America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 225 The Two's American Odyssey
He got into the Aston Martin that Serafina had received for her birthday, started it quickly, drove out of the school gate, and headed in the opposite direction from New York, following the less traffic he remembered.

Speeding through the morning rush hour traffic, Li Xiaoen was completely focused, even using his [Eye of Insight] to anticipate the road conditions ahead.

There was no energy to turn on the car stereo; what reached my ears was the roar of the sports car engine and the honking of other vehicles on the road.

Sitting beside him, watching the young man swiftly dodge the oncoming traffic, Victoria's chest heaved violently, and she couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

Only then did she come to her senses, turn her head to look at the young man who was risking his life for her, open her mouth, but still couldn't utter a sound.

Turning back, Victoria shifted her gaze to the rearview mirror outside the car, but suddenly tensed up again and quickly spoke.

"Sean, they...they're right behind us."

He squeezed past a pickup truck that was also speeding down the road, which drew a loud honking of the horn. Li Xiaoen followed the girl's gaze to the rearview mirror and couldn't help but feel a chill.

[Virtual Time Pool LV1 Use, Selected Direction: Driving/Racing, Investment Time: Two Years]

[Virtual Time Pool LV1 successfully used. Ignoring all obstacles, it automatically simulates the host's driving and racing training in the current environment for 2 years.]

[Current virtual time pool retention: 10 years]

[One year of training experience, virtual exercises loading...]

[Loading progress: 0%]

[Loading progress: 1%]

……

The experience and knowledge flooding into his mind were more than he had imagined. It seemed that this choice was not a simple matter. Under such urgent circumstances, Li Xiaoen even felt a splitting headache.

With his brows furrowed, he took a deep breath and tried his best to calm himself down, silently persisting in the rapid loading of the exercise.

"Victoria, sit tight and hold on to the armrests..."

At a certain moment, Li Xiaoen informed Victoria in advance. After the girl hesitated for a moment and did as he was told, he suddenly pressed the accelerator hard. A strong recoil pressed them both firmly into their seats. At the same time, the speed of the sports car suddenly increased, creating a whooshing sound in the air.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone on the road, the sports car accelerated and closed in on the rear of the car in front, seemingly about to crash into it.

"Be careful……"

A shout came from a car closely following behind. The sports car quickly swerved, like a silver snake twisting its body, and then swerved back to its original path just before it was about to collide with the car in front.

Only then did the woman suddenly breathe a sigh of relief, and realizing what had happened, she quickly raised her hand and patted the man in the driver's seat, "Hurry, catch up with him..."

"Your family's bodyguards... are really good drivers."

Having already weaved through traffic for nearly ten miles, Sean Lee occasionally glanced at the rearview mirror and saw that the two cars were still closely following behind. He couldn't help but ask Victoria for her opinion.

During this period, he even spent another year of virtual time training in racing, but he still couldn't completely shake off his opponent. Based on the distance between them, Li Xiaoen even had a vague feeling that the other party was deliberately keeping this distance from them.

"They are retired soldiers from the special forces."

Victoria quickly explained.

"Oh, no wonder..."

Li Xiaoen let out a breath, nodded helplessly, and temporarily gave up the idea of ​​continuing to invest virtual time. He saw a dirt road at the fork in the road ahead with his [Eye of Insight] and immediately made a decision.

He moved the car in front of a tall, long truck to block his view behind him, and slowly reduced his speed. As he passed the dirt road, he suddenly turned the steering wheel, drifting out of the road in front of him, and quickly accelerated again.

"Sean..."

Victoria gasped in surprise. Just as she was about to say something, the young man drove the car off the dirt road, over the lush lawn beside the road, and stopped the car behind a grove of trees.

Through the Eye of Insight, Li Xiaoen saw that the grass that had been trampled was swaying in the morning breeze, and the marks on it quickly disappeared. Only then did he give up the idea of ​​getting out of the car to manually restore it.

"Sean..."

Victoria, who had been looking at him sideways, called out again, her chest still heaving violently.

"I don't know if this will work, but we still need to be prepared to start immediately."

Looking at the girl, Li Xiaoen let out a long breath and nodded with a smile, "After all, those two are from the special forces."

"Um……"

Victoria's heart was pounding, and she nodded quickly, seemingly worried, and turned to look closely at the direction behind the car.

