Imperfections

3

Out of the high-speed motors came three men and a woman.

The three men could probably debut as a group, for their hair were red, green and yellow, which made them signal lights when they stood together. The woman dressed exactly like the girl, a jacket and an underwear. This clothing match must be quite popular among local hoodie gals.

They all came out of the sky, like some tough guys. However now standing in line behind the speakeasy, none of them dared to say a word.

Having struggled for some time, the “traffic lights group” sent the woman out of the line.

The motor gal was not afraid of the coldness, but defeated by the poker face of the man standing in front of the backdoor. Trembling, she said hesitantly: “That man owned a strange shield machine, we lost his track……”

The man looked at her in silence. As the result, the motor gal almost sneezed her lungs out.

The boy who just stopped crying was scared by her fierce sneeze, crying out loud again on the ground.

However, after having an eye contact with the man holding a cigarette, the boy stopped crying because he was genuinely panic now.

“Call for the cops. Stop standing here and embarra.s.sing me. Come on in.” The man who had stopped a little boy from crying by a simple eye contact held the boy with one arm, and spoke when he saw the uncollected girl in the corner. “You, too.”

The motor guys followed him one by one as if they had been pardoned after committing a crime.

The girl stood up and hesitated for a second. Nonetheless the warmness in the speakeasy soon convinced her. She touched the wound on the back of her hand, following with her luggage.

The atmosphere here was fairly retro, even the feeling of decay was quite special. The sweet smell of rum fulfilled the air, while the jazz music enlighten the whole room. It must be close for now, because waiters and bartenders were not here. Only the man who opened the door just now was here. Maybe he was the boss.

“A boss of a d.a.m.n small pub. c.o.c.ky like this?” the girl thought to herself, very confused. She found something moving on the shelf besides the table but simply regarded it as a beam of light. A cold eye met with hers, which made her jump. Now she realized that it was a dark green lizard.

“Don’t be. It is too lazy to bite anyone.” The boss placed the boy on a highchair opposite to the girl. “What do you want to drink?”

The girl answered. “Beer.”

The boss gave her a glance. “How old are you?”

Now she eventually figured out the man’s face——despite of the deep outline of his face, the man looked quite eastern with his black hair. His cuffs were at his elbows. His shirt was open, showing his sinewy chest and chiseled underbelly. Not until he noticed the girl was looking at him did he do his under b.u.t.tons in a casual way.

On his neck was an old scar. Extended from his Adam’s apple to his shoulder, it was then concealed by his shirt, which made him even more stern and dangerous. He squinted behind cigarette smoke with his jaw shaved not very well. He was so slovenly, but not skittish at all, for his dark grey eyes, maybe.

Those eyes were quite special, like a valley in summer haze, deep and gloomy.

The girl did not dare to look straight into his eyes. She answered briefly. “Fifty.”

The man gave her a glance. “Speak English.”

She was a little hoodie about whom no one cared and she never feared anyone or anything. Somehow she was panic, like really panic now, about the boss of this tatty speakeasy. Those hazy eyes made her nervous——not that kind of nervous women felt when they met handsome men, but that kind of nervous naughty kids felt when they were caught by teachers or late newbies felt when they look at their boss.

That was why she headed down, and gave another answer. “Twenty-five.”

Suddenly a white light swept her before she realized what had happened and covered her face with hands. “The heck are you doing?”

The personal terminal showed above the man’s wrist, then an identification file floated in the mid-air. He let the smoke out by his nose, spoke out the girl’s name. “Jingshu……Huang?”

Anger fulfilled the girl. “Who are you to check my ID without my ‘yes’?”

The boss did not give a s.h.i.t. He just smiled. “Jingshu, huh? Nice name, same as the wife of the IU general-secretary.”

“The wife of the IU general-secretary” was exactly like “the scientist named outpace blackhole as the small intestine of the son of dragon” to a hoodie girl——never heard and irrelevant.

In spite of this, she still knew that only some special ones can check others’ ID. Therefore, the girl looked at the man with her alarm on. “Did I fall into some cop things?”

He did not p.i.s.s off for her rudeness. “Born in August, 259. Cat, you are sixteen, huh?”

The girl lost all her temper in front of him for no reason.

