Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Reason

Darnell squatted on the curb beside the food truck, holding a double cheeseburger in his left hand and an extra-large Coke in his right, with a straw still between his lips.

He had a distinctive way of eating burgers. Like a python swallowing its prey, he stuffed the whole thing into his mouth, puffed his cheeks out like a hamster, then swallowed hard. His Adam's apple bobbed once, and it was gone.

The Coke was no different. He stuck the straw in, sucked in his cheeks, and the liquid level in the cup dropped in a straight line, accompanied by a hollow gurgling sound.

A chubby, bald white man behind the food truck leaned against the window and watched him, his expression somewhere between admiration and fear.

"Bro, the way you eat reminds me of my ex-wife."

"Hm?"

"She treated my savings the same way."

Darnell ignored him because he'd spotted Lin An.

Across from the entrance to Columbia University, a slender figure in a windbreaker and backpack had just come down the steps.

Darnell's movements instantly doubled in speed.

He tipped the remaining half of his burger and the last third of his Coke into his mouth. His jaw opened and closed, and it was all gone.

He crumpled the empty cup and wrapper into a ball and tossed it toward the trash can three meters away, like he was taking a jump shot.

It missed.

"I'll get it later!"

He swung onto the Roadster Bicycle and pedaled like a piston. The bike accelerated from a standstill to twenty miles per hour in less than three seconds. He turned the handlebars and stopped steadily in front of Lin An.

"Bro, hop on!"

Lin An glanced at him, then at the paper ball that had missed the trash can, and climbed onto the back.

"You've still got ketchup on the corner of your mouth."

"Where?"

"Left side."

Darnell stuck out his tongue and licked the corner of his mouth, then smacked his lips.

"Anything left?"

"No."

"Good. Hold on."

The bicycle merged into traffic.

Darnell had ridden the route from Manhattan back to the Jamaica Community twice before, so he knew it well enough to get back without navigation.

But today, he rode more slowly than usual.

It wasn't because he was tired. Darnell had never felt tired from riding a bicycle.

It was because Lin An had said something after climbing on.

"Darnell, we can't go to New Jersey for now."

"What?!"

Darnell whipped his head around, making the handlebars wobble.

"Why?!"

"Keep your eyes on the road first."

Darnell turned back, but kept talking.

"Bro, you spent the whole day at the 103rd Precinct and the university, and I waited outside all day. I ate a burger, two Cokes, and three orders of fries... That guy's frying method was all wrong. The oil wasn't hot enough, so they tasted like sponges... That's not the point. The point is, you said we were going to find that—what was it called..."

"Traplex Bio."

"Right, that Trap... whatever. At noon, you said we were going after them. I even picked out what I'm wearing tomorrow, and now you're telling me we're not going?"

"What are you wearing tomorrow?"

"My blue polo shirt, the one with the polo player on the chest. I've had it for three years. It makes me look especially—"

Darnell caught himself.

"No, don't change the subject! Why aren't we going?"

The bicycle turned at an intersection. Low buildings in the Jamaica Community came into view at the edge of the street. The setting sun painted every rooftop orange-red, as if the whole neighborhood were slowly burning.

Lin An's voice came from behind him.

"Based on what Officer Morales told me and my own deductions, I reached a conclusion."

In truth, someone in the bullet screen had suggested the reasoning to him.

"Traplex Bio is headquartered in New Jersey, but they've been conducting human experiments in an abandoned industrial area in Brooklyn. The NYPD and FBI have already found out. Sergei Kuzmin's men are handling security and transporting the test subjects."

"I know that. You already told me."

"The FBI is already onto them."

Darnell's pedaling faltered.

"A few days ago, the 60th Precinct and the FBI conducted a joint operation. They raided Sergei's hideout in Brooklyn, arrested seven people, and seized more than thirty guns and a batch of medical equipment.

"Sergei himself wasn't there, but the FBI has already applied for a warrant for his arrest."

"Wait a second."

Darnell slowed down and turned his head slightly, glancing at Lin An out of the corner of his eye.

"You're saying that Sergei guy is the one who sent the kidnappers after me?"

"Yes."

"And the FBI is trying to catch him?"

"Yes."

"And you're planning to go after the pharmaceutical company that hired him because of me?"

"Yes."

Darnell fell silent for two seconds, then took a deep breath.

