America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

Li Qun instantly sensed something was wrong. Hulk swam through the sand, his trajectory sometimes blurry and sometimes clear, causing the Ruyi Jingu Bang to extend, and he hung in mid-air, supporting himself on the staff.

Hulk burst out of the sand, knocking over the golden cudgel. Li Qun opened a portal beneath him and teleported into the air, then swooped down and chopped the cudgel down on Hulk.

Li Qun gripped one end of the Ruyi Jingu Bang tightly with both hands and swung it at the other end of the Hulk, causing it to grow larger like an inflating balloon and smashing the Hulk to the ground.

With a "thud," Hulk felt his head buzzing.

He lay down on the ground and transformed back into Bruce Banner.

Li Qun landed on the ground, supporting himself with the golden cudgel, and walked up to Dr. Banner.

Dr. Banner stood up, pulled up his super-stretch underwear, shook out some sand, snapped his fingers, and used magic to dress himself.

"The Ruyi Jingu Bang (Monkey King's Staff) seems to be able to attack a person's spirit."

“You just forcibly switched me and Hulk back together.”

Dr. Banner also covered his head, feeling his mind buzzing as if he had been knocked on.

After thinking for a moment, Li Qun realized that when the Great Sage was causing havoc in the underworld, his golden cudgel must have been able to strike the spirits there.

"Dr. Banner, is Hulk coming again?" Li Qun asked.

“No, he wants to rest,” Dr. Banner said.

"The Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Cudgel) is truly a remarkable artifact." Dr. Banner stared at the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"If Hulk ever goes berserk, you can be the one to wake me and Hulk up," Dr. Banner said to Li Qun.

"This is too difficult for me."

"I can tell that Hulk is just playing with me and hasn't really made a move."

“A rampaging Hulk could tear me to shreds in a few moves,” Li Qun said.

“Why not make a magical artifact, like a headband, that you wear on your head? In case of an emergency, someone can chant a spell for you,” Li Qun suggested to Dr. Banner.

"It's not that we haven't considered it, it's just too dangerous."

"If I put a similar spell on my head, who knows, one day Hulk and I might become puppets controlled by other sorcerers and lose our sense of self."

"The current situation is quite good. Li Qun, your appearance and the Ruyi Jingu Bang have simply given Hulk and me another option for handling unexpected situations," Dr. Banner said.

Li Qun glanced at the time on his watch. Hulk had been "playing" with him for two hours, and it was already around 11 a.m.

“It’s time to go back for dinner,” Dr. Banner said.

"Would you like to come to my restaurant for dinner? It's on me."

Li Qun raised his hand to open the portal, took out his wallet from inside, and took out a few banknotes.

“My bonus is 2000 yuan, you know that,” Li Qun said.

“Well, I was planning to go to Shenyue for braised pork knuckle rice later,” Dr. Banner said.

For a mage like Dr. Banner, who can freely open portals to every corner of the world, the only issue with eating is whether it's mealtime in local time.

Li Qun crawled out of his bedroom closet, while Dr. Banner emerged from the deserted back alley and took a slightly roundabout route to the Chinatown near the Yellow Crane Tower.

Li Qun cleaned himself off the sand and went downstairs to help out at the restaurant.

Bruce Banner pretended not to know Li Qun and went into the Chinese restaurant to order takeout.

There aren't many customers at Chinese restaurants during lunchtime. Not many people like to brave the cold wind to walk to Chinatown for lunch in the morning; they usually come for dinner in the afternoon.

Dr. Banner ordered his meal, waited a while, and then braved the cold wind to walk out of the restaurant after the food was served.

“There are still seats in the shop, he can eat there. By the time he goes home, the food will be cold,” Auntie said to Liqun, watching Dr. Banner’s retreating figure.

“I have a feeling this gentleman might become a regular customer,” Li Qun said to his aunt.

The uncle came out of the kitchen and handed the insulated food container to Liqun. Liqun took the container and went to find his father to have lunch together.

Liqun and his father have made it a habit that Liqun will eat lunch and dinner with his father whenever it is a holiday, while on school days they will only eat dinner together.

My uncle and aunt's lunch and dinner times rarely coincide with Liqun and Shuangxi.

My uncle and aunt would eat lunch at 2 p.m. and dinner at 9 or 10 p.m. They would wait until most of the restaurant's customers had left before they could eat. The better the restaurant was, the later my uncle and aunt would eat.

However, Li Qun never saw his uncle and aunt complain about this. On the contrary, they seemed to enjoy it, because when they ate, it was just the two of them, and Li Qun and Shuangxi did not disturb them.

Bruce Banner returned to the New York Sanctum Sanctum with his lunch, and Master Wang opened a portal to come from Kamar-Taj.

The monk Wang rubbed his hands together and sat down at the dining table. Banner glanced at Wang.

“I didn’t invite you over for dinner,” Dr. Banner said, somewhat possessively.

"This morning I discovered that Liqun used the portal 92 times. What are you doing?" Wang asked.