He wiped away the information showed on his personal terminal. The robot hand belonged to him grabbed a bottle of milk out and poured it into two gla.s.ses, placing them before Jingshu Huang and the boy opposite to her and even stroking the lizard in a very human way. Unfortunately the lizard was poikilotherm itself, so it was not fond of another cold paw. Mr. Lizard shrank back and climbed away slowly.

“As an underage, why did you poke your little nose into others’ business?” The boss said, “Hang around at late night with makeup as messy as h.e.l.l. Where are your parents? Did they abandon you?”

“What’s wrong about being d.a.m.n G.o.d sixteen? Mind your own f.u.c.king business! I am a Blackhole.” She pounded the table, “Shut the f.u.c.k up and give me some beer! I will pay for it, okay?!”

Even the music stopped for a second intelligently when she finished her words. Everyone was staring at her. The red hair motor guy from the “Traffic Lights Group” coughed his beer out, while the green hair cleaned his face with sleeve. “What are you?”

As everyone knew, the government of the eighth galaxy was like a disposable lunchbox. By parity of reasoning, the government of each planet here was nothing more than waste papers. The police stations were similar to guideposts, as no one would take them seriously. However, there has to be someone in charge if the government do not, so there were lots of gangsters to take charge of their own areas. These gangsters were the exactly invisible government in every planet.

The invisible government in Beijing-ß was called Blackhole. Their financial income was from protection fee, if it was called so. Sometimes they did rob or slaughter, too.

The mysterious “father” of Blackhole named Lin. It could not be sure if it was Lin or Lynn, so they call him B4 anyway. There were plenty of stories about his origin. Some said he was a wanted, some said he was a star pirate, and so much more. After all, he was popular among the Blackhole, becoming the favourite of the previous “father”, and then the present “father” himself.

How did he get to the top? There were plenty of stories, too. Full of tricks and blood, not sure to be true or not but were quite popular among the eighth galaxy.

All the hoodie girls or boys were dreaming of being the next B4. What they were imagining about the Blackhole was exactly like what Wotto children about the Black Orchid College.

Jingshu Huang said normally. “The Blackhole. You are in Beijing-ß. You must have heard of it, haven’t you?”

The motor gal could not help laughing. “Was B4 that poor? To use some kids?”

The girl, frowned, was about to say something really rude. However, before she could say a word, the man wiped his hands and gave an order to the robot hand. “Call Bixing Lu.”

The robot hand showed an “OK” gesture, talking in plain voice. “Calling Headmaster Lu.”

The girl was shocked. “How……”

“How could I know your school?” The boss answered the question himself, “All the kids pa.s.sing themselves as one of the Blackhole, were students of that jerk.”

The robot hand trembled after his words. “That jerk” ’s phone was just on.

The plain voice of the android became a man voice, low and gentle. “How rare. What makes you call me?”

The boss answered in brief. “Come here. Lost and found.”

“Oh?” The headmaster Lu said with a smile, “What did I loss?”

He spoke like singing, drowsily, but every words he spoke were crystal clear. He spoke the last syllable nasally, which made him genuinely affectionate. In a word, he did not sound like some serious headmaster.

“A kid named Jingshu Huang. Check if she was one of your students.”

The robot hand paused, then, the voice became much more serious, not like a midnight DJ anymore, but a news reporter. “What? What happened? Where are you?”

A silver sword happened to show above the man’s wrist before he answered. Putting on his jacket, he stood up and said to the hand: “In the speakeasy. Stop talking nonsense, just come and take the girl away.”

Then he hung up, reaching out his arm. The robot hand fell from the pedestal and minimized on his arm like an armband——exactly like a well-trained parrot!

Jingshu Huang was stunned since she had never seen anything like this in the hick galaxy before.

The boss left through the backdoor saying “Penny, watch over”.

A middle-aged man, in cop suit, came right after he left. He smiled at the strange motor guys with great politeness. “What happened? I heard that something needs me to deal with.”

“That one.” The Penny gal pointed at the boy. “Lost kid. Just take him away.”

“Okay, okay, of course. You can trust me, Miss Penny.” The heeler-cop took the boy, comforted him like he had done this thousands times. Then he looked around, with even more politeness. “Well……Was B4 here just now?”

The girl Jingshu was almost shock to death.

Penny looked at her, feeling funny.

“Unfortunately.” She pointed at the open backdoor. “Left just now.”