New York in the middle of summer is always restless, noisy, and bustling, with the rolling sunset and lively lanterns projecting on the reluctant night, rendering a large area of crimson purple, magnificent and mysterious, like the dome of Atlantis, hiding an unknown country, interpreting a desirable but terrifying story.

However, no one will raise their heads to look up at this sky, no one will calm down to look at this canopy, and no one will stop to enjoy this beautiful scenery. The hectic rhythm urged the hurried footsteps, hurry, hurry, the heavy pressure pressed on the fragile shoulders with all his might, and the head could barely lift...... The expressions on those faces were numb and dazed, and occasionally caught a look in their eyes, empty and indifferent.

This is the Bronx. It's not Manhattan, it's not Brooklyn, it's not even the Queen, it's also part of New York, but it's more like an abandoned corner of the world, becoming the world's No. 1 capital, a stain that can't be erased on the big apple that everyone wants to bite on, like a moth, deeply connecting New York with the mainland of the United States.

It's one of the highest crime rates in the U.S., one of the highest concentrations of African-Americans, Latino-Americans, and illegal immigrants, one of the most drug-dealing, and one of the worst policing areas...... It's also one of the forgotten areas of New York and forsaken by God.

Broken streets, old buildings, dirty roads, decaying vegetation, flashing street lights, abandoned storefronts, the whole area is deserted. They are under the same sky as Manhattan, but they are clearly divided into two worlds, and it seems that if you cross that bridge, you will go from heaven to hell.

At this time, a black girl of about thirteen or fourteen years old was standing on the street, she was carrying a pink school bag, wearing a cheap white graffiti short-sleeved T-shirt, tied the hem high, with a pair of sequined shorts in water pink, and a ring of bright pink fluff under the hem, a pair of thick-heeled sneakers on her feet, with a pair of pink foot covers, and long black hair tied into two big braids.

She was scolding a middle-aged black man, the reason was that the other party seemed to have peeked at her just now, and she strongly suspected that the other party was following her and had intentions for herself, so she pierced the other party's trick in public.

I saw that she was supporting her waist with confidence, cursing higher than one, and the unbearable foul words changed tricks, and she scolded for five minutes, stunned. The middle-aged man tried to leave, but she still grabbed the other party's briefcase unrelentingly, and seemed to have made up her mind, this matter will definitely not be easy to give up.

It's not yet nine o'clock, some people have just finished dinner, some people are about to have dinner, some people have just come home from work, and the streets are full of people, not turbulent, but really lively. But the crowds of people coming and going were not surprised, and they didn't even have the heart to see the excitement, let alone stop and see the unevenness, so they directly bypassed these two entangled people and left directly, forming a unique scene on the street.

Black girls have the upper hand, and middle-aged men are losing ground. It seems that things will develop like this, and finally end with the man breaking the fortune and eliminating the disaster, but then there was an accident, the girl suddenly stopped a passerby passing by, and then shouted, the other party glanced at herself, and then quickly moved away, is this racism?

The passerby was a white man of about forty years of age.

This white man is really innocent, after being stopped, he looked at the girl in front of him helplessly, and defended a few words, but he didn't expect that this move completely angered her, she didn't pay attention to the middle-aged man just now, and shouted violently, to call the police, to go to court, to sue the other party for racial discrimination, and the white man who was losing suddenly fell into an embarrassing situation of no return.

The pedestrians across the street stopped, looked at the scene in front of them, and then began to heckle, "Teach this dog/mother/raiser well!"

Encouraged to do so, the girl's momentum grew to the next level, until the white man pulled out his badge and pistol to prove his identity, and the situation was reversed.

The girl cursed in a babbling voice, saying that the police/detective were bullying ordinary people, and she was still a minor, so she would never compromise. But, after all, the girl finally stepped back, gave up on the white man, turned around and grabbed the middle-aged man who had not left just now, and extorted a sum of money, and the excitement was over.

The white officer didn't stop at all, and turned away, leaving the mess behind.

Twenty dollars. The middle-aged man gave the girl twenty dollars, and then the matter was written off, and no one asked whether the middle-aged man really committed a crime or was wronged, and no one asked whether the girl was really in danger or was maliciously blackmailing, and to be precise, no one cared about the excitement.

