America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 45 VT Exchange

"Are you a professional theft team? How many people are in the team?"

While waiting, Zhang Ailun also inquired about the industries they worked in.

"We're not professionals. Besides the few of us, there are two other people in the team. We're only responsible for keeping watch, while the other two are responsible for stealing. We've only done it two or three times."

"We have a partnership with the owner of a black market used car dealership. He also runs a car modification shop and a scrap metal recycling station. He also does some business reselling vehicles and deals with many street gangs. He often hires people to do odd jobs, such as stealing bicycles, zombie cars, and pawned cars that have been parked on the roadside for a long time without being claimed."

The homeless man answered hesitantly, revealing all the inside information he knew.

Zombie cars are usually abandoned on the roadside after something happened to the owner's home, or the owner is trapped inside and can't get out. These include mortgaged cars, stolen vehicles, or vehicles abandoned by criminals after committing crimes.

If a car is left parked on the roadside for too long, it's a waste. So they'll either drive the car away or call a tow truck to take it away for recycling. If the car is in good condition, they'll refurbish it and modify it. If the car is in bad condition, they'll just dismantle it and sell the parts.

After being modified and re-registered, the vehicles can be sold to other places or rural areas.

There are still many people on the street who specialize in this kind of work. Some of them don't even care about martial ethics. They smash the windows and drive away, no matter if it's a zombie truck or a mobile vehicle.

Cleaning up a zombie car won't break the law and won't easily get you into trouble, but if you blatantly steal or rob a car, that's a much bigger problem, even more serious than illegal gun possession in California.

"If that's the case, then that used car dealership owner must have quite a bit of influence and business."

Zhang Ailun pondered for a moment before asking, "Are you very familiar with that boss? Where does he usually do business?"

"He rarely shows his face and owns a modification shop in the suburbs. We've only met him twice and we're not familiar with him."

The homeless men looked at each other, a little embarrassed, and honestly replied, "We can tell you the location. In the city, there's a place called Mike's Scrap Metal Collection Station, and in the suburbs, there's a car graveyard. Use Google Maps to search for it; it's about an hour and a half drive from here."

"In the suburbs? Then forget it."

Zhang Ailun's brows relaxed; he didn't have time to travel that far to the car graveyard right now.

It takes an hour and a half to drive there, and even if he pedals a bicycle until the wheels are worn out, it will still take at least two hours. By the time he makes a round trip, it will be dark.

The suburbs are extremely dangerous, classified as high-risk wilderness areas. They are home to wild animals such as coyotes and cougars, as well as thugs who take advantage of gas stations and kidney predators who engage in illegal transactions.

The frozen food truck you just passed by might have someone else's heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys inside.

Although the slums in the city are dangerous, they are still under the protection of civilization and are not so outrageously regulated. The suburbs, on the other hand, are pure dark forests.

Zhang Ailun used to run a small workshop in a mountainous area far from the city and in an abandoned factory. He vividly remembers how they would be set on fire if they didn't ship their goods on time.

Zhang Ailun then inquired about some details regarding the market. Under the threat of Zhang Ailun's fists, the homeless man readily revealed everything he knew.

This industry is very knowledgeable and requires a high level of expertise. Even with a zombie car, it's necessary to determine whether the owner will not be found for a long time or whether there is no longer any chance of finding it.

If the car owner has only been incarcerated for a few months and you drive the car away, it will be troublesome for the other party to report it to the police later. It's best to find a car that is completely dead, not one that is half-dead.

If it's an older car with little value, and the parts available on the market are outdated and unusable, then it has no recycling value whatsoever.

Valuable zombie cars are generally not left parked in communities or on the roadside for more than a month, because once someone confirms that it is a zombie car, it will be driven away the next day. People in this line of work are also very fast-paced.

Mobile vehicles are easy to identify. The license plate number and environmental protection label have been updated in the last few years. Even if it is an old and dilapidated vehicle that has been used for eighteen years, you only need to look at the tire wear, brake discs, and the color of carbon deposits in the rear fuel line to tell whether the owner has started and driven the vehicle recently.

