152: Chapter 149 No Money to Play in the Mud

"Old man! That's an interesting thing to say!"

Li Changsheng's sudden, blunt remark caused the old man's expression to stiffen.

"You haven't even stated your own name, have you? And you really think you're a good judge of character? Have you never considered that I actually really dislike fighting and killing?"

Li Changsheng narrowed his eyes, staring at the other man.

He wasn't afraid of killing; he just couldn't be bothered to get involved in their messy business.

He had come here with the intention of just traveling and relaxing. If the situation back home remained stable, he would fly back immediately.

Foreign lands are nowhere near as comfortable as home. Back home, you don't need to worry about someone taking a potshot at you, but here, you might get shot for no reason at all.

"Then let me reintroduce myself. My name is Chen—Chen with the ears, Chen San. Everyone is used to calling me Third Master."

The old man wore a smile on his face, seemingly unbothered by Li Changsheng's bluntness.

"If you don't want to, that's your own choice. If you do, just talk to me; I always welcome people like you to join. After all, when you're overseas, it's most reassuring to be with fellow countrymen."

Third Master laughed heartily and lay back in a comfortable position.

"The key is on the table. The room at the very end of the second floor is yours. But be careful living here at night; don't go out, or you might end up wetting your pants."

Li Changsheng picked up the key, swiped a pack of foreign cigarettes from the table, and turned to leave without even looking at this so-called Third Master.

Seeing this, Third Master shook his head while sitting in his chair.

"Young, indeed. But he doesn't even blink when he talks big. Forty-seven people? Does he really think it's like slaughtering chickens?"

He was just testing Li Changsheng; after all, Li Changsheng's status was unusual, and he was very close to Old Zhang.

If he could recruit him, his branch would definitely receive recognition from above. What a pity.

Finding his room on the second floor, Li Changsheng entered and found it kept in decent shape.

Seeing the brand-new bedding, Li Changsheng nodded.

He scanned the room; there were marks on the walls where posters had once been, but they had all been torn down.

The room wasn't huge, about thirty square meters, but it was spacious for a single room. It even had an attached bathroom, so he didn't have to share.

He had noticed a communal bathroom in the hallway earlier.

"Not bad. I'll just live here and keep contact with this group to a minimum. I'll try not to get involved in their business."

Li Changsheng was actually quite lazy, but his laziness was reserved for meaningless things.

In his view, killing with them was completely meaningless.

Instead of wasting time on that, he'd rather spend more effort on Cultivate.

The next day, Li Changsheng walked out of the repair shop with an unpleasant expression.

"Brother Li, where are you off to?"

"Yeah, where are you going? If you don't know the way, we can take you."

Several employees called out as they saw Li Changsheng walk out.

He didn't have much interaction with them, but the people here seemed quite enthusiastic.

The Syrian tank from yesterday had already had its shell removed and lay quietly in the factory.

"I'm just going out for a walk; alone is fine. You guys go back to what you're doing."

Li Changsheng waved his hand.

His sour expression was mainly because he couldn't accept the food in this godforsaken place.

Since he arrived, he realized no one here cooked; they had a dedicated person go out and buy food.

Everything bought back was burgers, fries, fried chicken, or pizza.

Because it was too late when he arrived for mealtime, he had just eaten with them. After two meals, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"I don't know how people who eat this every day can stand it."

Li Changsheng sighed. This stuff was high in oil and calories. If you ate it for a month, even with hard training, you'd inevitably get fat.

You could see that by looking at some of the police in the US.

Fortunately, once he reached the main street of Chinatown, Li Changsheng managed to get some authentic Chinese food.

"Phew, I thought this money would be enough. If I stayed for a year or so, this money really wouldn't be enough to spend!"

Looking at the forty dollars he spent on a single meal, he felt a sting in his heart.

What Li Changsheng didn't know was that everything in Chinatown was expensive.

Often, a very ordinary product with Chinese cultural characteristics could cost dozens or even hundreds of dollars.

Those things were purely to fool foreigners, but they also fooled tourists from home—a typical tourist trap.

Actually, there were some cheap things to eat, like General Tso's Chicken, chop suey, sweet and sour chicken, orange chicken, and sweet and sour pork.

Hmm... Li Changsheng had just bought a box of General Tso's Chicken out of curiosity.

He didn't know if General Tso would cough up blood if he heard the name.

Anyway, Li Changsheng almost coughed up blood after one bite.

This thing wasn't Chinese food at all; it was purely cuisine created to cater to the tastes of Americans, and the flavor was overly sweet and sticky.

General Tso was a general from Hunan Province, yet a dish named after him was this super sweet thing.

In fact, this was normal, as Americans liked this flavor, and many Chinese dishes had been changed beyond recognition just to cater to the local market.

There were indeed some authentic Chinese restaurants here, but the prices for authentic Chinese food were extremely expensive.

Li Changsheng's meal was considered simple, just a serving of white-boiled chicken, and it still cost dozens of dollars, plus he had to pay a tip.

"Sure enough, in the US, only the rich can enjoy everything!"

At the dining table, Li Changsheng heard many people complaining about the hospitals here.

Well, it was an eye-opener. Before coming, he thought US hospitals were better than those in China.

But in reality, that excellence only served the upper class.

The people chatting were two couples.

One couple said they used to run a shop here, but it cost them fifty thousand dollars to treat their father-in-law.

Hearing this, Li Changsheng thought it must be a major illness to cost fifty thousand.

After all, fifty thousand dollars was nearly 350,000 RMB, which would be more than enough for some Early Stage cancer removal surgeries.

In fact, it was just a simple appendectomy.

The reason it cost so much was that the family didn't have health insurance.

It wasn't that they didn't want to pay; the annual cost of insurance was sky-high. Low-income families couldn't afford it at all, and even the middle class struggled.

Even with health insurance, the ambulance fee for one trip was five hundred to one thousand dollars, and in some emergencies, it could even reach several thousand dollars.

Li Changsheng had previously seen a news report that an international student, to save money, endured the pain of appendicitis for a full twenty hours and flew back to China just to get that appendix removed.

So, the "enjoyment" here only served the rich. If you had no money, you could only lie on the ground and moan like those homeless people.

It is said that the number of people who go bankrupt due to medical expenses every year accounts for sixty percent of the total number of bankruptcies in the US.

It can be said that one illness, whether big or small, is a devastating blow to an average family.