Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 403 Sudden Death

When they saw the hostess in front of them, Lin Yuan and Betty could hardly recognize her.

They had just looked at the photo in the corner. The woman in the photo was in her early 20s and looked young and beautiful.

But in just five or six years, the Padama standing before them looked haggard and wrinkled. Her former beauty was gone, and she looked like a woman in her forties.

It is obvious that this is premature aging caused by long-term malnutrition and high-intensity work.

A person works five jobs, busy from 7 o'clock in the morning when it is just light until 10 o'clock in the evening when it is completely dark, and coupled with malnutrition, how can he not age prematurely?
Betty felt a little uncomfortable.

Lin Yuan squeezed her hand, signaling her not to be rude, and then introduced themselves to each other.

Of course, their external identity is definitely just an ordinary American couple traveling around the world on a budget.

The host and the guest sat down on the floor in the house and started talking again.

Lin Yuan originally thought that Padama, who was overwhelmed by the burden of life, would be in a depressed mood and have no interest in talking.

But unexpectedly, she is also a warm and cheerful person, and very talkative. Amaya obviously inherited her mother's personality.

Padama is obviously a well-educated woman. Her knowledge and conversation are quite outstanding and impressive.

During their conversation with her, Lin Yuan and Betty learned that the Dharavi slum has a population of 200 million.

One million is the official figure, but the actual population is two million.

It may seem dirty and chaotic, but it is thriving. The Dharavi slum generates more than $44 billion in GDP each year.

This is equivalent to creating $2200 per capita.

In 2003, India's per capita GDP was only US$540.

Even if we look at Mumbai alone, its per capita GDP is only $1300.

It can be seen that Dharavi slum is a real gold mine where the lower-class people can make money.

It is no wonder that despite such poor living conditions, 200 million people are still willing to squeeze in here to work and live.

Everyone is striving for their dreams, hoping to earn wealth to change their destiny as soon as possible.

Padma is obviously one of them. She said frankly: "I can earn 1200 rupees a day and have saved 40 rupees now. In another month, I will have saved enough money to take Amaya to the hospital for heart surgery."

Lin Yuan was quite surprised to hear Padama's words.

1200 rupees is equivalent to more than 260 RMB. She has no days off, which means she can earn about to RMB a month.

This income level is very high even in China.

In 2003, the average college graduate only had a monthly salary of around 2000 yuan.

Padama's income is definitely high.

But Lin Yuan also knew the price behind this high income, which was working five jobs, from morning to night, all year round, like a tireless ox or horse.

Padama is desperately squeezing himself and burning his life to earn such an income.

"The hospital has been contacted and I can go to pay the deposit tomorrow. My Amaya will be as healthy as other children." Padama's eyes were full of expectations for the future.

"Congratulations, your hard times are finally over."

It’s really not easy, Lin Yuan couldn’t help but sigh.

The three of them chatted for a while, and then Lin Yuan and Betty took the initiative to say goodbye.

Because they saw that Padama had not eaten dinner yet, if they did not leave, it would be inappropriate for her as the host to eat in front of the guests.

Being hungry was one thing, but on the other hand she also had to finish her meal as quickly as possible, then wash up and go to bed.

There are still many things waiting for her to do tomorrow.

After returning to their room, Betty and Lin Yuan made their beds on the floor and fell asleep in each other's arms.

In the past few nights, they have had an intense "communication" every night before going to bed.

But given the conditions and soundproofing tonight, the two of them couldn't let go.

I thought the small hotel in Delhi was simple enough, but compared to this place it was like heaven.

Silent all night.

The two of them slept soundly.

……

……

The next morning, after washing up, the two men said goodbye to Amaya and prepared to go to the slums for investigation.

The hostess Padama had already gone out to work.

The slums are bustling with people and full of energy early in the morning.

After Lin Yuan and Betty finished their breakfast at a roadside shop, they started strolling around.

In the Dharavi slum, almost every river they saw was filled with garbage, and the black river water had a pungent stench that could be smelled from hundreds of meters away.

This picture perfectly fits the two people's stereotype of the slums.

It was extremely dirty and messy, but even in such a harsh environment, Lin Yuan actually saw someone with half of his body soaked in the black and smelly river water.

The river water reached his chest, and a large amount of rotten garbage gathered under his nose, making people want to vomit just by looking at it.

"What is he doing? The river water is so disgusting, how can he stay there?" Betty asked puzzled.

"A construction worker. He's repairing the cracked concrete wall by the river to prevent the road above from collapsing." Lin Yuan took a look and replied.

"It's really not easy! Most people can't do this kind of work." Betty sighed.

"It's not shameful to make money as life requires." Lin Yuan replied.

"But if you soak in the river like this, won't your lower body rot? If you do this, I won't let you in." Betty replied with a smile.

Sure enough, after experiencing it a few more times, the woman became an experienced driver, and Betty became bold and unrestrained.

The jokes started to have some color.

"Enter what?" Lin Yuan asked knowingly.

"Your favorite place." She answered without showing any weakness.

