Chapter 6: Unknown Assistance

March 12, 2101, two days after the Winnipeg bank robbery.

7 p.m., Chicago.

A bookshop stood on an unremarkable little street.

An Asian man was walking along the street. His hair was tied in a ponytail, and he wore small, round sunglasses. He walked with a slight stoop and a furtive air.

After getting off the plane, Zuo Dao had checked into a cheap hotel, then come to the bookshop they'd agreed on over the phone.

As he reached the entrance, four middle-aged men came out. One of them, wearing a leather jacket, was tucking something inside it—what looked like an oilcloth bundle.

“What are you looking at?” the man snarled.

Zuo Dao ducked his head. “Sorry, sorry… After you, gentlemen…” He stepped aside.

Who knew what had put them in such a foul mood? Still, they didn't give Zuo Dao any trouble, merely casting him contemptuous looks before leaving.

Zuo Dao let out a long breath, pushed open the door, and went inside.

The bookshop was a mess. Books were piled on the floor and on the tables, and every shelf was full. There wasn't a trace of order anywhere. Seen from above, the shop was shaped like a cross. The owner sat behind a desk near the back of its central section. The door behind him led to his living quarters and was usually left ajar. Beside the desk stood a fairly high-end coffee machine, probably the most valuable thing in the whole shop.

“Um… Mr. Tian Yi?” Zuo Dao asked tentatively, looking at the owner.

Tian Yi had just opened a book and taken half a sip of coffee. At the sound of Zuo Dao's voice, he gave a long sigh, put down his book and cup, and gestured for him to sit. “Sit.”

Zuo Dao struggled through the heaps of books. There was no chair, so he had to sit on a pile of them.

Tian Yi opened the drawer beside him and looked up at Zuo Dao. “Want some pizza?”

“No, thank you.”

Tian Yi looked down into the drawer again. “How about some wild game?”

“Um… what do you mean?”

“Rodent. Rich in protein, tastes like chicken.” Tian Yi sounded like a salesman. “I can give you an alcohol burner, or heat it up in the microwave for you.”

Although the man's expression gave nothing away, Zuo Dao thought he caught a whiff of something rotten. It gave him a very bad feeling, so he waved the offer away.

“Tch…” Tian Yi muttered, casually shutting the drawer.

Zuo Dao glanced back at the shop window, then gave Tian Yi a questioning look. “Those men who just left…”

Tian Yi answered, “Oh, them. The Opium Club.”

“Oh… I see. They gave me a fright. I hear Chicago's been pretty unsettled lately. Those two famous families, the Lucchese and the Genovese, are fighting it out, while the police sit back and reap the benefits. I thought those men were Mafia.”

“They are Mafia,” Tian Yi said.

Zuo Dao nearly choked at that.

Tian Yi smiled. “But that has nothing to do with you. No need to look like that. I brought you here for something else. Using a man of your talents against mere mobsters would be a terrible waste.”

Zuo Dao hastily replied, “Brother, didn't you say that as long as I helped you deliver that videotape to Blood Owl, you'd never contact me again?”

“What I said was, ‘If I have no further use for you, we'll never be in contact again.’ Obviously, I now have a use for you,” Tian Yi said. “But don't worry. I won't keep threatening to expose your whereabouts. I know you can always escape even if the police surround you, and the Empire's real experts won't go to all that trouble to catch a criminal like you. After all, you're only an intermediary, not a violent offender.”

Zuo Dao felt somewhat relieved, but Tian Yi immediately continued, “For now, I'll hire you to do a few things at your usual intermediary rate. If you refuse, I'll think of some new, more effective ways to threaten you.”

“Brother! As they say, good brothers stand by each other! Would I ever say no to anything you asked?! Do I look like that sort of man?! Just look, one phone call from you and I came all the way from Hainan Island as fast as I could!” Zuo Dao launched into a torrent of words, eyes gleaming behind his sunglasses, his face alive with expression. His acting could hardly be called unskilled, nor his performance halfhearted.

Tian Yi tossed a newspaper from the desk in front of Zuo Dao. “You're very clever. Venice really wasn't a place to linger. Running away as soon as you'd finished helping Blood Owl was the right choice. Otherwise, sooner or later he'd have found you again and worked out some way to use you to find me and Gu Wen.”

Zuo Dao took the newspaper, but before he could read it, he heard that very unwelcome name. “Um… why does he think I can find Gu Wen… Wait, I understand why Blood Owl wants to find you, but what does he want with Gu Wen?”

Tian Yi said, “Hmph… Let's say I used certain methods to give Blood Owl the false impression that Gu Wen and I were working together. That's all I can tell you. You're a very talented man, Zuo Dao. With all your connections and intelligence networks, you might actually be able to find Gu Wen. As for me, well, you've already tried, haven't you?”

Zuo Dao was inwardly astonished. He'd covered his tracks perfectly while secretly investigating Tian Yi, yet the man had still found out. Could he really be all-knowing and all-powerful?

“Stop staring into space. Read the paper. A news item from North America,” Tian Yi said.

Zuo Dao studied it for a while, then his expression suddenly changed. “This man…”

“Oh, looks like you remember,” Tian Yi said. “Seven years ago, one of Qianming's top assassins retired. His service entitled him to take a sum of money from the organization and live a normal life. But people aren't cats or dogs. You can't pick one out of a garbage bin, put it in your house, and call it a pet. What allows a human being to live in the ‘present’ is the ‘past.’ That assassin needed a legal identity, and you were the one who handled it.”

Zuo Dao replied, “Tom Stall's legal identity was very expensive. I pulled a lot of strings and put a lot of thought into getting that deal done. What, does this mean he's been exposed? Is he one of your people too, brother?”

Tian Yi answered, “No, we've never met. That's beside the point. The point is that his identity probably won't hold up much longer. His enemies will soon come knocking. From what I can deduce, he's bound to do ‘that’ next… I called you here precisely because you've had some dealings with him.” He picked up the book he'd been reading earlier. “This book is called ‘Gilson II.’ Take it to Winnipeg for me and give it to Gambling Snake to lend him a hand. Of course, I know you'll sneak a look. Go ahead. Reading it will help you too.”

Zuo Dao took the book, looking thoroughly puzzled.

Tian Yi added, “By the way, Gu Wen is in Chicago right now. I should be making contact with him within two weeks. Unless something unexpected happens, we'll leave Chicago together. Once you've finished your assignment in Maple Leaf Commandery, you needn't come back to see me. Go wherever you like, just don't come back to Chicago. Otherwise, you're very likely to run into Blood Owl coming here to look for Gu Wen, or ‘that kid.’ Whew… neither is easy to deal with. Meet either of them and you'll end up made into buns and fed to dogs, or hauled off to Tidal Prison. Either way, you'd be snatching the offering fruit off the King of Hell's table—asking to die.”

Zuo Dao listened in a daze. He now fully appreciated just how much intelligence it took to follow someone revealing one future event after another before any of them had happened.

Having finished speaking, Tian Yi picked up his coffee again and, seemingly at random, pulled another book from the shelf behind him. He yawned and began leafing through it, as though Zuo Dao had become thin air and the sooner he got the hell out of there and stopped being an eyesore, the better.