The Price of His Life

Jiang Nan looked displeased. "Why should I give you a chance? Give me a reason."

Mercenary Tao immediately seized the opportunity and said urgently, "I can follow you and become your servant. Anyone you don't like, I'll kill for you!"

"I don't like Master Shen," Jiang Nan said, dropping a bombshell.

Mercenary Tao's pupils contracted sharply. He stammered, "Y-you know I'm Master Shen's..."

"Younger brother!"

Mercenary Tao stared at Jiang Nan in shock. He had left Master Shen many years ago, and since becoming an assassin, he had never told anyone he had an older brother. Just who was this young man, who even knew that secret?

Beyond his shock, Mercenary Tao's fear of Jiang Nan deepened. He gritted his teeth and said, "Even if it's Master Shen, I'll take his life if you need me to! Provided I live to see that day."

Jiang Nan shrugged indifferently. "I'm not interested in that offer. If there really were someone I disliked, I wouldn't need you to do anything. If you could kill them, why couldn't I?"

Seeing that Mercenary Tao was at a loss for words, Jiang Nan continued to frighten him. "For instance, I don't like you right now, so... heh heh heh..."

Jiang Nan eyed Mercenary Tao with ill intent as he began gathering ki in his hand again. He deliberately let his aura spill out so Mercenary Tao could feel the threat.

Sure enough, Mercenary Tao went deathly pale. He hastily began kowtowing desperately, pleading, "I can give you money! I'll give you all my money!"

"Oh?" Jiang Nan stopped gathering ki. "How much do you have?"

Seeing Jiang Nan take an interest, Mercenary Tao seized his chance. He held up three fingers and said, "I have over three hundred million in Federation currency!"

At the mention of three hundred million, Jiang Nan's heart started pounding despite himself, but he deliberately put on a dissatisfied expression. "Aren't you the world's number one assassin? You've been in the business for ten years, and that's all you have? I heard you charge a hundred million per kill."

Mercenary Tao looked embarrassed and explained, "I've been in the business for a long time, but my rates weren't that high in the first few years. Once I made a name for myself, I raised my price to a hundred million per job, but very few people can afford it. So... so this year, I came up with a tenth-anniversary discount to see if I could get a couple more jobs."

"Do you have all the money on you?" Jiang Nan asked.

With his life on the line, Mercenary Tao dared not conceal anything and hurriedly said, "I have all my bank cards on me, and some cash stored in a Hoi-Poi Capsule."

In truth, Mercenary Tao was still playing a little trick. He did have over three hundred million on him, but he had another hundred million or so in Federation currency stashed in his Safe House. As long as Jiang Nan spared him today, the remaining money would be enough for him to live on.

The money lit up Jiang Nan's eyes. He happened to be running low on funds, and this was like being handed a pillow just as he started getting sleepy. Even Mercenary Tao looked much more agreeable to him now.

In fact, Jiang Nan had never intended to kill Mercenary Tao. He was about to begin searching for the Dragon Balls, and he wasn't sure whether he could leave this Dragon Ball world ahead of time. He was an outsider, after all, and deep down, he didn't want to change the course of the future too much. Mercenary Tao was a very important stepping stone in Kid Goku's growth. If Jiang Nan killed him early, he couldn't predict what the future would become.

Originally, Jiang Nan had only planned to practice on Mercenary Tao, beat him up, and let him go. He hadn't expected this windfall.

After taking the bank cards and the Hoi-Poi Capsule containing the cash, Jiang Nan asked uneasily, "You aren't going to run off and freeze the accounts the moment you leave, are you?"

Mercenary Tao frantically waved his hands in denial. "I wouldn't dare! This is the money buying my life. How could I dare play a joke like that on you?"

Jiang Nan nodded in satisfaction and reassured him, "Listen, Tao, no career is smooth sailing forever. Don't start saying discouraging things like you'll never work as an assassin again just because you've hit a little setback."

Mercenary Tao was still kneeling on the ground. Jiang Nan patted his shoulder and said earnestly, "Whatever your profession, you have to love what you do. Think about whether your skills are lacking or your intelligence wasn't thorough enough. Reflect on whether you've honed your killing techniques to perfection. Understand?"

Mercenary Tao dared not argue. He nodded repeatedly, constantly flattering him. "Yes, yes, yes! I'll definitely work harder from now on!"

"That's the spirit! All right, I'm leaving. You should hurry up and leave White Cloud City too!" Having just struck it rich, Jiang Nan only wanted to check the balances on those bank cards as soon as possible, so he was eager to send Mercenary Tao on his way.

That offhand remark took on an entirely different meaning in Mercenary Tao's ears. He's telling me to get the hell out of White Cloud City before he changes his mind!

"Yes, yes, yes. I'll leave right away," Mercenary Tao said respectfully and nervously.

"Huh? Aren't you waiting for your companion?" Jiang Nan asked casually.

Mercenary Tao immediately thought he understood. Once again, he nodded like a chicken pecking at grain. "Yes, yes, yes. I'll take care of that loose end!"

Jiang Nan was utterly confused, but his mind was on the money. Without giving it much thought, he left North Suburb Park first.

Mercenary Tao then left as well and found Pilirick beside a road, searching all over the northern outskirts of White Cloud City for the two of them like a headless chicken. Seeing Mercenary Tao return alone, Pilirick was overjoyed. "Mr. Assassin, you've succeeded?!"

Mercenary Tao said coldly, "Do you think I'd fail?"

"No, no, that's absolutely not what I meant! It's just that you said beforehand you'd bring back the target's head." Pilirick broke out in a cold sweat.

Rather than explain, Mercenary Tao asked, "Where's your plane?"

Pilirick hurriedly took a Capsule from his pocket. "Right here!"

Mercenary Tao's eyes darted around. The northern outskirts were quiet, with few passing vehicles or pedestrians, and waist-high grass lined both sides of the road. Once Pilirick pressed the Capsule's button and released the plane, Mercenary Tao struck swiftly, crushing his throat.

"Urgh... urgh..."

Pilirick clutched his neck with both hands, his eyes wide with disbelief. He couldn't understand why Mercenary Tao had suddenly attacked him.

"Heh heh heh. Better to get rid of anything that's an eyesore!"

Mercenary Tao threw Pilirick's corpse into the grass beside the road. Normally, he would never have bothered hiding the body of someone he had killed. But this time was different. This was his first failure, and a complete and utter failure at that. If word got out, it would inevitably damage his reputation as the world's number one assassin. There was only one way to prevent that: if he couldn't eliminate the target, he would eliminate the other party who knew about it-the employer.

Once either the target or the employer is gone, the assassination contract is over, Mercenary Tao told himself for comfort.

I just don't know how many people on the employer's side know about this. Still, that's no big problem. I'll just kill them all. I might not be able to kill Jiang Nan, but surely I can kill you, Carlos?