In America, my cousin, Supergirl Kara...

The Bothell community is located in northeast Seattle. When Li Xiao got off the bus, it was already 2 p.m. The old and dilapidated public transportation system severely hampered his journey, and it took him an hour just to get to the subway.

Walking on the wide asphalt road, Li Xiao felt as if he had entered a wealthy area. The facilities here were complete, and almost all of them were newly developed detached houses with lawns and mailboxes in front of them. There were no homeless people gathered on the roadside, and an asphalt road divided the two sides in the middle.

A typical riverside community style.

Following the address, Li Xiao stopped in front of a private courtyard. He was carrying two baskets of fruit, which he had bought when he got off the subway.

He still understands the basic etiquette of visiting someone's home.

Ding Dong!

He gently pressed the doorbell, and a moment later a burly man opened the door and came out; it was Kong Xuan.

"You're here pretty early," Kong Xuan joked, glancing at the things in Li Xiao's hands. "You're here anyway, why bring fruit? Come in, no need to take off your shoes."

"They're all seasonal fruits, not worth much."

Li Xiao wiped his shoes clean on the grass and went into the house.

You have arrived at the mysterious merchant's mansion.

Here, one is briefly free from evil; the ancient Celestial Empire seems to be protecting every citizen.

No tasks are currently available.

Li Xiao put down the fruit and looked around the room. The entire living room was decorated in warm colors with light yellow wallpaper on the walls. Bamboo mats were laid on the sofa, and dishes such as stir-fried pork from Hubei and Hunan and spicy chicken were placed on the long marble table in the middle. What surprised Li Xiao the most was the middle-aged Filipino woman in the kitchen, who was cooking in front of the gas stove. Her movements were quite like those of a Chinese chef.

"Your ring weighs about 16 grams, and I sold it to you for $1700. Count them."

Kong Xuan took out a wad of US dollars and handed it over. Li Xiao took it and casually picked up two bills, but Kong Xuan stopped him. "Why are you being so formal with me? If I really wanted to make money, I have plenty of ways. I wouldn't need a student like you."

Thank you.

Li Xiao felt a warmth in his heart. Everyone says that the people you should be most careful of when you're abroad are your own people, but he only felt the care of a compatriot from Kong Xuan.

At this moment, the Filipino woman brought out the last dish, braised beef ribs with scallions.

Li Xiao swallowed hard, feeling a bit ashamed. The only proper Chinese food he had eaten since going abroad was cooked by himself, and the taste was barely palatable. The dishes in front of him, on the other hand, were a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate, far surpassing his own.

Kong Xuan patted Li Xiao on the shoulder. "Come on, let's eat something together. You're pretty cunning, always showing up right around mealtimes."

"How about I go out first and come back in after you've finished eating?"

Li Xiao scratched his head awkwardly, while Kong Xuan laughed and said, "I was just kidding. Don't be shy, make yourself at home and enjoy yourself."

Li Xiao didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down and, seeing Kong Xuan start eating, immediately picked up the stir-fried pork and began to eat heartily.

Li Xiao ate ravenously throughout the meal and had to admit that the Filipino woman had truly mastered the essence of Chinese cuisine.

They ate until they were stuffed to the brim before stopping. Seeing Kong Xuan put down his chopsticks, Li Xiao prepared to wash the dishes, but was stopped.

"Guests are welcome; there's no reason for you to lay a hand on them."

By this time, the Filipino maid had already stacked the dishes together and taken them into the kitchen.

"Is this the private nanny you hired?"

Filipino domestic helpers have appeared frequently in Hong Kong movies, and in real life, they are indeed very efficient.

Li Xiao leaned back in his chair to recover. Kong Xuan took two bottles of Wanglaoji herbal tea from the refrigerator and gave one to Li Xiao. "It's not really a treat. Her husband broke his leg when he was working in construction. He had his leg amputated, but it caused inflammation, and even the bone sac was oozing pus. If I hadn't given him some antibiotics, he would have been dead for seven days. So his wife is very grateful to me and insisted on coming to help. By the way, is your friend better now?"

"I'm fully recovered, and I'm even planning to go to a strip club tonight."

Li Xiao thanked him, took the drink, gulped it down, and then let out a comfortable burp.

