America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 154 Charitable Donations

After obtaining the pass for the wealthy area, Olivia showed Zhang Ailun around the surroundings, including the recycling area and the cleaning area.

Their main responsibility is to collect garbage and waste from homes. Sanitation and cleaning are contracted out to the municipal government, such as cleaning up leaves and weeds for free, which can be transported to fertilizer plants to be made into organic fertilizer.

After understanding the recycling work that needed to be done, Zhang Ailun asked Olivia, "Which recycling station did that group of people belong to?"

The Crown District consists of three sections: A, B, and C. The property management and security departments are located in section B, as is the recycling and processing center. Sections A and C are the villa areas where residents live, and non-staff members are not allowed to wander around there without permission.

"They work at a nearby Wasp Recycling Station. They were recruited by the previous manager. I don't know them very well. They've been working here for two or three years, so they're considered long-term outsourced employees. However, a few days ago, there was a data breach. One of our customers lost a USB drive containing private information. They clearly discovered it while processing the recycling, but instead of reporting it according to regulations, they kept the private information to themselves. Our manager is very dissatisfied with them."

Olivia said, "From the homeowner's perspective, the people who do the recycling work are our internal staff. If there are any valuable items, we first need to confirm whether the customer needs them, such as some appliances and special items. If the customer no longer needs them, we will take them away and dispose of them, whether it is sold in the second-hand market or taken back for personal use."

"So, even if the recycling center operators contract out to wealthy neighborhoods, the profits aren't actually as high as you might think? And if it's gold or diamonds, do they have to report it first?"

Zhang Ailun was a little confused. He thought he could just go and open the treasure chest. He didn't know how Dominic had managed to climb over the wall into the rich area before.

"Not necessarily. After all, some things that homeowners throw in the trash are things they intend to get rid of anyway. The main thing to check is whether there are any items that involve the client's privacy. As for other things like gold, diamonds, and watches, they don't care at all, and there's no need to report them, because you have no idea how wealthy a rich person is."

Olivia said, "Our property management department originally had a dedicated recycling position, but to save money and be lazy, we basically outsourced the recycling work directly to you. If you find anything valuable, you can choose to report it or take it as appropriate. For mechanical and electronic products, you must ensure that they do not contain any items that would compromise customer privacy."

"Understood." Zhang Ailun nodded. Sure enough, no matter where you are, you make money by exploiting loopholes and taking advantage of bugs. Otherwise, what can you do with a fixed salary of a few thousand dollars a month?

After briefly understanding the nature of the work—which didn't involve handling garbage every day—Zhang Ailun, not wanting to delay Olivia's work, kissed her goodbye and left. He'd arrange for David and Gates to come work here tomorrow to get acquainted with the place.

After driving out of the Crown District gate, the road was clear and unobstructed. However, Zhang Ailun hadn't driven two blocks when he felt he was being followed. He saw a garbage truck with local license plates in his rearview mirror, and a wasp sticker on its front bumper.

Zhang Ailun knew these guys were from the Hornet Recycling Station and understood their purpose. He decided to turn the steering wheel and veer onto a side road, heading straight for the suburbs.

The other side was quick to respond, with two dilapidated Ford pickup trucks overtaking the garbage truck and trying to overtake and force Zhang Ailun's Wrangler to stop.

The people on the bus were pointing and whispering through the windows, making no clear what they were saying.

Zhang Ailun glanced at them, stepped on the gas, and the engine roared, leaving them dozens of meters behind and letting them feast on the exhaust fumes of the SUV.

"Fxxk!" The guy at the Wasp Recycling Station felt extremely frustrated. He slammed his fist on the steering wheel, and seeing that he was about to lose the race, he was ready to give up.

"That guy runs really fast!"

"Dude, what can we do? That's a Wrangler. It's way more powerful than our old pickup truck." The passenger was also a bit annoyed. It seemed the baseball bat in his briefcase was useless now. He had originally wanted to teach this guy who had stolen their business a lesson.

Just as they were thinking of turning back, they soon noticed that the Wrangler had slowed down and closed the distance to them.

Zhang Ailun rolled down the car window, wearing sunglasses, chewing gum, and with his arm around them, he beckoned them with a provocative gesture.

"Shark Arm! With me!!"

With a tap of the accelerator, the distance widened again.

The guy at the Wasp Recycling Station was so angry his nose was practically crooked. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, glaring angrily at the taillights, "Fxxk you! I'll make him pay!!"

The accelerator was floored. The two cars raced one after the other on a secluded road leading to the suburbs, leaving the initially clumsy garbage truck far behind. Soon they arrived at a deserted wilderness in the suburbs.

