Wayne swallowed the seagull meat in his mouth and revealed a friendly smile, saying:
"Buddy, don't come in. Wait until I come out before you enter to collect the body. I've got a pretty bad cold, probably severe bronchitis that's turned into pneumonia. Don't want to infect you... cough... cough cough cough..."
The other person was clearly still stunned by this bizarre scene and instinctively replied to Wayne's words:
"Okay... okay..."
He took a step back, then suddenly snapped out of it and exclaimed in surprise:
"You speak Chinese?"
In a dilapidated homeless tent on the streets of Seattle during a freezing Halloween rain, with a dead body lying among scattered syringes, a blood-stained white man suddenly speaking perfect Chinese while chewing on raw seagull meat was truly a bizarre scene.
Wayne nodded amiably and quickly made up an excuse:
"I studied at Dongda University for over ten years... cough... that's my true hometown... cough..."
As he spoke, Wayne crawled out of the tent, covering his mouth to suppress his coughs while pointing at Old John's body:
"This is my good friend Old John. We were like brothers. Unfortunately, he injected too many Enhancement Drugs... He has no family left, and before he died, he asked me to handle his funeral arrangements... Name your price."
The man in the protective suit nodded.
The reason he was out working on this freezing Halloween night was precisely because the dispatcher had mentioned that the body to be collected had died from overdosing on multiple Enhancement Drugs.
Valuable pathological material.
He quickly assessed Old John's body:
"Sigh... no personal information, this counts as an unidentified body. With the pathological bonus for cause of death, according to company standards, it's worth... $600."
Wayne shook his head and said:
"Brother, I already told you, this old friend was like a brother to me. He was my beloved friend and family... you'll have to add more money."
Hearing Wayne use the classic Dongda "add more money" line, the Corpse Collector in the protective suit looked at him with some surprise, couldn't help but chuckle, then sighed and said:
"Sigh... alright, another $100... that's the highest price within my personal authority."
Wayne extended his fist and said:
"cough... deal."
The other man bumped fists with him, then took a body bag into the tent and began collecting the corpse.
At the same time, another black man in simple protective gear came around from behind the tent, placed his hand on his waist while giving Wayne a deep look, then entered the tent to work together.
Clearly, there had been two of them from the start, with the other Corpse Collector maintaining watch behind the tent.
The two quickly packaged Old John's body and loaded it into their vehicle.
The young man from Dongda University returned from the vehicle carrying a bag, counted out a stack of US dollars, rolled them up, sighed, and handed them to Wayne.
Wayne took the roll of money and said with a smile:
"Thanks, deal... cough cough cough... this damn place isn't where Dongda people should be... Speaking of which, are you guys hiring?"
[You have completed your first transaction in the Infernal Dungeon, gaining the passive skill "Familiar Face in a Foreign Land" (30%) and +3 EXP]
Hearing Wayne's clear and articulate words, the young man sighed again—he seemed particularly fond of sighing—and said with a furrowed brow:
"We're a private medical company collaborating with universities and don't need staff at the moment… But if you have leads on corpses, you can call directly. Legitimate corpse tips are $200, non-compliant ones are $700."
The young man then glanced around, noticing his Black colleague who had accompanied him was already in the car. Confirming no one else was nearby, he pulled something from his pocket and pressed it into Wayne's hand, saying:
"You need to see a doctor soon—one who can treat your illness, not just relieve the pain."
He then handed Wayne the bag he was holding:
"Here are some fries and a burger. They should be better than seagull."
Tonight, he had bought plenty of burgers to distribute to the hungry children in the neighborhood and happened to have some left for himself.
Wayne nodded:
"Cough… Thanks, brother."
The other man nodded, sighed once more, turned, got into the car, and drove off.
Only after the Corpse Collector's vehicle had completely disappeared did Wayne return to his tent and open the bag.
Inside were a beef burger, a bottle of cola, and a box of fries.
What surprised Wayne the most, however, was what the man had slipped into his hand.
It was a half-empty blister pack of medication.
Three cephalosporin pills.
Antibiotics!
Wayne's hands trembled slightly.
For him now, antibiotics were nothing short of a lifesaver—exactly what he needed most.
Wasting no time on sentiment, Wayne immediately took one cephalosporin pill, washing it down with cola.
