pjbooks Chapter 174 One Fire of the Will-o'-the-Wisp, Parents' Worth of Raising Children
Chapter 174 One Fire of the Will-o'-the-Wisp, Parents' Worth of Raising Children
Chapter 174 The moment the will-o'-the-wisp goes off, parents have raised their children in vain.
Upon hearing Ma Jieke's "taunts," all the homeless men in the group who knew him silently tucked their tails between their legs.
Those who didn't know him started asking the guys in front and behind them in line, since there must be a reason why someone dared to be so arrogant.
Ma Jieke then walked back and forth along the line like he was inspecting troops, making sure everyone knew he was there.
Everyone followed the rules, didn't cut in line or make a scene, and the distribution speed immediately improved significantly.
The workflow, which was originally planned to take an hour and a half, was completed in just one hour, and all the supplies were gone.
"Oh, finally I can get off the early shift." Valentina's black female colleague raised her eyebrows. "Nana, your boyfriend is more useful than the police. I hope I can see his handsome figure again next time I'm working."
"Me too. If Jack could come more often, we wouldn't have to worry about safety anymore."
"Hey, why is your face red?"
Faced with her colleagues' encouragement and attempts to pair her up with someone else, Valentina was too lazy to argue anymore. It was better not to explain; the more she explained, the more confusing it would become.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Ma Jieke sat on the back of the motorcycle, twisted the throttle, and headed towards the Hollywood Hills in the suburbs.
Compared to four-wheeled cars, motorcycles are much more agile. As long as you have good skills, you can find gaps and squeeze through traffic to perform all sorts of overtaking maneuvers.
Los Santos, what are you doing here if you're not racing cars?
This terrified the inexperienced Valentina, who clung to Maje's waist the entire time, frozen like a doll.
As he approached the next traffic light, several teenagers suddenly appeared on the road and ran a red light, forcing him to slam on the brakes.
Fortunately, the BMW motorcycle's braking system was very effective, which prevented a car accident from occurring.
"Hey, are you rushing off to your deaths, you little bastards!"
Ma Jie cursed, "Even though this is Los Angeles, you can't just ignore the rules of reality like in a game."
Just as he was cursing, he was suddenly hit hard on the back by two unidentified objects.
Wow... This natural strength and elasticity completely outclasses those stiff, high-tech silicone materials.
"Are you alright?" Ma Jieke chose to ask the obvious, since this kind of perk didn't come around often.
Valentina blushed and shook her head: "It's okay, it's okay, there are just too many people who don't follow traffic rules these days."
.
"Okay, then hold me tighter, we need to get to the outskirts as soon as possible."
After Ma Jie finished speaking, regardless of her wishes, he accelerated from the start to the speed of the main road in just two seconds.
After passing through the bustling city center and the affluent neighborhood filled with luxury boutiques, drive a few kilometers north, and you'll see the famous Hollywood Hills and the iconic white giant GG sign for HOLLYW0OD.
As part of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Hollywood Hills are less than 500 meters high, yet they maintain a near-pristine forest and shrub cover.
If you were to rank the scenic spots and landmarks of Southern California, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Universal Studios, located at the foot of the mountains, would definitely be among the top 5 most popular spots for social media check-ins.
Ma Jie strolled leisurely along the Avenue of Stars, stopping midway to take a photo with the star representing Jackie Chan before continuing on his way, completely satisfied.
After driving out of a long mountain tunnel, the view suddenly opened up, with blue skies, white clouds, and lush greenery. The hustle and bustle of the city was gone, leaving only endless mountains and forests.
If you continue cycling north from here, there are no more large population centers, only scattered towns and small villages.
Just as the two were about to find a safe place to park and enter hiking mode to search for wild animals, several motorcycles suddenly emerged from the tunnel.
Ma Jieke saw in the rearview mirror that it was the same group of reckless teenagers who had been racing in the city earlier.
These kids caught up with his motorcycle and rode alongside it, deliberately tilting the front of the motorcycle up high. Two of the motorcycles were carrying hot girls wearing crop tops and dreadlocks, who looked like high school students.
An ominous premonition rose in Ma Jieke's heart; these bastards must have deliberately followed him all the way here.
"Hey Asian, you're riding pretty fast. Want to race me?"
