After wandering aimlessly around the Jamaica Community for a few laps, Lin An had Darnell find an empty public bench with no homeless people camped out on it. He needed to think about how to make money.
"Bro, I'm hungry."
Darnell had just parked the Roadster Bicycle when he held out his hand to Lin An.
"Give me something to eat, and a drink while you're at it."
Lin An, still deep in thought, reached inside his coat and pulled out a thick, arm-length Chinese baguette and a bottle of watermelon juice. He handed them to Darnell.
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The latter seemed fine when he got the bread, but when the watermelon juice appeared, he sat on the bench and fell into deep thought.
"Bro, are you discriminating against me?"
Darnell held up the bread and waved it in front of Lin An like a lawyer presenting evidence in court.
"You gave me watermelon juice, so why didn't you give me fried chicken instead of a baguette?
"Do you know what the relationship is between Black people and baguettes? There is no relationship! We only have a relationship with fried chicken and watermelon!"
"So?"
"Where's the fried chicken?"
He tucked the bread under his arm, then spread his hands, palms up and fingers splayed. His expression was so exaggerated, it was as if he were performing a one-man Broadway show.
"Where's my fried chicken?"
"Get lost!"
Lin An waved him off, refusing to indulge Darnell's unreasonable demands.
"Let's talk business. How are we supposed to make money?"
"Don't ask me."
Darnell unwrapped the bread and started wolfing it down.
"If I knew how to make money, I wouldn't have to go looting."
Fair enough.
Lin An turned his attention to the Bullet Screen. The viewers were also offering suggestions. After weeding out the obvious trolls, he found quite a few worth considering.
[How about gambling? Poker, mahjong, stuff like that. We can help you see your opponents' cards in advance, so you can control your odds of winning.]
That sounded like it could work, but it was a little too risky for Lin An at the moment. He'd keep it in mind.
There were no legal casinos in New York. If you wanted to gamble on cards or mahjong, you had to go to an underground casino run by the gangs. The safety of such places went without saying... If he actually won big, there was a good chance he wouldn't be able to leave.
Forget about their reputation. To the New York gangs, that was a joke. They were the sort who lived for today, not knowing when they might end up dead in the street. What was there to say about honor?
[Buy stocks.]
[Not realistic.]
[Just sell stuff! The streamer's tip list is full of things. Take them out and sell them retail or wholesale. You could make a fortune in dollars.]
That was a viable option, but it would be a hassle for now. Selling things in New York wasn't as easy as ordinary people imagined. The place was crawling with shady characters, like the monsters Tang Sanzang encountered on his journey to the West. Without a Sun Wukong to protect you, you could easily be swallowed whole.
Even if he started a small business, he'd still have to pay protection money to the local gang and the petty thugs in the area.
[Streamer, sell medicine. I've tipped you a lot of it, including plenty of antibiotics. I remember antibiotics are expensive in the US. That's a great business opportunity.]
[That won't work. It's not something the streamer can get into right now.]
[What do you mean?]
[First of all, selling prescription drugs is a serious crime in the US. The police, the FBI, or any other American law enforcement agency—the DEA, Homeland Security—they can all arrest you.]
[Fun fact: there are more than thirty armed law enforcement agencies in the US, and any of them can arrest the streamer for selling antibiotics.]
[Exactly. If someone reports you for selling fake medicine, the local police might not bother with you. But if it's real medicine, you're screwed.]
[Besides the authorities, selling antibiotics would also make enemies of doctors, the American pharmaceutical companies, and the local gangs. All three make money selling medicine. So if you sell medicine on the street, within three days, armed men in body armor carrying military-grade automatic weapons will come knocking.]
[So selling antibiotics isn't impossible, it just won't get you far. You might make a few sales, then something will happen.]
Lin An memorized what the Bullet Screen had said.
Selling medicine wasn't an option for now.
What about another route?
"Darnell, if I hired homeless people to work for me, like selling things at a stall, would anyone give me trouble?"
"That's not a good idea. The Rainstorm Gang will charge you protection money for setting up a stall, and it's the same in other communities."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Lin An shook his head.
"Looks like it's not that I don't want to make an honest living. It's just that the world won't let me be a good person."
"Bro, you're saying stuff I don't understand again."
