Need to Pay More

After walking for about another ten minutes, the surrounding buildings grew increasingly dilapidated. The gunfire faded farther and farther away until it disappeared completely.

In its place was a silence that sent chills down his spine.

No birdsong, no insect chirping—not even the sound of wind.

Lin Yun unconsciously slowed his pace, and even his breathing became cautious.

He had been to District 33 before.

Inside the martial arts academy's virtual combat pods.

He had fought simulated encounters with mutated beasts there no fewer than fifty or sixty times. From his initial flustered panic to his later calm responses, he had already killed hundreds of mutated beasts in that virtual world.

But that had been fake.

There was no death inside the combat pod, only the cold words "Simulation Complete," followed by a restart.

But now...

He raised his head and looked toward the street ahead, squeezed into a narrow corridor by collapsed buildings.

Something moved deep within the shadows.

Lin Yun's heart gave a violent thump, and he instinctively assumed a defensive stance.

A Claw Rat crawled out from a gap in the rubble.

No, not one.

Two.

Lin Yun's breathing quickened.

He had killed plenty of Claw Rats in the combat pod. He knew their weak point was beneath their eye sockets, knew their attack pattern was pounce, claw, bite, and knew they exposed a brief opening when they turned around.

He knew all the theory.

But when faced with living, breathing mutated beasts, his limbs still trembled faintly despite himself.

It was not fear, but his body's most primal alertness to danger and death.

"Screech!"

The two Claw Rats let out sharp cries at the same time and lunged at him from opposite sides.

Lin Yun moved almost on instinct, dodging.

His body abruptly slid to the left, evading the frontal pounce of the rat on the right. At the same time, his right fist, wrapped in a faint reddish mist of blood and qi, smashed fiercely toward the head of the one on the left with a Vajra Fist.

Terrifying force erupted the instant his fist collided with its skull.

"Bang!"

The left Claw Rat's head burst like a rotten watermelon. Its body flipped twice through the air before crashing heavily to the ground. Its limbs twitched a few times, then fell still.

The Claw Rat on the right had missed. The moment it landed, it kicked off with all four paws, spun around, and lunged at Lin Yun again.

This time, Lin Yun did not dodge.

Because when that Claw Rat pounced at him, he realized his hands were no longer shaking.

The blood on his gloves had yet to dry when his second punch shot out.

Same spot, same force.

"Bang!"

The second corpse hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The battle was over.

Lin Yun stood where he was, gasping for breath. His heart pounded wildly, as though it were about to leap out of his chest.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands.

His gloves were covered in thick red-and-white fluid, giving off a powerful stench of blood.

Whenever he killed mutated beasts in the combat pod before, the word "Victory" would flash across the screen, and then everything would reset, clean and spotless.

But now, the smell of blood truly flooded his nostrils. The corpses truly lay at his feet. Warm blood seeped through the gaps in his gloves and onto his fingers, sticky and nauseating.

Lin Yun took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the churning discomfort in his stomach.

He crouched down, pulled a folding knife from his backpack, and began processing the corpses.

Mid-stage first-rank Claw Rats did not have much of value, but their fur and claws could both be sold on the market, and their eyeballs could fetch a little money as well.

He had no experience and his movements were clumsy. It took him nearly ten minutes to remove the valuable parts from the two mutated beasts and pack them into the sealed bags he had prepared beforehand.

He was splattered with organs and shredded meat, and his clothes were covered in blood.

Lin Yun stood up, wiped the blood from his hands with half a torn piece of cloth he had found in the ruins, and stuffed the sealed bags into his backpack.

"First income," he muttered to himself, forcing an unnatural smile.

Then he continued forward, his steps steadier than before.

In the shadows.

A subtle change came over the assassin Ghost's expression.

He had been following Lin Yun ever since he entered the cordon. He kept his distance well, always staying at least thirty meters away. He would not be discovered, yet he could still observe the target's every move.

When the two Claw Rats were instantly killed, one of his brows rose slightly.

He was not surprised by the outcome, but by the process.

The power, speed, and precision of that punch were absolutely not something a mid-stage Martial Apprentice could produce.

The intelligence was wrong.

And wildly so.

Ghost pulled a heavy satellite phone from the inner pocket of his jacket and dialed the number.

After two rings, the call connected.

"Speak."

Wang Dalong's voice was deep and impatient.

"The intelligence you gave me was wrong." Ghost's voice was calm, as if he were discussing something entirely ordinary. "The target is not at the fourth level of the Martial Apprentice realm."

The other end went silent for a second.

"You're sure?"

"I saw it with my own eyes. Two mid-stage first-rank Claw Rats, one punch each. Clean and decisive." Ghost paused. "Late-stage Martial Apprentice, at least seventh level."

Another stretch of silence.

Then Wang Dalong's voice sounded again, carrying suppressed fury. "So what? You called just to tell me you can't beat a high school student?"

"I never said I couldn't beat him." Ghost's tone remained calm, but his eyes turned cold. "To me, a seventh-level Martial Apprentice and a fourth-level Martial Apprentice are no different. But if the intelligence is wrong, you need to pay more."

"How much more?"

"One million!"

"One million?" Wang Dalong sneered. "You think a high school student's head is worth three million?!"

"I think the things on the target are worth that much," Ghost said unhurriedly.

A low, heavy breath came through the phone, as though Wang Dalong were struggling to contain his rage.

Several seconds later, he spoke, his voice cold as a blade. "I'll add five hundred thousand. You must bring back everything on Lin Yun's body. Not a single item can be missing."

Ghost reiterated, "One million."

"Five hundred thousand." Wang Dalong enunciated every word. "Don't haggle with me, Ghost. If you don't want the job, I can find someone else right now. Azure City doesn't lack killers who make a living taking lives."

Ghost was neither servile nor overbearing. "One million."

Wang Dalong was silent for a long time. "Fine! One million it is, but you'd better not fail!"

To eliminate this hidden threat, to give an explanation for his younger brother's disappearance, Lin Yun had to die!

"Of course."

The corners of Ghost's mouth lifted slightly. He ended the call and tucked the satellite phone back into his inner pocket.

He raised his head, his gaze passing through a stretch of collapsed buildings and settling on the young figure carefully making his way through the ruins.

"Kid," he murmured, as if speaking to himself, or perhaps to Lin Yun in the distance. "You're really worth a lot."

Then he lowered his body and silently followed after him like a soundless snake.