America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 116 Good Man, Bastard

Bunny Girl Mary wasn't wearing any special costume today; she was still dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, with a name tag pinned to her chest that read "Lobby Manager's Glossary." She was directing the construction workers as they adjusted the lights and equipment.

Zhang Ailun walked over without any surprise and greeted her.

"Hamburg, how did you get in from the back?" Mary looked at Zhang Ailun, who hadn't followed the usual route, with some surprise. "Outsiders aren't allowed in here!"

"Who do you mean I'm an outsider?" Zhang Ailun spread his hands. "Am I not one of us?"

"You're one of us, but you're only in charge of environmental protection, which means you're not allowed to enter or leave the premises during working hours. Fine, do as you please. Anyway, it's not officially open yet. Old Mike used to drop by here all the time."

Mary shrugged, unconcerned. The good news was, she was still the bar manager.

Zhang Ailun looked at the professionals adjusting the equipment and slot machines and asked in surprise, "What are they doing?"

"A necessary measure to ensure the venue can generate stable profits."

Mary explained, "Casinos aren't charities. Every casino in the world does some tampering, it's just a matter of how often they use it. Only insiders can see the testing and adjustments. Outsiders aren't allowed in before the casino is open for normal operations."

To let Zhang Ailun see the power of technology more directly, Mary beckoned him to sit at the red and blue table and experience the debugged program card.

"In the past, casinos required manual cheating, card counting, and manipulating the odds to win or lose. But that's a thing of the last century. In Southeast Asia now, the most common method is temperature-controlled card games, and many large casinos use computer-programmed cards. It's impossible to lose in a casino. You might win, but you're more likely to lose. If you don't win or lose, the rake will be so high it'll kill you!"

"You be the gambler, I'll be the dealer. You can let me fly the cards; here's $200 in chips." Mary handed the chips to Zhang Ailun.

Zhang Ailun looked at the black box and found it somewhat intriguing. "Let it go through three hands first."

Mary drew cards rapidly, going through three hands, resulting in blue, blue, and red. The dealer only won once.

Zhang Ailun took out $20 worth of chips and placed them on the dealer's table, saying, "I think it will be red."

"Unfortunately, it's a single jump." Mary opened the hand, 9 points in Player. There was no need to draw any more cards in this result. Zhang Ailun rubbed his cards and opened the hand, one face card and one 2.

Undeterred, Zhang Ailun waved his hand and continued to bet on the dealer, managing to win once by drawing a card.

"This road is terrible, there's no pattern to it at all, it's just blind driving," Zhang Ailun complained.

He bet on pairs, a tie, players, Lucky Six, and the banker. Soon, Zhang Ailun had lost all his bets.

Zhang Ailun clicked his tongue, his expression turning slightly red. "Whatever I bet on, it always wins. Am I really that unlucky?"

Mary smiled slightly: "Don't get upset, that's how the game works. You could have won, but you were just unlucky and bet wrong on everything."

"I don't have X-ray vision, how could I possibly win this black box and system cards?"

Zhang Ailun breathed a sigh of relief. This was the power of technology, wasn't it? Thankfully, the $200 wasn't real; it was just a trial balloon.

"I can't even imagine how much money this thing will make every day once it's up and running," Zhang Ailun asked. "Has the new owner of the bar come by yet?"

"His assistant came by and assigned us some work. The positions are basically unchanged, and the new boss hasn't shown up," Mary replied.

"Then you'd better be careful. I have a feeling your new boss might not be a decent person."

Zhang Ailun subtly warned, "The street gangs that cooperated with your former boss only dared to run scratch-off lottery and small entertainment businesses. Their main businesses were massage, selling drugs, and morphine. He started with something this big, so he probably won't last long."

"At first, I also doubted their motives. He's not Native American, he doesn't have a gambling license, what kind of underground casino is he running? But we work here, it doesn't matter who the boss is, as long as we can sell drinks and make money!"

Mary wasn't worried at all, remaining optimistic and cheerful. "If something goes wrong, at worst I'll just go from selling myself to selling alcohol. I bet this new boss doesn't care about what the customers drop, and he won't even bother asking you for a share of the profits."

"You're right." Zhang Ailun thought to himself that he might be able to earn even more.

"So, how about a drink?" Mary tossed her hair and said in a low voice, "You still owe me a favor from last time. You promised to have a friend come and patronize my business, but you didn't keep your promise. You weren't lying to me, were you?"

"How is that possible!"

Zhang Ailun declared righteously, "I can keep my promise right now and bring over your bar's most expensive drink! I'll order that!"

