"That is such bad news! I hope they can rest in peace!"
Hank's tense face forced out a trace of sadness, but the general expression was still one of nervousness. Even if he allowed Ye Qi to go through the personal records of each circus member, the young Demon Hunter would have a hard time believing he was innocent. After all, Ye Qi had managed to catch a boatload of nervousness and not one ounce of sincere sadness in Hank's darting gaze!
Another pawn?
Hank's amateur acting chops made the thought crop up in Ye Qi's mind immediately. Even though the young Demon Hunter thought the situation was regretful, he wasn't disappointed—a pawn might be replaceable, but if they followed the pawn, they would reach the hand that handled the pawn eventually!
Summer Crinkle was now on complete lockdown; that Apostle-level assassin would have to abandon their lackeys and escaped on their own. After their brief encounter, Ye Qi was sure his opponent wasn't good enough to cast a long-term invisibility spell. This would be a bad move, because no matter how strong the organization was, the abandoned had no loyalty and surrendering to the original enemy would be their best bet!
At least, that way they could negotiate information about their boss in exchange for their lives. When belief was shattered, staying alive would become the most important thing! Therefore, to ensure the lackeys stayed loyal to the organization, the enemy would eventually have to contact Hank, this pawn, who could enter and leave Summer Crinkle openly.
Ye Qi gave this ringmaster who tried to pull one over him a side-eye—those who wandered too close to the flames would eventually be burned. Ye Qi could already envision this ringmaster's ending. After leaving Summer Crinkle, he would have lost his usefulness as a pawn, to preserve their tracks, one could guess what would happen to this hapless Hank.
"Sir, that's all the people under my employment!" After getting out of the camp of one of the tricksters, Hank told Ye Qi in faux-apology, "I'm sorry, but there's nothing more I can do to help. I'm really sorry, Sir!"
"That's alright. Thank you for your help, Ringmaster Hank!" After know where his loyalty stood, Ye Qi didn't want to waste any more time going round in circles with Hank. He nodded at the large bloke and said, "Darien, let’s bring our investigation someplace else then, seems like the news we received is untrue!"
Then, Ye Qi left Hank Circus with Darien in tow. They circled around it to make sure no one was tailing them before returning to the alleyway where A Wa and Tatum were waiting.
"Even though they are definitely related to the night assault, they are just pawns!" Ye Qi immediately shared his finding with his friends and proceeded to come up with a plan. "Since our enemy has the power to go invisible, we might be found out if we get too close. Therefore, we will have to depend on A Wa's animal friends again! Preferably those that will are naturally inconspicuous…"
"Ye, leave it to me!"
A Wa nodded. Then, he made a "tsk tsk" sound. Soon, about ten rats emerged from the holes along the alleyway. After they snacked on the food in A Wa's palm, they separated and went into Hank Circus.
Ye Qi nodded as the rats scurried away—rats were common rodents, especially common in places like Hank Circus where the cleanliness was passable at best; they wouldn't be so easily suspected.
"Darien, do you know any comfortable hotels nearby?" Ye Qi turned and smiled at the big bloke. "Now, it's a game of patience to see which of us will crack first, the Ringmaster Hank, the Assassin, or ourselves. Of course, to improve our chance of winning, we need a comfortable environment to rest our feet!"
The morning light filtered through the window into the comfy hotel room. Ye Qi sipped on the milk tea served on the coffee table and moved his eyes to signal the Cavalry Captain to join him.
"How long are we going to wait?" Even though the milk tea was nice, Alice wasn't in a leisurely mood. "We've waited for three days already, so how much longer do we need to wait?"
This was the third day since Ye Qi's group had started keeping an eye on Hank Circus. On the morning of the first day, Alice had come from the camp and sought out Ye Qi's hotel. The young Demon Hunter welcomed her with open arms—of course, he was also thankful of his three buddies who had moved out of his room of their own volition and booked the room next door, even though the young Demon Hunter had not advanced in any way with Alice over the past three days…
"We currently have the upper hand. Even if the opponent has the power of invisibility, they will have to appear around Summer Crinkle eventually, so we'll wait until that happens!"
Ye Qi, who knew the depth of power that the headquarters had in Summer Crinkle, smiled confidently at Alice—as long as the headquarters continued to breathe down their neck, they would eventually have to reach out to Hank. They would strike when that happened.
"Come, try this, it's nice!" Slicing up the cake that Darien had bought from the famous bakery in Summer Crinkle, Ye Qi placed a slice before Alice before dumping one slice into his mouth. With his mouth full, he praised, "The baker sure knows his stuff!"
The smell of cake intermingling with the smell of milk tea finally broke the tense Cavalry Captain. She reached out to take the cup while Ye Qi grabbed, from who knows where, a vase that had a purple morning glory in it and placed it on the table between them. Alice saw what he was doing, but she didn't stop him.
Just as things were going smooth, the door burst open and Tatum strode in.
"I'm sorry for disturbing your breakfast!" The lanky fella grimaced at Ye Qi when he saw the vase on the table as he walked in. Then he turned serious as he delivered the news. "Our Ringmaster Hank has finally made his move!"
Hank Circus was still as busy as ever; obviously, the search done by Ye Qi's group earlier didn't cost them any business.
It was quite early in the morning, but the sales-ticket clown was already standing at the entrance, plying the tickets that he carried in a box hanging from his neck. This was the sixth day Hank Circus had been in Summer Crinkle. According to their tradition, tomorrow or the day after that would be the day they left the city and sought their fortune elsewhere. This was their last hurrah, the last stretch where they could earn money. The clown was extrpassionate that morning because the ringmaster suddenly raised the percentage of his cut by two percent. The raise wasn't high, but it was enough to instil a little more fire in his belly.
"Boss, where are you going?"
"Out for a bit, I’ll be back later!"
The clown didn't ask more than that, in fact, the first question was merely perfunctory. His relationship with Hank was merely employee and employer, so he wouldn't care what Hank was up to. However, behind a trash can in the corner, a pair of beady eyes were following Hank, who was walking away from the circus grounds.