Infiltration

"Clack! Clack!"

"Bitter cold and freezing night!"

The sound of the night watchman's footsteps and his wooden clapper caused Qin Fang to halt.

At this moment, he had already left Wang Long's courtyard and was heading toward Lan Gui Fang.

A night watchman, carrying a lantern, was just passing through the street.

Qin Fang stood against the wall, patiently waiting for the watchman to pass.

Soon after, the watchman walked off into the distance along the main road. Qin Fang let out a soft breath, his eyes flickering, and he quickly headed in the direction of Lan Gui Fang.

There were still three targets left.

These three targets were undoubtedly the most difficult.

After all, Lan Gui Fang was a brothel, singing and dancing every night; at this hour, many people were likely still awake.

And right now, he didn't even know where they were located inside Lan Gui Fang.

Trying to find and eliminate them without anyone noticing would be no easy task.

But these three had to be removed... otherwise, once dawn broke and the bodies of Wang Long and the others were discovered, these three, as subordinates, would inevitably be the first ones summoned by Wang Hu for questioning.

And once they were pressed about who Wang Long might have offended during this time... he would very likely fall into Wang Hu's sights.

As he was now, he absolutely had no way to face the Iron Tiger Gang head-on.

So, what should he do?

To be honest, Qin Fang had no ideas at the moment.

He could only go to the scene first to see the situation and then come up with a contingency plan.

...This was unavoidable.

Accidents could happen in anything.

Let alone killing someone... even just trying to find a person, one could still miss them.

Qin Fang remained calm, not letting the unexpected situation make him restless or impatient.

...His journey of exile hadn't brought him much, but a mindset that could remain calm at any time was perhaps his greatest gain over these past few months.

Alone on the road of exile, with no one to rely on... if he couldn't even maintain his composure, he would have died long ago in the repeated clashes with refugees and never had the chance to reach True Martial.

As these thoughts flickered through his mind, Lan Gui Fang finally came into view in the distance.

Lan Gui Fang was located on South Market Street, one of the main thoroughfares, not tucked away in some alley.

At this moment, other shops on the street had long since closed and extinguished their lights; only the red lanterns hanging from Lan Gui Fang remained bright.

Facing the street was a small two-story pavilion with elegant eaves and pink silk curtains, exuding an air of ambiguity and allure.

Qin Fang stood in the dark shadows of a wall in the distance, observing with cold eyes.

The night watchman had just passed, so it should be the first quarter of the Chou hour, meaning it was just past one in the morning, yet the pavilion still seemed quite lively.

Faint sounds of strings and bamboo instruments drifted from within, indicating that the place was currently at its peak.

Occasionally, one or two drunken guests would stumble out, their footsteps unsteady and swaying, muttering slurred words.

Some women would see them out, their voices affected, their smiles like flowers. But once the guests were gone, their faces would change, turning away with disdain or disgust as they headed back inside...

No wonder they say a prostitute has no heart and an actor has no loyalty.

Qin Fang, who took all of this in with cold eyes, felt his eyelids twitch slightly.

After watching for a while, he frowned slightly.

The simplest method would naturally be to walk straight in, pretend to be a guest, and scout around in the shadows.

But that would inevitably lead to him being remembered... he was too thin right now, tall and thin, making him very easy to recall.

After a pause, he sighed helplessly.

...Well, even if he regained his weight, he would probably be even easier to remember.

After all, someone as handsome as him was like a crane in a flock of chickens wherever he stood.

He really wasn't suited to be a killer or an assassin.

Then he would have to find a way to sneak in.

After observing the front for a while, he first found a corner to hide his pack. After a moment of thought, he took a few pieces of broken silver from the pack and tucked them away.

He couldn't forget his throwing knives, so he tucked those into his robes as well.

Only then did he take a deep breath and walk along the wall toward the side, seeing if he could find a way to enter Lan Gui Fang from the side or the back door.

