I get stronger by sunbathing, just like Superman.

Then Molly, who had been eating quietly, suddenly picked up Peggy's phone, fiddled with it for a bit, and then handed it back to her.

The screen displayed a popular video social media app from recent years, featuring a blonde woman in revealing clothing striking provocative poses; her username was Emma Lawrence…

"She's just an internet celebrity... Although she's good-looking, she seems to be ten years older than Lei..."

Peggy expressed her confusion, while Drake, standing nearby, exclaimed in surprise…

"What a generous gift! She has over 29 million followers! I only have a little over 500..."

Max on the other end immediately replied:

"That's not all! She has 80 million followers on YouTube (America's largest video website)! Every video of hers gets over a million views!"

"so?"

Peggy felt a little annoyed as she watched Drake's excited expression.

"So?! Her daily income is more than our monthly or even yearly earnings!"

Drake clearly hasn't realized the seriousness of the situation.

Peggy snatched the phone away, glared fiercely at Drake, and slammed her hand on the table. "Alright, everyone calm down!"

The hostess spoke, and the noisy crowd immediately fell silent.

"Lei is not even fifteen years old! He's not old enough to be dating yet! Especially not a woman so much older than him..."

"Emma is only eighteen years old..."

Max said in a low voice.

"Max...do you still want your allowance this week?"

The latter immediately lowered his head and started eating.

At this point, Lei Ming finally spoke up, "Actually, it's not like what Max said... Emma Lawrence didn't pursue me. It's just that I once helped her with a small favor, and she wanted to invite me to her house for dinner..."

"Isn't this considered pursuing her? Does he expect her to take off all her clothes...?"

"Shut up!"

Everyone immediately interrupted Max before he could say anything, startling him so much that he almost rolled under the table.

"OK...OK...I'll shut up..."

"and after?"

Connie looked at Lei Ming with a gossipy expression.

"There was no 'later.' I refused, but Max happened to see it, and I asked him to keep it a secret..."

As he spoke, Lei Ming slowly looked at Max, who didn't dare to meet his gaze...

"That's all, it's nothing serious. I'm leaving now after I finish eating, everyone. See you tonight..."

After Lei Ming finished speaking, he opened the door and slipped out.

The group looked at each other inside, then continued eating, and after finishing, went about their usual business...

...

As Lei Ming walked outside, he recalled the scene of his meal and felt nostalgic for his days on that other Earth. It was just a pity…

Peggy Drake and Max are good people, but he's destined not to belong here. Getting too involved with them won't end well. Whether he finds Anko or not, he plans to say goodbye to them once he's independent...

Pulling himself out of his memories, Lei Ming walked towards the station, intending to buy a ticket to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

He lives in Los Angeles, which is about a four- or five-hour drive away. If he were to run, it would probably only take him less than twenty minutes, but that would likely lead to a major incident…

With his current level of control over biofields, he cannot move at high speeds without affecting the surrounding environment. If he were to actually run at supersonic speeds through the city, it would probably cause a huge disaster in the places he passes through!

His trip to San Francisco was to upgrade the White Queen's peripherals.

According to White Queen, a San Francisco-based company specializing in cutting-edge technology has a private lab with a supercomputer that would be perfect for its 'upgrade'.

As long as Lei Ming can bring its main body—the bracelet—anywhere near the supercomputer, it can replace the computer's original controller and continue operating as the original supercomputer. Barring unforeseen circumstances, no one will be able to detect it, after all, it is a super artificial intelligence with powerful learning capabilities, even if it's a scaled-down version.

Thinking he'd be back around evening, Lei Ming only took his phone, wallet, and bracelet. He left his backpack on the bed in his room. He wasn't worried Max would rummage through his bag. Although Max was a chatterbox with a lisp, he was a pretty principled young man. Otherwise, Lei Ming wouldn't have been able to stand sharing a room with him for so long…

Just as I entered the station, a gaze fell upon me from the back seat of a black Land Rover waiting at a red light across the street.

"Heidi? What's wrong?"

Buster, in the passenger seat, noticed that Heidi seemed a little distracted.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little sleepy..."

Heidi looked away and continued playing her game, but she seemed a little distracted…

She didn't understand... She had only glanced at that figure entering the station by accident, yet suddenly felt a tremendous sense of panic, as if something extremely terrifying was about to happen... She had never experienced anything like this before...

Chapter Fifteen: The Gemstone's Shocking Turn of Events

After Rayleigh left, Peggy told Connie to look after the house and then drove to the store with Drake, leaving only the four of them inside.

