At dawn the next day, Yin Minghong changed into a set of gray-black clothes and put on a black sweatband, showing off his chest muscles. This was the typical dockworker’s outfit, and paired with his tall, broad fra and a touch of dirt sared on his face, he looked no different from the ordinary peddlers and porters on the street.
He packed his usual twin blades in a box, making them look like carpenter’s tools. For a martial artist like Yin Minghong, it was unthinkable to let his weapons leave his side. What’s more, he wasn’t heading out on a picnic today, but to et a vicious criminal.
Lastly, Yin Minghong tied a bit of red ribbon around his wrist. This was a sign for the eting—Yin Yinyin hadn’t insisted that Yin Minghong co in person; he could have sent a representative to deliver the ssage. From Yin Minghong’s perspective, he’d provided as much convenience as possible.
The agreed ti was 8:30, the place a landmark between the outer and inner city, Yao Bell Tower.
Yin Minghong calculated his pace and only left ho when his pocket watch reached 8:08. The White Night Walkers hastily assembled these past two days were already waiting at the site—they were just ordinary folks from all walks of life, their fighting skills uneven, but with sharp eyes and keen ears that could hold their own.
Yin Minghong and his group hadn’t planned to catch the traitor Yin Yinyin on the spot—not only because the eting place was downtown Xuanzhu County, but also because Yin Yinyin wasn’t weak, and with an Extre Divine Weapon in his possession, without enough experts to surround and attack him, not only would they fail to stop his escape, they might even get killed by him in return.
But as long as they tracked him to his hideout, Yin Minghong could call upon other White Night fighters in Xuanzhu County and stage a secret joint operation, ensuring nothing could go wrong.
Except...
Yin Minghong gripped the two dals in his pocket and headed down the alleyways toward Yao Bell Tower.
He could’ve ignored this eting request, or sent an agent to probe Yin Yinyin. The dical Officer Wen had even cautioned him, since the risk was huge if he showed up in person. Yin Minghong was now a mid-level manager in the Silver Blood Jing Family, with control of the Red Moon Fortress base. If he stepped into a trap, it’d be like cutting off the left and right arms of White Night’s Xuanzhu division.
Yin Minghong had paid a price in blood and tears for his current status—a sacrifice few could imagine. If sothing happened to him, it wouldn’t just dishonor all he’d endured, it would also render all his past efforts aningless.
But as Yin Minghong had told the assassin that day, "Playing it safe might be risk-free, but it does nothing to improve the situation." "Taking a leap of faith might lead to ruin, but it could also create a miracle."
Jing Zhengwei wasn’t dead, and the Jing Family remained Silver Blood’s only weak link, but it was rock-solid. White Night in Xuanzhu could only wait for another chance. Yet who knew when that chance would co? Who knew when the glittering Silver Blood Association would finally collapse?
Or maybe that day would never co at all.
So Yin Minghong chose to accept the invitation.
He didn’t actually trust Yin Yinyin, but he did trust the assassin who sacrificed himself for him at Red Moon Fortress. "From the mont I saw the sawed-off shotgun Jing Zhengwei kept on him, I knew that even if I gave up my life, there was no way I could assassinate Jing Zhengwei."
If it hadn’t been for that assassin, he’d be dead now, and the White Night group in Xuanzhu would never again ddle in Silver Blood’s affairs.
That assassin was like a miracle out of nowhere, appearing just to save him, to save White Night.
He hadn’t betrayed Yin Minghong’s trust.
And Yin Minghong was willing to keep putting his faith in others—even if the other person was a traitor accused of collaborating with the enemy, leaking division plans, wiping out the Star Engraving White Night Walkers, and even murdering his own comrades. He was still willing to give him a chance to talk.
"If everybody could just sit down and talk things over, maybe the world wouldn’t have turned out like this."
When Yin Minghong stepped into the crowded lecture plaza, it was Mongolian Studies ti. Lots of kids were sitting up front listening to their teacher, while vendors huddled at the outskirts, as far from the children as possible, keeping their voices down.
Yin Minghong also spotted the eting place: a storytelling tea house next to Yao Bell Tower. The place had plenty of custors, mostly older, idle n, so the storyteller picked tales only grown-ups tended to enjoy. Stuff like "They kept delaying the paynt, so I brought my crew over and scared them into handing over a bonus," or "My old buddy wanted to run an errand, but when I ignored him, there was nothing he could do," and "The custor made all sorts of demands, so I just said take it or leave it—and they forked out the cash right away."
"Yin Yinyin ought to be a white-haired assassin too. Would he disguise himself as a custor, or..."
Yin Minghong considered, keeping his eyes on everyone’s heads nearby; anyone wearing a hat drew his focus for a mont.
"Mister!"
Yin Minghong stopped, looked down, and saw a ten-year-old kid calling out to him in a crisp voice. "What’s up? If you want to listen to Mongolian Studies, you’ll need to move closer. You can’t hear the teacher from here."
The child shook his head, took out a letter, and said, "A big brother told if I saw a man with a red ribbon on his hand, I should give him this letter."
Yin Minghong’s heart skipped a beat. He took the note and gave the kid a few coins, asking, "What did that big brother look like?"
"I didn’t see, he wore a mask, but I rember he had really pretty eyes." The kid happily pocketed the money and thought for a mont, then added, "And his voice was nice too—maybe he was a big sister, not a brother."
Yin Yinyin had a record of acting disguised as a woman, so maybe he was wearing a wig today... Yin Minghong nodded to himself, and once the kid ran off he looked at the letter—his expression imdiately changed. He checked the clock on the tower, quickly took off the red ribbon, and ducked into a different street.
