Want a Jianbing?

"Four boxes of ammunition, two hours of range time. Fifty-eight dollars total."

Li Jie fished out a few bills and handed them over. The range cashier took the money and tapped a few keys, and the register whirred out a slightly blurry receipt.

"Thank you for your business. That concludes today's enjoyable shooting session. We hope to see you again."

Okay, it had been pretty enjoyable. It just hurt his wallet a little.

Although the market in Old Town was fairly lively, wandering around Gotham at night was definitely a bad idea. Li Jie had forced Wilson to sell the propane tank, only to let him badger him into buying an electric griddle. After doing the math, he had somehow ended up twenty dollars in the hole. Still, at least he had driven home safely.

After getting home a few nights earlier, he had discovered that the firearms shooting task for American Iai had reached 20/1000. Most likely, only the two shots that hit had counted, earning ten points each, while all the misses counted for nothing. So first thing that morning, he had found a shooting range, ready to indulge his usual habit of checking for skill exploits.

But after an hour of testing, he discovered that random shots didn't count at all, nor did lucky hits from sustained automatic fire. Even tearing down the target sheet and holding it against the muzzle to blast the bull's-eye at point-blank range didn't count. Only shots that he carefully aimed and landed within the firearm's reasonable effective range added a single point of progress.

"Why does it only go up one point at a time at the range..."

Li Jie stared at the gun in his hand, the corners of his mouth drooping. After two hours of trying every shooting method he could think of, his arms ached and throbbed. Over fifty dollars spent for just thirty points of progress. What a spectacular rip-off.

The precinct had a shooting range, but getting its finance department to reimburse practice ammunition was out of the question. If he wanted to improve his skill, he would have to find his own way. He tucked the receipt into his pocket and walked out of the range, shaking out his hands, then climbed into his newly purchased "new" vehicle and headed straight for Fifteenth Street.

Without flashing police lights to intimidate people, the G20 looked like an intruder that didn't belong. Besides, it was much wider than a patrol car. When Li Jie parked at the mouth of the alley and walked inside, shadowy figures kept shifting in the dilapidated stairwells along its peeling walls. They slowly gathered ahead of him and behind him, whispering among themselves in indistinct murmurs.

Pairs of ill-intentioned eyes studied him greedily, like wolves in the dark. But when he casually pulled aside the front of his trench coat to reveal his badge and gun grip, those restless figures immediately retreated into the darkness like a receding tide, as though driven back by a whip.

"Tsk, tsk. Force really does work better than reason."

He headed straight up to the second floor, stopped before a wooden door with peeling paint, and knocked. A shrill burst of cursing immediately came from inside.

"Go answer the door, you lazy bum! Hopefully it's a robber who'll put a bullet in you, you freak."

No one answered. Only heavy, shuffling footsteps sounded inside before the door opened. A wall of flesh in a thin jacket stood there, accompanied by an indescribable mixture of sweat and mildew, almost filling the entire doorway.

Li Jie stepped back, tilted his head up slightly, and smiled. "Hello, Whelan."

The wall remained silent for a few seconds, then let out a deep rumble. "H... hello... officer."

Li Jie reached out and tugged at his clothes, then glanced into the apartment over Whelan's shoulder. His burly aunt was craning her neck to peer outside. The instant her eyes met Li Jie's, she recoiled as though electrocuted and slammed the bedroom door. A string of muffled curses came from behind it.

"Did she take your money?" Li Jie looked back at Whelan's enormous face, still boyish but covered in worry, and lowered his voice.

"No, she didn't." Whelan fumbled clumsily through the pockets of his tight jacket. As though retrieving some precious treasure, he carefully took out the green banknote and the business card he had crumpled in his grip.

"It's all here." He lowered his head, his voice carrying the frightened note of someone who had gotten into trouble. "It's... it's all here."

"Why didn't you buy some clothes?"

Li Jie reached out and tugged at Whelan's old jacket, far too thin for the cold. The fabric strained over his mountain of a body, and the sleeves stopped well short of his wrists.

"I... I can still manage," Whelan said, looking at a loss. "S... sorry, officer."

"There's nothing to apologize for." Li Jie patted his arm. It still felt icy.

"Come on, come with me. There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

Whelan glanced back into the apartment. The bedroom door remained tightly shut, with not a sliver of light coming through the crack. His aunt's curses had stopped for the moment, leaving only a suffocating silence. He thought for a while, then seemed to make up his mind. Head lowered, he followed Li Jie to a sheltered corner at the end of the corridor.

Li Jie motioned for him to sit on the dusty concrete steps and watched him struggle to curl up, trying to make himself look smaller. He got straight to the point. "Do you like your life right now?"