One of the white teenagers, who thought he was very cool, put his feet on the seat after his body was airborne and drove the motorcycle while lying on his stomach.
Seeing his reckless behavior, Ma Jie didn't intend to pay him any attention. This kind of idiot would be added to the "car crash compilation" sooner or later, so just wait and see.
Seeing that Ma Jie ignored him, the guy turned his gaze to Valentina and shouted in a sly tone, "Hey big-breasted girl, Asian guys look so lame. Want to come and experience it in my car? I guarantee I can give you an unprecedented orgasm."
Valentina was completely at a loss for how to retaliate when she was harassed to her face by a white thug. After all, her daily life consisted of going back and forth between school and work, earning tuition and fees by taking courses at school and working part-time in poor neighborhoods and shelters.
She was stunned for less than three seconds when Ma Jie suddenly tilted the car closer to him, took his left foot off the clutch pedal, and kicked him hard.
This guy was already showing off his skills, so he couldn't dodge this attack at all. The car and the person separated, and the man was kicked to the ground, suffering a head injury and bleeding profusely. The car went out of control and crashed into the stone guardrail on the side of the road, sending parts flying everywhere.
You like to swear, so you think I've been playing Violent Motorcycles for nothing?
"Hold on tight!" After kicking one of them away first, Ma Jie immediately turned on the accelerator and accelerated forward in a straight line.
Valentina didn't care about the possibility of intimate contact; she pressed her entire body against his back, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist like an octopus.
Unexpectedly, these young punks were quite loyal. After seeing their companion crash, they left two people to take care of him, while the remaining three riders chased after Ma Jack.
If it weren't for the girl in the back, Ma Jie could have made them lose sight of his taillights in less than half a minute.
Trying to outrun a BMW? Do you think you're being funny?
But there was no other way; for Valentina's safety, he had to keep the speed within a certain range, for fear of an accident or upsetting her.
Fortunately, the vehicles these guys were in were terrible, and even with all their might, they could only barely keep up. But as soon as Ma Jie accelerated, he could leave them behind again.
And so, several motorcycles engaged in a chase on the winding mountain road, frightening oncoming drivers who all thought that the powerful boss Gao Xing was up to his old tricks again.
"What should we do, Jack? Should we call the police?"
Relentlessly pursued by a group of thugs, Valentina was terrified and could think of almost no other way to deal with the situation except to call the police.
"No need." Looking at the approaching motorcycle gang in the rearview mirror, Ma Jie smiled disdainfully and pulled out a pistol from his waistband.
Bang bang bang bang bang, a burst of bullets landed on the road next to them.
This nearly scared the thugs so much that they instinctively slowed down, turned around, and ran away.
One of the drivers, who was with a hot young woman, parked too hastily and suddenly unleashed a dramatic scene.
The driver and the girl were lying on the ground, groaning and crying out in pain. It was impossible to tell how many bones they had broken.
Good grief, you should have said you had a gun earlier. Were you just treating us like dogs?
You need to understand that in the North American server, it's not cool to carry a shotgun; it's cool to carry a pistol.
Because legally possessing a handgun is much more difficult than legally possessing a rifle, mainly because handguns are concealable; you don't know whether someone is carrying one or not, or when they will pull it out, so the regulations are much stricter.
Long guns are different; there's nowhere to hide them, so they pose less of a threat to society than pistols.
In short, most people who readily pull out guns are basically hardened criminals illegally possessing firearms.
I'm already illegally possessing a gun, so why would I care about a few lives on my hands?
After successfully escaping, Ma Jie ran for more than ten kilometers in one go, and only stopped in a secluded forest after confirming that there were no cops behind him.
Valentina was so frightened when she got out of the car that her legs went weak, and she sat on a large rock, panting heavily.
"Seriously, girl?" Ma Jie scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Didn't you grow up in Mexico? How come you're so scared?"
"Of course you would!" Valentina glared at her, annoyed. "What's wrong with Mexico? Don't just think of drugs and gunfights when you mention Mexico. Does every child who grows up in Mexico have been exposed to the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels from a young age? I certainly didn't, and neither did my family. Besides, I hate those people!"
"OK, OK, I misspoke."
