American comic: From Beijing with Love, starting with a mutant.

"This is a newly added security clause."

The soft-serve ice cream drinker, after watching the last line, suddenly pointed to a line and asked, "What does this mean?"

Stephen Chow leaned closer.

"Oh, this."

The line read:

Special outputs, such as those that are edible, marketable, or used for disaster relief or construction site donations, require separate calculation of production capacity subsidies.

The soft-serve ice cream blinked.

"Does making ice cream count as output?"

"Of course it counts." Stephen Chow nodded seriously: "That's not ordinary ice cream. It's a cold, ready-to-eat energy supplement."

"In hot weather, it can reduce the probability of heatstroke among frontline workers."

"In disaster areas, it can soothe children's emotions. In remote construction sites, it can greatly improve the happiness of employees."

"But……"

She whispered, "That thing was made by me. Won't other people find it disgusting?"

Stephen Chow frowned: "Why is it disgusting?"

"Because I am a mutant."

"The chef kneads the dough by hand, would you like some?"

The soft-serve ice cream stared wide-eyed.

"If farmers pick vegetables by hand, would you eat them?"

"If the workers were carrying bricks by hand, would you live with them?"

"You use your skills to make ice cream that is clean, pollution-free, and additive-free. Americans don't appreciate it; they're just unlucky."

Stephen Chow shoved the pen into her hand.

"Little Softie, don't stick those trashy labels that others have given you on your forehead."

The soft-serve ice cream, holding a pen, suddenly had tears welling up in her eyes.

When Stephen Chow saw that her eyes were red, he panicked again.

"Hey, hey, don't cry! I'm warning you, a woman's tears will seriously affect my contract signing efficiency."

"If you cry like that, my hand might slip and I might accidentally write 'maternity leave subsidy' instead of 'production capacity subsidy.' What am I going to do when Director Wang asks me why the ice cream production line is on maternity leave?"

The soft ice cream burst out laughing, and tears streamed down her face. She quickly wiped them away with her sleeve.

"I'll sign."

She looked down and wrote her name on the crumpled sticky note.

Stephen Chow glanced down at her and said, "Amy? That's good. From now on, we'll call her Comrade Amy."

The soft-serve ice cream sniffed: "Not called soft-serve ice cream?"

"You definitely can't write 'soft-serve ice cream' on your work ID."

Zhou Xingxing thought for a moment: "But if the construction site canteen opens a cold drink window, it can put up a sign that says 'Amy's Cold Drink Serving Point,' which sounds more legitimate."

As Lorna watched this scene, her gaze gradually softened.

She didn't say anything, but simply reached out and picked up a pen from the table.

Stephen Chow's eyes lit up.

"Has Comrade Xiao Luo finally come to his senses?"

Lorna glanced down at the contract and scoffed, "Don't give me that. I'm just checking if you've added any weird clauses to the contract."

"How could that be? I'm a respectable person."

Lorna scanned a line.

"Is it prohibited to assemble steel blocks when not for work purposes?"

Stephen Chow coughed once: "Precautionary clause."

"Is it prohibited to operate green-skinned trains without approval?"

"Safety in production".

"Is it permissible to remove dormitory doors and windows due to emotional issues?"

"This is very important; dormitory doors are expensive."

Lorna looked up at him.

Stephen Chow quickly added, "If someone bullies you, damage to the doors and windows is a separate matter."

Lorna stared at him for a few seconds before finally signing her name on the paper.

Lorna Dane.

As the pen tip glided across the paper, she suddenly had a feeling of absurdity.

She had been registered many times, and each registration meant that she was categorized, monitored, and detained.

This is the first time I've signed my name willingly.

It's not a number, it's not a sample, it's Lorna Dane.

"Okay, both done."

The torrent silently reached out.

"Pen."

Stephen Chow handed it over, saying, "Your position is rather special."

"What's so special about it?"

"Your initial role is as a wind power emergency response officer, a forest fire cyclone isolation consultant, a temporary tunnel ventilation expert, and an auxiliary equipment provider for summer construction site cooling."

The hand holding the pen stopped in the rushing water.

"Assistive devices?"

"Don't be so sensitive. There are high-end and low-end equipment." Zhou Xingxing comforted him, "At least yours is an import substitution type."

"I'll only ask one question."

