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

Taoshan Town, Foot Bath City.

Inside the private room, Stephen Chow slumped in a massage chair as the masseuse lifted his right foot and pressed his Yongquan acupoint with her thumb.

"Oh my god!" Stephen Chow jerked his legs back and straightened his back, almost jumping up from the massage chair.

"Gently! Gently!"

The technician didn't even look up, continuing what she was doing. "Don't move around, kid, are you suffering from kidney deficiency?"

Stephen Chow's expression changed.

"You can call me poor, but you can't insult my dignity as a man!"

Zhao Dezhu, standing next to him in baggy shorts, chuckled, "Little Zhou, you just don't understand."

Zhao Dezhu exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Our foot massage is all about applying pressure deep into the soles of your feet. If we don't activate the acupoints, wouldn't we be wasting our 38.8 yuan package?"

Upon hearing the word "money," Stephen Chow shut his mouth tightly.

Thirty-eight yuan and eighty cents, so for two people it's seventy-seven yuan and sixty cents. Adding the two bottles of chilled Da Yao liquor we just drank, the total is eighty-three yuan.

Director Wang, that stingy old man, definitely won't reimburse this huge sum for special medical expenses.

Just as Zhou Xingxing was figuring out how to squeeze the money out of the bureau's accounts, Zhao Dezhu stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

"Seriously, what's that foreigner's background?"

Zhao Dezhu lowered his voice: "Tell me something. Aren't you worried about causing trouble by letting such dangerous people like this run deep in the mountains?"

Stephen Chow stopped smiling, waved for the technician to leave, and closed the door behind her.

The older woman glanced at him: "Are you going to press it or not?"

"Hold on for now," Stephen Chow said seriously. "It's a state secret. We'll deal with the foot injury later."

"She's crazy, talking nonsense." The older sister carried the basin of water out the door.

Zhao Dezhu fell silent, his gaze fixed on Zhou Xingxing's face.

Stephen Chow sat up straight and rubbed his reddened soles: "You've seen unscrupulous contractors before, haven't you?"

Zhao Dezhu stopped what he was doing. "I've seen it before, the kind where they owe migrant workers their wages."

"What he encountered was a million times worse than that," Stephen Chow said in a low voice. "Old Jin was originally an honest lumberjack."

"Strong and hardworking, he's a prime example of advanced productivity here. He'd be suitable to be a forest ranger too."

Zhao Dezhu nodded: "Those arms look like they're good for work, so what?"

Stephen Chow snorted: "Then they got their eyes on us from those Americans."

"They tied him up in the lab and injected super alloy into every bone in his body. From his skull to his spine, from his ribs to his fingers, they didn't spare a single bone. Even the bone claws that were originally in his hands were coated with an alloy."

Zhao Dezhu inhaled sharply and stared wide-eyed.

"Wow, it really has claws? And it even has iron in its bones?"

"It's not ordinary iron." Stephen Chow waved his hands repeatedly. "It's much more expensive than iron. If you dragged him to a scrap yard and sold him by weight, the scrap yard owner would have to call the bank for a loan first."

Zhao Dezhu stared, mouth agape, before finally managing to stammer, "Is this something a human being would do?"

"They turn living people into weapons, without providing them with social insurance, housing fund, or overtime pay. There are no statutory holidays. They do the work of murder and arson, and carry debts they can never repay in their lifetime."

Stephen Chow raised his voice and slapped the armrest of the massage chair.

"What's the worst part? They not only altered his body, but they also tortured his mind. Electroshock, brainwashing, memory erasure!"

"Today you remind him he's a human being, tomorrow you take him out like a dog. How can someone sleep soundly if he can't even remember who he is?"

Zhao Dezhu shut his mouth, and white steam rose from the hot water in the wooden tub.

A voice came from outside the private room: "Room number two, extra clock."

