Chapter 25 – Pei Luo Jia’s Expert Assassin
TL: Milaryn
Edit: IlkonEbi
TL Note: Bold text is in English.
“Why… Why did you crash into him…”
Chen Junbin could not refrain from asking as he thought about the expensive car – now wrecked due to falling down into the creek. This assassin next to him was definitely a cold-hearted demon!
He was originally not a materialistic person, however the more one earned, the more likely they were to become cowardly. To be able to own such an expensive convertible, that person must have come from a rich background; if that person had not died from the fall, it was possible that they would cause a lot of trouble in the future. In the midst of Chen Junbin’s confusion, the assassin only calmly said, “Pei Luo Jia has a very good clean up crew. I think that earlier this afternoon, they had notified you that they would be sending someone?”
“Ah?” Chen Junbin was bewildered for a moment, but then he suddenly remembered and his eyes widened.
“Pei Luo Jia has a procedure they follow when they receive a job. First they investigate the target, then an assessment is given to determine what level of assassin they should send out. Then if it fails, they will send an assassin one level higher to complete the task after reviewing what caused the failure. As Number Seven’s rank in Pei Luo Jia was B-level, after he died, they would have sent another person."
“Asia Division’s A-level assassin, codename Aoi, is the best at surviving in the wild. He has excellent close combat skills and is familiar with all kinds of machinery and modes of transportation. However, regardless of being an assassin or an eunuch, both of these occupations are regarded as unsavory. Having gotten accustomed to killing and destruction for so long, his personality became warped and he started seeking extreme ways to fuel his adrenaline rushes such as street racing, driving speed boats and flying stunts. Unfortunately he will never reach the highest level of assassins because of this fatal weakness.”
Hearing that this person knew such intimate details, Chen Junbin could only breathe out. “You’re so familiar with him, are you also…”
“I used to belong to Pei Luo Jia.” The dwarf turned his head, showing off the scar on his face and smiled coldly, “Highest level.”
When they could see the cement factory from afar, the Jeep turned its lights off, pulled over and stopped by the woods on the side of the road. If he were following his previous habits, at this point in time, the couple would have been long since killed and disposed of. However, the current him did not want to do it, partially due to the unborn child.
If they were smart, after this incident, they would flee far, far away…
He knocked out the two of them, then tied them up and left them in the back seat of the Jeep. As he walked out of the woods, he glanced back into the darkness. The assassin called Aoi used to be one of his teachers, and having gotten rid of him today, he let out a small sigh – his heart felt somewhat rueful. When he arrived at the abandoned factory, the feeling faded and was replaced by a look of total indifference.
From the day he found out that his opponent was Tang Jingyao, he had already started his preparations. Within a few days, he had thoroughly and completely investigated Tang Jingyao without his knowledge. He knew everything: his daily schedule and movements, what locations he went to, the ongoings of his subordinates and his trade routes. He had even visited this abandoned cement factory once. Even though he was not very familiar with it, the knowledge he had was enough for his purposes. This was the quality of Pei Luo Jia’s highest level of assassins. If he did not have these skills, then he would not have been able to escape from Pei Luo Jia’s base in the first place.
Even though there were a lot of people patrolling this factory, they did not dare to make it like a military base and have it brightly lit. From afar, one could see that the lights were scattered in various locations; Jia Ming could only laugh inwardly.
The danger level is pretty low, but… Since this is the first time I’ve acted and I’m still a rookie, I should make it somewhat elegant.
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In a room on the third floor of the abandoned factory, an impeccably dressed Tang Jingyao sat across Marilyn and Heidi at a coffee table. He was flanked by two vicious looking foreign men and looked upon the mother and daughter with a small smile. Marilyn was hugging her daughter tightly while glaring daggers at them.
“How many times do I have to say it for you to believe me, the assassin that night was not sent by me. If I truly wanted to kill you, would I have just sent one weak assassin… God, you are my wife and child, why would I want to harm you?”
Having been a politician for many years and having crawled his way up from the bottom to the top, Tang Jingyao’s current attitude seemed sincere and was quite reasonable sounding. Heidi could only softly say, “Daddy…” while the golden-haired woman resolutely shook her head. If she fell for this again, shame on her. She coldly jeered, “Keep pretending, Tang. If you were like this ten years ago, then not only I would have been tricked, but even my father would have really liked you, and this situation wouldn’t have happened.”
“It originally is already not like this! Did you hear what Heidi called me? She is my daughter, you are my wife! I have never tricked you both, please believe me!” Having continuously said it for more than an hour, Tang Jingyao was also starting to become irritated. It was not like giving a report, where people would listen closely to him, take notes and then applaud him. This woman in front of him obviously knew what situation he was in; he did not want to have to use violence to solve this. He hoped that she would believe his lies instead and that it would not come back and bite him in the ass. However, getting her to believe him seemed to be quite a difficult trial to pass.
