9

'Chinatown? Why didn't I think of it before?' Logan thinks smacking his palm against his forehead.

"Thanks a lot, man," he says, "you've been a big help".

"No biggie bruh," the jap says as he plugs his earphones back into his ears and walks away.

"Chinatown, here I come" he mutters as he begins to walk towards the nearest bus terminal. Finally, a clear path shows up. Will he find what he's looking for?

"Alright, thanks" Logan waves at the dude in the yellow cab.

"No biggie man" the man responds before he drives off .

'What a nice guy' he thinks as he watches the car zoom off into the buzzing traffic. Then turning around, he sees a gate with two huge reddish posts between which a huge neon arched sign, wrapped around with colorful strings of blinking lights, is placed on top reading " 歡迎來到唐人街. " With an tiny English translation underneath that reads, "Welcome to Chinatown".

'Hwweeww!' he exhales from his mouth as he walks in>>>>>>>

__________________________________________________

*** Inside Chinatown ***

Getting inside the town, he quickly notices how different here is from the outside world. It's almost as if he's actually in China! The town is bustling as rickshaws move in different directions, the sound off their engines creating a sort of hectic ambience. Sellers can be heard announcing their goods from their stalls as they try to cajole passers-by to buy from them. It kind of seems like the dominant markets here are the vegetable market, the crockery market and the textile market.

'Where was I supposed to start?' Logan thinks as he watches the bustling town, with horns blaring as rickshaws try to squeeze their way through the congested markets, flooded with people.

Mustering courage, he walks up to a middle-aged little woman whose wooden stall with a tapoline shade houses a lot of cabbages. She smiles at him, beckoning him to come over, with the assumption that he's a prospective customer.

"Good evening ma'am" he greets as he gets to the stall.

"Oh good evening, how are you?" She asks.

"I'm alright" he replies, "I was wondering if......"

"You want some cabbages, right?" She interjects him. He is surprised by her....well..... forwardness.

"No not really" he says, "I was going to ask if you knew what this ring says" he explains as he shows her the ring. On seeing the ring, the smile on her face quickly dwindles into a frown. He assumes that the frown is her squinting in a bid to try to see clearly.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you. Please leave" she suddenly says as she recoils from the ring and continues stacking up her cabbages.

"But, if you could just......"

"I said I can't help you!" She snaps at him.

'What's up with her?' he thinks. A second ago, she was as cheerful as a butterfly and now all of a sudden.....

'Maybe she's in a bad mood' he simply assumes.

"Alright sorry. Thanks anyway" he says as he slowly backs up from the stall and looks around in search of someone more approachable.

'Ding!'

He dug his hand into his pocket and took out his phone. It had been three years since he last used it so he was a bit startled by the notification alert. (By the way, it had been in Lucas's care since he got arrested).

Taking the phone out of his pocket, he sees a text

'Lucas?'

He opens it

The text reads.

he writes and sends. As he walks around, searching for who else to ask, he monitors his screen.

Typing.....

'What's taking him so long to type?' he thinks as he stares at the screen.

'Ding!'

Tapping sounds emanate from the smartphone as he types as fast as possible.

he types and sends.

He puts his phone back in his pocket and searches around for anyone he can ask.

"Rice cakes! Get your rice cakes here!" A young Chinese man yells from his kiosk, (which looks terrible by the way).

Logan deciding to try him out, walks up to him. The sky was already reddish brown at this point as evening approached. Walking up to the kiosk, he waves.

"Hello"

"Good evening, my friend" the seller greets in response, "How many rice cakes would you like?" He asks.

"Oh I'm not here for the rice cakes" Logan says, "I was actually wondering if you could help me out with something" he says further.

"Sure what is it?" He asks.

Logan buries his hand into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulls out the ring. "Here" he says as he hands it over to the seller.

"Hmmmm" the seller hums as he closely inspects the ring. He takes a while but his eyes suddenly widen in surprise and he clenches his hand around the ring and looking to the left first and then to the right, he hands it over. Logan collects it, perplexed by his reaction. The man then gestures to him to come closer. Logan draws in.

"I'd throw that away if I were you" the seller whispers in his ear. Surprised, Logan asks;

"But why?"