Chapter 2: As Long As I Have No Money, No One Can Steal From Me

"Come to think of it, where did these seven dollars of starting assets come from? I don't have any US dollars on me?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi carefully patted his pockets, suddenly realizing that the fifty-odd yuan he had put there after buying cigarettes was gone.

"Good, good, good; I thought it was gifted starting capital, but it turns out the wool still comes from the sheep."

However, looking on the bright side, at least his attire of a shirt, long pants, and jacket fit in reasonably well in Gotham, with nothing particularly eye-catching about it.

He sighed, casually purchasing Preliminary English Proficiency and Local Identity; without these two items, given his level of English, he would be unable to take a single step locally—he also purchased Rapid Life Recovery and a Save Point along with them.

"Special Notice: Subsequent missions can unlock the Save Point Forward Movement function; please do not hesitate to use Save Points; the 20 Save Point retrieval attempts can be distributed across five different time points, so please arrange them reasonably; the current time is a safe node; you will not encounter danger within the next half hour, nor can you create a save; please do not worry."

Looking up at the sky, thick clouds blocked the sunlight; he could only discern from the dim light that it was evening, but could not tell exactly what time it was; having no other choice, Ma Ma Zhaodi walked toward the station exit, remembering that he had seen a clock tower while on the train, perhaps once outside the station, he could learn the current time.

Taking two more steps, his pace gradually slowed; just a second ago, the noisy human voices coming from all directions in the station were inexplicable noise, but in the second after purchasing Preliminary English Proficiency, these sounds became like the street noises heard back home, turning into fragmented conversations that his brain could naturally understand.

This novel sensation made Ma Ma Zhaodi, whose English had barely scraped past Level Six, feel very intrigued; he pondered some English-related learning content, feeling that his ragged English had been patched up by the system, now resembling a broken bicycle that wasn't very functional but moved with uncanny speed.

However, this was merely because he had not yet adapted; in reality, his accent and writing were already quite standard American English; once he got used to it, the broken bicycle would upgrade into a convenient small electric scooter.

Thinking that he should also have a Gotham local identity, he searched his pockets again, only to find that his pockets were as clean as his face.

Searching more carefully, he discovered that his identity information and documents, including his driver's license and social security card, existed within Starting from Scratch; to take them out, he only needed to think of it, and putting them back was the same.

"Finally, a bit of humanization."

Never having seen a foreign driver's license before, Ma Ma Zhaodi reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his license a few seconds later, curiously flipped through it for a glance, then put it back; he urgently needed to find a livelihood in Gotham, otherwise, before being killed by gangs, terrorist organizations, assassin groups, super-villains, or ordinary robbers and murderers, he would first starve to death from lack of food and drink, or freeze to death on the streets from lack of shelter.

After all, he did not know how homeless people in America generally lived, and moreover, Gotham City could not possibly have harmless homeless people.

Of course, he might gradually become familiar with the life of a homeless person in the future, after all, he indeed owned no property locally, so becoming a homeless person was not strange at all.

It is worth mentioning that although some homeless people can receive relief funds after submitting federal income tax returns and providing valid bank account information, unfortunately, although the system provided Ma Ma Zhaodi with an account, he had never earned money, and thus had never paid taxes.

Walking out of the bustling platform, Ma Ma Zhaodi finally saw the close-up view of this city.

Fine drizzle fell pattering from the sky, casting a thin, hazy veil over the city in the night; on the streets flowing with light and color, vehicles and motorcycles occasionally sped by; the lower halves of the densely packed high-rise buildings around him were shrouded in the city's glow, while their upper halves vanished into the darkness, with only beams from spotlights faintly illuminating the square corners of the structures.

Thick smoke rose from factories in the distance, right next to low-lying slums; amidst stretches of dirty, chaotic buildings, there was almost no light, only sounds of someone sobbing coming from alleys from time to time, along with beats and gunshots; homeless camps were generally located here, with dirty crowds living in makeshift tents using abandoned factories, under bridge arches, and other derelict buildings as shelters, burning waste newspapers or tattered books in oil drums to keep warm.

Ma Ma Zhaodi looked up into the distance; between the flickering screens and signs, the time on the clock tower pointed to nine o'clock at night; clearly, finding a job today was impossible; he would have to hold out until the next morning.

"This opening is fucking ridiculous."

A night breeze blew, carrying the chill of icy mist; Ma Ma Zhaodi shivered from the cold, involuntarily stuffing his hands back into his coat pockets; he curled his body up, trying hard to think, yet could not figure out where to spend the night; streets that were too prosperous would surely get him chased away, yet corners that were too desolate made it easy to encounter danger.

"Could there really be no other way?"

He carefully browsed the system, discovering it had a Shangcheng; upon opening it, he found almost everything that could be bought and things that could not be bought, ranging from daily necessities like food and knives to special abilities and Supernatural Items; as for the items further down, Ma Ma Zhaodi did not look, since he couldn't afford them anyway.

There were only three dollars available in the system; judging from the current situation, he would most likely have to sleep on the streets tonight.

While walking and browsing the cheaper items in the Shangcheng, Ma Ma Zhaodi suddenly realized that the driver's license in his pocket was gone.

"?"

He was certain he had not put the driver's license away, so that thing should still be in his coat pocket.

"Is it here?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi turned his coat inside out with both hands, yet still could not find his driver's license; he was so anxious he was about to curse loudly, when suddenly his hand touched his trouser pocket.

"?"

"Is it in here?"

It took him a few seconds to understand what had happened; he had just arrived in Gotham City, and within the short hundred-meter distance from exiting the station to here, he had been pickpocketed by a local thief.

Then the thief discovered his pockets were as clean as his face, so he casually put his driver's license back into his trouser pocket.

Laughable; the entire process of the theft had not triggered any awareness in him.

But then again, this also served as a reminder; a skilled thief might be able to steal money from a wallet, a watch from a wrist, or a phone from a pocket, but clearly, he could not steal money from a pauper.

As long as he maintained a state of being penniless, he would be invincible.

If he encountered a robber, perhaps after looking at his pockets, the robber would even take out a few dollars out of sympathy to buy him something to eat.

(End of Chapter)