Whelan said nothing, only shook his head silently.

"Then would you like a change of surroundings?"

"A change?"

Whelan looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion. "No, no, sir." He shook his head again. "I have nowhere to go. I don't have any other relatives..."

"Not your relatives. I mean, how about supporting yourself?" Li Jie interrupted him. "Standing on your own two feet, earning your own living, without having to worry about anyone else's moods."

"Supporting myself?" Whelan turned the words over, and for the first time, a faint light kindled in his eyes. "Are you going to give me a job? But..." He lowered his head dejectedly again. "I'm probably not old enough..."

"Something like that. I'll be straight with you." Li Jie lowered his voice. "I have a friend who can put you in touch with a football team. Room and board included. Have you ever played football?"

"I... I played a little when I was younger..." Whelan searched his memories, his huge fingers twisting together unconsciously. "But... that was a long time ago..."

"That's fine. The rules are the same anyway. The players just got bigger. And I'm sure none of them got as much bigger as you did." Li Jie punched his right fist into his left palm. "What do you say? Interested?"

"But... my aunt..." Whelan looked toward the apartment, as though that tightly closed door might open at any moment.

"Why worry about her? Doesn't she spend all day trying to kick you out? You'd be granting her wish." Li Jie shrugged indifferently. "Just keep this a secret. Once I've made arrangements with the team, I'll take you straight there. If you make the cut, they'll sort everything else out for you. Think about the big shots involved. Your aunt can't take them on."

Those words were like a shot of adrenaline. Whelan jerked his head up. For the first time, a clear flame burned in those eyes clouded by confusion and timidity. He looked at Li Jie, his lips moving a few times, but in the end, he said nothing. He simply nodded hard, putting his whole body into it.

"Then it's settled. If I work things out, you're coming with me." Li Jie braced himself against Whelan's thick thigh to stand, then dusted off the seat of his pants. "Remember, keep it secret. Act like nothing happened. If your aunt asks, tell her I'm here for a follow-up visit to see whether she's still abusing you. Understand?"

"Y... yes."

Seeing Whelan agree so solemnly, Li Jie turned to leave. He had barely taken a step when he remembered something else. He stopped and looked back. "Oh, right. Have you had breakfast?"

"Y... yes," Whelan answered, his eyes darting away.

"Cut the bullshit. I can tell you're lying at a glance." Li Jie beckoned to him. "Come with me. Let me show you something new."

They passed through the alley full of hostile, prying eyes again and reached the Chevrolet. Amid a series of clanks and rattles, Li Jie climbed aboard, lowered the flap, and turned on the electric griddle to heat it for a while. Then he scooped up a large ladleful of batter and poured it onto the scorching iron plate with a hiss. As steam rose, he spread it flat with a scraper in sweeping circles.

"Well? Ever seen this before?"

As Li Jie asked, he cracked an egg one-handed against the edge of the griddle, pouring it neatly onto the batter as it began to set. With his other hand, he picked up a spatula, deftly slipped it under the edge of the crepe, and flicked it upward. The entire enormous crepe performed a beautiful flip in midair, landing squarely back on the griddle with its tempting golden side down and an even louder hiss.

"Maybe you've never seen this, but you probably met my partner last time." He glanced at Whelan, who stood beside the van, utterly petrified. "That's right. This whole setup was that bastard's idea. Fuck, this is my van!"

Without pausing, he brushed a layer of brown sauce over the crepe, grabbed a few leafy greens, a fried dough stick, and a meat patty grilled to a fragrant char, and arranged them on top. Then he asked Whelan, "Want some cheese and ketchup?"

"Ah... huh? Y... yes..."

Whelan still hadn't recovered from the shock of an officer switching careers to sell street food. He nodded blankly in the blast of heat washing over him. Then came a few squirts and the rustling tear of a paper bag, and something hot was pushed into his hands.

"This is called... jianbing guo... uh... a Chinese crepe wrap. Give it a try. You're my first customer since I fired up the griddle, so it's on the house." Li Jie tossed the spatula onto the greasy counter beside him, then scooped up another ladleful of batter and poured it onto the cooking surface with a hiss.

"Officer... that's enough for me... I only need one..."

Whelan looked down at the food in his hands, giving off an unfamiliar, powerful aroma, then back up at Li Jie working expertly amid the steam. Instinctively, he tried to hand the paper bag back.

"One? Who said anything about making you another one? I haven't had breakfast either." Li Jie didn't look up, concentrating on spreading the fresh batter smooth before deftly cracking a few more eggs. "I'm having three fucking eggs!"