Capítulo 1558: Chapter 1267: Chinatown

Manila is located within a vast bay area, a geographical location that can truly be said to be exceptional.

This enormous city is divided by the wide Pasig River into two major districts, further subdivided into more than a dozen city-level areas.

The day after settling in, Boss Qiao took advantage of Garci’s investigation of targets to look for an opportunity to act, dragging Dorian along to visit Binondo district, the largest Chinatown in the world.

The administrative division of Manila is based on city-level units, and the entire territory of Binondo district falls within the scope of Chinatown.

It is also the wealthiest area in Manila, as about 2% of the entire Filipino population is of Chinese descent, and these Chinese control over 50% of the Philippines’ basic industries.

In contrast to these low-profile Chinese, the main foreign exchange source for the Philippines is domestic helpers and sailors working abroad.

These workers remit over 8 billion US dollars back to the Philippines annually, supplementing the country’s foreign exchange reserves and converting into local currency to energize the domestic market.

Chinatown gave Boss Qiao a very familiar feeling. Joe Ga and Dorian, both dressed in simple T-shirts and jeans, wandered the streets of Chinatown with tactical backpacks on their backs…

Perhaps watching too many old Hong Kong films, Boss Qiao even felt an illusory sensation that this place had an even stronger ethnic cultural flavor than back home.

Various Chinese character signs, all kinds of familiar little restaurants, and Chinese that sounds a bit awkward but feels so endearing.

Joe Ga has spent too much time in Africa. Entering such an environment suddenly gave him a bit of a homecoming feeling.

Anyway, since they had nothing else to do, Joe Ga and Dorian were eating and wandering in the commercial district, unknowingly covering a long distance…

Finally, around noon, Joe Ga found a seat in a bustling rice noodle shop, planning to head back to retrieve their car and return to their base after eating…

The owner and waitstaff of the rice noodle shop were all Chinese. Upon seeing Boss Qiao enter, a girl with a big braid and delicate features warmly guided them to a table near the window, then smiled and asked Dorian in fluent English, “What would you like to order?”

Seeing Dorian’s strange expression, Joe Ga rubbed his nose and said to the clueless girl in Chinese, “Let’s have some of your specialties…”

The girl glanced at Joe Ga, picked up a pad and pen, and said, “Our specialties are rice noodles, shrimp dumplings, and steamed ribs…”

Joe Ga noticed the girl frequently glancing at Dorian while taking the order with an unfocused demeanor. He waved his hand and said, “Then we’ll have two of each…

Stop looking; this guy’s name is Dorian. If we’re satisfied with the food, I’ll let him leave you a number!”

The girl was a little embarrassed when her thoughts were exposed. Dorian charmingly spread his hands and said, “I may not be staying in the Philippines for long, but I’d be more than happy to make a friend here…”

The girl managed to regain her composure, a little awkward but recovered, nodding brightly as she noted down Boss Qiao’s order and smiling, “Please wait a moment, the food will be served soon…”

Joe Ga watched as Dorian smugly winked at him, shaking his head and smiling, “What are you so pleased about?

This girl is clearly inexperienced; she doesn’t even know who I am. She’s destined to be a waitress her entire life.”

Dorian smugly slicked back his hair, saying, “Boss, you generally only appear in the Europe and America political sections, and mostly from the side. You can’t expect an ordinary girl to recognize you at a glance.

But if you ditched the sunglasses and donned a uniform, I reckon someone would recognize you…”

Dorian winked at the busy waitress, causing her to either blush or smile in embarrassment, then smugly remarked, “A long life in Africa made me forget that I’m a handsome man. My confidence is back now!

Boss, since Devil Bird and Kitten didn’t come to Manila, how about we ask Jack and head out somewhere fun tonight?

I’m sure I’ll have some success…”

Joe Ga, seeing Dorian’s smug demeanor, grabbed a salt shaker and tossed it at him, laughing and scolding, “A daytime stroll is one thing…

But intelligence personnel are everywhere in Manila right now. Going out at night and ending up in a sack would be idiotic!

Russian intelligence agents don’t have great tempers…”

Dorian nonchalantly replied, “Boss, until the deal is done, how could they possibly cause us trouble?

This is the Philippines’ Capital City, surely the law and order is still reliable!”

Just as Dorian finished speaking, a gunshot echoed from deep within the street…

After the “bang,” there was some commotion at the intersection at the far end of the street, drawing people from both sides of the shops to go out and watch…

“shit…”

A visibly hit Dorian craned his head out the window to see, but couldn’t discern much through the crowd, so he waved to the returning waitress, asking, “Hey, beautiful, what happened over there?”

