Gotham, the crime capital of North America.
In recent years, as more and more people from all over Europe have come here to make a living, various gangs have gradually formed.
They sell drugs and smuggle arms here, and because of disputes, every block here is covered with blood, making every night troubled.
These are the words of Harper Wright.
However, when Yin Xiu and Luo Wei came here, they found that Wright had actually tried his best to beautify the place in words, because Gaotan was far more chaotic than what he described.
Garbage everywhere, rats in the stinky ditches, homeless homeless people with no clothes on the roadside.
Fortunately, Wright told them that this was only the lower city area, not the fascinating "upper class" area of Gaotan. Otherwise, Yin Xiu would have felt that the entire city had to be burned down.
After going around and around in the alley twice, they finally came to a tavern.
The sign on the tavern is written in crude English, which roughly translates to a name like "Brothers Cooper."
Just from the blackening, cracking marks, and dense bullet holes on the outer wall of this tavern, you can tell that this place is not peaceful.
Yin Xiu and Luo Wei pushed open the door and entered the tavern. Before they sat down, they attracted everyone's attention.
A man with a wine nose, a red face, and a cowboy outfit stepped forward, raising his hand to reveal a black pistol tied to his waist.
He said loudly: "Hey, you two, if you don't build the railway on the West Coast, why are you stealing the boss's clothes and running to the tavern? There is no smoke and women with bound feet waiting for you here."
After he said this, everyone in the tavern burst into laughter.
The cowboy was triumphant, as if the laughter was to cheer him up.
He put his hands on his hips and waited triumphantly for the response from the two Orientals in front of him.
But Yin Xiu and Luo Wei ignored him and just sat down side by side in front of the bar.
"Two glasses of whiskey, top up."
Yin Xiu threw out two coins.
The bartender behind the counter glanced at the two of them, not intending to pour drinks.
Like the cowboy, he had his hands on his hips and his chin held high.
When the cowboy saw this, he became even more proud. He walked to the bar, leaned forward, put the two coins into his pocket, and whistled again.
"You are not welcome here. Are you two deaf or blind? You still don't know the situation? Huh?"
The cowboys were getting more aggressive.
Yin Xiu finally glanced at him, but said disdainfully: "If I had known earlier, I shouldn't have come in person."
"But we can't find any other help, can we?" Luo Wei laughed.
"It is precisely because we can't find help that the two of us have to sit here and listen to the wild dogs barking."
The cowboy originally wanted to see how Yin Xiu and the others would react, but he didn't expect to be called a wild dog by two Orientals.
The others couldn't help but laugh when they saw the cowboy deflated.
They don't care too much about the fun. As long as they have fun watching it, they don't care whose fun they are watching.
The cowboy blushed, blocked the door in front of Yin Xiu, and asked angrily in a rough voice: "Who are you calling a wild dog?"
"I'm not talking about you specifically."
Yin Xiu pushed his head aside and stood up from the chair, "I mean, everyone here, male and female, old and young, every one of them, is a pure wild dog."
"Damn it!"
The cowboy raised his hand, but before he could swing his fist, Yin Xiu slapped him on the table and fainted.
No one could see clearly when Yin Xiu took action, but they were all drunk, so naturally they didn't notice it.
More importantly, they were all blinded by anger at this time.
I don't know who yelled first, and the tavern was in chaos. One by one, the burly men either picked up chairs or held wine bottles. If they couldn't find anything, they came to catch Yin Xiu with their bare hands.
Yin Xiu raised his hand.
Crackling!
Bang bang bang bang!
Ding ding clang clang!
Rowe just sat in front of the bar chair and watched the show from beginning to end.
By the time Yin Xiu sat back at the bar, the only ones left standing in the entire pub were the two of them, and the bartender at the counter - the other bartenders were also asleep peacefully.
"Whiskey, two glasses, top up!"
Yin Xiu knocked on the table.
The bartender was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered to pour the wine. He opened the bottle tremblingly, and the red wine splashed out from the wide-mouthed glass.
Yin Xiu shook his head and said: "This kind of service attitude is not acceptable today!"
"Yes, yes, I made a mistake, two bosses!"
