Chapter 311: Suspicious Behavior
Causing trouble? Didn’t he just beat up a Black Ghost with racial discrimination habits? How is that causing trouble?
Could this person have some background?
No way, right?
Chang Ning didn’t believe his luck was that bad, getting into trouble with someone he shouldn’t have just upon arriving in America.
Seeing the puzzled look on Chang Ning’s face, the kindhearted veteran, considering they were both Overseas Chinese, gave Chang Ning some more background on the identity of the Black man lying on the ground who had already fallen into a coma.
“Young man, did you see the tattoo on this Black man’s right arm?”
With that said by the veteran, Chang Ning realized that the Black Ghost he had beaten seemed to have a gang background.
Gang culture is prevalent in America, and members of different gangs have distinctive tattoos or marks on their bodies.
So the Black Ghost driver who got beaten by him turned out to be a gang member too, and it looked like he was a mid-level force in the gang.
Peripheral small fry don’t qualify to have gang marks tattooed on their bodies.
Seeing that Chang Ning understood his meaning, the veteran then advised him to run away quickly before that Black man woke up.
As long as Chang Ning wanted to run, even if the gang the Black Ghost belonged to was extremely large, finding someone in New York wasn’t that easy.
Moreover, the process of finding someone would involve entering other gangs’ territories, so how could it be done without paying some price?
It all depends on the scale of the gang this Black Ghost driver belonged to, and his status in that gang.
According to Chang Ning’s guess, the Black Ghost’s status probably wasn’t that high.
If he had any real status, would he be out driving a taxi as a side job?
Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out that the gang was poorly managed with weak economic strength.
In any case, Chang Ning planned to take the kindhearted veteran’s advice and prepare to run.
After all, he still had a mission, and any influencing factors that could be avoided should be avoided.
The onlookers, seeing there was no more spectacle, dispersed in twos and threes.
On the roadside, only Chang Ning and the comatose Black driver remained, while the kindhearted veteran had blended into the crowd and disappeared.
In a foreign land, the man had already done more than enough by kindly reminding him, and Chang Ning was already quite satisfied with that. He couldn’t shamelessly ask a stranger to accompany him in offending a New York gang.
Since he had already offended them, Chang Ning figured he might as well offend them thoroughly.
When the time came, he would meet soldiers with generals and earth with water—who was afraid of whom!
Even if he caused a huge commotion in New York, so what?
Thinking of this, Chang Ning felt no burden as he squatted down beside the Black driver and reached out to search him.
Don’t misunderstand—he didn’t have any special fetishes or a pervert’s mentality.
He was just cleaning the battlefield, taking everything useful, including the weapon the Black Ghost had used earlier to threaten his life.
Things were different now than back domestic; with limited funds, he had to save where he could.
After searching, Chang Ning found a car key, wallet, mobile phone, and a dagger on the Black driver.
To thank the comatose Black driver for his generosity, Chang Ning kindly called an ambulance for him.
He’d heard that calling an ambulance in America was quite expensive, but those medical expenses were negligible compared to life.
Chang Ning figured this Black Ghost sleeping soundly on the ground wouldn’t mind that bit of “small money,” and besides, his gang would cover the medical expenses.
Yeah, probably.
After finishing the search, Chang Ning squeezed the thickness of the wallet and found it decent; the last bit of displeasure in his heart vanished.
The Black driver was just left by Chang Ning on the roadside—however arrogant he had been with his discrimination before, he was that pathetic now.
Passersby on the road ignored the bruised and swollen Black man as if he were invisible.
Chang Ning didn’t want to waste his time thinking about what would happen to the Black man afterward—whether he lived or died!
He’d already called an ambulance for him; whether he ended up brain dead or with a concussion would depend on that discriminator’s luck.
Putting the Black driver incident behind him, Chang Ning toyed with the Black driver’s car key as he walked into the small storefront convenience store.
Pushing the door open, the layout inside the convenience store was quite ordinary, nothing like the hidden wonders shown in movies.
Although Chang Ning felt doubtful inside, he didn’t show it on his face.
That intelligence personnel wouldn’t trick him on something like this, so there must be some other condition or clue.
In any case, it wouldn’t be a code, because if a code was needed, the intelligence personnel would have told him.
Chang Ning thus strolled around the convenience store, and sure enough, the variety of things sold there was quite comprehensive, no different from small supermarkets back domestic.
The convenience store clerk was a white guy who looked about seventeen or eighteen, with a head of brown short hair and faint freckles on his face, not many.
An Asian entered the store, and he just assumed it was an ordinary shopper or someone heading to the black market.
What puzzled him was that this Asian neither shopped after entering nor took the special passage to the black market, just wandering around the store aimlessly.
Could he be a thief?
The convenience store clerk watched this suspicious-acting person with eyes full of doubt and vigilance.
If this guy took something without paying, he would stop him immediately.
His salary was low, after all; if goods were stolen or damaged while he was watching the store, the boss would deduct it from his wages.
Chang Ning himself felt uncomfortable being stared at like a thief for a while by the clerk, but he still bore the pressure and pretended to casually pick up a bag of candy printed with English words to look at it.
Those who didn’t know might think he was going to buy the candy in his hand.
Seeing Chang Ning’s action, the clerk’s eyes narrowed—this guy was about to make his move!
In the clerk’s eyes, Chang Ning picking up that bag of candy was a feint to the east, attack to the west, laying the groundwork for the upcoming theft.
He had to stop this thief from infringing on the convenience store’s property!
Just as the clerk was about to shout to intimidate the “thief,” the “thief’s” next action choked his shout back down into his stomach.
He saw Chang Ning drop the bag of candy in his hand and follow a Bearded Strong Man dressed in workwear style with his cowboy hat brim pressed very low into the convenience store’s compartment.
Turns out he was a black market customer; he’d thought he was a thief.
The clerk thought to himself: This guy must have something wrong with him, otherwise why wander around the store to mess with me— was it to amuse me?
Although he’d been messed with, the clerk bro overall wasn’t too angry, because his wages wouldn’t be deducted by the boss.
Moreover, he felt pity in his heart for that man who seemed like a thief.
Most people coming to the black market wandered in society’s dark side, and the sources of the things sold inside weren’t exactly clean.
Therefore, the clerk bro believed Chang Ning’s previously suspicious behavior must be due to some trauma that left him a bit mentally off.
Over here, seeing the Bearded Strong Man head straight to the compartment without even glancing at the clerk, Chang Ning knew that the outer perimeter of this black market didn’t seem heavily guarded—at least there appeared to be no rules like codes or membership systems.
Following the Bearded Strong Man into the compartment, an elevator came into Chang Ning’s view.
The buttons in the elevator had only three: the usual close door and open door, plus a single “-1” key.
Clearly, the black market was below the convenience store.
“First time here?”
The Bearded Strong Man said gruffly to Chang Ning.
