The Legend Continues / Money and Art

"No! You all have to go! Adolescence should be like adolescence, sweating it out, doing silly and meaningless things, desperately releasing hormones to win the attention of the opposite sex. That's what teenage boys and girls should be like!" Yao Bilian shouted.

"Uh, you seem to have some misconceptions about puberty."

"No need to say anything more, all three of you have to go. I'll also call the class monitor and Xiaoqing—if you want to make friends, you should participate in group activities like this. Don't always try to detach yourself from the group."

Chapter 409 Continuing the Legend

A branch of the Blood Pupil Society.

The leader, the "Captain," looked at the Qingyan standing in front of him and had an expression that said, "I don't know what to say," even though he was known for his eloquence.

All that could be seen was Qingyan wearing flip-flops, shorts, a tank top, and a cheap-looking white apron hanging around his neck. Combined with the strong smell of pig emanating from him, the answer was obvious.

"... So, you've been working as a pork vendor for the past year?"

After a long while, the Captain finally managed to utter this sentence.

"To be precise, he is a pork vendor who once had a glorious past, and although he has fallen on hard times, he still strives to be self-reliant."

Qingyan, on the other hand, felt no shame about his profession. He reached behind him and pulled out a large stack of certificates, which he had apparently hidden somewhere before.

"President, please look at these honors I've received this year: Model of Civility at Beishan Vegetable Market, Representative of Advanced Individuals in North Mountain Town, Model Worker of Pei Commandery, and Award for Best Progress. Furthermore, I'm expected to be nominated for Pei Commandery's Top Ten Outstanding Youths next year, and there's also the Youth Entrepreneurship Award..."

"That's enough, that's enough. I know your abilities very well. I've called you here today to entrust you with an important task." The Captain took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Qingyan sighed, "I haven't received any missions for over a year. I thought the organization had forgotten about me."

"How could that be? The Blood Pupil Society believes in making the best use of everyone's talents. Even a pair of underwear or a piece of toilet paper will be put to good use."

Qingyan straightened his posture and said, "For the past year, I've used selling pork as a cover to secretly hone my knife skills. I haven't slacked off for a single day. Now I've completely mastered the techniques of penetrating through gaps with no thickness and seeing no whole ox. I will never let the organization down!"

The Captain said, "I've heard about that. The Dark Culinary World wanted to recruit you because they were interested in your superb knife skills. They even offered you a position as Seven-Star General, but you refused. Can you tell me why?"

"My lifelong dream is to become a legendary assassin. Whether it's swordsmanship, cooking, or medicine, these are all means to achieve this goal. I will never put the cart before the horse, nor will I give up halfway. Perhaps I have no other strengths, but I have absolute confidence in 'persistence'."

"No, actually you have quite a few strengths, the only flaw might be your 'persistence'... Never mind, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find a suitable candidate." The Captain sighed, handing over a photograph, "This is the person you're tasked with assassinating."

Qingyan at her, finding her very familiar. After a moment's thought, he said, "Is that the pop diva Yuezheng Yao?"

The Captain nodded. "She is the target of this mission. Furthermore, the employer has specified the time of the assassination, hoping you can strike during her concert to maximize the impact. What are your thoughts on this?"

"To be honest, setting a specific time for the assassination is incredibly foolish. It indirectly increases the difficulty, especially during a concert, when everyone is watching and there are many bodyguards protecting the person—it's the worst possible time to strike... But that's what makes the challenge worthwhile. Besides, a legendary diva, as the first target of a legendary assassin, carries enough weight. Handing her over to me is no problem!"

"May I ask what your plan is? Of course, it concerns your action plan and personal safety, so it's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

"I have professional lighting technician and sound engineer certifications. There are still two months until the concert, which is enough time for me to infiltrate their team. If all else fails, I also have experience as a backup dancer and musician."

"Understood. This task is now yours. The deposit will be transferred to your account in three days. Because the employer specified the assassination time, the reward is three times the normal amount. You can look forward to it."

Qingyan was an idealist who had transcended base desires, so why would he care about mere gold and silver? His expression remained unchanged as he nodded and left to prepare for the mission.

A moment later, a figure quietly appeared behind the Captain. It was Xia Guanxue. Two scars on his face made him look more mature and weathered, clearly indicating that he had undergone a lot of trials.

"Is it really okay to entrust this task to him? I observe that he is determined, clear-headed, and exceptionally skilled. If we entrust him with the task, he might actually succeed in the assassination, which would be contrary to your expectations."

The Captain said, "This man is indeed a polymath, highly skilled in his profession, but unfortunately, as an assassin, he lacks the most important thing."

"What?"

"Destiny."

Xia Guanxue scoffed at this, for as a member of the Mohist School, he had never believed in fate.

The Captain didn't argue with Xia Guanxue about this topic. He understood why Xia Guanxue disagreed—if she accepted fate, wouldn't that mean her family was destined to die a violent death?

"Here's the employer's information. Take a look and find an opportunity to kill him. Once he's dead, the mission will be automatically canceled."

Xia Guanxue took the documents, glanced at them, and said, "You don't dare to assassinate Yuezheng Yao because you're afraid of her influence? As an assassin organization, shouldn't you have a benchmark achievement to show for it?"

"It's not that I'm afraid of Yuezheng Yao, but rather the Mohist Knight Guard behind her. You must know, it was Yan Jinghong who brought the Yuezheng Lineage to Su State back then. You could say the Mohist Knight Guard is the Yuezheng Lineage's backer. If we were to touch Yuezheng Yao, wouldn't that be slapping the Mohist Knight Guard in the face? Don't forget how the Crimson Eye Society destroyed. In terms of strength, our Blood Pupil Society doesn't even have a single Spirit Transformation expert. We're far inferior to the Crimson Eye Society and would be easily killed with a single palm strike. I won't do something so stupid."

Upon hearing Yan Jinghong's name, Xia Guanxue's expression suddenly turned cold. "I have no intention of helping that person. Why don't you just leak the information to the Mohist Knight Guard?"

"Leaking employer information is a major taboo in our line of work."

"Isn't killing your employer a taboo?"

"Afterwards, we can claim that someone bought the employer's life, making it just a very ordinary task that happened to fall into place. And the fact that our Blood Pupil Society can even kill employers proves our credibility, doesn't it?"

"Do as you please, I'm refusing to carry out this mission."

Xia Guanxue tossed the documents aside, her figure fading into the distance. Just as she was about to leave quietly, the Captain said leisurely, "What if this employer also hired a group of terrorists to carry out a terrorist attack at the concert?"

"What did you say!"

"If they were just wary of the Mohist Knight Guard, they could simply return the mission and say they couldn't handle it. There's no need to push things to the extreme. But this self-proclaimed clever guy is actually trying to use our Blood Pupil Society as a scapegoat. Once we assassinate Yuezheng Yao, they can conveniently pin the terrorist attack on us as well. Heh, what a brilliant plan."

Xia Guanxue paused for a moment, picked up the documents on the table, and turned to leave.

He knew the pain of losing family members, so he abhorred such behavior and didn't want others to experience the same suffering.

The Captain smiled; everything was as he had expected.

"The Blood Pupil Society is not the profit-driven Crimson Eye Society. We are an organization with ideals, principles, and a sense of righteousness. Assassination is merely a hobby for us; we cannot put the cart before the horse."

Chapter 410 Money and Art

The special admissions examination room at Linked Mountains University.