The Contact

Sin Mirror Platform's assassins fell into two categories.

One consisted of those Sin Mirror Platform trained itself. They weren't listed on its Evil Slaying List and were usually active in its local branches.

Their duties were all related to supporting assassins on missions, investigating targets, gathering intelligence, and taking commissions.

Chu Qing hadn't really looked into the specifics, and he had no suitable way to do so.

The other category consisted of people recruited from the outside.

This kind of recruitment was more complicated. Everyone who joined Sin Mirror Platform as an assassin had their own reasons.

Some sought excitement, some were driven by poverty, and some acted out of a sense of justice... like the original Chu Qing.

Inevitably, there were also people with ulterior motives who joined Sin Mirror Platform to probe its secrets.

Some were planted by intelligence organizations, hoping to obtain firsthand information from within Sin Mirror Platform.

Others were Sin Mirror Platform's enemies, trying to discover the location of its headquarters so they could wipe it out in one fell swoop.

In short, people had different hearts, and their goals were far from the same.

To deal with this, Sin Mirror Platform had its own system of safeguards.

Contacts were one part of that system.

Every assassin recruited from outside was assigned a contact.

Their main duty was to represent the assassin in communicating with Sin Mirror Platform, as well as to obtain commissions from the organization for the assassin to choose from.

A skilled contact could even help an assassin devise an assassination plan.

Some of these contacts had been trained by Sin Mirror Platform itself, while others had earned its trust through other channels and gained the position that way.

Chu Qing's contact had belonged to the latter group.

Like Chu Qing, he had been dissatisfied with the world around him.

He had once told Chu Qing:

"The powerful throw their weight around and treat human lives like weeds. They vie for supremacy in troubled times, yet treat the common people like ants.

"Ordinary people who die in the struggles of the martial world have nowhere to seek justice. Even when their teeth are knocked out, all they can do is swallow them down with their blood.

"This isn't fair!"

Chu Qing had deeply agreed with him, and for a time considered him a kindred spirit.

As they spent more time together, Chu Qing learned many things from him.

His skills at disguising himself, as well as all sorts of knowledge about being an assassin, had been taught to him by that man.

Only later did Chu Qing learn that he was a contact for Sin Mirror Platform.

That had been the main reason the original Chu Qing joined Sin Mirror Platform.

More than that, when Chu Qing later discovered the contradiction between Sin Mirror Platform's public face and its true nature, this man had played a crucial role.

The last time Chu Qing saw him, he had been gravely wounded and on the verge of death.

The last thing he said to Chu Qing was:

"Sin Mirror Platform can't be trusted. You... you need to get out as soon as you can!"

After the man died, Sin Mirror Platform assigned Chu Qing another contact.

That was how Zhou Changtai's commission came about.

But... he had never dreamed that this man, who was clearly dead, would appear in Heavenly Dance City!

And he had even disguised himself as a Wandering Doctor, loitering around the Chu Family's home.

"What on earth is going on?"

Chu Qing reined in his gaze, careful not to alert the man.

But confusion kept rising in his heart.

If the man's death had been a ruse, what had his purpose been?

Had he discovered what Sin Mirror Platform was really like and used the ruse to escape it? Faked his death?

But if so, why hadn't he said so plainly?

He hadn't wanted to explain himself, yet at the last moment he had said something that made the original Chu Qing suspicious of Sin Mirror Platform.

That had led the original Chu Qing to go through the motions when assassinating Zhou Changtai, after which Sin Mirror Platform had hunted him down...

At that thought, Chu Qing's brows suddenly lifted.

He hadn't thought deeply about the original Chu Qing's experiences before, but this man's appearance now forced him to reconsider the strange details.

If the man's death had been fake, what made his words true?

Given how well he knew the original Chu Qing, he couldn't have failed to foresee the effect those words would have.

After his death, Sin Mirror Platform had assigned the original Chu Qing a new contact.

But because of what the man had said, the original Chu Qing hadn't trusted Sin Mirror Platform or the new contact.

So when it came to assassinating Zhou Changtai, he hadn't told anyone what he planned to do or how he intended to escape.

Then how had Sin Mirror Platform been able to determine his escape route?

Had they been sending people to watch the original Chu Qing all along?

No!

The original Chu Qing had been an assassin, after all. He'd been in the field for nearly a year and had decent skills in that regard.

There was no way Blood Spear and his people could have secretly watched him without his noticing.

"They might not have been watching that unlucky original Chu Qing... They might have been watching Zhou Changtai.

"All they had to do was check whether Zhou Changtai died, and they'd know if the original Chu Qing's assassination had succeeded.

"Besides, every assassin has a different way of operating.

"Normally, without constant surveillance, ambushing an assassin whose vigilance is practically maxed out would take nothing short of foresight.

"Unless someone knew him extremely well and could predict his movements..."

Chu Qing looked away, lifted his teacup, and drained it in one go.

"If he was the one who proposed the original Chu Qing's movements, then everything the original Chu Qing went through was part of a trap.

"A net woven in advance..."

As for the purpose behind it, Chu Qing was already about eighty percent certain.

At that thought, Chu Qing felt relieved.

The original Chu Qing had trusted the man completely, but he had still guarded against him.

From beginning to end, he had never revealed his name or his family background.

At first, he hadn't spoken out of wariness. But later, he had come to feel that a gentleman's friendship lay in the heart, not in appearances. A name was merely a label, so what did it matter?

As for his martial arts, he hadn't wanted anyone to know his connection to the Chu Family, lest Chu Yunfei follow the clues and find him.

So when he fought in public, he used only common sword techniques, never the family-inherited Azure Void Palm.

That was also the main reason he had been able to die together with Blood Spear.

Looking at it now, if he'd let the other man learn his true background, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

"If my guess is right, it shouldn't be hard to figure out why he's in Heavenly Dance City.

"Looks like I can't afford to delay..."

As Chu Qing thought this, he heard the patrons in the teahouse change the subject again.

"I hear the Chu Family's head is throwing a grand banquet tomorrow to celebrate Second Young Master Chu's return after completing his training. They'll have a feast going nonstop for three days and three nights!"

"That's true. Over the past two days, the Chu Family's chief steward has visited several well-known restaurants, like Zhiwei Tower and Cui Zhu Xuan, to make arrangements for the feast."

Suddenly, the idle patrons in the teahouse started talking about something else.

Chu Qing's ears twitched, and his brows knitted slightly. By then, the "Wandering Doctor" had already vanished at the end of the street.

He didn't follow him. The man was extraordinarily capable, and if Chu Qing acted rashly, he would only alert him.

"But... he definitely won't miss this opportunity to attend the Chu Family's banquet."

Chu Qing let out a quiet breath, narrowed his eyes slightly, and began forming a plan.

Then someone else spoke up:

"I hear even City Lord Wu has been invited."

It stood to reason that since the Chu Family was in Heavenly Dance City, City Lord Wu Ganqi would naturally be invited on an occasion like this.

Yet the moment those words were spoken, everyone present wore strange expressions.

Suddenly, someone spoke in a low voice:

"Do you think Miss Wu... will come?"

"Probably not. After all, Miss Wu once said, 'The shame of the Chu Family must be engraved in my heart. I dare not forget it for even a moment.' If she came, wouldn't that mean she'd already forgotten the disgrace of that broken engagement?

"What kind of person is Eldest Young Lady? She'd never slap herself in the face like that."