Chapter 214: Cooperation
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Flowery Pavilion was a low-end brothel. Different from its high-class counterparts in Pleasure Alley, it kept many cheap prostitutes in the house. Low prices and a wide variety of choices here attracted lots of customers.
When Zhong Heng came to this place to meet the killer, Yang Huan, he was also quite satisfied with the services here. Although the prostitutes here were not as good-looking as the ones in Pleasure Alley, he still felt great to have several girls serving him at the same time.
Commandant Zhong and the two junior officers who followed him spent the whole day drinking and playing inside the brothel. They were leaving Jade City within a few months, so they decided to enjoy themselves in South City as much as possible before leaving their posts.
In the evening, Zhong Heng sent his officers and prostitutes away and went to have a private conversation with the killer. Commandant Zhong, who always talked in a roundabout way, seem to be pretty straightforward today. "Brother Yang, can I call you like that?"
Zhong Heng had a red face after drinking. He appeared to be slightly drunk and talked to the killer in a warm, friendly tone.
"Yes." Gu Shenwei replied.
"When we first met, I knew that you would become a good killer. You're smart, knowledgeable, and… ambitious."
"Commandant Zhong, you're flattering me. I'm just an ordinary killer," Gu Shenwei said smilingly. Everybody in Jade City admired ambitious people, but no one in this city knew this young killer's true ambition.
"I told the truth. You're being too modest." Zhong Heng paused for a moment and then he asked, "Brother Yang, have you ever thought for yourself?"
"I don't quite understand your question. Commandant Zhong," replied Gu Shenwei.
Zhong Heng approached the killer to whisper beside his ear, "You've killed two sons of the Supreme King." Commandant Zhong had already known that it was Yang Huan who had assassinated Shangguan Ruo and helped Shangguan Fei kill Shangguan Chui.
"It's not my call. I just carried out my masters' commands." Gu Shenwei said.
"Huh, brother Yang, you're a clever person. You should know an old saying: 'After the cunning hare dies, the hounds are boiled.' You do all the dirty jobs for your masters and let them reap all the benefits. However, they'll probably kill you someday to whitewash their own names," Zhong Heng explained.
Gu Shenwei knew what Zhong Heng was talking about, but he continued to play dumb. "Fortunately, Golden Roc Fort hasn't attached any blame to me for the death of the two young masters." In fact, Gu Shenwei had to thank the twins for this result. As they were young and immature, it was easy to manipulate them. In the Stone Castle, he could not find any other young master like the twins. That was why he felt hesitant to kill them.
Upon hearing what the killer said, Zhong Heng chuckled to himself for a while, and then he picked up his teacup and took a sip of his tea. "Have you ever noticed anything unusual within Golden Roc Fort during the past few months?"
"What do you mean?" Gu Shenwei felt intrigued and asked.
"Lady Meng dictates in the fort, the New Moon Hall resurges in the desert and the young masters of the fort have started to kill each other. However, the Supreme King remains aloof from these things. Why?" said Zhong Heng.
When Lady Meng had stricken back at the eldest young master months ago, Gu Shenwei had had the same question in mind. However, as time went by, he gradually got used to the Supreme King's absence. Zhong Heng's question aroused his curiosity again. "Commandant Zhong, if you trust me, please tell me what you've discovered directly."
Before telling the killer what he had founded out about the Supreme King, Zhong Heng asked the youth another question. "Brother Yang, can you tell me who your real boss is in the Stone Castle?"
Although Gu Shenwei had worked for many people in the fort in the past, he had never considered anyone of them his real boss. At first, he wanted to make up a story to deceive Commandant Zhong, but after a moment of thought, he gave up on that idea. He was pretty sure that this well-informed man had already known quite a lot about himself. Besides, he thought it was unnecessary to lie to a man who was going to die very soon. "To be frank, I've no boss now. It's not easy for a killer to survive in the fort. I have to find a reliable master for myself," Gu Shenwei said to Zhong Heng.
