America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

“We’ll have a soft opening next weekend,” Gwen said.

“Making money is really not easy,” Harry remarked.

“You might encounter people who don’t pay, extort money, or even rob you,” Walter White calmly told the children.

Peter and Liqun turned to look at Harry, Gwen, and Stephanie with concern.

"In these unexpected situations, never resist; just obediently hand over the money," Walter White said.

“We’re right next to the competition venue. The organizers have paid the NYPD, so no one should bother us there,” Gwen said.

"Paid money? Paid protection money to NYPD?" Walter White looked at Gwen.

“It’s standard practice to call in the NYPD for events on the streets of New York,” Gwen said.

“If you find that the match is being held on gang territory, you’d better come back immediately,” Walter White said.

“We’ll be careful,” Gwen told Walter.

Walter White ate a lot of steamed buns and his stomach was full, so he considered it dinner.

Walter White put on his coat, hat, and shoes and went out.

"Is Uncle Walter working overtime tonight?" Harry asked Stephanie.

"To be precise, he's on his way to work now."

“My dad has one day off a week, but he has to be in the industrial park during working hours,” Stephanie replied.

Walter White walked to the car, walked around it to check, squatted down and reached under the car to see if anyone had installed any suspicious devices.

After finding no problems, Walter White got into the car and drove with extreme caution, strictly adhering to driving regulations, towards Osborne Industrial Park.

Walter White joined Norman Osborn’s human enhancement serum research, but Norman Osborn did not inform General Ross, the military’s project leader, about this.

Norman used Walter White as a secret weapon.

He planned to develop two versions of the human enhancement serum, one to be given to General Ross to complete the mission, and the more perfect version to be developed and utilized by them themselves.

Walter White's involvement brought the purity of the effective mutant substance extracted from the Blood Orchid to a higher level, and allowed Norman and his team to discover even more incredible properties of the mutant substance.

The core raw material for the human enhancement serum is the Blood Orchid, which is tightly controlled by the military. General Ross controls the supply of Blood Orchids, so he is not worried that Norman Osborn would do anything underhanded with the human enhancement serum behind his back.

Norman Osborne placed high hopes on Walter White, hoping he could find a chemical industrial synthesis method for the blood orchid mutant substance.

Two hours later, Walter White appeared at the secret research facility in Osborne Industrial Park, carrying a bag of uncooked buns, which he put into the freezer.

"What good food did you bring back?" Chief Scientist Dr. Strom asked Walter.

Walter glanced at Dr. Storm, who was also bald, and replied, "Baozi (steamed bun)."

In the lab, Walter and Strom got along well, while he often clashed with Norman, arguing with him over experimental issues.

Walter sensed from Norman that Storm seemed to be the person Norman had brought in to replace him after he left.

"Don't even think about stealing any of this; my daughter and her friends made it in my kitchen," Walter emphasized.

“Well, Mr. Perfect Life,” Dr. Storm teased Walter.

Walter laughed smugly.

In terms of family relationships, Norman and Storm were no match for him. Norman's daily complaints let Walter know that Norman's son was a cowardly fellow, utterly useless; Storm was a bachelor, though he had been married, he was divorced and still had to pay alimony to his ex-wife.

Norman Osborne appeared with dark circles under his eyes, and one look at Norman's face told you he was depressed.

Norman made himself a cup of coffee.

“If you feel this amount isn’t enough to keep you energized, just extract some caffeine from some tea leaves and add it in,” Walter said from the side.

Norman Osborne turned and glanced at Walter White.

"I might as well make another cup of tea," Norman said, and actually made another cup of tea.

Norman held a coffee in one hand and a black tea in the other, taking a sip as the coffee and tea blended together in his stomach.

“Norman, you should probably see a psychiatrist,” Storm said to Norman Osborn.

“I think what he needs isn’t a psychologist, but rather…” Walter hinted that Norman was actually repressing that aspect of his sexuality.

“Walter, that’s enough,” Norman said irritably.

"Your wife just doesn't intend to divorce you."

"She stopped loving you a long time ago."

“I know, but I still love her,” Walter White said calmly.

Chapter 179 Food Truck

In the kitchen of the New York Sanctuary, a double-compartment hot pot was bubbling away.

Li Qun, Lao Die, Bruce Banner, and Master Wang sat around the dining table eating hot pot.

Old Man and Dr. Banner can't handle spicy food, but Li Qun and Master Wang can.

As the weather cools down in autumn, it's the perfect time for hot pot.

The hot pot broth was provided by Liqun, and the yin-yang pot had a spicy beef tallow broth on one side and a sour tomato broth broth on the other. The four of us ate until our faces were flushed.

“Peter is going to compete tomorrow. I thought you, Liqun, would also secretly sign up for the competition, giving Peter that classic ‘there’s someone better than him’ storyline,” Bruce Banner said to Liqun, taking a sip of his ice-cold beer.

