American homeless people, surviving in the city

The doctor from the illegal clinic, who had been listening in for a while, calmly spoke up as Lin Qi made his decision:

"You've made up your mind? In that case, the consultation and medication fees are one thousand US dollars, cash only. No bargaining, no credit. Give it to me now."

"This is the amount of money I expect to cover to keep him alive. If he wants to continue using painkillers and medications to help him recover, it will cost extra. I will let you know when that happens."

"Also, although this isn't a regular hospital, it still needs to be done like a regular hospital, so you need to sign this."

The doctor handed over a document, the gist of which was a promise from the patient's family that they would not hold the hospital liable if the treatment was ineffective. It was exactly the same as the disclaimer used by reputable hospitals.

Lynch and Gleeson exchanged a glance. Gleeson nodded, took the document, and signed his name on it with trembling hands.

Then, Lynch simply pulled out the wad of messy bills from his pocket, counted out a thousand dollars, and slapped it on the doctor's small desk.

The doctor nodded, but did not rush to save the person immediately. Instead, he slowly counted the banknotes that Lin Qi handed over, one by one.

As he lit the money, he chuckled and muttered to himself, "It's been so long since I've seen such a large sum of money... Most people who come to me for treatment can't afford this much."

Clearly, he was happier to receive such a large sum of money for treatment than whether he could save the patient.

Even though Lin Qi knew he would receive a system reward for having just pulled out a thousand yuan, he still felt a pang of regret. Seeing the doctor's expression, he couldn't help but feel speechless.

He couldn't help but say to the doctor, half-jokingly and half-threateningly:

"...I'm curious, can an illegal small clinic like yours really keep going after receiving such a large sum of money?"

"What if, and I mean, what if some local thugs knew you had a lot of cash and tried to rob your shop? I don't see you have any security measures here, do you?"

The doctor merely glanced at him indifferently, completely unmoved.

"If it were that easy to rob, would I still be running a clinic here? Am I stupid?"

He sneered, "Don't be fooled by how much I earn; a large portion of the profits goes to the gangs that control this street, whether it's the Razor Gang or the Stud Gang... whoever controls this street gets it."

"That way, no thugs will dare to mess with me."

Lin Qi frowned. Standing on the street, he didn't like to use morality to condescendingly judge others, but the doctor's attitude still made him somewhat uncomfortable.

He couldn't help but ask, "How can you live with yourself by colluding with gangsters and exploiting these desperate patients seeking medical treatment?"

Despite the criticism, the doctor remained unmoved. He counted the wad of bills in his hand, pulled out a ten-dollar bill, and handed it back to Lynch.

"You miscounted; you gave me ten dollars too much."

Lynch accepted the ten dollars with some surprise, and then he heard the doctor calmly reply:

"Conscience? It is precisely because I have a conscience that I chose to open a small clinic here."

"Have you ever thought about where these patients would go for treatment if I weren't here? Why don't they go to the hospital? Is it because they don't want to?"

"This..." Lin Qi hesitated.

The doctor sighed:

"You don't look like a native American, so it's understandable that you'd ask such a question."

"Here, the hospital is the institution that exploits these poor people the most. Even if I and those gangsters were all together, we wouldn't be a fraction of what the hospital does."

"Can you imagine that just a single ambulance ride can cost thousands of dollars? Can you imagine that just a visit to the hospital, just a short talk with a doctor, can cost thousands of dollars?"

"The patients who come to me are all losers who have been eliminated by American society. Big hospitals can't squeeze money out of them, so they just leave them to fend for themselves."

"If I weren't here, all these patients, including your friend in the yellow shirt, would be dead in the street."

"How can you say I have no conscience?"

Lynch was speechless. He had indeed not known much about American society before, and if that was the case, then he had to admit that the doctor was right.

The doctor shook his head and stood up:

"On the one hand, the price of medicine is indeed not cheap; on the other hand, the gangsters and I do make a lot of money. That's why I charge so much."

"On the streets, the law of the jungle is the rule that this society operates under. I make money from patients because they need my help, and in that respect, I am the strong one."

"But then again, I've done more than enough. At least I've kept them alive. It's like the Razor Shields taking money from me while ensuring I don't get robbed."

"From this perspective, aren't we more humane than those high and mighty American social elites? We're all doing things that aren't so contrary to our conscience under the rule of the survival of the fittest."

Lin Qi felt that something was wrong, but he didn't know how to refute it. He was speechless for a moment and could only watch silently as the doctor got up, washed his hands, put on a clean pair of gloves, took out all kinds of medicine from the medicine cabinet, and walked to Tang En's bedside.

The treatment process was even rougher than Lynch had imagined.

The doctor first used an instrument to suck out the blood and foam from Tang En's mouth, then hung up an IV drip for him, and injected him with several kinds of liquids that Lin Qi couldn't name. After that, he waved his hand and stood aside.

Surprisingly, Tang En's condition did improve noticeably; he stopped spitting out pinkish blood and his lips regained some color.

Although he is still unconscious, he doesn't seem as distressing anymore.

"Doctor, is this all there is to it?" Gleason asked somewhat nervously, having watched the whole thing from a short distance away.

"That's about it. That's all I can do," the doctor said calmly. "At least he won't die for now. If his condition continues to worsen, I can put him on an oxygen tank."

"But we need to observe him for at least one to three days. If his fever subsides, there is still hope. It all depends on how strong his will to live is."

"...Can we stay here with him?" Erwin asked, his expression slightly calmer, but still somewhat uneasy.

"Whatever," the doctor yawned. "Just don't disturb the other patients or cause me any trouble. If you're going to be together for a long time, it'd be best to wear a mask."

That's all I can say. Good luck to you guys.

He waved his hand and walked towards the other beds.

"Thank you, doctor!" Gleeson whispered behind him, then turned to Lynch, his eyes still slightly red.

"And we must thank you even more, Mr. Lynch! Thanks to you, the three of us have seen hope!"

Gleeson and Irwin bowed deeply to Lynch.

"From now on, please come to us whenever you need us! No matter what it is, we'll be there whenever you need us!"

As Gleason expressed his heartfelt gratitude, a system notification sounded crisply in Lynch's ears:

[Ding~ Congratulations player, you have successfully completed the emergency mission: Make a choice!]

[It has been detected that the survivors have chosen to complete the mission by recruiting allies.]

[Mission complete. Please choose one of the following rewards to claim!]

[Optional:]

[A. Unity Power: Your minimum sanity is increased by 5 (You will never fall into madness due to despair... although you're not too far from madness either)]

[B. Fitbit fitness tracker (monitors your physical condition at any time and can also report your whereabouts to your family)]

[C. Basic Barefoot Medicine: Passive Skill. You have a clearer understanding of injuries and illnesses, and you have learned basic methods of treating wounds and diseases using common materials found in the wilderness. (In the wilderness, first aid techniques using readily available materials are crucial when resources are scarce!)]