America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

Before leaving home, Li Qun carefully studied the round-trip route and strictly followed the pre-planned traffic schedule.

He walked briskly along the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, his eyes scanning the street signs and his ears listening to the sounds around him.

Many pedestrians were hurrying along the street, and a number of homeless people who were not seen during the day appeared on the street corner.

Li Qun stood at the intersection waiting for the traffic light to change.

"Kind person, please give me some money."

A homeless man was squatting by the intersection, reaching out his hand to Li Qun.

"I have no money."

"Nice shoes." The homeless man looked down at Li Qun's leather shoes.

The suit and shoes belonged to Li Qun himself; the last time he wore this outfit was on the day he went to Midtown High School for his interview with the principal.

"Thank you," Li Qun replied politely, looking down at the homeless man.

“You’re wearing my shoes.” The homeless man pulled out a knife, the tip pointing at Li Qun.

Is this a robbery?

Li Qun glanced at the homeless man and noticed out of the corner of his eye that passersby were keeping their distance from the two of them.

"The light is green."

Li Qun ignored the homeless man and walked across the street.

"hey-hey!!"

The homeless man watched as Li Qun walked across the street; it was the first time he had ever seen someone ignore him.

A dark figure suddenly darted out from a dark corner, dragged the homeless man with the knife into the darkness, and several muffled thuds echoed from within.

Li Qun turned around; he thought he had just seen a homeless man rush out and drag another homeless man away.

The red light came on again. Li Qun thought for a moment and suppressed his curiosity. This was probably two homeless men fighting over territory.

Li Qun walked to the station, boarded the public bus, and sent Peter a text message on the bus.

……

……

Amidst the swirling yellow sand, Liqun and his monk master stepped into the vast territory of Huangfengling, stretching for eight hundred li.

The two covered half their faces as they traveled; if they didn't cover their mouths and noses, their mouths and nostrils would be filled with sand and dust.

It's been a month since I last went to the theater.

Li Qun texted Peter, urging him to take advantage of the remaining time of his vacation to work part-time and earn money so that he could pay Gwen back as soon as possible.

Peter Parker went to work, Gwen was on vacation with her elderly father, and Li Qun devoted himself entirely to the other side of the world, spending twelve hours a day on the westward journey.

Huangfengling gave Liqun the feeling of arriving at the Loess Plateau, a Loess Plateau where the greening project has not yet started, and there is no sign of life as far as the eye can see.

"There's a village ahead, let's rest there for a bit."

The monk saw a road sign and pointed in a direction to Liqun.

“The village…”

Is there any water to drink?

"It's good enough to have a place to rest," the monk said to Liqun.

Shamen Village.

Li Qun stood in front of the village gate, while rat spirits stood on the rooftops and eaves, aiming at him with crossbows.

Before Liqun could even speak, the rat demon began firing arrows at him.

Arrows rained down from all directions, turning Li Qun into a pincushion.

The next day, Liqun went "online" again, and the monk found a lake that had not yet dried up.

"There's a toad spirit in the lake," the monk warned Liqun.

"Are we still far from the Great Sage Yellow Wind?" Li Qun asked.

"It's not far."

"Come with me."

Liqun followed the monk and began climbing the mountain. On the barren mountain, the monk pointed to a city.

"Once you cross this city, you'll reach the cave of the Yellow Wind Great Sage."

"Master, why are there so many monsters in the city?"

“Those rat spirits in the city were once mortals,” the monk said.

"mortal?!"

"The world is about to end, and mortals will die. In order to survive in this apocalypse, the entire nation has taken a wicked path, turning all its citizens into monsters," the monk explained to Liqun.

“Master, you didn’t seem to know about this yesterday,” Li Qun said.

“Yesterday, after you logged off, I ran into an old friend, and he explained it to me,” the monk replied.

"Let's go, let's bypass this city."

Three days later, Li Qun and the monk, having bypassed the city, arrived at the cave of the Great Sage Yellow Wind.

