Liu Family Town.
Qian Mansion.
It was a sea of festive red. Today was the joyous occasion of the Qian Family’s patriarch taking his eighteenth concubine, and many guests had been invited. Though the hour was late, the lively atmosphere remained in full swing.
However, Qian Huan did not stick around to join the festivities. After drinking for so long, he was already impatient to consummate the marriage. Bidding farewell to the crowd, he hurried to the backyard, unable to wait a moment longer.
This eighteenth concubine was a respectable woman he had recently taken a fancy to. He had put quite a bit of effort into marrying her. She had originally been married to a Medicinal Farmer, and the couple had supported each other through thick and thin for many years. Catching sight of her by chance, Qian Huan had formed a wicked desire and subsequently had the Medicinal Farmer killed. Afterward, he sent a matchmaker to propose, but the woman proved incredibly fierce and stubbornly refused to submit. Left with no other choice, he threatened her with her daughter’s life, which finally succeeded in winning the beauty over.
He had already planned it all out: once her daughter grew up, they would both serve him together, allowing him to enjoy the ultimate double blessing. The mere thought made Qian Huan even more eager, wishing he could sprout wings and fly straight to the backyard. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for him to find the room. He opened the door and stepped inside.
"My lovely wife, I’m here!" Qian Huan chuckled darkly. Rubbing his hands together, he swaggered over to the bride in her red wedding dress.
Her body was visibly trembling—a sight that only excited him further. He arrived at the bedside, gave another sinister chuckle, and lifted the red veil, revealing a face that made his blood boil with lust.
"So beautiful!" he marveled, thinking to himself that taking this concubine was absolutely the right choice.
"You don’t seem happy at all, do you?" However, the smile on his face quickly vanished as he asked the question coldly.
The bride didn’t speak; she merely offered a mocking smirk.
This angered Qian Huan. He was about to strike her, but remembering that tonight was their wedding night, he grabbed her by the collar instead.
"It doesn’t matter. You might not be happy now, but you will be later."
With that, he let her go. The bride clutched her throat and coughed a few times. She slowly raised her head and smiled, though her expression was freezing cold.
Seeing this, fury surged in Qian Huan’s heart. But before he could make a move, his gaze suddenly froze. Reflected in the bride’s resentful eyes, he saw a human figure.
"Who’s there?" Qian Huan whipped his head around, and a black-clad silhouette filled his vision.
The next moment, a sharp pain pierced his chest. Looking down, he saw a fist driven straight into his heart.
"W-Who are you?" Qian Huan gasped, clutching his chest.
However, the only response he received was the man in black’s ferocious fists. The brutal beating quickly reduced Qian Huan to a bloody pulp, and it wasn’t long before he breathed his last.
After dealing with Qian Huan, Su Chen paid no mind to the sobbing bride. He rummaged through Qian Huan’s body for a moment before turning and leaving.
Some time later, an uproar broke out within the Qian Mansion. Of course, this had nothing to do with Su Chen anymore. By now, he had already returned home, changed into fresh clothes, washed up, and laid down on his bed.
"It took seven days to complete three missions. If not for the travel and verification, I could have been even faster," Su Chen thought to himself. The three missions were in completely different locations, separated by dozens of miles. He had spent most of his time traveling on the road and verifying the authenticity of his intelligence.
"I’ll go to Lin Family Castle tomorrow to turn in the missions. But three targets only pay thirty taels. Including the twenty taels I looted from them, I only have fifty taels in total. I’m still fifty taels short for my next Krypton Gold top-up.
"It’s just that the rewards for these assassination missions are far too low. It seems Mist Rain Tower is taking a massive cut!"
Aside from the Cloth-Soaking Gang, the targets of the other two missions both had decent backgrounds, yet their bounties weren’t significantly higher. Before killing the three of them, he had investigated their backgrounds. The Cloth-Soaking Gang was similar to the Black Water Gang, except one was located in White Stone City and the other in a nearby town. Iron Armor Martial Arts Hall held a much higher status than the Black Water Gang, but it was still inferior to Hong Family Martial Arts Hall. The Medicine Gang, however, was a famous faction near White Stone City with connections to many powers in both the Outer City and Inner City. Fortunately, the client had only requested the assassination of a dispatched supervisor whose status wasn’t particularly high.
It was clear that Mist Rain Tower was highly selective in issuing missions. They only posted low-bounty tasks where the targets had mediocre backgrounds and strength. Presumably, this was to avoid offending any major powers. According to Su Chen’s estimation, the three targets had similar levels of strength. Sun Fan and Lu Tao had achieved minor mastery in Strength Training. Qian Huan was slightly stronger with major mastery, but he had likely only recently broken through.
Unfortunately for them, none were a match for Su Chen; he had effortlessly crushed them every time. Even so, Su Chen didn’t dare to be careless, as he never knew if these people possessed hidden trump cards. Luckily, the final result was pleasing. He had killed all three without any unexpected accidents occurring along the way.
After reflecting on his experiences, Su Chen fell asleep.
The night passed silently.
Mist Rain Tower.
Old Lin looked at the wooden token Su Chen handed over with a slightly strange expression, then glanced up at him.
"Wait a moment." He didn’t give an immediate answer, instead telling Su Chen to hold on.
Su Chen waited for about fifteen minutes before Old Lin finally called him over. Handing him the payment, Old Lin said, "Here is your bounty. Thirty taels in total."
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Su Chen accepted the silver. He then glanced at the portraits on the wall, his expression suddenly freezing.
One of the notices read: "Find the killer of Qian Huan, the Medicine Gang’s supervisor in Liu Family Town. Merely providing information will earn a reward of ten taels!"
He had already noticed that certain people in the room were secretly sizing him up with subtle glances.
"There aren’t many people who take assassination missions to begin with. Seeing me come to collect a reward, they’ve probably guessed that I’m the one who killed Qian Huan," Su Chen thought, quickly figuring out why they were looking at him like that. "Ten taels just for providing a tip. The Medicine Gang sure has deep pockets!"
With a cold sneer in his heart, Su Chen turned his gaze back to Old Lin and asked meaningfully, "I’d like to know if Mist Rain Tower would ever leak the identity of its operatives?"
Old Lin was taken aback. Meeting Su Chen’s deep, piercing gaze, he replied with absolute certainty, "No."
Su Chen stared at Old Lin for a long while before pointing to one of the portraits. "I’ll take this mission!"
His finger was aimed directly at the portrait of Liu Tong.
Old Lin nodded, took down the notice, and handed it to Su Chen. This bold move surprisingly caused the subtle, prying gazes in the room to diminish.
"Do you need to purchase intelligence?" Old Lin asked, looking up after finishing the registration.
"You have information on him? What’s the price?" Su Chen asked.
"One tael."
"Then give me a copy," Su Chen said after a moment’s thought.
Old Lin handed over a thumb-sized bamboo tube. Having accepted the mission, Su Chen stood up to leave. Right before stepping out, he flashed a bright, brilliant smile at everyone in the room.
Old Lin paused at the sight, though his hands didn’t stop working as he murmured, "Tie Niu..."