"Bro."

Darnell's voice suddenly became very calm, so calm it didn't sound like him.

"Just tell me what we're going to do. I'm not smart enough to understand all this."

"I'm saying we can't go to New Jersey for now."

Lin An explained.

"The FBI is going after the pharmaceutical company. That company is the mastermind paying Sergei to conduct some kind of experiment in Brooklyn District, while Sergei is the one actually carrying it out...

"To sum it up, we have two enemies now: Traplex Bio and Sergei. We can't make a move against the first one right now, so we can only go after Sergei first."

"Then, bro, why does Traplex Bio want to kill me?"

Darnell asked.

[Streamer, ask Darnell if he's done anything before that might be related, like getting a medical checkup at a hospital, selling blood at a blood drive, or showing off his strength and stamina in public.]

[Is there some connection here?]

[Wait, I think I understand what the guy above means.]

[Streamer, have Ni Ge think carefully about whether he's ever had a medical checkup in public.]

[Right, his strength and stamina are way beyond normal. He rides a bike like it's a motorcycle. It wouldn't be surprising if some pharmaceutical company had its eye on him.]

[The person above is right. Companies like that conduct human experiments, and they love looking for people with unusual physiques.]

[Especially someone like Darnell: he's eighteen but looks thirty-eight, has endless stamina, and recovers incredibly fast. He's a walking test subject.]

[I bet five dimes Darnell exposed his unusual physique somewhere.]

Lin An glanced at the bullet screen, then looked away and turned his gaze to the back of Darnell's head.

"Darnell."

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever had a medical checkup or donated blood? Or shown off anything unusual about yourself somewhere crowded?"

Darnell slowed his pedaling.

"Bro, is there a problem with that?"

"Answer me first."

Darnell was silent for a few seconds.

"Last fall, a Mobile Medical Van came to the next neighborhood. They said the checkup was free and they'd give us a twenty-dollar supermarket gift card. My mom wouldn't let me go, but I was hungry, so I snuck over."

He paused.

"They drew my blood, took my blood pressure, and tested something else... lung capacity? Anyway, that kind of stuff. The nurse stuck me three times before she found a vein. She said my veins were really hard to find, like... like they were buried in my muscles."

[Holy crap.]

[That explains it.]

[Free checkups and gift cards, targeting a neighborhood like Jamaica? That was obviously bait.]

[That Mobile Medical Van must've been shady. A normal checkup wouldn't take three tries to find a vein unless his veins were different from a normal person's.]

This was bad.

Lin An narrowed his eyes. He thought of Darnell's mother and sister.

"When you went to the van for the checkup, did you give them your family's information?"

"No. I made it up. I was afraid they'd come to the house and tell my mom I'd gone for a checkup. She would've been furious."

After saying that, Darnell was quiet for about three seconds.

The bicycle rolled steadily along the streets of the Jamaica Community. The setting sun lit up his far-too-mature-looking profile.

By then, he'd realized part of the truth.

"Could the stupid thing I did cause trouble for Mom and my sister?"

"Why did you go to that abandoned factory in Brooklyn District that night?" Lin An asked in reply.

Darnell answered with righteous indignation.

"I couldn't find a job, so I had to go shoplifting in other neighborhoods. That day, I went to Brooklyn to sell some stuff. Then I felt like someone was following me, so I hid in the abandoned factory, thinking I'd go home at night, and then..."

"Then it's not that bad. Things haven't gotten to the worst-case scenario."

Darnell turned the words over in his mind twice.

"What do you mean?"

"It means they don't know anything about your mom and sister. They only know about you."

Lin An's voice came from behind him, steady as if he were reading a weather report.

"You were their target from the beginning. The Mobile Medical Van drew your blood, confirmed your physique, and recorded your information while they waited for a buyer.

"But because you gave them fake information, they know nothing about you other than what you look like."

Darnell kept pedaling, but his back stiffened for a moment.

"That pharmaceutical company bought my information? That Trap—"

"Traplex Bio bought your blood," Lin An corrected him.

"But the blood was only part of it. What they wanted was you—a living test subject."

"WTF, motherfucker, damn bitch..."

Darnell was furious, and his pedaling sped up with his anger. The Roadster Bicycle surged forward like a racing motorcycle.

"That bitch of a nurse stuck me three times... Three times! I thought she was just bad at her job, but now I get it. She wanted to draw more of my blood!"