Zhang Ailun observed the surroundings, and upon seeing a corner on the right ahead, he immediately performed a drift, made a U-turn, and parked in the grove of trees.

He took out a pistol and a submachine gun from his tactical chest pack, assembled them, and clipped them to his waist. He then took out a bulletproof vest from the black briefcase in the back seat and put it on.

Less than a minute later, the roar of a pickup truck could be heard, followed by the sound of screeching brakes and the clanging of doors slamming shut. The thugs from the Wasp Recycling Station rolled up their sleeves, grabbed baseball bats, crowbars, and fruit knives, and came down.

"Hey! His car's over there!!" The sharp-eyed bearded man spotted the SUV parked in the grove and immediately shouted.

A group of people rushed forward, ready to teach him a painful lesson! However, as soon as they entered the grove, they suddenly heard a series of gunshots!

Rat-a-tat-tat!!

Zhang Ailun lay prone on the hood of the car, gripping a submachine gun, and pulled the trigger, unleashing a burst of fire at the approaching figures. Sparks flew, and spent cartridges whizzed through the air.

"ah!!"

"I've been shot!!"

"Help!!"

The group was instantly mowed down, screaming in agony as they fled in terror, some even struck in the thigh by bullets. They lay on the ground, groaning and crawling in the shadows. Bullets clattered against the car door, leaving visible bullet holes.

After a magazine of bullets was fired, almost no one present was still standing.

Zhang Ailun changed to a spare magazine, blew on the smoking muzzle, picked up the gun and walked over to the group of people, looking at the garbage collector who was clutching his thigh and stomach and howling in pain.

He scoffed, "You're pretty arrogant, aren't you? Daring to intercept me halfway? If I didn't have some connections, could I have directly contracted the business in this wealthy neighborhood?"

He crouched down, looked at the bald, bearded man, went up to him, and slapped him across the face, knocking his hat off. "Speak! Who sent you here! Was it your boss?"

"Don't kill me! We were just fired from our jobs in the rich neighborhood and lost some profits. We're so angry that we came here to vent our anger on you."

The bearded man was so terrified he wet himself, clutching his bleeding thigh, "My leg!! Shit! Call an ambulance! Please, ah!!"

"Shut up! You're not going to die! This is the middle of nowhere, there's not a soul in sight, and the cell phone signal is terrible. Where am I supposed to call an ambulance for you?" Zhang Ailun said with a forced smile. He stood up and looked around. "It's actually a good place to kill someone and bury the body."

Upon hearing this, the men turned pale and trembled with fear. "No! We mean you no harm, we just want to teach you a lesson."

"Dude! You're still so young, you don't want to spend the rest of your life in jail, do you?"

Zhang Ailun was immediately annoyed by these words. Who do you think you are?

Looking at the baseball bat and fruit knife on the ground, he said, "If I didn't have a gun, you guys would have killed any ordinary person by now. You've beaten me up like this, and now you want to reason with me? Where were you before?!"

Ignoring the men, he opened the pickup truck door, rummaged through the back seat for a tank of gasoline, unscrewed the cap, poured it onto the two dilapidated pickup trucks, lit it with a lighter, and tossed it onto the trucks. With a roar, a raging fire broke out.

"Oh shit!! Our car!"

The group immediately let out a wail.

"Setting fire to the mountain is a capital offense, punishable by life imprisonment. But no one knows it was me."

Besides, with a ditch right next to it and the weather not hot, it wouldn't catch fire at all.

Zhang Ailun put away his gun. "You guys provoked me first. If I don't teach you a lesson, you'll really think I'm easy to mess with. What's the owner of the Hornet Recycling Station's name? I'm going to find him."

"I'm the boss." A middle-aged man in a hoodie, covered in dirt and grime, crawled out of the ditch, his face contorted with despair. "Don't bother looking, I'm right here. We really didn't mean to kill you! But look at you, buddy! What have you done?"

I never expected to run into such a tough nut to crack. Without saying a word, he just started spraying bullets! Do you think you're a terrorist?

They were used to running rampant in the city, but they never even considered using guns to solve problems. Who would have thought that this unassuming garbage collector would actually have a gun on him! A submachine gun, no less!

Were those police officers blind? Why didn't they search him?

"Kneel down! Who gave you the right to stand and talk to me? You think you're worthy?" Zhang Ailun pulled out a pistol and pointed it at him.

"Okay, okay!" The other person immediately raised his hands and knelt down. But he didn't seem to have any injuries, as if he had just narrowly escaped being hit by a hail of bullets.

