Book 11.5: Chapter 19

Ming Feizhen slept the four hostile armed guards, then tried to steal a gander of the warehouse’s interior.Su Li praised, “You really are good. You dropped them before I even saw you move.”“That was actually slow. I was just trying to stop them from making a fuss,” Ming Feizhen responded.Hua Qing asked, “Strange. Why are they guarding this place as though it’s a treasure trove when there’s nothing here?”“Here’s your second lesson.  A place that’s guarded ‘as though it’s a treasure trove’ usually is.” Ming Feizhen ran his hands along the round, then grinned. “Right here. Your time to shine.”As a professional, Hua Qing caught on without further elaboration. “A secret door? Heh, I’m a professional at this.” He knocked, pressed and so forth on the ground. “It’s a door locked from the inside. I’ll bet anything there’s an iron pestle used as a lock. Unless the people inside open it, it can’t be opened from the outside. If you force it open from the outside, they’ll be alerted. Damn. What should we d-”Creak!“Damn, that was tiring. Open it up.” Ming Feizhen wiped his sweat.Hua Qing pulled as prompted, opening it without any resistance. The door pestle rested on the staircase next to a sleeping man.“I used my internal energy to suck the pestle, then removed it from the outside. I knocked that guy out when I found the door so that he wouldn’t get in the way.” Ming Feizhen headed down first but didn’t hear the other two coming along, so he turned back. “You coming or not?”The only thing they could sense along the seemingly-endless and narrow passage were the burning torches on either side. One thing they were sure of was that one, or maybe more, openings existed since they never felt suffocated.“Something’s wrong,” Ming Feizhen voiced after a long walk.“What? They found us? We’re done for? Will we die?” Hua Qing pedantically looked around, but the absence of something suspicious elicited more fear.“No to all of the above. There’s something odd about this place. For an underground area, it’s too big.”Su Li, hiding behind Hua Qing, quietly queried, “What does that mean, Young Master Hua?”Hua Qing answered, “It means… this is a really big passage.”Ming Feizhen frowned. “How long has he been in Yichang? Miguo Branch can’t have been in the Central Plains for too long… How could they have built an underground area of this size? Plus, there’s no need for them to do this. This isn’t their place.”“Who owns it, then?”“No clue. Whoever it is, we shouldn’t underestimate them.”Ten minutes later, they finally came across a room and some faint voices coming from within. Ming Feizhen signalled for them to back off a bit and whispered, “We’ve found our destination. Stick close to me at all times.”Su Li and Hua Qing profusely nodded.“I have something to tell you later,” Hua Qing said in a barely-audible voice from two feet behind Ming Feizhen. “You have a plan?”“Enter. Slog. Exit.”“Figures… Hey, can you help me?”“With?”“Can you, uh, let me take the limelight?”“Oh, you want to go one on one with their boss?”“You don’t get it all!”“What limelight are you taking, then?”“What I meant was, let me do a thing or two to impress Miss Su.”“Why?”“Are you feigning ignorance? Girls like strong guys.”Ming Feizhen contemplated it, then raised an eyebrow.“Think about it. If I could drop all those villains, Miss Su will fall for me.”“Really? Does that really work?”“You really need to brush up on this knowledge. Remember, once I throw my flying knives, knock them out.”“Why?”“To show that I’m accurate.”The two had a long staredown, with Hua Qing repeating, “Money and women. Keep the primary objective in mind. Keep the primary objective in mind.”“… Fine.”Ming Feizhen and Hua Qing helped themselves to the hole in the timber door, while Su Li stole a glance through the finger-sized hole, ducked away and repeated.On one side of the table, half of the room’s occupants were the people who tried to abduct Hua Qing during the day. On the other side of the table was a chubby man, who was the only one seated, and a meek teenager standing beside him.“Had it not been for that white-haired kid, we would’ve succeeded. If you ask me, we need to take out that kid first. Why should we spend money we don’t have to?”“Everyone can ‘would’ve’ after the matter. They’re staying at Zhuo Fengru’s place now. You all know how he likes to act alone; he even gave Liu Shan Men the runaround.”“You need to have the competence to abduct them under his watch. If you’re so good, why don’t you try beating him? I guarantee you won’t be able to come back to share the outcome.”“So what if Zhuo Fengru is involved? Are you just going to flout His Excellency’s mission? Are you all ready to die?”The portly man with a thick gold necklace under his double chin, expensive silk garments and fingers embellished with gems said, “If you want to bicker, save it for when you’re at home. I’m just a businessman. You’re my patrons. There’s no reason to make things hard for me, wahahaha.”For some reason unbeknownst to the trio outside, the ten-odd men on the other side of the table flinched.“Please forgive our rudeness.”“Oh, it’s fine. It’s fine, hohoho. As a businessman, I only care for one thing. How much will you pay League of Assassins to kill?”