Chapter 9 Comics

"Super Market? You've coined a new term?"

William hesitated: "Supermarket? That sounds cool. If it could really be done, I think I'd like it, right? Amo, are you going to open a store like that in the future?"

This time it was Li Mochen's turn to shrug helplessly. He had the idea, but not the capital. Such a big store, one could tell at a glance that it required no small amount of money—no less than five hundred thousand gold shields to set up. There were also factors like neighborhood gangs and the government to consider.

He didn't dawdle any longer. After walking less than twenty meters down the street, he turned again and ducked into a bookstore.

William looked resigned and could only follow Li Mochen inside. He thought Li Mochen was entering the bookstore to look for supplementary textbooks or books on magic energy. But once inside, he saw the latter placing several newspapers from the periodical section into a shopping basket.

"Wow, I remember you never used to be interested in this kind of current affairs newspaper. If you want to read current affairs news, why not just turn on the TV?"

"I occasionally want to catch up on current affairs and increase my reading volume."

Li Mochen made up an excuse offhand, then stared at a picture book William was holding: "What's that? A comic?"

"What else could it be?"

As he spoke, he struck a pose: "It's my favorite, Iron Lion Fang, the first black hero ever. Cool! This is the latest issue; I plan to buy it. And this one, Black Iron Knight, I like it too. It's a new anti-hero type. A suit of black iron armor, kills without blinking, doesn't give a damn about the police or government, just keeps killing killing killing. So satisfying. He's the hottest hero right now; nine out of ten kids at our school like him."

After thinking it over, Li Mochen also picked up a few and tossed them into his shopping basket: "I'm also planning to buy some novels to read. William, do you have any good recommendations?"

He figured that since these were popular now, they might help him understand the culture and current state of this country called the 'United States of America.'

"Novels? Ha, who reads those?"

William looked uninterested: "Those books are all hefty tomes, full of hard-to-understand words. We never read that kind of stuff."

Li Mochen chuckled at that, then fell into thought again.

What William said was somewhat unexpected. But when he thought it over carefully, he found some memories of the original owner.

In the year 3975 of the Light Calendar in this world, the famous writer Jonathan Coro, in his groundbreaking book *American Illiteracy*, used the title "One-Third of This Country Doesn't Know These Words" for the first chapter. In this book, Jonathan Coro claimed that 355 million American adults couldn't read the toxicity warnings on insecticide bottles, letters from their children's teachers, or the front page of a newspaper. Additionally, 365 million people had reading skills below the level needed to survive in society.

In the year 3981 of the Light Calendar, according to a survey by the education department, one-third of 17-year-olds didn't know who the founding fathers of America and the first Grand President, Abraham Sveden, were. Only 13% of Americans aged 8 to 24 could locate the small country of Babylon on a map.

By the recent year 3988, America's literacy rate was declining further: 14% of the adult population (that is, 492 million people) were barely literate, 21% had reading skills below the fifth-grade level, and 19% of high school graduates were illiterate.

This sounds exaggerated, but it was the official survey result of the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute for Literacy.

This was the consequence of America's elite education system. Children of the rich and middle class studied hard in private schools, shuttled between various tutoring classes, and joined various magic energy training organizations. Meanwhile, children from poor families underwent so-called 'quality education' in public schools.

Clearly, those who were literate didn't have much time to read leisure books like novels, while those with the leisure and inclination couldn't understand anything too profound.

At this point, William pointed at his shopping basket again: "By the way, I suggest you don't buy so many; it's a waste of money. If you really want to keep up, my uncle runs a scrap shop where plenty of newspapers and magazines come in every day. Even the latest ones only take an extra two days to get. As for comics, there are a few sets in our neighborhood; I can probably borrow them for you in about a month. There are also rental bookstores, but the supply is tight. We don't need to spend money on this, right?"

Li Mochen took the advice and promptly put the newspapers and books from his basket back where they belonged.

This drew sidelong glances from several bookstore clerks nearby, but one of Li Mochen's strengths was his thick skin.

As William said, there was no need to spend precious gold shields on this.

Whether buying from a scrap shop or borrowing or renting books, it was all very cost-effective. He just wanted to use these books and periodicals to further understand the culture, geography, history, current affairs, and landscape of this world; he didn't care about their newness or origin.

...

Li Mochen and William strolled around Market Street until three in the afternoon before taking the bus back to their neighborhood.

They were lucky this time; they didn't run into any robbers on the way back. But when Li Mochen parted ways with William and arrived at the entrance of the shabby apartment building, he instinctively frowned.

That was because five luxury cars were parked in front of the apartment door. The one in the middle was an extended version of the Sveden 'City' model.

Sveden was not only the surname of America's first president but also a household luxury car brand in America. The extended version of the Sveden 'City' model totaled fewer than 73,000 vehicles across the entire New Continent. Their owners were either wealthy or noble.

On both sides of the motorcade, more than a dozen bodyguards in sunglasses stood at attention with hands behind their backs, guarding these magic energy cars.

When Li Mochen appeared, they all turned their heads in unison to stare at him.

But aside from that, they made no other move, standing still like statues as he walked into the apartment.

Li Mochen could roughly guess what was going on. With a cold, frosty expression, he walked inside.

A dozen seconds later, he arrived at the door of his semi-basement room. The door was already open, and on either side stood several burly white men built like iron towers.

Notably, there were signs of tampering on the lock.

Just then, a crisp, pleasant female voice came from inside the room: "You'd better not misunderstand; it was like this when we arrived. Unfortunately, it seems your place, Andre, has been burgled."

Li Mochen raised an eyebrow, ignored the bodyguards at the door, and walked straight in. Inside, he saw a young woman in her early twenties, with delicate makeup and a pretty face, sitting leisurely at his desk with her arms crossed.

Li Mochen had a deep impression of this woman—she was the original body's sister, Jennifer Wieldenstein. She also had a name she had abandoned: Li Yunyun.

"Wasn't there a shooting near that Cai's restaurant? Why are you only back now? You've kept me waiting too long, my dear brother."

"When I come back is none of your business."

Li Mochen replied woodenly and coldly, his voice stiff: "As for you, can you leave now? You're not welcome here, unless you want me to sue you for trespassing."

He bore no ill will toward this Jennifer. But the original body of this person felt extreme aversion and disgust toward his own sister. This emotion was extremely strong, mixed into the memories he had inherited, and directly affected him.