The White Night Walkers keeping secret watch on Yin Minghong also realized that sothing unexpected had happened: Yin Yinyin had changed the eting point at the last minute to avoid getting caught in their trap!
With things turning out this way, Yin Minghong could have just called off the operation. Why go along with Yin Yinyin’s ga?
anwhile, following the route described in the letter, Yin Minghong slipped through alleys left and right, reaching a shadowy, narrow lane rarely used even in broad daylight, where almost no sunlight got in.
There was a jarring red brick in the alley. Yin Minghong stopped next to it—the spot indicated in the note. He checked the lane both ways, thinking, "Is Yin Yinyin planning to have soone ambush from both ends?"
Just then, he heard so knocks from the wall beside him:
"Mister Yin? Mister Yin? Mister Yin?"
Hearing the soft male voice, Yin Minghong paused, glanced up at the five-ter-high wall, gave up the idea of jumping it, then knocked the wall once. "Yin Yinyin?"
"It’s —Yin Yinyin. Nice to et you, Mister Yin Minghong."
Yin Minghong crumpled the letter in his hand into a ball and said coldly, "Are you threatening with Wen Hong? You’ve got a mole in the organization?"
Inside the letter, besides the route, there’d been one odd phrase:
"Wild female dical Officer"
Yin Minghong imdiately knew he ant Wen Hong, which was why he’d rushed over. For a White Night Walker like Wen Hong, who couldn’t even truss a chicken and whose identity had been outed, it was like having one foot in the grave. How could he not be nervous?
"Of course it isn’t a threat, it was just a little conversational trick to get you moving. But you seem really on edge, Mister Yin—so you and that female dical Officer must be pretty close, huh? Ah... a lady dical Officer, that’s really nice, really nice..."
Yin Yinyin rambled off topic but quickly circled back. "A mole? You’re overthinking it. How could I have the skills to plant a mole in White Night’s Xuanzhu division? As for how I know Wen Hong’s one of yours, well, I used to disguise myself as a country dical Officer too—it’s an old trick. I just bluffed you a bit."
Then it hit Yin Minghong: It was in the files that Yin Yinyin was skilled in Internal Scenic Combat Technique, and likely to have posed as a dical Officer before.
He didn’t entirely believe it, but he didn’t press further either. "Are you really Yin Yinyin?"
"I an, who’d pretend to be soone White Night has a bounty on?" he said. "Actually, I don’t know if White Night’s even really chasing . If they’re not, just forget I said that."
"What you did in Star Engraving County’s been found out. You’re wanted in secret by White Night as the main suspect for ’collaborating with the enemy, leaking plans, killing comrades, and causing the Star Engraving division’s total destruction.’"
Yin Minghong replied flatly, "But a few days ago, I t a white-haired assassin who looked an awful lot like Yin Yinyin and carried both the ’Yin Yinyin’ and ’Qian Yuliu’ dals. At first, I thought he was you, but now you’re saying you’re Yin Yinyin... Does that an he was Qian Yuliu?"
"No, he wasn’t Qian Yuliu."
"Then who was Qian Yuliu?"
"Didn’t you just recite the charges? There’s one for ’murdering a comrade.’ Qian Yuliu was the comrade I killed."
Yin Minghong gripped the two dals in his pocket tighter, his voice colder. "You’re bold, I’ll give you that... So the white-haired assassin I t—who the hell was he?"
"Him? He was a friend of mine. The relationship I had with him was maybe like yours with the dical Officer. All those things you ntioned—we did them together, but later he went his own way."
"Why was he carrying both your dal and Qian Yuliu’s?"
"He probably thought I didn’t deserve mine. He was soone who longed to join White Night—his greatest wish in life was to gain their recognition."
"He was right. He deserved that dal more than you." Yin Minghong pounded the wall hard.
"So he died," Yin Yinyin said with a soft laugh.
Yin Minghong paused. He didn’t feel angry at Yin Yinyin’s mocking; only confused. "How do you know?"
Red Moon Fortress had almost no communication with the outside world, and it had only been five days since the assassin’s death and burial. Where could Yin Yinyin have gotten news?
"How do you think I got your direct line? You must know I’ve got a Saint’s Relic—anything is possible with it. Finding out about that idiot was child’s play for ."
At this, Yin Yinyin seed unable to hold back a laugh. "I didn’t expect he’d get kidnapped by slave traders the mont he left the city. Never take food or drinks from inns or boarding houses on the road—that’s just common sense."
"Don’t insult him," Yin Minghong said coldly. He didn’t know much about Divine Weapons, but he did know they had all kinds of supernatural powers, so it wasn’t impossible to monitor a specific target’s information.
"Get to the point, Yin Yinyin. Why go to all this trouble, risk so much, just to see ? What do you really want?"
"Good question. What do I want?"
Yin Minghong heard Yin Yinyin say, with a note of yearning, "Did you know there’s a Celestial Street inside the inner city? It’s paved with blue bricks so tight you can’t slip a knife between them. The shops on either side are all neat and unusual, selling wares from every region. The restaurants have master chefs from everywhere, and there are entertainnt spots like Regretless Pavilion and Xiangxue Sea. Every place stays open till dawn. It’s the busiest street in all Xuanzhu County, packed day and night with noble ladies and young heirs—a place for pleasure and extravagance."
"That a white-haired assassin like Yin Yinyin could sneak into the inner city—he really was sothing else..." Yin Minghong thought, then asked out loud, "So what are you getting at?"
"When I looked at Celestial Street, I couldn’t help thinking of sothing really joyful, sothing I’m really curious about, sothing that would be, well, just great to see." Although Yin Yinyin said this, his voice gave away no trace of joy. "To make it real, that’s why I ca to you."
"I just want to see for myself what it will look like, when all of Celestial Street is trampled over the bones of the nobility."
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