Zhao Dezhu has spent half his life working in the forest farm. He has seen old workers who broke their legs due to work injuries and couldn't get compensation, as well as people who crawled out of the mines half-dead.

But he had never seen anything that altered a person's bones.

Images flashed before Zhao Dezhu's eyes.

A man covered in blood was pinned down on an iron bed, while a white coat circled around him.

The electric drill roared, molten steel poured in, and the boss next to him smoked a cigar while calculating costs.

"Damn it!" Zhao Dezhu slammed his hand on the coffee table.

"Those bastards! They're inhuman! They've ruined a perfectly normal person, turning him into this grotesque, inhuman creature! No wonder he looks at people like he's about to bite them to death!"

Zhao Dezhu's chest heaved as he gasped for breath.

"If it were me, I'd go crazy too!"

[Shock level +80!]

[Shock level +120!]

[Current total value: 1234!]

Okay, he didn't shock the system.

He only had a sincere heart dedicated to saving money for the organization. Zhou Xingxing cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on track.

"So, buddy. He's reacting to uniforms, orders, iron beds, and needles now. If you schedule him to clock in at eight every morning, patrol the mountain at nine, and write reflections in the afternoon, he'll smash the table to pieces on the spot."

"Forget about writing reflections; we don't even like writing them ourselves."

"That's right! Don't do those fancy tricks, and don't set any patrol KPIs."

"Let him stay in the forest. He can watch the pine trees, listen to the birds, chop wood if he wants, and soak in the hot springs if he wants. Hunting is fine too, but only if he follows the rules. Wild boar goes in the pot, but Siberian tigers are out of the question."

Hearing this, Zhao Dezhu grinned: "Why do you talk like an official one minute and a butcher the next?"

Stephen Chow spread his hands, "I originally started out selling pork."

"Understood." Zhao Dezhu patted his chest. "Xiao Zhou, don't worry. As long as he's in Linshengtun, Lao Jin is a legitimate fellow villager here! If anyone tries to cause him trouble, I'll call the police station first!"

Stephen Chow relaxed his tense shoulders.

Perfect! This is what you call a solid grassroots foundation!

Now that's what you call truly landing! This lone wolf from North America finally has a den!

Zhou Xingxing gave a thumbs up. "Brother Zhao is a true friend! With your level of awareness, you could easily be a key unofficial political worker in our bureau."

Zhao Dezhu waved his hands: "Don't flatter me. I just can't stand seeing good people being treated badly."

Stephen Chow rolled his eyes.

The atmosphere was right. The emotions were right.

If not now, when?

He took a receipt out of the inside pocket of his white suit and handed it over.

"Um... now that we're familiar with each other, could you get the receptionist to stamp the money for the foot massage?"

Zhao Dezhu stood frozen in place.

"What?"

Stephen Chow tilted his head back.

"Write the heading 'Purchase and Maintenance Costs of Cold-Proof and Warm-Keeping Equipment for Wild Animals in Northeast China,' and I'll get it reimbursed when I get back."

"What the hell did you say?"

"Equipment for keeping warm in cold weather".

Stephen Chow explained, "Think about it, aren't the soles of your feet an important heat dissipation point for the human body? Doesn't massage promote blood circulation? Doesn't promoting blood circulation help keep you warm? And isn't keeping warm a necessity for working in forest areas?"

"Who uses winter clothing that's designed to fit the soles of their feet?!"

"Isn't that a narrow perspective? Modern financial management emphasizes flexible classification."

Zhao Dezhu didn't want to talk and stood up to leave.

"Hey! Let's talk this out! Don't get agitated!"

"This is a reasonable cross-departmental hospitality arrangement made to improve relations between officials and the public!"

"Screw you! You, a top-tier agent, take me for a foot massage, and you expect me to give you a receipt? Get lost!"

At this moment, the door to the private room was pushed open, and the technician stood at the door, watching the two people pulling and tugging at each other in silence for a few seconds.

"Would you like to extend the time?"