America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

"It's a male doctor."

Chapter 57 Two Ghosts

"Banner, don't you think this kid is behaving strangely?"

Bruce Banner and Wang Ling left their bodies and stood openly beside Li Qun, Peter, and Gwen, listening to their conversation.

“He’s too calm,” Wang said.

“It could also mean that we don’t know him very well,” Bruce Banner said.

“For the past week, I’ve been observing him—his behavior at school, his relationships with others, and his family…”

“You seem to have gained some weight,” Bruce Banner said, glancing at the king’s belly, which appeared rounder than it had been a week ago.

“His uncle’s restaurant is pretty good. I’ll take you there to try it at noon,” Wang said to Bruce Banner with a straight face.

“I’ll go if you treat me, Your Majesty,” Banner said.

"Banner, you don't have a penny on you, so of course it's on me."

“Banner, shouldn’t you find a job and earn some money? This can’t go on like this.” Wang turned to look at Bruce Banner.

"Wang, can you introduce me to a job?"

“Interest classes.” Wang turned to look at Li Qun.

“Tutoring classes are fine, but I don’t have any particular skills in extracurricular activities,” Bruce Banner said.

“This kid wants to learn something, so I told him we should discuss it together.”

"Wouldn't that give you a job to make money, Banner?" Wang said.

"Let me make money off the students..."

"That's a good choice."

“I only accept cash,” Banner said.

“We’ll talk to him after school,” Wang said.

Li Qun, Peter, and Gwen rushed to the classroom with their textbooks, followed closely by Bruce Banner and Wang, the two spirits. Wang acted as Banner's guide and audited Li Qun's high school classes with Banner.

"It's truly something to miss."

Bruce Banner recalled his high school years, which lasted from age fourteen to sixteen, while geniuses only need one or two years to get through high school.

"Huh? Li Qun's science teacher is Octavius?" Bruce Banner looked at Dr. Otto as he walked into the classroom with surprise.

"You know him?"

“I’ve met him a few times and read his papers. Octavius ​​is a pioneer in the field of nuclear physics,” Bruce Banner replied.

"Why is he teaching at a high school instead of at a university?"

"Is his research very impressive?" Wang asked.

"I have been paying close attention to Dr. Octavius's research, which could solve the energy crisis for humanity."

“Many research projects are constrained by energy supply. If we could obtain a large amount of clean energy, human technological development would enter another great leap forward,” Bruce Banner said.

“The skyscrapers in New York never turn off their lights at night,” Wang said to Banner. Banner knew what Wang meant; Wang was implying that New Yorkers waste electricity.

"Therefore, I pay close attention to energy issues."

"Seventy percent of New York's electricity comes from the surrounding coal-fired power plants."

"Dr. Octavius's appearance in a high school classroom indicates that his research has failed and he has left the scientific community."

“After school, you asked Liqun another question,” Wang said to Banner.

“I think Dr. Octavius ​​is quite concerned about this kid, Li Qun. Why don’t you have Li Qun ask Dr. Octavius? Maybe he will explain his situation clearly.”

“I’d better find out myself,” Bruce Banner said.

The two souls wandered around Midtown High School. Li Qun would occasionally feel gazes fixed on his back, and his daydreaming behavior during class decreased by more than half.

At lunchtime in the school cafeteria, Harry demonstrated to Li Qun and the others the courtly table manners Leopold had taught him, cutting Peter's braised lion's head with a knife and fork and eating it very elegantly.

"This is the court etiquette of the Spanish royal family. Even the British royal family learned it from Spain," Harry explained to them.

“Spain was the first empire on which the sun never set, and Britain was the second,” Li Qun said.

“Really? There’s such a thing?” Harry exclaimed in shock.

“Peter, do you know?” Li Qun looked at Peter, who shook his head to indicate that he did not know.

"Gwen, what about you?" Li Qun turned to look at Gwen beside him, and Gwen shook her head as well.

"Don't you all study history properly?" Li Qun asked.

“It’s not that I don’t care about history, but I don’t have the energy to read history books,” Peter said.

“Gwen, do you know what frequency the police radio uses?” Peter changed the subject.

“It’s illegal to wiretap police radio communications,” Gwen said.

