44: Chapter 44 Blood Night Plan

"The ninjas? I've heard a thing or two—the bunch of people causing trouble underground in Hell's Kitchen."

Liu Kun stubbed out his cigarette, a hint of vigilance creeping into his voice.

"You don't mean to drag The Hand into this, do you? That bunch is even harder to deal with than Kingpin..."

"Not drag them in."

Yan Zheng put his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, his finger gently pushing against the edge of the frame.

"It's to make Kingpin think they did it."

Liu Kun's expression froze for two seconds, then he straightened up from the wall, his voice dropping to its lowest point.

"Framing them?"

"A more precise term would be 'scene reconstruction'."

Yan Zheng leaned against the hallway wall, his tone as gentle as if he were explaining a math problem to a student.

"The ninjas of The Hand have a fixed combat style. They use specially made short blades, the blade marks cut in at a forty-five-degree angle from the top left to the bottom right, their preferred throwing darts are coated with a dark red layer, and after the smoke bombs explode, there is a lingering scent of incense."

"I have mastered all these characteristics."

Liu Kun opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed it back.

"Boss Yan, how do you know all these things about the ninjas?"

"For someone in the Antique Shop business, one must be very clear about the source of the collection."

Yan Zheng smiled at him, not the explanatory kind of smile, but one that said, "You'd better not keep asking."

Liu Kun wisely shut his mouth.

"The plan is like this."

Yan Zheng took out a pen and a receipt from his pocket, flipped it to the back, and drew a simple floor plan of the boxing arena on it.

"Wesley's people will arrive at ten the day after tomorrow night. I need you to do one thing."

"What thing?"

"At nine-thirty, have the boxing arena cleared out early, leaving only the two security guards watching the Mutants in the backstage area."

"And then?"

"Then you take your underground Doctor and wait in the front hall, putting on a show of 'preparing to hand over the people'."

Yan Zheng drew three crosses on the floor plan.

"At nine-forty, an 'attack' will occur in the backstage area of the boxing arena."

"The backstage lights will go out completely, short chaos, gunshots, blade flashes, smoke."

"When the smoke clears, all four Mutants will be dead inside the iron cages, one of your security guards will be dead and the other injured, the backstage area will be in a mess, The Hand's throwing darts will be nailed to the wall, and ninja mask fragments will be scattered on the ground."

Liu Kun's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"Those two security guards..."

"One dead, one injured."

Yan Zheng's tone was as flat as if he were talking about the nice weather today.

"The dead one will be really dead, and the injured one can just have an arm broken; it will be enough to make Wesley's people believe this is a real attack."

Liu Kun's hands were shaking, and not the kind that was being acted.

"Boss Yan, that security guard has been with me for three years..."

"Three years of employment—compared to your life for the rest of your days, which is worth more?"

Yan Zheng tilted his head, his gentle gaze carrying a layer of matter-of-factness that made one's back chill.

"The Mutants and data Kingpin wants will all be gone. He won't be able to find fault with you because you are also a 'victim'."

"If he wants to vent his anger, he can only go after The Hand."

"When two vicious dogs fight, you hide on the side and catch your breath."

"As for me, I'm responsible for cleaning up the 'trash' on the battlefield that no one wants."

"To each their own needs."

Liu Kun remained silent for a full ten seconds, the trembling of his fingers fading from obvious to faint, and finally, he clenched them into a fist.

"The security guard who dies, you choose for me."

"Good."

Yan Zheng put the receipt away, folded it, and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Additionally, for that computer of your underground Doctor, copy all the data inside for me before the day after tomorrow night, then dismantle the hard drive, smash it with a hammer, and throw it into the acid bucket in the backstage area."

"Copy it for you? What do you want that data for?"

"As an investment reference."

That night, at one in the morning. The Antique Shop Underground Room.

Yan Zheng sat on a folding chair, and on the table in front of him were neatly arranged physical props extracted from the material library.

Three standard-issue short blades of The Hand, the dark red coating on the blades still present, and the wrapping method of the hilt was a standard left-handed spiral cross.

Seven throwing darts of The Hand, hexagonal star-shaped, three coated with the dark red layer, and four maintaining their original metallic color.

Two damaged masks, black fabric, the stitching at the eye openings was hand-sewn, with extremely even stitch spacing.