Originally intending to comfort her, Li Xiaoen shook his head and gave up the idea after seeing Victoria staring intently at the back of the car. Finally having some time, he took out his phone to check the information on the app.

An hour had passed since he left with Victoria. By that time, school should have already started, but the app was still flooded with new messages from different people.

After briefly replying to close friends and professors, Li Xiaoen looked at the messages and photos uploaded to the chat group with Daniel and couldn't help but smile.

Judging from the background of the photo, the three people appear to be in the school's infirmary. The bandages on their bodies are in different locations. Michael took a picture of Daniel's head, which was wrapped up like a dumpling, and uploaded it to make fun of him, which led to Daniel demanding compensation for the damage to his musical instrument.

After sending a message to thank them, Li Xiaoen agreed to cover all their medical expenses and equipment losses. He was immediately bombarded with messages asking about the results. Even Malcolm, who had been diving and had injured both hands, replied with an inquiring and expectant emoji.

Feeling a little warm, Li Xiaoen replied briefly, telling them to take good care of their injuries, before logging out. He then opened Su Feier's chat box, hesitating for a moment, unsure how to message her—unlike the others, the latest message in the chat box was still from last night; Su Feier hadn't sent any messages since this morning.

Taking a deep breath, Li Xiaoen quickly typed and sent the message.

Wait for me at school, I'll be back.
He sent the confirmation message but didn't receive a reply from the girl. Instead, he imagined the two cars that had been chasing him changing course and speeding through the jungle towards the dirt road ahead.

Only then did Sean Lee breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing that Victoria was still nervously looking behind the car, he couldn't help but smile and comfort her.

“Victoria, there’s no need to look anymore. A lot of time has passed, they should have shaken them off.”

"Um……"

Nodding, Victoria sat back down and looked over. The two looked at each other, their smiles vanished, and they both fell silent.

After that impulsive tension and passion, they have now successfully shaken off their pursuers, and what lies before them is a sense of bewilderment, with no clear purpose.

“Much profit… … ”

After a moment's hesitation, Li Xiaoen spoke up, "Didn't you say before that you wanted me to go with you to some ancient architectural site for a club activity?"

"correct."

Victoria's confused eyes lit up instantly, and she nodded with a delighted smile, "Sean, you remember?"

“Of course I remember.” Li Xiaoen took a deep breath, his voice tinged with emotion. “Now that I think about it, there are still so many things we haven’t done or experienced together.”

Upon hearing this, Victoria quickly suppressed her smile, rolled her eyes, and sat up straight, looking ahead.

"If it weren't for someone being such a jerk, things wouldn't have come to this."

Is this a case of shooting oneself in the foot?
Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow, forced an awkward smile, turned on the stereo, started the car, and drove back to the main road in the direction they had come from. "Victoria, which ancient architectural site are you planning to visit?"

"It hasn't been decided yet; we've only confirmed the options available for voting."

Victoria shook her head, looking up as she recalled, "How about we go to Bitmore Manor? It's a beautiful old building in the French Renaissance style."

"Okay sir."

Li Xiaoen smiled, raised his hand in salute, and entered the destination on the car's control panel.

Bitmore Estate, located in Asheville, North Carolina, is about 600 miles from their current location, a drive of about ten hours.

Shall we drive there?

He glanced at the girl to make sure she wasn't carrying anything, and then said, "Let's walk and stop, play as we go, and treat this as our American Odyssey."

“If it were the Odyssey, you definitely wouldn’t want it.”

Victoria glanced at her sideways and gave her an amused look.

The Odyssey is one of the two most important epic poems of ancient Greece. It tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus, who spent ten years after the Trojan War experiencing various setbacks and adventures before finally returning to his homeland.

"Why do you say that?"

Li Xiaoen smiled and raised an eyebrow. He drove the car back onto the main road, casually pulled the roof down to the back, and the morning breeze blowing in his face made his hair disheveled. The sticky feeling that had been bothering him for a while finally made him feel much better.

"Although the process was arduous and the time was long, didn't Odysseus eventually manage to return to his homeland?"

After speaking meaningfully, Li Xiaoen suddenly burst into laughter. With one hand on the steering wheel and the other raised high above his head, he felt the slightly cool morning breeze. His mind was clearer than ever before, and he couldn't help but shout out loud.

