Yes, Prime Minister of Japan

After all, he was Tai Feng's grandfather, so Li Xinghe was kind enough to give him a chance to live.

Hopefully, the old man in the earthen house won't be ungrateful.

After seeing Tsuchiya Akio off on his flight back to Hokkaido, Li Xinghe strolled home, but the atmosphere inside wasn't so cheerful.

Just before departure, coach Hira Emi appeared as worried as a housewife:

"I really don't want to go, sigh... Du Ye and Valeria don't seem like the type to take care of children, and Natasha is about to give birth in the hospital. I'm so worried. Xiao Kui and Xiao Ya Yi are so cute, I really can't bear to leave."

That being said, neither Doya nor Valeria were very good at taking care of children, so Hirayomi became the primary caregiver in the household.

She then complained:

"After all, our Taifeng was able to get into the Olympics because of inside connections. She's not old enough yet."

Tai Feng, standing beside her, bit her lip and glanced sideways:

"...I'm so sorry, I'm not as cute as Aoi and Mei..."

My wife loves to set an example in maintaining family harmony, so she hugs Taifeng and snuggles her cheek against hers:

"Of course, Taifeng is indeed very cute."

Indeed, she was recruited into the Olympic team under the pretext of giving young athletes a head start. Behind this was Lee Sung-ha's influence through Takikawa Masami's role as an Olympic ambassador, which allowed her to gain access to the Olympics through connections, including the Prime Minister's wife.

Therefore, Hirae Mi is not wrong; Tao's Olympic journey is indeed not as romantic as her two babies.

"Let's go, we'll only be gone for a few days. We'll go back to Tokyo after the shooting competition."

Li Xinghe patted Tai Feng's little bottom and dragged her and Ping Yingmei away.

After leaving home, Li Xinghe, along with Ping Yingmei and Niizawa Taifeng, didn't go to the international airport. Instead, they drove to Yokota Air Base. There, the sexy and fiery redhead Scarlett, the super hot Maria, the sophisticated and capable Enora, the charming Jill with her captivating peach blossom eyes, and the Latin-inspired Mei were all waiting.

Meanwhile, Musashi Hachima, who was brought here for the first time, peeked around curiously. This time, she was responsible for the personal protection of the women in Li Xinghe's family, and was also a member of the Japanese judo team.

"Hey, how do we play this?" Scarlett asked, rubbing her bottom with a hint of sarcasm.

Scarlett still vividly remembered the scene of being assaulted by four lesbians last time, and she gritted her teeth in resentment.

"You'll have plenty of fun in Los Angeles, go ahead."

Enola pinched her slender waist.

In 2028, the Japanese Olympic team has been flying to Los Angeles one after another, and Li Xinghe's family hitched a ride on a military plane to Los Angeles.

The flight to California took six hours, and after a layover at Anchorage Airport, they flew to Los Angeles International Airport feeling slightly dizzy.

"Welcome to Los Angeles! It's incredibly hot here!"

It's unusually hot.

It's not about the Olympic fever, but about the fact that wildfires, which have been raging throughout California every year, have started again this year.

Looking down from the plane, the massive peninsula mountain range was ablaze with fire, while the Mojave Desert to the east lay arid and reddish, with only the thin Colorado River flowing through it. The entire Los Angeles area was devoid of farmland; all the land had been converted into residential areas, stretching all the way to the foothills and forests.

This year has seen another dry, scorching summer, with the subtropical high pressure system in the Northern Hemisphere converging with the California cold front, creating a hot and dry climate. The decades-long legal battle between California and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), which controls approximately 30% of California's power transmission lines, continues unabated. This company has repeatedly caused large-scale wildfires due to aging power lines, and this year it remains a consistent contributor to the fires.

Other examples of consistently problematic practices include, but are not limited to, fire insurance companies that abscond months in advance, health insurance companies that use AI to refuse coverage, governments that intimidate people into fleeing, fire brigades with top-notch rescue capabilities, and wealthy neighborhoods that occupy water sources and are on high alert.

Although this year's fires are only average and far less intense than the wildfires at the end of 2024, they are still a hot target.

Stepping out of the airport, Ping Yingmei and Tai Feng hugged Li Xinghe tightly on either side, looking around at their surroundings with a sense of unease.

Black rappers from the West Coast perform hip-hop at the airport entrance:

No matter where you're from, you're bound to meet your One on a California beach. Maybe it'll be a fiery girl, maybe it'll be real fire!

Protesters formed a "Burn Everything Protest Department" and stood in front of city landmarks and Olympic venues, angrily criticizing the bureaucratic inefficiency of the California government to overseas tourists.

