8

"The great dragon," he says as he takes a bow and then ticks his name without even calling it out. The old man simply smiles and watches him walk past. No one seems surprised about it except Logan.

'Why is no one saying anything?' he thinks as he stares sideways at the man, who keeps looking forward. Any warden or guard that passed by him would immediately bow before moving on

'Just who was this guy?'

*** Back at Lucas's house ***

"..........And that's how I got the ring," Logan says.

"Whoa man, he did all that?" Lucas asks in surprise.

"Yeah man, I swear it" Logan responds, "I really wouldn't have made it out of that shit hole if it weren't for him," he says.

"I still can't wrap my head around why those thugs let us go when they saw the ring though" Lucas responds, "There's something the old man didn't tell you. After all, there's gotta be a reason why even the prison wardens bow when they walk past him, right?"

"Right, and that's exactly what I'm gonna have to find out," Logan says.

"Got any clues?" He asks.

"Nah, but the old man did tell me to find his baby granddaughter and that it's only when I find her that it will all make sense why he did all that for me," Logan says.

"But how exactly are you gonna find her when all you got is a measly ring?" Lucas asks as he takes another sip of the soda, making a slurping sound as he sips.

"Well he did give me a little note but...." He pauses as he checks his pockets for the note.

"But what?" Lucas asks, "You lost it, didn't you?" He asks, shaking his head in disappointment as he watches Logan search every nook and cranny in his clothes.

"Got it!"

"Well it's about time," Lucas says with a roll of the eyeballs, "So what does it say?" He asks watching as Logan turns the paper in all directions in a bid to see if he can figure it out.

"Hello?" Lucas snaps him out of his head with a snap of his fingers.

"Oh sorry" Logan apologizes, "There isn't much on it honestly just some sort of Japanese type o' shit," he says as he hands the little note over. It's a tiny piece of brown paper, probably torn out from a notebook judging by its appearance.

"Let me take a look" Lucas insists as he takes the little note from Logan and stares at it.

"嘿，我的小天使，這個人是我的學生，他已經證明自己是一個有能力、值得尊敬的人。我希望祂帶領我們的家庭，我希望你們和祂一起生孩子。哈哈……我是認真的" it reads.

"Whoa man, ain't no way I can translate this type of shit," he says, "and it's Chinese by the way"

"Oh yeah? How can you tell?" Logan asks.

"I took a couple of lessons back in the day," he says proudly, "but I wasn't much of a good student" he adds with disappointment evident in his tone.

"Can you try to read it out a little though? Any translation might be useful" Logan asks.

He stares at the paper for a while and then nods slightly with his lower lip extended outwards and downwards.

"Well here goes nothing.....uhh.. Durham," he says as he clears his throat, ". Hēi,...wǒ de....xiǎo... hold on a sec,....tiānshǐ...fuck it, that's all I got," he says after quitting as quickly as he began.

"Okay fine, that part you read out, what does it mean?" Logan asks, listening with rapt attention.

"Ayy man, you ain't gonna like it, trust me," Lucas says, shaking his head.

"Come on man, hit me"

"Fine, the first line of the note reads, Hey my little angel." He says.

"What the fuck bro? Be serious for a minute"

"I ain't lying man. That's exactly what it means" Lucas says, "Who knows, maybe the old man is just some gay-ass pedo who didn't have the guts to tell you his true feelings" he says further as he tries to hold himself back from laughing.

"It's not funny man," Logan says with a serious look on his face.

"But I'm for real tho" he chuckles even more.

"Gimme that!" Logan says angrily as he snatches the piece of paper and walks out of the house.

___________________________________________________

A few hours later>>>>>>

Out on the busy street, horns blare as cars zoom past in different directions, each sound being doppler with distance. Logan seems a little lost as he searches for clues. He walks up to random people on the street, asking if they have an idea of what the symbol on the ring represents. Most of the people he walked up to, either turned him down, tried but couldn't get it, or most commonly, pretended like he didn't exist.

'Damn it!' he cussed silently in frustration as he runs his fingers through his blonde hair, ruffling his bangs in the process. Then seeing an Asian American teenager walking past with earphones in his ears, he runs towards him.

"Hey excuse me," he says as he taps the kid on his shoulder. He stops and turns to see who tapped him, as he takes out his earphones.

"Sorry man, can you help me out with something?" Logan asks. The boy takes a good look at him as if processing whether he should help or ignore, his face betraying his urge to just walk away. Without saying anything, he nods.

"Thanks. Do you have any idea what this logo means?" He asks, showing the boy the ring.

"Uhmm, I'm Jap man, so I don't get what's on it but, if you really wanna find it, why don't you head to Chinatown?" He suggests, "Somebody's gotta know what's on the ring around those parts," he says.

'