American homeless people, surviving in the city

"My name is Sylvia Lopez, and I am a student at the University of Washington."

"The reason I was at the food truck was because I participated in OSL's social welfare activities and was therefore assigned to work as a street food distributor."

"However, it's thanks to this coincidence that I was able to receive your warning!"

Sylvia's lips curled up slightly, her eyes brimming with a bright smile.

Sylvia Lopez?

Lynch didn't recognize the name and could only guess from the surname Lopez that she might be of Hispanic descent.

But since the other party had introduced himself so openly, Lin Qi naturally wouldn't be negligent.

So he nodded slightly to her in greeting:

"Sylvia? My name is Lynch, nice to meet you. However, the gloves I'm wearing right now are quite dirty, so I won't shake your hand."

"Not only that, but your attempt to shake my hand was actually very unsafe. If you accidentally came into contact with any strong cleaning agent residue on my hands, I suggest you rinse them with water right now."

"Ah!" Sylvia's cheeks flushed instantly, and she let out a short gasp.

"Oh, I see! Excuse me, please wait a moment."

She quickly pulled a small key from her handbag, turned the key to the door across the hall, and slipped inside.

Soon after, the sound of rushing water came from the room.

A few dozen seconds later, Sylvia quickly emerged from the doorway, her hands still damp from not being completely wiped dry.

"Mr. Lynch? Would you like to come to my house for a while? I'd like to tell you in detail what happened to me."

This invitation must be different from Officer Kayla's invitation before, right?

No, no matter what, you shouldn't get too close to strange women... When you're on the street, you have absolutely no ability to defend yourself against risks, so you have to be careful...

With his mind racing, Lin Qi remained expressionless: "Never mind, I'm in a hurry to finish my work. If you want to talk, please do it in the hallway."

"Oh well."

Hearing what Lynch said, Sylvia didn't insist, but instead crawled out of the room on her own.

The details of the incident are not complicated:

"To be honest, I didn't take your warning to heart at first... After all, we didn't even know each other before, and I wasn't sure if your warning was just a... joke."

"But after you left, my unease grew stronger. I had a premonition that your warning was not a joke."

A premonition... How come you have a system too?

While absentmindedly scrubbing the carpet, Lin Qi muttered some complaints.

Although he was joking in his heart, Lynch could sense that Sylvia's choice of words was more... standard than most Americans he had ever met.

Sylvia: "So, on my way home, I made sure the driver took a detour so I could see what was behind me."

"It was just a casual thing to do, but I never expected that one time when I looked back in the rearview mirror, I would actually see someone dressed in strange clothes, just like you described, driving behind my car!"

"I didn't tell the driver about it immediately, but continued to observe for a while."

"I quickly realized that they were indeed following me!"

"Then I told the driver to speed up, and taking advantage of our familiarity with the surrounding terrain, we quickly shook them off."

This girl even has a driver...? She doesn't seem like a typical college student...

But that's not important. What's important is that these people dressed in bizarre ethnic costumes are now daring to follow their targets in broad daylight... It's terrifying...

Lin Qi sighed, "Although I warned you, I didn't expect them to dare to follow you so openly. What did you do afterward? Did you call the police?"

"No." Sylvia shook her head slightly. "I don't know which faction they belong to. If they are colluding with the police, and I rashly call the police, it might make them realize that I have already discovered them."

Lin Qi blinked.

"?"

It sounds reasonable, but something just doesn't feel right!

This is definitely not the kind of thinking an ordinary person would have after discovering they are being followed!

Lin Qi: "Excuse me for asking, but you seem quite familiar with dealing with being followed? Have you encountered this many times?"

Sylvia nodded frankly: "Yes, I've encountered something like this at least three or four times since I can remember. Once, my dad's ex-wife tried to secretly take me away to blackmail him for more alimony; another time, my brother's ex-boyfriend kept following our family..."

Lin Qi was momentarily at a loss for words to respond to this information-packed statement.

He hesitated for a moment, then changed the subject: "So, how do you plan to handle this this time?"

Sylvia shrugged, her tone relaxed and showing no sign of panic: "I've already told my father about this, and I'm sure he'll handle it quickly."

Based on her unique insights into dealing with stalkers, Lin Qi seemed to understand something and asked softly, "Your father is...?"

Sylvia's expression remained unchanged despite Lynch's ignorance; she simply smiled gently.

"...Well, all you need to know is that my father has connections with several global security companies."

"With my father's abilities, he can eliminate those malicious stalkers more effectively than the police, so you don't need to worry about my safety."

Hearing only half of this, Lin Qi was already overwhelmed with shock.

Even though the other party didn't say it explicitly, it was clear from their words that Sylvia's family background was definitely not simple!

It's no wonder that when Sylvia met him, although she was very surprised, she didn't show the same gratitude as Chen Yumo after being rescued.

From other people's perspective, although this matter is very bad, its impact is not significant and may not even affect their daily lives!

The world that Sylvia lives in and the world that Lynch is currently in are completely different!

Lin Qi couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gan3kai3, a complex emotion encompassing both emotion and feeling).

Then, Sylvia continued to ask curiously:

"Even so, I am still very grateful to you! If it weren't for you, who knows what those stalkers might have done."

Her gaze was intense, her face clearly conveying the message, "I'm very curious."

"You seem to know even more about these secrets. Is it because of your unique job that you've learned them? Could you please tell me what other inside information you know?! Our family will reward you handsomely!"

If I knew anything, I would definitely say it... but I really don't know anything...

Lin Qi smiled bitterly to himself; his source of information was too abstract to explain to outsiders.

After much thought, he could only shake his head indifferently.

"I'm sorry, this involves a lot of secrets... I've said everything I can. Besides that, I can only hope that you and my father can solve the case as soon as possible and return to normal life."

Having said that, he took two steps back and stood by the door:

"I've already spent enough time chatting. There's still a lot of trace to deal with at this site, so please excuse me for focusing on my work for now."

"Huh?... Okay, fine."

Faced with Lin Qi's sudden change in attitude, Sylvia was at a loss, but she couldn't say anything more. She could only watch Lin Qi slowly retreat back into the house and close the door.

After closing the door, Lin Qi let out a long sigh of relief.

"Phew... I finally managed to get rid of this troublesome problem."

He didn't want to be so cold all of a sudden, but he really didn't know how to answer Sylvia's questions one after another.

It would be better to leave indifferently for now, creating the impression that you have many secrets.

I don't know if I can fool her, but at least I can stop her from excitedly asking those unanswerable questions!

Anyway, let's get to work first...

Lin Qi picked up the rag again and squatted down on the ground.

But Lynch, who continued working, did not expect...

In fact, throughout his entire conversation with Sylvia, he was silently activating the [Bluster] skill.

His disguise not only fooled Sylvia, but also gave him a unique charm.

Sylvia, who had been watching him close the door, remained standing outside, staring intently in the direction he had left.

"He was still receiving welfare meals on the street, but he was a cleaner who frequently appeared at crime scenes. He noticed the stalkers ahead of time, even though so many professional security personnel around him did not notice anything unusual."

"Besides that, he seems to know more..."

"Just who is this man?"

A strange look flashed in Sylvia's eyes.