Side Quest Paused, Main Quest Continues

Around four o'clock in the afternoon, in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in the northwest of Queens, New York.

Lin An crouched at the entrance of a closed barbershop, backed by a faded mural. He huddled his body into the shadows of the eaves, like a cat that didn't want to be found by the sun.

Gloves, hat, mask, sunglasses.

Not a single item missing.

From head to toe, not a single patch of Lin An's skin was exposed to the air.

If you didn't look at his Asian-style squat, you probably wouldn't be able to guess his ethnicity.

[Streamer, why are you wearing a mask and gloves?]

"To prevent my fingerprints from being exposed again."

Lin An sighed.

"Things were too rushed last night. I was forced to act the moment I woke up, so I didn't have time to prepare. My hair and fingerprints have likely already been found by the New York police."

[We're screwed.]

[Streamer, why don't you run now? Get out of New York.]

[Actually, there's no need to be too afraid. Don't overestimate the New York police in 2009. Their DNA database wasn't fully established at this time; that was something they built up slowly later on.]

[In 2008, the total clearance rate for the NYPD was around 25%. Homicides were higher, close to 70%, but that's for cases with clear victims. Burglary was less than 15%, and robbery was less than 30%.]

[For a killing like the one the streamer did last night, with no head or tail, the New York police won't even bother. They'll treat it as a gang shootout, file it away, symbolically set up a task force, and then disband it a week later.]

[It's more likely the FBI would take over and then replicate the same process.]

[Lol, are American law enforcement agencies really that abstract?]

Lin An was watching the scrolling comments, and just as he was getting absorbed, Darnell walked over with a few young Black men.

"Hey!"

Darnell's voice exploded from the street corner, carrying an innate volume that could fill the entire street without the need for a microphone.

"...You guys, come over here. I'm gonna let you meet a good bro of mine."

Lin An looked up.

Darnell led three young Black men over, his gait carrying a rhythmic, Black-style swagger. His hands were tucked into his pockets, and his jacket was wide open, revealing the white T-shirt underneath that had been washed eight hundred times.

He was followed by three Ni Ge, and aside from their differences in height and build, they were all quite similar, right down to their clothing.

Darnell walked in front of the three, his weathered face making him look like a gang boss leading his underlings.

Then, he wanted to introduce the three young men to each other and bring Lin An into his small circle of friends.

However, before he could officially start, Darnell suddenly remembered something... he still didn't know the name of this good bro of his.

But would it be embarrassing to ask this in front of his underlings now?

For a moment, Darnell fell into deep thought. Just as he intended to randomly assign Lin An a name, the latter immediately guessed his intention from that old face. He stood up proactively and took off his mask and sunglasses.

"My name is Lin An."

Hearing Lin An's name, Darnell breathed a sigh of relief. He began to introduce the three young Black men to Lin An in a carefree manner. The latter were laughing and joking, and the scene suddenly became very lively.

But to be honest, Lin An didn't really care about being in Darnell's circle of friends. If asked for a reason, he could make up eight or ten on the spot, but the real reason was simply that he didn't want to.

Therefore, Lin An's response to the enthusiasm of the Ni Ge was a bit perfunctory.

Darnell and the other young Black men didn't find it strange at all; instead, they felt that Lin An was a true, authentic Chinese person, and that he was clearly just being shy and reserved.

Amidst the noise of the Black youths, a parade procession turned in from Roosevelt Avenue, consisting of about two hundred people. Most were Latino, mixed with some Bangladeshi and a few white people. They were shouting slogans that Lin An couldn't understand, making the scene incredibly lively.

At the same time, two police patrol cars followed the front and back of the procession, and some police officers were already standing scattered at the intersections the parade had to pass, looking bored.

On Darnell's side, and even among the other poor brothers hiding elsewhere, they began to rub their hands together, ready to rush onto the commercial street for a "flash shopping" event once the parade passed.

[Hey, wait, I know that guy.]

[The mercenary captain from the factory last night, the one who ran away.]

"Hmm?"

Lin An, who had been lazy, immediately perked up. He stood up from the ground and looked toward the parade crowd.

"Where? Where is he?"

Darnell was startled by his reaction.

"What are you talking about?"

[Behind the parade.]

[He's walking across the street.]

Following the guidance of the comments, Lin An quickly found a man wearing a blue windbreaker with his face hidden by a baseball cap at the tail end of the chaotic crowd.