Faced with Valentina's reaction, Majek was forced to explain: "You know Nana, to the people of this country, we are all outsiders. No matter how hard we try or how high we climb, we can't get real recognition because people's prejudices won't change. So, in order to protect myself and the people around me, I have to do some risky things."
"Yes, I understand." Looking at the somewhat flustered young man, Valentina smiled sweetly and said, "I know you went to teach those bastards a lesson because you saw me being bullied, but you were a bit too impulsive. If you always handle things like this, I'll be very worried about your safety, I mean it."
"Okay, I'll be more careful in the future." Ma Jieke shrugged helplessly, "provided I don't run into any more idiots who deserve a beating."
"Ugh, why do you always swear? It makes you look rude."
"There's no way around it. I can be very polite to polite people, but I'll be even more rude to rude people."
"Shh, shh, don't talk yet." Just as Majek was stating his position, Valentina suddenly reminded him to keep quiet and pointed behind him.
Ma Jieke subconsciously turned around and discovered that a plump gray hare was lying in the grass not far away.
At this moment, Valentina took out a digital camera from her travel bag, pointed the lens at the rabbit, and pressed the shutter.
As a result, the little guy seemed to realize that humans were around, and with a sudden kick of its muscular hind legs, it quickly disappeared from sight.
"Look, how did I do?" Valentina proudly boasted, looking at the detailed photos of the hare in the album.
"That's good." Glancing at the task panel where the progress was still zero, Ma Jieke said helplessly, "But don't take pictures next time. Didn't I tell you to teach me how to use a camera? Why are you playing with it by yourself?"
"Um...sorry, I forgot. I'll teach you now."
As Valentina spoke, she handed him the digital camera: "This thing is actually very simple. With your intelligence, you'll learn it quickly. See this button? It's labeled ON/OFF. Just flip it to turn it on, just like a mobile phone. The biggest button on the right is the shutter button. This dial is called the mode dial. Beginners don't need to worry about anything. Just switch to AUTO fully automatic mode, and the camera will handle everything for you."
"Now you take a picture for me, just go with your own feeling, let me see how talented you are."
As she spoke, she walked towards a tall North American redwood, stretched her waist in front of the thick trunk, and struck a beautiful pose.
Ma Jieke picked up his camera, aimed the lens at her stunning figure, and snapped a picture.
"Let me see." After he finished taking the picture, Valentina happily ran over.
"No...don't look at it yet, let me try again."
Looking at the horrible photos that flashed by in the camera, Ma Jie made an extremely awkward and sarcastic remark.
"Hey, let me see what's there first. You didn't even manage to take a picture, did you?"
Ignoring someone's objections, Valentina snatched the camera and pressed the playback button.
She did manage to take a picture, but the entire image was blurry. Both the surrounding vegetation and she herself were blurred.
"Hahaha, I knew it." This made her laugh so hard she couldn't stop.
Jack Ma, looking dejected, crossed his arms and said, "Go ahead and laugh at me."
"No, no, it's my fault for not teaching you well." Seeing his disappointed look, Valentina leaned closer and pointed to the display screen on the back of the camera: "I forgot to teach you how to focus. Look at the center of the screen, there's a small white dot, right? That's called the focus point. Aim it at the subject you want to photograph, then gently press the shutter button. Remember, only press it halfway, don't press it all the way down. When you see the focus point turn green, it means the focus is complete. At this point, hold the camera firmly with both hands, try to keep it still, and then press the shutter button all the way down."
"That's it?"
"Yeah, how difficult do you think it is?"
Having understood her foolproof tutorial, Ma Jie felt a sense of relief. It turned out to be so simple; he had thought he was going to have to keep making this girl laugh.
The two walked a distance into the woods, continuing their search for wildlife to photograph.
"Look, Jack, the little squirrel! Take a picture of him! He's on that oak branch, so cute! He looks like he's getting ready for winter."
Following her directions, Ma Jieke saw a tawny squirrel holding a light brown acorn with its short forelimbs.
Not only that, but it also had another one in its mouth, which made it look extremely greedy.
He quickly grabbed his camera, focused, and pressed the shutter, finally managing to capture the little creature in the frame before it escaped.
Open the task panel, and the side quest progress, which was originally 0/8, has successfully become 1/8.
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