Fat geese patrolled the lake as the winds blew, and the rain drizzled, creating a hazy mist as two men walked in the night.

"Hey, Kong, dun ya think that we should be lying in bed with butiful gals?

​​

"Ze weather, ze weather, makes people sleepy, man…"

Two men in black cloaks were walking along Goose Lake. One with the hood up and one with the hood down.

Shao Yi wore his hood tight around his face as he took another mouthful of booze from his gourd then clasped his stomach as he belched.

Blurgghh!

Feng Kong took a look at the weather. The rainy night was blocking the sunrise, yet first light would come soon nonetheless.

"Times like these are when people are least guarded."

He focused and leapt far away, advising his partner, "Don't drink before you kill. It'll affect your judgment."

Shao Yi paused what he was doing with his hands, yet he maintained his speed and kept up with him.

"Oh, relax. It be fine.

"Dis no problem. I was about to tell ya to put your hood up. Rain wud get in the way of your sight, you know? That wud get in the way of you killing."

Feng Kong wiped the cold rainwater off his face and said, "The rain is cold. It wakes me up."

Shao Yi clapped his gourd and twitched an eyebrow.

"You see. Difwent people, difwent taste…

"I like dwinking, you like rain. We got what we both want. Nice, right?"

The corners of Feng Kong's mouth twitched. He stayed silent for quite a while before saying, "No problem with dwin… drinking. Could you at least speak like a normal person?"

Ptuih!

Noting that his speech was getting affected by that of his partner, Feng Kong decided to just shut up.

"Hehe…" Shao Yi was enjoying himself. "Ya dun like what ya hear?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I dun like your cold a** face too, looking like a saint or sumfing."

Feng Kong stopped, looking very annoyed.

"What? Let's go!" Shao Yi was exasperated.

"Do you know what you're saying?" Feng Kong's tone of voice plummeted, making him sound like some emissary of some icy hell.

"I know. We sud go back to sleep!"

"…"

Feng Kong took a deep breath. His partner must be really drunk.

"Forget it. No point being petty with him," he thought. "There's still business to take care of."

He took flight again.

Shao Yi tipped his hood back a little with a shaky hand. Even though his face hadn't been drenched by the rain, it was still drenched in a cold sweat.

"Holy sh**, what did I just say? Am I looking to die?

"That guy is Feng Kong, the Bloody Hands man!

"Good thing I managed to blow it over. Kong probably won't kill me after this."

His partner's low, icy tone after his slip of the tongue had immediately rendered him sober, and he'd simply decided to play around and play dumb after realizing that he'd said something wrong.

The consequences would've been disastrous otherwise.

Shao Yi wiped all that cold sweat off of his face and adjusted his expression, immediately following after his partner.

The rain kept falling, and seemed to have gotten even heavier.

The geese at the lake huddled together as they gathered around the jade fence, trying to take shelter from the rain.

Well…

Nice try, though.

…

The speed at which the two moved along that winding path slowed considerably.

"Dis way, right?"

Shao Yi looked around him, and, truth be told, it had been quite a while since he'd last gone to the Outer Yard. In fact, it'd been such a long time that he almost forgot his way around. It was fortunate that the place had hardly changed. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to somewhat find his way around.

He then saw someone in the woods, and was quite surprised.

"Are disciples of the Outer Yard so hudwoking? Raining and still working?

"Well, back den I stayed in that common house for a year. There were so many people in there and training was just impossible, so I had to come out…

"Inner Yard is a nice pwace, I hub my own pwace, and gals…"

Shao Yi reminisced as he continued drinking, totally oblivious to the fact that Feng Kong was getting increasingly annoyed.

He took a gulp and went inside an empty compound.

The compound was covered with an array, and only rainwater could get inside. There was also a huge field before that barrier, which was huge and could fit many people inside for training.

"Tsk, rich kid, huh!

