Chapter 91: Conspiracy, Part Two

Under the heated, almost feverish gazes of the two of them, Han Ke felt his scalp prickle. With no choice, he repeated what he had just said.

“There were four women in the room at the time. One of them was an ordinary person—the one you’re looking for. Two others had the potential to awaken, and both of them were very beautiful. The last one was a Level One Awakened, the one who had been mentioned on the radio before, the second-strongest Awakened in Jin City. Her name was something like Leisisi, Bei-something, anyway. But she wasn’t very strong, really just a little kid. You don’t need to wor—”

“Wait, right there. You mean the second-strongest Awakened in Jin City was in that room at the time?”

Han Ke froze, then instinctively nodded.

Even if he were slow on the uptake, by being interrupted again he finally realized where the problem lay. What had caught the interest of these two was not the young man he had not yet mentioned, nor the target of their mission. It was that frantic little girl.

After getting a definite answer, the explosive man and the woman in the raincoat both wore strange looks.

They knew of this person, this so-called Blood Clan Queen. In fact, it could be said that all assassins in Jin City had received a mysterious mission two days earlier.

The mission was to find this self-proclaimed Blood Clan Queen. The instructions made it very clear that this person was a rare half-awakened individual. Though they did not know how the organization had obtained such intelligence, everyone in it understood exactly how important a half-awakened person was.

And so the mission’s rank was, naturally, absurdly high: A-plus.

The two exchanged a look and each saw delight in the other’s eyes.

Since everyone had received the mission, it meant that even the all-powerful organization did not know where this person was, and could only issue a search order over a wide area. In other words, from the moment the mission was issued, every assassin had been doing everything possible to find this person.

And now she had actually been found by the two of them first. It was almost too lucky.

What made it even more coincidental was that she happened to be with the same group as their original target. This time, they could finish both jobs at once. It could hardly be more perfect.

One B-rank mission and one A-plus-rank mission—if they completed both, the rewards would be enough to push their strength up several levels. Their standing within the organization would soar as well, and from then on they would never again have to read the elders’ faces.

At the thought of this, both of them could barely contain their excitement. Seeing Han Ke standing there in a daze, they hurriedly urged him on.

“Keep talking!”

“Oh...”

Han Ke let out a breath and then recounted the rest of the events in full, even including the later fight with the young man in the garden and how he had been chased until he was practically in flight.

However, neither of the two showed much interest in those details. They listened only perfunctorily. Clearly, their attention remained fixed on the girl from before. And after realizing that Han Ke had not mentioned the girl again, they even showed signs of disappointment.

Han Ke carefully watched their expressions and quickly added, “Don’t worry, that girl has a good relationship with that man. She’s definitely still with him now!”

“All right then.”

After hearing Han Ke’s account, the two of them quickly conferred in low voices. Then the explosive man smiled at Han Ke and extended his hand.

“We agree. I’ll help you get your revenge. In return, I hope you’ll lead the way properly. Let’s work well together.”

“Of course!”

Seeing that the two had agreed, Han Ke finally let out a breath of relief and reached out to shake his hand.

But just as his hand was about to touch the other man’s, the explosive man suddenly said in a deliberately mysterious tone, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll blow your hand off?”

Han Ke stiffened. His pupils contracted sharply, and the scene of flames raging through the room flashed through his mind again. His outstretched hand froze in midair, unable to advance or retreat.

“Ha ha, I’m joking. Why would I blow you up?”

The explosive man slapped Han Ke on the shoulder and laughed. “We’re allies now!”

“Heh heh...”

Han Ke could only force out two dry laughs, while inside he could only smile bitterly. The man’s behavior was clearly an assertion of dominance, a veiled threat: you’d better behave yourself from now on, or I can make things very unpleasant for you at any time.

Han Ke was furious, but there was nothing he could do. Since he was not as skilled as the other man, all he could do was swallow his anger.

A few yards away, inside the shelter room, Hong Ling covered her mouth, her mind tossed into turmoil.

Those three had actually devised a scheme against Kong Zhe’s group without making a sound.

She had heard every word of the conversation just now, which was why she found it even more astonishing. As they talked, it seemed the target had shifted from Xue Feifei to Tuan Tuan.

She had never had much contact with that little girl. In fact, they had barely spoken at all. In her impression, Tuan Tuan had always been nothing more than a mischievous little brat. Could there really be something unusual about her?