"The most expensive drink we have right now is only fifty dollars," Mary said, shoving him close and bumping into him. "Or perhaps you could order some other services? For $100, I can make you happy all day!"

Zhang Ailun glanced at the staff member who seemed oblivious and focused on adjusting the machine. "That's not a good idea. You have other work to do. Wasn't it $50 last time?"

"My service has been updated, come with me." Mary smiled charmingly, turned around and waved, swaying her hips as she walked into the private room next door.

Zhang Ailun had no choice but to follow.

Upon entering the private room, Mary turned on the lights and prepared the bed. "Guest, please lie down here."

Zhang Ailun followed suit.

"What would you like to drink?" Mary asked.

"Anything is fine." Zhang Ailun lay down and felt relaxed all over.

"Perhaps I can help you cool down first." Mary tied her hair up and lowered her head.

hiss……

A dozen minutes later.

Mary rinsed her mouth, her throat a little hoarse. "Good heavens, you're so hard to please. Now Giss definitely won't be envious of me."

What can Zhang Ailun say?

"Is the service not finished yet?"

"Of course not." Mary smiled slightly, unbuttoning her shirt. "A hundred-dollar upgrade service, I told you it would make you happy all day."

"Do you like seafood, Hamburg?"

"good."

Mary's next move left Zhang Ailun completely bewildered.

The commotion ended an hour later.

Zhang Ailun felt refreshed and thought the other party's upgrade service was so generous that he couldn't tell whether he was a waiter or a customer for a moment.

"You must come and patronize my business often from now on. I'll give you a discount!" Mary said affectionately. "This time, I can even give it to you for free, darling."

Zhang Ailun was ready to pay, but he didn't expect this to trigger a freebie event.

"Are you serious?" Zhang Ailun asked, somewhat surprised, and immediately added tactfully, "You have a boyfriend."

Our relationship is purely transactional.

"Please, it's only once or twice, it's nothing. He knows what kind of work I do. For you, I'm willing to be a slut." Mary's eyes were practically sparkling with pink bubbles.

Zhang Ailun could only marvel at his own irresistible charm. He also felt that the other person had acted impulsively and would be fine after calming down a bit.

Mary's colleague, Gisele, came up to her from the front. "Mary, what are you doing? Why aren't you doing your job? Oh shit!! Are you cheating on me during work hours?"

"I'm serving a client!!" Mary straightened her clothes. "Use your job title when you're at work. Okay!"

"Does your guest need any more service?" Geese glanced at Zhang Ailun, eager to try.

She whispered in Mary's ear, "I've never seen anything so big lying there. Your guest has such a great figure? He's a real gem!"

Mary was unhappy. "I'm sorry, but he's been focusing all his energy on me. You should be doing your job, you little bitch."

"How stingy." Geese rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

Zhang Ailun glanced at Long Taitou and really wanted to say that it wouldn't be bad if the two of you went up together.

After tidying himself up, Zhang Ailun came out of the private room, and Mary poured him a glass of lemonade from the front desk to quench his thirst.

The blush on her face faded, and she said somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, Hamburger, for showing you my disheveled state. Actually, I'm not a casual person, you know, it's just a matter of fun! Sometimes I simply can't control myself."

"It's okay, I understand. You're beautiful even when you're disheveled, and I'll never get tired of looking at you like that."

Zhang Ailun, quick with sweet talk, still pulled out a hundred dollars and handed it to her, saying, "You're a good girl, you deserve this!"

Mary was naturally delighted. "Then you must come and patronize my business more often! I can specially change your outfit; do you like bunny girls?"

"Of course," Zhang Ailun agreed.

The two sat there and started chatting, but Mary moved closer and closer, even showing an urge to have a second round.

Fortunately, a phone call from David eased the tension.

Zhang Ailun made an excuse and went out to direct David to back up the car and do the cleaning. David was wearing the epic equipment left by old Mike and was incredibly strong. He quickly finished cleaning up the trash in the backyard.

"Well done, here's your reward, boy." Mary handed David a bottle of soda.

"Thank you." David took the soda and drank it all in one gulp. Then, satisfied, he got into the car, said goodbye, stepped on the gas, and drove away from the backyard, heading to the suburban waste disposal center.

Zhang Ailun also said goodbye to Mary, as continuing like this would definitely affect her work.

Fortunately, my legs are still very strong when I'm riding a bike!

While waiting at a traffic light at an intersection, Sieg messaged him, informing him that he had recycled all the cans and made a total profit of $3650! That was $50 more than he had expected.

The two agreed to meet on a street.

Zhang Ailun took some time to arrive at the scene, rode his bike across the traffic lights, and greeted Sieg.

