Wandering America: My kill threshold is far ahead

Listening to these accusations, Ma Jieke didn't know what to say.

He had seen many similar incidents while browsing news about homeless people.

In Ohio, construction worker John received a $100 million medical bill after a car accident. The insurance company refused to pay, citing "drunk driving," and the court forced the auction of his property. Three months later, he moved into a bridge tunnel with unhealed wounds.

Mike, a UCLA PhD student, had to repay $1400 in student loans each month, which accounted for 70% of his total income. When his landlord evicted him for being three days late with his rent, this quantum physicist became a "highly educated homeless man" on the streets of Los Angeles.

Emily, a Silicon Valley engineer, earns $1.2 a month, but lost her health insurance due to company layoffs. An appendectomy left her with $8 in debt. When the bank repossessed her Tesla and apartment, she moved into a shelter with her child.

The American Dream? Sorry, wait until you avoid the debt trap, escape the medical slaughterhouse, and break free of the credit prison before you talk about this hellish joke.

"Young man, which country are you from?"

After the conversation ended, the veteran asked curiously.

"China," Ma Jieke said without hesitation.

"Oh, that Eastern country with no drug problem, no rampant gun violence, and a history of thousands of years of civilization."

"Listen, young man, if possible, upload this video to Chinese social media. Here, freedom of the press is nothing but empty talk; it only serves to smear our opponents and deceive the ignorant public. We must unite all forces that can be united to prevent tragedies like today from happening again."

"Okay, no problem." Ma Jie shook hands with both of them, but couldn't help asking, "By the way, Sir, do you know of any flea markets that are still open around here?"

To be blunt, I was just here to make money, but I ended up getting a lesson from an American guy. So, it wasn't a wasted trip after all.

"The nearest flea market is in Pasadena, 20 miles away. By the time you get there, it will probably be dark."

"OK, thank you sir, have a nice day."

After leaving the accident scene, Ma Jie ran back to the bus station and boarded the bus back to Skid Row before his ticket expired.

After pondering it for the entire journey, he decided to take Valentina's advice and seek help from the celebrity named Max.

Queen's Road is located on the edge of Poor Street, serving as a buffer zone between the city and the suburbs. Further southwest lies Orange County, which is experiencing rapid development.

In the United States, counties are larger administrative units than cities, and Los Angeles is simply the largest city within Los Angeles County.

However, the combined statistical area consisting of five counties—Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Ventura County—is collectively referred to as the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.

In short, Los Angeles is an administrative unit, while Greater Los Angeles can be understood as a purely geographical concept, like the Pearl River Delta or the four provinces of Shandong.

After getting off the train at the station, just as Valentina had said, there was a large number of homeless people gathered under the overpass, almost forming a small camp.

Dozens of tents of various sizes are scattered around like chess pieces. In the public area, there are broken sofas, old cars, homemade tire swings, and paint buckets blackened by the campfire.

However, the most eye-catching things are the bridge piers and road surfaces that have been scribbled on with acrylic paint.

The patterns above are almost entirely based on blue, and include artistic lettering, portraits, cartoons, arrows, clowns, and random lines and layers that are completely unrecognizable.

Ma Jieke then realized that there were many similar graffiti on the walls of the back alley where he opened the treasure chest that afternoon, only they were blood red.

It seems this thing is similar to animals marking their territory with urine. Once you smell it, you should move away, otherwise a fight is inevitable.

He encountered a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair and greeted her warmly, "Hi, beautiful lady, may I ask you something..."

"What?" Before he could finish speaking, the "young lady's" expression changed instantly: "I'm a boy! Watch your words!"

Huh? Ma Jie was stunned for a moment. After looking closely, he realized that the other person had no chest at all and a slight protrusion at the throat.

But she's so delicate-looking, with fair and tender skin, a high nose bridge, blue eyes, and a relatively slender figure.

If it were daytime, perhaps we could still tell them apart.

But now that it was getting dark, he could only rely on his first impression and made the wrong judgment he had just made.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." After quickly apologizing, the other person was quite good-natured, blowing on his bangs with his mouth: "Never mind, never mind, you're not the first person to mistake my gender. But this is a place for homeless people. What are you, an Asian, doing here? Hiring temporary workers?"

"Huh?" Jack chuckled. "Bro, do I look like a rich man?"

"Haha, not really." The blond boy looked him up and down and couldn't help but laugh. "Your outfit looks like it was bought at a two-dollar store. Only homeless people who collect charity meals on the streets every day would wear such cheap clothes."

"Impressive. Compared to you, Sherlock Holmes is just wearing a deerstalker hat." After casually offering a compliment, Jack quickly got down to business: "Let me introduce myself. My name is Jack. Valentina recommended me to find a big shot named Max. I have a lot of things I want to ask her."

"Valentina?" Upon hearing this familiar name, the blond boy's eyes lit up. "You're the Mexican girl who distributes supplies, right? How did you two meet?"

"I did her a small favor and told her about my experience, that's all."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it for now. But we've never had an Asian here before. You can only stay if Max agrees to take you in. It's not up to me to decide."

"So where is she? Could you introduce me?" After saying that, Ma Jie felt a little uneasy: "Don't worry, bro, I won't let you help me for nothing. I'll treat you to a nice meal sometime. The double beef and cheese burger at Wendy's is much better than the hard bread from the McDonald's food truck."

"Tch, what do you take me for? A kid who'll cause trouble if I don't give him candy?" Hearing that this tall Asian guy was trying to bribe him with food, the blond boy pouted smugly: "Don't you know that Jimmy from the blue-haired squad has never worried about food? When I was hanging around Skid Row, you didn't even know where you were."

"Haha, then I guess I was just being nosy."

"Look, see that RV on the right? That's Max's place."

Following the directions, Ma Jieke saw a blue and white striped RV.

"Thanks, bro. I'll come chat with you again later."

Jack bumped fists with Jimmy, and just as he was about to leave, he saw a dark, unidentified creature moving rapidly toward him.

Upon closer inspection, holy crap, it's a purebred, wild, African-American assassin, a huge, muscular guy...

He bears a striking resemblance to Yasuke, the black samurai from Assassin's Creed: Shadow.