Lin An hadn't seen this person in the abandoned factory last night; if they had crossed paths, he definitely wouldn't have let the man escape.

However, although he didn't recognize him, Lin An trusted the comments implicitly, so he immediately tapped Darnell on the shoulder.

"I saw a gunman who escaped from the factory last night; he went into the pharmacy across the street."

Lin An raised his hand to point at the pharmacy entrance, and Darnell's lips immediately pressed into a thin line as he looked up toward the shop.

"Bro, for real..."

"I didn't see it wrong."

Lin An gave a firm confirmation.

Darnell had acted nonchalant before leaving the house today, but the facts showed he didn't truly not care. Ni Ge quickly stepped back and started whispering to the three young black men behind him.

When it came to big things, Ni Ge might be unreliable, but when it came to small matters, they were indeed very loyal to their brothers.

For instance, right now, when Darnell mentioned he needed their help to catch someone, the three of them didn't say a word before preparing to get to work.

Taking action was a given, so now there were two remaining problems.

First, how to take action, and where to do it.

Second, after succeeding, how to get the person away from the scene to interrogate him.

When Lin An raised the questions and turned back, what he saw were four blank faces.

Darnell and the other four were huddled in the recessed doorway of a barbershop, looking like a group of penguins driven onto the shore.

Their expressions were surprisingly uniform: mouths slightly agape, eyebrows raised, and eyes blinking three times faster than usual.

"So..."

One of the clean-shaven Ni Ge spoke first, his voice very low.

"We're going to rush into a pharmacy, grab a guy, and then... then what?"

"Ask who is hunting me."

Darnell said.

"How do we ask?"

The second Ni Ge scratched his head.

"I only know how to ask with my fists."

"Fists should be enough."

Darnell's tone at this moment wasn't as certain as it usually was.

The four of them exchanged glances and then looked at Lin An simultaneously.

Lin An sighed; he knew he shouldn't have had any expectations for the intelligence of the Ni Ge, and the blame for this problem had to be placed on his own head.

Darnell took a deep breath, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"Can we..."

He said.

"Can we wait for him to come out before we move? Outside?"

"There's a parade outside, and police."

Lin An's tone was as calm as if he were reading a menu.

"You plan to make a move in the middle of Roosevelt Avenue? With over two hundred witnesses and two patrol cars, how far do you think you can run?"

Darnell's lips pressed into a thin line.

"Then... the back alley? We Ni Ge can all run..."

"The back alley only has one exit; the other end is blocked off. If you trap him inside, he traps you inside too. He's a mercenary; he should be carrying a handgun."

"We can't give him a chance to draw his weapon."

The four Ni Ge fell silent again.

[LMAO, the four Ni Ge are more clueless than the last]

[The streamer actually expected them to come up with a plan?]

[Just rush in, what's there to think about?]

[Right, just that pharmacy. I just checked, there's only one clerk inside, a woman.]

[Then what are you waiting for? Rush in, pin him down, ask the questions, and leave.]

[Wait, here's the problem... what do you do after asking? Let him go? Kill him?]

[Ask first, then figure it out. Once you know who's behind it, this guy is useless.]

[He's seen Darnell's face. Aren't you afraid he'll come back for revenge if you let him go?]

[Who do you think he is? A mercenary has time to come back and take revenge on a Ni Ge?]

[Fair point.]

[But there are still a few questions: First, there are cameras in the pharmacy. Second, your faces are too recognizable. Third, does that mercenary even know Darnell?]

[They shouldn't recognize you. Darnell ran fast last night, so you didn't have a face-to-face encounter.]

[Then it's simple: mask up, go in, control the clerk, grab the target, destroy the cameras, interrogate them right there in the shop, and leave once you're done.]

[Interrogate them in the shop? Aren't you worried about someone walking in?]

[The parade is going to last over half an hour. Everyone on this street is watching the spectacle; who's going to go into a pharmacy?]

[Besides, once the parade passes, the police will follow them. This area will be a vacuum.]

[Streamer, are you doing it or not?]

Lin An finished reading the bullet comments and turned around.

The four people were still in the same spot, their expressions having shifted from "bewildered" to "anxious." Darnell's hand was clutching something in his pocket, likely that can of pepper spray—the one Lin An had bought this afternoon.

"I have a way."

Lin An said.

The eyes of the four people lit up simultaneously.