Qiao Ying: "Do you know who I am?"
The man looked at her: "The boss of Black Water."
Qiao Ying sneered: "At least I'm the boss of Black Water. In the Gladiator Arena, I was shoulder to shoulder with the nameless one - you are Blood Shadow, Dark Shadow's number one assassin."
The man's pupils shrank for a moment.
Qiao Ying smiled: "Such a big reaction? Did Dark Shadow not tell you that the nameless one is Blood Shadow when they sent you to investigate me?"
The organization had of course told him that the nameless one was that most terrifying existence among them. What surprised him was: "...How do you know? Why do you know so much about our Dark Shadow?"
How could she recognize him as someone from Dark Shadow with one glance, and not be surprised at all by his arrival? How could she be so clear about his skills,
know that there was a listening device hidden in his mouth and a tracking chip implanted under the skin of his neck, and have that bottle of medicine prepared in advance to dissolve those things?
The girl did not answer him, but after looking at him, she said: "Dark Shadow only sent a novice like you."
That stung his pride a little.
A novice? The man knew he couldn't compare to those seniors, but he had already spent five years in Dark Shadow. And before he was recruited by Dark Shadow, he was already an assassin. Yet in her words, he had become a novice?
Qiao Ying: "Did JOKER send you?"
The man gasped softly. Clearly, the girl's understanding of them was starting to frighten him. It felt as if there was a lurking hunter in the dark, and he was the prey exposing all his weaknesses.
His scalp tingled.
JOKER - the codename used by the girl - was precisely the codename of their Dark Shadow leader. It didn't mean "Joker", but rather "Ace".
The leader and several masterminds of Dark Shadow all used card denominations as their codenames - Ace of Spades, King of Hearts, Queen of Clubs...
Dark Shadow's assassins were also classified under various codenames.
At the very front were the ten ace assassins denoted by the character "Shadow".
And ranked first among the "Shadow" ace assassins was the one who struck fear into people's hearts at the mere mention of his name - the unparalleled genius assassin "Blood Shadow".
That ace who had failed his mission and perished in the ocean several months ago - their senior.
The man's codename was the string of numbers on his back.
Seeing the startled look in the man's eyes, Qiao Ying continued asking: "After watching me for so many days, what have you found out about me?"
Qiao Ying: "In other words, what does JOKER want to know about me?"
The man kept his mouth shut.
Qiao Ying casually toyed with the silver needle in her hand: "I hate disobedient fools who ask for trouble."
Her voice was very soft, yet it sent a chill down the man's spine.
Qiao Ying got up and walked over to squat in front of the man.
The man held his breath, nervously swallowing saliva, his eyes reflecting the cold tip of the needle between the girl's fingers.
The slender needle rested on his face, and the icy sensation traveled across his skin as the girl moved it firmly against him.
Then he heard the girl say slowly: "I have hundreds of ways to make you talk."
As she finished speaking, the silver needle suddenly pierced an acupoint. The man groaned painfully, cold sweat instantly appearing on him in another layer. The muscles under his skin spasmed violently, again and again, making the man suspect that she had disabled him by pinching his nerves alive. It hurt so much that his breathing became hurried and he gasped sharply.
Another needle. This time, the man couldn't help but cry out loud in pain. He tried to struggle and writhe to relieve the pain, but found that he couldn't move at all. The feeling made him suffer unspeakably.
"Just kill me!" the man shouted angrily.
Qiao Ying smiled, as if to say: it wasn't so simple to just "die directly" after falling into her hands.
She was neither rushed nor impatient,
and so the man's psychological defenses were pierced needle by needle by Qiao Ying until there was no endurance left.
He cried out painfully: "I'll talk! I'll talk..."
Qiao Ying: "I told you not to make things hard for yourself."
The man tried hard to calm down, then finally spoke: "JOKER suspects that you have a relationship with our organization's ace assassin Blood Shadow."
Qiao Ying flashed the needle in her hand again, expressionless: "I don't want to hear nonsense."
The man's scalp tingled: "JOKER suspects that you are an assassin secretly cultivated by Blood Shadow."
Qiao Ying: "Go on."
"At first, when you replaced the nameless one, that is, Blood Shadow, and became the new boss of Black Water in the Gladiator Arena, taking over Black Water for Blood Shadow, JOKER suspected you were an assassin cultivated by Blood Shadow. But through observation, it was discovered that not only are your skills alike, you can also use silver needles to kill and heal people, just like him. And there's also Cheng Jinyan."
Cheng Jinyan was once Blood Shadow's bosom friend. Now he was suddenly so close to Qiao Ying, which was naturally questionable.
So tonight, he had boldly taken risks, wanting to further observe Qiao Ying, but ended up exposing himself directly instead.
Qiao Ying: "So what now?"
Man: "So, JOKER suspects that you are a clone of Blood Shadow."
Qiao Ying looked as if she had eaten a mouthful of flies: "Disgusting."
The man of course could not understand Qiao Ying's reaction.
He naturally could not understand, because he would not know that the one who really wanted to clone Blood Shadow was their leader JOKER, those old guys!
Not only did they want to clone her genes, they also wanted to remove her after making use of her. Now they were still using their filthy, disgusting ideas to defile her!
Qiao Ying: "Do they think everyone is as dirty as them?"
Qiao Ying restrained her thoughts: "What else?"
Man: "The higher-ups told me not to startle the snake in the grass. We didn't intend to make you our enemy. If you have no relationship with Blood Shadow, Dark Shadow is willing to recruit you."
Qiao Ying: "What if I do?"
The man stared at her, then after a long pause, replied: "Kill you."
If she really was an assassin secretly trained by Blood Shadow, if she really was a clone made by Blood Shadow herself, Dark Shadow would not let her live.
Qiao Ying: "How many people are watching me?"
The man shook his head. Apart from himself, he didn't know about others.
At this point, Qiao Ying suddenly asked: "How did Blood Shadow die?"
The man was stunned for a moment, then told the truth: "Failed mission, died at sea."
"Heh~" Qiao Ying let out a cold laugh.
Her laughter was full of mockery, as if she'd heard some huge joke.
Sure enough, it was the usual style and rhetoric of those old men.
What a ridiculous death for the number one assassin who had a perfect record his whole life, the last one to be given such a laughable ending.
Were they trying to insult her?
Qiao Ying's smile faded as she looked at the man and sized him up: "Judging solely on skill, he would still be a good seedling to nurture as an assassin. Do you have anything you want to say?"
Any last words?
Man: "Who exactly are you?"
"You're not qualified enough to know yet." Qiao Ying smiled silently again and said, "Besides, what would a dead man do with knowing so much?"
Upon hearing this, the man's eyes suddenly widened in shock -
In the hospital,
Master Qin's condition had just stabilized.
Qin Hanyue was standing alone by the window at the end of the corridor, smoking.
The night wind blew by, and that little speck of orange light from his lips flickered, casting his brows and eyes in an even deeper light.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. The moment he took out his phone and saw the caller ID displayed, Qin Hanyue's thoughts were slowly drawn back.
He was a little surprised and glanced at the time.
It was midnight,
and the number of times Qiao Ying had taken the initiative to call him so late at night was rare - in fact, this was the first time ever.
The gloom in Qin Hanyue's heart was thus dispelled a little.
He picked up the phone. His voice still had some lingering soft hoarseness after the cigarette, lacking some of its usual coldness: "Miss Qiao, still not resting so late into the night?"
Qiao Ying: "Mr. Qin, could you lend me two men to dispose of a corpse?"
