dkrc Chapter 8 Old Zhong's Adaptability
Chapter 8 Old Zhong's Adaptability
[Daily News: 14:35 Red Basket Supermarket, Max is unable to complete the delivery task he accepted on the online app due to dealing with a troublesome customer. He will receive a $24 delivery fee commission for assisting in the delivery.]
[Daily Information: Emily's silver bracelet (engraved with "E・J"), belonging to the female doctor at the North District Shelter, was hidden by a tricolor stray cat in a cat bed (cardboard box lined with an old sweater) behind an abandoned phone booth next to Margros Avenue in an abandoned parking lot. Finding it can be exchanged for 1 box of flu medicine (oseltamivir granules). This medicine is effective against the mutated flu that Chris is infected with and can help him recover.]
Note: A variant of influenza C, type 3, is currently circulating on the West Coast. Only oseltamivir granules are effective in treating this variant. [Long press and click for more details]
Is there really a chance to get your hands on a specific drug for treating the flu?
Simon Lin knew that in Los Angeles, in the United States, seeing a doctor and getting medicine was not as easy as in some Eastern countries.
Even ordinary people with jobs often have no choice but to tough it out when faced with a mutated flu.
Because going to a public hospital where the fees are cheaper requires making an appointment in advance, and most of the time the appointment time is more than a month.
If you have the patience to wait a month, minor illnesses will have healed long ago, but if it were a serious illness, the person would already be dead.
In either case, it's good news for the patient—after all, you usually won't need a doctor anymore after a month.
Of course, if you have full premium medical insurance or can enjoy top-notch VIP services at a private hospital, you can see a doctor and get medication very quickly.
However, this is clearly an option that only the wealthy can consider.
We are proud vagrants, and we only choose to freeload.
Lin Ximeng was still pondering today's intelligence when a sharp female scream shattered the tranquility of the bridge archway—
"Damn it!"
Lin Ximeng immediately got up, opened the tent, and rushed outside.
It was a little past nine in the morning, and the rest of the campers obviously didn't have the habit of getting up early; they all seemed to still be sleeping in their tents.
Lin Ximeng looked up and saw Isidora, who had left last night, standing a few meters in front of her tent, staring at the bridge wall beside her with a pale face.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Simon walked over quickly and followed her gaze upwards—
The old walls were covered in dust, and someone had written "Get out" crookedly in red spray paint.
There was also a transparent plastic bag hanging next to it, containing a stiff, dead rat with its tail dangling out, looking disgusting and creepy.
"It was those guys on Seventh Street who did it," Isidora's voice was still trembling, but when she saw Simon Lin, she immediately forced a calm expression and bent down to pick up the canvas bag.
"I just came back to get some clean clothes."
She paused, her tone turning cold. "I told you long ago that this camp wasn't safe, but you didn't believe me. They're clearly warning us that next time it might not just be a dead rat."
Lin Ximeng's gaze fell on her clenched right hand. The canvas bag was not closed tightly, revealing a corner of kraft paper with the words "St. Mary's Hospital" printed on it. Judging from its shape, it looked like a bag for medicine.
"Do you need to bring medicine to get your clothes?" Lin Ximeng asked deliberately.
Please, even tsundere characters are becoming obsolete in the world of anime, and Lin Simon never expected to see one at the West Coast camp.
Isidora's face stiffened for a moment, then she stubbornly said, "These are my own painkillers, it has nothing to do with you."
Despite saying that, her gaze drifted toward the black tent, the one where Chris had originally lived.
"What's all the noise so early in the morning? Can't a person get some sleep?!" Gloria's voice came from inside the blue tent. The zipper was pulled open with a "rip," and she peeked out, saw the dead rat on the wall, and instantly bristled.
"FxxxK! What is all this crap?"
Immediately afterward, Chris unzipped his black tent, revealing a disheveled man with a mask on. He coughed and leaned on the tent pole to stand up. "What's wrong? Who was calling... Hey? Isidora, you're back!"
Chris was overjoyed to see Isidora suddenly appear and wanted to rush over immediately, but because of his illness, he could only walk over slowly.
"You, don't come any closer..." Isidora panicked upon seeing this.
She only wanted to secretly deliver some medicine to Chris that morning and didn't want to meet him now.
"Do you need my help? I can give it to your boyfriend," Simon Lin suggested, noticing Isadora's embarrassment.
