America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

Gwen started the car, and the three of them drove to Stephanie's house.

"I said..."

"Peter, what are you trying to say?"

“Uncle Ben reminded me that our business was being targeted,” Peter said.

"Gangs have their eyes on our business? Would they dare cause us trouble while we're open? The NYPD is training right here!" Gwen said.

“I’m not entirely sure who it is, but Uncle Ben said…” Peter said, somewhat frustrated.

"Are you going to use legal means to target us?" Li Qun asked.

“That’s what I mean.” Peter nodded.

“Wow, legal means. Then I’ll have to resort to illegal means,” Li Qun said.

"Liqun, don't be impulsive."

Peter tensed up, and Gwen also glanced at Li Qun through the rearview mirror.

Gwen's eyes held an expression of admiration.

“If they dare mess with us, we’ll get back at them. Who’s afraid of who?” Gwen said.

“We don’t even need to do it ourselves; we can hire someone to do it,” Li Qun said.

"Hire someone?"

Peter regretted it.

As he looked at Li Qun, he suddenly recalled Uncle Ben's description of Li Qun, who said that Li Qun lived within a different set of social rules.

What is Uncle Ben implying?

Could Li Qun be the next generation leader of a Chinatown gang?!

When this idea came to him, Peter's strange impressions of Liqun became reasonable, and even his father became a "godfather" figure in Peter's imagination.

Peter imagined that Li Qun, back in Chinatown, whispered a few words to someone, and the Chinatown gang members immediately organized an operation, engaging in a fierce gunfight with another white gang member who had been watching them. The bodies were then sunk into the harbor...

Peter covered his forehead.

His close friends all seem to be extraordinary people...

Gwen is the heiress to the future NYPD Commissioner's family, Harry is the heir to a military-owned capital company, and Li Qun is the next leader of a Chinatown gang...

But he himself is a mutated superhuman!

Why do I feel like I'm doomed?

“Peter, you seem to be thinking about something not so good?” Li Qun nudged Peter with his elbow, and Peter snapped out of his reverie.

“No, I didn’t.” Peter smiled and waved his hand.

Let's take a break.

“Anyway, the main event has already started, and if we don’t watch the games now, we’ll miss out,” Gwen said.

"We won't give those people a chance to cause trouble." Li Qun agreed.

“Seriously, Stephanie must be tired of eating steamed buns.” Gwen laughed.

Upon arriving at Stephanie's house, the three of them got out of the car.

Upon entering the house, Li Qun, Gwen, and Peter saw the dumplings that Harry, Stephanie, and Walter had wrapped on the dining table, and their faces showed some distress.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked.

“Here’s what happened…” Li Qun explained to Stephanie and Harry.

“Okay, then let’s stop.” Stephanie didn’t feel any regret.

“But what do we do with so many buns?” Little Walter asked.

“If we want to solve this quickly, we can distribute it to the homeless. Peter, Gwen, and I have all been community volunteers.”

“If we take our time, we’ll just eat it ourselves,” Li Qun said.

“We’ll eat it ourselves. It can be frozen for a long time, and I can’t bear to waste it,” Harry said.

“Then we’ll eat it ourselves,” Stephanie said.

"I hope we don't have nightmares about xiaolongbao (soup dumplings)," Liqun said.

"Besides steaming, are there any other ways to make xiaolongbao?" Harry asked.

"You can make pan-fried buns."

“To fry buns with oil and water, you need a pot with a lid,” Li Qun replied.

Harry smiled and raised his eyebrows; he wanted to try the pan-fried buns.

Chapter 186 Trailer

The eight main fighters of the Queens Street Fighting Tournament met for the first time in a parking lot, where they were to ride together to a television studio to film a promotional video for the main event.

The contestant introductions and the lottery draw will be shown in the promotional video, and the "audience" are all actors who have been paid to participate.

After boarding the bus, Peter chose to sit in the empty seat at the very front; he didn't want to sit in a seat further inside.

Peter rushed over as soon as school was over; he was the second contestant to arrive at the meeting point.

The organizers also took into full consideration the contestants' daily work schedules and scheduled the filming time for after dusk.

What's your name?

The first contestant got up from the last row and sat in the seat behind Peter. This person was also wearing a red mask, which looked like it was made of leather, and he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt just like Peter.

"Red Spider".

"You should have heard of me. My name is Deadpool."

Peter glanced back and thought the voice sounded familiar.

"Hello."

After Deadpool sat in the seat behind Peter, Peter felt his seat shaking. The guy behind him, Deadpool, seemed to have ADHD and couldn't sit still.

A few minutes later, the third contestant got into the car.

Peter observed the other man and judged from his appearance that he seemed to be Russian, probably around two meters tall, and he was hunched over.

"What are you looking at?"

The other person's accent was heavily accented with Russian, confirming Peter's suspicions.

A short while later, the black athlete wearing a hat got into the car and sat in the corner, ignoring everyone.

Half an hour later, all eight main contestants had arrived, and the event organizers' staff also boarded the bus, which started its engine and headed towards Manhattan.

Peter covered his head, his expression troubled beneath the mask.

How will he explain to Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei why he came home so late today? He's not good at lying.

Will the filming of the promotional video continue until midnight?

Perhaps this would make it easier to explain to Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei; he could simply say that he spent the night at Li Qun's house.

The organizers distributed temporary work badges to the eight contestants on the bus; they needed these badges to enter the television station building.

Just as Peter was lost in thought, the bus stopped next to the TV station building. The organizers and TV station staff mingled together and herded them into the building like sheep, leading them all the way to the studio.

"Come over here first and see the effect under the lights!"

The camera lights shone on Peter, and Peter felt the heat from the light.

The studio was bustling with people, and the eight contestants were being called around and left feeling dizzy and disoriented.

Finally, Peter and the other eight were gathered together, and the big Russian guy looked like he was sulking.

"You have to decide your own opponents!" the organizers shouted to the eight people.

“What do you mean?” Peter asked.

"We're a street fight! That means you have to act like ordinary people, and choose whoever you don't like as your opponent for the first match!" the organizers replied.

"Was there no lottery?"

"There will be a lottery, but the lottery will determine where you fight! There are four venues to choose from," the organizer said.

"Make a decision quickly!"

Peter felt watched.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see where the stare was coming from and realized that they were right under the camera lens.

The organizers only told them the unusual rules of the main competition now for the sake of the show's effect.

“There can only be one person wearing a mask,” Deadpool said, turning to Peter.

"Red Spider, I choose you, will you?" Deadpool held Peter's right hand in his, as if proposing marriage.

"Don't try to take it from me!" The two-meter-tall Russian giant shoved Deadpool and stood in front of Peter.

“What should we do?” Peter asked the person in charge of the event.

“Now you choose one of the two,” the organizer replied.

"I choose..."

“Alexei.” Peter pointed to the two-meter-tall Russian strongman.

"Thank you," Alexei said to Peter.

The Russian giant believed that Peter would be eliminated by him.

“I’m really disappointed,” Deadpool said quietly.

Peter turned to look at Deadpool, and he remembered where he had heard that voice before.

"Is that you, Mr. Wade?" Peter asked in a low voice.

"Who are you?" Wade's voice immediately turned cold, making Peter sense danger.

"I've mistaken you for someone else," Peter quickly said.