177 Brothel Star – Change (1/2)

Cao Mao gave Ma Moxi a bit of pocket money to spend tonight in the brothel. As for himself, he left the building without bothering with the local prostitutes as the girls were subpar by his standard.

Ten girls were brought to Ma Moxi after Cao Mao had left. When the brothel mama returned, she didn't see Ma Moxi's friend anymore.

”Young master Ma, where is your friend?”

Ma Moxi's face was gloomy before the mama returned. When the girls showed up, he immediately roleplayed as a debaucherous young master.

”Forget him. He's a virgin wimp. I'll take all of them by myself!”

”Oh, my! You're quite different today. Don't you want to see Chang'e today?”

Chang'e was the alias of the brothel star, who only sold her music art, not her body. She insisted on maintaining her purity and refused to sleep with any customer, including the previous owner of Ma Moxi's body.

Before the hitman soul took over this body, Ma Moxi pursued Chang'e as if his life depended on it. Of course, he was rejected because of his fame and his family status.

Ma Moxi had a portion of the previous owner's memory. When he recalled the deed the other Ma Moxi had done, he sighed in disappointment.

”No. I just want bed partners. You can leave us.”

”…Sure.”

The mama left the VVIP suite.

Ma Moxi adjusted his mindset and began his job. He started playing with the girls and bragged about his knowledge, including various rumors. He mixed in Liu Bian's information along with other rumors so that these girls wouldn't find out that he intentionally leaked the intel.

.

Meanwhile, Cao Mao walked down the stairs and sighed in regret.

'Haiz. Is the protagonist's plot armor at work? I could have summoned KQ and detonated him with the bomb switch back then.'

Cao Mao regretted that he picked Liu Bian as the target. Had he picked Ma Moxi from the beginning, he could have ended the mission today.

Still, no one could tell what kind of stupid missions or questlines the system would have given him had he picked the other choice. Instead of meeting Ma Moxi early, the System Sponsor might have influenced his decision to move closer to Liu Bian instead.

'No point crying for the spoiled milk. I have to turn the crisis into an opportunity.'

The system had hinted at Cao Mao one thing when he was choosing his target. It was hidden in Zhu Qiao's details.

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Note: To make the main character your ally, do not accept the character's hunt campaign, or you'll be forced to kill the person.[1]

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If this note could apply to Zhu Qiao's campaign, it might be possible to turn other protagonists as his allies or convert them into either a neutral character or an antagonist.

Still, Cao Mao was taking a huge gamble when he decided to befriend Ma Moxi.

The stake was extremely high.

Then, again, the system couldn't be trusted. It could be another diversion or false information.

Now, Cao Mao had three options.

One – Kill Ma Moxi ASAP.

Two – Cooperate with Ma Moxi to kill Liu Bian. Then, turn Ma Moxi into an ally.

Three - Cooperate with Ma Moxi to kill Liu Bian. Then, kill Ma Moxi.

Option one was the safest route, but it was the most troublesome one to deal with after the deed. After all, the Qiang Clan seemed to be Ma Moxi's rival. Without the protagonist's presence, this antagonist clan would be too prosperous like Wei Huang and Xu Xiuying.

The second option was the riskiest, but the reward could be huge. It depended if the system had told him the truth or not.

And then, the last option had many risk factors. By the time they could kill Liu Bian, Ma Moxi's strength would have increased by a few realms. The aftermath showdown would be a lot tougher.

Thinking this far, Cao Mao's feet stopped. He was on the 8th floor at the moment, so it wasn't too late to return and kill the troublesome protagonist.

Cao Mao summoned KQ and hid the katana behind his back. He turned around and backtracked, returning to the previous suite that he had left.

On his way to Ma Moxi's room, his right eyebrow twitched. His instinct sent out a life-threatening alarm.

Cao Mao stopped moving again. He looked around to see if someone or something threatened to kill him.

At the moment, Cao Mao was on the half-turn staircase between the 9th and the 10th floor. On the half-turn wall, a giant mirror, embedded into the wall, was in front of Cao Mao.

Everything was normal around Cao Mao, except for this mirror. The mirror reflection was showing something that shouldn't exist behind him.

A gorgeous dark-green-haired lady in a pink Chinese silk Hanfu dress was walking up the stairs. She was carrying a giant harp, which didn't suit someone from the Chinese culture.

Cao Mao's eyes and the girl in the mirror's eyes met.

The girl smiled and bowed toward Cao Mao. Then, she proceeded to the tenth floor.

Cao Mao turned around, but he couldn't see anyone behind him or on the stairs. He looked back into the mirror. The pink-dressed girl was still there.

In a panic, Cao Mao expanded his sense to check the surroundings. Without difficulty, he located the girl in question. She was using a camouflage skill to hide her real body from plain sight.

Realizing that he wasn't cursed or possessed, Cao Mao heaved a sigh of relief.

'That invisible spell is neat. Well, I should spar with her clone and get that skill. Also, she's probably the only beauty here that can compete with Wei Yuan and others. The rest is just meh.'

It was a strange encounter.

Cao Mao recalled that he was supposed to kill Ma Moxi as soon as possible regardless of his potential. He went up the stairs and returned to the suite.

By the time that he got to the front door, an array spell had already been erected. It prevented Cao Mao from proceeding further.

Beyond the array, there were messages on the surface of the barrier.