26: The perfect infiltration of the silver-medal assassin "Thousand Faces"!

Night fell once again.

The sewer System of Tianqiong City was like the veins of this glamorous city, flowing with filth and darkness.

In the main sewage pipe directly beneath Gu Family Manor, a figure was clinging to the damp pipe wall like a gecko.

She wore grey waterproof maintenance overalls, carried a tool bag, and wore a very ordinary-looking gas mask on her face.

"Thousand Faces."

The most mysterious of the Heaven's Punishment organization's silver-rank assassins.

No one had seen her true face. It was said she was a master of disguise, mechanics, toxicology, and psychology.

She never deigned to use a blade directly like a brute like Night Owl.

Her art of killing was called "Accident."

At this moment, she was executing a task known as an "S-Rank Taboo"—the assassination of Gu Fan.

"The Minister said there must be no malice."

Thousand Faces silently recited the rules of engagement in her heart, her tone as relaxed as if she were out shopping. "Fine, I have no malice. I'm just a hardworking maintenance worker here to give the Gu Family's sewers a little upgrade."

She took a palm-sized metal disc out of her tool bag.

[Infrasound Resonator (Modified Civilian Version)]

Once activated, this device would emit a low-frequency sound wave inaudible to humans.

This sound wave would slowly seek out the structural weaknesses of a building and create resonance.

In about three hours, the Gu Family's main building—already damaged from the bathtub incident—would suffer a regrettable collapse due to "foundation settlement."

"See, how perfect."

Thousand Faces skillfully connected the wires while indulging in self-admiration. "No flashing blades, no Killing Intent. Just an unfortunate engineering accident. No matter how sinister that Gu Fan is, can he really control the movements of the Earth's crust?"

She was full of confidence in her plan.

She even hummed a little tune in her heart, completely suppressing all thoughts of murder, treating herself merely as a mischievous child causing trouble.

However.

She had overlooked one thing.

Before the Law of Karma, burying one's head in the sand is useless.

Even if she had no direct Killing Intent, what she was doing posed a massive threat to Gu Fan's life and safety.

System Judgment: Although subjective malice is hidden, the objective intent to harm is clear.

However, given that she indeed produced no strong direct Killing Intent, the System decided to use a more interesting form of backlash.

An ecological backlash more suited to her current environment.

Just as Thousand Faces tightened the last screw and prepared to press the start button...

"Squeak, squeak."

A faint cry sounded by her ear.

Thousand Faces turned her head.

A massive sewer rat with glossy fur—clearly well-fed—was squatting on the pipe next to her, staring at her with eyes the size of mung beans.

The rat was very angry.

Because it had just been sleeping when it was woken up by the strange tool noises of this human.

Furthermore, this human was occupying its favorite spot to defecate.

[Ding!]

[Detected environmental creature 'Mutated Grey Rat' generating malice toward target 'Thousand Faces' due to territorial infringement.]

[System intervention... 'Murder by Proxy' (Murder by Rat) mode activated.]

[Buff Effects: Swarm Summoning + Aggro Lock.]

Thousand Faces didn't think much of the rat.

As an assassin, she had seen far more disgusting things.

She waved her hand, trying to shoo the rat away.

"Shoo, shoo, don't bother me."

However, the rat didn't run.

Instead, it bared a mouthful of sharp yellow teeth and lunged forward.

Its speed was astonishing!

Puchi!

The rat bit down hard on the finger Thousand Faces was using to hold the remote.

Hiss—!

Thousand Faces hissed in pain, her hand jerking.

The remote, originally set to "Gentle Resonance Mode," fell to the ground.

As luck would have it...

The angle at which it hit the ground was very precise, striking the frequency adjustment knob.

The knob instantly spun from "Low Frequency" all the way to the red zone at the bottom—"Biological Lure Frenzy Mode."

This was a hidden function originally used in the wild to drive away beasts or... attract beasts to kill each other.

Beep—!!!

The device activated.

But it no longer emitted sound waves targeted at buildings; instead, it sent out an extremely sharp signal that only specific animals could hear.

Translated into animal language, the signal roughly meant:

"The most delicious food in the world is right here! Come and eat! If you're late, it'll be gone!"

And the source of this signal was right under Thousand Faces' feet.

Thousand Faces hadn't yet realized what had happened.

Suddenly.

The entire sewer began to boil.

From the distance came the dense sound of a rising tide.

Rustle, rustle... Squeak, squeak... Scuttle, scuttle...

Thousand Faces' expression changed.

She turned on her tactical flashlight and shone it deep into the pipe.

In the next second, even the strictly trained silver-rank assassin felt her scalp go numb.

Countless pairs of glowing green eyes.

Rats.

Thousands upon thousands of rats.

And cockroaches—the large, flying kind that were a specialty of the south—covered everything.

They were like a black torrent, driven by a frenzied appetite, surging toward her.

"Damn it! What's wrong with this machine!"

Thousand Faces tried to turn off the machine, but the rat that bit her seemed to have become a commander; it hung onto her hand with a death grip, refusing to be shaken off.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

The mission? To hell with the mission!

Thousand Faces turned and ran.

But in this narrow, slippery pipe, how could she outrun these local thugs?

In less than three seconds...

The rat tide caught up to her.

Ahhhhhhh!!

A shrill, wretched scream echoed through the sewer.

It wasn't a scream of being bitten to death, but a breakdown scream from having countless furry, filthy things crawling all over her body.

"Don't crawl in there! That's my mask!"

“Help! A cockroach went into my mouth!”

Thousand Faces' current appearance was terrifying to the extreme.

She had turned into a giant, moving ball of rats... At the headquarters of the Heaven's Punishment organization's Seventh Alliance District.

Black Widow was staring at the mission monitor on the large screen.

Suddenly, the life signal representing "Thousand Faces" began to fluctuate violently, her heart rate instantly soaring to 200.

"What's happening? Was she discovered?" Black Widow asked tensely.

The technician, face pale, pulled up the audio transmission Thousand Faces was carrying.

Bzzzt...

What came from the speakers wasn't the sound of fighting, nor was it gunfire.

It was... "Squeak squeak squeak squeak!" (A chorus of tens of thousands of rats)

And Thousand Faces' distorted, tearful cry:

"Mama! I want to go home! I'm not being an assassin anymore! I'm going to be an exterminator!"

Pop.

The signal cut out.

Black Widow fell silent.

The assassins in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment; no one spoke.

After a long time, Black Widow's hand trembled as she removed the wig from her head (since her real hair hadn't grown back yet).

"Pass down the order..."

Her voice was hoarse and weak.

"Cancel all orders... in Tianqiong City. All of them."

"Also, from now on, whoever dares mention the name 'Gu Fan' will be sent to the sewers to feed the rats!"

Meanwhile, on the surface at Gu Family Manor.

Gu Fan was sleeping.

He rolled over in his dream and smacked his lips.

"Why did the floor heating suddenly get so warm? It even feels like it has a vibration massage function?"

"Mmm, this life is truly getting more and more comfortable."