America: Starting from collecting corpses, leveling up to godhood

"Whatever you want, just remember to let me know when you jump so I can collect it..."

Chen Ming stuffed the last bite of the fried dumpling into his mouth, took out his phone, and opened Craigslist.

"What are you doing now?" Sophia leaned over.

"Searching for my American Dream."

Chen Ming's fingers flew across the screen, focusing his search on food trucks and selling as is.

Considering that the car might need to be used for other purposes temporarily, Chen Ming directly ruled out those burrito carts that were difficult to turn around, and finally settled on an inconspicuous post.

"A 2002 Ford E-450 limousine, in Chinatown, is being offered to a Chinese restaurant owner who is preparing to return to China. The asking price is $5,500, including a complete Chinese stove..."

"Chinatown?" Sofia raised an eyebrow.

"The people there are even shrewder in business than the Jews. Are you sure you want to go?"

"Don't forget, I'm Chinese too." Chen Ming's lips curled up.

"Moreover, only Chinese bosses' cars have powerful stoves, which are the soul of Chinese cuisine."

……

Four o'clock in the afternoon, Broadway in Chinatown.

This place feels like an enclave of Los Angeles.

The gold and red eaves appeared somewhat faded under the California sun, and the streets were crowded with shops displaying roasted meats and dried goods. The air was filled with the sweet aroma of freshly baked char siu and the smell of the old town's sewers.

"Seriously, Chen."

Sofia looked at the back door of a restaurant, where several shirtless Chinese chefs were sweating profusely as they prepared ingredients.

"This is your territory. When you were so poor you slept in your car, why didn't you come here and find a job?"

"My territory?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Ming stopped in his tracks.

"Sofia, even Chinese people are divided into circles... those who speak Cantonese, those who speak Hokkien, those who speak Mandarin... Without an acquaintance's introduction, it's harder to get in here than some gangs."

"Besides, I can't do the work here. Every year, a bunch of superheroes come out of our country, live in big villas and eat fried chicken for one yuan a serving by washing dishes... I can't compete with them."

Sofia didn't quite understand the "one dollar chicken" joke, but she still shrugged.

"It sounds like some kind of cult, and you're one of the outcasts in it."

"That's because I'm pretty much mentally sound."

As they talked, they turned into an even narrower back alley.

Behind the mountain of cardboard boxes, a massive white behemoth was parked.

"Look closely, young man! This car has a Ford chassis, a V10 engine, and it's incredibly powerful. You won't regret buying it!"

The seller was an old man wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops, pounding on the car body while speaking in Cantonese.

"If I weren't in such a hurry to go back to China to be with my grandchildren, I absolutely wouldn't sell this car!"

Chen Ming walked around the car once.

The vehicle is spacious and contains two high-powered woks, a four-hole noodle cooker, and a large freezer. Although the range hood is covered with a thick layer of black grease, its frame is very sturdy.

The quality was much better than he had expected.

"How about four thousand five hundred? I'll settle with cash."

"Five thousand! You're not buying it?"

……

After some intense haggling, Old Zhang gritted his teeth and announced his bottom line.

Just as Chen Ming was about to take out his money, Sophia, who had been watching coldly from the side, suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Wait, don't you find this strange?"

Sofia lowered her voice, her tone filled with disbelief and wariness.

"A Ford E-450 with a full commercial kitchen would cost at least ten thousand dollars... There's definitely something wrong with this vehicle."

"Either the car's gearbox is made of paper and will blow up after three miles; or it's a stolen car that can't be registered, or worse—there might have been a mobile drug lab behind it, or even a murder scene where bodies were disposed of."

"But it only costs five thousand dollars." Chen Ming showed no fear.

"Dead people are customers to me. Even if this carriage once housed the dismemberment of a whole company of drug dealers, as long as it's cleaned up, it won't stop me from making money from it..."

"Crazy... whatever you want," Sophia rolled her eyes.

Chen Ming turned and walked towards the old man.

"Uncle Zhang, the price is fine, but the vehicle ownership certificate, registration card, and emissions test certificate are all required."

"I'm all ready!"

The old man hurriedly pulled a file folder from his waist bag and asked Chen Ming to check it.

There were no signs of alteration, nor was it listed as a stolen vehicle—legally speaking, the car was completely clean.

"This is getting interesting..."

It's neither an unlicensed car nor a scrapped vehicle, so where does this cheap price come from?

Chen Ming squinted, not in a hurry to pay, but instead crawled back into the stuffy carriage.

He first checked the gas pipes of the stove, then squatted down and opened a large horizontal freezer that could fit two adults.

A pungent lemon smell hit me, so strong it almost stung my eyes, as if to mask some deeper flavor.

Chen Ming twitched his nose twice, and his brows suddenly relaxed.

He knows this taste all too well.

This is an industrial cleaner specifically designed to break down the odors of cadaverine and putrescine; it's not available in regular supermarkets.

This car has a story!

Chen Ming then ran his finger through the gap in the sealing strip in the corner of the freezer, and then put it to his nose.

It has a rusty smell.

Uncle Zhang.

Chen Ming poked his head out of the carriage.

"I doubt you were freezing pork in this freezer before?"

Old Zhang was fanning himself with a fan when he heard this, and his hand trembled, causing the fan to fall to the ground.

"You... what nonsense are you talking about? It's just frozen meat, it's only slightly spoiled."

"I'm Uncle Zhang, a medical student. I'm all too familiar with the smell of this kind of detergent—I bet a homeless person died up here before, and it was one of those things that sat there for days before being discovered?"

Old Zhang's face immediately turned ugly.

"Young man, you can't just say things like that. Even if... even if someone died there, so what? He climbed into my car and died on his own. I had a Taoist priest perform a ritual! The ritual is right here, it cost at least four thousand eight!"

"Four thousand eight?"

Chen Ming walked to the stove, grasped the stainless steel rod used to fix the shelf with his right hand, and gently bent it.

"Clang—"

Chen Ming casually tossed the broken metal pipe at Lao Zhang's feet.

"It's one thing if someone died there, but the condition of your car is really worrying. Look how brittle the metal is. It's worth at most four thousand."

"..."

Old Zhang stared blankly at the iron pipe on the ground.

A pipe only three centimeters thick, broken in half by hand?

I won't sell it; he might hit me later, right?

"...Take it away, take it away, I'm really scared of you!"

Ten minutes later, the formalities were completed.

Chen Ming sat in the driver's seat, looked at the vehicle ownership certificate in his hand, and flicked it with satisfaction.

"It's all settled, and I even saved a thousand."

Sofia opened the passenger door and looked at Chen Ming as if he were a monster.

"You just broke a solid steel pipe? I have to warn you, Chen, using steroids can easily make you die before forty, and it'll shrink you into a bean..."

"I exercise naturally. The fact that I was able to break the tube is simply because this car is old and has suffered from metal fatigue."

Chen Ming started the engine, and the roar of the V10 engine immediately masked the perfunctory tone in his words.

"Let's go, tonight I'm going to give it a makeover."