is darkness that people cannot see.

Slums are the breeding ground for these dark things.

Even New York City, one of the most developed areas in the United States, has its own slums, and there is one right across from Isaac's house.

It's a world apart from some high-paying areas.

The houses were dilapidated, the walls were covered in graffiti, and the crime rate was so low that even the police were reluctant to intervene. As a result, crime began to proliferate.

Drug trafficking, robbery, rape, and murder happen there every day; it's commonplace.

Before moving here, Isaac's parents told him not to go near the area because there were many bad people there. Isaac agreed, but he never knew why.

……

"We're leaving now. Isaac, be careful at home. Don't open the door to strangers. If you encounter any bad people, find your sister Erica." His mother repeatedly reminded Isaac before leaving.

The whole family trusted Erica completely because she was incredibly strong—the kind of strong that defied logic, so strong that even armed criminals were no match for her. The reason for this seemed to be related to the illness Isaac's father had mentioned.

But this did not diminish the family's trust in him.

Actually, everyone in the family except Isaac is very strong. Erica just mentioned that her mother learned Wing Chun in China from a young age and is the kind of person who can take on ten people at once. Her father is also a first-class martial arts master. As for Chinatsu, she started learning martial arts from her mother after she was brought into the family. There is also a wooden dummy in the yard.

Isaac is the weakest of them all, and both Chinatsu and Erika want to protect this younger brother.

Although Chinatsu and Isaac are the same age.

“Yes, I understand,” Isaac replied to his mother. “I’m already twelve years old, and I’ll be a high school student by now.”

"That's good," the mother said with a smile, then looked towards the father's room and called out, "Are you done?"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming down now."

The father hurriedly put on a suit and went downstairs, looking as if he wanted to take care of important business.

In this family, Isaac's mother was the dominant figure. It is said that his father was a womanizer before meeting his mother, and only settled down after marriage.

At home, my father was always overshadowed by my mother. As for the reason... my mother's ancestral home is in Guangdong, while my father's ancestral home is in Fujian.

This suppression is likely part of the food chain.

After the two left, Isaac returned to his room, turned on the VCD player, and continued watching the Kamen Rider series he hadn't finished watching the day before.

From a young age, he loved tokusatsu films, Ultraman, Godzilla series, and he watched everything from Kamen Rider 1 to Black RX. Every time his father came back from work, he would rent a few movies for him from Best Buy, which was one of Isaac's few pleasures.

I can stay in bed all day watching movies, it's so great!

Time always flies.

It was already noon shortly after my parents left home.

"Isaac, when are we having lunch?"

Chika ran into Isaac's room and pulled him out of bed.

"Is it already noon?"

Isaac checked the time and realized it was already past midnight.

What should we have for lunch?

"There should be some food Mom made this morning in the fridge. We can just heat it up a bit and it'll be ready to eat," Isaac said, standing up and walking toward the kitchen.

None of them were good cooks, so Isaac's mother would prepare the meal before leaving the house.

At lunchtime, Erika ate quietly while Chinatsu talked about Isaac.

"If you always stay at home and don't go out, your health will get worse and worse."

“I’m perfectly healthy,” Isaac retorted. “Besides, it would be a shame not to stay home on a rare weekend.”

"Don't you ever go out and have fun with your friends?"

“I have no friends, you know that,” Isaac sighed.

It's already an ideal situation if no one at school bothers him; naturally, he has no friends.

He himself really hopes to have a friend who can play with him, but the reality doesn't allow it.

"How about Erica and I go out with you?"

"Thanks, but really, it's not necessary."

After finishing lunch, Isaac went back to his room to watch TV, but then he discovered a very serious situation.

He's almost finished watching the DVDs.

Yesterday, Dad brought home two sets of DVDs, two discs per set, each disc containing two episodes, meaning there are only eight episodes to watch in total. He's really looking forward to the rest of the series.

I wiped the piggy bank in the room; there was enough spare cash inside to rent two more boxes.

"Chika, do you know where the nearest Bestseller is?" Isaac asked, running out of the room.

"Huh? I don't know about that." Chika didn't know much about it, but she still said, "Maybe Uncle has a map of the area, but he's not here."

"……All right."

……

Sneaking into your parents' room is definitely wrong, but it shouldn't be a big deal to go in and watch DVDs, since it's not like you're stealing money.

Isaac tiptoed into his parents' bedroom and began rummaging through it.

He didn't know if he could find the map.

While rummaging through her dad's pants, several small cards suddenly fell out, most of which featured a scantily clad woman.

"A strip club membership card? Dad has one?" Isaac blushed as he picked up the card and looked at it. "Sometimes he comes home late because he's been to a nightclub?"

He wasn't afraid of his mom finding out he just put it in his pocket; if she did, he'd be in big trouble.

When he was feeling shy, he seemed to have come up with a good way to ask for pocket money.

Then, another card inside caught Isaac's attention.

The card features a winged sword with a string of English text in the middle.

“MITHRIL? What is this?” Isaac looked at the card from side to side and found nothing special except for his father’s portrait and identification information printed on it.

After putting the clothes back in their place, Isaac continued searching.

Finally, I found a map of Manhattan under the bed.

"Let me see, where is Bestar?" He pointed to the map and started looking for it.

Bestar is a famous video rental store in the United States, with several chains across the country. My dad always brings me DVDs when he comes back, which proves that it's located in this area.

"found it."

According to the map, there are two places here. One is in the city center and it takes several hours to walk there. Even by bus, it takes an hour to get there and back.

As for the other one, it's quite close.

It's in a slum not far from my home.

Chapter 467: The Thief

"Hat, scarf, gloves..."

Isaac was searching his room for any useful items.

His parents always warned him not to go to the slums, but he didn't take it to heart at the time.

Are there bad people in the slums? Are they as bad as the bullies who harassed him at his school?

It's December, close to Christmas, and the weather on the East Coast of the United States is unusually cold. After bundling himself up like a penguin, Isaac decided to go out and rent DVDs.

"Huh? Where are you going at this time?" Qianxia was still practicing her boxing on the wooden dummy in the yard when she noticed Isaac come out and asked with some confusion.

"Go out and buy something."

Do you want me to come with you?