American homeless people, surviving in the city

Lucas pressed on tentatively, his tone full of curiosity.

Lin Qi could understand his curiosity; as a social media influencer who chases trending topics on the street, curiosity was part of his professional qualities.

But in this matter, curiosity might cause him a lot of trouble.

So Lin Qi simply avoided his gaze, feigning ignorance and shaking his head: "I... I don't know either, maybe the food truck operator had some last-minute arrangements today?"

Lucas didn't let him off the hook. He took a few steps forward, tilted his head, stared into Lynch's eyes, and after a few seconds, he laughed:

"No, I can see the hesitation in your eyes; you can't look me in the eye. You're lying."

"You definitely know something!"

As he spoke, he moved behind Lynch and gripped his shoulders with both hands: "Why are you hiding it? Tell me! I really want some interesting news..."

"...That's very rude of you!" Lin Qi remained unmoved. "I've already said I don't know anything. Why do you insist on finding the answer to this question from me?"

Lucas simply blinked and replied, "Because of a journalist's intuition! My intuition tells me you must know some secret I don't!"

...How dare you, a YouTube influencer, pretend to be a journalist!

Lynch really wanted to complain, so he forcefully shook off Lucas's groping hand from his shoulder: "Don't bring up this useless stuff, I told you I don't know!"

"I'll give you $200 for this information!" Seeing that his direct questioning was ineffective, Lucas changed his offensive approach.

"this..."

This condition made Lin Qi waver for a moment, but considering the potential danger, he firmly kept his mouth shut.

"No, this isn't about money!"

"Hiss..." Lucas gasped dramatically. "This is truly beyond my expectations. I've never seen anyone in my life who can't even afford $200!"

"That's because you haven't met enough people in your life!" Lin Qi couldn't help but retort loudly.

But Lucas's carefree personality and exaggerated speaking style relaxed him somewhat. With Lucas's interruption, Lynch stopped obsessing over why the food truck hadn't appeared today and started to chat.

"I said I didn't know why the food truck wasn't setting up today, and that's the truth. I have some guesses about the reason, but it's not important. Besides, how big of a news story is it whether a relief food truck sets up or not?"

Instead of asking me a question I don't know the answer to, why don't you ask something else?

"Apart from this question, ask me anything. If I know the answer, I will never hide it from you!"

Seeing Lynch's resolute stance, Lucas sighed and finally gave up. He shook his head helplessly.

"...Alright, since you insist, then so be it."

"But what else can I ask you besides the topic right in front of us? How's the weather tomorrow?"

"...I'm not the weather forecaster." Lin Qi felt like a speechless "..." appeared above his head.

"Haha, just kidding."

Lucas chuckled, plopped down on the edge of a roadside flowerbed, and casually remarked as he drove through the bustling streets:

"Since the food truck didn't set up its stall, it's probably all for nothing for my video footage this time."

"In that case, do you have any other interesting street news to tell me? It doesn't need to be true, the more sensational and eye-catching the better."

...You were just proudly calling yourself a journalist, how come you've stopped caring about the authenticity of the news so quickly?

Lynch squinted at him, then tried to recall his experiences over the past few days to see if he could find some interesting news to get rid of Lucas.

What have I been through these past few days?

He gets into a street fight with thugs, gets hired by the Razor Gang to participate in underground boxing, discovers a cult's secret room in a villa in a wealthy area, uncovers the connection between the cult and the missing persons cases, and learns from the police about the police department's inaction...

It feels like these aren't things I can just casually tell others.

Lynch scratched his head, then turned to Lucas, his face serious:

"Lucas, something's occurred to me."

"What is it?" Lucas asked excitedly.

"I know a really good American-style barbecue pub. You can go there and film a review video next time."

Lucas: "..."

Seeing that Lynch was completely out of the game, Lucas sighed helplessly.

"Fine, fine, I give up. Your street intelligence-gathering skills are worse than mine. I've even seen some interesting things on the streets these past few days..."

"What is it?" Lin Qi asked quickly when he saw that the other party had finally changed the subject.

"It's nothing much, it's just that I've been seeing some strange people around here lately. They're always wearing robe-like clothes with strange patterns embroidered on them. I don't know if it's some kind of religious attire or the traditional clothing of some ethnic group I don't recognize..."

Oh, it seems Lucas has also noticed those cultists. Lynch understood; their activities on Third Avenue had indeed increased recently, so it was only natural that Lucas would take notice.

He was just about to speak, reminding Lucas to be careful lately, when he heard Lucas continue:

"...However, I noticed they were always accompanied by police officers. Hey, even though those officers weren't in uniform and didn't have guns prominently displayed on their waists, I could tell at a glance they were plainclothes. So I guess those people must be foreigners attending that important international conference recently? Otherwise, they wouldn't always be accompanied by police..."

"What did you say?!" Lin Qi was startled and couldn't help but shout out.

How could police officers be seen walking with cult members?

Lucas was startled by Lynch's roar and looked at him, somewhat bewildered: "I said, police..."

Lin Qi waved his hand, telling him to stop talking.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. Lucas had only seen some people in traditional clothing, and upon reflection, that didn't necessarily mean they were cult members. As Lucas himself had said, recent international conferences had brought a lot of foreigners to Seattle, and perhaps those people were just ordinary foreign visitors.

Therefore, this does not necessarily mean that cult members are colluding with the police.

How can we be sure that what Lucas saw was really cult members... Oh right, the pattern on the cuffs.

After figuring everything out, Lin Qi quickly asked, "Did you see their clothes clearly? Did you see the embroidered patterns on their robes, and what they looked like?"

"Huh?" Lucas was taken aback by the sudden question, but he seemed to notice Lynch's serious expression and immediately tried to recall:

"I remember...their faces were generally dark, with short, curly hair, like South Asians. Their patterns...I have some recollection of them, but they're somewhat abstract; I don't know how to describe them..."

"Are those patterns like bones and lotus flowers?" Lin Qi asked urgently.

"Bones and lotus flowers..."

Just as Lucas was desperately trying to recall, a deep engine roar suddenly came from the street corner.

Lin Qi subconsciously turned his head and saw a black sedan slowly driving up, with the window half-rolled down, revealing a face inside.

South Asian features, dark skin, short curly hair.

The neckline is embroidered with bone and lotus flower patterns.