"Ha ha……"

“Victoria, this is our odyssey together…”

Unable to resist giving the shameless young man a sidelong glance, Victoria swept her long, unruly hair behind her back and didn't utter a word in rebuttal. Although she was indignant for no reason, she felt much better than she had a few days ago.

Worried that the bodyguards would realize what was happening and chase after them again, Li Xiaoen drove along the navigation highway for more than two hours, only feeling more relaxed after increasing the distance.

Looking at the map on the control panel screen, and seeing a fairly large town called Haggstown ahead, Li Xiaoen turned to the girl beside him and said, "I've been seeing thunder in the sky. Shall we stop in town to rest for a bit and see if we can find shelter from the rain?"

"Is that thunder?"

Victoria paused for a moment upon hearing this, then looked up uncertainly at the vast expanse of sky above. It was a clear, cool day with a few white clouds, and she couldn't help but frown.

"There's no thunder, and I don't see any sign of rain."

"is it?"

Li Xiaoen's eyes widened. "Why? I did hear thunder. Could it have come from somewhere else?"

"..."

At first, she frowned slightly in confusion, but after a moment of thought, Victoria realized what was happening. Her fair face flushed red, and she gritted her teeth and punched the young man.

"Ha ha……"

Li Xiaoen laughed twice, drove onto the side road leading to the town, slowed down, and then turned to Victoria with a mischievous smile, "Beautiful Princess, I'm hungry. Would you have the honor of having brunch with me?"

Victoria felt her face burning, put her hands in front of her lower abdomen, rolled her eyes, didn't answer, and turned to look at the scenery of the small town outside the car.

They are currently in Washington County, Maryland. Unlike New Jersey and New York, the town's size and architecture are clearly inferior to those in developed and economically prosperous states. Even so, the town has complete facilities, and various entertainment and lifestyle venues are still bustling with people.

They stopped the car near a restaurant called Texas Roadhouse. Sean Lee and Victoria went into the restaurant together. Looking at the jagged boundaries of the small town of Haggstown on their phones, their expressions became a little strange.

“Much profit… … ”

He held up his phone and handed it to the girl. "American states are almost all divided by straight lines of latitude and longitude. Why aren't cities like that? Doesn't this shape look like cheese that's been gnawed on by a mouse?"

Having skipped breakfast, and after the young man's ordeal of traveling over a hundred miles to a small town, Victoria was finally able to eat. She had been looking forward to it since entering the restaurant, and her mood brightened. She glanced down at the phone the young man handed her, and when she heard his pointless question, her face immediately turned blank.

"do not know."

Rolling her eyes, Victoria was led to her seat by the waiter and ordered a few breakfast items that would be prepared quickly.

The food was served quickly. Despite her stomach having been protesting for a long time, Victoria still held her knife and fork with composure, slowly and deliberately cutting off a small piece of steak, forking it, and chewing it slowly and carefully. Her ladylike demeanor made it seem as if she were in a grand and luxurious hotel palace banquet hall, rather than in a simple little restaurant.

However, the elegant scene was abruptly disrupted by an untimely creaking sound. Victoria took a deep breath, looked up at the young man in front of her who was rapidly cutting steak and putting it into his mouth one bite after another, and pursed her lips helplessly.

"Sean..."

"what happened?"

Li Xiaoen looked up and saw that he was the same. Especially since he hadn't eaten anything after exercising last night, he felt fine at first, but after eating a little bit, he felt hungrier and hungrier. He was only now eating because he had managed to resist the urge to pick up a steak and start gnawing on it.

"Can't you be a little more polite, like a gentleman?"

Victoria pursed her lips and muttered a dissatisfied complaint.

"..."

"gentleman?"

Li Xiaoen's expression was subtle. He gestured to the other tables in the hall where locals were eating rather roughly, "Everyone eats like this in a restaurant like this."

"True etiquette is the self-discipline to maintain one's elegance at all times and in all places."

With her swan-like neck slightly raised, Victoria let out a soft sigh. In Li Xiaoen's vision, a radiant light suddenly shone behind her, making her appear as if she were a queen ascending the highest throne.

"Your Majesty..."

Staring blankly at the girl in front of him, Li Xiaoen subconsciously uttered a sound.

(End of this chapter)