But the most urgent thing right now is to fill his stomach first.

So Ethan Thompson, following his memory, moved the corner of a desk in the corner, revealing a hidden shallow pit underneath. Inside was a pile of banknotes of varying amounts.

Ethan Thompson counted them—there were a total of five hundred and sixty gold shields. This was all the original owner’s assets. According to current prices in America, this would be enough for him to live for about a month. That was really poor—

Just then, he heard a ‘knock knock’ at the door of the house, and William’s male voice came from outside: “A-Mo, have you slept enough? We need to go to work.”

After a night, Ethan Thompson didn’t react for a moment. It wasn’t until twenty seconds later that he realized the visitor outside was calling him.

Snapping back to his senses, he quickly took a bill from the stack of cash and put it in his pocket. The rest he rolled up into a bundle, preparing to stuff it back under the desk corner.

But then he frowned slightly, feeling that this way of hiding money wasn’t very safe.

Ethan Thompson first looked around carefully, then pushed off with his legs, his body as light as a swallow as he climbed up the wall, placing the roll of cash above the ceiling, behind the lampshade of the fluorescent light.

In the original owner’s memory, the public security in the American Federation was extremely polarized.

In the wealthy district where Ethan Thompson used to live, thanks to the efforts of many patrol officers, security was quite good. But the area he was in now, called ‘Vagabond’, clearly didn’t enjoy such treatment.

This was just a slum in the south of Atlanta, inhabited by a bunch of poor folks, with large numbers of unemployed Black people and illegal immigrants everywhere. Next to it was a government-built public housing area specifically for Black residents. So on both sides of the street, you could see prostitutes and Black people selling all kinds of drugs everywhere, with robberies and thefts happening all the time. At any moment, a group of people might pull out guns and start shooting at each other in the street. Or a group of powerful ‘outlaws’ might recklessly use their abilities in the open.

When the original owner first moved here, he suffered two losses and was robbed of all his belongings.

Ethan Thompson had practiced martial arts with his father since childhood, and his swordsmanship was already at a decent level. But when facing guns pointed at his back, he was powerless.

After that, he got smarter. Every time he went out, he would try to bring friends along and never carried more than ten gold shields. The rest of his money was kept at home.

But Ethan Thompson felt the original owner’s thinking was still too simple. For seasoned thieves, money hidden under a desk corner wasn’t really safe. To be absolutely sure, he needed a better method.

Back in the Original Dome Realm, Ethan Thompson was already a stingy guy, and now that he’d fallen on hard times, he was even more so.

These five hundred and sixty gold shields were now all he had, his foundation for survival, and he couldn’t afford to lose them.

As Ethan Thompson carefully examined the fluorescent light above, checking for any traces left behind, the knocking sounded again—‘knock knock’.

“Hey! A-Mo, Andrew, why is there still no movement? Did you both die in your sleep?”

Chapter 6: Working

“Just got up!”

Ethan Thompson replied casually, quickly walking toward the door.

But just as he was about to open the door, Ethan Thompson had a sudden thought. He lifted his shirt and bit his finger, drawing some mysterious blood marks on his chest and abdomen.

—These were some simple talismans, mainly used to clear the mind and calm the spirit.

Although Ethan Thompson believed he had already sorted out his inner demons and wouldn’t risk going mad as long as his emotions didn’t fluctuate too much, the scene on the bus yesterday still left him shaken.

If he had really lunged at that woman at the time, it would have been utterly humiliating—

So after finishing the talismans, Ethan Thompson deliberately recalled the appearance of the call girl from yesterday, confirming that they were indeed effective, before opening the door.

“Rare sight, A-Mo, you actually got up later than me today. What on earth were you doing last night? Don’t tell me you secretly found yourself a girl?”

As soon as William saw Ethan Thompson, he started chattering away as usual.

But then his voice paused, and he looked at Ethan Thompson with a strange expression: “Weird, it feels like you’ve changed into a different person overnight.”

Ethan Thompson didn’t feel a ripple inside. His face naturally showed a puzzled expression, and he glanced at the small mirror hanging by the door: “Really? I don’t think I’ve changed.”

William propped his chin, scrutinizing him: “You really have changed a bit. You look more cheerful and sunny than before. Damn, you were already good-looking enough.”

In his impression, Ethan Thompson always had a gloomy look all day long. Except for him, William, no one in this neighborhood or at school was willing to be friends with him—except for the girls, of course!