Chapter 147: The Assassination Game

Li Guozhong and Zhang Linsheng took their leave.

Because of Fang Tingfang's blunder, the people behind him were thrown onto the defensive, and a storm was about to sweep across the entire city of Deep Sea. A purge that would engulf both the underworld and the legitimate spheres of Deep Sea was already quietly brewing.

Now, the initiative in Deep Sea had fallen into the hands of Ye Fei's faction, silently reversing the positions of both sides.

"International assassins? Very well. Now, the assassination game officially begins." A strange gleam flashed in Ye Fei's eyes as he offered a cold, meaningful smile.

Niu Yutang, the prison warden, remained completely unaware of the doom awaiting him. Still playing deaf, dumb, and blind in a bid to keep himself out of trouble, he had effectively kept himself in the dark. Had it not been for this, had he ordered the guards to coordinate and deal with Ye Fei, he would have noticed an invisible resistance holding the guards back and preventing them from touching Ye Fei. Perhaps then, he might have sensed that something was amiss.

Ye Fei felt more and more relaxed, for this was actually when his true strength was about to erupt.

Only when one is completely relaxed can the body enter its optimal state, allowing one's full power to be unleashed.

"Brother Fei, I have a feeling the atmosphere in the prison is a bit strange today!" Liang Ji said, lingering near Ye Fei.

"Even someone as slow-witted as you can sense it? Boss Chen, any news?" Ye Fei teased, then turned to ask Boss Chen.

"No, my men have been asking around for two or three days, but there isn't the slightest trace of a lead," Chen Xianli replied with a look of shame. Earlier, he had boasted wildly, hoping to use this information as a bargaining chip to exchange for Ye Fei securing his release from prison. To think that after three days of both open investigation and secret inquiries, not a single piece of news had turned up. If Ye Fei had genuinely agreed to his terms back then, he would have taken a massive loss.

"Is that so? How interesting. Finding and killing them all at once would be rather dull. Just tell everyone to keep things as they are. Whether we find anything isn't important, but we must keep the enemy in a state of constant anxiety," Ye Fei said with a smile.

Boss Chen nodded.

Late at night, two figures slipped stealthily out of their cells and prowled through the prison corridors.

The guards turned a blind eye, having even disabled the surveillance cameras in certain sections of the facility.

The cameras monitoring Ye Fei's cell had been shut off as well.

"It begins..." Ye Fei sneered inwardly. After observing carefully for a while and confirming that the surveillance system was indeed deactivated, he prepared to make his move.

"Liang Ji, act as though nothing unusual has happened in the cell. Don't make a fuss, understand?" Ye Fei instructed.

Liang Ji nodded. Ye Fei had already informed him of his plans, mainly to prevent the others from panicking or shouting out upon discovering his absence, which would leak his whereabouts.

With Liang Ji keeping watch over the others in the cell, Ye Fei left with peace of mind. However, the cell door was locked, and the keyhole was on the outside. Even if Ye Fei could pick the lock with an ordinary iron nail, no matter how miraculous his lock-picking skills might be, he would normally have been helpless against it.

Yet, such obstacles could not stop Ye Fei. He drew a dagger from his person and slipped the blade into the gap of the door. Meeting no resistance whatsoever, as if slicing through a block of tofu, the dagger easily sliced the door lock open.

Ye Fei twirled the dagger in his hand, and with miraculous swiftness, it vanished into some hidden fold of his clothing.

Cutting through iron like mud—

A wave of astonishment washed over Liang Ji. Such legendary divine weapons were things he had previously thought existed only in novels, yet here was one actually in existence, and moreover, it belonged to Ye Fei.

"The Boss is truly divine, possessing even the kind of weapons found only in storybooks," Liang Ji murmured with envy.

What man does not love a fine blade? Every man harbors a romantic martial arts fantasy of roaming the rivers and lakes with a sword, singing songs of unbridled passion and exacting swift vengeance—it was an innate complex among men, and a divine artifact capable of cutting iron like mud was something every man dreamed of possessing.

Ye Fei gently pushed the door open and suddenly felt a faint resistance.

"Discovered. How interesting," Ye Fei thought to himself. He spotted a thin steel wire stretched across the lower frame of the door; the moment the door was pushed open, it had brushed against the wire, pulling it taut and transmitting the signal away.