“I’m just curious,” Peter said.

“We’ll talk about this after you get your amateur radio operator licenses,” Gwen said.

“Peter, what are you curious about? Shouldn’t this be Gwen’s curiosity?” Li Qun asked.

“I want to assemble a radio myself; the radios I buy are limited,” Peter said.

"Are you trying to test your self-assembled radio by monitoring police radio communications?" Li Qun asked.

"That's about right."

"Buying the parts must cost a lot of money, right?" Harry said.

“Collect appliances that other people have thrown away, dismantle them from the junkyard, and ask Steve for help.” Peter smiled.

"Who is Steve?" Bruce Banner, whose soul seemed to leave his body, asked the king.

“A city sanitation worker who recently questioned the mayor of New York.”

"Don't you read newspapers at the Holy See in New York?" Wang asked Bruce Banner.

“I can’t even afford to subscribe to a newspaper, and I don’t go out anyway,” Banner told Wang.

Wang desperately raised his hand to cover his eyes.

It must have been tough for Bruce Banner to live a secluded life in the Sanctuary of the Dead in New York while being secretly wanted by the U.S. military.

“Steve, that name sounds very familiar to me.”

“You know what my previous research was about? It was about recreating a super soldier from the battlefields of World War II, Steve Rogers,” Bruce Banner said.

"Ok?"

"Who are you talking about?" Wang looked at Bruce Banner.

"Steve Rogers."

“Do you know what Steve’s name is that they’re talking about?” Wang asked.

"Call him Johnny Rogers."

"Could they be relatives?" Wang asked.

“I have to go check it out.” Bruce Banner’s expression turned serious, and he felt his heart beating faster.

"I have to go back to my body; the Hulk might be coming out."

"I'll stay with you."

The two spirits hurriedly flew back to the Sanctuary in New York.

Back in the meditation room of the Sanctum Sanctorum, Hulk's spirit was guarding the bodies of King and Bruce Banner, whose body was now an empty shell.

If the Hulk returns to Banner's body, the body will take on the form of the Hulk, and Banner's spirit will appear as the Hulk's "stand-in." Banner and the Hulk will be each other's "stand-in users."

Chapter 58 The Secret in the Blood

Bruce Banner and the King are falling in the mirror dimension.

They adjusted the direction of gravity in the mirror dimension to eliminate the need for walking.

The act of monitoring others while in an out-of-body state indicates that they will not physically interfere with the other party, while monitoring someone through a mirror dimension indicates that they will take action against the monitored target.

After leaving Midtown High School, Bruce Banner and Wang went to the Yellow Crane Tower Chinese restaurant in Chinatown to have lunch.

After having lunch at the restaurant, it was about 2 p.m. Wang figured that Johnny would be home soon, so the two of them went into the mirror dimension and headed towards the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn.

They were almost there. Bruce Banner reversed the direction of gravity in the mirror dimension and stood steadily on the street with Wang.

“Banner, this is the first time you’ve talked to me about your previous research,” Wang said to Banner.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Banner looked around at the neighborhood where Steve lived, a Hispanic neighborhood with lower-middle-income residents, where Spanish signs were everywhere.

The two went upstairs and entered Steve's single apartment.

Steve's apartment now has many more items. Most of the extra things were salvaged from his garbage collection; they were still usable, but had minor issues and were simply discarded by their owner on the street.

There were also many more books in the room.

Steve couldn't find the old books; he bought the extra ones with his own money.

Bruce Banner stood in front of Steve's bookshelf, his gaze sweeping over the books Steve had picked up—books of all kinds.

Judging from the traces of what was taken, Bruce Banner discovered that the book Steve had been reading recently was the fourth volume of the Encyclopedia.

Wang and Bruce Banner waited in the apartment for a while, and then Steve returned to the apartment carrying a large bag, unlocking the door with one hand.

Steve was completely unaware that two people were observing him from another dimension.

Steve took off his coat and hung it on the rack next to the door. He then took things out of his large bag one by one, filling the clean wooden floor.

Steve rummaged through the pile of things for food and began preparing his lunch.

"He's really strong."

Wang sized up Steve, who was wearing a black vest, and then turned to look at Banner's reaction.