"The approval process for building a new structure takes 3 years and 5 months, the policy approval for preventive burning of flammable forests takes 4 years, and digging a firebreak requires approval from 7 departments over 6 months. Environmental protection, approval, government, courts, garden marketing department, urban planning department, building approval department, urban art committee, water bureau, power bureau, insurance company, it's always more troublesome than a big fire. And a big fire can end everything like a bullet with just one burst."

California has a population of less than 40 million, but more than 2 million government employees, making it the most peculiar state in the United States with the largest, least efficient, and most cumbersome bureaucracy.

"Let's go, the military vehicles are right at the airport entrance."

Maria and Enola clapped their hands, while Jill, May, and Scarlett gripped their pistols tightly, forming a circular formation as if they had entered a war zone in Africa. Musashi Hachimonde was still a little unaccustomed to this, but she quickly gripped her pistol as well.

There are geniuses who defecate and urinate into trash cans everywhere on the streets; there are more oddballs on the beach than normal people; naked young women and old scavengers are separated by only a median strip; the smell of marijuana wafts in the air; thieves and robbers roam the streets and alleys; more than 100,000 homeless people gather on the roadside due to years of fires and increased social poverty; and police cars drive through the streets without paying attention.

It felt like a dream; it was hard to believe that this was the richest state in the United States.

Li Xinghe sighed.

The people of California are in really good spirits.

Because of the steam rising from the wildfires, this amazing landscape can be tentatively called California vaporwave.

The author says:

Author's Note: Thank you all for your support. Here's 5400 words. The Jade Shape Foundation is officially established; it's time to profit from the national crisis.

Chapter 552: A Magical American Road Movie: Pawning, Selling Blood, and Going to Jail (5000 words)

"What's wrong with you?"

Hirae Mi was puzzled by the seriousness with which the group was prepared.

At the prestigious Los Angeles International Airport, several people were spread out in a circle, as if they were in a war zone, each holding a pistol. Where were they sending her?

Li Xinghe had her and Xinze Taifeng stand in the middle and instructed her:

"No one's crazy; only a fool who doesn't protect himself is crazy."

Los Angeles International Airport is relatively peaceful, but the danger level should not be underestimated. The nearby Santa Monica neighborhood is even more chaotic and crazy than Syria.

At the airport entrance, there is a special lane reserved for the Olympic Games.

Here are special buses with all windows sealed off, some even welded with steel plates, escorted by police cars and even National Guard military vehicles to their respective destinations.

It doesn't look like the Olympics; it looks more like a security escort operation.

Fortunately, Li Xinghe had a status, so the National Guard lent them a Ford Mustang so they could drive themselves without having to take the bus.

Li Xinghe quickly calculated that Scarlett was from Washington, D.C., Enola was from New York, Maria was from Colorado, Jill was from Arizona, and only May was a Latino from Southern California. Musashi Hachima was of Mexican-Indigenous descent and knew absolutely nothing about America.

Li Xinghe pointed at Mei:

“We only have Mei as a local now, so Mei will drive.”

Mei, displeased, put her hands on her hips and retorted:

"Didn't you grow up in California too?"

Li Xinghe defended himself:

"Just because I was born in San Francisco doesn't mean I'm familiar with Los Angeles."

Mei raises her middle finger:

"Fuck you."

May doesn't like driving in downtown Los Angeles; you never know what might happen next.

After climbing into the car, the first thing Li Xinghe did was to let his family know he was safe.

Taifeng had never been abroad. While sending a video to Xiao Ai, she asked:

"Shall we go to a hotel?"

Maria fiddled with her phone, reporting to a high-ranking CIA official, and casually replied:

"Yes, because the Olympic Village hasn't been built yet, and the site planning is still stuck in the approval stage. So, in addition to requisitioning UCLA's campus, the government has also spent a lot of money to rent a number of tourist hotels for the Olympic teams. It is said that the average cost per room is $1000 per day. It is said that the advance payment for the rental alone has cost at least $10 billion."

Taifeng, with her keen business sense, asked curiously:

"Huh? Then why not build the Olympic Village? At least we can sell the houses later."

But Li Xinghe, who understands America better, stroked Taifeng's long hair:

"Because the average building permit process for a property in California takes 3.5 years."

This creates a deadlock cycle: building a house requires approval, approval takes time, and if there isn't enough time, you have to rent a house. Renting a house costs more than building a new one, so it's better to build a house, and then you're back to where you started.

This kind of logical loop bug is widespread in the American political environment.

The car started and first drove through Inglewood, a downtown area with a high crime rate.

The neighborhood was dirty and messy, not as beautiful as advertised, and many shops along the roadside had closed down. A group of well-dressed women, carrying large bags and small packages, took turns going in and out of a small shop.

