National Tide 1980.

Only then did Liu Bo gain a relatively comprehensive understanding of the job of a corpse carrier.

He finally saw the true nature of the matter: it was a job that required him to throw away his dignity and self-respect in exchange for money.

It certainly didn't taste good.

But everything they put in can be turned into colorful banknotes, and the returns are so generous.

It's hard to say that this exchange is unfair.

So, with no other choice and in a conflicted state of mind, Liu Bo could only grit his teeth and cooperate with Wang Liang to lift him down.

The next three floors were no different.

On almost every floor, there are neighbors from this building waiting at the stairwell.

Some handed out envelopes, while others simply slipped in banknotes; every resident wore an expression of fear and anxiety.

Moreover, Liu Bo expended a great deal of physical energy during this process.

Even though he was at a high place and responsible for carrying the deceased's head, it was much easier for him than for Wang Liang, who was walking in front and carrying the feet.

But with each step he took, his legs still trembled, his arms ached so much they were almost numb, and he felt himself getting closer and closer to complete exhaustion.

There's a saying: "Pain and pleasure coexist."

Liu Bo is now experiencing the bittersweet feeling of being caught between fire and ice.

On the one hand, he was in pain because of his physical exhaustion, and he was constantly enduring the torment of muscle soreness with sheer willpower.

On the other hand, he was spiritually overwhelmed by the windfall of money.

The concept of "working to earn money," which originally had only one interpretation, underwent a transformative reshaping in his mind.

He didn't know the exact amount of money Wang Liang received.

But he knew one thing clearly—the money these Japanese were giving him wasn't coins, but banknotes.

This means that they can get at least 1,000 yen, or maybe 2,000 yen, from the residents on the next floor.

Think about how I work myself to the bone for an hour and a half at the restaurant where I work, and I can't even earn a banknote with Hideyo Noguchi's name on it.

But here, all it takes is carrying the body down dozens of steps to earn that reward.

Liu Bo felt that he had wasted his entire life.

He never knew that the real world had such a magical side, and that money could be earned so quickly.

In this situation, how could he possibly maintain emotional stability?

How can you still have the nerve to say you're tired and need to rest?
Indeed, every step he took was difficult, and his vision was blurring intermittently.

But what he saw was not darkness, but IOUs from his family, his mother's red eyes from crying on the other end of the phone, and Chu Haoran's promise to him, "If this matter is successfully completed, you will be a full member."

He suddenly opened his eyes and bit his tongue—it hurt.

The pain means he's alive; if he's alive, he needs to earn money and pay off his debts...

He's determined to survive in Tokyo! To live well!
Liu Bo was experiencing unprecedented physical pain, but his spirit was also at an all-time high.

Fortunately, although his body was approaching the threshold of muscle strain, God smiled upon him, and at this moment, he finally had a chance to rest and catch his breath.

There's no one on the seventh floor!
Upon reaching this floor, the stairwell was finally empty.

"Stop, stop! Put the body down, let's all catch our breath."

In fact, Liu Bo didn't even need to beg; Wang Liang, who was leading the group, stopped on his own and told Liu Bo to put the body down.

He then sat down against the wall, panting heavily.

It turned out he was already exhausted.

"You're pretty good, kid. For your first time, you're not much worse than me back then..."

To Liu Bo's surprise, amidst his weary breathing, Wang Liang actually praised him.

"Brother Wang, you're not mad at me? I feel like I didn't help much and just held you back..."

Liu Bo said, somewhat embarrassed, that he was actually not satisfied with his performance today.

However, Wang Liang said, "You're overthinking it. For a beginner, you're doing pretty well. I was about the same when I first started. You're finding it difficult because you haven't mastered the knack of applying force yet; you just lack experience. But you're hardworking and can endure hardship, and I like working with honest people like you. Don't worry, you'll definitely get a share of today's tips when you go downstairs. We're all compatriots; I won't treat you unfairly..."

"Thank you, Brother Wang."

Having received such praise and affirmation, they were also made clear that they were entitled to a share of the money.

Liu Bo suddenly felt an even stronger joy and ease, enough to offset the pain he was currently experiencing.

It seems that all the effort I put in today was worth it; perhaps this is what you call a sense of recognition.

After that, the two of them didn't speak again. After about five minutes, their breathing became calm and they both felt that they had regained some strength.

Seeing Wang Liang stand up again, Liu Bo assumed they were about to start carrying people downstairs again, and reached out to the body bag.

