New Gods of North America

The next day, after Wayne finished his 《Holy Book》 study class,

he brought the genius little Lori, Emma, back to the math class that welcomed them.

Well, actually, it wasn't that "welcoming"...

Some classmates greeted them after a long absence, a few became quite enthusiastic, and the rest were just "so-so."

Professor Maisel walked into the classroom, nodded at them, and then started the class as usual.

The only change might be that Professor Maisel interacted with the students a bit more in this class,

which meant he called on a few students to answer questions based on what was on the blackboard—but if calculated as a "relative value," the interaction rate in this class increased by several hundred percent compared to usual.

Wayne and Emma performed as usual, so many students continued to suffer from "reputational damage."

In Professor Maisel's words, "Everyone is a student of the academy, the best of their peers, and the future hope of America. I hope your level isn't too far behind some students who take the opportunity to skip class and a seven-year-old self-taught girl."

It felt like this seemingly rigid professor could be quite sarcastic sometimes...

After the math class ended, it was lunchtime.

Wayne took Emma for a short walk around the academy, partly to stroll around, planning to send her home in a carriage with Doug near the academy's church as agreed.

But as they walked past the academy's restaurant, they saw a long queue on the roadside, not knowing what it was for.

Wayne didn't think much of it and continued walking along the road.

Then, a fragrance wafted over, and he saw Willie, Sanders, Parker, and Lina, dressed as waiters, busy beside a horse carriage that had its roof removed and no horse...

At the front of the queue, there was even a wooden sign with words on it, "Western Specialty Food - Black Rock Town Burgers \u0026 Hot Dogs."

Wayne approached with a face full of black lines, wondering why Chef Parker's stall was set up again.

On the other side of the carriage, Lina was collecting money and handing out food, while earnestly spouting nonsense to the students in line:

"Hot dogs are a popular delicacy in the western town of Kansas, invented by the new immigrants when they arrived in America. The origin seems to be related to the traditions of the Windsor Kingdom..."

Originating in the "Windsor Kingdom" and then carried forward by the "Americans,"

Gathering the essence of the world's two major food deserts...

Wayne felt like facepalming. By his standards, anything that could be included in this description, except for the fast food that could become popular in the industrial age, was almost synonymous with "dark cuisine."

So he couldn't help but approach and ask, "What are you doing...?"

According to the cost statistics of the detective agency's lottery stall, even without considering "labor costs," burgers and hot dogs weren't very profitable. It was purely to attract popularity, so the citizens wouldn't get too hungry and leave after waiting in line for too long.

Even though Chef Parker had further reduced the proportion of the original cheese in the regenerated cheese and increased the water content, and added some "non-meat" ingredients to the patties, selling a burger probably only made a cent or two in profit—the profit margin for hot dogs was slightly higher because they didn't require cheese, and Wayne had started to have the chef research so-called "starch sausages." But it wasn't much higher.

"Yo, you're out of class."

Lina greeted Wayne and Emma enthusiastically and pointed at them, explaining to the students in line with a smile, "They're with us."

Putting the little Lori at Lina's previous workstation, Emma and Willie were both forced to become temporary child laborers, one responsible for "collecting money" and asking about "flavors" in a childish voice, and the other responsible for "wrapping paper" and the final "handing over of the finished product."

Parker was busy frying patties on the iron plate, while Sanders and Doug were responsible for "assembling" things like bread, cheese slices, and sauce.

Lina secretly pulled Wayne aside for a "private chat."

Wayne learned that it was because the area near the academy's church was too empty and there were no shops, so squatting there was too conspicuous by Lina's standards, so she simply pulled Parker over to set up a stall.

Unexpectedly, business was a bit too good.

Even though Lina had already had Parker reduce the portion of the patties by 30%, the students who smelled the aroma and heard the news still lined up after looking at the actual product.

Especially some boys, while feeling it was great value for money, could also openly chat and flirt with the girls, at least in pairs, in the queue, in a society where the social atmosphere wasn't particularly open yet.

It couldn't be said that they were enjoying it, but at least they weren't complaining.

So the queue became an unusually long "dragon" in this era. Wayne thought that the students who had classes in the afternoon might have to spend half of their lunch break in line.

Sadly, even the academy's security personnel didn't care about Lina's stall.

The academy originally restricted other vendors from setting up stalls on campus, but didn't prohibit students from carrying out some so-called "social activities" within the academy.

Lina and Ineisha had been coming in and out of the academy for a while, and even if the academy's staff weren't familiar with them, they probably thought they were all students of the academy.

Then, a staff member with management authority came over to taste the things sold at the stall and chatted with Lina a bit.

It was estimated that they felt that based on the price and the amount of cheese and meat, the stall was more like an attempt by a wealthy family's children to "learn business"—focusing on the "experience," and eventually donating all the money earned.

It wasn't profitable and wouldn't last long, so the school staff, besides telling Lina to keep the surrounding environment clean, didn't pay any more attention.

Knowing that Lina might want to find out about the personnel entering and exiting the academy's church, planning to sneak in at a good time, and maybe even "recognize faces" along the way,

Wayne didn't delay the professional's established plan and secretly had Lina cut in line to get two burgers that were clearly made with fewer ingredients compared to the "detective agency's internal supply version," which was a rare "hot" lunch at the academy.

After finishing the afternoon's American history class,

Wayne and Seth began to move around the academy, visiting the seniors who had a relatively long "medicine-drinking history" in the academy's church one by one.

This time, the detective agency was investigating with a "semi-official" status, so some things could be asked more directly.

Plus, there were students who happened to have eaten the detective agency's burgers and made a little money from the previous lottery, so a lot of information became more detailed than before.

For example, according to their descriptions, Pastor Pasiel had given the students at least two or three kinds of potions. Many students had only drunk one or two of them, while some students seemed to be taking another one relatively long-term.

Roughly speaking, it seemed somewhat similar in design to the Hunter Association's deadly "domain test," as if it were also conducting some kind of "screening."

By the way, Wayne was also very curious about the personal relationship between Luke Matthew and Pastor Pasiel.

After all, in Pastor Pasiel's will, this guy was also designated to be given "relics."

Unfortunately, Luke Matthew himself seemed to be unaware of this.

He didn't even think he had a particularly good relationship with Pastor Pasiel, nor did he think he was "pious" enough among the students.