America: Starting with Daily Intelligence
Chapter 100: Ten Thousand Yuan Household

Chapter 100: Chapter 100: Ten Thousand Yuan Household

"Are you guys buying gaming chairs and ovens?"

Allen Zhang received the receipt and cash, meticulously counted and saw his entire wealth frighteningly climb to $10,004. Relying on scavenging on the West Coast and sheer determination, he finally became a ten-thousandaire!

His wallet bulged.

He felt extremely pleased.

"What brand?" the female clerk asked.

"Pirate ship gaming chair, from 2018. The oven is probably a Galanz one."

Allen Zhang pitched enthusiastically, "The gaming chair has quite a story—it was used by a professional gamer. He came from a poor neighborhood, an unfortunate family, but he had indomitable spirit, fought hard, and eventually made it onto the path of a pro player!"

"If you want it, $200. I can have it delivered right now!"

The female clerk looked at him with a peculiar gaze, "Sir, we don’t accept trash here, maybe you should consider selling it to the junk collection station next door?"

"Trash left long enough becomes antiques, right? Buy it and leave it in your store for two years, and when that esports boy gets famous, wouldn’t you make a big profit?"

Allen Zhang said, "You can’t look down on other people’s dreams like that, you gotta have faith in them!"

"We also don’t speculate on futures here," the clerk tactfully refused. "If you have so much confidence in him, why don’t you hold onto it until he’s famous and then sell it?"

"Because I’m afraid he might not get famous."

Allen Zhang liked to speak the truth.

"..." Not you...

She was taken aback by his straightforwardness, never having met such a straightforward person before.

She said, "While I do hope you could make some money from it, unfortunately, such things belong in the recycling center."

"Then forget it."

Allen Zhang didn’t really expect to be able to sell it. After bidding Saraphine, the store clerk, goodbye, he walked out, pulled out his phone, and sent a message to Jason.

He asked Jason to drive over whenever he had time to haul the gaming chair, oven, and sofa back to camp, and also sent the location coordinates. Even if he couldn’t sell them, keeping them for personal use was also fine.

Jason: Aren’t these things sort of worthless?

Allen Zhang: A few dozen dollars is still money! Jason, are you getting arrogant? You don’t care about a few tens of dollars anymore. If you really don’t have time, then I will find someone else, but then you’ll need to find some other time to use the camp’s communal pickup truck.

Jason: No! I’ll go once I wake up! I really need that truck to haul goods; if it can be transferred, it absolutely has to be put under my name.

Having arranged his affairs, Allen Zhang also sent a greeting message to Rena, hoping to cadge a breakfast at her place, or lunch was fine too.

Rena: The shelter is reopening today and I’m afraid I won’t have time to look after you, dear Mr. Allen.

Allen Zhang: When will you have time then?

Rena: Tomorrow or the day after? You’re welcome to come over in the evening.

Allen Zhang: How about today?

Rena: No can do, I haven’t recovered yet. Even going to work today was affected, you’re such a glutton.

Allen Zhang: Thanks for the compliment.

:)

Sent a smiley face, as a friendly gesture.

Not having succeeded in scoring a free meal, Allen Zhang had to fend for himself on the streets, randomly picking a convenience store to buy breakfast to satiate his hunger. He then started surfing the net to closely monitor the situation of Los Angeles’s scavengers.

He also discovered that some YouTube celebrities have delved into interviewing and understanding the conditions of the street homeless, but then Black swooped in, and afterward, the celebrities rarely came to the streets for interviews.

By noon, Dominic sent Allen Zhang a message, reporting that Old Karl’s junk collection station had run into some trouble, and David and Gate had also sensed some unrest in the streets.

Allen Zhang: Old Karl’s junk collection station is over on Eito Street, and those three scavenger teams have also been showing up there often recently; I knew it would somewhat affect him. He wasn’t planning on asking us for help, was he?

Pepsi and Coca-Cola are fighting, and it’s hilariously deadly.

Now Old Karl must be feeling pretty uncomfortable being caught in the middle.

Dominic: Not yet, but he wants to tell us to try not to go over there to sell cans these next couple of days. David and Gate also saw quite a few Scavengers who don’t play by the rules, running onto other people’s turf to snatch stuff. A small team next door was already looted clean, and our area might get affected too.

Old Karl is quite a character, isn’t he?

Allen Zhang: Don’t worry, I’m not afraid of them causing trouble for me, I’m actually afraid they won’t come at all!!

Dominic: Hearing you say that puts my mind at ease.

Assured Dominic’s feelings and told him to let everyone continue collecting cans and to report back promptly if anything happens.

It was around 2 o’clock in the afternoon when Sieg sent him some good news, making a video call.

Allen Zhang answered the call and saw three or four disheveled vagrants appear on the screen.

He immediately greeted them, "Hey, guys, how are you doing! Sieg, what’s the situation over there? Where are you at right now?"

Looking at the background, there’s a beach and a Ferris wheel? Are you at an amusement park?

"I’m at Santa Monica Beach." Sieg replied. "I came over here to invite a few friends to join our team."

Santa Monica Beach?

No wonder it looked somewhat familiar.

Allen Zhang immediately asked, "Are all of your friends sure they want to join us?"

"Yes, they are all very outstanding former veterans. Hey Richie, come say hi to our boss," Sieg called out to his friends to squeeze into the frame.

Brown hair, blue eyes, a sorrowful gaze, and rugged stubble, they all looked taciturn, with a one-armed man particularly catching the eye.

"Hello, sir, I’m Richie, a first-class Sergeant in the Marine Corps." The good-looking young Caucasian saluted, "Ready to follow your command."

"I’m Jason, an Army Sergeant First Class."

"Bailey, Air Force Staff Sergeant."

"Melvin, Navy Petty Officer."

Allen Zhang listened as they reported their names and military ranks one by one, trying hard to remember, but in the end, he hardly retained their names, just a rough image and features to identify each person by.

Let’s just call you West Coast Yang Guo and the Five Elders of Kongtong.

"Ok! Welcome to the team, gentlemen! Since Sieg has personally invited everyone, I trust you must all be exceptional talents in various respects, and we will surely have a bright future together!"

"Sir, there’s no need to praise us like that. If we had any real talent, we wouldn’t be sleeping on the streets."

The vagrants were honest with each other, "All we can assure you is if you can assign us work and pay us, so we aren’t hungry, then we’re with you!"

"Our lives are pretty much a mess right now; it doesn’t get much worse than this."

They all chimed in one after another, voicing their dissatisfaction with life’s tribulations.

"There will be! There will be bread and milk for sure!" Allen Zhang consoled everyone like a pyramid scheme leader giving a pep talk.

Seeing the recent transformation in Sieg, they readily believed him.

After all, their good buddy was so down on his luck recently that he couldn’t even afford a meal, rummaging through trash bins, begging on the streets, squashing on park benches without even a tent to live in.

Now he’s turned a new leaf, with money and guns, all splendid and making a stable few dozen dollars every day.

And when things are good, he even gets a bonus of hundreds of dollars! Who wouldn’t be envious of that!

Just then, David and Gate sent a message to Allen Zhang, informing him that some Irish Europeans came causing trouble on their turf, wanting to steal their cans.

Allen Zhang immediately replied to them not to start a conflict and wait for them to go over.

"Ok, friends, just in time for some action-packed tasks. Let’s see how efficient you guys are!"