Chapter 46

Fang Zhao’s move caught the both by surprise . This wasn’t part of the plan .

The man blocking the apartment door secretly cursed their employer . Didn’t you say this kid was an artist type?

An assassin, no question . A composer? Hell no!

His temple pressed against the barrel of a gun, he swallowed the comment he was about to make and lowered his hand carrying the electric rod .

The two of them had been working black streets for some time . They had completed quite a few jobs, so they knew who was faking it, who was a paper tiger . They could deduce from a single move or look .

The way Fang Zhao handled his gun and the look in his eyes scared the man blocking the door shitless . He could tell Fang Zhao’s composure and proficiency weren’t faked . He knew that if they made the wrong move, Fang Zhao would pull the trigger .

So the man trailing Fang Zhao also halted . He couldn’t risk making a move before gauging the situation . Otherwise, he’d be returning with a body bag .

But the good thing about professionals like themselves was that they were flexible .

“Big brother, this is all a misunderstanding . No need to get worked up . ” The man blocking the entrance to the apartment mustered a smile and turned off his electric rod . The sound of the current disappeared . He raised his hands up high . He had no qualms about addressing a man younger than him as older brother .

“I’m not worked up . Let’s go inside and have a proper chat,” Fang Zhao said .

“No, no, no . We better not intrude . We’ll leave right away . Right away . ” As soon as he lifted one leg, he noticed Fang Zhao’s finger on the trigger tighten . He stayed put, wearing a pained expression on his face . The snarling beast tattoo looked like a joke .

“It’s OK . Head on in . I just want to ask you a few questions . Unlock door . ” On Fang Zhao’s command, the apartment door opened automatically .

Fang Zhao had upgraded the security settings on his door to a dual ID check—detection of his bracelet and voice recognition .

Staring down the barrel of the gun, the first man walked into the apartment with a gloomy look on his face .

The other man was about 2 meters tall . His neck was exposed, despite the cold weather, revealing a blanket of tattoos . His muscles were firm and chiseled . Fang Zhao could also tell from the sound of his approaching footsteps that he wasn’t as slow as he looked .

“Stand over there . ” Fang Zhao gestured to the big guy .

“Make yourself at home . Find a place to sit down . I’ll let you go after asking you a few questions . ” Fang Zhao pulled up the only intact chair in the room and sat down .

The two men scanned the tiny room top to bottom with one quick look . The only places to sit were two stools .

Even though the stools were a bit low, they were better than sitting on the floor .

The two 20-centimeter tall stools were used to reach higher shelves . Curly Hair also liked to sunbathe on them . Now they looked completely undersized as they held two grown men, one of them a big fellow .

“Forget about the knife behind you,” Fang Zhao interjected .

The man with the red crown hairdo had felt the knife behind him when he sat down . Fang Zhao’s comment caught him by surprise, almost prompting him to jump up .

Damn, we’ve met our match .

Crown Head lowered his head and cursed quietly as he withdrew his hand .

“Fire away . It’s our own fault that we got caught red-handed . We took the job without doing our research,” Crown Head said . “But we’re not sure who our employer is . “

“You’re not clear but you have a good idea . ” Fang Zhao was in no mood for fudging . “Tell me, what has Fang Sheng asked you to do?”

Crown Head raised his eyebrows when Fang Zhao uttered the words “Fang Sheng . ” Now that all the cards were on the table, there was no point in bullshitting .

“You should know we are hired guns . We do what we’re paid to do . Someone offered us 30,000 to steal your bracelet . The client only sent us a text message, and the number he left is a burner number . But I’m guessing he is probably the Fang Sheng you speak of . He hired a friend of mine to monitor your movements . ” Crowd Head stared at Fang Zhao and tried to glean a response . Nothing .

Crown Head had revealed what he knew of Fang Sheng’s recent moves, but the two of them didn’t know that Fang Sheng had stolen three songs from Fang Zhao . Fang Sheng was very cautious . He didn’t tell a soul .

“Anything else besides the bracelet?” Fang Zhao asked .

Crown Head was going to say no, but he cast a glance at Fang Zhao and decided to tell the truth . “He said if we taught you a lesson he would pay us an additional 10,000 . “

“He didn’t ask you to kill me?”

