Chapter 143: Assassination

"Brother Fei, today's prison food is actually not bad! Did the prison change its chef?" Liang Ji took a couple of bites of his rice and said.

Ye Fei nodded. The prison food today indeed tasted much better than before!

After finishing their meal, Ye Fei and the others headed to the bathhouse to wash up.

"Splash—"

The sound of rushing water filled the air as Liang Ji's voice blended with it. "Brother Fei, ever since you started coming here, nobody else dares to take a bath. Such a huge space has been completely monopolized by the two of us."

"If they don't dare to come, then they don't have to! I'm not going to eat them. We'll wash up our way and pay no mind to those people," Ye Fei said calmly.

"Fei—"

"Thud!"

Liang Ji's voice abruptly cut off, as if someone had interrupted him.

The moment the sound stopped, Ye Fei sensed that something was wrong. His reflexes were exceptionally sharp; he had heard the muffled sound of a strike, someone knocking Liang Ji unconscious. The splashing water and the impact against the neck—Ye Fei could distinguish all of it.

"Whoosh—"

A fierce gust of wind rushed toward him, targeting the back of Ye Fei's neck.

At that moment, Ye Fei was right in the middle of washing his hair. The soap foam covered his head, obstructing his vision, and with his back turned to the attacker, his position was highly disadvantageous, making an immediate counterattack impossible.

One had to admit that the assailant had chosen the timing impeccably, seizing the exact moment when Ye Fei was at his most vulnerable.

Yet Ye Fei was no ordinary man. Despite the unfavorable situation, he managed to execute a timely dodge.

"Rip—"

The sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh echoed. The attacker was gripping a lethal weapon—a dagger—which managed to carve a gash into the side of Ye Fei's neck.

Before he could recover, another rush of violent wind closed in.

"Two people!" Ye Fei thought to himself. He could only focus on evading while using one hand to wipe the foam from his face.

"Rip—"

The sharp weapon slashed Ye Fei a second time, opening a wound across his arm.

By now, although Ye Fei had sustained two cuts, he had already broken free from his initial disadvantageous position. He wiped the remaining foam from his eyes and opened them.

The two assassins who had ambushed Ye Fei were thoroughly prepared, their faces concealed behind masks that prevented Ye Fei from catching a glimpse of their true identities.

"Whoosh, whoosh—"

"Swish!"

"Slap, slap..."

Ye Fei used a wet towel as a makeshift weapon, engaging the two assassins in close combat.

"Fine moves, and your timing was spot-on. Who sent you?" Ye Fei demanded in a deep voice. However, the two assassins remained intensely cautious and silent, avoiding speech to prevent Ye Fei from recognizing their voices and tracking them down later.

"Even if you don't say it, I know. Fang Tingfang, hmph," Ye Fei sneered coldly.

Little Blood and Dalian maintained their silence, merely intensifying their assault.

"Neither of these two is overwhelmingly powerful on their own—at best, they possess the caliber of second-tier assassins. However, their coordination is seamless, perfectly covering each other's weaknesses. Combined, their strength reaches the level of first-tier assassins. It seems they must be internationally renowned hitmen," Ye Fei analyzed inwardly. Against opponents of this caliber, someone like the Wild Tyrant of Black Soul wouldn't stand a chance; he would be utterly slaughtered without a way to fight back.

"Bam!"

Ye Fei delivered a punch straight into the chest of one of the assassins. Although the man was driven back two paces, he immediately re-entered the fray. His physical conditioning was clearly exceptional, as that punch had failed to deal any significant damage.

Nevertheless, Ye Fei had completely regained his footing, and neither Little Blood nor Dalian could hope to assassinate him now.

At that moment, faint sounds drifted in from outside the bathhouse—Chen Xianli and his men were arriving.

"Damn it, we underestimated this Ye Fei's strength. I never expected him to be this formidable. Even with Little Blood and me teaming up, lurking in the shadows, and striking when his guard was down, we still failed to kill him or even inflict serious injuries. We barely managed two superficial cuts," Dalian thought to himself. At the same time, the commotion outside stirred the urge to retreat within him.

