Secret Infiltration

Pan Long skirted the two ballistae that posed no immediate threat. A few steps later, he spotted a ladder leading down.

From there, he could see firelight in the room below and hear people talking.

"Damn it! I lost the draw again!" a rough voice complained. "My luck's usually good when I gamble. Why does it turn so rotten when we're dividing up the girls? That's three times now!"

"That's because you've used up all your luck gambling," a lazy voice replied. "A man only gets so much luck. When yours is that good at the tables, of course there's none left when it comes to women."

The rough voice shot back at once. "By that logic, you're no good at gambling, so why do you never draw a girl either?"

"Because my luck was rotten to begin with." The lazy speaker sighed. "Your luck's average, so when it's good at gambling, it's bad everywhere else. Mine's terrible, so it's terrible at everything."

The rough voice burst out laughing. "What nonsense! In our line of work, how could anyone have bad luck? Anyone truly unlucky would've died in some ditch long ago!"

"I wouldn't say that," a voice sounded behind him.

The burly man who had been speaking jolted. Before he could turn, a finger struck an acupoint, and he collapsed without so much as a grunt.

Pan Long stepped out of the shadow behind him and looked coldly at the lazy young man before him.

The young man was fairly handsome, though a knife scar across his face spoiled his looks. He seemed lazy to the bone. Even with an enemy standing there and his companion felled, he remained seated against a pillar, looking utterly unconcerned.

"You're one of the Imperial Court's Shadow Guards?" he asked. "I've heard of