Chapter 70: Natasha

After the gang members took the apple and the kite, Roger returned to the garage.

Xiao duo, the black man with dirty braids, had already told him the general situation of the Mexican Gang.

This gang emerged last year; most of its members are Mexican, with a few from Guatemala.

They make their living selling enhancers and white powder, and this year they have gradually eliminated several smaller gangs to expand their territory.

The Crips are clearly their next target, since the neighborhoods controlled by the Crips are relatively affluent and have a higher demand for enhancers.

Unlike the local Seattle gangs, these South American gangs, having no family ties, are extremely brutal—Sugar-frosted Apple and leather kite are far from the full extent of their crimes.

According to Xiao duo, they even dare to use corpse bombs against drug enforcement officers, showing how brazen they are.

But for now, the Xin Yidunweier Shequ should not face further threats from the Mexican Gang.

Because the Crips' boss, Brown Bear, has reached an agreement with the Blood Gang to jointly target the Mexican Gang and drive them out of southern Seattle.

But in Roger's view, whether the fiercely violent Mexican Gang will be driven out remains uncertain.

That evening, all the residents of the community heard about it.

"Thank God, at least Robbie is still alive."

After hearing the news, Mrs. Fiona first clasped her hands together in devout thanks to Christ, then said: "I'm going to church this weekend for a mass, to pray to God that Robbie's surgery goes smoothly. Natasha, what about you?"

"I'm going too." Natasha had always been cared for by Robbie since childhood; though their relationship had grown distant after she grew up, she still saw Robbie as her brother.

So her mood was also very low.

After dinner, Natasha tugged at Roger's clothes: "Come with me."

Roger glanced at Mrs. Fiona bustling in the kitchen, nodded, and followed Natasha back to her room.

Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered, the girl reached out and hugged the man around the waist, burying her head in his chest.

"Hey, believe in Robbie—he'll pull through."

Roger stroked her smooth hair and comforted her.

"Mm." Natasha let out a muffled sound, then suddenly worried: "Will they retaliate against you?"

"Me?" Roger shrugged: "No, they don't know who I am or what I did that night—only Robbie and you know."

"Good." Natasha clenched her teeth: "I won't tell anyone—I swear it to God."

"I believe you."

After spending this time together, Roger felt Natasha was still a girl with good judgment.

"I only have Mrs. Fiona and you now—you absolutely can't get hurt, or I really won't know how to face…."

As she spoke, Natasha suddenly began whispering sobs.

Roger soothed her while handing her a tissue.

"Don't worry—we'll all be fine."

No sooner had he spoken than he saw a prompt from the Anchor Point.

【Natasha's Trust has been achieved, Anchor Point +1】

【Anchor Point effect: Passive skill 'Blessing', SAN Value shangxian +1】

Passive skill 'Blessing'—what the hell is that?

【Blessing】

【Skill description: Lucky guy, congratulations—someone is willing to share this burden with you】

【Skill effect: When SAN Value reaches zero, SAN Value +1 (resets monthly)】

What the fuck.

This is basically an extra life!

Roger couldn't help but widen his eyes, feeling as if he'd somehow won the lottery jackpot.

At the same time.

Natasha also felt the man's heartbeat suddenly quicken.

"Why is his heartbeat so fast?"

"Could he be wanting to kiss me?"

The girl felt her heart pounding, pressed her lips together, tilted her head up, and openly revealed her cherry lips to the man.

But she received no kiss from Roger—instead, he held her tighter and rubbed her hair.

"Thank you, Natasha."

"What? Why say that?" Natasha was confused.

"Nothing." Roger patted her back, not mentioning how much his suppressed mood had improved after their conversation.

"Alright, we should go out—otherwise Mrs. Fiona will worry."

Natasha pouted, slightly resentful.

"Let's go to church together this weekend."

The girl brightened up again: "It's a deal—you can't back out."

"Of course."

……

"I shouldn't die—it's the Mexicans who should die!"

"Shit, just one shot away!"

"Ah, it hurts!"

"Don't kill me!"

"Splash!"

Roger jolted upright from under the covers, then gasped heavily several times.

"Huff, huff."

He blinked hard, staring at the faint sunlight streaming in through the window, and felt his back was a little sticky.

"Another nightmare."

Ever since his SAN Value had been crit, all sorts of chaotic sounds and that hellish scene had been echoing through Roger's dreams for the past two days.

"But at least I slept until seven o'clock."

Roger figured the members of the Crip gang probably weren't sleeping well either after seeing the Mexican Gang's gift, though they could always numb themselves with drugs.

Roger, however, could only tough it out.

Fortunately, the past two days had been calm, just as Xiao duo had said—Xin Yidunweier Shequ had temporarily shaken off the gang war troubles.

But over a dozen shootings had erupted on several streets in southern Seattle.

Thanks to that, Qiangsen and Juan actually had new work again—hauling the corpses of unlucky sods hit by stray bullets off the streets.

From what he heard, this corpse-collection job was no different from before; the only change was the management.

And Roger hadn't had any new intel jobs these past two days either, so he could only deliver food to earn money.

The work wasn't exactly hard, just a little taxing on the mouth. Every time, he had to wait for the customer to speak first, then mimic their accent while chatting.

If the customer was willing to throw in a little extra tip, that was naturally best.

If the customer was dressed flashily but seemed a bit stingy, Roger would deploy a flattery strategy—stroke their vanity, then angle for a tip.

If the customer was plainly dressed and in a hurry, Roger would just deliver the food as a matter of routine and turn to leave.

After all, squeezing any juice out of these wage slaves was the hardest thing.

In any case, during that stretch he'd earned a little over a thousand dollars delivering food. It looked like a lot, but that figure included all sorts of miscellaneous costs—gas, insurance, and so on.

Besides, if it were anyone else, they wouldn't be able to scam tips the way Roger did by mimicking accents.

But no matter what, Roger calculated his net take-home earnings to be roughly around $600.

But that was the result of him running a grueling 12-hour shift every day; he couldn't possibly keep up that workload for an entire month without a single day off.

Even popping stimulants requires half a day of rest!

So under normal circumstances, assuming he could work 26 days a month, he'd earn roughly $7,500 a month.

Then after deducting $1,400 in delivery costs, $1,500 in self-employment tax and federal tax, plus all the miscellaneous living expenses, phone bills, and already dirt-cheap rent.

He'd only have about $1,500 to $2,000 left each month.

Oh, and car insurance too.

The insurance he'd currently purchased was a bundle the insurance company had packed together—hail, fire, flood, auto, and over a dozen other policies—into one big gift box, costing a minimum of just $128 a month.

The remaining money was enough to support himself alone, but if it were a family of three…

Mortgage, car loan, tuition, books, insurance for wife and child, and gas for two cars.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

And remember, these were all strictly essential living expenses! It didn't even include money for eating out or having a little fun!

Fuck!

It was only after finishing the calculations that Roger understood just how difficult it was for the common folk at the bottom to obtain a decent life in Meilijian and save up money to weather risks.

"Thank goodness Mrs. Fiona took me in."

Roger once again thanked this kind-hearted Black lady in his heart.

So after getting up, he drove to the Chinese supermarket in Chinatown and bought some more Lao Gan Ma and spicy snacks.

But just as he was picking out his items, a new piece of intel suddenly caught his eye.