"Haha, kindred spirits!" Kong Xuan said energetically. "Speaking of which, Seattle has the most streetwalkers, but be careful not to let your penis control you, otherwise, getting genital warts after one ejaculation will be the least of your worries."

"I'm not into that kind of thing," Li Xiao shook his head. Thinking about his reply to Queser in a few days, he felt a sense of urgency. With that jackal's personality, refusing him would definitely cause endless trouble. He did have a final plan, but Kara would be caught in the crossfire.

Thinking of this, Li Xiao lightly changed the subject, "Brother Kong, do you know if there's a place nearby that practices Sanda (Chinese kickboxing)?"

Kong Xuan glanced at him sideways. "Oh ho, you practice this too?"

"Yeah, my parents were worried I'd get bullied at school, so they enrolled me in a Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) class. I've been training for a few years now, but after this trip, my hands and feet feel like they're rusting. I want to get back into the swing of things."

"Hmm, I do know one in the city center, about a twenty-minute drive away," Kong Xuan said, picking up a shirt from the hanger and haphazardly putting it on. "Anyway, I'm off today, so I'll take you to check it out."

……

The car drove straight north along the road, flanked by tall birch trees with thick copper tubes of varying heights inserted into them. From time to time, a clear liquid dripped from the holes into a funnel.

"Birch sap, those stupid foreigners are just trying to fool people by saying it's good for your health. It's all capitalist trickery, and it's pretty much the same stuff as corn syrup."

It was clear that Kong Xuan knew his surroundings intimately, including the two strangely dressed, black-robed, masked men by the roadside. "That's the Mosuo sect recruiting followers. See the pattern on their backs? That's their religious seal. This godforsaken place is rife with cults. If you see people like that, remember to stay far away from them and don't go near them."

"I bet there are precedents to this."

Li Xiao understood that there were precedents for such statements, and the outcomes were usually not good.

"Yes, when some small religions hold initiation and proselytizing ceremonies, a lot of stupid international students crowd around like idiots. How easy can cult members be to get along with? If you're lucky, you get beaten up; if you're unlucky, you're forced to join the cult and have nowhere to cry. Some sects even practice female genital mutilation, and they do it regardless of gender, sewing the removed tissue back onto the navel. Sigh," Kong Xuan said with a hint of melancholy. A moment of curiosity had led him to his doom.

Li Xiao felt his worldview was being challenged. He had learned about female genital mutilation in African documentaries, but the idea of ​​cutting it off and sewing it back onto the body was far too shocking. No wonder it was a cult.

Soon after leaving the main road, the car drove onto a dilapidated concrete road. It must be said that this Cadillac CT5 was quite stable, without any bumps or jolting.

The glass building in the distance has come into view.

As we drove into a street, a panicked Asian man suddenly rushed out of the alleyway.

He rushed in front of the car, completely disregarding the fact that the vehicle was moving.

Kong Xuan slammed on the brakes, knocking the man to the ground.

"Help me! They're killing people! I don't want to die! I was tricked into coming here!"

The man spoke broken English, waving his one arm, with a hint of Baiyue accent.

Just then, shouts and curses came from the alley, and a burly black man strode toward the vehicle, carrying two bloody human heads in his hands.

Its head was gleaming, with only a small tuft of hair on the top, presumably for gripping purposes.

"Damn it, how did we run into the mob collecting debts, and they're like freshly killed sugar apples!" Kong Xuan yanked the car onto the hood and said gravely, "You stay in the car and don't move. I'm going to talk to them."

Candied apples?

Li Xiao glanced at it; the bloody scene only evoked a sense of horror and had absolutely nothing to do with apples.

[Child of Krypton, you have stumbled upon members of the Masked Association murdering a kidnapped immortal being from China]

[Mission: Defeat/Repel the members of the Masked Association]

[Reward: 1 Free Attribute Points, 1 Random Skill]

I never expected that a randomly encountered task would actually reward me with a skill.

He has to go this time no matter what.

Thinking of this, he grabbed Kong Xuan's arm and said calmly, "Brother Kong, leave this to me."

Kong Xuan frowned and quickly advised, "Brother, don't act recklessly. American gangsters kill without blinking an eye. Look at that guy, he has two heads in his hand. It's as easy as killing chickens. I still have some influence, I should be fine."

Li Xiao gave him a reassuring look, then opened the door and went over.