Unexpectedly, Wang Liang waved his hand to stop him, saying, "Don't be in such a hurry, can you even act?"

"Acting?" Liu Bo asked in surprise, "Acting in what kind of acting?"

"Act out a tragic scene, like pretending you sprained your ankle going downstairs and were in so much pain you couldn't walk..."

"It should be fine." Liu Bo was still puzzled. "But why?"

"Why? Of course, it's to extort money from you."

Wang Liang suddenly burst into laughter. "Look, we've been on the seventh floor for almost ten minutes now, and no one's come to deliver the money. This won't do. The other floors have paid, but this floor hasn't. Wouldn't that be letting the Japanese on this floor get away with it? This building has four apartments per floor; I don't believe there isn't someone in any of them. I'm going to get them to come out and deliver the money. So we have to put on a show together. You just need to pretend to sprain your ankle. Don't worry about anything else. If I call you useless in front of the Japanese, or if the Japanese get angry, you just pretend to limp for them to see..."

"Is this...is this appropriate?"

Liu Bo thought about it for a moment and felt that this was a bit mean. He hesitated and said, "Brother Wang, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's wrong with me? Are you trying to say I'm immoral?"

Liu Bo was taken aback by Wang Liang's direct and blunt remarks.

"I...I didn't mean that."

"Alright, stop explaining. You're so honest, your thoughts are written all over your face." Liu Bo had no way to refute, but strangely, Wang Liang didn't seem to blame him at all, and even laughed. "But I have to say, you're kind of adorably silly. You have to consider the situation when you're being kind. Have you forgotten how the Japanese police looked down on us just now? This wasn't when you asked me if I was angry. Yes, I'm not angry, but don't you think about why I'm not angry? Who's born a masochist..."

Liu Bo was momentarily stunned. "Then... what are you thinking?"

Wang Liang curled his lip. "The key to this issue, of course, is money. As long as there's money to be made, I can make the Japanese act like big shots in front of me. If I can't make money, then the Japanese are nothing to me. I don't care if those Japanese resent me for using dead bodies to extort money; this is the price I pay for carrying their corpses. Brother, I'm not trying to be mean, but we have to choose between money and face, right? Since we've already lost face, we absolutely have to get the money. Otherwise, wouldn't that be stupid? Besides, who are we extorting? They're all Japanese, damn it, those devils. How many of our people were killed during the eight-year War of Resistance? Now we're collecting their corpses, what's wrong with taking some money from them? It's karma, the cycle of life and death. That's what proves the world is still fair. Right?"

Liu Bo was completely speechless, and he felt that he had been lectured by Wang Liang again.

Although what the other party said sounded a bit like fallacies and heresies, he really couldn't say that Wang Liang was wrong.

Especially when she thought about how good Wang Liang had been to her earlier, she couldn't bring herself to say "no."

Thus, the two finally reached a consensus and, without further hesitation, took to the stage to begin their performance.

In fact, the division of labor in this scene was quite simple; the two of them simply played the good cop and the bad cop.

Liu Bo's tasks and responsibilities were relatively simple.

All he had to do was pretend to be an injured person, lie on the stairs holding the corpse and pretend he couldn't move, and keep crying out in pain whenever he saw a Japanese person.

Wang Liang takes on the leading role.

He had to pretend to be alarmed, knocking on doors to find people to play the victim, and he had to deal with all kinds of changes in the situation to coax the Japanese into handing over their money before he could complete his mission.

Surprisingly, this kind of approach actually worked remarkably well.

There are four households on this floor. Two of them are genuinely empty-handed, while the other two households have honestly vomited blood.

The first person to open the door was a housewife who was watching television.

She had no idea that someone had died in her apartment building.

"Excuse me, we're here to move a body. My colleague injured his foot while going down the stairs. Could I borrow your phone to call an ambulance?"

Upon hearing Wang Liang's words, the woman who opened the door turned pale with fright. She quickly took out two thousand yen from her wallet and handed it to him as a gesture of goodwill, but refused to lend him the phone.

"I'm sorry, the home phone is broken, so please... please leave as soon as possible. Please don't stay on this floor. Could you try going downstairs? Okay?"

Now that he had seen the money, Wang Liang naturally wouldn't bother him any longer, so he readily agreed to take the money and leave.

The second household that Wang Liang knocked on the door to had an elderly man living alone inside.

This guy was pretty arrogant. Upon learning Wang Liang's purpose, he not only launched into a vicious tirade but also threatened to call the police and file a complaint.

