Take the Task

In recent years, the killer industry of the Dawu Country underworld has been thriving, with influence even spreading to seven or eight surrounding small countries. As a result, the country's killers occasionally have to do some international work.

The rapid and vast development of the killer industry is actually related to Zhang San to some extent, but more on that later.

Due to the huge business system, there is an enormous market demand. And in the eyes of various, uh, underworld businessmen, even the most experienced killer production machines, uh, loyal and hard-working killers under them, inevitably have a "damage rate" problem.

So in order to ensure the sustainability of the industry, every killer organization faces the important issue of recruiting new killers or training new people every year, and each organization does make great efforts.

But as mentioned earlier, brothels, casinos, and Five Stone Powder are the underworld's three biggest industries. Who wants to do the dangerous killer job if they can do those three?

So this has led to employees who are willing to be professional killers always being a hot commodity in the market, even though the bosses say: we want people of all ranks, let's progress together!

But the market is still unable to meet the demand.

This allows "casual" killers like Zhang San to still have a lot of room for taking orders, after all, even if your own family's killers are very capable, if they are all sent out, you still have to rely on those unwilling to be restrained casual killers, and, to be honest, they are also quite affordable.

Baiyun Prefecture, Xiaoyun County, night time.

Zhang San, wearing night clothes, used qinggong (lightness skill) to leap between rooftops, and finally landed in a secluded courtyard.

What?

Didn't Zhang San say that wearing night clothes is easy to make people treat you as a bad person, thus increasing vigilance, so he doesn't wear them?

Please, that's when executing tasks.

Now he's going to take an order, should he be dressed like a graceful gentleman, then walk upright into the yard, and say to the middleman, "Junior has come to take an order to kill, do you have any jobs?"

A old man in a yellow robe has been waiting in the yard for a long time. He is the intermediary responsible for contacting killers outside the organization for the Baiyun Prefecture killer organization "Black Cloud".

He is also Zhang San's master's friend, although his master has always denied it. But it is said that the two were childhood friends, at least Zhang San has seen this old man many times when he was young.

Seeing the old man in yellow, Zhang San took off his mask.

Don't get me wrong. Except in front of this old man in yellow, Zhang San, who claims to be the most steady killer in Dawu Country, would not take off his mask in front of any other organization's intermediaries, and would even change his voice when speaking.

Incidentally, for career safety, Zhang San is a master at controlling his vocal cords. The reason for training this skill is of course for the stability of his career.

The old man in yellow stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Little San, you came."

It seems that the old man in yellow still knows Zhang San's name.

Zhang San also smiled at the old man in yellow.

But in fact, Zhang San has wanted to kill this old man for many years.

In fact, every time Zhang San meets with this old man, he has this idea, because in this world, apart from his deceased master, only this old man in yellow knows the real name and appearance of the killer "Black Eagle".

This makes Zhang San, the steady killer, feel very unsteady.

But after all, when he was a child, this old man in yellow had also met him, took him out to eat, tasted candy haws, and taught him a little martial arts, although it was shoddy.

It's not that he can't kill him, but it does seem a little embarrassing.

So...

Zhang San smiled brightly, ran over, and hugged the old man tightly, just like a returning wanderer.

Zhang San laughed: "Grandpa Huang! Long time no see, have you been well these days?"

The old man in yellow stroked his white beard and sighed that this kid San was still as clever and sensible as before, much more polite than his master.

The old man in yellow said, "Not bad, the medicine helped, my back got better. I just mentioned it to you last time, didn't expect you to keep it in mind."

Hugging the old man, Zhang San secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Fortunately he changed his words, he was going to ask if the old man's legs were better.

When was his back injured? And when did he tell me about it?

I must have been too happy counting money at the time to notice.

Too close! If I hadn't spoken properly, wouldn't years of relationship become awkward in an instant?

As a killer, maintaining good relations with intermediaries is also a very important part of a career, because these relationships determine how many good, easy and lucrative jobs you can get.

So don't think that being a killer means you don't need interpersonal skills. Like Zhang San, he often gives gifts to this old man. After all, under the premise that he can't bear to kill him, since he doesn't kill, then he is his esteemed intermediary!

Even the closest relationships require time and effort to maintain. Zhang San has always been deeply aware of this.

The old man in yellow stroked his beard and handed Zhang San an envelope, saying, "This job might be somewhat difficult for you this time."

Zhang San said, "Could it be a ground-rank mission? Grandpa Huang, you know I don't take ground-rank missions."

Just kidding! With heaven-rank qinggong but not heaven-rank martial arts, running fast doesn't mean you can definitely run away in time.

What if he gets killed by a ground-rank expert? Even if it's not a mission to kill a ground-rank expert, the difficulty must be similar to killing one.

The old man in yellow shook his head and said, "How could I not know your background? With your person-rank martial arts and ground-rank beginner-stage qinggong, do you think Grandpa Huang would send you off to die?"

He spoke cleverly. This old man didn't actually know Zhang San's true strength. Just speaking of qinggong, Zhang San had already reached the heaven rank, previously at high ground rank, it's just that Zhang San never revealed it to others.

After all, in this profession, you should hide what you can.

Zhang San nodded, but still doubtfully opened the envelope. His expression immediately turned bitter: "It is a person-rank mission, it's just... how to kill this person, I..."

Zhang San hesitated, and the old man in yellow advised: "Grandpa Huang knows that you are an obedient child who has always adhered to the rules left by your master and grand-teacher - first, don't kill women, second, don't kill children. Although no one objects to not killing children, not killing women while only taking person-rank missions means you'll inevitably encounter such targets."

Zhang San sighed and said, "Then, does Grandpa Huang want me to try?"

"Try it, who knows, you might succeed."

Zhang San looked at the letter in his hand, silently sighed, and said, "Alright then."

Seeing Zhang San about to leave, the old man in yellow asked again: "By the way, you've used your master's alias 'Black Eagle' for so many years. Aren't you going to change it and make a name for yourself?"

Standing in the moonlight, Zhang San said with some sadness: "Forget it. Using master's alias, it feels like... master is still around."

Watching Zhang San's gradually disappearing back, the old man in yellow couldn't help shedding tears.