Sieg handed him the thick oil paper bag containing the money, "It's all $20 bills; the can recycling machine can only spit out this denomination."

"Well done. That's enough for a nice meal! Now I'm going to give Old Carl the $1000 for the can. See you later."

Zhang Ailun bid farewell to Sig in a good mood and then rode his bicycle to Aitou Street.

When I arrived, I saw that Old Carl was open for business. Unfortunately, there were not many people selling cans. Most of them were household garbage collected by residents of the nearby community. Although homeless people can pick up garbage on the street, they can't pick up cans from other people's homes.

"Dad, I want to go to the amusement park."

"Of course, darling!"

The family of three exchanged their bags for $46 in bills from Old Carl, then left hand in hand, happy as ever.

Old Karl fell into deep thought.

"What's wrong? Missing your family?" Zhang Ailun parked his bicycle in the yard and went in to wake him up.

"Of course, I'm not all alone. I have a family too, and my son is a graduate of a prestigious university! It's just that we don't get along very well because I often drink heavily, go to bars, and mess around with women. To be honest, I feel a little guilty towards them." Old Karl said with some helplessness.

Looking at Zhang Ailun with some confusion, he asked, "What are you doing here? Have you already taken care of things? You're so efficient! Who handled this order?"

"Don't worry, we've already investigated this matter and found out it was done by the Modern Brothers."

Zhang Ailun calmed him down, took out a $1000 bill, and handed it to him. "Let's count it. $3000 worth of goods, $1500 in payment, and $500 in profit sharing. I'll take $2000 and leave you $1000. That's reasonable!"

Old Karl wasn't very good at math, and asked doubtfully, "You should give me the original three thousand, I'll give you 1500, and then I'll give you another 500."

"Is there a difference?" Zhang Ailun was immediately surprised.

But to avoid any argument, I did as instructed.

"No difference!!" Old Karl exclaimed in surprise after doing the conversion.

"..."

If you're bad at math, then don't try to do mental arithmetic. What's the point of that crappy computer next to you?

"My God, I never expected those guys to do something like this. I thought it was those Mexicans." Old Karl put away the $1000. Although he had lost $2000, he wasn't too angry now that things had come to this.

I just felt a bit sentimental. "They've always been law-abiding citizens. Even though they're alcoholics and drug addicts, that guy's brother is a decent bastard."

"A good guy turned bastard. What kind of adjective is that?" Zhang Ailun laughed. "You mean he's morally reprehensible, but he still has a shred of conscience?"

"That's true. The people on the streets are all scoundrels and scum. They do drugs, robberies, freebies, they do all sorts of things. You'd be hard-pressed to find any good people there. But you and Dominic are a bit special. The Modern Brothers were like that when they were at their peak, but then they changed. I hope you can always stay true to your original intentions!" Old Karl said honestly.

"Of course you don't need to tell me that."

The leader of the sect is known for being approachable, keeping his word, and being fair and just.

Zhang Ailun chatted with Old Karl for a while longer, then left the recycling center with $2650 in bills.

It was noon.

Zhang Ailun found a street restaurant that, while not exactly rave reviews online, was certainly good value for money. He ordered his food and took it to go.

Set it up on the beautiful lawn, and invite Sieg and Dominic over for a meal.

"You've struck it rich? You're having a lavish meal?" Dominic and Sieg, who had brought their core members here, were also somewhat surprised.

"A meal won't cost too much. We still have tasks for you to handle!"

Zhang Ailun moved aside, and the group gathered around. He divided the $2650 into several portions and distributed them to the others, keeping $1500 for himself.

Even if he doesn't earn the money himself, he still has to share it with everyone. Otherwise, how can the leader of the sect practice benevolence and righteousness?

Today's expenditure was $166, bringing my total net worth back to $13000.

Richie and the other five were also beaming with joy, feeling that this was making money faster than robbing, although it wasn't much different from robbing. "Thank you, Boss!!"

"Let's eat." Zhang Ailun waved his hand. "This meal is on me."

After finishing lunch quickly, Dominic went back to work on the street, while Zhang Ailun assigned tasks to Sieg and the others.

每日情报提示在下午16:22分会有一辆车牌号为LS-56F-27冷冻货车运输毒猪肉途径Y2街头，与一家罐头加工厂的负责人进行交易。

The other party not only showed no remorse after suffering a loss, but also wanted to hire someone to carry out revenge!

Passing through their Beggars' Sect territory, isn't this just like delivering goods to their doorstep?

Officer Miguel also took the money.

Go find him if you dare, you black devil!

They just bully honest people.

(End of this chapter)