A small bag of incense powder, confiscated from the waist pouch of a ninja corpse, which releases that unique scent of sandalwood mixed with musk when lit.

"The props needed for the scene are complete."

Yan Zheng picked up a short blade and gestured in the air, simulating the slashing angle of The Hand ninjas.

"Forty-five degrees, from top left to bottom right, depth over two centimeters, the cut surface must be clean, no jagged feeling."

He practiced three slashes on a piece of scrap wood against the wall and looked at the blade marks.

"Not clean enough; my arm strength is not enough."

Yan Zheng put down the short blade and looked at the Stitched Brute standing silently in the corner.

"Mr. Brute, this job belongs to you."

The Brute's dual-colored phosphor fire flickered.

"I will teach you how to kill in the way of a ninja."

He stood up, walked over to the Brute, and handed the short blade into that huge, petrified palm.

"First, the slashing angle must be forty-five degrees from the top left. The basic swordsmanship of The Hand ninjas is called 'Shadow Fall', starting above the left shoulder and ending below the right hip."

"Second, control the force at eighty percent; you cannot slash a person in half. The ninjas' short blades have limited length, and the normal cutting depth is between two to three centimeters; too deep is unreasonable."

"Third, after killing, leave the short blade at the scene, nail the throwing darts to the wall, and throw the mask fragments at the door."

The Brute gripped the short blade and swung it, leaving a white mark on the wall.

Yan Zheng checked the angle and nodded.

"Almost there, a bit softer; your strength is too great, use it with restraint."

The Brute swung the blade again, this time the mark on the wall was shallower.

"That's it, just this degree."

Yan Zheng walked back to the table and sat down, opened the system panel, and went over the action plan for the day after tomorrow night from beginning to end.

"Nine-thirty-five, the Brute enters the backstage area from the boxing arena's underground pipes."

"Nine-thirty-eight, cut the power to the backstage area, creating a dark environment."

"Nine-forty, eliminate the two security guards in the dark, one killed, one with a broken left arm."

"Nine-forty-two, open the four iron cages, kill all the Mutants within sixty seconds."

"Nine-forty-four, set up The Hand's markers at the scene, light the incense powder, and put the short blade and throwing darts in place."

"Nine-forty-five, collect the corpses, all into storage."

"Nine-forty-seven, the Brute returns via the original underground pipe route."

"The whole process takes twelve minutes, no traces on the ground, and I have already had Liu Kun turn off the surveillance at nine-thirty under the pretext of 'clearing the venue'."

He leaned back on the chair, looking at the four golden gene map blueprints on the panel.

Hardened Skin. Limb Extension. Acid Spray. High-Temperature Physiology.

"The living materials of four Mutants plus the gene map blueprints are worth more than ten times just having the blueprints."

"Kingpin thinks he is buying people, but in reality, he is fattening up pigs for me to slaughter."

"Wesley thinks he is making a deal, but in reality, he is delivering the goods to my door for me."

Yan Zheng picked up the cold glass of water on the table and toasted the empty Underground Room from afar.

"The Hand thinks they are squatting quietly underground, but in reality, at this time tomorrow, Kingpin's killers will start scouring the World to find them for revenge."

He drained the water in one gulp, the empty glass clattering against the tabletop.

"Kingpin and The Hand are biting each other, while S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites are watching an honest and law-abiding Antique Shop owner."

"Everyone is moving, only I am sitting outside the chessboard."

Yan Zheng pushed the empty glass to the corner of the table, stood up, and walked toward the neatly arranged pile of ninja props, his fingers sliding gently over the dark red edge of the short blade.

"The night after tomorrow, I will light a fire over the heads of both Kingpin and The Hand at the same time."

He looked back at the Brute, his mouth curving into an arc.

"Mr. Brute, rest well."

"There is plenty of work the day after tomorrow, four Mutants plus one security guard, five lives."

Yan Zheng walked up the stairs, his footsteps gradually fading into the darkness.

The last sentence drifted down from the top of the stairs, light and airy, like a piece of white paper falling into deep water.

"Oh, right, don't forget to leave the Mutant with High-Temperature Physiology for last."

"I have been eyeing his genes for a long time; I want to see the complete process of his gene chain breaking before he dies."