William, a New York City taxi driver, drove a yellow taxi through the streets and alleys. In a huge city like New York, public transportation was the lifeblood of the city — you couldn't expect 25 million people to drive — without public transportation, the city would be paralyzed.
After all, the city's transportation hub couldn't support tens of millions of people driving at the same time, even if all the roads were doubled.
New York was probably the most developed city in the United States for taxis. The bright yellow taxi drove through the streets and alleys of the city with the TAXI sign.
Although taxi licenses were getting harder and harder to get, it was also getting harder to get a taxi in the city. But the taxi driver's income hadn't increased significantly. Because of the emergence of express cars, the taxi driver's life wasn't so easy.
Express car drivers earned close to 27 US dollars per hour, while taxi drivers earned around 22 US dollars per hour. This wasn't a high income.
Moreover, taxi drivers would encounter all kinds of passengers, so driving a taxi wasn't a very good job. The people who did this were mainly minorities.
William was an anomaly because he was one of the few white drivers who were willing to drive a night taxi. Night taxis in New York City made more money than during the day, but it was also much more dangerous.
This was because you didn't know what kind of people you were transporting. Were they ordinary night workers? Or were they nightclub workers? Or were they the guys who shuttled back and forth in the nightclub to provide [Edible Ice]?
Night drivers needed to be smarter, and at the same time, they needed to know how to communicate with people who might be gangsters. Otherwise, you might not get the fare, and you might even get a bullet from someone.
Of course, this was all in the past. Now, night drivers in New York City were much safer. William was sincerely grateful to New York City for secretly protecting the superheroes.
Ah, of course, superheroes didn't include Iron Man. Those high and mighty superheroes had nothing to do with ordinary citizens like him. Of course, his thirteen-year-old son loved them. Therefore, William had no choice but to save money from his monthly cigarette money. He spent four months saving more than 500 dollars.
Then, for Christmas, he bought a Hot Toys Iron Man model for his son. Such an expensive toy made his heart bleed. But for the sake of his son, he endured it.
But that was it. Anyway, ever since he spent so much money on Iron Man's toys, William hated Iron Man more and more.
For example, now that he was driving on the viaduct and could see the landmark of Manhattan, the Stark Industries Building, from afar, he could not help but curse in a low voice, "Vampires! Such a rich person actually wants to rob the toy market of a sum of money! Tony Stark is simply sucking the blood of us commoners! "
For Tony Stark, William's accusation was like a pot falling from the sky while he was sitting at home. Although the image of Iron Man was Tony's, he had licensed it to Marvel.
Comics, games, and the Iron Man movie that was being filmed. These matters were all handled by Marvel. This naturally included the licensing of peripheral products.
Although Tony received a share of the profits, he basically donated it to the Childhood Leukemia and Cancer Foundation. After all, as the leader of the world's best cosmetic products, Tony did not care much about this small share.
His main direction of making money now was almost all from Shuguang's cosmetic products: Shuguang 101 and Shuguang Magic Water, as well as other side products based on these two as the main line.
Selling hair growth water was better than selling firearms, and selling skin care products was far better than selling drugs. Even Tony's wife, Ms. Peibo, now focused her energy on Shuguang, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tony. Because Peibo wanted to ensure that Tony's heroic career would not drag him down to bankruptcy.
Of course, William, the taxi driver, did not know all this. He only knew that he could only earn a little more than two hundred dollars a night (net income after deducting taxi rental and other miscellaneous expenses).
After paying taxes, the family's medical insurance, social security, and basic household expenses, as well as the children's tuition and monthly property tax (the tax that must be paid on time after buying a house in the United States. If you do not pay, the house and land will be forcibly repossessed. The property tax is not a loan, but a kind of tax.) After that, he did not have much money left.
And the little money that he worked hard to earn still needed to satisfy his children's Christmas wishes. How hard would it be to work the night shift without a cigarette? He would know once he tried.
That was why William did not like Iron Man, very much. No matter how much the television bragged about Tony Stark changing the world. That had nothing to do with him.
"It didn't change my life, did it?" William said.
In fact, the heroes that he really liked and was grateful for were Spider-man, the Night Watchmen, and the Justice League!
The Spider-man wandered around the city to put out fires, solving some things that the police and fire department could not solve in time. For example, sudden fires and so on. The Spider-man had already saved many people's lives.
Ah, there was also the Night Watchmen. Because of his relationship as a night shift driver, William could always transport some strange passengers. He had heard of this organization from some people. It seemed to be a group led by Nightcrawler.
They specialized in fighting the underground gangs in New York. Nowadays, organized gangs were getting harder and harder to deal with. They did things swiftly and swiftly, much faster than the police. Now some people had begun to lament that there were only a bunch of gangsters left in New York. The real gangs had become unable to survive.
William was very happy about this. Because over the past year, he could clearly feel that the security of New York City had improved by driving the night shift.
Then there was the Justice League. This group of people were really ordinary citizens. Maybe some of them had special abilities. But most of them did not. They did not have the ability to save the world, but they could save the community.
For example, there was a similar small organization in the community where William lived. Everyone was inspired by the hero's story, and more and more people stood up. They spontaneously began to maintain the community's security and clean up the environment.
The small community park that had been in disrepair for years was renovated, and everyone helped. There was also a brand new street fence, which was also made by everyone. Together, they swept the fallen leaves and cleared the snow.
Just because of this opportunity, William felt that everyone had returned to the era when they were willing to help each other and trust each other.
Tonight, William had a smile on his face (except when he cursed when he passed by Stark Industries). He did not pick up any passengers in his taxi tonight.
He did not intend to make money tonight, because he had other things to do. Why did William do the night shift job? Because he was a mutant, it was difficult for him to find a job that was willing to accept him.
So, although the night shift was a little hard and a little dangerous, at least he could support his family. Sometimes, for the sake of living, William had to endure.
Although life and society seemed to be developing in a better direction. But he still had a worry. What about his son?
He did not want his child to grow up in an environment where he was discriminated against. Every time he thought about it, he could not sleep.
But now, maybe things had changed! Tuvalu, a country that he had never heard of, had appeared. A country of mutants?!
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