"Haha." Zhong Heng laughed with satisfaction and then he said with a solemn face, "It's very wise to choose a master by yourself. However, there are only a few powerful masters. When everyone rushes to seek protection from a great power, you've already missed the best chance to pledge loyalty to this power."
Although this idea was not new to Gu Shenwei, he still thanked Commandant Zhong for this piece of advice.
"To ensure a bright future for yourself, you have to pay close attention to your current boss. Once he shows a sign of weakness, you'll have to get ready to find another boss," Zhong Heng said, implying that the Supreme King was not well.
In Gu Shenwei's eyes, information from Zhong Heng should never be taken lightly. This man was not just a common officer in Jade City. He also gathered intelligence on Western Region for the Central Plain. "Commandant Zhong, are you saying that—"
"The Supreme King is sick for a long time. He's stopped managing the Golden Roc Fort since last winter," Zhong Heng interrupted.
Gu Shenwei had seen the Supreme King only twice: the first time at the Giant Rock Cliff, and the second time at Shangguan Chui's funeral. At the cliff, the Supreme King had easily slapped a black-masked assassin to death when he had failed to catch the giant golden-crowned rocs alive. When he had appeared on the funeral surrounded by many killers, he still looked alright.
"Really?" Gu Shenwei asked in surprise. He searched his memory but failed to find any sign that the Supreme King was ill.
"I need you to verify this information. By doing this thing, you can also help yourself," Zhong Heng said assertively.
"Zhong Heng is a crafty man. He never makes a commitment and always gives others dubious replies. Nevertheless, this time he directly said that it was he who needed my help. He sounded so assertive. He must have been speaking on behalf of the Governor," Gu Shenwei thought to himself. "I'm afraid that I can't help you. We're not allowed to gossip about the Supreme King inside the Stone Castle. More importantly, I can't return to the fort without permission during the Tenth Young Master's probationary year," he said to Commandant Zhong.
Zhong Heng lowered his head to blow his tea. "The Tenth Young Master is the Supreme King's favorite child. Now that her father seems to be ill, she should return to the fort to pay him a visit," Commandant Zhong said casually without looking up.
"Shangguan Ru, again. Obviously, I'm not the only one who plans to use her. She's fed up with killing and scheming, but as the Supreme King's daughter, she can never stay away from those things. She probably has never expected that her identity will bring her so much trouble," Gu Shenwei thought for a while and then said to Commandant Zhong, "That's not a good idea. It'll kill me instead of doing me any good."
Zhong Heng could tell that the killer had already been intrigued, so he continued to persuade him. "You don't have to worry about your own safety. Now the political situation in Western Region is different. Golden Roc Fort's influence on this region is already past its peak, and the Central Plain will return to Jade City sooner or later. Thirty years ago, this city was our military base, and 10,000 soldiers were stationed here. Now our emperor intends to send an army here to reclaim this city. Backed by such a great power, you've nothing to worry about."
In Zhong Heng's view, Yang Huan was the best person for this job. He believed that this killer, who had killed two young masters of the Shangguan family, was eager to seek protection from a power that could resist the Golden Roc Fort. He thought all he needed to do now was to make the killer believe that it was a wise choice to work as a spy for the Central Plain.
Gu Shenwei did not mind betraying the Golden Roc Fort at all. He just wanted to make sure that this thing was not a trap. He wanted to see Zhong Heng's sincerity and also planned to charge more for his service. Given that, he pretended to be hesitant, waiting for Zhong Heng to raise his offer bit by bit.
After negotiating for an hour, the killer and the commandant finally agreed on all the details of the deal. The killer promised to pry into the Supreme King's health situation, and Zhong Heng assured the killer that he would protect him and give him half of the 'Protective Talisman' that the Kun Society turned in.
The reason that Gu Shenwei spent so much time talking with Zhong Heng, whom he was going to kill tonight, was that Commandant Zhong's final offer was the Governor's final offer. Knowing this, he would be able to further his own interests when he went to negotiate with Wei Lingmiao again.
He was willing to help all the foes of Golden Roc Fort, but he did not want to passively submit to them. He had to gain the initiative to ensure his own interests.