Except for the blue ceremony.

Quietly, Lan Li sat cross-legged at the door of the abandoned warehouse across the street, his overalls concealing the camera in his right hand, recording the whole process just now. Not for justice, just for the record, to record the most real Bronx, rough and raw, irascible and dull, oppressive and cold.

Under those vivid faces, there is no contour of the soul, like a walking corpse, life seems to have long ended, but it is still walking, but there is no longer brilliance and charm in those eyes. This was true of the white police officer, the same was true of the black middle-aged man, and the same was true of the underage girl.

Lan Li looked at the underage girl seriously. After receiving twenty dollars, she took it for granted, and instead of elation or mood swings, she just stuffed the green bill into her pocket, leaned against the lamppost of the traffic light, stood still and chewed the gum in her mouth vigorously, and shook her schoolbag belt in a hanging manner.

The immature face with a stubborn unruly, facing the light of the setting sun, you can see the cheap eyeshadow applied on the eyelids, the large patches of purple are unevenly blurred, and the bright lipstick on the lips is out of the immaturity of age and stained with the vicissitudes of wind and dust. The eyes hidden in the shadows can't see clearly, and can only catch the indifference between the eyebrows, a decadence.

The girl's eyes boldly and wantonly looked at the pedestrians around her, as if looking for the next scapegoat, the petite and thin figure, reflected in the mottled and dilapidated gray building behind her, looked like a lamb standing in front of the mouth of a giant beast, but still did not perceive the danger, or, knowing that the danger was coming, but still did not care.

This is the Bronx, and in front of us is the young generation living in the Bronx, the young generation who should carry the hope of the future, but they have lost the vitality of vigor and determination, and their numb eyes and faces, like weeds, grow unrelentingly, but they are just growing, wanton and chaotic along the roots of the wall.

Lan Li sighed softly, but without the fuss he had made before. It's his tenth day in the Bronx, and it's not the first time he's seen a teenager like this, and again, it won't be the last.

When he saw it for the first time, he felt a slight tightness in his chest, thought of Heather, thought of himself, and thought of the group of children in Mount Sinai Hospital, they were so tenacious in life, fighting against the entanglement of illness, only hoping to be able to hold on to the road of life for a little longer, get closer to their dreams, and get a little closer, but these teenagers in front of him chose to give up so easily, as if everything had lost its meaning, he was angry, he hated, he sighed, he was urgent, he hated iron and steel......

But gradually, that feeling of heartache turned into helplessness and sighs.

Behind this girl's carelessness, there is a quagmire that cannot be shaken off. Perhaps, her father is an addict with countless debts, squandering everything in the family, and even forcing his own children to go out/***, if that's all it is, it's still good, and even worse, maybe her father will still / forcibly / rape/ his own children. She tried to resist, but was beaten to the head and bled out, she tried to call the police, but it didn't work, she tried to escape, but there was nowhere to run.

Perhaps, her story is even worse. Or, worse stories than her are everywhere.

The day before yesterday, there was an accident on the street, a motorcycle crashed into a large truck due to emergency braking, and the owner of the motorcycle flew out directly, with blurred flesh and blood, and a broken brain. Lan Li happened to pass by the scene and saw that when the ambulance arrived at the scene, several teenagers standing on the side of the road, looking fifteen or sixteen years old, were giggling and pointing to the dead body, discussing how to clean up the road and how to deal with the corpse.

Lan Li didn't want to delve into imagination, he didn't know what they had been through, making them face death so indifferently. Perhaps, death is already a part of their lives, or maybe their hands are covered in blood.

After only ten days in the Bronx - less than ten days, Lan Li witnessed the vicissitudes and despair of this area, as if falling into a bottomless abyss, falling continuously, slowly, quietly, without knowing when it will land. Perhaps, never.

The green light turned red, and the car began to move again, but the girl seemed to see her signal, and took a step, like a model passing through the runway, crossing the zebra crossing, and the drivers were anxiously and frantically honking their horns, but the girl enjoyed the moment more and more, walked across the road, and then walked through the blue ceremony.

glanced down, then Shi Shiran walked over, muttering, "What do you see, haven't you seen such a beautiful woman, wipe the saliva from your mouth!"

Welcome to the Bronx.