“You mean… a fake identity… that’s a bit difficult to handle.”
the Masked Man rubbed his chin with his hand, looking as though he were in a very difficult position.
“Just say it. How much money do I need to get a legal identity?”
Gu Lian crossed her legs and folded her arms across her chest. Through the eye holes of her mask, her crimson eyes narrowed slightly.
The Masked Man locked eyes with Gu Lian for a moment before letting out a soft snort and waving his hand. “No, no, no, you’ve misunderstood. This isn’t a matter of money at all.”
‘It seems there’s a chance…’ Gu Lian leaned forward, her flat chest resting against the table. “Fine then. What… what price do I need to pay?”
The Masked Man’s words were very subtle. When she first asked about a forged identity, he made it seem difficult, but his actual meaning was that the price needed to be higher.
Since a forged identity was possible, Gu Lian wanted to see if she could secure a legal one. The Masked Man hadn’t agreed, but he hadn’t directly refused either, saying instead that it wasn’t a matter of money.
‘Can I look at this from a different angle then?’
Money wasn’t everything. While this truly wasn’t something money could solve, there were things that money couldn’t buy!
“That… is not easy to estimate.”
The Masked Man’s attitude remained vague. Realizing this, Gu Lian prepared to return to her old trade.
“I can do one job for you, no questions asked. I won’t ask who needs it or why. Whether it’s killing someone or saving someone, I can complete it for you unconditionally. All spoils gained along the way will belong to you.”
If the risk had made the Masked Man hesitant before, the chips Gu Lian just threw down were enough to make his heart race.
He had been watching the scene where Gu Lian subdued the Black-robed Man. With her clean, efficient skills and her beautiful, harmless appearance, she was the perfect candidate for either assassination or infiltration.
Specifically, the stance Gu Lian took made it clear that as long as there was a mission, she would do it regardless of whether it was good or bad, and she would never say no.
“Five! If you do five jobs, we can help you arrange a legitimate identity!”
The Masked Man’s gaze swept up and down Gu Lian aggressively. The more he looked, the more satisfied he became. Such a perfect Assassin could take the lives of those in power if given the chance!
Once this deal was set, he could finally escape his position as a Contact Person in this godforsaken town and perhaps even use this to climb the ranks!
“No.”
Gu Lian shook her head, her tone decisive. “One at most. This old—pah, I need my rest too.”
“I see.” The Masked Man lowered his head. Within his eyes, logic and ambition were at war. In the balance of pros and cons, logic eventually took the upper hand.
“Then I’m sor—”
“Don’t speak yet.”
Gu Lian made a silencing gesture. The slight curl of her lips looked exceptionally wicked.
“Did I ever say… that I was the only one who needed an identity?”
With a loud thud, the Masked Man slapped the table and stood up. He raised his head, the flames of ambition reclaiming the high ground over his logic. “Deal!”
The risk of arranging one identity versus two wasn’t that different. This was clearly a highly profitable trade.
Moreover, once this was done, he would have something to hold over her. It wouldn’t be something that could be settled with just one or two jobs.
“We’ll save that for later. That’s all for today. Can you tell me when the blood test results will be ready?”
Gu Lian immediately cut the topic short. It was enough to stop there; keeping things ambiguous allowed her to maintain the initiative.
“They’ll be out tomorrow morning.”
The Masked Man sat back down and began rummaging through his desk. Soon, he found a brand-new Secret Key and placed it on the table.
“This is your Secret Key. Take it.”
The Masked Man leaned back on the sofa with his hands behind his head as if stretching. Gu Lian said nothing. She gave him a deep look, grabbed the Secret Key from the table, and walked out.
She walked up the stairs and reached the entrance shortly after. The Black-robed Man had been waiting there for a long time. She took off the mask, tossed it to him, and stepped out of the Black Market entrance.
Leaving the dark and damp Public Restroom, Gu Lian walked onto the gradually bustling street. The people passing by her seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with her.
Previously, after noticing where Gu Lian had gone, those three old ladies had stopped caring about buying groceries. They had long since put their things away and held up their phones, wanting to capture that “sacred” moment.
The moment Gu Lian emerged, Sister Yu’s eyes lit up. She slapped her two friends, who had started gossiping again, waking them up. The sudden strike left both women stunned for a moment.
Sister Yu pointed in a direction, and the two women looked over to see a young girl in a black-and-white jacket walking briskly out of the men’s restroom.
Just witnessing this moment set their gossiping souls ablaze. Suddenly, the screen of the phone recording the video went black for a second.
“Huh?”
Sister Yu let out a soft cry of confusion. After failing to get a response from the power button, she tried several more times, but every attempt failed. Suddenly, she felt a wave of chill emanate from the buttons. A bone-piercing cold instantly spread through her entire body, her teeth began to chatter, and her vision blurred.
In the final image she saw, a white-clothed ghost seemed to reach out and grab her by the throat, and then the scene froze…
By the time Gu Lian’s back disappeared around the corner of the street, the excited ladies finally withdrew their gazes with a sense of lingering dissatisfaction. Turning around, they saw Sister Yu pressing the power button, staring blankly at her phone as if her soul had vanished. She looked utterly despondent.
Seeing how strange she looked, one of the women patted Sister Yu on the shoulder and asked tentatively, “Sister Yu?”
“Gone… it’s gone…”
Sister Yu’s eyes were hollow as she slowly lowered her phone.
“Sister Yu?”
The two women took a step back. At that moment, Sister Yu snapped out of it, stomped her foot in anger, and cursed under her breath. “This is so irritating! My phone actually ran out of battery at the critical moment!”
Seeing Sister Yu back to her lively self, the two let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Oh, Sister Yu, if it’s gone, it’s gone. We can just send you a copy of ours later, right?”
“You guys really are my best friends. You’re so good to me—”
“Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?”
The interlude lasted only a short while. The sun had unknowingly risen to the middle of the sky. Beads of sweat appeared on the two women’s foreheads, and a drop of sweat the size of a bean rolled down Sister Yu’s brow. After a few more pleasantries, the three of them packed up their stalls and headed home.
On the way back, Sister Yu’s back was turned to the other two. Her eyes rolled back until only the whites were visible, and a thick white liquid seeped from the corners of her eyes. The smile on her face became distorted and grotesque.
“Friends…”
No one on the street noticed, but as if by some magic, they all moved to avoid Sister Yu. Without exception, none of them noticed this horrifying and Weiyi scene.
“Friends… delicious!”