Wandering America: My kill threshold is far ahead

"Lady, may I bother you for a moment?"

He sat down without any hesitation, his upper body bare.

The two exchanged a knowing glance, but neither spoke first.

At the prime of life, being approached by a handsome, muscular man is surely not a bad thing, right?

Moreover, some young men nowadays prefer older women, believing that they become more attractive with age.

Seeing that the other party did not show any obvious rejection, Ma Jie immediately launched an offensive: "Let me introduce myself, my name is Jack, and this is Jimmy next to me. Jimmy, come over and say hello to the two ladies."

"Hi." Perhaps because he had been a wanderer for too long and hadn't had much contact with normal people, this kid was a little shy.

"Hi, Jimmy." One of the women, who also had long blond hair and crow's feet around her eyes, was clearly more proactive.

After pulling him down to sit, Ma Jie immediately launched into a speech: "We're both students at the USC Business School, and we're trying to do a research project. Let me tell you, you only need to spend $5 to participate in a quiz challenge. If you answer my questions correctly, you can choose any item from an outdoor store, including high-end sunglasses worth hundreds of dollars, or a big-brand sunscreen that you can have verified at a department store..."

At this point, the woman's expression clearly became wary.

However, Ma Jie immediately added, "It's okay if you answered incorrectly. You still have the right to use the $5, but the nature of it has changed. You can use it to exchange for a product of equal value. Is my explanation clear enough?"

Only after hearing all the challenge rules clearly did the other party lower their guard, but they were still hesitant about whether to participate.

"Oh, please, ladies, this research is really important to me. I've already been rejected by more than 20 people. Your generosity might help a poor student from a small town in the western border region get his diploma."

"Okay." Seeing how "sincere" he sounded, the pretty older woman casually tossed her hair, took out five dollars from her wallet, and handed it to Ma Jie while holding onto it tightly: "Look me in the eyes, don't let me find out you're lying to me."

"How could that be, ma'am? Let's begin the challenge."

As Ma Jie spoke, he casually touched the other person's finger.

This really touched his heartstrings, and his face was full of undisguised charm.

"First question." Ma Jie casually stuffed the money into his pocket, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Let's start with something a little easier: What are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council?"

"America," the beautiful white woman blurted out, "Russia, China..."

He paused for a moment, tilting his head and thinking for a few seconds, his eyebrows almost knitted together: "India? Okay, I'm not sure if that's right, but the last one should be Japan, because I see a lot of Japanese-made cars on the street."

After hearing her answer, Ma Jie barely managed to suppress a laugh, but she was already thankful that she hadn't mentioned Vietnam or Poland.

"OK, here's the correct answer." She then asked Jimmy to show her what he had found on Wikipedia.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, your $5 has been automatically converted into a voucher, which you can redeem for any item of equal value at Old Pi Outdoors."

After saying that, she looked directly at her companion: "The other lady who looks a lot like Jennifer, would you be interested in taking the challenge?"

When complimented on looking like her older cousin, the woman's eyes practically lit up: "Okay, considering your muscles, I don't mind giving it a shot, but you'd better lower the difficulty of your questions."

"Yes, Your Majesty." After accepting the "entry fee," Ma Jie said slowly, "This is a multiple-choice question. Please select the country with the largest population from the following options."

"Option A, Russia."

Option B, Türkiye.

Option C, Pakistan.

Option D...

"Russia!" Before Ma Jie could finish his options, the woman slammed her hand on the table excitedly in a thick 'r' sound: "Those vodka-loving barbarians have taken over all of Siberia. The only place in the world with a larger population than them that I can think of is Mexico. At least half of the immigrants to America are eating those damn tortillas and chicken wraps."

Are you sure?

"I'm sure." He nodded emphatically, full of confidence.

"Jimmy, please reveal the answer."

Once again, I consulted Wikipedia, where it clearly states the answer.

Russia's latest population statistics show a population of 1.44 million.

Türkiye's latest population statistics show a population of 0.85 million.

Pakistan's latest population statistics show a population of 2.48 million.

"What?" The white woman stared at her phone screen with a complicated expression, as if her tonsils had been stepped on. "Smack... Where is this country with such a tongue-twisting name?"

Ma Jie solemnly explained, "South Asia is bordered by Afghanistan on the left and India on the right. Its population ranks fifth in the world, after India, China, the United States, and Indonesia. But it doesn't matter, you still get a $5 voucher."

"Jimmy, take these two lovely ladies to the store to pick out their favorite items."

The two shrugged helplessly at each other and were led by Jimmy to Old Pi's Outdoor Store.

Since I can get a $5 free item, why not take it?

The portly boss was lying in a rocking chair, idly scrolling through TikTok. When he saw a customer being led in, he quickly got up to greet him warmly.

The two looked around and found that the only thing they could get for $5 was a children's swimming ring.

So they had to focus on more expensive items, such as sun hats and sunglasses.

Finally, after being persuaded by the shopkeeper, one of the customers bought a sun hat for $9.9.

Another customer couldn't resist the temptation and spent a whopping $129 on a bottle of sunscreen that claimed to resist UV rays up to level 10.

Of course, a 5 yuan discount will be given at the time of checkout for each transaction, as agreed beforehand.

This outcome was, of course, within Ma Jieke's expectations.

This is similar to receiving a 3-yuan voucher on a shopping platform. Some people will indeed only buy items worth 3 yuan, or items worth 4 or 5 yuan.

However, there are also some people who genuinely have shopping needs and buy items worth tens or even hundreds of yuan.

Since you're going to buy something anyway, it doesn't matter where you buy it. And these seemingly insignificant coupons play a decisive role in turning customers who wouldn't normally belong to you into actual transactions.

Of course, if you walk by the river often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet.

After successfully luring in a dozen or so suckers, they finally ran into a brick wall.

The other party was a visiting professor at a university, and he easily defused his question.

There's nothing we can do but watch as others legally offer free purchases.

But Ma Jieke did not let her off the hook. Instead, he used the pretext of taking photos to document the incident and then publicized it on the spot.

As a result, all the women who spent money on the products went crazy, screaming for a challenge, and the store was like a zombie apocalypse.

What humans find hardest to overcome is the herd mentality.