The bartender bowed repeatedly, fearing that he would fall asleep instantly like others and not even be able to see how Yin Xiu acted.
Yin Xiu first took the wine glass and drank half of the glass in one go, then glanced at him.
Just this glance made the bartender startled and didn't know what to do.
"Don't scare him."
Luo Wei smiled and tried to appear gentle: "We are looking for someone."
"If you want to find someone, you should publish it in the newspaper, or go to a hotel, or ask the police." The bartender suggested sincerely.
"Are you teaching me how to do things?"
Even Luo Wei, who has always been a good guy, changed his expression, "I am asking you now, not you asking me, understand? Unless you want to sleep on the ground like those people, you'd better answer my question honestly. ”
The bartender immediately raised his hands above his head and said in a trembling voice: "Boss, just ask, I will tell you everything, whether you know it or not."
"How can you tell us if you don't know, now make it up?"
Yin Xiu bent down and took back the two coins he had taken away from the jeans pocket that was lying on the side.
After a pause, he took out a few more bills with his fingers.
"Son of a bitch, how did my money end up in your pocket?"
Yin Xiu nodded slightly and slapped two of the bills on the counter.
"I heard that there is a man named Tiejingang who often drinks here, right?"
"Oh, Iron King, that bastard from Philadelphia!"
Knowing that the person Yin Xiu and his wife were looking for had nothing to do with them, the bartender breathed a sigh of relief and ran out from behind the counter in three steps at a time.
After pushing away several unconscious pig heads, he pulled a person out of the crowd.
"Iron King Kong?"
"That's right, boss, Iron King Kong."
Yin Xiu looked at the man in front of him who weighed less than a hundred pounds, had a sallow complexion and was about to collapse if the wind blew, and was full of doubts. In fact, during the fight just now, Yin Xiu did not hit this person. He was just hit by the person in front and fainted to the ground.
After looking at the bartender again to make sure he was not mistaken, Yin Xiu handed over an ice bucket from the bar, "Wake him up."
Of course the bartender wouldn't hold back on this kind of thing. He took the ice bucket and poured it on Tiejingang's face.
I don’t know whether he woke up due to the freezing water or being hit by ice cubes. Anyway, Tiejingang sat up from the ground.
At this time, he was still dazed and rubbed his head, which had a big bump under his brown hair.
"What, what's the situation?"
"Nothing, I'll ask someone for you." Yin Xiu grinned.
This smile seemed to make Tiejingang's hair stand on end, just like a butcher discussing with people at the fence which lamb looks better.
He subconsciously wanted to run away, but as soon as he touched the ground twice, his whole body flew into the air, leaving only his feet fluttering unwillingly in the air.
Yin Xiu held him in one hand and the wine glass in the other.
He asked casually: "I heard that in Gaotan, there is nothing you don't know, right? You are the city's spy, and even the mouse will tell you the news it sees."
"I'm afraid of mice."
Tiejingang waved his hands repeatedly, "I mean, I'm not a private detective. There may be some things that I can't help the two bosses with."
"Oh?"
Yin Xiu narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
"You know what? I've always heard that North America is a place that values efficiency. Smart people are welcome here, and fools also have a place. Only those who are useless will soon disappear from this city.
Those people will appear in the sewers, at the sea, or in an icehouse somewhere. ”
Seeing that Tiejingang was still thinking, Yin Xiu shook her wrist again, making a terrible sound between her fingers.
"I think you should understand what I mean?"
"But, no one in this city would kill an information dealer." Tiejingang was still struggling.
"I'm not from this city, I'm just passing by. When you are walking, you just kick a wild dog to death on the roadside. Will others blame you?" Yin Xiu's eyes became colder.
"Just ask, just ask, even if you ask me where my mother is, I will tell you without hesitation, boss!" Tiejingang finally begged for mercy.
"I can see that you love your mother very much."
Yin Xiu put him on the bar chair, and Tie Jingang's legs hung on it without touching the ground.
"I'm looking for one, or several Tang people."
Yin Xiu took out his wine glass, poured a glass of whiskey and handed it to him.
"Tang people?"
Tiejingang's face had returned to color at this time, with only a professional expression on his face.
