Uncle John was in a terrible mood today, all because he received a call this morning from Peter, the magician at his theater. Peter explained that his mother was seriously ill and he needed to return to his hometown to visit her, so he wouldn't be able to perform at the theater tonight.
Uncle John could only accept, expressing his concern for Peter's mother. There was nothing he could do; he couldn't force Peter to stay and perform, could he? The kind-hearted Uncle John said he couldn't do such a thing. However, Peter was the only magician at his theater. If he couldn't come, what would happen to tonight's magic show? The tickets had already been sold.
Feeling depressed, Uncle John walked down the street, pondering how to overcome tonight's difficulty. His eyes inadvertently caught sight of a man wearing only shorts by the roadside. Uncle John had seen many homeless people like this before; sometimes, when he was in a good mood, he would give them some food and spare change. But this one seemed a bit unusual. First, he was Asian, and there were no visible injuries on his body. He was also very clean. How could a homeless person be so clean?
"Hey, wake up, buddy." So, the kind-hearted Uncle John walked up to the man, squatted down, and gently nudged him with his hand, preparing to wake him up.
"Where is this? Wait, my head hurts so much." Li Yue was sleeping soundly when he suddenly felt someone push him. He slowly opened his eyes, but all he saw was dazzling sunlight, causing his eyes to squint involuntarily. It took a few seconds for him to adjust, and then a wave of headache swept over him, as if he hadn't rested for three days and three nights. However, with Li Yue's current mental strength, it was impossible for him to feel uncomfortable even after several days and nights without rest, especially when he had just woken up.
"Hey, buddy, put on this shirt first." Just as Li Yue was wondering about his sudden headache, a voice spoke in English. In the year since he gained superpowers, Li Yue had not only trained his abilities but also learned English. His mental strength had increased so much that his memory became incredibly good. Coupled with frequently watching movies and American TV shows, he had absolutely no problem communicating in English.
Li Yue sat up and looked towards the source of the voice. He saw a white man in front of him with a big beard, but he didn't look fierce at all. With a smile on his face, he clearly seemed like a kind person. He was holding a shirt in his hand, which looked like he had just taken it off, and extended it to Li Yue.
"Thank you, Uncle." Li Yue said thank you in English, took the shirt from the uncle's hand, and put it on. Fortunately, the uncle's clothes were quite large, and he was also quite plump, so it could barely cover Li Yue's body.
"Why are you sleeping on the street, and only wearing shorts? Were you robbed?" Uncle John asked curiously, watching Li Yue put on the clothes.
"I want to know too! I was clearly sleeping soundly at home, and then I woke up on the street, and in a foreign country at that. Am I sleepwalking? I've never had this happen before." Li Yue thought to himself. He was even more curious than the uncle about what was happening to him and how he suddenly ended up here. But now was not the time to dwell on that question.
"Uncle, could you take me to a quiet place to rest for a bit? I need to get myself together. If I could get a set of fitting clothes, that would be even better." Li Yue said to the uncle. He had no idea what was going on and no other options, so he could only trouble this kind-hearted uncle.
"I'm just heading to my theater, you can come with me." The uncle said to Li Yue, then led Li Yue towards his theater.
The destination wasn't far, probably about ten minutes away. On the way, Li Yue also learned some information from Uncle John, but the results left Li Yue a bit incredulous, because this was actually Las Vegas, USA. This wasn't the unbelievable part for Li Yue; he knew of Las Vegas, he just hadn't been there. Since gaining his abilities, Li Yue had been training in remote mountains and forests, always afraid to use them in crowded places, so he hadn't visited many places on Earth.
What made Li Yue most incredulous was that Uncle John said it was currently 2008. Li Yue remembered that he was clearly in 2019, and after a nap, he had traveled 11 years back in time!
"I've time-traveled, and to Las Vegas, USA, in 2008." Li Yue could only silently accept this fact. Li Yue had once used the excuse of needing to use the restroom to go to an isolated place and activate his teleportation ability. The ability worked without any abnormalities; he could teleport to the forest where he used to train, but there were no traces of his previous visits. He then tried to return to his home, including his old home and the rented apartment, but he didn't succeed. He guessed that his homes from his memory didn't exist in this world, so he couldn't teleport there.
With no other choice, Li Yue could only return to Las Vegas and follow Uncle John to the theater he mentioned. The theater wasn't large, just a small one. Uncle John said that his grandfather passed it down to his father, and his father then passed it down to him. Although it wasn't very big and business wasn't great, he still felt he should continue to operate it.