"Back den, I…"

"Shut up!" Feng Kong cut him off. "The target's right in front of us, and you still wanna yap away? Did you forget what I taught you?"

Gulp… Shao Yi scratched his head sheepishly. He opened his mouth to answer the question, then shut up the next moment.

He took another gulp to steel himself and added, "Kong, just let me do this one, and you stay behind and watch. You dun need to do this in the first pwace, so…"

Feng Kong shot him a look, causing Shao Yi to immediately shut up and pretend to zip his mouth shut.

"Get going.

"Be mindful of how you do it. Get it done with a single hit."

Shao Yi nodded, and the gourd in his hand disappeared. He brandished two short swords, which he held in a reverse grip, and hid the blade in his sleeves before walking up to the place.

He lifted his hand.

Then he knocked on the door.

…

The skin before him was so supple and had such a nice glow. Even though Xu Xiaoshou was unable to see the face clearly, he no longer cared.

He reached out and was about to touch said skin…

Dum, dum, dum!

When rushed knocks came from the front door.

"Oh, d*mn you!"

The supple body disappeared before his eyes, and he lunged at it in an attempt to catch it.

Crack!

Noise was heard from the bed, and he somehow lost his balance, like he'd missed a step, and then fell hard onto the ground.

His eyes flew open, his heart still racing. His eyes were full of displeasure.

"Just one more step!"

Dum, dum, dum!

The knocking was heard again.

He then looked at the door, feeling very, very annoyed.

"Just who the h*ll is so damn senseless, huh?" he thought. "What are they doing showing up at such a time?

"As**ole. Can't you just let me sleep?

"Why do you wanna get in the way of me sleeping?

He put on his shoes and slowly walked to the living room. He put up his spiritual source to serve as an umbrella and shield himself from the rain.

He'd just washed himself not too long ago, yet had been waken up by all that noise not long after lying down. He couldn't afford to get himself drenched.

He rubbed his drowsy eyes and walked past the compound before long. He put a hand on the handle.

The wind blew and seemed to wake him up. He halted.

"Hold on!

"Just who the h*ll is sick enough to come look for me at such a time?"

He started to become suspicious. He had hardly any friends in the Outer Yard, and had only gone to the library with the staff back in the afternoon the day before. That meant that there was just no reason for anyone to come looking for him.

He'd even prepared to give himself a few days off.

"Staff members looking for me at such a time?"

He felt that his turn of events was rather ridiculous. As such, he focused and extended his Sense through the barrier to check out what was going on out there.

A man wearing a black cloak, his face concealed under the hood, was standing outside. Despite the dark of night, he was still able to clearly make out the man's expression.

The man looked plain, and seemed to behave very courteously, as he didn't keep banging on the door.

Huh?

Another one right behind him?

"Sh**, is this guy sick or what. It's raining, and he's already wearing something with a hood, yet he took to revealing his face and standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest?

"What's with all this pretense?

"Who the h*ll would bother looking at you during the night?"

He sensed that something was off, yet he was unable to place what exactly was wrong.

More importantly, he didn't know either of these two people, and he wondered why they were here in the first place.

Furthermore, he wondered why they'd showed up at such a time.

The sound of the rain seemed to have gotten louder than before.

His hand remained resting on the handle, yet he didn't just pull the door open, nor did he pull his hand back. His heart rate quickened somewhat as he took a look at the night sky.

"A rainy night…

"Someone's here to kill me?"

He felt his skin crawl, yet he found the thought rather ridiculous. He must've read too many novels. Why would someone come to kill him without good reason?

He felt that his social life was rather decent and that he had never made any enemies.

All three of them were patient. All three of them were quiet. All three of them didn't move.

He sensed that the man outside the door was still courteously waiting.

The night was silent again all of a sudden. There was a wooden door, and three figures standing around it.

The rain, on the other hand, was loud. It resounded far and wide along with the knocks on the door, and through the noise a familiar song could be heard:

"Little pig, little pig, let me in…

"Dum, dum, dum."