"Good, this actually has a hint of challenge." Ye Fei slipped out through the doorway, feeling once again the familiar adrenaline rush of his past missions.

Ye Fei vanished rapidly down the corridor, concealing himself in the shadows.

"Ye Fei has come out. Be careful," Dalian warned.

The moment the steel wire had gone taut, both Dalian and Xiaoxue knew immediately. Anyone stepping out at this hour could only be Ye Fei, so the two men instantly raised their guard.

Last time, they had tested Ye Fei and found his martial prowess to be formidable; now, they discovered that he was apparently well-versed in assassination as well.

"Brother Lian, do you think Ye Fei might also be an international assassin? And a top-tier one at that?" Xiaoxue guessed.

"We know all the top-tier assassins in the international underworld, and there is no such figure named Ye Fei. However, based on his style, his age, and the information we gathered beforehand, I actually think this Ye Fei resembles someone," Dalian said.

"Resembles who?" Xiaoxue asked.

"The Reaper—"

Dalian uttered the name, his brow furrowing deeply.

"The Reaper! The King of Mercenaries!" Xiaoxue gasped in shock.

"Exactly. Everyone knows that the 'Reaper' is a young Chinese man in his twenties, and the time of the Reaper's final disappearance matches the time Ye Fei appeared in Deep Sea almost perfectly. Given how formidable Ye Fei's combat skills are, I can't help but suspect that Ye Fei is the Reaper, and the Reaper is Ye Fei," Dalian made a bold conjecture, and his deduction was remarkably accurate.

Xiaoxue shrank back slightly, saying, "Brother Lian, if Ye Fei really is the 'Reaper', the two of us might not be a match for him. Should we still continue with this mission? Even if we fail, the news that we were defeated by the 'Reaper' is hardly a disgraceful thing. The King of Assassins, who has taken on thousands of contracts, has only a single recorded failure in his entire life—and that was against the 'Reaper'. If we fail, but manage to escape alive from his hands, we could still consider it a success of sorts."

"No, Xiaoxue. Even if Ye Fei is the 'Reaper', he has been in retirement for several months; his abilities must have deteriorated. If we can assassinate the 'Reaper', word of it will be enough to propel us to the rank of the new Kings of Assassins. Then we will be the monarchs of the underworld, gaining both fame and fortune," Dalian said, his breathing growing slightly rapid.

"But if he really is the 'Reaper', it's too dangerous. We might die at his hands," Xiaoxue said with unease, lacking Dalian's grand ambitions.

"It's not a matter of 'might', you will definitely die—"

Ye Fei's voice echoed through the space.

Then, a figure materialized.

Tap, tap, tap...

Tap!

Footsteps rang out in the narrow corridor, accompanied by echoes that fell like hammer blows upon the hearts of Dalian and Xiaoxue.

"It's Ye Fei. Let's go."

Startled, Dalian spoke, and together with Xiaoxue, he rapidly changed positions and slipped away into concealment.

"They actually managed to guess my identity. These two must not be left alive!" Ye Fei thought to himself. He identified his orientation and deliberately chose the direction opposite to the two assassins.

Dalian and his partner hid within a secure hiding spot.

"He didn't pursue us," Dalian said in a low, heavy voice.

"It seems Ye Fei really is the 'Reaper'. Why did he give us a verbal warning just now instead of quietly ambushing and assassinating us?" Xiaoxue asked in fright.

"A cat playing with mice!"

With a gloomy expression on his face, Dalian said, "He's playing a cat-and-mouse game, treating assassination as a form of leisure."

"In that case, Ye Fei is extremely confident in his ability to handle both of us," Xiaoxue observed.

"Hmph, not necessarily. Who is the prey and who is the hunter? It's still too early to tell. Ye Fei looking down on us is his greatest mistake. A true top-tier assassin never underestimates any target. Every single mission is executed with full effort—even a lion uses its full strength to capture a rabbit. Ye Fei's arrogance is our opportunity," Dalian declared.

If Xiaoxue had looked into Dalian's eyes at that moment, he would have seen a manic gleam flickering within them—a manifestation of burning ambition, swelling desire, and a mind blinded by the lure of profit.

One could say that at this moment, Dalian no longer cared about life or death. Driven mad by the pursuit of fame and fortune, he was determined to accomplish an impossible task.

The downfall of a person almost always begins in this very manner: blinded by their own desires and ambitions, rushing headlong toward self-destruction.