“No, no, no . We don’t do murder . ” Crowd Head was quick to explain . He raised his now-silent electric rod slightly . “This is just for show . Really, we never take kill assignments . There are only a handful of assassins working the black streets . And they are extremely selective . You can’t contact them directly . Their pricing is also through the roof . They earn on one job what takes us dozens of years to make . ” Electric rods were strictly regulated, but these types of things were easier to come by on a black street .

The big fellow sitting next to Crown Head kept nodding . They most definitely stayed away from kill jobs . They didn’t want to die . All they wanted to do was make a living . Why risk their lives?

As long as they stayed within bounds, no one would waste time hunting them down . But taking a human life was different . That wasn’t something you could hide from .

Fang Zhao watched as the two thugs justified their actions profusely and shifted all the blame to Fang Sheng . But he wasn’t fooled by their cowering act . If he lost focus for one second or showed any sign of weakness, they would take advantage and turn the tables on him . These two weren’t greenhorns . They were too experienced to intimidate with mere violence . That’s why Fang Zhao went straight for his gun . It was easier to talk once he seized control of the situation . And it would dash any ideas of a comeback .

“Our typical job is collecting debt . We’ve done no wrong!” Crown Head wailed .

“Then what are you doing here?” Fang Zhao asked .

Crown Head noticed Fang Zhao glaring at him, so he stopped wailing and rubbed his hands . “The new year . . . the new year is around the corner . We just wanted to earn a few extra bucks . ” Thirty thousand was indeed decent pay for black street thugs . They were tempted . Plus, Fang Sheng had hired someone to watch Fang Zhao . They’d thought it would be a straightforward gig . Once they had gotten word that Fang Zhao was back, they had scrambled to set up in front of his apartment . Little had they known they would end up in this predicament .

As Crown Head spoke, the doorbell rang .

It was Yue Qing .

A customer had told Yue Qing that he saw a man with a beast tattoo on his cheek head up to the second floor, so he had rushed upstairs to make sure Fang Zhao was OK .

“I heard a man with a beast tattoo on his cheek showed up . . . ” Yue Qing hadn’t finished his sentence when he noticed the two men with beasts inked onto their faces kneeling—or sitting, rather—inside Fang Zhao’s apartment . “

“These two are?” Yue Qing pointed to the two men with a look of surprise .

“Guests, here for a cup of coffee,” Fang Zhao said .

The two men sitting on the stools played along, lifting their plastic cups filled with room-temperature tap water .

The two thugs grew up on the black street, so of course they knew of Yue Qing . They had bypassed Yue Qing’s shop on purpose, but here he was anyway .

Were Fang Zhao and Yue Qing close friends?

Crown Head closed his eyes to conceal his sense of doom . Fang Zhao alone was enough trouble . Even if they snatched Fang Zhao’s bracelet, would Yue Qing seek revenge for his friend?

They hadn’t researched their target properly . If they had known, they would have turned down the job . Fang Sheng screwed them over .

But when he lifted his head, Crowd Head was already flashing what he thought was an honest smile and his rows of neon-green–tinted teeth .

Yue Qing gave both men a careful look-over . They sat obediently on the two stools like primary school students listening to a lecture . If you ignored their build and beast tattoos, Yue Qing would have thought they were victims .

He was baffled .

Did Fang Zhao really know them?

These two were familiar faces on the black street . They weren’t from this building but the one two blocks away . They had shopped at Yue Qing’s store before . Yue Qing remembered them .

He took another glance at Fang Zhao, who did not seem threatened . Someone had to mind his shop—his wife hadn’t left work yet—so he couldn’t be gone for too long . His customers would start getting antsy after a five-minute absence or so .

“Then . . . just holler if something goes wrong . I can hear you downstairs,” Yue Qing said .

“Got it . Thanks . “

“Great . Then . . . enjoy your coffee . ” Yue Qing was still confused when he headed downstairs and shook his head . He could no longer read youngsters these days .

Crown Head kept defending himself after Yue Qing left, all but calling Fang Zhao their daddy . Anything so that Fang Zhao would let them leave .

Fang Zhao listened quietly as Crown Head wrapped up his spiel . He responded, “There’s a saying from the black streets, ‘Live in the present . Let bygones be bygones . ‘”

In a black street context, that didn’t mean you left grievances unanswered . What it meant was that you had to exact revenge right away .

Crown Head understood right away, saying, “We’d love to look up Fang Sheng for a chat, but we don’t have his address . “

“I do,” Fang Zhao responded .