Upon hearing this, Isidora immediately stepped forward, took out a brown paper package containing medicine, and stuffed it into Simon Lin's hand: "This is medicine to relieve muscle aches, and a packet of cold medicine—don't tell him I gave it to you."
She spoke very quickly, and as soon as she finished speaking, she tried to turn around and leave.
"Wait a minute," Lin Ximeng immediately grabbed the other person's wrist.
"I can tell you don't want to leave this camp, right?"
"What did you say? Let me go!" Isidora cried out anxiously as Chris approached.
"Chris is sick; you can't stop the people from Seventh Street."
Lin Ximeng smiled. "Starting today, I'll make those people see our Camp 39 in a new light. I know you have good relationships with various homeless groups; I just need you to occasionally leak some information about them, how about that?"
Isidora tried to pull her arm away, but Lin Simon held it firmly like an iron clamp.
Seeing that Chris was about to walk over, she bit her lip. "Okay, I promise you, can I leave now? I don't want to see him right now."
Upon hearing the answer he needed, Lin Ximeng immediately let go.
Isidora breathed a sigh of relief and ran off as fast as she could.
"Isidora!" Chris tried to chase after her, but a cough stopped him in his tracks, and he could only watch her figure disappear around the street corner.
"Stand still first," Lin Simon grabbed him. Chris was swaying a bit even when he was standing, and the muscles in his arms were limp.
"Don't chase her. If she wants to leave, you can't stop her," Lin Simon said, handing over the brown paper package and adding, looking at Chris's distraught expression.
"But she still cares about you, otherwise she wouldn't have come back specifically to bring medicine, and she even brought medicine for colds."
Chris opened the brown paper package and found two bottles of white pills and a packet of cold medicine with Chinese characters printed on it.
"I knew it! She really does have feelings for me!"
Upon hearing that this was medicine his girlfriend had specially given him that morning, Chris, who had just looked dejected, immediately regained some color in his face.
Riley, rubbing his eyes, ran over and, seeing the dead rat, hid behind Lin Simon in fright, whispering, "Are they really coming to raid the camp?"
Chris's mind started racing, and he noticed the graffiti and dead rat on the wall. "It's all because of these guys that Isidora left me... I'll settle the score with them after I take my medicine."
"Don't be impulsive," Lin Simon said upon seeing this. "Wait for me to come back. I'll get you some special medicine for the flu, and then we'll settle accounts with the people on Seventh Street."
Upon hearing this, Chris's anger turned into anticipation, but also some doubt: "Can you really get your hands on that miracle drug?"
After becoming homeless, Chris knew very well that this was by no means an easy thing to do.
These homeless people have no money, and no one really cares about their lives.
"Hehe, don't underestimate my information network."
Lin Ximeng patted him on the shoulder, "First, throw away the dead rat and wipe away the graffiti. Don't let these trivial matters affect your mood."
Riley, who was standing nearby, immediately nodded and ran to find a branch to try to pick the dead rat off, while Gloria pulled out a rag and started wiping the spray paint off the wall while cursing.
"Want to come with me to get the welfare meal? I heard they're having chicken drumsticks at the market today."
Seeing that there was nothing much going on at the camp, Lin Ximeng decided to go out for dinner, asking everyone before leaving.
Chris was so engrossed in the joy of his girlfriend bringing him medicine that he didn't react at all.
Gloria said she'd been eating too many donuts lately and needed to lose weight.
So Simon turned around and looked for Riley—the boy was wrapped in an old blanket and huddled at the tent entrance, his eyes half-open and half-closed, yawning incessantly, clearly still half asleep.
Riley buried his head in the blanket, his voice muffled: "No, the underpass was drafty last night, I woke up three times from the cold, and I was just jolted awake by a dead rat. I just want to catch up on my sleep."
He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "I'll just go pick up a couple of cans myself later."
Lin Ximeng didn't insist and went out alone.
Once outside the underpass, the Los Angeles sun was already quite intense.
Heading towards the welfare meal distribution point mentioned in the intelligence, Lin Ximeng noticed a lot of Coca-Cola cans scattered on the ground as he passed through a small alley, rolling around in the wind.
"These should be enough to exchange for at least five dollars, right?"
Lin Ximeng immediately took out his bag and began collecting them.
"Tsk, that's the adaptability of the Zhong family. They just arrived on the West Coast yesterday, and today they're already acting like homeless people."