America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

“Peter, I’ve shut down your action fighting game,” Gwen said to Peter with a smile.

"Liqun's farming game is like experiencing another life on a computer."

"Computer games will be called the ninth art, just like movies, in the future."

“We’re not just starting a business, we’re creating a work of art,” Li Qun said.

"That's very well said."

“We can divide the work now. Peter will be in charge of the technology and implement the gameplay; I will be in charge of the art, and Li Qun will be in charge of the review; Li Qun will oversee the overall situation and also handle the game's music,” Gwen said.

“I don’t understand music!” Li Qun quickly said to Gwen.

“You can go and learn; time is the last thing we lack. I believe you can learn to compose and write music,” Gwen said.

“We can buy it, but we need to save on our development costs,” Li Qun said.

“Let’s hire someone else to create music for our game as a last resort,” Peter said.

The three people looked at each other.

"Nobody wants to quit, right?" Gwen asked, the most proactive of the three.

"I will not quit."

"I don't know either."

Gwen extended her little finger, and Li Qun and Peter, knowing what Gwen meant, also extended their little fingers, and the three of them silently made a pinky promise.

We will never give up halfway, we will never betray our friendship, we will definitely fulfill the entrepreneurial dream we built together in our youth, and make a fortune together.

“That’s nice, isn’t it?” Gwen Stacy laughed.

"We met the right people at the right time."

Li Qun nodded, his gaze sweeping over Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker.

Out of the corner of his eye, Li Qun watched Peter with some concern.

Chapter 29 The Duel

On the rooftop of the pawn shop, the old man looked up at the sky.

"Remember to bring an umbrella to school tomorrow, it will rain tomorrow."

"Dad, how did you know it would rain tomorrow?"

Liqun followed his father's gaze and looked up at the sky. There were hardly any clouds in the sky, and he couldn't see anything special about it.

"You don't yet know how to feel natural breathing," the old man said to Liqun with a smile.

"Dad, do you have rheumatism?" Li Qun asked.

"You little rascal, I don't have rheumatism."

"Ok."

The next morning, before leaving home, Li Qun glanced at the morning weather forecast on TV, which said it would be sunny.

Li Qun put the umbrella back into her backpack.

In this day and age, weather forecasts for the next three days are inaccurate. It will take at least another ten years or so for the weather forecasts for the current day to be reliable enough.

The sun shines brightly when I leave for school in the morning, but the sky is overcast when I leave in the afternoon.

"Dad really can predict the weather."

The rain started to fall lightly, just a drizzle.

"Peter, here's your umbrella, I'm going home now." Li Qun took the umbrella out of his bag and gave it to Peter.

“Leon, why don’t you ask me?” Gwen asked from the side.

“Gwen, your dad will drive to pick you up and take you home. Don’t think I don’t know,” Li Qun said.

"I go first!"

Li Qun ran quickly out of the school, braving the light rain, towards the bus stop, and boarded the bus home, completely soaked.

Even after the rain, it still felt cold in New York in May, with the temperature dropping from the twenties to around ten degrees Celsius.

Li Qun was used to the Celsius unit, and it always took him a few seconds to convert to the Fahrenheit unit.

After dinner, Li Qun still went to his father's shop. Even the rain wouldn't affect his kung fu training today; as long as there was a place to stand in the shop, he could practice kung fu.

"Dad, it really is raining."

"Did you bring an umbrella?" Dad asked.

“I brought it, but I lent it to Peter; he has class.”

"Let's practice something simple today."

"Take off your coat."

Due to limited indoor space, Dad changed the way Liqun was trained.

“I took it off,” Li Qun said to his father, holding up his Irish red plaid hooded jacket with both hands.

"Hang it on the clothes hanger."

Li Qun hung up his coat.

"Take it off and put it back on."

Liqun does whatever his father says.

"Take it off, hang it up, then take it off again and put it back on, repeating this process."

"..."

This was to train his upper body coordination, as well as the muscles in his arms and back, Li Qun knew very well.

It may seem nonsensical and boring, but that's the kind of kung fu my dad taught me; it all comes from real life.

"Dad, when will I be able to feel the breath of nature and accurately predict the weather like you?" Li Qun asked curiously.

"You want to fly before you can even walk?"

"Then what counts as leaving?"

"When you can feel the presence of Qi, that's when you can walk," the old man said.

"gas?"

Li Qun stopped what he was doing.

"There's nothing mysterious about Qi," the old man said, taking a sip of tea.

“Go ask your uncle. He has also practiced boxing and has a sense of qi.”

"If a person can calm down and practice for three to five years, they will be able to feel the flow of Qi in their body."

"Oh."

Li Qun frowned and continued practicing taking off, putting on, and hanging up his clothes.

Perhaps in this world, "ki" isn't mysterious; it might be a latent ability shared by all people on Earth. Like the concept in One Piece where characters can awaken Haki.

“Liqun, you are quite talented. It should only take another two months for you to realize the existence of Qi,” the old man said to Liqun.

"Dad, what is anger?"

"Qi is breathing, the rhythm of life, the wind of nature, and the twinkling starlight in the night sky."

"Can inanimate objects have life?" Li Qun asked.

"Also."

“I don’t need to explain too much to you now. You’ll understand naturally when you can feel the Qi,” Dad said.

"Dad, now that we've sensed the presence of Qi, can we unleash a Qi blast?" Li Qun's mind raced.

"Are you talking about arcade games? You're overthinking it."

"Ok."

Dad had the TV on and the volume was very loud, but Liqun really liked the atmosphere of the rainy day and didn't feel that the TV was interfering with his practice at all.

Dad may look old, but he's actually always keeping up with the times. He's never missed a thing—Hollywood movies, rock music, arcade games.

The best-selling secondhand items in the pawn shop were the boxes of records and videotapes next to the old man's counter; people often came in to pick up old records. He also bought secondhand musical instruments; a drum set was displayed in front of the pawn shop window. The shop had enough secondhand instruments to form a rock band.

Pizza delivery.

Someone pushed open the door and came in. The old man nodded and told the person to put down the pizza, then handed the money to the pizza delivery guy.

"Liqun, come and have some pizza."

Li Qun hung up his coat, turned to look at his father, and the pizza guy didn't leave immediately, but stood in the store watching Li Qun.

"Dad, you haven't had dinner yet?"

"I'm tired of eating the same food every day. Can't I have some pizza?" the father said.

"Hi, welcome to Miyagi Pizza."

Upon closer inspection, Li Qun realized that the pizza delivery guy was actually a karate kid who had participated in a street fighting tournament.

"Miyagi Pizza?" Li Qun looked at the Karate Pizza Kid.

"It's a shop that my master and I run."

"Combining karate and pizza can give guests a completely different taste experience."

"Hehe." The old man picked up a slice of pizza and started eating, smiling at the pizza vendor, Miyagi.

"Is he the kid you wanted to spar with last time?" the old man asked Li Qun.

“That’s right.” Li Qun nodded.

"Quickly, schedule a time with him," Dad urged.

"Hmm... Miyagi, do you still have any thoughts about what happened last time?" Li Qun asked.

“Of course.” Pizza vendor Miyagi nodded to Liqun.