American homeless people, surviving in the city

Chen Yumo's attitude was so frank that even Lin Qi felt somewhat inferior.

I never expected this girl to look so delicate and frail, but she actually has such a strong heart...

Lin Qi sighed inwardly. The feeling of being trusted was quite nice.

However, Lin Qi quickly became worried again—it's no wonder he overthinks things. In his previous life, Lin Qi, an old office worker nearing thirty, looked at Chen Yumo, a freshman in college, as if she were a child.

Seeing that she had actually run back to this dangerous area, Lin Qi quickly asked:

"No, no, even if you're not afraid of corpses, you shouldn't come back here, right?"

"Those gangsters' hideout is just next block away. If they find you, the consequences could be dire!"

"It's okay..." Chen Yumo replied casually.

Then, as if afraid that Lin Qi would think her response was too perfunctory, she quickly added:

"Because there's nothing to worry about. I asked my cousin to bring me here. He's running some errands nearby and will be joining me soon."

"Don't worry, we're safe now."

"Oh, oh..." Lin Qi felt a little relieved. Although he didn't know what level his cousin was at, having a male family member around would always make him feel safer.

Then, he suddenly realized the problem:

"Huh? Wait a minute, isn't that a bit odd? Aren't you a student at the University of Tokyo? How come you have relatives here?"

"Yes, my family situation is a bit special, so it's normal that you find it strange."

Chen Yumo explained without reservation:

"My family's story dates back to the Republican era. At that time, warlords were fighting each other and people were suffering. My great-grandparents fled from the Fujian area to avoid the disaster. They first settled in Malaysia for a while, and then moved to the United States after several moves. They settled in Seattle and made a living by doing business."

"Fortunately, my great-grandparents were quite capable, and soon our family saved up a sum of money and started a business in America."

"But while doing business and developing our business, our family has always been concerned about the situation in the East."

"When the University of Tokyo was established, my great-grandfather, the head of the family at the time, immediately made up his mind to sell most of his assets in the United States and move the whole family back to China to support the construction of the motherland."

"In my family, only my great-uncle stayed in America because he fell in love with a local woman and didn't want to be separated from his lover. Although we are on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, our two families have never lost contact and have a very good relationship."

"As you can see, I am from the University of Tokyo, and I came to the United States to study because the biomedical sciences here are particularly advanced. My cousin, who is a descendant of my great-aunt, also lives in Seattle and has taken good care of me throughout my studies."

"Do you understand now?"

"Oh, oh oh..."

Lin Qi didn't quite understand the complicated family relationships, but he grasped the general outline.

In conclusion, Chen Yumo is indeed an international student, but she also has relatives in the United States.

He nodded: "It's a good thing that someone is looking out for us here."

"How was your day after you went back to school yesterday? Did that senior who tricked you into coming here start harassing you again?"

"Oh, that bastard."

Chen Yumo's voice was clear and calm as she pried open the corpse's mouth and responded in a completely emotionless tone:

"—He has already been expelled from school."

"?" Lin Qi was a little confused.

I initially thought it was a story about a pitiful female student from the University of Tokyo, studying alone in a foreign country, struggling to escape the clutches of school bullies and barely surviving.

Now, not only have relatives from America suddenly appeared and become a strong support for the girl, but even the senior who bullied her has been suddenly expelled from school.

Only one night had passed?

"...That's a good thing, but what exactly happened?"

It took Lin Qi several seconds to barely suppress his astonishment and, with genuine surprise, ask.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yumo looked up at Lin Qi and gave a slightly embarrassed smile:

"Ah, I think I forgot to mention that."

"My uncle is a trustee of the University of Washington. Besides the advanced biomedical field in the United States, this is also the main reason why I came here to study."

"..."

Lin Qi rubbed his temples vigorously.

It seems I need to change my preconceived notions about this little girl.

Although she spoke of it casually, it seems that her family's influence in America is stronger than one might imagine.

