Xu Yi had not taken out the document because he had memorized the names in it on the way over.
Since Duan Hu had hired Bao Dating, he had to be reputable in his line of work. He wouldn't casually leak secrets.
But what if he did?
Xu Yi had never believed any of that nonsense about "Bao Datings always keeping their employers' secrets."
After listing the people who had to die, Xu Yi named the ones who had to be kept alive as well, to avoid harming them by mistake.
Bao Dating listened with a genial smile, then slowly began listing each person's home address, security arrangements, fighting skills, usual bedtime, usual wake-up time, and whether they got up during the night...
Duan Hu had clearly seen this sort of thing before. He simply listened attentively.
Xu Yi was dealing with a Bao Dating for the first time, and hearing all this still left him amazed.
How could anyone know so much detail?
Bao Dating spoke for a full half hour, digging up every last detail about the people Xu Yi had named.
Bao Dating only provided information; he didn't get involved in anything else. Once he had finished, he took a silver dollar from Duan Hu with a genial smile, cupped his fists, and said, "Keep your eyes sharp, and may the road be smooth!" Then he left the Peacekeeping Hall.
That was one of the most common coded phrases used by gang members. It meant:
Keep your eyes open, see the difference between the ordinary road and the underworld, and take care along the way. May everything go smoothly!
As soon as Bao Dating stepped out, Xu Yi followed him to the doorway and pulled Ye Miao's sachet from inside his robe, holding it beneath his nose.
As the soothing fragrance drifted through his nostrils, his spiritual nature awakened. In the black-and-white field of vision, he saw two black ponytails rising from Bao Dating's head, each taller than the man himself!
The black ponytails stood straight up from Bao Dating's head. When the night breeze blew, the two conspicuous tails swayed among the crowd...
"This is...
A cockroach?
A cockroach spirit?
Or a cockroach demon?
It can't possibly be a cockroach immortal! How could a thing like a cockroach ever become immortal?!"
Xu Yi's thoughts were in turmoil.
The passersby couldn't see the two horrifying ponytails. Bao Dating's ordinary appearance made him easy to overlook.
Bao Dating's figure was soon swallowed up by the crowd, disappearing from sight.
Xu Yi held his breath for ten seconds. His spiritual nature settled, and he left the black-and-white field of vision.
When he returned to the counter, he heard Duan Hu say quietly,
"Old Zhang's reliable. I've worked with him for three years, and the information he gives me has never been wrong.
"He does have a few odd habits, though. He likes dark, damp places, and he never lights a lamp at night. His house stinks, too...
"I don't know what's going on at his place."
Duan Hu clearly didn't know much about Bao Dating Old Zhang's background. He trusted him only because their long history of successful cooperation had earned it.
"Second Brother doesn't know about the Hundred Night Miasma?"
Hearing Duan Hu's words, Xu Yi couldn't help feeling suspicious.
"He can recognize Spirit Remains, but he doesn't know about the Hundred Night Miasma.
"Second Brother's experience is rather unusual."
A little while later, Xu Yi and Duan Hu met up with two other men in a dark alley. They divided up the targets on the list, then scattered in different directions and disappeared into the night of the 38th Shop District.
The 38th Shop District wasn't quiet at night, but neither was it particularly noisy. From time to time, voices rose from the alleys far from the main street, only to be drowned out by the steam train's whistle and swallowed by the thick night.
Now and then, red, green, and purple beams swept across the sky above the 38th Shop District, neither bright nor dim. They were the concentrated neon beams cast by the "Glass Silver Light Towers" atop several large dance halls in central Puxi City.
Neon lights from central Puxi City reached this far, but the city center's prosperity did not come with them.
People arrived here yearning for Puxi City's prosperity, but they weren't the ones who got to enjoy it.
They were merely part of what made it prosperous.
At that very moment, countless crimes were taking place in the chaotic alleys of the 38th Shop District.
Out-of-towners dreaming of a better future walked along the main street, while in the dark alley next door, some unfortunate soul was stripped bare and left like a pig.
Many of the new arrivals from last week were already soliciting customers in the alleys beside the street. Those who had just arrived today looked with wonder at the osmanthus cakes on the roadside stalls, two copper coins apiece. They pinched their empty purses and could only endure their hunger as they searched for somewhere to spend the night.
People always believed that everything would get better after dawn.
They had no choice but to believe that tomorrow would bring them a job that paid enough to get by, or perhaps a stroke of luck to make up for today's despair.
By the time Xu Yi shoved the last person on the list into a latrine, the sky had begun to lighten.
Dragging his limp left hand, he walked step by step out of the depths of the alley, facing the first rays of dawn. The murderous aura clinging to him sent the cats that hadn't yet gone to sleep scattering in panic.
His left wrist had also been injured in a fight the night before. His enemy had used a child as a shield, and the child wasn't on the list of people who had to be killed.
Xu Yi didn't mind killing, but he did mind harming the innocent.
To avoid hurting the child, Xu Yi held back, only for the child to smash his wrist with a club. If he hadn't dodged in time, his bones might have broken.
The injury hadn't drawn blood, but he had probably damaged a tendon. His wrist felt numb, and he could barely feel his hand.
But the shops that treated sprains and bruises wouldn't open this early. It wasn't even six in the morning; only breakfast shops were open at this hour.
Fortunately, he had a strong constitution and could still bear it.
He was exhausted, but it wasn't time to sleep yet.
He went to the nearest bathhouse, paid two copper coins, soaked in a bath, got his back scrubbed, and washed the faint smell of blood from his face.
Seeing that it was still early, and that the time he'd arranged to meet Duan Hu hadn't come yet, Xu Yi went to a breakfast shop by the street. He sat in a corner, paid four copper coins, and ordered a plate of barbecue pork buns and a bowl of century egg and lean pork congee.
Then he heard a newsboy hawking papers. He called him over and bought a newspaper for one copper coin.
He looked at the front page first and saw the headline:
<Heavy rain recently. Citizens advised to avoid drinking untreated water; diarrhea patients at epidemic hospitals surge!>
It rained often in Puxi, and the city's drainage system might as well not have existed. This sort of thing was perfectly normal.
Xu Yi continued reading:
<Shooting at Celes Dance Hall last night. One man shot dead, suspected gang revenge>
<Cold air to reach Shanghai tonight; temperatures in Puxi City may drop by ten degrees>
<Boat collision on the Green Shore River yesterday; rice-carrying vessel sinks>
<Public service: Citizens may collect free rat poison from local fire brigades>
Xu Yi gently rubbed his left wrist, trying to speed up the blood flow and help the injury heal on its own, while reading the paper with his right hand.
Suddenly, the light in front of him dimmed.
He looked up and saw an unfamiliar old man sitting across from him.
The old man wore an ordinary summer cotton jacket and a faded, battered felt hat. His hair was gray, and several knots had been tied into his beard, with a few intricately patterned brass rings looped onto them. They looked rather exquisite at first glance.
His skin was dark yellow, and the wrinkles on his face etched a story of age and depth. He looked just like a falconer from the Gobi Desert in the far northwest, an expert at training hawks.
The old man sat without a word, staring straight at Xu Yi.
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