"To be honest, I rarely see Tang people in Gaotan. Generally, the Tang people who appear here are either rich or noble.
I occasionally met a few at the door of a nightclub. They were dressed elegantly and took their unspectacular female companions with them. As soon as they came out of the nightclub, they got into the carriage and left. It was very mysterious.
I heard that these Tang people live in a certain place on Long Island. There, some Tang people bought houses and formed a community there. They also built walls and gates so that ordinary people could not enter. ”
Luo Wei wrote down the information Tiejingang said, and felt vaguely that this was not the person they were looking for, so he asked: "What else?"
"What else?"
Tie Jingang took a sip of wine and frowned due to the spiciness of the whiskey.
"Also? Oh, there is a martial arts gym in Brooklyn, which was opened by people from the Tang Dynasty and taught Wing Chun to others.
I heard that not only Easterners, but also many white people go there to learn. The master’s surname seems to be Liang. Maybe you know him, because you are all equally good at playing. ”
As he spoke, he said depressedly: "Are all Tang people very aggressive, and they can easily beat ten of them one by one?"
Yin Xiu didn't intend to answer his stereotype. After seeing Luo Wei write down this information in his notebook again, he knocked on the bar.
"Are there any very special or evil Tang people?"
"Evil?"
Tie Jingang touched his chin, "I heard that in Jinshan, there is a Tang man who always wins every bet. Is he evil?"
"That's not evil, it's just Chu Qian's clever method." Yin Xiu shook his head.
Tie Jingang continued to think, "Then I heard that in Brooklyn, there is a Tang man with a turban on his head. The fried rice he makes will shine. Is this evil?"
"Fluorescent powder, he added fluorescent powder to the rice."
Yin Xiu still shook his head, "This is not evil, but it is more evil to eat people who don't die."
"There was a very beautiful woman at the Opera House in Queens. When she went out, the butterflies would fly around her and land on her. Isn't this evil?"
"She's just sweating a lot, but she's not evil."
Tie Jingang really couldn’t figure it out, “Boss, what kind of people do you think are evil?”
"Should I ask you to find someone, or should you ask me to find someone?"
Yin Xiu rolled her eyes at him and said helplessly: "You are that kind of Taoist priest, a person who knows Taoism, do you know?"
"Taoism? Taoist priest?"
Tiejingang recited these two words and did not react for a moment.
"Well," Yin Xiu said in a different way, "occultism, those who engage in occultism, you think of them as magicians or alchemists, are there such people?"
"Alchemist? Occult?"
Tie Jingang frowned and fell into a long examination.
Yin Xiu and Luo Wei looked at each other, and both read the same meaning in each other's eyes - that's almost it.
Even though Tie Jingang claims to know everything, it seems a bit difficult for him to find a mysterious Taoist priest.
Just because Taoist priests are often no different from ordinary people when they don't wear Taoist robes.
For example, Uncle Ming, if he didn't wear Taoist robes, he would just be an old man selling glutinous rice, and the majestic Senior Brother Asheng, who is actually a fish killer in the market, even if he is Ma Celestial Master of the Ma family, Xiaoyu, on weekdays, couldn't get anyone to connect her with the Taoist priest.
"Let's go."
After shouting hello to Luo Wei, Yin Xiu took out a few more bills from his pocket and stuffed them into Tiejingang's breast pocket.
"As a doctor, please contact me if you think of anything."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tie Jingang jumped down from the bar chair.
"I remember! I remember! There is such a person. If you can't sleep in the middle of the night and always dream about strange things, go to him and he will give you some water mixed with talisman ash. You can drink some water when you go back. Is it evil to be able to sleep worse than a pig?
There is such a person. If other people live in a house where they either have a fever or have nightmares, if they ask him to come over and change the positions of the sofa and bed, nothing will happen. Isn't this evil?
There is such a person. If someone often makes a woman's noise, or inexplicably talks about some things that he didn't know before, and becomes nervous, but then he goes to his place for a long time and comes back completely fine. Isn't this evil enough? ”
Yin Xiu and Luo Wei looked at each other and smiled.
"It's so evil. It's so evil." (End of Chapter)