Dalian and Little Blood exchanged a subtle glance. Though the eye contact lasted only a fraction of a second, their long partnership and absolute synchronization allowed them to fully understand each other's intent.

"Let's move," the two thought simultaneously, pulling back together and sprinting toward the exit.

How could Ye Fei allow them to escape? He whipped around and gave chase.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Simultaneously turning around, Dalian and Little Blood hurled the daggers from their hands with practiced synergy—one blade streaking toward Ye Fei, the other hurtling straight at the unconscious Liang Ji lying on the floor.

Having thrown the daggers, the pair didn't look back, sprinting away toward the exit.

"Hah! Whoosh—" As the blade hurtled toward him, Ye Fei planted his foot, flicked his towel, and wrapped the fabric around the incoming weapon. Realizing with a flash of fury that the villains had cruelly targeted Liang Ji with the second blade, his expression shifted drastically. He lashed out with the towel, batting the flying dagger away just in time to spare Liang Ji's life.

By then, the two assassins had already bolted. Knowing it was futile to pursue them further, Ye Fei could only splash water on Liang Ji to revive him.

Rushing out of the bathhouse, Dalian and Little Blood ran right into Boss Chen and his crew.

Although Chen Xianli had no idea who these two masked men were, nor why they were fleeing wildly from the bathhouse in bizarre disguises, he knew that Ye Fei was inside, and their frantic departure was undeniably tied to him.

"Stop them!" Chen Xianli barked.

The Four Great Guardians immediately assumed defensive stances, moving to block the path of the two strange figures.

The failed assassins sneered inwardly. If not for their lingering fear of Ye Fei pursuing them from behind, they would have butchered these clueless obstacles on the spot.

Hampered by that dread, the two could only brute-force their way through the Four Great Guardians' blockade before fleeing at top speed.

"So formidable! Their martial arts are already on par with Ye Fei's," the God Fist Guardian exclaimed.

The four of them had been beaten back in the blink of an eye.

"Never mind that, let's go inside and see what happened," Chen Xianli said, taking the lead as he walked into the bathhouse. At this point, Ye Fei's survival was directly tied to Chen Xianli's own vital interests, so he naturally could not afford to ignore it.

...

Dalian and Little Blood fled straight back to their cell—a room specially arranged for them where they felt secure.

"It seems we seriously underestimated Ye Fei's strength this time," Dalian remarked. "I never imagined that even with a coordinated ambush, the two of us couldn't take him down. If we hadn't made a timely escape, we might very well have been subdued by him."

Miscalculating the opponent's strength was the root cause of their failure.

"At least it wasn't a total loss. We managed to leave our mark on Ye Fei, which proves he isn't invincible. If not for our flawed assessment of his strength, we might have finished him off in one fell swoop," Little Blood replied.

Dalian nodded in agreement. He fully shared Little Blood's sentiment; managing to draw blood from Ye Fei proved that an opportunity existed. It was a pity they had startled the snake in the grass, putting Ye Fei on high alert. Otherwise, had they accurately gauged his strength from the start, the assassination would have been a guaranteed success.

"If only that dagger had been coated in our special poison, that Ye Fei would be a dead man by now," Little Blood added.

After conferring briefly, the two concluded, "Now that Ye Fei has been alerted, landing a kill in a single strike will be even harder next time. It looks like we'll have to contact our employer and redraw our plans."

"Brother Lian, I've picked up quite a bit of information about Ye Fei these past few days. He acts so ruthlessly in prison yet remains completely untouched, which means someone influential is backing him. If we actually kill him, we might end up hunted down ourselves. This job is starting to look like a bad deal for us," Little Blood observed.

"We're professional assassins; we don't have the luxury of overthinking. This is how we earn our living. If someone places a bounty on us later, we'll just chalk it up to a bad deal and take out the employer for free," Dalian declared.