[Another spoiler warning: this section sets up Mercenary Tao's appearance. This was the author's first attempt at writing, and a lack of experience made the buildup a little slow. Anyone wanting to skip ahead to the main plot can jump straight to Chapter 34, but a lot of care went into this part too, so feel free to read it if you enjoy it.]
The noodle shop wasn't far away. They stopped there first and briefly explained the situation to Boss Li. Knowing what Jiang Nan was capable of, Boss Li wasn't worried about them running into danger. He was only annoyed that he had to mind the shop and couldn't tag along to see the excitement.
With his permission, Li Xiaomei shoved her schoolbag behind the counter, took Jiang Nan's hand, and ran outside.
Lin Jiajia lived in an old apartment building. The residential complex looked quite aged, with narrow walkways and cold, damp moss spreading through the gaps between the bricks. Where the wall coating had peeled away, even the white plaster underneath had turned yellow.
Overhead, electrical wires tangled together like a snarled mess of thread. Plenty of laundry still hung outside the residents' balconies, not yet brought in even though it was nearly dark.
Jiang Nan followed Li Xiaomei through the building entrance. The stairwell was pitch-black.
"Ah-!" Li Xiaomei suddenly shouted, and a dim yellow bulb lit up around the corner.
So it was a sound-activated light.
Lin Jiajia lived on the third floor. When they reached her door, Li Xiaomei nervously knocked. Lin Jiajia's father looked fierce, and she couldn't help feeling frightened whenever she saw him.
There was no answer.
"Jiajia! Lin Jiajia!" Li Xiaomei called again, but still no one answered.
Jiang Nan had originally intended to simply break the lock, but then he reconsidered. If Lin Jiajia's father discovered that someone had broken it while looking for her, would he take his anger out on her?
That was a very real possibility.
"Xiao Mei, wait here for me. Half a minute."
Jiang Nan went downstairs and outside. Once he identified the Lin family's balcony, he gave a light leap and landed on the third floor.
It was a spacious two-bedroom apartment, a common layout in older complexes. The living room adjoining the balcony was about the same size as the bedrooms. Jiang Nan looked around, found no one inside, and opened the front door to let Li Xiaomei in.
When the door opened from inside, Li Xiaomei initially jumped in fright, terrified that she would see Lin Jiajia's father's fierce face. Instead, it was Brother Nan!
"Brother Nan, how did you get in?" Li Xiaomei asked curiously.
Jiang Nan made no secret of it. "Through the balcony."
Li Xiaomei exclaimed in amazement. Then Jiang Nan turned on the lights, and they looked around at the furnishings together.
It was clear that the Lin family wasn't well-off. There wasn't even a sofa in the living room, just a few bamboo chairs. The only electrical appliance there was an old television. The framed photographs on the wall had yellowed with age, and there weren't any recent pictures.
There was also a small bed in the corner where the living room met the balcony, with a schoolbag sitting on it. This appeared to be where Lin Jiajia slept.
Jiang Nan checked the kitchen next. It looked as though it hadn't been used for several days. Then he went into the bedroom farther inside and found the bed in disarray. On closer inspection, he could see hairs, both long and short. Several crumpled tissues lay discarded on the floor beside the bed.
It looked as though someone had slept there within the last couple of days.
They couldn't just wait around here. Jiang Nan suggested asking the neighbors, so they left the apartment and knocked on the door across the hall.
Unbeknownst to them, a woman was already watching through the peephole behind that door. When she had heard someone calling at the opposite apartment earlier, she had come over to look out of curiosity. Seeing the man who had been calling at the door open it from inside had frightened her so much that she had wondered whether to call the Federal Police.
Now, to her surprise, the two of them were coming toward her apartment. She hadn't wanted to open the door, but she was afraid that the man outside might somehow appear inside her home a moment later. Backing away a few steps, she called loudly, "Who is it?"
"Hello, ma'am. I'm a classmate of Lin Jiajia, who lives across the hall. No one's home. Do you know where her family went?" Li Xiaomei asked politely through the door.
The middle-aged woman opened the door a crack and looked Jiang Nan and Li Xiaomei over. Seeing that they didn't look like bad people, she asked, "What do you want with them?"
Li Xiaomei explained, "Ma'am, Lin Jiajia hasn't been to class for several days. Have you seen her lately?"
"Oh, you're Jiajia's classmate. Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her for several days either," the woman said.
Jiang Nan followed up. "Ma'am, do you know whether anyone's been home these past few days?"
The woman thought for a moment. "Yes, yes! I remember now. There were noises coming from their place the night before last. Lin Bin seemed to have brought a woman home, and they kept making a racket half the night. I was wondering how he could be so shameless with a child at home. So Jiajia wasn't there after all."
"Do you know where Lin Jiajia's father might go?" Jiang Nan asked.
The woman poked her head out to look around, then lowered her voice. "That Lin Bin is a hopeless gambler. He doesn't have a steady job. Every few days, he does some odd jobs for a little money, and as soon as he has any cash, he rushes off to gamble. He's been coming home late lately, even bringing women back to fool around. I reckon he's won some money."
"Do you know where he goes to gamble?" Jiang Nan asked.
"I don't gamble. How would I know where that good-for-nothing goes to gamble?" the middle-aged woman said irritably.
"Thank you. Sorry to bother you." Jiang Nan ended his questions. After the woman closed her door, he returned to the Lin apartment, took a photograph of Lin Bin from the wall, and slipped it into his pocket. Then the two of them left the old residential complex.
Once they reached the main road, Jiang Nan told Li Xiaomei, "I'll find someone to ask around. By the way, do you have a picture of Lin Jiajia?"
He hadn't seen any recent photographs of Lin Jiajia in the apartment. Pictures of her as a small child would certainly be useless if he wanted to ask around about her.
"Yes!" Li Xiaomei said. "I invited Lin Jiajia to my birthday earlier this year, and we took a picture together. But it's not at the shop. I'll have to go home to get it."
"Here's what we'll do. Go back to the shop first so your dad doesn't worry. I'll come see you there tomorrow at noon, and you can give me the picture then. For now, I'll go ask around about where Lin Jiajia's father is."
They parted when they reached West Street Crossing. It wasn't far from the shop, so there was no need to worry about Li Xiaomei running into danger. Once she had gone some distance, Jiang Nan turned and headed for Tang Fei's arcade.
As soon as he entered the arcade, A-Hao, who had been flirting with the young cashier behind the counter, spotted him. He sprang to his feet and called, "Hello, Brother Nan!"
A-Sheng, the man with tattoo sleeves who had been dozing on a nearby sofa, heard him and hurriedly sat up to greet Jiang Nan too. "Brother Nan!"
Jiang Nan waved to show them they didn't need to be so formal. "Is A-Fei upstairs?"
"Yes. I'll go get him!" A-Sheng's arm and leg had long since healed completely, and he hurried upstairs to fetch him.
The young cashier thoughtfully took a chilled drink out of the refrigerator for Jiang Nan to cool off. Leaning against the counter, he asked, "So, how's business been these past couple of days?"
A-Hao pointed farther inside. It was the same as ever: every machine had someone sitting at it, while others waiting for a spot stood behind the players and watched. Victory sound effects rang out from the machines now and then, and excited players scooped their newly won tokens out of the payout slots, counting their spoils.
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