Zhang Ailun couldn't stand it, so he immediately went over and punched the man. The man instantly cried out in pain, clutching half his face and lying on the ground with a howl. His eyes quickly became red and swollen.

"Everyone else got hurt, but you didn't. Do you think that's reasonable?"

"That's unreasonable. Absolutely unreasonable. So what exactly do you want to do?" the man said with a mournful face.

"You should be asking what you wanted to do to me? You tried to ambush me on the way, but I killed you instead. What else is there to say? I had a $500 million business deal to discuss at the airport, but you delayed me. Tell me, how should we settle this score?" Zhang Ailun rebuked him angrily.

"..." Upon hearing his statement, everyone present was speechless.

A five-million-dollar deal? If you had five million, would you still be competing with them for business in the wealthy neighborhood?

You really do brag without thinking.

But they're terrified now, afraid of being shot to silence them. So whatever the leader says goes. If you have a gun, you're the boss.

The owner of the Wasp Recycling Station said with a bitter face, "Okay, I will compensate you with money, but you burned all our vehicles. We don't know how long it will take to walk back to the city. You also shot and wounded one of our people. The medical expenses will cost a lot of money. We are going to go bankrupt."

"What does this have to do with me?" Zhang Ailun cursed. "I'm not letting this go without $100,000! It's either money or your life!"

"I really don't have that much money. My entire savings amount to only twenty thousand US dollars," the owner of the Wasp Recycling Station said with a mournful face. "If you insist on forcing me to hand over that money, you might as well just kill us right here!"

"Fine. You said it, I'll grant your wish!" Zhang Ailun fired two shots directly at him.

"Ah!!!" The bullet grazed his scalp, instantly creating a small crater in the ground. The wasp boss was terrified, clutching his head and screaming, "I have money! I have money! I'll give you money!"

You're rich again now?

How shameless!

Zhang Ailun looked at the Glock 17 in his hand, somewhat speechless. He couldn't even hit it at such close range.

I clearly aimed for the thigh! How did it just graz my scalp! In the end, it only hit the ground.

With a stern face, he said, "I'm not extorting you, I'm saving your lives! And while I'm at it, you can also compensate me for my emotional distress and time management costs. I have first-aid kits in my car, $2 each, take it or leave it."

"..." The wasp boss wanted to curse, but after glancing at the miserable state of his men, he forced himself to swallow the words: Their lives aren't worth that much.

气馁的拿出了一张银行卡。「这里面有我的全部存款，一共3万6860美元。在回收站的保险柜里还有一笔1万3600美元的现金，密码是568878。」

"Boss, how come you only have this little bit of money?" The subordinate felt a chill run down his spine. There are several of us here; how can this be enough to buy a first-aid kit!

If treatment isn't timely, the person will die.

"Fxxk! I go to bars every day to drink and hire prostitutes, it's already pretty good that I've saved this much money!" the Wasp boss cursed. "Two people sharing one first-aid kit won't kill them!"

Zhang Ailun snatched the bank card, took a POS machine from the car, swiped it, and confirmed that there was indeed that much money. He nodded in satisfaction.

He immediately put on a kind smile and said gently, "Hello, I'm an employee of the Green Letter Shelter charity. Are you donating voluntarily?"

"Huh?" The wasp boss was dumbfounded, not knowing what he was up to this time.

But seeing Zhang Ailun raise the pistol, aiming it at his head, he immediately nodded obediently, "It was voluntary! I volunteered!"

"Very good. Let me confirm again. If this money is donated to a charitable organization, it will not be refunded. Are you sure you want to donate all your assets, a total of $36800 in savings, including $13600 in cash, and a garbage truck, to a charitable organization to contribute your love and help the homeless and disabled?" Zhang Ailun read the employee handbook aloud.

"..."

I didn't do it voluntarily, do you think you can just let me off the hook?

The wasp owner, looking utterly dejected, forced a smile. "It's all voluntary. I just enjoy helping others, is that alright?"

Zhang Ailun swiped his card directly, gave him a receipt, and handed him the POS machine, saying, "Please enter your PIN. And sign here!"

The procedures still need to be followed.

I didn't coerce or extort you; you voluntarily donated to charity!

This money isn't mine either; I will donate it to those in need.

The wasp boss numbly entered his bank card password, watching helplessly as his savings were deducted and wiped out.

Thank you for your charitable donation. Your kindness has helped many more people in need!

Zhang Ailun took out his phone, saw the notification, chuckled, and said, "Received."

(End of this chapter)