“Wait wait wait!” just when Jianmen was about to leave, the man in a black leather jacket called out to him: “Please … bring me with you. I’ll tell you anything.”

“A bit late for that. You’re ready for my price hike?” Jianmen smiled: “What can you tell me? Give me something useful first.”

“The people that hired me! They are not the Zhangs!” the man said in a hurry.

“Not the Zhangs?” Jianmen shook his head: “That’s not useful at all, the Zhang family basically had him in their palms. One last chance to tell me what you know.”

“But .... what do you want to know!? You already know about the drugs!”

“Who hired you? And the guy you killed - his associate had something secret item your employer is looking for, do you know where that item is?”

“Okay, I don’t know who hired me. They contacted me through a burner phone. Nonono don’t leave! I am pretty sure they’re one of the new players in Chinatown. Either the Xuanwu Clan or the Claymore family - they’re not Asian but they’re eyeing the turf as well! And and and the item you asked about. I don’t know what it is but I know it is in a warehouse near the north side of Chinatown! I think some people are trying to hit that place!”

“Okay, that’s some nice info. Can’t imagine a gang will be so arrogant to name themselves Xuanwu. I will bring you outta here.” Jianmen threw the man in a black leather jacket onto his shoulder and headed towards the room’s window.

“Wait wait wait what are you doing!? You can’t just jump out the window like this!”

“Watch me then.” Jianmen opened the window wide and dangled the man on his shoulder out of it. And while the man was screaming and yelling, he hopped out of the window himself and with two steps on the side of the exterior wall, he was able to lighten his fall from the second floor.

“Okay. You’re on your own now.” Jianmen placed the man on the floor and said: “Now I will need to find the warehouse and maybe take the time to visit your employer.”

“What? You can’t just leave me here!” the man was sitting on the ground, his whole body was still in a great deal of incapacitating pain.

“Too bad man. Should've talked to me when you’ve got the chance. ” Jianmen stood up and whipped out the man’s gun: “But hey, I also did you a solid, at least you don’t have the murder weapon on you.”

“Fuck you! Fuck you!” the man realized that Jianmen was serious about leaving him here, “You better hope I’m not gonna find you next! I’ll fucking kill you!”

“Keep talking. The police are near.” Jianmen waved his hand and the man’s gun and left the scene.

The next destination would be the warehouse at the north side of Chinatown - he was a bit regretful that he did not place a tracking spell on Shawn due to courtesy, and now he needed to find a place Shawn had been to and he expected that he would have some trouble finding the right warehouse. But his gut also told him that he should try to locate the warehouse and thus the antique scroll - it would not only be good for Shawn and Nan, but it would also be good for him.

With his current speed, it only took him about ten minutes to reach the north side of Chinatown. But he was then hit with the frustrating sight of four different signs of four different warehouse companies.

“Old Earl’s Personal Storage ... Uncle Luo’s Warehouse … General Tso’s Stock and Store, and … Bulky Stud Storage Space.” Jianmen was almost amused by the names of the warehouse companies, and then he decided to go cast a crude detection spell.

A small silver ball of light rose up from his right hand and spun in the air, then it flew towards the sign of Bulky Stud Storage Space and exploded into a tiny silver firework right in front of it.

“The place with the weirdest name it is.” Jianmen chuckled and went to the back of Bulky Stud Storage Space and tried to find a backdoor into the building. And it turned out to be not that difficult to find - it was just a metal door with a rusty lock and a “Authorized Personnel Only” sign. And with barely any effort, Jianmen picked the rusty lock with his Xuanli and walked in through the metal door.

The inside of the building reeked of a certain smell - the kind of smell from dusty old wood, paper and furniture. Jianmen paid slightly more attention and he also smelled the stench from rodents: rats, mice and possums. It seemed that the building was not only old and smelly, it was also not well protected and maintained.

Jianmen cast another small detection spell, another small ball of light rose from his hand and slowly flew through the internal walkways of the building and up the stairs to the second floor, then the third floor.

The moment Jianmen stepped onto the third floor, he immediately detected a distinct smell - not the smell from the other floor, but a faint smell that was similar to that of rotten meat and egg but with a pungent touch.

“Shit.” Jianmen cursed and hastened his steps and rushed behind the silver ball of light, and then turned right at a fork, as he proceeded he felt that the smell getting less and less faint. He was not unfamiliar with the smell - it was the smell of unclean presence, like vengeful ghosts, violent spirits or other kinds of similar beings.

The silver ball of light stopped and exploded right in front of a loose shutter door. 

With extreme care and caution, Jianmen lifted the shutter door. And with a few loud screeches and screams, a rat and a possum with grievous wounds on their bodies and bloodshot eyes jumped towards Jianmen.

Merry Christmas!