Chaos

"What—what's going on? Someone's been killed?"

"Where?"

There was no denying it: the customer's voice was shrill and carried far. In the middle of the night, it startled everyone in the courtyard awake.

Doors opened all around the courtyard, revealing one shocked face after another. People buzzed with questions.

Amid the commotion, several people suddenly hurried in from the front courtyard. At their head was a thin, middle-aged man. He strode up to the panicked customer and asked in a deep voice, "What happened? Where's the body?"

"The latrine, the latrine! There's a corpse!"

The customer stammered out his answer. Even under the red lanterns, his face looked deathly pale.

The middle-aged man gave someone beside him a meaningful glance, then said gravely, "Everyone, please don't panic. Let's take a look first."

After calming them down, he led his people toward the outhouse.

Before long, several people carried out a corpse.

At the sight of it, the customers all drew in sharp breaths.

"Someone really died?!"

"Damn, what happened?"

"Who died?"

The crowd buzzed with talk.

Qin Fang stood among them, frowning deeply. The moment he saw that group, he knew things were looking bad.

Clearly, as a famous local brothel, Lan Gui Fang had a powerful force backing it.

Otherwise, how could a den of temptation like a brothel possibly stay in business?

The man at the head of the group was clearly not to be trifled with. Though thin, his eyes were bright and alert, and he acted swiftly and decisively. A few words were all it took to calm the customers.

This situation was obviously bad for Qin Fang.

Just then, Qin Fang's expression shifted. The doors to the other two rooms he'd been watching had opened. Mole Zhang and his other target stood in the doorways, looking baffled as they watched from behind the crowd.

Qin Fang narrowed his eyes.

He looked closer and saw that the women in the two rooms hadn't come out.

Most likely, they were still getting dressed.

Qin Fang glanced over. The group nearby was examining the corpse, while more people kept arriving from the front courtyard.

They were all Lan Gui Fang's guards.

In a little while, they would probably have the crowd under control.

After that, they would surely be on high alert.

Never mind whether he would be discovered then...

He definitely wouldn't get another chance to kill the two targets.

In that case...

Qin Fang acted at once. Without a moment's hesitation, a dart appeared in his hand. While the crowd was still in disarray and everyone's attention was fixed on the corpse, he hunched over and headed for the two targets.

"Who died?"

"Who'd dare kill someone at Lan Gui Fang? Don't they know the Money Gang backs this place?"

The crowd's chatter buzzed in his ears.

There were two targets left. One was Mole Zhang, and the other was a man nicknamed "Short-Legged Tang."

His nickname said it all: he was short. He'd come out late after hearing the commotion and was now standing on tiptoe, trying to see over the crowd.

"Who the hell got taken out?"

He was looking around curiously.

Suddenly, the light in front of him dimmed. He froze, then instinctively looked up. Someone was standing in front of him.

"Damn, why the hell are you so tall?"

He looked displeased. Being short, he hated tall people.

The person before him was much taller. Even hunched over, he stood more than a head above him.

But this was Lan Gui Fang. Though Short-Legged Tang was with the Iron Tiger Gang, he didn't dare offend people carelessly. Who knew what kind of connections the other person had?

He was unhappy, but still instinctively took a few steps back, planning to wait for the man to move on before stepping forward to watch the commotion.

But just then, his vision blurred. In the next instant, he felt a sharp weapon stab into his neck from the front!

Pfft!

After a faint sound, his whole body went rigid. The next moment, he felt someone catch him, his head pressed flat against the other person's chest.

His eyes went wide. Before he could speak, the weapon was pulled from his neck. Then, in the next instant, it plunged back in with another pfft!

Pfft, pfft...

After three or four stabs in a row, his entire body had gone stiff.

Then he felt someone support him and thoughtfully move him to the edge of the room, propping him against the wall.

Short-Legged Tang tried to speak, but the repeated stabs had turned his throat and windpipe into a bloody mess. He couldn't make a sound.

The other person simply walked away.

Short-Legged Tang stood there, dazed and rigid. He didn't even have the strength to clutch his neck. He stared blankly as the person walked off.

Who was it?

Why kill him?

He hadn't even seen the other person's face.

The crowd's attention was entirely fixed on the corpse in the distance. No one noticed anything amiss with him.

A few vicious stabs, and the target was as good as dead. He couldn't make a sound, either. Qin Fang quickly headed for Mole Zhang.

...The last target on this trip.

Mole Zhang was also watching the corpse, still curious, when a voice suddenly rang out from that direction.

"It's Liu Three-Cudgel from the Iron Tiger Gang!"

Someone among the later-arriving Lan Gui Fang guards seemed to recognize Liu Three-Cudgel.

After all, True Martial County was a small place, and the local ruffians had only so many places where they could roam. It was only natural that people knew one another.

The moment Mole Zhang heard Liu Three-Cudgel's name, his expression changed.

What?

Liu Three-Cudgel?

He was dead?

Mole Zhang stared in shock, then almost instinctively turned to look for his other companion, Short-Legged Tang.

He knew which room the other man had been in, so when he turned, he saw him at once.

But the instant he did, his eyes widened...

Short-Legged Tang was leaning against the wall, but blood was pouring from his mouth and neck. His head drooped limply as his body slowly slid down the wall.

Short-Legged Tang?!

Mole Zhang's pupils contracted sharply.

Before he could recover from the shock, he heard a faint whistle beside his ear. The next moment, something sank into his neck.

Pfft!

His whole body went rigid. He instinctively turned his head.

Then he saw a very familiar face.

The man's expression was calm, but his eyes were cold.

It was... him?!

Mole Zhang's eyes bulged.

He tried to speak, but blood came up from his throat and filled his mouth. All he could do was gurgle and spit bloody bubbles.

Pfft, pfft!

The other man pulled out the weapon and stabbed the same spot two or three more times, making sure Mole Zhang couldn't call for help.

Then he backed away and slipped into the crowd.

Thud...

Mole Zhang's body collapsed to the ground. Blood gushed from his mouth and nose as his body convulsed. His eyes turned toward the crowd. He wanted to say something, but not a sound came out.

Qin Fang, among the crowd, took a deep breath. Then a shrill cry rang through the night.

"An—another person's been killed!! The ki—killer's still here! He's killing people at random!!!!"

Boom!

"What?!"

"The killer's attacking people at random?!"

"Ah!!"

"Someone really died!!!!"

The crowd, gathered to watch the commotion, instantly erupted into chaos.