The First Order

The reason the Anjing House did not allow Zhou Yingxue to take the mission was simple.On one hand, it was because Zhou Yingxue was already involved in an escort mission. Although the mission target was also located in Stronghold 77, carrying out another mission would definitely affect the current one.

If Zhou Yingxue got injured or died while carrying out the new mission, that would affect the Anjing House’s reputation.

On the other hand, it was because Zhou Yingxue was alone and unable to group up with teammates in the black market. At the same time, there was already a team that had set off from the black market. That group was made up of three A-rank hitmen, so the mission would be much safer being carried out by them than Zhou Yingxue.

It was not like a hitman was not allowed to take the mission alone, but since there was a more suitable team for it, the lone wolf would find it very difficult to get assigned the mission.

Zhou Yingxue was a little angry at this. “We’re the closest to the mission target, so why aren’t we allowed to take this mission? Besides, Li Ran doesn’t want us to protect her at all. Unless she’s attending an event, she won’t even let me get close to her. In such a situation, I totally have time to take other missions.”

Actually, she understood the Anjing House’s decision was the right one. After all, they did not know she had the terrifying Ren Xiaosu with her. Therefore, based on common sense, Zhou Yingxue indeed couldn’t split herself up to take two missions at this moment. Meanwhile, Yang Lichen clearly kept a small fighting force by his side, and he was even given protection by the Zhou Consortium as well.

After Yang Lichen left the Southwest, he came to seek asylum under the Zhou Consortium. As he knew all about the Southwest’s geography and politics, he was immediately offered protection by the Zhou Consortium who also provided him with material comforts.

An organization like a consortium would definitely not let slip the chance to gather firsthand information from a well-connected individual.

“Master, what do we do now?” Zhou Yingxue asked. “We can’t take the mission this time. Also, if they won’t let me take any further missions during the course of this escort mission, I definitely can’t complete the two remaining missions required for participating in the trials.”

Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “I’m going out for a while.”

That night, Li Ran came by Zhou Yingxue’s room, seemingly unintentionally, and explained to her what happened during the day. She said a public figure like her could not waste such a good chance to establish a good image, so she hoped Zhou Yingxue would not take it to heart. However, Li Ran still told Zhou Yingxue not to consciously protect her anymore and just ensure that she helped boost her image and standing.

Although what she said was unpleasant, Zhou Yingxue was a little puzzled. Li Ran actually came over personally just to explain this to her?

But after Li Ran finished with that speech, she asked, “Where did Ren Xiaosu go?”

“Oh, he’s still scouting around outside,” Zhou Yingxue answered.

Zhou Yingxue realized Li Ran had to be here for Ren Xiaosu. Furthermore, she did not look for him directly and seemed to be beating around the bush about something.

After Li Ran left, Ren Xiaosu suddenly carried someone in through the window. The person on his shoulder was unconscious.

Zhou Yingxue said in a daze, “Master, who is that?”

“Yang Lichen,” Ren Xiaosu said calmly.

“But we didn’t get assigned the mission, so it’s useless even if we kill him,” Zhou Yingxue said helplessly.

Ren Xiaosu was still as calm as ever. “It’s fine. Even if the Anjing House has given the mission to the other hitmen, the mission will still be a failure if they can’t locate the mission target. Don’t worry, the people who saw me are all dead. The ambush this time was very successful, so no one knows where Yang Lichen’s gone.”

Zhou Yingxue was dumbfounded. Why was her master’s thinking so different from others? Even when stealing missions, he did it so forcefully?

As long as the other hitmen could not find the mission target, Zhou Yingxue could just tell the Anjing House later on that she found him and force them to give her the mission.

This was forcing someone off their own path and leaving them no room to walk!

Furthermore, Ren Xiaosu explained, “If those three A-rank hitmen can’t complete the mission, they definitely won’t be able to participate in the Anjing House trials next year. This way, you’ll also have three fewer opponents without anyone knowing. This is killing two birds with one stone.”

Zhou Yingxue covered her face as she suddenly started to worry about those A-rank hitmen who were going to compete with her for a spot in the Anjing House. It was really unfortunate that these hitmen had to meet an opponent like her master.

She tied Yang Lichen up and stuffed a towel into his mouth before putting him in the wardrobe of the hotel room. She said worriedly, “We can’t just keep a person in the room like that. What if he struggles after he regains consciousness? They have people cleaning the hotel rooms every day.”

“We can hang the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the knob, then make sure he doesn’t regain his consciousness.” Ren Xiaosu said, “Let’s wait and see how things unfold. Stronghold 77 is very near the black market, so I’m guessing the three A-rank hitmen have already arrived outside the stronghold. They might even have already entered the stronghold. We only need to wait for another three days before we approach the Anjing House to ask for the mission to be assigned to us.”

Zhou Yingxue stretched. She suddenly felt it was a wise decision to stay behind and continue working with Ren Xiaosu. Nothing was really unachievable when following such a master.

Other people would have to wait to be assigned the missions, but only Ren Xiaosu could approach the Anjing House directly to ask for a mission.

Of course, if he didn’t have such a weird mind, he wouldn’t be constantly thinking about “fishing” the D and C-rank hitmen either.

She got up and walked towards the bathroom. Ren Xiaosu frowned. “Where are you going?”

“To shower.” Zhou Yingxue smiled and said, “Does Master want to join me?”

“Get out!”

“Alright, alright!”

…

The next day, the three A-rank hitmen went around the stronghold like crazy in search of Yang Lichen’s whereabouts. In the end, they only found the corpses of several guards in the residence the Anjing House had sent to them. However, Yang Lichen was nowhere to be seen.

They asked the Anjing House if there had been a mistake in the intelligence, or if the mission had been assigned to others or was taken by someone else. The Anjing House’s reply was that they were the only ones conducting the mission and that it wasn’t assigned to any other people.

The three A-rank hitmen had no choice but to use their connections in the Zhou Consortium. While secretly questioning the witnesses, they also checked on the surveillance feed of the traffic hubs. However, they still found nothing at all.

The A-rank hitmen were on the verge of breaking down. This was the first time they had encountered something like this where they could not even find the target.

They weren’t the only ones who could not find the target. Even the Anjing House was unable to find him.

Three days later, Zhou Yingxue suddenly sent a photo to the Anjing House. In the photo, Yang Lichen was unconscious and close to death. In those three days, Yang Lichen was only fed a few sips of water before being knocked unconscious. Right now, he looked like he had lost a lot of weight.

Zhou Yingxue sent a text, “Yang Lichen is in my hands. Please assign the mission to me quickly.”

After sending the text, Zhou Yingxue pondered, “Master, why does it feel like we’re kidnappers?”

“It’s not a big problem.” Ren Xiaosu waved it off dismissively. “But do you think the Anjing House will assign us the mission? After all, it was a little too much to forcefully steal the mission from others.”

Zhou Yingxue looked at Ren Xiaosu in shock. ‘Master, you also know that this is too much? Actually, you’ve known that all along, right?!’

The Anjing House replied with, “You can receive the mission reward after killing him.”

Zhou Yingxue beamed. Success!