256 Half a Head (1/2)
Chapter 256: Half a Head
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
Gu Shenwei had been tailing Blademaster Xiang Kai for three days in a row, and every time he mingled with the crowd or crouched on a roof, he would somehow think of his previous partner.
Chu Nanping, his present partner, was a good swordsman. Gu Shenwei had taught him the first five chapters of Wayless Book and some sword skills from Death Scripture to help him improve his kung fu. Now, Chu Nanping was a good servant and guard, but he was still not a killer. Gu Shenwei felt that the boy had no tacit understanding with him when they were required to make on-the-spot decisions.
”Maybe it's not Chu Nanping's fault but mine. Now that I'm unable to fully trust anyone, I shouldn't expect others to trust me completely,” thought Gu Shenwei.
In the next moment, he banished those unwanted thoughts and focused on the current task. He and Chu Nanping would assassinate Blademaster Xiang Kai today.
A few days ago, when Shangguan Tian had arrived in Shu-lik City, Xiang Kai had moved into the Prime Minister's mansion together with the Second Young Master. As the actual controller of Golden Roc Security Agency, he had to go to a teahouse located directly opposite the security agency every day to hear reports from his subordinates. After meeting with his men, Xiang Kai would have some rest in a room on the second storey of the teahouse before going down to have lunch at noon. After lunch, he would return to the Prime Minister's mansion. He usually would not change his daily routine unless there was an emergency.
Gu Shenwei planned to assassinate Xiang Kai when the blademaster rested inside his room on the second floor. Its door was facing the Golden Roc Security Agency and it had a semi-open corridor at the front, thus Xiang Kai's room was always under the watchful eyes of the security agency during daytime. Given that, Gu Shenwei and Chu Nanping chose to sneak to this room before dawn.
Gu Shenwei had learned from his observation that Xiang Kai habitually stopped for a moment at the door every time before entering the room, so he did not directly push the door open. Instead, he gently traced the edges of the door with his fingers until he felt a small piece of paper stuck in the crack between the door and its frame, which would fall off once the door was opened.
He drew out his dagger and pressed its tip onto the paper to prevent it from moving away, and then he asked Chu Nanping to unlock the door with a key, which was bought from an elderly locksmith. This key cost Xu Xiaoyi lots of money, since the locksmith contended that it could open roughly half of the locks used in the neighborhood of the security agency. He boasted that nearly all the locks used in this region were made by him.
After a ”Clack”, the door was opened. ”It looks like that elderly locksmith didn't brag to us. This key is indeed worthy of 100 taels of silver,” thought Gu Shenwei.
After that, he slipped into the room while having Chu Nanping hold the dagger for him, and then they closed the door, making sure that the piece of paper was in its original place. The next thing that they had to do was to wait, which was a common step in all assassination tasks.
During an assassination mission, a professional killer would spend at least half of his time monitoring the target and collecting intelligence. The rest of his time would be spent on waiting for the best opportunity to launch an attack, and when it came, he would usually kill his target with one blow. No matter how superb the target's kung fu was, the killer would always stand a good chance to kill him, since it was the killer who launched the preemptive first strike.
Gu Shenwei leapt up to grab onto a beam, which held the roof of the room. He gently moved his hand on its upper surface to ensure that there were no booby traps before he lifted his whole body up to lie on it. He would have to hide in here for about one or two hours before he could strike.
Recently, Xiang Kai had been very busy since he had gotten a strange intelligence report, which said that Yang Huan, leader of the bandits in the Great Snowmountain had sneaked into Shu-lik City. He was skeptical about this piece of information, for now the Great Snowmountain was at war with Shu-lik. In his eyes, as ”Chief of the Dragons”, Yang Huan should not leave his army at such a critical moment.
As soon as Xiang Kai arrived at the teahouse this morning, one of his subordinates came to him with a verified intelligence report: the Great Snowmountain had sent a messenger to Shu-lik City to make peace with Shu-lik, and Prime Minister Shi had already promised to meet the messenger. He also told Xiang Kai that it was a merchant named Xu Yi who had helped arrange this meeting between the Great Snowmountain's messenger and the Prime Minister.
”It's such a pity that this isn't Jade City. Back in the city, such minor problems could easily be solved,” Xiang Kai secretly sighed. He was a seasoned killer and a first-rate saber user, but his kung fu and killer tactics could not be used here in Shu-lik.
”Ironically, I live in the Prime Minister's mansion now with the Second Young Master, but I've never heard anything about the Prime Minister's plan to meet a messenger from the Great Snowmountain. That's urgent business. I'd better go back as soon as possible to report to the young master.” With this thought in his mind, Xiang Kai stood up, preparing to leave. Just at this moment, his other subordinates came in here to report to him.
After hearing all their reports, Xiang Kai changed his mind and decided to have a rest in the teahouse before returning to the Prime Minister's mansion. ”Maybe this thing isn't as urgent as I imagined. I heard nothing about the Prime Minster's plan to meet the messenger, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the Second Young Master doesn't know it.”
When he stood in front of his room on the second storey, he could see that the lock was intact and the piece of paper was still in its original position. His servant went into the room first to check everything for him. A moment later, the servant walked out and nodded to him to show that everything inside was alright before going downstairs.
Xiang Kai entered the room and closed the door. Only in this room could he relax a little. Sometimes, he felt that this room was too extravagant for a killer, who should always stay alert.
Strangely enough, he could not relax himself in this room today, as his sixth sense told him that there was something wrong in here. He felt as if he had stepped into a wrong room, since all furnishings inside this room seemed so strange.
He held onto the shaft of his saber, his gaze sweeping across the room.
Upon discovering that Xiang Kai sensed his presence, Gu Shenwei had to admit that after he had spents several months in the Great Snowmountain as ”Chief of the Dragons and Leader of the Five Peaks”, his assassination skills were not as good as before.
Despite that, Gu Shenwei still attacked. When Xiang Kai lifted up his face toward the ceiling, he saw a saber heading straight towards him from above.
When the sharp point of the saber pierced through Xiang Kai's clothes and skin with unstoppable momentum, Gu Shenwei reminded himself that as a killer, he should retreat the moment he killed his target to prevent himself from being wounded by the target's counterblow.
Nevertheless, Gu Shenwei just could not help himself during this moment. He felt as if his saber had suddenly become greedy for human blood and eagerly hoped to cut the man in half. As a result, Gu Shenwei failed to retreat as fast as he wanted.
After inflicting a wound on Gu Shenwei's ribs with his saber, Xiang Kai fell to the ground on his knees, his back arching in the process and his forehead was touching the ground, forming a weird arc.
Gu Shenwei did not care about the injury, but he was astonished that his killer skills had regressed so much in just a few months. He immediately thought of Shangguan Fa. ”How does the Supreme King manage to keep a sharp sixth sense and superb killer skills while being a lord for decades?”