Infiltration

"Bang, bang!~~"

"Cold as ice and frozen earth!~~"

The night watchman's footsteps and clapper sounds made Qin Fang stop in his tracks.

He had already left Wang Long's courtyard and was heading for Lan Gui Fang.

A night watchman carrying a lantern was passing down this street.

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

Before long, the watchman walked away along the main road. Qin Fang let out a soft breath, his eyes flickering as he quickly headed toward Lan Gui Fang.

Three targets remained.

These three targets were undoubtedly the most difficult.

After all, Lan Gui Fang was a brothel where revelry filled every night. At this hour, many people might still be awake.

And right now, he did not even know where they were inside Lan Gui Fang.

Finding and killing them without anyone noticing would not be easy.

Yet these three had to die... Otherwise, once daylight came and Wang Long's and the others' corpses were discovered, Wang Hu would surely summon these underlings for questioning at once.

And once he pressed them about whom Wang Long might have offended recently... Qin Fang would very likely fall into Wang Hu's sights.

As he was now, he absolutely could not face the Iron Tiger Gang head-on.

So what should he do?

To be honest, Qin Fang had no solution right now either.

He could only go there first, assess the situation, and come up with a countermeasure on the spot.

...It could not be helped.

Anything could go wrong.

Forget killing someone... even simply looking for someone, you could still miss them, couldn't you?

Qin Fang remained calm, not allowing the unexpected development to make his heart restless and his temper impetuous.

...His road of exile had not given him much. But a mindset that could remain calm at any time was probably his greatest gain over these past few months.

During his exile, alone and without anyone to rely on... if he could not even stay calm, he would have died long ago in one clash after another with the refugees, never getting the chance to reach True Martial.

As thoughts raced through his mind, Lan Gui Fang had already come into distant view.

Lan Gui Fang stood on South Market Street, one of the main streets, rather than hidden in some alley.

At this hour, every other shop on the street had long since closed and extinguished its lights. Only the red lanterns hanging from Lan Gui Fang still glowed brightly.

Facing the street stood a two-story pavilion, its jade towers and flying eaves shrouded in gauzy pink silk, exuding an air of lingering ambiguity and sensual charm.

Qin Fang stood beneath a dark wall in the distance, observing coldly.

The night watchman had only just passed by. It should now be around the first quarter of the Hour of the Ox, a little after one in the morning, so the pavilion looked rather deserted.

Yet the faint strains of strings and pipes drifted from within, showing that it was still lively inside.

Every so often, one or two drunken patrons staggered out, their footsteps unsteady as they swayed and muttered incoherently.

Some women saw them out, their voices affected and their smiles blooming like flowers. But once the customers had left, they turned around and changed faces, returning inside with either disdain or disgust...

No wonder they said a whore had no heart, and an actor had no righteousness.

Qin Fang's eyelids twitched slightly as he took in the whole scene with cold eyes.

After watching for a while, he frowned faintly.

The simplest method would naturally be to walk straight in, pose as a customer, and investigate in secret.

But that would inevitably make people remember him... He was too thin now, tall and skinny, far too easy to remember.

After pausing for a moment, he sighed helplessly.

...Well, once he had put the weight back on, he would probably be even easier to remember.

After all, someone as handsome as him would stand out from the flock like a crane among chickens wherever he went.

He really was not suited to being a killer or assassin.

Then he could only find a way to sneak in.

After observing the front for a little while, he first found a corner and hid his bundle. After thinking it over, he took several taels of loose silver from it and tucked them away.

Naturally, he could not forget the Flying Darts. He tucked those into his clothes as well.

Only then did he take a deep breath and follow the base of the wall around to the side, seeing whether he could find a way into Lan Gui Fang through the side or back entrance.

Though it was a storefront facing the street, Lan Gui Fang naturally could not consist of just this small building. How many guests could that hold? There was bound to be a much larger area behind it.

Sure enough, there was a narrow alley beside Lan Gui Fang. Qin Fang followed the wall to it, looked around, and only entered after confirming that no one was there.

Lan Gui Fang's courtyard wall was somewhat lower than Wang Long's, but the troublesome part was that the alley behind it seemed to belong entirely to Lan Gui Fang. Thus, it was one continuous wall, with no especially low section.

Though it was lower than Wang Long's wall, it was still more than 2.7 meters tall. There were also eaves for draining water, making it difficult to climb.

Qin Fang could only choose to keep going deeper.

Before long, he let out a long breath of relief...

He had still managed to find a spot connected to some low residential houses.

The residential wall was only a little over two meters high. With Qin Fang's height, he could touch it just by reaching up.

He first observed the house. It was pitch-black inside; if anyone was home, they should be asleep.

Then Qin Fang took a deep breath and decided to infiltrate from here.

He began to climb...

The alley was probably too narrow for people to pile up any clutter, and Qin Fang's left index finger was badly injured. This climb hurt so much that cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his face turned pale.

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

He sat on the wall for a brief moment to catch his breath before climbing onto Lan Gui Fang's wall.

Looking inside, he discovered that Lan Gui Fang was likely a typical compound of several successive courtyards.

He was now in the innermost one.

He could see an exquisite tiled house, with a courtyard of unknown succession before it.

The courtyard was quiet, with flowers and plants growing within, all neatly trimmed.

Qin Fang observed for a moment and confirmed that no one was around. He then took a deep breath and, just as he had when entering Wang Long's courtyard, gripped the eaves with both hands, lowered himself down first, and only then dropped to the ground.

He landed on his butt and panted without pause.

Sweat droplets the size of nails dripped from his forehead.

...His left-hand injury had inevitably borne force during the climb. It was now visibly more swollen than before.

It might even leave serious lasting damage...

But he could not worry about that now.

If these targets did not die, it was still unknown how much longer he himself could live. How could he care about one finger?

"I can only hope Master's medical skills... are good enough."

he thought.

After adjusting himself and waiting until the pain in his finger was no longer so intense, Qin Fang carefully rose to his feet. He listened closely, confirmed there was no movement, and only then proceeded forward from this courtyard of unknown succession.

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

And he could not be discovered in the process.

That was the most troublesome part of the entire operation.

With that in mind, he cautiously entered the second courtyard.

But the instant he saw the state of this courtyard, Qin Fang instinctively stopped, his eyelids twitching faintly.

There were rows upon rows of rooms here. At the moment, quite a few were lit, and from some came women's infatuated laughter, or else... the sounds from Wang Long's room.

Beyond that, he saw quite a few people walking through the courtyard. Some were speaking loudly, each accompanied by one or another of those warbling, swallow-like courtesans.

Many red lanterns also hung overhead, bathing the entire courtyard in crimson light...

Qin Fang's eyelids twitched as he considered how to deal with this.

Suddenly, a voice rang out not far away, instantly drawing his gaze over.

"Tonight, I want Little Peach Red with me. Where's Little Peach Red? Bring her here, bring her here!~"

Qin Fang's eyes immediately narrowed slightly.

The voice was perhaps a little slurred from drink.

But he knew this man all too well...

Dry and skinny, with a rat-like face, and a mole sprouting black hairs on his left cheek... under the red light, it looked even more sinister.

This man was Mole Zhang, who had kicked him earlier that day.

He had found one already?

His eyes narrowed slightly as he quickly surveyed his surroundings.