Just as Lin Qi was sighing inwardly, Chen Yumo's spontaneous "examination" of the corpse also came to a temporary end.

"...Yes, there were a lot of pinkish, foamy marks around the mouth and nose. Although the face showed obvious signs of rigor mortis, some cyanosis of the skin could still be observed, and there were obvious hemorrhages in the conjunctiva of the eyes. It does seem like the person died from complications of pneumonia."

Lynch: "I didn't lie to you."

"I didn't suspect you, it's just that I happened to come across a fresh corpse, and I wanted to verify if the knowledge I learned in textbooks was correct." Chen Yumo tilted her head. "You can't get such fresh materials in the lab, and filling out the application forms for experimental materials is also very troublesome."

Lin Qi was hesitant to imagine what kind of experiments this girl usually did in the lab.

Fortunately, Chen Yumo skillfully changed the subject:

"So, you're planning to bury this body?"

"yes."

Why?

"what?"

Faced with Chen Yumo's question, Lin Qi was momentarily at a loss.

Chen Yumo's eyes held no complex emotions, only pure curiosity. Seeing Lin Qi's apparent confusion, she added:

"What I mean is, since you're homeless on the streets, you must be really short of money, right? If that's the case, why not sell this corpse?"

Lynch: "..."

Seeing that Lin Qi remained silent, Chen Yumo was somewhat unable to guess what he was thinking, so she quickly and cautiously added:

"I, of course, don't mean to support this behavior! But perhaps you don't know, in the United States, the 'corpse economy' is a legal practice."

"Not to mention that there are professional companies that have been buying up unwanted corpses, even one of my senior classmates in the lab has been helping our professor collect the corpses of homeless people from the streets."

"There's never been a clear law on this; it's a gray area. If you're short on money, I can help you contact my senior brother. You can sell the body to him without taking any risks."

"...How much?"

Chen Yumo stretched out her two hands and used her slender fingers to make an interlaced "+" shape.

"I bought it from the street; it should be worth $1000."

Lynch fell silent once again.

The absurd reality repeatedly challenged his past worldview; clearly, the desecration of corpses without consent should not be allowed.

In America, however, this kind of thing can be done openly and even have a price tag.

Lynch finally realized that there was nothing wrong with the scan results from "Beginner Gold Rush".

On the contrary, he himself, who always adhered to the ideals of being a student of the University of Tokyo, was out of place in this environment.

Chen Yumo stood beside him, saying nothing, simply watching Lin Qi's expression.

As the sun slowly set, the sound of a homeless stranger returning home could be heard from the other end of the greenbelt campsite.

After a long silence, Lin Qi finally spoke slowly:

"I really... don't want to do that."

He offered no explanation, for even he himself was torn between his own conscience and his own inner turmoil.

In the end, however, it was simple conscience that triumphed over the desire for money.

Lynch took a deep breath:

"Since the trade in corpses is legal in this land, I can rationally condone this behavior."

"But emotionally speaking, I still can't do that kind of thing."

"I don't want to see this happen... so let me bury him."

Chen Yumo didn't ask any more questions. To Lin Qi's surprise, she even grabbed the corpse's other ankle:

"I understand what you're thinking."

"Come on, let me help you. Let's bury him together!"

Lynch nodded.

Together, the two dragged the body out of the grass and to the bushes where Lin Qi had dug a shallow pit.

"Where are you planning to bury him?" Chen Yumo asked curiously.

"I've already dug a hole in this thicket," Lynch explained his plan to her. "The hole might be a little shallow, but it's getting late, so this is all we can do for today. I'll consider deepening it later."

But just as the two were talking and choosing the angle to smoothly move the body into the bushes,

A screeching sound of brakes suddenly came from the roadside not far away.

Lynch suddenly turned around.

A police officer in uniform with a stern face was standing behind the two of them, staring at everything in disbelief!