Being carried onto an ambulance at the start? But this is America!

After getting off the bus, Li Ping and his brother made sure to go to the church to report to Marina.

"I heard from Flora that you did a great job. I'll definitely come back to you next time something like this happens!"

Marina smiled broadly: "Wonderful children! If any believers come to me again, I will continue to recommend you!"

"Thank you very much, Ms. Marina."

Li Ping feigned surprise.

He was actually a bit conflicted. He was currently a homeless person, not a cleaner, and he would rather be a homeless person than a cleaner.

Today, my identity as a homeless person didn't work very well, otherwise I wouldn't have only managed to eat a few steaks all day.

The cleaning work somewhat hindered the performance of his innate vagrant body.

After a brief chat, Marina gave the two brothers some boxed lunches, retrieved the car she had left at the church, and drove the large suitcase back to the camp.

When the two brothers pushed their cart, laden with their spoils, back under the overpass, the camp was already lit up.

The air was filled with the smell of cheap canned food.

"Old Tom, come and see what good stuff we brought back!"

Li Fan has a loud voice, carrying the ease of having finished a day's work.

In front of Old Tom's work area, an LED light attached to a solar panel emitted a steady white light, casting long shadows of several people gathered together.

Fletcher and Devon were there too, taking stock of the good stuff in their cart.

Hearing the noise, Fletcher looked up, his dreadlocks swaying with the movement, and whistled when he saw the large cardboard boxes on Li Ping's car.

"Hey! Ping, Fan! You two went to the community service event today too?"

He blinked; this was a euphemism for "zero-dollar purchase" on the street.

Fletcher and his team had a cart piled with some brand-new but messy-packaged small appliances, such as portable fans, Bluetooth speakers, and unopened electric kettles.

"No,"

While unloading the goods, Li Ping explained, "We were cleaning a lady's villa, and these were things she had thrown away. We thought they might still be usable, so we brought them back."

"What are you doing here...?"

Li Ping looked at Fletcher and his group's harvest with some confusion.

He didn't understand what kind of welfare activity it was, and the packaging looked brand new, so it didn't seem like something he had found.

"Ha ha!"

Fletcher grinned smugly, flashing a set of white teeth. "We passed a department store downtown, the doors were open, and a few guys inside were busy shopping at the self-service machines. They warmly invited us to join them, and we couldn't refuse their hospitality!"

He spoke of it casually, as if he had just attended a neighborhood barbecue.

"Don't worry, we know the rules. The retail price of everything each person takes will definitely not exceed nine hundred and fifty dollars."

Even if you're unlucky enough to be spotted by the cops, it's just a minor theft; you get a lecture, a fine, and at most a few days of community service—similar in nature to a speeding ticket.

His tone even carried a hint of our self-satisfaction, as if we were very tactful.

Li Ping was speechless for a moment.

In Los Angeles, zero-dollar purchases had become commonplace by 2022, with over 7,000 cases recorded annually.

But hearing people around me talk about it so casually still felt like an absurd shock.

In the gray areas of the law, the costs and benefits of crime are calculated.

He noticed that Devon was unusually silent beside him.

The large, black youth simply kept his head down, repeatedly wiping the packaging box of a Bluetooth speaker with a rag. His eyes were unfocused, and his massive body was hunched over, a stark contrast to his usual silent but composed demeanor.

"What's wrong with Devon?" Li Ping asked Fletcher in a low voice.

Fletcher pursed his lips, his voice lowered, and he seemed less excited than before.

"It's nothing serious, just a bro who got high yesterday and wasn't thinking straight. He shoved the police officers who were maintaining order a few times..."

As a result of the police overreacting, he was shot and died in the hospital.

He paused, then added, "Another brother was shot in the leg and will probably be lame. Things are a bit chaotic today."

He spoke as casually as ever, but Li Ping could sense the lingering fear beneath his words.

Death and serious injury are not something that can truly numb one to, even for those who live on the streets.

"Fletcher,"

Devon suddenly looked up, his voice heavy and strained, as if it were being forced out of his chest, "Let's... not do this anymore."