Hong Ling shook her head. No matter what, being targeted by such dangerous people meant Kong Zhe and the others were now in a very perilous position. She had to find a way to warn them as soon as possible.

And she immediately realized this was an excellent chance to prove herself. If she could help them weather this crisis, then Kong Zhe surely would not refuse her again, would he?

The only trouble was that she had no idea where they were now. She only knew that their destination was the New District.

“All right, since we’ve decided, let’s go.”

“Hold on!”

At that moment, it was actually Han Ke who stopped the two, who were already preparing to leave.

“What is it? Do you have something else to say?” the explosive man asked with a frown.

“No, not that...”

Han Ke gave a sly smile and looked toward the room. “It’s just that there should still be someone else in this room. Our conversation just now was overheard in full.”

Hong Ling, hiding in the shelter room, felt her pupils shrink. She was so startled she almost jumped up.

What was going on? Could it be that the other side had known all along that she was here?

“Hm? What do you mean?”

The two of them instantly turned cold. The explosive man looked back at the room with suspicion.

When they first came in, they had already checked every room thoroughly and found no one inside. Yet this man was now claiming there was someone else here—had they overlooked something?

Han Ke snorted inwardly. Before, because he feared Kong Zhe, he had been hiding outside the residential compound. Only after hearing that the man from Unit 601 had left did he dare come out. He had also heard that not everyone from that household had gone, and that one beautiful woman had remained behind. Apparently, she was quite skilled too, and anyone who tried to force themselves on her had been driven away.

Besides, from the lingering traces in this house, it was obvious that someone had been living here not long ago.

So the woman might still not have left.

Originally he had no grudge against her, but he hated Kong Zhe to the bone. Anyone who had even the slightest connection to him had to die.

With a vicious look on his face, Han Ke turned to the two of them.

“If I’m not mistaken, there should still be a woman here. She’s probably hiding somewhere right now...”

“Oh? Is that so...”

The explosive man stroked his chin and looked around the room again. After a moment, however, he still shook his head.

“Even if there were some hidden chamber here, the blast just now should have blown it open already. But there’s clearly no sign of any hidden room. And from what you just said, that was only a guess, wasn’t it?”

“This...”

Han Ke was caught off guard and did not know how to answer. From the signs so far, there did indeed seem to be no one here. But for some reason, he kept feeling as though a pair of eyes were watching him from somewhere.

“Hee hee... whether there’s a hidden room or not, why don’t we just look and see?”

The woman in the raincoat smiled eerily and licked her lips.

“Well now, is there really a little cat sneaking around and eavesdropping? Don’t let big sister catch you, or else... heh heh...”

As she spoke, her body suddenly softened as if melting like a candle. Before long, she had turned entirely into a puddle of water.

The puddle then began to flow across the floor, moving through the room and gradually spreading into every corner.

Inside the shelter room, Hong Ling had been somewhat reassured at first. After all, according to Xue Feifei, this house seemed able to withstand tremendous impact. Even such a violent explosion had failed to expose the room. But now, watching the woman transform, her heart seized with dread.

This woman’s power was water.

Water is yielding and pervasive. It seeps into every gap.

The house was sturdy enough, even capable of resisting an impact as fierce as the explosive man’s. But could it really stop a liquid from discovering this place?

Hong Ling was panicking badly. Helpless, she could do nothing at all except tighten her invisibility cloak around herself, shrink into the corner in fear, and silently pray that Xue Feifei had taken this possibility into account when building the room.

Time passed little by little. Under Hong Ling’s trembling gaze, the water formed from the raincoat woman had already flowed through the entire room. Then it gathered again in place and slowly re-formed into human shape.

“Mmm... seems there really is no one here after all... mm... you’re worrying too much...”

After returning to her original form, the raincoat woman appeared somewhat drowsy. She yawned where she stood and spoke in a lazy voice.

Seeing this, Hong Ling in the secret room finally let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. It seemed Xue Feifei’s room was sealed perfectly as well, which was why even after turning into water the woman still had not discovered her.

Even so, she still hoped those three disaster stars would leave at once. This feeling of having no security, of her fate not being in her own hands, was truly unbearable.

Inside the room, Han Ke, who had witnessed the whole scene, could not help twitching at the corner of his eye.

What a perverted ability, he thought in exasperation.

But then he grew somewhat doubtful. Could there really be no one here?