The Strangeness

Before leaving the stronghold, Zhou Yang scanned the information on the scroll inside the private room, then headed toward a specific location. By this time, he had put his mask and weights back on, regaining his previous mysterious appearance.

However, before stepping outside, he attracted many envious gazes, and quite a few people even ran up to him, trying to buy the landlady's measurements with money. Because of this, many people even started bidding, with the highest offer reaching as far as five thousand taels. Originally, seeing the money, Zhou Yang was ready to casually blurt out a few numbers, but he suddenly heard a few muffled grunts—needless to say, they belonged to the landlady. Zhou Yang was thus forced to reject them with a righteous expression, though inwardly he was bleeding. Five thousand taels! He could earn five thousand taels just from a set of measurements, and if it were—Zhou Yang dared not think further, only wiping away his drool to show respect.

The landlady sensed that he was thinking about something inappropriate and, wielding a feather duster, chased him straight out. The passersby outside laughed out loud upon seeing this.

"This kid, could it be that he's not paying?"

"Looking at him like this, he doesn't look like a man with money either."

"Maybe he's flirting with the landlady?"

"That's also possible. I heard the landlady's background is terrifying!"

These passersby smiled at one another. Everyone wore forehead protectors with different symbols on their heads; although their allegiances differed, there truly was a sense of universal brotherhood among men right now. As for how much they hated each other in private, that remained unknown.

Anyway, none of this had anything to do with Zhou Yang, because he had once again begun searching for buildings at that moment.

The scroll says he frequently appears at the Eli Tavern, but his dwelling place is uncertain. There are three: the Blue Residence, the Falling Rain House, and the Water House. Zhou Yang had found all these locations in the span of a morning. Because he had stumbled at the landlady's place earlier, he never rashly entered to inquire this time. Instead, he studied the routes to these houses and pondered where it would be best to make a move.

He walked these routes many times and found that the best place to make a move was the section of the road between the Blue Residence and the Eli Tavern. This stretch of road was quite long, and since the Blue Residence was not on a regular street, there was a stretch of woodland there. That was precisely where striking would be easiest and most concealed.

Having figured this out, he disguised himself as a traveler and entered these places, observing for a while inside the lobbies. Although the Blue Residence was farthest from the bustling district, Zhou Yang discovered that it had the most people. He did not know if it was because it was quieter or for some other reason, but in short, it was the liveliest spot, and at the same time, he noticed that almost everyone there was a ninja.

Originally planning to stay close by, he discovered that the rooms here were already fully booked, leaving him with no choice but to go look for other accommodations.

By this time, it was already around four o'clock in the afternoon. To ensure he had enough rest time, Zhou Yang generally chose to rest around this hour. Although it was already rest time now, Zhou Yang was not in any rush and was still walking along the road. In his view, a rather serious problem had arisen: why would the target choose to come back and even stay in the same place for so long?

One had to know that the wandering life of a fugitive was often filled with terror. They would constantly worry about whether anyone had discovered them or was tracking them down. Even someone with the best psychological resilience would frequently change locations; not one of them would be like this fugitive, who ran back and actually lingered right under people's noses for so long. Was he truly that stupid, or did he harbor other motives? He did not believe there were people that foolish in this world, so the answer was obvious: he was doing this on purpose.

On the other side, a ninja wearing a Rain Ninja forehead protector knelt on one knee before Fengqian Zi Quan, the landlady.

"Milord, we have investigated for so long and still haven't found the source of this news."

"What? It still hasn't been investigated? Then do you know when this news was spread?"

"About a month ago."

"A month? Then are there other ninjas rushing over here?"

"Unclear, but that the number of ninjas in our town is still increasing is something that cannot possibly be wrong."

"Damn it, who knows which blind bastard is running around spreading news here!"

"Er—Milord, do you think this news is fake?"

"Whether it's fake or not, I don't know, but our family has lived in the Land of Rain for so many generations, and we've never heard of this news. It suddenly appears this time—do you think I'll believe it?" At this, Fengqian Zi Quan smiled, her alluring appearance seemingly returning her to the identity of the landlady. "What, are you interested in checking the accuracy of this news?"

Upon seeing the landlady like this, the ninja's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly lowered his head. In his eyes, aside from when she was in disguise, whenever she wore this smile at other times, it represented danger. Although she wouldn't deal out overly harsh blows to her subordinates, minor punishments always left them half-dead, so he hurriedly said, "It was this subordinate being greedy. I hope Milord will forgive me."

"Tch, and here I thought you had this interest. I was originally prepared to send you, but you actually refuse to appreciate it. Oh my, I'm getting old, and my subordinates won't listen anymore. What is to be done about this!"

Big sister, could you stop playing around? I'm terrified! the kneeling ninja thought inwardly.

"Alright, I won't tease you. You may step down."

"Phew—" The ninja let out a long sigh of relief and left.

As for the landlady, alone in the empty room, she stared blankly at the wall, seemingly pondering something, before muttering softly, "Though this old lady isn't old, the time I've spent out in the world is not short. With news like this appearing, do they really think I haven't verified it?"

"Sigh—" Slap, slap. Zhou Yang patted his head a few times. Why am I thinking so much? Anyway, my mission is to take him down. Shouldn't I just focus on this mission? Why do I need to get so twisted up in all these curves and turns? It looks like I need to think less in the future. If I get into the habit of hesitating every time I do something, how can this work?

Zhou Yang simply consoled himself and no longer thought about these issues, focusing solely on finding an inn.

"Boss, are there any empty rooms?"

"Gone. Go ask elsewhere."

"Boss, do you have any emp—"

"None. They're all booked." The boss looked very happy counting banknotes. Zhou Yang was also somewhat dazed. How did you know I wanted to book a room?

"Boss—"

"None."

"Boss!"

"None."

"Damn it, what is going on today? Not a single empty room? Is this place really this lively?" Even with Zhou Yang's physique, he was somewhat tired by now. Never mind that he had hurried all the way across the road earlier, but he had rested early. Today was completely different: not only had he hurried across the road, but he had also clashed with the landlady. The time he had spent walking all afternoon was not short either. Zhou Yang looked up at the sky; the light was gradually dimming at this point, and he estimated it was probably around six o'clock. This wouldn't do. If he still couldn't find a place to rest, wouldn't he have to sleep out in the streets? The feeling of staying in the jungle was not as comfortable as being in a room!

Yet, as he looked around, he had basically run through all the inns he could find, and only some special places remained. Still, looking at his own appearance, he reckoned they wouldn't let him in either. After struggling for a long time, his only remaining option was to go find the landlady.