The battered lamppost flickered with neon light, and puddles across the pitted ground reflected a rainbow of colors.
A worn-out sofa had been dumped nearby. Perhaps no one would have imagined that the outwardly glamorous Smellica District could harbor such a decrepit place.
But what might have been even harder to imagine was that a Title-Class assassin was hiding here.
Smith Street in the lower city of Smellica District was not particularly far from the city center, but it was still a decidedly out-of-the-way area.
Dim, old, dilapidated.
It brought together practically everything an assassin could want.
It was hard to spot, easy to hide in, and free of surveillance. Even the eyes and ears of the Peacekeeping Forces could not reach it.
It was simply the perfect place for an assassin to hide.
Of course, in a certain sense, it was also the easiest place to find.
Given how prosperous Smellica District was, places like this were rare. In other words, finding one was merely a matter of identifying the Peacekeeping Forces' blind spots, then narrowing the search down from there.
This approach was extremely troublesome for ordinary people, but for someone of Jonas's standing, using it to find his target could hardly have been easier.
But Piers, the assassin, clearly had not given it much thought.
Sitting in a dim room beneath a damaged, flickering light tube, the man's eyes shifted.
At a dust-covered table, Piers, known among the underworld's assassins as the [Wingless Bird], wiped down the silver pistol in his hand.
On a table beside him lay several syringes filled with green liquid. This was the Corpse Corrosion Agent used to conceal the true cause of death, and using it was one of Piers's habits.
Administering a dose of Corpse Corrosion Agent after killing a target