"What are you doing! Do your research in broad daylight. I'll deal with you after we check into the hotel tomorrow night!" Lin Yuan said.

"Okay~ I definitely won't lose this time!"

The two bickered like children, holding hands as they continued to look around the slums.

During the day, they saw the numerous small factories in the Dharavi slum.

This kind of factory with only a few people cannot even be considered a small factory, it can only be called a small workshop.

The two men went up to talk to the boss and the clerk.

When he is not busy at work, the other party is also very enthusiastic to communicate with the two of them.

During the conversation, the two learned that such a small workshop could generate a turnover ranging from hundreds of thousands to several hundred thousand US dollars a year and support several workers.

Many bosses can even make a small profit, buy a house in a formal community not far from the slums, settle down and become a real new Mumbai.

The young boss's determined experience also inspires other workers in the workshop, who hope that one day they can also integrate into this city.

This struggle story of people moving from rural areas to cities is being repeated in countries around the world.

Lin Yuan and Betty also visited the garbage disposal stations that are everywhere in the slums and talked to the scavengers who sold the garbage.

During the communication, they deeply felt that what most people consider garbage can actually generate such high profits after classification and processing.

Garbage recycling is a very profitable business, with profits so high that it even requires the intervention of gang forces to divide their respective spheres of influence.

This incident once again refreshed Betty's cognition.

As a high-ranking Wall Street elite, it was impossible for her to pay attention to scavengers and "undignified" livelihoods such as garbage recycling.

Investing in those glamorous high-tech companies in Silicon Valley is very prestigious and makes money quickly, so why should you be so down-to-earth?
But this trip to India opened the door to a new world for Betty.

It made her feel that she had become completely different from before.

Then, they went to experience the diverse vegetable market in Dharavi slum and learn about the price levels there.

It is not easy to live in Chang'an, the cost of living in big cities is extremely high.

However, the vegetable market in Dharavi slum provides low-income groups with low-priced goods that match their income.

Although the quality of fruits and vegetables is sometimes a little bit poor, the super low prices can make up for it.

During this day, they met many enthusiastic slum residents who gave them selfless help.

Of course, there is more Indian-style fraud that is absolutely impossible to be absent.

Shortchanging, acting crazy, pretending to give the wrong change, asking for exorbitant amounts... these endless little tricks really opened the eyes of the two men.

It was not until it got dark that the two of them walked towards their residence with reluctance.

"You've been in India for a few days now. What's your biggest impression of India?" Lin Yuan asked. "There are both good and bad things, but if I had to single out the most profound impression, it would definitely be the widespread dishonesty. Greed, fraud, and deception seem ingrained in the DNA of most Indians," Betty said.

"Why do you think Indians are like this? I don't think it can be simply explained by poverty. At least it's not like this in China. As far as I know, the people there value etiquette and have a sense of shame, which is definitely not like in India." Betty asked further.

"I really like a line from the movie 'Seven Samurai' by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa," Lin Yuan replied.

"The peasants are the most stingy, cunning, cowardly, mean-spirited, incompetent, and murderous."

"But who made them become like this?"

"What do you want the farmers to do? What should they do?"

"This line is the best portrayal of India."

After hearing Lin Yuan's words, Betty said seriously, "When you stay at the top for too long, it's easy to lose sight of your feet. You can't see the suffering at the bottom, nor can you see that your foundation is crumbling. Thank you for bringing me to India this time. This has been a very valuable journey."

Lin Yuan didn't say anything, but smiled and touched her head.

Betty is very tall, so Lin Yuan has to raise his hands very high.

Lin Yuan suddenly discovered that every girl he had an intimate relationship with seemed to be very tall, with an average height of about 1 meters.

天仙和安妮是1米73，GAKKI酱和贝蒂是1米75，泰勒更是达到了1米8，各个都是模特级别身材的大长腿。

It turns out that he thought he was a foot fetishist, but he didn't expect that he was actually a long-legged fetishist.

Betty closed her eyes, enjoying the caress of Lin Yuan's hand. She stepped forward and gently hugged Lin Yuan.

"What a pity, the days of having you all to myself are almost over," she whispered.

"But every minute and every second I spent with you is so vivid and profound in my mind. This period of time is enough for me to savor for a very long time."

Without waiting for Lin Yuan's answer, she continued.

Lin Yuan hugged her and held her tightly silently.

……

……

When the two returned to the warehouse, they were surprised to find that the aisles were filled with residents, and everyone was talking in a flurry.

What happened?
"How could this happen? Poor Padma."

"If you want to rape someone, then rape them. Why do you have to kill someone?"

"The key is that they want to rob me of my money. If it was just rape, Padama wouldn't fight to the death."

"How despicable! They are simply a bunch of beasts! Has the murderer been caught?"

"How could they possibly catch them? Those gang members must have paid enough protection money to the police station long ago, so they dare to act so recklessly."

"Poor Amaya, what's she going to do with her life? She's not in good health."

"If possible, let's find a way to help her. We can't really watch her starve to death, right?"

"This child's father is not a human being! It's really hard for this mother and daughter."

During the conversation with the residents, Lin Yuan and Betty learned what had happened.