After he said goodbye to Zhong Heng at around 9 pm, he deliberately went to talk with the owner of the brothel at the gate and then took a walk on a bustling street, letting many people see him in the street. As he was in charge of the Kun Society's Outer Hall, many shop owners on the street knew him.
Toward midnight, he masked his face, jumped onto the roof of a house and sneaked back to the roof top of Flowery Pavilion. He did not tell Shangguan Ru this assassination task, so he had to plan and carry it out all by himself.
As Zhong Heng's kung fu was just mediocre, Gu Shenwei was confident that he could easily kill him with his bare hands after using some knockout powder on him.
However, he did not want to kill Commandant Zhong that fast. He wanted to find out what the commandant had done to offend Wei Lingmiao.
The brothel was full of customers at this moment. After waiting on the roof for quite a long time, Gu Shenwei finally identified an opportunity to get down to the ground. As he had already paid the prostitute inside Zhong Heng's room for leaving the door unlatched tonight, he easily pushed the door half-open and quickly slipped into the room.
Everything went as smoothly as he had expected except one thing: Zhong Heng was sitting on the bed instead of lying in it.
As this room was only dimly lit by light filtering in from the windows, Gu Shenwei could only vaguely see the things inside it.
"Do you come back to kill me?"
"Yes."
"How will I die?"
"You'll die from too much sex."
"Haha, that's ridiculous. This prostitute is so bad looking. I've killed her already."
Gu Shenwei was pretty sure that Zhong Heng did not lie, for he could see a woman lying deathly still on the bed. Commandant Zhong had seen through his trick, but he still had a plan B. He could stab Zhong Heng's neck to kill him now, and then the three machetemen next door would break into this room at an agreed signal. They would chop the commandant's dead body into pieces to cover up the fact that he was killed by a sword. After that, they would contend that this fight was caused by a prostitute. People in South City were accustomed to seeing a brothel's clients fighting one another for a prostitute.
Gu Shenwei decided to talk with Commandant Zhong before carrying out his plan B. "How did you know that I planned to kill you?" he asked.
"Your eyes betrayed you. During our previous conversation, you kept looking me up and down in a subconscious attempt to search for my vulnerable points, so I guess that you're planning to kill me. Your favorite point is the neck, isn't it?"
Gu Shenwei was deeply impressed by Zhong Heng's agile mind. He liked Commandant Zhong, although this man was slippery as a snake. "This is a problem. We have to solve it," the killer went over to sit in a chair and said smilingly.
Zhong Heng had taught the killer to solve a problem instead of looking for the truth before. Now it was his turn to solve a problem.
"Yes. After the cunning hare dies, the hounds are boiled. I just never expected that Master Wei would want to boil me first. What did he promise you?" asked Zhong Heng.
"One-month delay in turning in the 'Protective Talisman'. It means nothing to me," replied Gu Shenwei.
"Huh, that's not a good deal at all."
"Erm, I believe you can give me a better price for your own life. Commandant Zhong."
Zhong Heng was well aware that he could never rely on his kung fu to survive in Jade City. He had never planned to fight against the young killer and thus had left his weapon at the door of the room before the killer coming back. He intended to talk himself out of trouble.
"If you want others to cooperate with you, you must give them what they want or have something on them. I'm telling you this from my own experience," said Zhong Heng.
Gu Shenwei had similar experiences. He had successfully manipulated Luo Ningcha and Shangguan Fei because he knew their secrets. Given that, he immediately realized what Zhong Heng was talking about and asked the commandant. "Are you saying that you have something on Master Wei?"
"I won't tell it to you. You'll kill me after you get the secret."
"Well, if you don't tell me I'll kill you right now. I can't sit here for the whole night."
"Alright, I can tell it to you. Please remember that I've more than one secret. Don't kill me right after you get Master Wei's secret."
"Relax, I'll let you know before I kill you."
Zhong Heng swallowed hard and did not feel as confident as before. This was the first time he had seen the merciless side of the young killer. "Master Wei has a guilty conscience. He killed his fiancée," Zhong Heng cleared his throat and said.