Chapter 26: Assassination

What more could Red Carp say? Whether it was this way or that, everything was firmly in Xiao Kaitian's grasp. He was in an even more miserable situation than Rin Ogiwara, but there was nothing he could do about it—he was the one who had the misfortune to cross paths with Xiao Kaitian in the first place.

“Being an assassin is no way to live in the long run,” Xiao Kaitian patiently advised him. He understood the basic truths of this world—who would willingly choose a life spent dancing on the edge of a knife? “Find yourself a proper job and live a steady life.”

These words brought tears to Red Carp’s eyes once more. Who would choose this line of work unless forced by necessity? But it was clear that Xiao Kaitian was not someone he could persuade. Sniffling, he said, “Young Master Xiao, to get back to the point—your bounty in the underworld has increased again, and someone else has taken over the contract.”

This was troublesome news. Xiao Kaitian frowned; as long as his name remained on the dark web, there would be a constant stream of assassins seeking him out. He tapped his fingers lightly on the table. “Give me the specifics.”

“Originally, your bounty was one hundred million yen—a standard task,” Red Carp said, regret washing over him again. How could he have been so blind as to target the head wolf and end up sacrificing himself in the process? “But after I failed, and the news of my withdrawal from the dark web spread, your bounty doubled. I’d estimate that anyone coming for you now is at least a D-class assassin.”

“Are they formidable?” Xiao Kaitian asked.

“Extremely,” Red Carp replied, his expression solemn. “D-class is on a whole different level from me. Some D-class assassins are even capable of killing Xuan-rank martial artists. And at that level, they're almost always organized.” He looked at Xiao Kaitian with a hint of pity.

Organized, he thought? That was good news. Xiao Kaitian’s interest was piqued. An organization meant scale, and scale meant power, which in turn meant substantial resources behind them. He was acutely aware of his current deficiencies—he lacked everything, especially resources. Of course, he couldn’t let his thoughts show. These two before him still had value to be wrung out.

“I’ll treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves,” Xiao Kaitian said, keeping his expression stern and suppressing the hint of a smile at his lips. In the eyes of Rin Ogiwara and Red Carp, his demeanor looked distinctly odd. They shot each other a glance and quickly looked away.

With the matter settled for now, it was up to the two of them to deal with the aftermath. Xiao Kaitian left it all in their hands. He stood, nodded to the bald elder and the elegant woman, then left the café, abandoning the bewildered Rin Ogiwara and Red Carp.

As he pushed open the door, a gust of cold air filled his lungs, and he felt suddenly invigorated. Yet almost immediately, he sensed a vague, lurking danger—like a venomous serpent hidden in the shadows, flicking its tongue and awaiting its chance.

His face remained impassive. Though his spiritual source was nearly depleted, limiting his ability to sense enemies to just a few meters, decades of accumulated combat experience more than compensated. Such amateurish stealth and murderous intent were impossible to miss.

While lamenting his current lack of strength, he also found himself anticipating the arrival of his opponent. Sliding into his car, he glanced at the rearview mirror and caught the reflection of Haruike Sakura’s car not far behind, the woman herself still visible as she gnawed on a hamburger. He couldn’t help but smirk.

Still, he was mired in enough trouble as it was; he had no interest in further entanglements with the police. He pressed the accelerator and sped off.

In the car behind, Haruike Sakura hurriedly crumpled her hamburger, wrapper and all, swallowing with difficulty as she pointed ahead. “Yamamoto, quick, catch up to him!”

Yamamoto, sitting in the passenger seat, looked helpless. Big sister, you’re the one driving.

Thanks to Xiao Kaitian’s earnest evasive maneuvers, after several turns, Haruike Sakura completely lost his trail. Frustrated, she slapped the steering wheel. “Damn!”

“Let’s just sneak a tracker onto his car tonight,” Yamamoto suggested, stretching lazily. With her driving skills—never exceeding forty kilometers per hour—what could she possibly accomplish? Especially considering she used to be a traffic cop.

He wisely kept that thought to himself. With no other options, the two returned to stake out the area near Xiao Kaitian’s home.

Once Haruike Sakura’s car no longer appeared in the rearview mirror, Xiao Kaitian adjusted his course, driving toward a more secluded area. Neither side would risk making a move in the bustling city center; neither wanted unnecessary complications.

He brought the car to a gentle stop near a patchwork of countryside fields. Though not far from the city, the place still retained the unique flavor of the Japanese countryside. After getting out, he leaned against the car door, lit a cigarette, and exhaled smoke that quickly dissipated in the breeze.

The ground beneath his feet was muddy, churned up by recent heavy rains. All around were fields and scattered wooden cottages, and not far off, a small stone bridge spanned a narrow stream. The sound of water tumbling over rocks could be heard faintly, a soft gurgling.

In such an open area, a long-range sniper attack was unlikely. Xiao Kaitian wanted to force his opponent to show themselves, confident they would appear. To all appearances, he was utterly defenseless—the perfect bait.

A figure appeared on the stone bridge: a young woman, hair piled atop her head, clad in a long gray trench coat and a khaki scarf. Her face was cold as she carried her bag, walking unhurriedly.

Trailing behind her was a little boy, dressed in a navy blue suit and shorts, a squared-off black school backpack marking him as a Japanese elementary student. His small cap sat askew, head bowed in dejection, as if he had just been severely scolded.

The young woman strode along in her tall boots, carefully avoiding the uneven patches of ground, while the boy carelessly stomped through the mud, sometimes deliberately splashing as he went.

They looked like a mother and son who had just quarreled, but their sudden intrusion into the scene was oddly unsettling. Xiao Kaitian exhaled smoke and flicked off the ash, wondering if all Japanese assassins were so brazen now, or if daylight assassinations had simply become the norm.

As they drew closer, Xiao Kaitian’s car parked conspicuously in their path became even more obvious. The two were less than five meters away. The woman’s face remained cold as she glanced at Xiao Kaitian. Politeness dictated she only frowned slightly—she did not ask him to move. She merely edged around, trying to pass by.

Xiao Kaitian smiled. The cigarette butt in his hand dropped into the mud with a faint hiss.

In that instant, a thread-thin flash of silver, tinged with an eerie blue, arced toward his nose in a bizarre trajectory.

But it missed by a hair’s breadth, passing three centimeters from his face before swerving toward his heart.

He saw it all with perfect clarity—the woman held a long, deadly needle between her fingers.

Behind her, the little boy’s face registered mild surprise, which quickly turned to terror as Xiao Kaitian lunged toward him like a great bird of prey.

The boy instantly retreated ten meters or so, but Xiao Kaitian did not pursue. As the boy backed away, the woman behind Xiao Kaitian collapsed slowly to the ground.

The boy’s expression grew serious—his childish voice rang out, “How did you see through us?”