Connie was busy writing her resume and calling companies to hire, Molly was watching cartoons in her room, Lyle was, as always, hiding in her room playing on the computer, and only Max was wandering around the room with nothing to do.

"Hey Lyle... what game are you playing? Can I play with you?"

Lyle, who was playing a game, glanced at Max standing at the door, silently took off his headphones, then got up, slammed the door shut, and locked it.

After being turned away, Max wandered into Connie's room again...

"Hey Connie, do you have any money left? Lend me five dollars, I want to buy a comic book..."

But Connie was busy on the phone with the employer, introducing herself, and didn't pay any attention to him. She pulled a crumpled bill out of her pocket, stuffed it into his hand, and then chased him out.

Max, standing outside the door, looked at the one dollar in his hand with a helpless expression.

"Molly..."

"Get out of the way, don't disturb my cartoon!"

Before he could even speak, Molly smacked him in the face with a pillow. Poor guy, all he wanted was to give Molly that dollar to buy candy…

Dejected after setback, Max returned to his room and lay on his bed, flipping through the comic book that Dick had torn in half and thrown into the trash, only to have him pick it up and glue it back together: The Fantastic Family.

He had read this comic book countless times and couldn't bear to throw it away because it was a limited edition new release from the comic company to commemorate its tenth anniversary. He had saved up his allowance for a whole year and queued up all night to buy it.

The comic tells the story of a superhuman battling an evil sorcerer. The art style is absolutely stunning, and the battles are incredibly exciting. Every time he reads it, he fantasizes about becoming the protagonist...

As he watched, he started snoring...

He was woken up by the doorbell, and Connie's voice came from downstairs...

"Max! Go see who's here! I'm changing..."

"God! Molly was watching TV in the living room... why did she call me..."

Max rolled his eyes, feeling that life was too hard, but he still staggered downstairs and opened the door without asking who it was. Immediately, a fragrant breeze accompanied a beautiful figure to his eyes...

"Wow……"

At that moment, Max felt his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of the sky. He couldn't even control his legs, which went weak, and he leaned against the doorframe. Then, he struck a flamboyant pose, flashed what he thought was a charming smile, and greeted the gothic-style beauty who was half a head taller than him...

"Hey... sweetheart, my name is Max... M...a...x...Max! Could you tell me your name...?"

The next second, a dark hole was pointed directly at his forehead, and Max instantly fell silent, like a goose being choked…

"Shhhhhhh..."

Buster emerged from behind the door, gesturing for Max to be quiet, then let Lyra, who was waiting on the other side, enter the house…

They had already observed from the outside that there were only four people in the house, all of them teenagers. So they hacked into the nearby surveillance cameras and took advantage of the fact that no one was around to carry out their plan.

"Max? Who's here...?"

Connie, who had just changed her clothes and stepped out, froze. In the living room, Max and Molly, bound hand and foot and gagged, were thrown onto the sofa, staring wide-eyed at her…

"save……"

Connie instinctively tried to shout, but Lyra, hiding behind her, covered her mouth...

Three minutes later, everyone in the room, including Lyle who was playing video games, was bound hand and foot in the same position and thrown onto the sofa. He looked at the others and asked with his eyes, "What happened?", but the others looked back at him with equally bewildered expressions...

"Heidi, are you sure the jewel is in this room? If something goes wrong again, your one hundred million pounds..."

"I am sure!"

Before Buster could finish speaking, Heidi said confidently, "This time the gem hasn't moved... It's in this house, but I don't know its exact location."

Upon hearing this, Lyra walked up to Max and ripped the duct tape off his mouth...

"Kid! Where's the gem?"

Max shook her head in horror. "I didn't know! I had no idea our family had money to buy jewels! Is Connie yours?"

Connie's eyes widened instantly in denial, and then she glared at Max as if she wanted to devour him.

"Alright...we still have plenty of time. Heidi and Lyra, go search the room. I'll stay here with this... 'Tyrannosaurus Rex' gentleman, along with two pretty girls and a...fatty..."

Buster also made a joke about Max's disabled left hand, which was curled up at his chest due to muscle atrophy, looking like a Tyrannosaurus Rex's forepaw...

Connie, whose mouth was taped shut, narrowed her eyes to slits upon hearing this; if her mouth hadn't been sealed with tape, she probably would have burst out laughing…

Max stared at Connie with a face full of shame and indignation, but when he turned his head, he found Lyle and Molly also making silent mockery, and his face immediately turned red with anger.