Tai Feng asked curiously:

What are they doing?

"

Scarlett knew it all too well; she didn't miss it, and even said with some disgust:

"Wow, a street pawn shop. This one is called 'Cash America,' and there are many of them on the West Coast and in Texas. In the East Coast, these pawn shops are basically run by gangs, and the owners are often Chinese or Italian, who are gang agents. Their interest rates are extremely high. Once, I secretly pawned my grandma's handgun to treat my friends to a birthday dinner. When I finally saved up enough money to pick it up, they told me I had to pay 36% interest."

Enora is curious about what will happen next:

"and after?"

"Later, my grandmother sent National Guard members to my house, and we finally got the gun back."

Scarlett and Enola are both residents of New England, from typical old elite families, and their lives are steeped in East Coast tradition.

Maria sat at the very back, gazing at the dilapidated city from rural Colorado:

"These people are the so-called 'fire poor,' right? They used to live in wealthy areas on the outskirts of the mountains, but their social class has been reduced because of the wildfires, and now they can only pawn some of their belongings to make ends meet."

The fact that they have the ability to pawn their possessions means they can still survive, so Mei, who was driving, said:

“These are all good. It is said that the number of homeless people in Los Angeles has tripled since four years ago, approaching 3.”

Drive through Inglewood onto Highway 405.

Passing by an open-air restaurant, in the dirty, messy streets and corners, I saw several waitresses kneeling between customers' legs to serve them. Across the street, several Black men were defecating on newly installed flowerbeds. Everyone was so naked.

Hirai Mei hurriedly covered Shinsawa Taiho's eyes.

But Taifeng retorted speechlessly, "Don't you think covering my eyes now is too slow, Mom?"

Does that mean I didn't see what you and Xinghe's dad were doing in the room every day?

Like Scarlett, who grew up in Washington, D.C., Enora, a girl raised in an elite New York family, tossed her blonde hair aside and playfully poked the back of Li Xinghe's head:

"It's not what you think. These are just tips as a thank you. If he went out to order food right now and gave the waitress a $20 tip, he'd be sucked dry by some hot Latina from California."

"It is said that some lesbians are also involved, hoping to pay money to patronize female service staff for free."

Li Xinghe helplessly raised his hands; he wasn't that crazy or impatient.

Shinsawa Taihou's eyes widened.

The naive girl from Japan had never witnessed such a real world. Even the homeless girl in Toyoko Plaza wasn't so pathetic.

Enora, recalling how she was knocked down by an Lgbt monster with a single punch, encouraged Taihou to be strong:

"If you drop out of high school at 18, have nothing but your looks, get pregnant but can't afford an abortion, and are forced to marry an abusive man, and by 23 you're divorced with two kids, you'll only be able to work in places like this, living in a poor and dangerous downtown apartment building where you could be robbed at any moment, making a living by asking for $5 or $10 tips from clients, by selling your mouth or even your body. So study hard, kid. At least you'll be safe."

Jill's meaningful remark:

"Or a fire could wipe out a lifetime's savings, and because you can't afford the costs of reconstruction and lawsuits against insurance companies, your property could be confiscated by the IRS when property taxes are collected at the end of the year."

The car continued moving forward.

Highway 405 has been gradually elevated, so you can get a bird's-eye view of the lower city area on both sides.

The desolate, old streets were filled with tents. The homeless people who had come from other places, in addition to frantically getting injections, using drugs, and high on marijuana, also set up new mailboxes in their gathering places. There were even people from the California Post Office coming here to pick up and deliver mail.

Large groups of homeless people, dilapidated old apartments, and hardworking men and women living in single rooms costing over a thousand dollars a month, worrying about their survival. The prevalence of Black neighborhoods and hurried pedestrians on the street form the backdrop of downtown Los Angeles.

As the car approached UC Long Beach, the first thing that came into view was not the beautiful scenery of the campus, but the blood shops scattered throughout the streets and alleys near the campus.

Jill lay softly on Li Xinghe's back, as if she could see her past self in a glance:

“That was a blood donation center. I still remember the days when I sold blood to pay off my student loans. Back then, you could get $55 for each blood donation, which was enough to buy two pairs of discounted jeans from a roadside stall in Chinatown, or a coffee at Starbucks to pretend to be an upper-class elite for a little while.”

"There are 2200 million people in the United States who rely on selling blood to make money. A significant number of them have to sell blood twice a week just to pay their rent."

"Those who are eligible to sell blood can at least survive. Those who are not eligible are in a much worse situation."

Li Xinghe sighed.

Musashi Hachima, standing next to her, had turned pale.