Chapter 16 - The Strange Man

"Hmm...?"

Rao Shuang lay on the ground, certain that she had heard the voice before, but unable to immediately recall who it belonged to.

After an initial hint of curiosity, the person didn't seem overly concerned by the stunning scene. As their footsteps drew closer, Rao Shuang resisted the urge to raise her to see who intruded on her plan. Pretending to be unconscious on the ground was her only cover at the moment.

As the footsteps drew nearer, Rao Shuang deliberated how to perform a sneak attack when the person was close enough. The distance from the entrance to where she lay was not far, so the person was already upon her before she could calculate all the variables.

Flowerless Butterfly bit her lip anxiously. He was unlikely to be so close again, so this was her only opportunity. If they were caught off guard, she was confident she could kill the person with a single swift move!

Rao Shuang gripped her fan as the person walked beside her, preparing to attack!

Suddenly, Rao Shuang stilled as she felt a terrifying gaze lock in on her. A bone-chilling sensation froze her, like her entire body was plunged into icy waters, leaving her unable to move or even breathe.

Unlike the sharp gaze at the Drunken Flower yesterday, which had felt like being watched by an eagle with no possibility of escape, this gaze made her feel like a mouse trembling beneath a cat’s paw, about to be struck down at the slightest movement.

Feeling the person pause just in front of her. Rao Shuang dared not move a muscle because she knew he was still staring at her. After what felt like an eternity, the man strode past her to the main tables.

Her mind raced with urgent questions.

Who is this person? What are they here to do? Why are they here now? What is their connection to Zhou Ye?

Once the distance between them widened, Rao Shuang suppressed her fear and discreetly took a peek. Lying on the ground, she could only see the person’s back profile clearly.

Even from behind, she instantly recognized who it was, it was that strange man from the pharmacy this morning! She watched him enter the hall and scan the surroundings until he identified and approached Zhou Ye. The richest man in Meizhou was slumped at the head of the table.

The hall was filled with the peculiar fragrance of Dream Butterfly Dust, a unique concoction made by Flowerless Butterfly. Although its main ingredient, mandrake, was the same as other common soporific drugs, its potency was far more potent, and it acted without much delay.

By the time the victim noticed the fragrance they inhaled, the victim would swiftly fall asleep. Before the dance began, Rao Shuang had laced her silk fan with Dream Butterfly Dust, so the powder permeated every corner of the hall as she danced. That man should have experienced the effects of her planning from the moment he walked in the door, so she was puzzled as to why the strange man had not succumbed to its effects yet.

Rao Shuang watched as the man reached Zhou Ye. He slapped Zhou Ye's chubby cheek, but the merchant was unresponsive, as if deeply asleep. The man frowned and grabbed the back of Zhou Ye’s collar. With little discernible effort, he picked up the over two-hundred-catties man like a bag of groceries with his right hand and turned to bring him back out of the hall.

As soon as the man turned around, Rao Shuang abruptly held her breath and closed her eyes again. Only after the man walked past did she risk turning her head to observe him sneakily.

Seeing the scene beyond the doors, Rao Shuang involuntarily gasped. Outside the hall the maids, servants, and guards lay on the ground, not asleep but as lifeless corpses. Even the two bodyguards that the governor brought, who secured the entrance of the hall, were dead by the door.

The number of bodies was not an unfamiliar sight to Flowerless Butterfly. It was the clear lack of any signs of struggle that truly startled Rao Shuang. From the positions and injuries of the dead bodies, Rao Shuang’s experienced eye told her a story she could barely believe. It appeared that they had all been killed with a single blow, simultaneously, without any of them noticing what was going on.

Rao Shuang considered herself capable of accomplishing something similar, but only after extensive planning and meticulous preparation. But this man? She recalled the people she monitored coming and going through the courtyard just before she entered to perform. How long could it have been? Fifteen minutes? It was clear that no one inside or outside the hall had noticed what was going on, not even herself.

Rao Shuang felt like her worldview was on the verge of collapse.

What was happening? Was everyone this skilled now? Wasn't this supposed to be just a routine task? How had it become this difficult for me, a Heaven-ranker assassin, to complete a regular assignment? Have I gotten rusty, or was it the world that changed?

The strange man, unaware of Rao Shuang's internal turmoil, carried Zhou Ye single-handedly to a small courtyard replete with a pond beside a sculpted mountain. Now grabbing Zhou Ye by his hair, he pushed the unresponsive man’s head into the chilly water.

As it was the dead of winter, the pitiful Merchant Zhou was immediately jolted awake the moment his face hit the frigid water. Given this incredibly rude awakening, he tried to scream but only choked on icy water.

He tried pulling his head out of the water, but the hand pressing down on his skull prevented it. Desperate, he flailed his arms and legs like a drowning man until he grabbed onto a piece of clothing. He yanked on it frenziedly as if it were his lifeline.

At the pond's edge, the hem of the strange man's robe was nearly torn by Merchant Zhou's desperate grip. The man frowned, annoyed with the futile struggle, and crushed Merchant Zhou's elbow with the butt of his pipe.

Still submerged, Merchant Zhou convulsed in agony. He must have screamed in pain, allowing more water to fill his mouth and lungs, releasing the last of the air in his lungs as a stream of bubbles. His arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, clearly fractured. Finally, his struggling ceased, and he lay limp against the ground like a broken mannequin.

The strange man fished Boss Zhou out of the water and casually tossed him across the ground. Merchant Zhou was unconscious again, and his eyes were rolled almost completely up, showing just their whites. Water dribbled from his mouth. The man frowned and stomped on Boss Zhou's bloated belly.

The force of the kick nearly ruptured Merchant Zhou’s intestines. Body curling up like a prawn, he retched out a bellyful of water. Regaining consciousness from the pain, Merchant Zhou started mumbling incoherently, "Don't kill me... Don’t kill. I have money... However much you want, I’ll give..."

The strange man nudged Merchant Zhou’s head with his foot. Merchant Zhou finally came to his senses, shaking himself out of his stupor.

The man towering over him asked, "Where is the Transcendence Stone?"

"I-I... Don’t know," replied Merchant Zhou through chattering teeth.

"You don’t know... Or do you not have it?" The man asked Boss Zhou with slight amusement.

"I don’t... I don’t have it, no no, I mean... I don't know."

"You don’t even know how to lie convincingly." The man shook his head in exasperation. "Since you don't know anything... You can die." He raised his hand toward Merchant Zhou's head.

"Don’t kill me!"

"Stop!"

In the courtyard filled with corpses, two voices shouted at almost the same time.