Chapter 556

Living in Marvel, working for the system

José Lozano was twenty-six that year, an ordinary man from Mexico. The small town where he lived was controlled by a tangled web of local powers. Young people either joined gangs and died in some shootout, or went into factories and worked themselves to the bone for barely enough to live on.

José wasn't afraid of hard work. He was afraid of having no hope.

One day, Evan, a childhood friend who had left town, came back. His scrawny friend... was still scrawny, but he drove a nice car and wore a gold chain as thick as a thumb around his neck. Evan told José that the United States was full of opportunities and gold, that the moon was round there and even the air tasted sweet.

Evan asked with a grin, "Want to head out and take a chance?"

José wasn't someone who blindly worshiped foreign countries. The United States was indeed better than Mexico, but he also knew that everywhere was paradise for the rich, while the poor struggled wherever they went.

He couldn't take everything Evan said at face value.

Evan offered just one argument: "Could it be any worse than this?"

There were more people hoping to realize their dreams in the United States than Evan had imagined. He didn't need José to make up the numbers.

That question finally swayed José. Could it really be any worse than this?

José handed Evan the savings he had accumulated over the past few years and bought a "ticket."

There was one thing José had gotten wrong.

There was no worst, only worse... First, they were blindfolded and shoved onto a bus, taken to the border, and led through a tunnel into the other country. Then they were herded into a