Chapter 3: If it shouldn't die, it's not a vampire

The fat police officer, who is blocking the bakery door with his fat body, turns around, his small eyes staring at the fat owner with fierce light.

Sometimes, police in the City of Angels are more abominable than gang members, and less like good people.

The fat owner chooses between an unspecified but terrible threat and two hundred dollars, and in the end, chooses to abandon two hundred dollars to protect himself.

The monthly profit of this bakery is about four hundred dollars, and after deducting normal expenses, about three hundred and fifty dollars remain.

The monthly hygiene fee paid to the gang is fifty dollars, and the amount paid to the police is about sixty-five dollars; now the gang fee has gone up, to sixty.

That is to say, the monthly profit is only two hundred and twenty-five; if his daughter and himself are calculated with wages, the net profit is only one hundred dollars.

This number might still be an unattainable number for many working-class people, but for a shop owner, it is actually not too much.

But in the end, it can still make money.

The fat owner takes a deep breath, "No problem, I'll go get it now."

Not long after, he takes two hundred dollars from the secret box where money is kept, feeling the pain, and puts it on the table.

The police officer glances at it casually, picks it up, and puts it in his pocket, "Jonny, don't worry, I'm also a person who follows the rules."

"You actually didn't suffer a loss; I won't collect your money within half a year; you haven't been extorted by anyone, you just paid the money in advance."

Such an explanation makes the fat owner seem a bit more comfortable, but Lan Si, who has been watching from the corner, is very clear that suddenly collecting fees in advance is definitely not because he is in urgent need of money now.

It is very likely that this guy is really going to be transferred.

So he plans to make another haul before being transferred.

However, he has no obligation to remind the fat owner, and even if he reminded him, the fat owner would have no ability to resist.

Someone once tried to report the behavior of some corrupt police, but in the end, it was left unsettled.

The police officer looks at the fat owner, then at Lan Si, then picks up the handkerchief and throws it into the trash can by the table, "If you have any trouble, have the radio station find me."

He says this, puts on his hat, pats the fat police officer on the shoulder, and pushes the door out.

The "Temporarily Closed" sign also changes back to "Open."

Lan Si sees through the display window that they went to the next shop; it can be seen that his appetite is very large.

From the front of the street to the corner, there are at least thirty shops; if every shop gives him four hundred dollars, that is twelve thousand dollars.

In an era where the per capita wage is only forty or fifty, twelve thousand dollars is definitely an astronomical figure for people at the bottom!

"These sons of bitches with sores on their soles, these bastards...", Jonny curses in a low voice; even the cursing has to be so careful, which makes Lan Si feel ridiculous.

He suddenly looks up at Lan Si, his eyes red, "Do you think I'm ridiculous?"

Lan Si takes a step back inexplicably, hurriedly waving his hands, "No, not at all."

But the fat owner seems to have decided that this is the case, "You can laugh at me; you saw me make a fool of myself, but it doesn't matter, dinner is canceled!"

After saying this, he returns to the room inside without looking back, and then the sound of things being thrown comes out.

Lan Si looks at the half-open door and listens to the curses coming from the room; the apprentice stands at the door of the back hall looking at himself with a cold smile; all of this gives him a very clear understanding of this era.

Power is the foundation.

He and those young people who came to the door to collect protection money, and that police officer in his thirties wearing a police uniform representing justice, after removing the external things, have no difference.

What made him work for nothing for a month here and owe the capitalist three dollars, and what made those people do nothing, yet be able to get a large sum from here every month?

It is power, the order created by power!

People without power follow the order.

Lan Si is not a person who follows the rules, at least it is unlikely he is.

In the afternoon, he is thinking about how to make the fat owner pay for his arrogance, when suddenly a small person wearing a duck-billed cap runs outside the bakery.

He stands with his hands on his hips, panting, looking into the bakery; Lan Si sees him at a glance and immediately walks out.

On the ship he came on, he met many peers; seventeen or eighteen-year-olds, eighteen or nineteen-year-olds are a group that is easy to get along with.

You don't need to know each other; you only need to say a few words, and then express whether you can "play" together, and a small group will form.

Most of these refugees from the same place stayed to work locally, and many work as laborers at the port—

This is also where undocumented immigrants appear most often; the heaviest, most tiring, and dirtiest work is always inseparable from undocumented immigrants.

Locals look down on that kind of dirty and tiring work, and capitalists are unwilling to hire locals at higher prices, so undocumented immigrants are always the best choice.