People in this industry are very shrewd; they will generally pay to install a car dealership software app called "Vehicle Transfer".

The name of the exchange is Vehicle Transfer, abbreviated as VT Exchange.

The original app was a vehicle information software developed by the Los Angeles traffic management department, similar in function to the traffic management app 12123. Its original purpose was to facilitate car owners in paying fines, confirming vehicle violations and conditions, and calling a tow truck with a single click. Later, it was hacked and its data was leaked, leading to the creation of a counterfeit app commonly used by black market used car dealers.

You'll receive a notification if a vehicle hasn't moved for an extended period, and you can also pay to locate it and access related information and details about the owner. However, most of this information is unreliable, similar to a paid Q&A platform like Zhihu.

This app also frequently experiences delayed updates and misleading messages, resulting in outdated and inaccurate information. Because it has to outwit the Los Angeles traffic authorities, its website has been attacked and paralyzed, and it is sometimes forced to return a 404 error.

Their situation is similar to that of those paid adult film websites in China that are struggling to survive, hiding their true intentions.

[Vehicle Recycling LV0: Information related to vehicle recycling.]

Zhang Ailun couldn't help but marvel at how the West Coast was teeming with talent and brimming with business opportunities.

He used to do vehicle retrieval work in GTA, but he didn't expect that these people in real life would do it in a much more elaborate way.

Following the link they sent, and with the help of several homeless men, Zhang Ailun found the official website to download the software. He then registered an account using fake identity and driver's license information, and his facial recognition was successful.

However, a membership registration fee of $20 or the equivalent in USDT virtual currency is also required.

Under Zhang Ailun's glaring gaze, the homeless men felt a chill run down their spines, and one of them immediately stepped forward and offered to pay the money on their behalf!

Zhang Ailun immediately beamed with joy and patted him hard on the shoulder, truly a good brother.

The homeless man forced a smile and quickly used his virtual currency to pay the 20 USDT.

Zhang Ailun was engrossed in learning about the software, holding his phone, while his friends next to him offered guidance and advice.

The homeless man who paid 20 yuan walked away with a pained expression, secretly pulled open his clothes to take a look, and saw that his shoulders were covered in bruises and red marks, as if he had been hit with a stick, with some areas even showing signs of bruising.

Damn it, what kind of humanoid behemoth is this? These superficial wounds won't heal for at least two days!

The homeless man felt unwell all over; he was going to die!

I immediately took out a painkiller from my pocket, popped one, and lit a cigarette. Instantly, I felt refreshed all over; my shoulder and legs no longer hurt.

Morphine and narcotics, blissful like an immortal.

In just a few minutes, Zhang Ailun mastered the usage guide for this app.

In short, the software has two modes: a free version and a paid version. The free version only has ordinary vehicle information that can be refreshed, which is not very valuable. However, the positioning system can be used as navigation software.

The paid version includes vehicle transaction information, other template features, and a chat window.

Some people also post job advertisements on it, such as "I need a certain car, and if you can get it for me, I will pay you a sum of money."

Zhang Ailun saw that someone had posted a job posting three blocks away, requiring a newly released skateboard from Etnies.

But his good friend told him that it was a phishing scam! It was posted by the police, and he would be caught if he went there.

You need to switch to stealth mode first, open the police officer activity track, and then look for the task list in detail.

Zhang Ailun did as they said, and sure enough, he saw many map buildings, shops, and police activity signs, while he and the others next to him were represented by small gray avatars.

Once the other player also enters stealth mode, the small avatars disappear, leaving only your own avatar on the map. After both players become friends, the gray avatars turn into a transparent light green.

Damn it, what's this "enhanced version of Waze"?

Waze is a navigation app similar to Gaode and Baidu. It features real-time traffic information and camera feeds, as well as Killer's real-time location tracking. You can find information about nearby shops and whether police officers are active in the area.

Originally intended to enable timely assistance from police officers in the event of a driving accident, this technology has now been stolen by hackers and its functions are being used in various black market software, even effectively evading police patrols.

(End of this chapter)