[You have consumed a beneficial medication; negative status alleviated]
It worked! And with the system's boost, the effect was immediate!
He then tossed the remaining half of the seagull to the puppy, grabbed the burger, and the two began devouring their meal ravenously.
The beef, pickles, and sauce—layers of rich flavor spread in his mouth, complemented by the sugar from the cola, making him feel gradually revived.
[HP: 6/60. You have temporarily left the Execution Line]
After finishing the entire burger, the pack of fries, and the last sip of cola, Wayne let out a satisfied burp.
The food was being broken down by stomach acid, warmth flooding every cell in his body—a comforting sensation of thawing and refueling after being frozen and starved.
His HP was slowly recovering.
Only then did he have a moment to open his status panel and review his recent gains.
[Class: Adventurer (Beginner, career path not chosen)
Stamina: 0.1/0.3
Intelligence: 1.2/1.3
Spirit: 0.3/0.6
HP: 6/60
EXP: 26/100
Skills: Minstrel Performance (Beginner 10%); Familiar Face in a Foreign Land (Passive 30%); Tactical Dagger Proficiency (Mastered)
Companion: Wild Hound (Level 1, 40%)
Status: Severely Ill and Weakened]
Passive Skill "Familiar Face in a Foreign Land": 30% chance to trigger a sense of familiarity in others, making them feel as if they've encountered an old friend from home.
Wayne nodded.
This was an absolutely vital survival skill.
Especially since it was passive.
Particularly in these chaotic streets, facing all sorts of menacing, unevolved types, it might just work wonders.
After opening the store option, the amount of currency he personally held became 700 copper coins, roughly equivalent to 7 silver coins.
100 silver coins equal 1 gold coin.
In other words, in this mall exchange system, ten thousand dollars is equivalent to one gold coin.
As for the items that could be purchased, such as potions and scrolls, they cost at least 10 gold coins, which is 100,000 dollars.
The money he had now was a drop in the bucket.
Whether it was a psychological effect or because this body had rarely taken antibiotics before, making them more effective, he felt his cough had improved slightly compared to earlier.
He hoped he could survive this wave.
What gave him the most peace of mind was the 700 dollars in his pocket and the remaining two cephalosporin pills.
However, while these two pills might temporarily alleviate his symptoms, proper medical intervention was still needed for a full recovery.
In America, for a homeless person like him without medical insurance, seeking treatment—especially for pneumonia in this condition—would cost far more than 700 dollars.
What he urgently needed now was to earn money quickly to treat his illness, then find a job, secure a stable source of income, and rise above the Execution Line in America.
Otherwise, even with a system, he would be stuck.
Judging from the panel stats, a normal ordinary person's attributes should all be 1, with a base health of 100.
But this body's former owner's stamina cap had dropped to 0.3, his mental strength cap to 0.6, and his health cap, which should have been 100, was now only 60.
It was a miracle he had survived this long.
Wayne lay slumped on the ground, beginning to sort through the old debts left by this body's former owner.
Once a member of the main cast of a nationally popular sitcom, a child star with a bright future ahead, he had ultimately been forced into depression and left the industry to attend school after his agent tried to make him serve as a plaything for certain powerful figures. He was also left with ongoing legal debts.
Then came three consecutive marriages and divorces, with hefty alimony payments.
His financial advisor swindled him out of most of his wealth.
His house was auctioned off.
In the end, even his parasitic parents and so-called friends scattered like birds and beasts, leaving him with no one to turn to.
Alimony, medical bills, back taxes, student loans, debts to his former agency.
And so on and so forth.
All of this had completely crushed him onto the streets, pushing him step by step into the abyss of being executed.
Money—all of this required money!
Now that his physical condition had temporarily improved slightly, Wayne felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion wash over him. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open.
This body was still too weak; just the actions from earlier had already worn him out completely.
He needed to sleep.
He wrapped a layer of plastic cling film tightly around himself, bundled all his clothes together with the tattered blanket, and sealed the entrance of the tent to ensure he wouldn't lose body heat on this icy, rainy night.
Wayne could no longer hold on. Holding the puppy close, he fell into a deep sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he was abruptly awakened by a shout:
"John! John! Get the fuck out here! You're three days late on paying for those Enhancement Drugs. You'd better hand over the money today, or we'll burn your tent down, you son of a bitch!"