Regardless of the situation, he was still a traditionally raised Chinese man. Thus, when faced with this mother-daughter pair who were someone he had a past relationship with, in the end, he did not want to shed all pretense of cordiality with them.
Since this woman had waited for him in America for the past ten years, it could be said that she loved him deeply and that it was still possible for him to move her with his words. Sh*t, it was all because of those Italians… He glanced briefly at the two bodyguard-sized foreigners. He had not even considered sending an assassin, but who knew that they would act independently and arrange for an assassination. Currently the situation in America was not going that well, even if he wanted to turn this situation around, what could he do? Now that it had come to this, how did they expect him to solve it!
He unbuttoned his suit, loosened his tie, then paced back and forth around the room with his hands on his hips. After he relatively calmed down, he tried one last time, “Please, can you just believe me?”
In his heart, he already knew that she would no longer believe him. However, he could not help but hold onto the thread of hope that she still loved him regardless of what happened, and that she would forgive him. If she could not forgive him, at least she could perhaps pretend to? She was a smart woman. She should know that at this point in time, there was no longer any way to retreat. If she told him what he wanted to hear, then he could at least treat the mother-daughter pair properly.
After a long while, Marilyn finally said, “Fine, I believe you.” A hint of a charming smile appeared on her face, “However I don’t have anything to tell you. After you left the United States, I no longer participated in the family business because you returned to China to become a politician, and I did not want to affect your chances. I have told you this many times, and I will continue saying this. If you had not involved yourself with the mafia, then you wouldn’t need information related to them, would you?”
Tang Jingyao retreated two steps and finally gave up.
“Fine then! I will tell you everything. I did not hire the assassin, but it was them acting independently!” He shouted as he wildly pointed at the two men next to him, “Do you think I actually call the shots? They’re the ones in charge! I am also a pawn in their chess game! It’s them that need the information you can provide! They’re the ones that hired an assassin to kill you! I didn’t want that to happen, but what could I do? You refused to tell me anything no matter what. Did you know that regardless of whether your family sends reinforcements first, or if they send additional people, we will be killed first! Our family of three will definitely die!”
He shook his head, his eyes bloodshot, “I only want to protect you both, that’s why I’ve been like this. You two are the ones I love most in this world…”
“You’re finally not pretending anymore?” Marilyn only faintly smiled, “You love us, but then what about your other wife?”
“It was a political marriage because it was important in securing her family’s support. Without her family, I would not be where I am now, the ones I love are…”
“So I’m just a bargaining chip, right? Even though previously I wasn’t important, now I am. Tang, you’ve changed, you’re no longer the Tang I knew from ten years ago. The you now sees things as bargaining chips, and the only things you love are money and power.”
Tang Jingyao was startled as the foreigner raised a gun at him, “Sorry, Tang, we gave you more than enough time. I don’t want to see you flirt anymore, starting from now, give her to us to handle.”
“Marilyn, I’m begging you, please tell me.”
Marilyn only shook her head again. “I don’t know anything. If you still have any conscience, don’t let anything happen to Heidi. After all, she is your daughter. If I remember correctly, Chinese people view blood-related daughters as important, right?”
“You only need to…” Tang Jingyao still wanted to continue persuading her, but suddenly, static could be heard from the walkie-talkie on the table and someone started rapidly reporting in Chinese. Because they were speaking too fast, the two foreigners did not understand, and Marilyn and her daughter also did not know what was going on when Tang Jingyao’s expression turned grave. He gave a few curt orders, then opened the drawer in the table and took out a gun. He turned to the two foreigners and said, “Six people are dead downstairs – they were the patrols of two on the edges of the factory. Their throats were slit and they did not even have the chance to retaliate. I don’t know who it is, but, Mr. Ramos, I think your people should make a move.”
The two of them immediately leapt into action after sparing one last glance at the mother-daughter pair. They left the room to talk to the other Italian mobsters that had not joined the patrols. There were a total of six of them – four of them were currently in the other room playing cards. When the mobster called Ramos returned, Tang Jingyao questioned Marilyn, “Who is coming to save you? Is it your father’s men?”
“I don’t know.” Her eyes flickered with a strange expression before she smiled wanly and shook her head, “I really don’t know.”
1 / 4 chapters of the week (next release is tomorrow, Feb 19).
Some Japanese assassin names are introduced in a later chapter, so this is a deliberate choice instead of just ‘Blue’.
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