This afternoon, Padama had an accident.

The accident did not happen in the Dharavi slum, and the security situation there is actually not that bad.

The accident happened in an alley next to the Central Hospital.

Today Padma went to the bank to withdraw money and prepared to go to the hospital to pay the deposit for Amaya's heart surgery next month.

But when she came out of the bank, she was targeted by a group of idle thugs on the street.

They followed Padama all the way to an alley near the hospital.

At first Padma thought they were going to rape her, and although it was humiliating, she did not resist.

She just wanted these beasts to let her go as soon as possible after they were satisfied.

She was responsible for her daughter's health and upbringing. As long as she could keep herself safe, she would just treat what happened today as a dog bite.

Therefore, she just silently held the bag in her hand, bit her lips tightly, and endured it all.

But after they finished venting their anger, they reached out to the bag in Padama's hand.

This is the deposit for Amaya's surgery, a full 20 rupees!
This is the life-saving money that Padama has saved through years of frugality. Every penny here is her blood and sweat, and it is also the hope of Amaya's life.

How could she let the money get lost?

So she began to resist desperately.

The gang hadn't expected the woman before them to fight like crazy. Furious, one of them pulled out a dagger and stabbed Padama in the chest...

After doing all these evil things, they grabbed the bag that Padma had held tightly in their arms until the last moment and disappeared into the depths of the alley.

After understanding what happened, Lin Yuan and Betty felt so angry that they were about to explode.

They struggled to squeeze through the crowd and reached the door of the room.

Padama's pale body was lying on the floor among the crowd. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were in disarray, her face was covered with wounds, and there was a dark red spot on her left chest.

Lin Yuan looked at Padama's appearance, and the youthful and beautiful image in the photo flashed before his eyes. She was once a beautiful girl in her prime, and she was not even thirty years old now.

Fate mercilessly placed all the injustices on her.

But she never complained, but just endured silently, hoping to change the predicament through her own efforts.

"My Amaya will be as healthy as other children."

When she said this last night, her eyes were filled with endless anticipation for the future. This picture appeared in Lin Yuan's eyes again.

Now, that moment was shattered.

Lin Yuan clenched his fists. He felt that the anger in his chest was no longer controllable.

Amaya lay on her mother's body and cried bitterly. She had cried for so long that her voice was hoarse and her tears had dried up.

When she saw Lin Yuan, she felt like she was seeing a relative.

Although this older brother was just a new neighbor, Amaya felt particularly close to him.

At this moment, she felt helpless and hugged Lin Yuan, crying, "Wuwuwu~ Amaya has no mother, Amaya has no relatives..."

At this moment, Lin Yuan felt as if an invisible thug had grabbed his heart tightly, making him unable to breathe due to grief and anger.

Lin Yuan took a few deep breaths, adjusted himself, and squatted down, hugging Amaya tightly. He said word by word, "Don't worry, leave this matter to me. I will definitely help you get revenge and will not let any murderer go."

With Lin Yuan's comfort, Amaya, who had already cried herself to exhaustion, relaxed and fell into a deep sleep.

He picked up Amaya and handed her to Betty.

Then he turned to the onlookers and asked, "What are the results of the investigation into the case? What did the police say?"

"What can we say? Just say it was done by a few thugs, but the murderer is hard to locate, and it will take time to track him down." said a middle-aged man in his forties.

It was he who took Amaya to the police station today, retrieved Padma's body, and learned about the case from the police station.

Trace it slowly?

Lin Yuan is not a fool, of course he knows what this sentence means.

It means that they will not investigate the case seriously, are prepared to smooth things over, and ultimately the matter will be left unresolved!
After all, the person who died was just a low-caste woman from the slums. Isn't this kind of thing happening every day in India, especially in Mumbai?

Doesn’t it take up so much manpower and resources to investigate every incident like this?

Just look around. If you can catch the murderer without much trouble, then do it.

If you can't catch it, you can only blame your bad luck.

Lin Yuan understood this mentality too well.

"I will catch the murderer and give you an explanation." Looking at the sleeping Amaya, Lin Yuan said solemnly.

"Young man, don't be impulsive. As an outsider, how are you going to catch him?" the middle-aged man advised.

"Don't say you can't find the murderer. Even if you can find him, what can you do? They are most likely gang members and have killed many people." A woman advised.

"Yes, you are bringing such a beautiful girl with you. If you don't think about your own safety, you should also think about her. Don't get yourself involved." Another resident also advised.

"Calm down, this is not your responsibility. Don't try to take it on yourself." The middle-aged man said again.

In India, where he is unfamiliar with the place, how can Lin Yuan find the murderer even if he is a good fighter?

Even if we find the murderer, aren't we afraid of being caught if we take action directly?

After all, the judicial authorities will not sit idly by and watch Lin Yuan use violence. The subsequent public opinion storm will be even more troublesome for a public figure like him.

Lin Yuan already had a solution to this series of problems.

He took out his cell phone and dialed a number.

After the call was connected, he said, "Hello, is this Mr. Ambani? This is Lin Yuan."

(End of this chapter)