American homeless people, surviving in the city

Is the task titled, "Rest Assured..."?

After seeing the contents of the system task, Lin Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

While system tasks cannot be taken as absolute evidence, the fact that it did not issue another task requiring Lynch to protect himself or engage the enemy as soon as possible means that the possibility of someone actually spying nearby has been greatly reduced.

What Lynch needed was this reassurance.

Along with this sense of relief, Lin Qi felt that the unbearable cramps in his abdomen had finally eased somewhat, and although his limbs were stiff, they were finally able to obey his commands.

Riding on this momentum, he took a deep breath, kicked open the car door next to the driver's seat, then tilted his body and rolled out of the car almost falling down, landing on his back on the gravel path.

The fall hurt, but with the pain and the sudden onslaught of Seattle's cold, damp wind, Lynch's mind became clearer.

Reason regained control of his mind, and with the forced calm brought on by the discomfort, he sprang to his feet.

The chaotic thoughts were forcibly cleared away at this moment, and Lin Qi was already prepared for it.

Knowing that once he started overthinking, he would fall into an inescapable state of anxiety and fear, whenever he found himself even slightly thinking about the cult or his own future, he would immediately force himself to stop thinking and shift his attention elsewhere.

After all, Lynch was neither a battle-hardened warrior nor one of those naturally calm and destined individuals found in many stories.

Ultimately, he was just an ordinary person.

To fight the sudden enemy, he must first fight his own inner fear.

And this clumsy method was all he could use.

After forcing himself to stop thinking, Lynch regained his ability to act and was finally able to handle the situation at hand.

First, we need to confirm whether the feeling of being watched was truly caused by someone spying on us from the shadows.

Ultimately, the feeling of being watched is something that is difficult to define and explain.

It's like having something stuck in your throat; regardless of whether that thing is removed or swallowed, you'll feel a persistent sensation of something stuck in your throat for a while.

Even though Lin Qi thought he had controlled his emotions, the feeling of being watched was still elusive, seemingly there yet not there, constantly teasing his nerves.

To make sure no one was watching him, Lin Qi first returned to the car, took out the pistol from the bottom of his backpack and held it in his hand for courage. Then he turned on his phone's flashlight and tiptoed into the bushes on both sides of the gravel path.

These bushes are the earliest source of the feeling of being spied on.

If he had a handy knife, Lin Qi would actually prefer to use one. If he really encountered an enemy, this pistol would be no different from a fire poker in his hands.

Unfortunately, reality doesn't allow for "what ifs." Only tonight will Lynch be able to retrieve his knife from the Razor Gang.

That's why he chose to take this pistol; at least it might serve as a deterrent to the enemy.

Lin Qi was fully prepared and stepped into the bushes, but after walking around the villa and through the lush, dense forest, he found nothing.

Not a single suspicious person was seen, nor was anything noteworthy or suspicious found.

Anxiety instinctively made him want to search again, but reason told him that it was getting late and he couldn't delay any longer.

Although there was still some time before the 8 p.m. boxing match, it would take quite a while to eat, warm up, get ready, or drive to the abandoned factory next to Maple Valley in the suburbs.

The afternoon's gains—though it's unclear whether seeing so many clues is ultimately good or bad—have already exceeded expectations.

There's no need to waste any more time.

Lin Qi forced himself to stop being suspicious about whether there was anyone in the bushes. In order to force himself to continue to distract himself, he called out the system panel and checked his personal attributes.

All other attributes are normal, except for the sanity attribute, which is currently at an alarmingly low value:

SAN value: 32/100

Judging solely from the results, Lin Qi's discoveries over the past two days have cost him nearly 50 sanity points!

If this were in a game, his sanity would be enough to make him see shadow monsters or go into a temporary madness.

If it weren't for the system task notification that reminded Lin Qi to take a look, he wouldn't have realized that his experiences over the past few days had put his mental state in such a precarious state.

Lin Qi was startled when he saw his sanity score.

Fortunately, by forcing himself to stop thinking, he managed to control his emotions and prevent his mental state from deteriorating further.

Although today's task was not completed, indicating that the system believes his mental state is not stable enough, at least his sanity has temporarily stabilized.

...I previously thought the rewards for missions that raised the minimum sanity level were useless, but I never expected my sanity level to drop to this level so quickly.

It seems I'll have to be even more careful from now on...

Lin Qi sighed and then closed the system panel.

To avoid this situation again, we should stay away from street threats as much as possible, and the most obvious threat at present is this cult.

Given that the Seattle police have done nothing about this...

Although he didn't want to get too entangled with the underworld, the most powerful force he could rely on was perhaps the Razor Gang.

Therefore, tonight's boxing match is a crucial moment for him to demonstrate his value to the Razor Breasts and prove to "The Neapolitan" Vesario Gallo that his investment was not a mistake.

The environment was harsh, and in order to survive, Lin Qi had to do everything in his power, no matter how unwilling he was.

Furthermore, while the Razor Shields may be lawless on the streets, their attitude towards Lynch was undeniably respectable.

Therefore, there's no need to be so unwilling...?

Lynch tried to convince himself as he began to wrap up his work for the day.

He first checked everything he had collected that day, including the robes, photos, books, manuscripts, envelopes, money orders, and photo albums from the basement. After confirming that nothing was missing, he neatly stacked them in the trunk of the wrecked car.

I then walked around the villa, turned off all the lights, and confirmed that everything was normal.

Finally, he left the villa, locked the gate, got into the car, stepped on the gas, and drove off into the distance.

As night quietly fell, the streetlights in the lakeside area lit up one by one. Occasionally, as his beat-up car drove past other mansions, Lin Qi could see warm lights shining from those elegant or magnificent luxury homes.

Which of these wealthy people living in mansions were completely unaware of the tragedy that occurred in their neighbor's home and were living their happy lives? And which of them actually appeared in that album of photos with high-ranking members of the cult?

All of this remained unknown to Lin Qi for the time being. He simply walked silently through the night, leaving behind all the worldly riches and honors that were irrelevant to him in the blink of an eye.

Before leaving, he made a special trip to the area around the iron gate guard post.

The police tape was still in place, but the body of the security guard had already been removed; all the police cars had also been withdrawn, leaving only a single police officer on duty near the scene, guarding against anyone breaking in or disturbing the scene.

Lin Qi sincerely hoped that the police would conduct a more thorough investigation this time, but it was unlikely that the police would do so.

It is a truly sad fact.

He didn't linger or talk to the young policeman; he drove straight out of the lakeside area.