The First Order

The fighting in the stronghold continued until late into the night, but even then, it did not stop. Ren Xiaosu could still hear gunfire coming from the stronghold in his yard every now and then.

Ren Xiaosu thought that if he had not been at Stronghold 63 two days ago, that battle would probably have also lasted this long.

Fortunately, the battle in the stronghold had attracted the attention of Stronghold 61’s garrison troops. Otherwise, the enemy might have already come searching for Zhou Yingxue.

He wondered if Zhou Yingxue had been seen by anyone when she fled?

But how should he handle Zhou Yingxue now? After he tied her up, Ren Xiaosu suddenly remembered he had also bound her like this in their last encounter. Always meeting under such circumstances just did not feel right to him.

Zhou Yingxue gradually came to. When she regained consciousness, she struggled for a bit in the chair and realized she could not move. Then she looked up at Ren Xiaosu and said, “What are you trying to do? Why are you here? Are you here to arrest me? Don’t tell me you’ve joined the Pyro Company or the Wang Consortium?”

“Hold it right there!” Ren Xiaosu said, “This is my fucking house. You were the one who intruded into my house in the middle of the night, so how dare you ask why I’m here? Is that even appropriate? Shouldn’t I be the one asking what you’re doing here? What are you plotting against me?”

When Zhou Yingxue heard that, she got so angry she nearly flipped. Who was plotting against you?!

But Zhou Yingxue could not understand why this was Ren Xiaosu’s residence. Wasn’t this place in the town outside Stronghold 61?

In Zhou Yingxue’s opinion, Ren Xiaosu was a much stronger supernatural being than her, so he shouldn’t be living in a town like this.

But she had lost too much blood and could not think straight anymore. She only barely managed to argue back, “Lie! Continue lying! How can a person like you possibly be living here?”

After that, Zhou Yingxue quietly watched as Ren Xiaosu held up a key and lock. When he gently twisted the key, the padlock opened.

Seemingly afraid that Zhou Yingxue could not see it clearly, Ren Xiaosu relocked the padlock and twisted the key again. Just like that, he repeated the process many times.

It was like he was mocking Zhou Yingxue silently.

Zhou Yingxue could feel her head starting to hurt. “Stop it, stop opening it already!”

She could not understand why there was such an annoying person in this world!

Ren Xiaosu chuckled and said, “This is the padlock on my house door. The plants in the backyard were planted by me. The chair you’re sitting in was made by a carpenter I hired. On the nightstand next to the chair are books from Stronghold 88’s library that I stole—I mean, borrowed.”

With that, Zhou Yingxue was finally convinced. She kept quiet for a while before asking, “What’re you doing here? Where did you all go after Stronghold 88 was destroyed? Were you the ones responsible for that?”

Ren Xiaosu asked, “You were partly in charge of the intelligence work at the Yang Consortium, so how can you not know that it was the Li Consortium’s nanosoldiers who were responsible for it? You must’ve encountered those soldiers that lost their minds that night, right? By the way, did you manage to save your mother?”

“Yes, I got her out.” When Zhou Yingxue recalled that she had only managed to save her mother because Ren Xiaosu decided to let her go, her anger subsided a little.

But when Zhou Yingxue thought about it again, she felt that something was not right. Ren Xiaosu was the one who had tied her up at that time. She had just finished her grocery shopping and was about to return home to cook for her mother. However, she met this guy on the way and was knocked out by him!

Zhou Yingxue asked, “What do you want from me now?”

“Come, I want you to answer some of my questions.” Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “Are you a member of the Anjing House?”

“No.” Zhou Yingxue shook her head. “At least not yet.”

“Then you must be an A-rank hitwoman, right?” Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, “Since you’re a woman, it’s not convenient for me to body search you. Where do you keep your cell phone? Hand it over.”

Zhou Yingxue no longer possessed the charming aura she had back at the library. Instead, she was wearing a tight-fitting, black T-shirt and a pair of pants that gave her a rather nimble look.

Actually, Zhou Yingxue was not exactly the beautiful type and could only be considered slightly above average-looking. However, she possessed a certain demeanor that made her stand out.

Zhou Yingxue suddenly asked, “How do you know about the Anjing House and the contract killers?”

“Ahem.” Ren Xiaosu said with restraint, “Coincidentally, I’m also a contract killer myself.”

Zhou Yingxue was really stunned this time. “You’re also an A-rank hitman?”

“No, I’m a D-rank….” Ren Xiaosu took out a D-rank cell phone that he had snatched from someone but never used before.

Zhou Yingxue burst into laughter. “What? You’re a D-rank?! You must be kidding, right? How can a supernatural being like you be a D-rank hitman?”

Ren Xiaosu said unhappily, “Is it that funny? Aren’t we supposed to complete the missions and get promoted slowly? Didn’t you also start off as a D-rank?”

“Of course not.” Zhou Yingxue belly laughed. “When supernatural beings make their known identities, they’ll be issued a new cell phone, and the missions assigned through them will also be different. You stole that phone from a D-rank hitman, right? You can’t receive any A-rank missions. Also, an A-rank hitman’s cell phone is matched to their fingerprints.”

“That can’t be. I can receive A-rank missions too.” Ren Xiaosu was puzzled.

Hold on! Actually, he had not received any A-rank missions before. But ever since he stirred up all that trouble at Stronghold 61 and 63, he started receiving them.

He took Zhou Yingxue’s cell phone from her right pants pocket. Her phone was much more exquisite than his, and the camera’s quality was also clearer. There was also an area reserved for the fingerprint scanner to unlock the cell phone.

So was he only receiving information about the A-rank missions because the Anjing House had given him special treatment after realizing he was the one who stirred up all that trouble?

If so, he would have to be more careful when he performed his missions from now on.

Although he could also get promoted to A-rank by declaring himself to the Anjing House that he was a supernatural being like Zhou Yingxue, he did not want to expose his identity.

He had thought about stealing an A-rank hitman’s cell phone, but the Anjing House required A-rank hitmen to switch to new cell phones that had fingerprint verification software. Each A-rank hitman would get a phone that could only be unlocked specifically by them.

Therefore, every killer needed to change to a new cell phone after they got promoted to A-rank. If he had to swap for a new phone, he would have to deal directly with an Anjing House member to get his fingerprint ID set up. Wouldn’t his identity still get exposed?

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Did a member of the Anjing House personally hand you your new cell phone?”

“No.” Zhou Yingxue shook her head. “It was delivered to me by a white paper crane. The Anjing House has never questioned the identities of the hitmen. Whether they wish to keep their identities secret or publicize it, that’s all up to them.”

Realization dawned upon Ren Xiaosu. So that’s how it was. It was all good as long as there was no need for him to meet them in person. And he could finally confirm that the supernatural being who controlled the paper cranes was from Anjing House. He wondered what position that person held within the Anjing House.

It was probably not an important position, right? After all, from the looks of it, that supernatural being was merely a messenger of sorts…

Suddenly, Zhou Yingxue said, “Untie me, please. I need to clean my wound. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know after that. If I don’t treat my wound soon, I’ll die….”