Even now, things like "renting positions" have appeared, right on the notice board at the port—

According to federal laws and regulations, it is ostensibly to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the bottom-level people, but in reality, it only provides better means of exploitation for capitalists, so workers who want to work need to provide at least one of two certificates.

Federal Citizen Social Security Number, or Immigration Work Permit.

Whether it is a local native or a legal immigrant, you must have one.

Undocumented immigrants have no social security number, nor can they have a work permit, but they need to work; what should they do?

Some locals rent their jobs to those undocumented immigrants; for example, the most common one is a ship cleaner.

The port management office doesn't care who the hell is holding the rag to clean the ship; they only care whether the ship cleaning work is completed on time.

A ship cleaner has a monthly salary of thirty-five dollars; the undocumented immigrant needs to give the ship cleaner fifteen dollars and complete all the work.

Then the remaining twenty dollars is their own income.

Twenty dollars is already considered a high income; now many work cards are rising in price, and some have already risen to eighteen dollars.

This means that a person who cannot work on the surface, replacing others to work, works hard for a month and only has seventeen dollars.

Living in a cement pipe, eating the worst and cheapest food, one can only save a few dollars a month.

Some locals with active brains often "part-time" two or three jobs or more at the same time, and then rent these job positions to those undocumented immigrants.

Doing nothing every month, they can earn fifty or sixty dollars; this has become a way of life for locals.

It is also a unique way of life in a few cities.

The small person in front of him is called Erwin, a fellow villager of Lan Si; on the land of a foreign country, there will be an inexplicable sense of trust between such fellow villagers.

This sense of trust comes from the sense of security in understanding generated by having the same past and living in the same area, and many people also use this trust to do bad things.

However, this small person can be trusted, because he came to the Federation with Lan Si in the same batch from the Empire.

It can be seen that he should be very anxious.

Lan Si pushes the door out and wipes his hands on his apron, "What's wrong?"

Erwin looks very anxious, "Ethan is in trouble!"

Lan Si's expression also changes, "What's wrong with him?"

Among this group of people, Lan Si is relatively respected by others in the small group because of his relatively mature knowledge, and they are willing to discuss things with him.

After all, as an adult with many years of experience, even if he is not so familiar with this world, when facing some choices, he will still be more stable and more suitable than these half-grown children.

Erwin takes a deep breath, forcing his breath to become stable, "Today is payday; you know our work cards are rented, so..."

Lan Si has already guessed the follow-up, "So the wharf gave the salary to the person who rented you the work card, and then Ethan's person refused to give him the salary, right?"

Erwin nods repeatedly, "That's exactly it; that bastard told him he wouldn't give him a penny and scolded him."

"Then he was impulsive and beat that idiot, and that son of a bitch directly called the police..."

This kind of thing is actually not uncommon on the wharf, and it is not uncommon in the entire City of Angels; there will always be people who covet the wealth and everything you possess without your knowledge!

At the same time, this also has a direct relationship with the fact that undocumented immigrants are not recognized by the judiciary in the Federation, so the cost of calling the police is far higher than the loss of working for nothing for a month, so even if some people are cheated, in the end, they will only choose to pretend that nothing happened.

This also prompted these disgusting maggots locally to become more unscrupulous; anyway, they know very well that no one will call the police, and the cost of calling the police is something those undocumented immigrants cannot bear.

And in terms of the scale of employment in New Jincheng, these work cards are not lacking for people to try.

Lan Si frowns; this matter is not easy to handle, "Where is Ethan now?"

"I let him hide in the culvert under the bridge."

"What did that guy say?"

"He said give him two hundred dollars, and this matter will be settled; if not, he will always find trouble for Ethan."

"If he really does that, Ethan is very likely to be sent back."

At this time, being sent back to the Empire is no longer a question of going to the front line; the Emperor is crazy, and he will send everyone who escaped military service to the gallows!

In other words, Ethan will very likely go to jail if he goes back, or even die!

The reason why the Federal guys threaten them and exploit them without fear is precisely because of this!

But two hundred dollars is really too much; these people have only been here for a month, and most people have only a few dollars left after deducting food and drink expenses every month.

Two hundred dollars, they simply cannot gather it.

Erwin also said this problem, "Seven or eight of us only gathered sixty-three dollars, still missing over a hundred."

Lan Si sighs, "I not only didn't get a penny this month, but I also owe three dollars."

Erwin's voice reveals hatred, "These damn vampires!" ===== CHAPTER 4 =====