Wang Liang wasn't intimidated and led him to the stairwell to see the "accident scene."

Tell him he can call the police if he wants, just make sure an ambulance comes, because saving lives is the most important thing.

This left the old man at a loss, frustrated and anxious.

Liu Bo, who had already made a prior agreement with Wang Liang, was quite clever at this moment. He pretended to stand up and said that he could barely help himself downstairs, but Wang Liang stopped him and told him to sit down and rest.

And so the old man took the bait completely.

He went back immediately, and when he came back, he had an extra five thousand yen in his hand, which he shoved into Wang Liang's hand with a fierce expression.

"Take the money and get out of here right now! As long as you don't stay on this floor, you can answer the phone anywhere you want!"

Wang Liang wasn't angry; he took the money and immediately did as instructed.

He picked up the body by himself, gestured with his chin at Liu Bo, telling him to continue pretending to be lame and slowly descend the stairs while holding onto the railing.

When the old man disappeared through the security door with peace of mind, and they took the body down to the transfer level, the two of them changed completely, and couldn't help but cover their mouths and chuckle to themselves.

"Did you see that? That's what you call refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. That old bastard was really pushed to his limit by our trick, he was practically spitting blood. Five thousand yen, that's easy money, isn't it? The amount of oil we squeezed out of him is equivalent to what we made from going down several floors. To be honest, I really hope all the residents in this building stay home and don't wait for us at their doors. That way we could knock on their doors one by one and make even more money."

However, despite his joy, Liu Bo had a more complex concern than Wang Liang.

"Brother Wang, to be honest, I was really worried just now. That old man was so fierce, I was afraid he would actually call the police. If things really escalated, how would we handle it? Have you thought about that?"

However, Wang Liang remained confident.

"Of course I've thought about it. But let me tell you, the old man will absolutely not call the police. Why? Let me tell you, it's because there are no poor people in this building. Everyone who can afford to live in an apartment building is rich. For these people, something that can be solved with a few dollars, would they want to make a big deal out of it?"

"Besides, from an unlucky perspective, they'd be eager to get us to leave, not argue with us. Do they expect us to stay any longer? And even if they called the police, what could they do? We haven't broken any laws. Does that mean we can't get hurt? At worst, we'll just wait for the ambulance to come and go to the hospital. Who's afraid of who?"

"Honestly, I've had my share of tough guys. Last time, a resident in this building got into a fight with me. He was an old guy, and he absolutely refused to believe my partner was really injured. He was cursing and even tried to hit us with his cane. Guess what happened? Hey, I just put the body down on this floor, picked up my partner, and was about to go downstairs when I told him I couldn't come back until I got him to the hospital. He immediately chickened out."

"In the end, the old man not only stuffed 10,000 yen into my hand, but also bowed and scraped, apologizing repeatedly and begging me to get the body away first. What's that saying again? Imperialism is all paper tigers. Don't believe their bluster. They're not afraid of anything else, but they're really afraid of us abandoning our responsibilities."

Wang Liang's description made Liu Bo burst into laughter.

But then he froze.

Recalling what I had just seen and heard, the different behaviors of those Japanese people really matched Wang Liang's description.

Yes, in this building, although these corpse carriers who carry the dead are considered lowly, they are the people these Japanese people least dare to offend.

Wang Liang was right.

Are the Japanese really arrogant? Of course not, they just use people to their advantage and not to their disadvantage.

Today, no matter how much these Japanese people despise them or loathe their work of carrying corpses, most of them, including the police, are actually quite polite because they really can't do without the special services they provide.

Looking back now, I think the Japanese are a bit shameless and obsequious.

"Glasses, let me tell you something: it doesn't really matter how lowly the job you do. As long as you respect yourself, that's all that matters. The only thing that truly makes someone lose their self-respect is feeling worthless!"

After saying that, Wang Liang patted him on the back, put his mask back on, and said, "Let's keep going, hurry up, there's still money waiting for us to earn."

These words struck Liu Bo like a thunderbolt, instantly bringing him a sense of relief.

His prejudice against the job vanished completely, disappearing without a trace.

That's right, who cares what others think?

As long as you don't feel guilty or inferior, any way of living is reasonable and something to be proud of.

What's wrong with corpse carriers?
We all earn our living through hard work, and we're no worse off than anyone else! There's absolutely no need to let other people's opinions cause you distress.

Wang Liang was right. It's only natural that they collect the Japanese corpses, act as the Japanese's messengers, and receive tips from the Japanese. It's the cycle of karma. (End of Chapter)