The cave entrance was ajar, and Li Qun walked into the cave of the Yellow Wind Great Sage alone.

Inside the cave of the Great Sage Yellow Wind, candles were lit, their dim light flickering before the statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. On both sides of the walls stood rows of Buddha statues sculpted from yellow earth, making it feel as if one had stepped into a temple hall.

The Great Sage Huangfeng carved through a mountain, and Liqun ventured deep into the valley inside the mountain.

The Great Sage Huangfeng sat cross-legged in the center of the valley, with a Buddha head statue in front of him, emanating a hazy Buddhist light.

"You've arrived."

The Yellow Wind Monster stood up. He was not human; he was a half-human, yellow-haired weasel.

“Come, take the color essence from me.”

The Great Sage Huang Feng kicked a sand pile to the side, and a three-pronged steel fork flew out of the sand pile, which he caught with one hand.

"Samadhi Divine Wind, rise!!"

Li Qun was lost in thought, and when he came to his senses again, he saw his father.

The next day, Li Qun challenged Huang Feng Dasheng again, with the same result. When Huang Feng Dasheng unleashed his Samadhi Divine Wind, Li Qun was immediately "knocked out."

The third time, Li Qun made the first move, his golden cudgel slashing towards Huang Feng Dasheng from afar. Huang Feng Dasheng calmly stirred up a sandstorm, concealing his figure in the sand.

The Great Sage Huang Feng unleashed a sandstorm, and the Liqun tribe suffered its blows.

"The Great Sage Huang Feng has vanished, and Li Qun has lost his target."

The Samadhi Divine Wind, mixed with endless yellow sand, made it impossible for Liqun to see or hear anything. The Yellow Wind Great Sage's steel fork emerged from the sandstorm and impaled Liqun on it.

...Seven consecutive days, seven failures.

As soon as Li Qun walked in front of the Yellow Wind Monster, the Yellow Wind Monster would launch an attack without hesitation, unleashing the Samadhi Divine Wind at Li Qun without reservation.

Without uttering any nonsense or offering any reminders, he seemed intent on stopping Liqun at his feet.

"Master, do you have any magic treasures like the Wind-Fixing Pearl? Otherwise, we won't be able to defeat the Yellow Wind Great Sage."

Li Qun asked the monk a question.

"You're in too much of a hurry."

"You can win without the Wind-Fixing Pearl."

"The sixth sense, beyond the five senses, is the way to break the deadlock," the monk said.

"consciousness……"

……

……

More than a month later, Li Qun, Peter, and Gwen had another small get-together, enjoying a big meal at their uncle's restaurant.

Peter took Animal Farm out of his backpack and handed it to Gwen.

Gwen flipped through the book, took out the banknotes one by one from between the pages, counted them, and then put the money into her wallet.

Gwen also found Peter's IOU, took out a pen and wrote on the IOU that Peter would pay back the money, and then gave the IOU to Peter.

"Finally free." Gwen stretched, and George was finally back at work.

“Yes, I’m free…” Peter laughed.

“Liqun, why do you look unhappy?” Gwen asked.

“Because Peter no longer works part-time at McDonald’s, I can’t get the extra chicken nuggets he secretly added anymore,” Li Qun replied with a smile.

Chapter 7 Civilized Cities

"Ding dong~!"

John Wick opened the door, and the familiar bald man stood there with his briefcase.

"Come in."

"Helen is sleeping, let's keep our voices down."

"Is this quiet enough?" Chief Black asked in a low voice.

In the study, Blake took a document out of his briefcase and handed it to John Wick; he had come to John for advice.

"This is a structural diagram of the hotel where the heads of state will stay at the Millennium Summit a month from now, as well as a structural diagram of the venue and its surroundings."

“The pressure of security work has always been immense, and I always feel there are still some loopholes,” Blake told John.

"Well……"

John spread the drawings out on the table and studied them carefully.

"How come there are security plans from other departments?" John asked Director Blake.