American homeless people, surviving in the city

Upon hearing the numbers from the other end of the phone, Lynch's first reaction was disbelief.

It's not because the money was too little, but because it was too much!

Normally, a homeless person can only beg for a few dozen dollars a day on the street.

They typically hire undocumented immigrants for jobs such as construction workers, waiters/waitresses, and manufacturing workers, with hourly wages usually around $8 to $15.

Officer Kayla quoted a starting price of $200!

Even the starting price is enough to keep an undocumented immigrant worker working 24 hours a day without sleep!

Lynch quickly confirmed, "$200 to $500... once? Are you sure? How long does each session last?"

"A single shift usually takes 3 to 4 hours, right? It shouldn't be too long." Kayla on the other end of the phone was quite dissatisfied with Lynch's questioning. "I know this amount of money might be a bit low, but for a part-time worker like you who doesn't even have American citizenship, asking for more is just too unreasonable."

"Are you going to do it or not?"

Is this too little? This is too much!

Upon seeing that the other party had confirmed the price, Lin Qi immediately realized that something must be wrong.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. If a job offers such a high salary, there must be something wrong with it!

Furthermore, as Chen Kelei stated, this job "requires considerable physical and mental strength, as well as keen observation skills"...

Lin Qi felt inexplicably guilty.

Is this a legitimate job?

He held the phone to his ear and asked cautiously:

"Um, may I ask first, what exactly are the job responsibilities...?"

"Huh?"

Officer Kayla let out a short gasp of surprise for the first time, then, as if she understood something, she couldn't help but laugh:

"Haha... I knew it! I was wondering why your reaction seemed so...unbelievable. It seems Officer Chen didn't explain the job's details to you?"

"No, not at all." Lin Qi guessed that the two of them had rushed to buy a new phone last night and then hid it in their clothes to give it to him. Therefore, Chen Kelei probably didn't have time to type out the work details.

A crisp "smack" came from the other end of the phone, as if Kayla had slapped her thigh hard, followed by a slightly amused voice:

Looks like I'm in for some more fun.

"Then you'd better be mentally prepared. The job I can offer is called..."

Kayla pronounced a somewhat awkward-sounding job title, word by word:

"Crime scene cleaner".

"What?!" Lin Qi exclaimed in surprise.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, a commotion broke out on the other end of the phone, followed by Kayla's somewhat disgruntled voice:

"Hiss, what a coincidence that someone has come to report a crime at this time."

"There's no time to go into details. Here's what we'll do: if you're willing to take this job, come to the Starbucks south of Pioneer Square this afternoon. I'll be waiting for you there, and we'll have a short interview."

"I'll explain the specific job details to you when we meet."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Qi's phone rang with a busy tone indicating the call had been disconnected.

The call had been disconnected, but Lin Qi's anxiety remained.

He had heard of the profession of "crime scene cleaner" before, but he didn't know much about the specific job duties.

Even just hearing the name of this profession, one can almost feel the danger involved!

Fortunately, after one night, Lynch also had a smartphone.

He stopped right there by the roadside and immediately started searching for information about the profession of crime scene cleaner, preparing to learn more about it before his afternoon interview.

Soon, a series of rather impressive words appeared before his eyes.

"One of the least popular jobs in the US," "One of the most dangerous jobs in the world," "Extremely high retirement rate among current employees," "Threat of bloodborne pathogens," "Highly likely to trigger PTSD," etc...

But Lynch's gaze quickly moved past the frightening string of words and towards the phrases that interested him more:

"A licensed, active professional cleaner earns approximately $250+ per hour!"

Now Lin Qi finally understood why Officer Kayla thought his hesitation was because he thought the salary was too low!

Compared to the more than $250 per hour earned by professional cleaners, he only earns a little over $200 for a 3-5 hour job as a part-time cleaner, which is significantly less.

Even so, this salary is still very attractive to Lynch at the moment!

To understand the associated risks, Lynch continued to research more information.

The job of a crime scene cleaner seems no different from that of a regular cleaner; the tasks are basically all listed in the job title.

In short, it involves cleaning, disinfecting, and deodorizing crime scenes that retain various traces, so that the scene can be restored to normal use.

The various traces left at crime scenes, including bloodstains, bodily fluids, human tissue, and even various poisons, infectious agents, and potentially explosives, are the main sources of risk faced by cleanup workers.

Witnessing various horrific crime scenes can often cause mental health problems for cleaners.

In addition, criminals who may still be at large, or their accomplices, may return to the scene for various reasons, posing a threat to the safety of the cleaners.

In other words, if the cleaner has excellent mental fortitude, takes appropriate precautions during the cleaning process, and possesses sufficient personal strength to deal with potential criminals,

This is truly a high-quality job with little work and good pay!

Lin Qi couldn't suppress his excitement.

But through the information he obtained from this search, he clearly understood that this job was not one that could be done casually.

Relying solely on bluffing skills and current physical and mental strength is not enough to completely avoid threats from criminals and imperceptible pathogens.

He must continue to improve his abilities!

Therefore, the most direct source of ability is naturally the system's daily tasks.

Just as a new day had begun, with nearly six hours until his afternoon interview, Lin Qi didn't hesitate to summon the system in his mind and apply to receive today's task!

[Ding~ You have used one of your daily application attempts.]

[A new quest has been released: First Hunt! Quest objective: Hunt down any creature.]

[The survivor's current condition is good. Therefore, this is the perfect opportunity for the survivor to try hunting for the first time! Hunting requires good physical fitness, but it can also provide the survivor with valuable protein and even enough water for an emergency!]

As winter approaches, all kinds of creatures will gradually go into hibernation, making hunting more difficult for some time! Therefore, we urge the survivors to complete this task as soon as possible!

[Special Influencing Factor: To encourage survivors to hunt as many large prey as possible, the rewards for this mission will be additionally related to the species of prey hunted by the survivors!]

After reading the mission description, Lin Qi was left with only one word: amazement.

Good heavens! Is this the kind of task I'm supposed to complete within the city?!