The more he talked, the more agitated he became. His words came faster and faster, and spittle flew from his mouth.

"She drew my blood and gave me a twenty-dollar gift card! Twenty dollars!!! My blood was only worth twenty bucks? Motherfucker..."

He threw his head back and yelled at the sky.

"My blood was worth at least two hundred... No, two thousand!"

[LOL.]

[He's mad about the price?]

[Darnell: They sold my blood for pennies. That's an insult to my dignity.]

[He's not angry that they targeted him. He's angry they sold him cheap.]

[A twenty-dollar gift card. Not much harm, but extremely insulting.]

"Bro, what should we do now?"

"Go home and eat first, then head to the furniture factory..."

"No, bro, didn't you say we were going after that guy named Sergei?"

"Eat first. We'll talk after we're full... Your mom and sister happen to be off work tonight."

"Oh, right, yeah. Damn, I forgot. Dinner's really important tonight. We can't miss it!"

Still swearing under his breath, Darnell rode with Lin An back to the apartment building in the Jamaica Community and locked his bicycle to the iron railing downstairs.

The light in the stairwell was as usual. Only the one on the landing at the second floor was still on, casting a faint yellow glow.

On the second floor, when Darnell opened the front door, a wave of heat and the aroma of meat greeted them.

"Mom, we're home!"

Mary's voice came from the end of the hallway.

"Darnell? Are you and Lin An home?"

"Right here!"

"Then why are you standing in the doorway? Come in and wash your hands! The beef's going to get cold!"

Darnell changed into his slippers, then glanced back at Lin An.

"Bro, you're in for a treat. When my mom stews beef, even the dogs in the next building wait under the window."

Once they entered the living room, Lin An could see through the kitchen doorway a deep red enamel pot on the stove. White steam rose from beneath the lid, filling the living room with the rich aroma of beef and spices.

Mary had her back to the doorway, stirring the pot with a wooden spoon.

"Mom," Darnell called.

Mary turned around. Her gaze passed over Darnell and settled directly on Lin An.

Then her face lit up like a lightbulb.

"An, you're back. Find a place to sit; dinner will be ready in a moment."

With that, she turned and went back to the stove, lifting the lid off the enamel pot.

A richer aroma wafted out, the deep, mellow scent that only came from beef simmered slowly in red wine and tomatoes for three hours.

She carried the pot into the living room and began serving dinner.

Three plates, with noticeably different portions.

The plate in front of Lin An was piled highest... big chunks of beef stew nestled in deep red sauce, with chunks of carrot and potato, and a few slices of onion cooked until translucent.

At the edge of the plate sat a golden square of cornbread, its crust lightly cracked to reveal the soft, fluffy inside, with a glistening layer of honey brushed on top.

Darnell looked down at his portion. It had noticeably two fewer pieces of beef, and his cornbread was smaller, too.

"Mom, you're making your favoritism way too obvious."

"What do you need so much food for?"

Mary stood with her hands on her hips, looking at him with complete confidence.

"I know you went out, and you must've eaten plenty. You didn't even wipe the ketchup off the corner of your mouth. You must've been eating junk food and getting all chubby... Look at An. He's so skinny, a gust of wind could blow him away."

"Mom..."

"Eat!"

Darnell fell silent.

Mary sat down at the head of the table. She didn't say a prayer or give thanks to God; she simply announced that dinner was served and started eating.

After a little while, Mary turned to Lin An with concern.

"How is it? Is the seasoning right? I used less salt this time. You said it was a little salty last time..."

Lin An took a bite of beef.

The meat was so tender it practically melted in his mouth without needing to chew. The sweet-and-sour notes of the red wine and tomatoes were perfectly balanced, with a faint fragrance of thyme and bay leaf lingering afterward.

"It's just right. It's delicious!"

A huge smile blossomed across Mary's face, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes crinkling like flowers.

"Have some more, have some more. There's plenty in the pot."

She picked up the spoon and, without giving him a chance to refuse, added another big spoonful of beef to Lin An's plate.

Darnell looked at the few lonely pieces of meat on his plate and silently took a bite of cornbread.

The living room fell quiet except for the clink of knives and forks against plates.

Then came the sound of the front door opening, followed by another set of footsteps.

"Mom, I'm home."