"Why do this?" Li Qun scooped a piece of luncheon meat from the pot and put it in his bowl. Using hot pot as a way to use up the canned luncheon meat that his father had stockpiled was also a very efficient method.

“That would seem too deliberate,” Li Qun said.

“I’ve also bought a ticket, and I’ll be watching your game tomorrow,” Bruce Banner said.

“Dr. Banner, you have to be careful. I heard there’s a TV station filming here. Don’t let your face get caught on camera,” Li Qun warned.

"Don't worry, I'll go wearing a mask and pretend to be a die-hard Mexican wrestler fan."

“I’ve never officially met Peter. If he knew his idol was here to watch his game, wouldn’t he be overjoyed?” Bruce Banner said.

“He’s not crazy, Peter’s emotions have always been stable,” Li Qun said.

Master Wang looked at the television screen, which showed Peter enjoying the breeze on the rooftop of the building. Bruce Banner was still using magic to observe Peter's activities at night.

"This kid doesn't seem as stable as he appears," the mage king said calmly.

“He’s only seventeen; he can’t act like a seventy-year-old,” the old man said.

The old man and Master Wang clinked their glasses and drank the transparent "anesthetic" in their glasses in one gulp.

"This wine tastes alright!" the old man said to Master Wang.

"It's homemade, so it doesn't have much alcohol," Master Wang said.

“Really? I seem to remember the last time you said that, I woke up on the roof?” Bruce Banner said to the Wizard King.

"That's because you can't hold your liquor," the mage king chuckled.

"Luckily, I can't drink alcohol," Li Qun said.

“In the world of mages, there are no real-world laws to bind you. Who cares if you can drink when you're eighteen?” Master Wang said, looking at Liqun.

"Alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen, and the medical advice is to avoid even a milliliter of it," Li Qun said.

"Children don't understand," the old man said with a smile, picking up the wine jug and filling Master Wang's wine glass with "anesthetic."

The four people were eating hot pot and chatting, while Hulk, shrunk to the size of an ordinary person, sat quietly to the side reading a comic book.

The Hulk, appearing in a spiritual form, can control his size, changing like the eldest brother in the Calabash Brothers. The Hulk shrinks himself to read comic books; Banner refuses to use magic to make the comic books Lillian gave him smaller to fit in his palm.

……

After school at Midtown High School in the afternoon, Gwen's van took half of the club members to the preliminary rounds of the street fighting tournament, while the other half followed closely behind in Stephanie's food truck.

They got out of school a bit late, and several food trucks were already parked and operating near the competition venue, so Stephanie's food truck could only set up a stall on the edge.

Harry set up the food truck's supplies, displayed the brightly colored pictures of buns, and hung up the eye-catching menu. He worked as a waiter outside the truck.

Stephanie and Gwen tied their hair up, put on their aprons and gloves, and started the food truck stove to steam buns and heat up the cooked seaweed soup.

As spectators walked past the food truck, Harry nervously smiled at them, too shy to invite them to look at the steamed buns they had bought from the truck.

"Let me know when the buns are ready, and I'll send a few over to Liqun," Harry said, turning to Stephanie through the food truck window.

“Just three more minutes,” Stephanie replied.

Li Qun sat on the cement steps, surrounded by a noisy crowd.

Instead of video promotions on electronic screens, scantily clad women held up large half-body photos of the preliminary contestants and showed them to the audience one by one.

Peter, wearing a red spiderweb hood, sat nervously on a folding chair, waiting. The other preliminary contestants were also sitting on folding chairs, separated from the audience by a wire mesh.

Peter looked around and saw that Peter was the thinnest and shortest person there.

Peter was wearing a red mask, a blue sweatshirt, and jeans.

Peter had originally planned to change his clothes, but there was no place for the athletes to change at the competition venue.

The referee shouted the competition rules to them.

Peter remembered last year's competition rules, which were based on a points system. This year, however, the organizers removed the points system to make their competition more in line with the name "street fighting." Whoever is left standing in the ring wins.

"Did you all hear me clearly? Attacking vital organs is not allowed! Weapons are prohibited, and killing is strictly forbidden!"

"Stop attacking after your opponent falls!!" the referee shouted. Everyone in the preliminary rounds laughed except for Peter.

It is precisely because of the changes in the competition rules this year that the number of participants has increased significantly.

"Let's begin the draw! Today, only one person can advance from this arena."

Peter sensed that the atmosphere was becoming tense, and the contestants were all sizing each other up.

"You're first to draw lots, Red Hood kid!!" The referee walked up to Peter and placed the lottery box in front of him.

Peter reached in, took out a piece of paper, opened it, and showed it to everyone present.

"Number six!! Playing in the third game."

"You come here!"

Eight people are drawn by lot, and a single-elimination format is used. Even if they reach the main tournament finals, the rules will still be single-elimination, one match to determine the winner. The same applies to street fights; no one will give their opponent a second chance.

"I'd like a serving of xiaolongbao, please." Bruce Banner, wearing a Batman mask, stood in front of the food truck.