Arcade Center

The only arcade center left in Chinatown, in New York City, crumbled to its end and went down with the owner.

So long had it been operated under the control of the gangs in recent years, acting as one of the many empty shell for money laundering and storage for highly addictive and illegal stimulants. The neon signs flashed and the game music looped, the artificial marshmallows scent gone with the ages, and the variety of vintage games in store were now the memory of those who passed by.

The preliminary report compiled by the fire department suspected a short circuit in one of the gaming console at the rear, which torched the carpet and swarmed the whole place in a matter of minutes. There, however, had signs of a deliberate fire from the trace of gasoline near the emergency exit, and a sudden electric current overload occurred near the time of fire in the building.

While the arcade center burned in flame, the fire department was not granted access to the road immediately because the Chinatown’s denial of authorities. It was after half an hour of negotiation with the local did the firefighters reached the building and provide limited assistance under the surveillance of the gang members. The rescue was eventually meaningless and fruitless but necessary.

A letter received by the police department a day later bared the confession of the owner, Jackie Chan, that claimed his involvement in a shooting that gunned down a local gang boss and some of its members at a newly opened burger place inside Chinatown, though there was only the surveillance videotape that vaguely captured the shooter in the shadow which hardly resemble the feature of Jackie Chan. The investigators suspected someone planted the murder to Mr. Chan, so they decided to conceal the news from the public at the moment, before more evidences were collected and examined that an official statement could be given out confirming the crime Mr. Chan might had committed, as to not hinder the interrogation of the other suspects the investigators had in mind. Rival gangs, and possibly a internal power and standing struggle that sparked the killing. The list of suspects were long, and time was not on their side.