After arriving at the theater, he followed Uncle John to a dressing room backstage. Uncle John still had many things to attend to, so he left Li Yue alone in the dressing room and went to take care of his tasks.
Li Yue's head was still uncomfortable. Things had already happened, and there was nothing he could do, so he decided to just get some sleep and recover his energy first. As the saying goes, "There's always a way forward."
After an unknown amount of time, a cacophony of voices reached Li Yue's ears. He got up to check and found that many people had gathered backstage; they were all the theater's performers. With so many people, the noise was naturally loud, and Li Yue couldn't sleep anymore. Fortunately, after a nap, his energy had mostly recovered, so he decided to go out and wander around backstage.
"Uncle John, the magic show is in two hours. Mr. Peter isn't here, and the emergency magician hasn't been found yet?" A handsome young man asked Uncle John, his face filled with anxiety.
"No, I've made countless calls, but I haven't found a magician who can come to save the day. Either they're too far from here, or they're working at another theater and aren't willing to help." Uncle John's face was also anxious, but he could only reply helplessly.
At this moment, Li Yue was wandering backstage, his eyes constantly scanning the various costumed young ladies walking past him, thoroughly enjoying the feast for his eyes.
He happened to pass by Uncle John and overheard their conversation. "Uncle John, what's wrong?" Li Yue asked the somewhat anxious Uncle John.
"Oh, Li Yue, you're awake. How are you feeling, any better?" Uncle John turned and saw it was Li Yue, so he asked, but didn't mention what the matter was.
Li Yue had just heard the gist of it. Seeing that Uncle John didn't explain the situation, he replied, "I'm much better, thank you for your concern. However, if there's anything, Uncle John, you can tell me. Perhaps I can be of some help."
Uncle John saw Li Yue pressing for an answer and could only reluctantly explain the situation to him.
After listening, Li Yue understood the situation and pondered it inwardly. In the year since he gained superpowers, his mental strength had greatly increased, bringing many benefits, one of which was his memory. He could now almost achieve photographic memory. He had watched many magic movies in his previous life, and their principles were still crystal clear in his mind. He believed he could perform some simple magic by just imitating them, and with his teleportation ability, some magic tricks would be incredibly easy to perform.
Thinking of this, Li Yue said to Uncle John, "Uncle John, to be honest, I've also learned some magic before. I think I can go on stage and perform. Since things are already like this, why not let me try?"
"Li Yue, can you really do it? I'm sorry, it's not that I don't trust you, but this theater is my life's work. If we mess this up, future business will likely be even harder. Please forgive my caution." Uncle John said gravely after hearing Li Yue's words, initially surprised.
"It's alright, Uncle John, no need to be so formal. I haven't even thanked you for helping me, and besides, we're not that familiar, so your caution is understandable. However, we have a saying in China, 'Treat a dead horse as if it's alive.' If it succeeds, everyone's happy. If it doesn't, it's not the worst, is it?" Li Yue said to Uncle John. He was very confident now; with superpowers, if he couldn't perform well, then he might as well give up.
"Alright, that's the only way. Barry, take Li Yue to change into his performance clothes, and familiarize him with the props. Also, introduce Li Yue to Iris." Uncle John instructed the young man he had just been speaking with.
"Li Yue, if you have any questions, you can ask Barry. He's a prop master. If you need anything, you can have Barry prepare it." Uncle John then quickly finished speaking to Li Yue and hurried off; he still had many things to arrange.
"Li Yue, did I say that right? Your Chinese pronunciation is really too difficult. Hello, my name is Barry Allen, you can call me Barry. I am Mr. Peter's prop master. Nice to meet you for the first time." The young man introduced himself to Li Yue and extended his right hand.
"Hello, Barry. Has anyone ever told you that you're very handsome?" Li Yue was surprised, no, he should say extremely surprised. Barry Allen, if he remembered correctly, was the protagonist of an American TV show he had watched, "The Flash." And he bore an eighty percent resemblance to that actor, just looking a bit younger. Had he traveled to the DC "The Flash" TV series? But the profession didn't match up. Wasn't he a police officer in the TV show? How could he meet him here?
Li Yue didn't know what was going on, so he could only suppress his thoughts. Perhaps he would soon understand the situation.
Li Yue extended his right hand and shook Barry's hand, then said, "Let's go, Barry, we need to get ready. Time is running out. I hope we can amaze everyone tonight."
"Oh, by the way, could you help me prepare two boxes, about the size of a door? I'll need them for the magic show later." Li Yue walked with Barry towards the prop room and casually asked Barry.
"No problem, Mr. Li Yue, leave it to me." Barry said confidently.