Driving back to the Bridge Tunnel Campsite on Highway 19, they briefed Lori who had been watching over the place.
Black was a bit disgruntled, lighting a Yezhi-brand cigarette and taking a deep drag, speaking in a hoarse, raspy voice, "Bro, might as well have dug a hole and buried them all, they brought it upon themselves. At first, I really thought you guys were going to cut out their kidneys and sell them, scared me for a bit."
Black was not satisfied with their way of handling things, the conservative felt the radicals were too conservative!
Allen Zhang handed the $227 he had earned to little Lori, comforting: "After all, we are not really gang members, right? Harmony brings wealth, get some sleep. Tomorrow, distribute the money to those who aren’t home."
Simone, Blitz, Dave, Sarah. Including them, there were just about eleven permanent residents at the campsite.
The $2500 divided up wasn’t much, only $227 each, but it was still equivalent to a month’s small relief subsidy, enough for an extra meal, right?
They hadn’t sold the cans they picked up today, only the valuable recyclables for $200, Allen took an $80 cut as his share, spent $460 on maintenance fees and a $100 deposit. His total net worth now stood at $8004.
He still had to pay $6300 for documentation fees.
Man, money was really tight!
Thankfully, as Allen Zhang was currently unregistered and technically nonexistent, he didn’t have to worry about taxes yet. Once his identity was processed, he would have to start paying taxes regularly.
As night fell, all his buddies busied themselves with their own things, Allen Zhang and Dominic tidied up the tent’s supplies under the bridge and moved them into the RV.
Jennifer also organized her belongings and stored them inside the RV.
After setting everything up, Allen Zhang lay on the soft Simmons mattress, instantly feeling his entire body relax.
"Goodnight, Dominic! Goodnight, Jennifer."
Dominic laid on the side bed. The RV switched to sleep mode, the lights dimming to a soft glow; the long-missed comfort of lying in a bed felt delightful.
He quickly drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, someone unsteadily got out of bed and sneaked under the covers.
Allen Zhang woke up startled, reaching out his hand. This feel...
"Jennifer?" he whispered, cautious not to wake Dominic. You’re so bold, not wearing anything?
"My dear, thank you for what you did for me today, for letting me stay in the RV. I have nothing with which to repay you, so I can only do what I’m good at, and I think you’ll like it."
Jennifer in the covers chuckled, "Don’t reject me, or I’ll get mad and bite you!"
You’re already biting me!!
Allen Zhang was woken up by the daily report alert tone, opening his eyes to find no one beside him.
Poking his head out, he saw that Dominic and Jennifer were both sleeping soundly in their respective beds.
Fortunately, she knew when to stop, not overstepping boundaries, and had repaid him with just a bit of rap skills. Otherwise, waking Dominic really would have been hard to explain.
Allen Zhang stepped into the bathroom, took a quick shower, freshened up, and changed his clothes.
He took out his phone and opened an app to check today’s intelligence.
[Daily Intelligence: The template for your documents has been transported on a black Plymouth car with the license plate LS-32D-67 to the knitting factory at 156 suburbs. The identity information has been simultaneously transmitted to the manager, Lori Lai, at the California Immigration Bureau for identity entry. It should be registered within three days. Long press to check personal life information.]
Holy shit, did that just expose their headquarters?
But Allen had no intention of reporting them, as it wouldn’t benefit him at all.
[Daily Intelligence: At the entrance of house no. 369, apartment community at 126 Wisdom Forest District, there is an abandoned oven, sofa, gaming chair, and a red wastepaper box containing a single signed sneaker by NBA star Julius Erving, Dr. J.]
Dr. J’s signed sneakers? Thrown away just like that?
Allen didn’t know much about this area and only recognized some more recent stars, so he googled it.
Julius Erving was an NBA legend from the 1970s, a predecessor of Jordan, who once played for the Philadelphia 76ers, and captured numerous accolades during his career, signing countless sneakers and jerseys.
The value of signed sneakers wasn’t too high, at least not absurdly costly like those signed by Lori, which could make someone rich overnight.
Without its pair, the value of a single match sneaker definitely diminishes, and depending on its condition, the market price could be anywhere from 200 to 3000 US Dollars.
Allen already imagined how old George would swing the Dragon Slayer Sword at him!
If it were Lori’s sneakers or jerseys, especially those signed in front of the audience just before boarding a plane, you wouldn’t even dare think how valuable they could be.
[Daily Intelligence: A commercial battle activity will take place at the apartment community on Eito Street in Fifth Street, where the junkyard owner Mani, in an effort to push the street economic interests and suppress his competitor Mike’s recycling station, has hired a team of homeless and scavengers to cause trouble and snatch bins in the rival community over the next three days.]
[Details: The participating scavenger organizations include the Mod Brothers at Bridge No. 9 Camp, the Irishmen in the sewers, and the Bobtail Dogs at the abandoned construction site.]
Beggar Gang against Beggar Gang?
What a perfect time to fish in troubled waters!
Allen felt that it was the Beggar Gang’s chance.
Currently, Lori Louis 19’s Beggar Gang’s influence is substantial as many homeless in impoverished streets have heard of them, but their territory only covers seven and a half streets, basically only supporting the productivity of about two communities.
The wealthier communities in Fifth Street are mostly in the hands of old scavenger gangs or directly managed by middlemen’s recycling stations.
Tier0 resource areas are undoubtedly in the Rich District. However, the preconditions for contracting are incredibly high, requiring not only a recycling station and a cooperation with the recycling company but also sufficient manpower and garbage trucks.
Tier1 resource areas cover ordinary communities and shops. But talking about opening a Pandora’s box within the community, let alone getting around that, inevitably requires dealing with the city sanitation workers, who directly contract out the community’s bins and wastage.
Tier2 and Tier3 resource areas are relatively prosperous streets, regular roadside, and alleyway trash bins.
Street skirmishes also mean dealing with many homeless, scavengers, and even small gangs.
Allen currently owns resources on seven and a half streets, with five streets being Tier2 and Tier3 ordinary resource areas.
One street is a high resource refresh area managed by Carnation Club, another has contracted garbage cleanup and street management from Sunkist Bar, including half of y3 street.
A high resource area could consistently provide 1000 cans, while treasure boxes occasionally churn out rare items. Don’t even mention the normal street areas, if they can consistently offer two to three hundred cans daily, that’s already considered a lot.
He was just contemplating how to legitimately expand his territory from others, and now an opportunity has presented itself.