“So, you wanna know about the Bleeding Daggers?” the man nodded while scratching his beard: “I think it’d be just a matter of time till someone asked about them. But unfortunately even we don’t know a lot about them. What I can tell you is that they’re a bunch of nutbags that worship their leader as some kind of messenger from some kind of god. They operate mainly in the north side of Chinatown in the warehouse district. They also frequent a bar named ‘Blue Voyage’. If you want to find them, you can find them there, or in a red brick building with the creepy dead tree in front of it on 4th Elma Street.”
“Thank you very much. How much do I owe you?” Jianmen nodded: “The address and the bar would be enough for me.”
“If you’re looking to deal with them, be careful. They’re not the most… stable type.”the middle aged man behind the desk sighed and said: “Just an additional note for you: we’ve heard that they are going after something big, and the buyer of the merchandise you just wrote a note about, might be the target. So if you’re planning to act against them, better be prepared and use the element of surprise.”
“Understood, thank you.” Jianmen heard all he wanted to hear and was ready to leave: “How much do I owe you?”
“How about a favor? Some small deed I may require of you at a later date?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t do that. At least not yet.” Jianmen shook his head: “Or if you need something right away, can you name it?”
“Smart man. ” middle aged man behind the desk shook his head with a smile: “Then, if you want to act against the Bleeding Daggers, bring me their ledger. They should have one at least somewhere. You can bring me the ledger as payment.”
“... okay.” Jianmen thought for a while and then agreed.
Right after the visit to the Szechuan Wondrous Delight, Jianmen got a call from Nan.
“Hi, Jianmen, I couldn’t find Shanyi, he’s not returning my phone call, have you found him?”
“No I haven’t, don’t worry, I’ll look for him.” Jianmen sighed silently and answered.
“Okay, just give me a call immediately when you hear from him, okay? And tell him to call me as well!”
“No problem, I will give him a stern talking to when I find him.”
After hanging up the phone, Jianmen headed straight towards the north side of Chinatown, in search of the location of the Bleeding Daggers. To be honest with himself, at this point, Jianmen was not too clear on what he could do when he found them. All he knew was that he was quite upset over the murder of Shawn - not just at the fact that it happened, but also at himself. If he had recovered faster, this might not have happened, because he’d be in a better negotiating position with the Will.
Still, his gut feeling, which was never horribly wrong before, told him that he should try to locate this actually powerful cult operating under the cheesy gang name Bleeding Daggers.
The sun had risen up high and it had been way past Shawn’s grocery store’s opening hours.
But right now, Jianmen was on Elma Street, biting down on a three-layered breakfast burger with a cup of coffee in hand. The reason he did not go directly into the brick house on the 4th with indeed a creepy dead tree in front of it, was that he sensed something quite unclean from the house - it was guarded with some sort of magical array, which, according to his reading of its energy signature, would alert the people who crafted the array in an event of an intrusion and curse the intruders.
Jianmen was not afraid of the curse, but he was a bit worried about the alert - he did not want to cause a big havoc yet, since there were some people on the street and a couple of cars parked nearby.
“Hey man.” Jianmen asked the food truck owner: “You ever feel that the tree over there is super fucking creepy?”
“I … I don’t know man.” the owner of the food truck stammered for a brief moment: “I think it’s okay.”
“What? It doesn’t even bother you? ” Jianmen looked at the owner up and down: “Alright, if you say so, you’re the one with a food truck here. If I lived anywhere nearby that would give me nightmares everyday. The only thing that’ll make it creepier is a dead body hanging from it or a bunch of dead cats or birds.”
“Dude, you don’t know the owner. Just finish your burger and leave.”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you what? I’ll have a roast beef sandwich with egg to go. And while you prepare I’ma gonna snap a few picks of the house. I can scare my kid with it.” Jianmen smiled and reached into his pocket, and when he took out his cash, he “accidentally” dropped a metal piece that looked like some kind of badge: “Oh! Oops! Sorry!”
The owner of the food truck’s left eye corner twitched a bit, but kept his silence while he prepared the sandwich. When Jianmen walked across the street to take pictures of the brick house and dead tree, he pushed a small button under his food preparation table and leaned on his table to whisper to a small gap on the wall on the right side the window: “Zeke, some dumbass is there taking pictures of the house. He has a badge, so be sure to handle with care.”
Jianmen heard what the owner of the food truck said and couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated - he wanted the Bleeding Daggers to move on him and took him to inside the house, but his fake badge actually made them more careful, so if he did not pose an actual threat in order to be “forcefully” taken into the house.
Shortly after he started taking pictures, a young looking man in a hoodie and beanie also crossed the street and walked slowly towards Jianmen’s position. When the man was getting close, Jianmen pretended to take a call and started “arguing” with someone: “Yes! I am here! What the hell do you expect? … no the guy did not come! I’ve waited for thirty minutes! … If the guy didn’t come, we won’t have a warrant! What the hell are you thinking!? … Alright, I’ll look around for things we can use as probable cause...”
“Hang up the phone.” the man told Jianmen in a cold and emotionless voice, with the muzzle of the gun pressing on Jianmen’s back: “If you don’t want your guts spilled all over the street, you’ll come with me.”