"All right, Darnell, I have an idea. I need those homeless people... Hmm, wait, I think I can use them to make a fortune and get rich overnight!"
"Oh? How?"
Darnell perked up.
"Not yet. We need some money and a few capable people before we can really get started... For now, let's do something else."
"Ah—oh, damn it!"
Lin An followed the sound. Darnell had gotten up from the other end of the bench and was yelling and punching the air at the ginkgo tree beside them.
"Hey, you little thief! Damn thief... No, you black bandit! Do you know whose stuff you stole?"
Lin An followed Darnell's gaze and finally noticed more than a dozen crows perched in the ginkgo tree a few meters away. They crowded the branches, a mass of black like dark fruit growing on the tree, and not one of them made a sound.
The one perched on the thickest branch at the very top was the biggest.
It was nearly a size larger than the crows below. When it folded its wings, the feathers at its shoulders puffed up like a black cloak.
Its beak was thick and curved, with a patch of gray-white keratin worn away at the tip, like an old hook. Unlike the other crows, it didn't hunker down into a ball. It stood with its claws gripping the branch, its body leaning slightly forward, like a person looking down from a high place.
[Holy crap, these crows are huge.]
[They're all American Crows, a relatively small species of crow. They're still bigger than pigeons, though, and their wingspan is nearly a meter.]
[I kind of like them. How smart are they?]
[Very smart. Remember the crow-and-the-pitcher story from your Chinese textbook? American Crows can learn to use tools, remember people's faces and voices, and they're especially vindictive and loyal to their group.]
[For example, American Crows are the bird world's Mafia. They care a lot about family ties. They have a clear division of labor, and adult crows take care of the young and old in their family. They really respect the elderly and care for the young.
[And if you mess with one crow, you've messed with an entire crow family. They'll take revenge on you, and the longest grudge can last five years.]
[Shit, no wonder bird poop kept landing on my head for a whole month after I hit a crow with a rock. I thought I was unlucky. Turns out I'd been targeted by the Mafia!]
Watching the Bullet Screen, Lin An couldn't help smiling. When he looked up at the ginkgo tree again, he happened to see the biggest crow tearing open the bread in its beak with its claws. Then it hopped to another branch and shared the food with the other crows.
The other crows didn't fight over the bread. They lined up on the branches, orderly as anything, to receive the food their leader handed out.
Lin An noticed that the crow leader fed the old crows with dull feathers and slow movements first, then the young crows whose feathers hadn't fully grown in. The adult crows were last.
There were about a dozen crows gathered in the ginkgo tree, and the piece of bread the crow leader had stolen from Darnell clearly wasn't enough for them all.
By the time it got to the sixth crow, there was no bread left in its beak, and the leader itself hadn't eaten a single bite.
After watching all this, Lin An suddenly found himself rather fond of the American Crow leader.
"Darnell."
"Bro, what's up?"
"Go a little farther away."
Lin An reached into his coat and pulled out a bag of little buns.
"I want to ask the crows something. You'll scare them."
"What!!!"
Darnell looked shocked.
"Bro, you're actually kicking your good friend out for this bunch of Ni Ge birds? You're unbelievable—"
"Quit whining!"
Lin An waved him off.
"I'll take you out for a big meal later!"
"Really? Not KFC?"
"Of course not!"
"Excellent, bro. I knew you were such a kind-hearted person. If you're willing to talk to a bunch of Ni Ge birds, you definitely won't let your good bro down."
Darnell kept rambling as he pushed his bicycle farther away. Once he stopped about ten meters off, Lin An took out the little buns and tossed them onto the open ground beneath the ginkgo tree.
The crows in the tree looked at the bun, then at Lin An, but didn't move.
Lin An tossed down another slice beside the first, then a third, then a fourth, until he'd laid out a fifth one near the bench.
The biggest crow stood on the highest branch, looking down for about ten seconds. Then it flew down and landed beside the bread.
It didn't hurry to eat. Instead, it tilted its head and looked at Lin An.
Lin An didn't move. The crow picked up the bun, used its claws to tear off a little less than half, and swallowed it. Then it took the rest of the bun back to the branch, tore it apart, and fed an old crow.
The Bullet Screen filled with exclamations.
[What a smart beast.]
[It really respects the elderly and cares for the young. I wish my neighbor would see this.]