Although it was a street-facing shop, the entire Lan Gui Fang couldn't possibly consist of just this small building, or how many guests could it hold? There must be a much larger area in the back.

Sure enough, there was a narrow alley on the side of Lan Gui Fang. Qin Fang followed the wall to this spot, looked around to ensure no one was there, and then stepped inside.

The courtyard wall of Lan Gui Fang was lower than the one at Wang Long's house, but the trouble was that this rear alley was likely all part of the Lan Gui Fang complex, meaning it was one continuous wall with no particularly low sections.

Although it was slightly lower than Wang Long's, it was still over two point seven or eight meters high, and it had drainage eaves that made it very difficult to climb.

Qin Fang had no choice but to continue walking deeper.

Not long after, he let out a long sigh of relief...

He had finally found the spot where it connected to the low-lying residential houses.

The eaves of the residential wall were just over two meters high; given Qin Fang's height, he could touch them by reaching up.

He first observed the house; it was pitch black inside, and if anyone were there, they should be fast asleep.

Then, Qin Fang took a deep breath and decided to sneak in from here.

He began to climb...

Because this alley was likely too narrow, there was no clutter piled up in the passageway. However, since the index finger on Qin Fang's left hand was severely injured, this climb truly made cold sweat break out on his forehead, and his face turned deathly pale.

Fortunately, his endurance was astonishing. Ignoring the pain in his finger, he finally managed to scramble up.

Sitting on the wall to catch his breath for a short while, he then climbed onto the wall of Lan Gui Fang.

Looking inside, he realized that Lan Gui Fang was likely a typical multi-courtyard complex.

He was currently at the very back.

He could see an exquisite tiled house sitting there, with the courtyard of some unknown depth in front of it.

The courtyard was quiet, with some flowers and plants kept in neat, trimmed rows.

Qin Fang observed for a moment and, confirming there was no one around, took a deep breath. He repeated the same maneuver he had used to enter Wang Long's courtyard: gripping the eaves with both hands, he lowered his body first before finally dropping to the ground.

Landing hard on his backside, he panted incessantly.

Sweat beads the size of nails dripped from his forehead.

...The injury on his left hand had inevitably been strained during the climb, and it was now clearly more swollen than before.

It might even leave behind serious, lasting damage...

But he couldn't worry about that now.

If these targets didn't die, how much longer he could survive remained an unknown. How could he care about a single finger?

I only hope Master's medical skills... are sufficiently brilliant...

He thought to himself.

After adjusting until the pain in his finger wasn't so intense, Qin Fang carefully stood up. He tilted his head to listen, and once he confirmed there was no movement, he proceeded forward from this courtyard of unknown depth.

Next, he had to find those three targets...

And he couldn't be discovered during the process.

This was the most troublesome part of the entire operation.

Thinking this, he carefully entered the second courtyard.

But the moment he saw the situation in this courtyard, Qin Fang stopped instinctively, his eyelids twitching slightly.

There were rows of rooms here, and at this moment, many of them had lights on. From some of the rooms, the giggling of women could be heard, or perhaps... the sounds from Wang Long's room.

Beyond that, he saw quite a few people walking through the courtyard, some talking loudly, accompanied by various painted ladies.

The entire courtyard was hung with many red lanterns, bathing the whole area in a crimson glow...

Qin Fang's eyelid twitched as he pondered how to handle this.

Suddenly, a voice rang out not far away, causing his gaze to snap toward it.

"This master wants Little Peach Red to keep me company tonight! Where is Little Peach Red? Call her over, call her over!~"

Qin Fang's eyes narrowed slightly.

Although the voice was a bit slurred, likely due to drunkenness.

He was all too familiar with this person...

Thin and gaunt, with the face of a rat, and a mole with black hair growing on his left cheek... it looked even more ghastly under the red light.

This person was none other than Mole Zhang, who had kicked him earlier that day.

He had found him just like that?

His eyes narrowed slightly, and he quickly began to observe his surroundings.