Red is only thirty, and Jeremy got shot too. We should follow Una and Jermaine's example and find some proper cleaning work.

"Bro, are you kidding me?"

Fletcher frowned, his tone tinged with exasperation. "Have you forgotten the last time the three of us finally managed to find some moving workers? The lady of the house opened the door and saw us, especially you..."

He pointed to Devon's imposing figure, "The employer was afraid of us, which caused Jermaine to miss work that day!"

"Then we'll collect bottles, wipe car windows on street corners, or even beg with a sign!"

Devon raised his voice unusually, clenched his fists, and strained his arm muscles, but his eyes revealed pain and struggle.

"I've had enough of this. I don't want to end up like Red, or like my dad, or my grandpa..."

He died young.

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly stood up, his tall shadow cast on the ground, making him appear exceptionally lonely.

With his head down, he strode back to the tent and lowered the heavy canvas curtain to separate the inside from the outside.

Fletcher shrugged helplessly at his retreating figure: "See? Devin is great in every way, except he's too afraid of dying."

He chose a less hurtful word: "His family all passed away early, and he always thought he would live to be seventy or eighty and die peacefully in his sleep, so he lived very carefully. But..."

He glanced around the camp under the bridge and lowered his voice, "If we don't do this, how will we survive by just collecting bottles and doing odd jobs that are impossible to find? We can't even afford the cheapest painkillers."

Li Ping listened in silence.

He knew about Devon, this tough guy who looked like he could kill a bull with one punch, but had a heartbreaking background and simple, even humble, wishes.

To escape the shadow of a family with a short lifespan, and to live like an ordinary person until old age.

He doesn't do drugs or join gangs, loves cleanliness, and longs for a respectable job.

However, due to their skin color, body size, homelessness, and almost zero education, they are firmly stuck at the bottom of society, and even working illegally is subject to repeated discrimination.

"It will be alright, Devon."

Li Ping could only whisper something towards the direction of the tent.

These words were weak and powerless, but he had no better answer at the moment.

"It was getting better today!"

Fletcher shook his head, seemingly trying to shake off Devon's gloom and regain his excitement, and patted the cart next to him.

"Old Tom just gave us an estimate. This whole truckload of stuff, all brand new, should fetch at least a thousand dollars!"

Old Tom, who was inspecting the circuitry of a broken radio nearby, looked up, pushed up his reading glasses that had slipped down to the tip of his nose, and meticulously corrected the error.

"Not only that, if the channel is right and there are no obvious signs of damage, it could be as low as 1,100 or even 1,200, since the labels haven't been removed."

"Haha, did you hear that? 1200, Devon and I will each get 700!"

Fletcher's face lit up even more as he looked at Li Ping, "Ping, next time there's a great event like this, I'll call you guys, the four of us together, and a couple more reliable bros. That way, we'll absolutely dominate!"

"NO, NO, NO!"

Li Ping shook his head vigorously, waving his hands repeatedly, "Thanks, brother, but I really can't participate in this activity."

He knew all too well that, given their Asian appearances, he and Li Fan, lacking the protection of political correctness in such a chaotic scene, were more likely to become easy targets for the police, or even used as examples to deter others.

The risks are much higher than those of Fletcher and his group.

"That's a shame, you can't make money picking up trash. Look at us, we made a thousand dollars today, a whole thousand dollars!!"

Fletcher shrugged regretfully; the immense gains and adrenaline rush were clearly still affecting him.

Li Ping smiled but didn't reply, though he was quickly calculating in his mind.

Devon and his friends actually longed for honest work and a secure source of income...

If, just if, he could get some community cleaning, yard maintenance, or garbage collection contracts through Marina or Flora's connections?

We'll definitely need manpower then.

Devon was strong, hardworking, and sought stability; Fletcher was clever, familiar with the streets, and could handle all kinds of people, as well as many people in the camp.

Including myself and my younger brother...

An idea for forming a small labor team quietly sprouted in his mind.

As long as you're willing to put in the effort, you can still earn some money.