It flew back and forth, carrying bread from the ground up to the tree.
Darnell's piece of bread had been tiny, nowhere near enough to go around, and Lin An's five little buns weren't enough either. By the time it got to the fourth bun, there was nothing left. The leader itself had only eaten the first one.
After distributing the food, it returned to the highest branch and looked down at Lin An.
Lin An pulled another five little buns from the bag. This time, he tossed them down at the other end of the bench.
The crow leader flew down again. It wasn't afraid of Lin An at all. It landed right on the bench, picked up one slice and swallowed it, then carried the rest up to the tree to feed the other crows. This time, it ate two pieces itself.
When it returned to the branch for the third time, it didn't wait for Lin An to toss down any bread. It tilted its head at the bag in his hand and gave a short, hoarse call.
Lin An emptied the remaining little buns onto the bench. There were about fifteen of them.
The crow flew down. It didn't hurry to grab a bun, but stood beside the pile and looked up at Lin An. Then it lowered its head and picked them up one by one, carrying them to the tree.
It distributed the little buns among the old crows, the young crows, and the adult crows. This time, it ate two pieces itself.
After distributing the food, it didn't fly back to the highest branch. Instead, it hopped onto the lowest one, crouched there, and tilted its head at Lin An.
Darnell called out from a distance.
"It's looking at you."
"I know."
Lin An watched the crow leader's eyes. Suddenly, as if understanding what it wanted, he raised his right arm across his chest.
Without hesitation, the crow jumped from the branch and spread its wings. Its wingspan was nearly a meter, and its black feathers flashed in the sunlight.
It landed on Lin An's forearm, its claws gripping the sleeve of his coat. Its body swayed slightly, then steadied.
Lin An didn't move. The crow perched on his arm and tilted its head to look at him. Its bead-like black eyes were so close that he could see his face reflected in its pupils.
It gave a short, hoarse call.
Lin An raised his left hand and gently rested his fingers on the crow's head.
Its feathers were dense and smooth. Beneath his fingertips, he could feel the shape of the bone.
The crow didn't shy away. It tucked its neck in and closed its eyes.
[Good bird.]
[So well-behaved.]
[I want one too.]
The Bullet Screen streamed densely past Lin An, and right at that moment, something unusual happened... The [I want one too] comment happened to drift over the crow leader's head, and then...
It got stuck there and stopped moving.
At first, neither Lin An nor the viewers on the Bullet Screen realized what was happening. Then the stuck comment refreshed right above the crow leader's head.
[Hey, what's going on? Why can't I move my view... Wait, no, why is my view stuck above the crow's head?]
[Hahaha, the crow kidnapped you.]
[What's going on? Comments can get stuck?]
[What can you see?]
[Wait, I think I can switch over too.]
[Whoa, maintaining this second camera view costs ten points an hour. A little pricey... Wait, I see an arrow button. Let me try clicking it...]
The crow leader suddenly jumped and flapped its wings, flying back to the ginkgo tree. Then it tilted its head and looked around in confusion, especially above its head. It stared for a long time, looking utterly baffled.
[Oh, this is fun. Let me try. I think I'm the proxy streamer for the second camera view now. I can control this crow.]
The crow leader abruptly flapped its wings and flew down again. This time, it landed on Lin An's shoulder and gently pecked his ear.
It didn't hurt. It was actually a little ticklish.
[Streamer, streamer, give it something to eat!]
Lin An saw the comment and reached inside his coat again. Using his clothes to conceal what he was doing, he took a bag of sliced bread from the tip list. This time, he dumped the entire bag onto the open ground.
The crow leader didn't hurry to start eating. Instead, it called out, and the dozen or so American Crows in the ginkgo tree swarmed down, gathering around the pile of bread to eat together, peck by peck.
[I've figured it out. Starting a second camera view is simple. All you have to do is get a comment stuck on a crow's head. It costs ten points an hour, and other people can switch to the view too, but they can't control it.]
[And if I want to direct the second camera view—that is, control where the crow flies—it has to be willing to cooperate. Just now, I saw a line of tiny text drift out of the crow's head. It said it wanted the streamer to feed its flock before it would keep cooperating with me.]
[Holy crap, that's awesome!]
[The streamer's about to become a druid.]
[A swarm of little spies is about to descend!]
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