Chapter 15: What the Hell is This

By 1 PM, Ma Ma Zhaodi finally returned to the dirty, chaotic residential area of the East District on his beloved ride.

Don't misunderstand; it wasn't that picking a ride took them too long. In fact, the car-buying process took only about ten minutes. The reason he returned at this time was that the ride Ma Ma Zhaodi chose had a slight disadvantage in speed.

"Hah, hah, hah." Ma Ma Zhaodi, panting so hard he could barely catch his breath, was soaked as if washed by water. He pushed a folding bicycle to the roadside like a dead dog.

A taxi followed slowly behind and finally stopped at the roadside. The door opened, and Drake, looking completely relaxed, stepped out of the car.

"Are you even capable? It's just riding from the Osberg District back to the East District. Why do you feel like you're about to pass out?"

"I, I have an 8 AM class. If you're so good, you try riding the whole way and see."

Ma Ma Zhaodi's stamina wasn't actually bad, just not excellent. He managed to finish this distance mainly by resting frequently.

Don't say it wasn't worth it; since the taxi Drake called followed them the whole way, the fare was abnormally high. Before getting out of the taxi, Drake's sour-faced expression while paying actually slightly balanced out Ma Ma Zhaodi's psychological imbalance.

"So I told you, either buy a cheap motorcycle or a cheap second-hand car. You insisted on buying a folding bicycle."

Drake shook his head and sighed: "Driving a car in Gotham protects you from motorcycle gangs and can serve as temporary cover during gunfights to limit others' shooting angles. It's a business that kills three birds with one stone."

Ma Ma Zhaodi finally caught his breath. He held back for a long time before finally spitting out: "I can't drive."

He really couldn't drive. The license was given to him by the System, not earned by him. Moreover, in his home country, he only passed Subject One; he hadn't learned the practical skills yet—let alone the fact that American cars and Chinese driving methods are quite different.

Hearing this, Drake was stunned: "?" Where's your license?"

"The license is real, but I really can't drive. So if I bought a car, tomorrow we could randomly pick a unlucky guy about to get run over on the road and start a second gunfight."

According to Ma Ma Zhaodi's original plan, he could have checked the price of driving skills available in the System, and maybe found a cheap ride along the way.

But when he walked down the street and opened the System Mall again, seeing the column for his Asset Points, his eyes bulged like copper bells, and he felt the sky had collapsed.

Because the System showed his asset number was still three dollars, exactly the same as yesterday.

Wait, where are my four thousand-plus dollars? I just got them in hand, they were in my bag, and how did you not add a single dollar to my assets?

Did you embezzle them?

"Self-Made System reminds you: No pain, no gain. Laborers get their due; those who do not labor get nothing."

"Only when you complete work matching the duration of the reward will your Asset Points increase."

"Therefore, the settlement time for this batch of your Asset Points will be upon completing four weeks of work. That is, next month."

"You damn..."

Ma Ma Zhaodi's mindset immediately underwent a small change.

"What about my tips?"

"Your tips will be settled after every order is completed, adding corresponding Asset Points within the System."

"Then, no, pro, blem." Ma Ma Zhaodi spoke word by word, gritting his teeth and trying to convince himself to calm down.

This System isn't too much of a bastard; at least he can still get some Asset Points for emergencies during the few days he works.

Since the System's Asset Points didn't increase, the plan to buy a cheap ride from the Mall or learn driving skills had to be temporarily shelved.

So, before learning to drive or buying a vehicle driving skill, what should be chosen as transportation?

Gotham's infrastructure isn't particularly terrible. The East District has buses and subways, but these often have greenwood heroes who like zero-dollar shopping appearing, or just groups of three or five people from the underworld.

He is a bit introverted and doesn't really want to have friendly exchanges or intense opinion swaps with these people like Old Jack does, but he still has to bring cash tips home every day.

After all, real-world wages don't need to be, and cannot be, thrown into the Self-Made System at will. As long as he earns money from working, the Asset Points in the Self-Made System will automatically increase. If he wants to deposit the dollars earned from working into the System, he needs to spend a certain amount of Asset Points.

So a bicycle, motorcycle, or taxi was a viable option. He just needed to hold on for two months until he finished learning to drive.

So Ma Ma Zhaodi finally obediently bought a cheap sixty-dollar folding bicycle. As for why he didn't buy a motorcycle, it was because a bicycle could be taken directly home and stored, while a motorcycle had a higher risk of suffering misfortune.

Moreover, the more rudimentary the transportation, the safer it is in the East District. A poor guy riding a cheap bicycle will subconsciously be placed lower on the priority list by robbers than someone driving a car.

The only downside is that riding a bicycle is physical labor and consumes quite a bit of time.

So the two walked shakily towards the East District. What Ma Ma Zhaodi didn't expect was that the Old Jack ride, which had two broken tires in the morning and took forty minutes to wobble, he actually rode until 1 PM.

One can only say Old Jack still had some substance; even with very loose tires, his reliable driving skills compensated for that.

"If I go to work with this efficiency, I'll be fired by Donald in less than three days."

Just as Ma Ma Zhaodi was feeling emo, the System's voice suddenly rang in his ear: "Self-Made System reminds you: The Mall is here to provide you with bicycle modification services, starting at 50 Asset Points; electric wheelchair modification services, starting at 100 Asset Points; and car modification services, starting at 1000 Asset Points."

"That is truly awesome."

Leaving aside what exactly a thousand dollars modifies a car into, what the hell is this electric wheelchair modification option?

He looked closely at the wheelchair's PS.

"Speed is eighty miles per hour, mood is free and easy, cool, Alto, cool!"

"Please note: This modification service must be used with the Wheelchair Driving Proficiency skill. Irregular driving brings tears to two rows of relatives."

To be honest, in a city like Gotham, the downside is encountering all kinds of crazies, but the upside is that when you go crazy, everyone just looks at you, the new crazy person, with accustomed eyes.

Anyway, Ma Ma Zhaodi was indeed a bit tempted at this moment.

(End of Chapter)