After eating, Thor didn't have time to idle around. He needed to continue searching for a job, because he was well aware that if he did not have money for rent, Loki would joyfully throw him out with his belongings. Without his divine power and weapons, he would not stand a chance against Loki.
Moreover, compared to fighting with his younger brother, Thor felt that it would be quicker to earn money for rent by finding a job.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D had helped Thor secure a legal identity, he had no qualifications or certificates. To find a job, he could only rely on knocking on doors, and the only skills he possessed currently were car repair and manual labor.
Most of the legit auto repair shops and warehouses required work experience. Not being able to provide proof of his work experience, Thor was still only able to look for work in the outskirts of Hell's Kitchen and Manhattan.
He still wanted to find a job in car repair, and the area where these shops were located was not far from his original workplace. After a few rounds, Thor was back in that area.
Originally, he had planned to try his luck at a few car repair shops at the end of the street. But just as he was about to walk in, he noticed a man lying next to a shed piled with junk at the end of the alley.
"Old White! What happened to you?!" Thor hurried to approach him and found that the person lying next to the pile of junk was none other than Old White, the man who advised him in the daytime.
Only after walking closer did Thor notice Old White's wounded face and his struggling breaths. Thor went forward, helped him up and reached to dial for an ambulance, but Old White said, "Don't... don't call an ambulance..."
After hesitating for a moment, Thor put his phone away. Old White coughed a few times and said, "...I'm okay."
Thor helped him to sit up and asked, "What happened to you? How did you wind up lying here?"
"I'm not lying here, I…" Old White turned his head slightly. His deeply creased face showed fear and resentment as he said, "... After you left, that bastard vented his anger out on me. He got two mob goons to beat me up and dump me here…"
As he spoke, he shook his head in a lost manner and jolted upright. Fishing in his pocket, he kept going until he flipped it inside out, revealing nothing inside. Then, he gave up and said, "Why was I hoping otherwise? He took all my money…"
Old White seemed drained of all energy, remaining still. Thor shook him a bit and, seeing no response, exhaled deeply, only to have his hand held tightly by Old White who murmured from his lips, "No, don't go... It'll get you killed, having a run-in with the mob."
Old White began to wheeze, and Thor squatted down to assist him, to which Old White muttered, "I knew that he was a scoundrel all along... I deserve this..."
"Whatever he did to Benjamin, he would do to us. Thor, listen to me, don't go. He'll only be more brutal with you, maybe even hire a killer. There's nothing that scoundrel wouldn't do…"
With his eyes closed and his voice rough as a saw scraping wood, Old White said, "When he first opened his garage on this street, only I was willing to work for him because of his infamous reputation, and my desperate need for money."
"He often skimped on wages and frequently insulted people, but people like me had no choice. We earned him a lot of money but in the end, we didn't receive any good outcomes. Perhaps I shouldn't have started working here in the first place..."
"That's not your fault," Thor told him. "It's entirely that bastard's fault."
Old White's hands gripped tighter as he said, "It is my fault. If I hadn't been so insistent on buying a truck for long-haul trips when I was younger, I wouldn't have lost all the savings Mary and I had accumulated over the years, and my son wouldn't have had to drop out of school due to lack of tuition."
"Fortunately, cough... fortunately, my grandson is doing well..." Old White added, "He is an excellent student. His teachers say he could make it into New York University…"
"But... we can't even afford his living expenses."
Old White closed his eyes; Thor had never seen such a sorrowful expression on anyone else in his life.
"You must be here due to some mishap, right? I can tell…" Old White gripped harder and said, "You must have received a decent education or you might be a military veteran?"
"I can tell, you're not like us. You still have the courage, or rather, the strength, but we…"
"Stop talking about that. Let me take you to the hospital." Thor squatted down and helped Old White up. At this moment, they heard voices coming from the crossroad. "Check out that old man, don't let him die here. If he's about to die, drag him to Hell's Kitchen. We don't have time to deal with his corpse."
Thor turned around and saw a few men at the crossroad, including the garage owner, who shouted when he saw Thor, "Blast it! How dare you still show up here?!"
"It was him! He beat me up and took my money! Tell your boss, teach him a lesson, and I'll pay double!"
Thor had no interest in contesting his distorted allegations because the three mob enforcers behind him had already surrounded him.