The waitress didn’t seem particularly afraid as she smoothly delivered the rice noodles and steamed ribs from the kitchen to Boss Qiao’s table, then whispered, “It’s police chasing a thief…”

Dorian picked up his chopsticks and stirred the rice noodles, which looked like they lacked oil, adeptly adding some chili oil and vinegar to the bowl, then smiled and said, “Are Manila’s cops always this bold, shooting just to catch a thief?”

The girl helped open the lid of the steamed ribs, shaking her head and saying, “It’s almost New Year, so people in Chinatown are preparing a lot of things.

“Many people from Tang Du District come around this time to steal things nearby, probably taking something valuable, that’s why it’s causing such a commotion.”

As the girl spoke, gunshots were heard in the distance again. After several shots, police cars rushed to the scene, quickly dispersing the crowd and setting up a cordon…

Joe Ga curiously stretched his head to take a look, and to his surprise, several police cars along with an ambulance passed by the rice noodle shop. They stopped not far up the street, and a police officer who seemed quite high-ranking got out of the car…

The guy adjusted his police uniform and shook hands with a young Chinese man in a suit on a sweltering day, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then began loudly directing the police to disperse the crowd and let the ambulance through.

Then the young Chinese didn’t pay much heed to the high-ranking police officer, instead holding a stack of red envelopes and began apologizing door-to-door.

When he got to the rice noodle shop, the young man, smiling, handed a red envelope to the owner and said, “A petty thief stole something from us, and the police’s handling was rather poor, disrupting your business, very sorry…

This is a little token, please make sure to accept it!”

Saying this, the young man folded his hands and bowed to the people eating in the rice noodle shop, saying, “Sorry to disturb everyone…”

Joe Ga observed the awkward smile on the owner’s face and curiously asked, “Who is that guy?”

The waitress, with an admiring look, watched the young man leave and then said to Joe Ga, “His name is Lin Jiafeng, he’s the assistant to Lin Yuanhang, the vice-chairman of the Manila Chinese Business Association…”

“Xiao Li…”

Just as the girl wanted to continue, the owner not far away coughed loudly and said in Southern Min dialect, “You talk too much, can’t you see the customers are leaving, hurry up and clean the tables…”

Joe Ga glanced at the somewhat stiff expression on the owner’s face and said no more, instead lowering his head to start eating…

The taste of the rice noodles seemed rather average to Boss Qiao, but the steamed ribs and shrimp dumplings suited his palate very well.

In just a few minutes, he finished the food in front of him, sighed in satisfaction, took a sip of the free ice water, and called Dorian to settle the bill, and then the two left the rice noodle shop together…

On the way back, they had to pass through the intersection where the incident occurred, which was now blocked off by the police, so Joe Ga took out his phone to check the electronic map, turned into a small alley on the right, planning to loop around back to the main road.

Dorian, very full, smacked his lips and said while walking, “Boss, those rice noodles tasted really good, we should have Iron Shovel learn that, the food in the cafeteria is getting worse and worse now…”

Joe Ga flipped Dorian the finger, jokingly scolded, “Was the food you ate with Leather Head actually better than our P.B. cafeteria?”

Dorian spread his hands and said, “Not really, but shouldn’t people have some aspirations?”

Iron Shovel, the jerk, now only thinks about his beautiful wife, we should remind him…”

Joe Ga listened, looked Dorian up and down and said, “Are you hinting I should find you a girlfriend?

Elephant, if that’s really what you think, then I’d look down on you!

Even if you disdain black women, there’s a lot of women in Sangha Town now, plenty of beauties among the UgKL people there.”

Dorian was taken aback, proudly said, “Boss, do you think I’m someone who lacks a girlfriend?

Only a fool like Iron Shovel would hold onto one girl and not let go, and moreover is planning to marry her…

I bet that guy will regret it sooner or later!”

Joe Ga shook his head with disdain and said, “You’re all cowards!

What’s wrong with getting married?

A man should have a good woman to anchor his harbor…

Not getting married is a lifelong regret!”

Dorian shook his head in strong disagreement and said, “Italy’s divorce rate is 40% now, if marriage is like skydiving, and I know there’s a 40% chance the parachute won’t open, why would I marry?

Until I have saved enough for a ‘reserve parachute’, I definitely won’t take the risk!”

Joe Ga looked at Dorian with disdain and shook his head, saying, “Maybe you should try for a rich woman, King Kong would be a good target. If you can marry King Kong, I assure you, you wouldn’t get divorced in your life…”

Dorian shook his head decisively and said, “Are you kidding? King Kong is my brother!”

With a shiver, Dorian said, “For a man, marrying King Kong is like a death gamble!

Her ex-husband must’ve been a god, the Cthulhu Tribe should erect a monument for him!”

Joe Ga laughed heartily, wanting to respond when suddenly from the alley to their left came a piercing scream and chaotic shouts…

After exchanging glances with Dorian, Joe Ga reached into his tactical backpack and pulled out a pistol, tucking it into his waistband…