Chapter 502: The Young Assassin

Chen Chou!

That fair-skinned youth sat alone on a chair in the corner, his expression desolate, his head slightly bowed.

Although seeing this discordant presence put Zheng Qian in a bad mood, he felt an inexplicable pang of pity.

He looked so pure and handsome, as if he had stepped right out of a painting.

But more importantly, he was dangerous.

"Ahem..." Zheng Qian walked over awkwardly, lit a cigarette, and said, "Brother Chen, while I don't know why you have that look on your face, and I don't even want to ask why you appeared in my room, but for now... please, could you step out for a moment? Even if you want to kill me, can you wait until later? Can't you see I'm about to get busy?"

Chen Chou nodded slightly, his eyes devoid of their usual luster.

"Please... save me..."

Zheng Qian: ???

"Only you can save me now. No matter what, please help me." Chen Chou repeated.

Help him? Zheng Qian wanted to kill him right now. If he had the strength to defeat this youth in a one-on-one fight, he definitely would have. Of course, it wasn't just because he ruined his good time; the chance to bed Wei Rusi was rarer than a fleeting, one-time occurrence. Heaven knows if Wei Rusi would still be willing next time they were alone.

After all, this youth had threatened Zheng Qian before, using him to kill Rahman and nearly driving him into an irredeemable situation.

"How do you want me to help you?"

"Leave this country."

Zheng Qian took a deep drag of his cigarette, his mind instantly whirring into action.

After a long moment, he slowly spoke, looking straight into Chen Chou's eyes, "And what do I get out of this?"

"My life. It doesn't matter what kind of person you are, good or bad. I don't have any other skills, I don't know how to make a living, I only know how to kill. Whatever you tell me to do, I will do."

When saying this, Chen Chou's tone was extremely flat. He spoke of killing as if it were as simple as drinking water.

Zheng Qian didn't answer immediately, because he was already tempted.

Although he hadn't seen just how strong Chen Chou was with his own eyes, someone who could make the ferociously powerful Vanekto so wary was definitely not simple. He was willing to trust this youth, or at least, willing to take the gamble.

The assassination attempt on Rahman this time had left him with deep psychological trauma; he had been so close to death.

When Zheng Qian returned to Shanghu to show off and deal with the major clubs, there was no guarantee that some lunatic wouldn't hire a killer to target him. If he had someone like Chen Chou by his side, he would feel much more at ease.

"Why find me?"

Zheng Qian didn't want to make his inner thoughts too obvious, so he spoke with feigned profundity.

Wei Rusi caught on to Zheng Qian's vibe—oh no, oh no, he was about to start acting pretentious again. Every time he got into that rhythm of showing off, this feeling would appear. Still... having this youth around really wouldn't be bad.

Provided he wasn't lying just now.

"I said it, only you can help me. Just now, I was actually on the ceiling above Rahman; it's a secret passage. I discovered it while lurking here, a secret of this building that has stood for decades."

"There is a weak spot in the wall above the ceiling that is very easy to break through."

"If you go up from the bathroom ceiling and pass through there, you will arrive directly above Rahman's study. I... originally had a chance to kill him, but I heard his conversation with that guest."

When mentioning that person, Chen Chou's cheek twitched slightly.

Zheng Qian also had some impression of him; it must have been the old man in the black Tang suit he had happened to see when opening the door.

Chen Chou continued, revealing the root of everything.

It turned out that he had grown up in London's Chinatown since he was a child, an orphan without parents. That old man had taken him in and raised him, and thus he spent his days in the martial arts gym. As he grew older, he began to realize exactly what kind of place it was.

It wore the mask of a martial arts gym while carrying out murder for hire.

In the old man's words, in this era, no one was willing to devoutly learn Chinese Martial Arts anymore.

And for those of them running a martial arts gym, if they didn't want to starve, they had to actively embrace the times and change their thinking. Because he had been taught from a young age that Chinese Martial Arts were for killing, not for performing. If they weren't willing to perform, then the only option was to kill.

Furthermore, true Chinese Martial Arts involved lethal moves from the very first strike, aiming for the throat, navel, temples, and other such vital points.

Just like that, Chen Chou was trained from childhood to be a killing machine.

He possessed a talent that the entire gym envied, and what he learned wasn't pure Chinese Martial Arts—not merely Xingyi, Bagua, Taiji, and so on—but rather a combination of Chinese Martial Arts and modern combat, without any fixed patterns or rules.

In short, he learned only killing techniques; whatever killed fastest was what he used.

Over the years, people from the gym would go on missions and return, while others would simply die out there. Chen Chou had long since become numb to life and death; he couldn't even remember who his first target had been.

Yet deep down, he still regarded that old man, Chen Desheng, as his own father.

That was his only emotional bond.

More importantly, his daughter, Chen Ziqian, was his forever white moonlight. That little girl, only three years older than him, always acted like a big sister. But after one mission, she never came back.

Overnight, Chen Chou's hair turned white.

No one knew how heartbroken he was; they only knew he locked himself in his room for seven days without eating or drinking.

If not for Chen Desheng personally going to unlock his heart, Chen Chou might have let himself starve to death. Only the Chen Desheng he respected most could have managed it—after all, he had lost his own daughter too!

However, from that moment on, he, who was already taciturn, became even less inclined to speak.

The first thing he did after coming out of his room was to avenge Chen Ziqian.

That day, many people died.

But!

Just now, in Rahman's study, he saw that person who was like a teacher and a father to him.

Chen Desheng handed over a stack of photos—the profiles of the killers sent to assassinate Rahman this time. At the very top of the list was, shockingly, Chen Chou. The two were chatting happily, and the former even laid out his own objectives completely.

He didn't know how Rahman had found Chen Desheng, but in any case, the two had reached a secret agreement.

Chen Desheng would betray the identities of all the killers and would even cooperate.

Rahman just had to pay.

He didn't ask Chen Desheng to order these killers to leave. Because he didn't trust them, he wanted everyone dead. Only the dead were the least threatening. Chen Desheng hesitated only slightly before agreeing.

Chen Chou had been sold out; he had seen with his own eyes the person he respected most sell him out.

And without Zheng Qian's help, Chen Chou couldn't take a single step.

To evade the dragnet set by Chen Desheng and Rahman, he had to rely on Zheng Qian's help.

Just like that, these two people bound by fate.

Were finally tightly bound together here.