"ask."

"Will my brother really be able to get treatment?"

Stephen Chow looked at him.

"I can't guarantee the kind of 'one shot turns you into a superhero' miracle that exists in America."

"We're better at taking things slowly over time."

"First stabilize the situation, then restore it, and then arrange your life."

"If he's sick, he should get treatment; if he's not sick, he should go to work. If he's not feeling well, he should rest and recover before being reassigned. Nobody is forcing him to become a weapon."

Anton sat up: "I'll sign too."

Nearby, Snotty sniffled loudly in front of the computer, saying, "Have you guys finished signing?"

Stephen Chow turned his head: "What?"

The slug raises a satellite phone.

"Didn't you ask before when we could leave?"

"Oh right! I almost forgot the important thing. When is the ship departing?"

Snotty dialed a number, lowered his voice and said a few words in Cantonese, then mixed in a couple of words in English.

The person on the other end of the phone was very impatient and yelled a few times.

The slug roared back.

"Don't talk to me about risks! I'm paying for it!"

"Yes, four people, no, five. And a box of... uh, special parts."

He glanced at the cyborg's severed arm in the corner: "It's not a corpse! Don't talk nonsense! It's an industrial sample!"

Stephen Chow nodded in satisfaction: "This classification is accurate."

The snotty guy chatted with the other end of the line for a long time before finally hanging up.

"It's settled."

Everyone looked at him.

"At 3:00 AM tomorrow, at Pier 17 on the north side of Newark Port, a Panamanian cargo ship will first go to the waters off Vancouver for resupply before heading to the Pacific route."

Jiliu frowned: "Aren't we going directly to China?"

"You wish!"

The slug rolled its eyes.

"You're all under red flags now. We're keeping an eye on all the official channels at airports, borders, and ports. You'll be lucky if you can even get on a cargo ship."

Stephen Chow raised his hand and asked, "How much?"

The slug fell silent for a moment.

"Two thousand per person."

Stephen Chow's vision went black.

"How many?"

"Two thousand per person."

"Robbery!" Stephen Chow almost jumped up. "The five of us are owed ten thousand! Ten thousand US dollars! Does this captain brush his teeth with caviar every day?"

The slug shrugged: "This is the price for smuggling."

"What do you mean by smuggling? We are special personnel transferring across borders."

"That's even more expensive."

"On what grounds?"

"Because you also brought a sick person, a wanted criminal, an escaped convict, and a girl who can conjure ice cream out of thin air. The fact that they didn't call the police is already showing a lot of internationalism!"

Stephen Chow clutched his chest: "Internationalism shouldn't be this expensive!"

Lorna said slowly, "Didn't you just make 12,200 yuan from selling armored vehicles?"

"That's evacuation funds; we can't waste them."

"Isn't it time to evacuate?"

"This is called a forced budget adjustment."

Amy whispered, "I still have some money."

She rummaged through her canvas bag for a while and pulled out a handful of crumpled banknotes and coins.

It cost a total of twenty-seven dollars and sixty-five cents.

She was a little embarrassed: "That's all."

Stephen Chow looked at the change in her palm but didn't laugh.

He reached out and pushed the money back.

"Keep it."

Amy was stunned.

Why?

"You haven't received your first paycheck yet, you can't be without money."

"But the boat fare..."

"I'll take care of the boat fare." Zhou Xingxing stuffed the pile of loose change back into her bag and carefully zipped it up.

"Women should carry emergency cash with them when they go out. If they want to buy a bottle of water, they can't just turn into ice cream to quench their thirst."

Stephen Chow sat back down at his computer and began typing rapidly.

"Hey, can we negotiate the fare, you little slug?"

"cannot."

Can you issue an invoice?

The slug looked at him like he was crazy.

"Do you need a receipt for the smuggling boat?"

"Reimbursement requires receipts."

"You want the Panamanian Black Ships to issue you an invoice with the 749th Bureau's name on it?"

A receipt is fine too.

The slug cried out in despair: "No!"

Stephen Chow looked up in pain.

"Director Wang will kill me."

Lorna crossed her arms: "Is there anyone you're afraid of?"

"What do you know?"

Stephen Chow looked weary: "When facing leaders and the finance department of an organization, even the strongest man is just a pig waiting to be slaughtered."