“Liqun is playing with Hulk. The portal isn’t going to be used much; he might end up as a meat pie,” Banner explained.

Chapter 99 The Wise Man Seeks Strength Within

Two days of heavy snow fell after Christmas. After the snow stopped, Liqun and Shuangxi cleared the snow and ice from the sidewalk outside the restaurant.

After the snow stops, they have to clear a path at least 1.2 meters wide, and also clear the snow from the fire hydrants and drains nearby, otherwise the restaurant will be fined.

Fines range from $100 to $150, and the amount of fines will increase if you are fined multiple times.

Liqun and Shuangxi shoveled snow into a pile in the back alley, but the pile was not up to standard. Liqun sent Shuangxi away and asked him to go back to the restaurant to get salt. He then secretly threw the snow pile into the Sahara Desert to dispose of it.

After cleaning the road in front of his own restaurant, Liqun rushed off to help his father deal with the snow and ice in front of the pawnshop.

My dad carefully shoveled the snow, wearing non-slip shoes; older people are quite afraid of falling.

"What's with this shovel?" The old man carefully examined the shovel in Li Qun's hand and discovered that Li Qun had attached a shovel head to the golden cudgel.

“That’s good, I used to do it this way too,” the old man said to Liqun, bending down to continue working.

"Dad, what accessories did you add to the Golden Cudgel before?" Li Qun asked his father as he bent down to shovel snow.

"Add a spearhead, a halberd or something, and sometimes use it as a farm tool; it's almost like it's been used to shovel manure," the old man said.

"When the Golden Cudgel was in my hands, it was just an unsatisfactory iron rod, not as convenient as it is now, able to grow bigger or smaller, and able to fly everywhere."

"Dad, I'd like to introduce someone to you."

"Who is it?" the old man asked.

"The teacher of the extracurricular class I mentioned last time."

The old man bent over and glanced at Liqun.

Last time, Dad wrote down the address of the New York Sanctuary. When Liqun went to school, he went to Brick Street to look for it, but he couldn't find the place. Dad thought that 177A Brick Street was a fake address.

"Are you still attending extracurricular classes? What have you been learning these past few months?" the eldest asked.

“I’ve learned a little… Dad, would you like to watch it later?” Li Qun asked.

"What nonsense! Why are you being so secretive? You don't dare to say it outright," the old man said, displeased.

"I was afraid you'd be scared."

"What kind of big scenes haven't I seen, Dad? Do you think I'd be scared by you?" Dad chuckled.

When you bend over to work, it's best to keep working until you're finished before standing up, otherwise you can easily get lumbar muscle strain.

Li Qun was instructed by his father to pile up the snow and ice in the alley next to the pawnshop. As long as it wasn't piled up on the street, he usually wouldn't be fined. After sprinkling salt, the snow would melt quickly.

"Dad, come and take a look."

"What are you looking at?"

Li Qun snapped his fingers with his left hand, and a portal leading to the heart of the Sahara Desert appeared beneath the snowdrift. The snowdrift instantly fell into the desert, and hot air blew out of the portal. Li Qun quickly closed the portal.

“Spells,” Li Qun said to his father.

The old man's expression remained calm, showing no surprise.

"Of course."

The old man walked back into the shop, and Liqun followed him with the old man's shovel.

“I learned this from my teacher in the extracurricular class,” Li Qun said.

"This shows you have a talent for learning magic." The old man poured himself a cup of hot tea.

"Come back and show off when you've mastered the Seventy-Two Transformations." The old man also poured Liqun a cup of hot tea.

"That spell was a teleportation portal that can take you to most places on Earth. Dad, the black tea you're drinking now is the one I bought in Yunnan Province. It tastes good, doesn't it?"

"oh!?"

Hearing this, the old man became somewhat surprised.

"This is much more powerful than the Somersault Cloud."

“But the Somersault Cloud can fly in the sky,” Li Qun said.

"Will the teacher you want to introduce also emerge from the ring of fire later?" Dad asked.

"Yes." Li Qun nodded.

Li Qun opened the portal to the Sanctuary, while Bruce Banner sipped hot tea from his cup.

When Li Qun went to buy tea, he bought a lot of black tea; buying more would get him a discount.

“Hello, Dad.” Bruce Banner stepped out of the portal.

“My name is Bruce Banner, and I am a mage.” Dr. Banner put down his teacup and shook hands with his father.

My father's hands were as rough as tree bark, a mark left from thousands of years of hard work.

“Hello, Mr. Banner.” Old Man looked Dr. Banner up and down.

“Bruce Banner, his picture hangs in the hallway of our school. He earned fourteen doctorates and is arguably one of the smartest people on earth,” Li Qun introduced to his father.

"So, the end of science is metaphysics?" Dad asked.

"More or less." Bruce Banner nodded to his father.

“Liqun is very smart,” Banner said to his father.

"You can speak Chinese!" The old man was quite surprised.

“I’m learning (Chinese), I only know a little bit,” Banner replied.