“Oh yeah, Little Luo? I know him! I know him well!” The old woman smiled and poured Marcus and Kevin each a cup of tea: “He’s a good man, always sick but willing to help me.”

  “Always sick? What do you mean?” Marcus did not pick up the cup right away.

  “He’s always wearing a mask. I asked him and he just told me he’s in poor health ever since he was young. And it got even worse for him ever since his parents passed aoor young man.” The old woman id dow aured to Marcus and Kevin: “Have some tea, a fresh brew with some ginger. I’m old, and I drink it all the time to keep me warm.”

  “Thank you, thank you.” Kevin nodded, and after cheg out Marcus, chose not to pick up the tea cup as well: “But - do you know what he looks like without the mask? Or the color of his eyes - the other neighbors told us that he’s always wearing his suhere’s no reason for him to keep those on indoors, right?”

  “Oh, he told me it’s because he’s very sensitive to light.” The old oured herself a cup of tea and took a quick sip: “Poor, poor young man, his childhood must be tough. Growing up with all of these illnesses? Ugh, my heart aches just thinking about it.”

  “So, he has issues with his eye as well? Have you looked at it yourself?” Marcus frowned.

  “No - not really, he doesn’t let aouch his sungsses.” The old woman sighed.

  “Do you know where he might have gone? Did he mention anything about his family, close friends, partners or people he’d go to for help if he needs it?”

  “Is he in trouble? Why - ” The old ut down her cup, visibly worried: “Please tell me if he’s in any kind of trouble… I - he’s a very good kid, always very polite. Always ready to help us with our stuff. I don’t want him in trouble of any kind.”

  “We just have some questions we o ask him. Something very big and strange happe his pany, and we’re w if he knew anything.” Kevin the old woman: “So - if you know where he might have gone - ”

  “Oh, you mean S&S Corp? ” The old woman sighed: “Then you should go ask them then! They’re never up to anything good!”

  “We’ll be on them , but you know how it is dealing with these big panies, it would be very helpful to us if he could tell us what he knows about this - this certain situation.” Marcus leaned in a little: “So - you tell us if you know anything?”

  The old woman thought for a mihe out a long sigh: “No - not really. I guess - if he’s not happy at his job and he’s been saving mohen he might have just left the city?”

  “It’s likely, from what we’ve heard. But we would still like to get in touch with him.” Marcus sighed along with the old woman: “Do you know his phone number? One different from the one he registered with his employer?”

  “No - I don’t really know. I used to just slip some notes in his mailbox and ask him to e over.” The old woman shrugged.

  Marcus sighed internally. This was indeed someone cautious of being tracked. It did not matter who he was, if his name really was Luo Zhuge or John Mitchell, the urgency of them finding this man had only gone higher - if he was indeed saving moo leave the city, then they only had a very limited window of trag him down, if he was not gone from the city already.

  “Thank you for your time. And - we’ll let you know if we find anything.” Marcus stood up and put his notepad bato his jacket pocket.

  “Thank you.” Kevin scratched his head, the urgency was clear to him as well.

  “Of course. Don’t you fet.” The old woman them a on to send them off.

  While on their way out, Marcus took out his phone a a message. Almost the moment, Kevin’s phone buzzed. He took a quick look, it was the message from Marcus, with Pahaik and Keryn in the : “Someone might be following us. We’ll o check it out.”

  Before Kevin could put his phone back, Keryn responded: “Us too. I ted three men. ”

  “Be careful. I ted one man.” Marcus respohen turned bad waved at the old woman.

  “Okay, where?” Kevin asked, but for the sake of avoiding people eavesdropping he did not specify the subject of the question.

  “er.” Marodded: “Follow me. Aatural, I’ll try.”

  After making sure he could cover Kevin and protect him from whatever attack that might e their way, Marcus headed towards the er of the road from which they came. He took out his notepad, pretending to be reading the notepad as he walked. Just when he was about to reach the er, he bumped his feet on a slightly elevated bri the ground. He did not fall on his face but his notepad dropped. As he k down to pick it up, he pointed his fingers at a small alley behind a townhouse.

  Kevin took a deep breath, as he watched Marcus grab half a handful of sand and small pebbles from the ground.

  Before Kevin could say a word, Marcus’ body already shot towards the dire he poi earlier. No stomping of the ground, no eborate preparation, he just left a string of after images behind and made it into the alleyway with the blink of an eye.

  “Shit!” A male voice cursed. A silver object fshed, but was instantly pushed away and tossed onto the ground and slid to the side. A short-barrel revolver.

  Marcus thrust his right arm forward and his hands in trying to grab the man’s shoulder, but the man pushed the inner side of his arm while tapping his ow on the side of the wall, ung himself into the air and passing Marcus from over his head.

  This was a middle aged man, roughly of Captain Ko’s age, in a worn trench coat. He did not waste a single moment before shooting out of the alley, making a run for the open street.

  “STOP! ” Kevin would be lying if he cimed he was not afraid. Yet he jumped forward to stand in the man’s way.