The assassin didn’t expect that he’d miss his target. And the worst part was that it took him a long time to come up with this plan. Fortunately, he was not a new assassin. He realized that it was not the time to be consumed by ego even though Marcus was not with Zhang Heng.
When the assassin discovered that Zhang Heng was the champion of the Amphitheatrum Flavium, he knew that he would not stand a chance against him. So, he did not hesitate to run after he missed his target, pretty confident in his stealth ability.
Almost every assassin had worked hard to perfect their stealth ability. Not only would it help them to approach their targets silently, but it could also help them to escape, thus saving their lives.
And as the assassin ran, he deliberately created more chaos in the crowd. He pushed and kicked the people around him. The people he chose to mess with looked like they had bad tempers, instantly angered when the assassin irritated them. The assassin, however, made sure that the men that he annoyed wouldn’t know that he was the culprit. Since they could not find the instigator, these hotheads had to vent their anger on the people around them. Soon, more people had started fights, making the whole place even more chaotic.
The assassin turned around, looked back, and saw that Zhang Heng did not come after him. He just stood still and watched quietly from a distance. This gave the assassin a little relief.
He did not lower down his guard and stop running, however. After escaping the mob, he plunged into the nearby alleys, running across four in one go. Only then did he slow down a little. Next, he changed clothes quickly, walked out of the alley, and pretended to be a customer in front of a small stall while actually scrutinizing his surroundings. After confirming that there were no suspicious people around him, he stood up.
But what he did not notice was that a pair of eyes were trailing him from the other side of the roof. Zhang Heng wasn’t in a hurry to rush to a confrontation since the man below him was just a hired assassin. In other words, the things he knew would be very limited. In all fairness, however, his skills as an assassin were pretty good. Zhang Heng figured that he could be one of the best assassins among his peers.
In terms of assassin skills, he was currently better than Zhang Heng. However, the potential of the two wasn’t something that could be compared. Zhang Heng’s teacher was Dadatis, and he was among the world’s best assassins. For now, Zhang Heng had not yet mastered everything that Dadatis taught him. Fortunately, assassin skills weren’t the only skill that he learned. He also had the Heart of Kreis with him, a perfect item to track someone down since it allowed him to move around without a single sound.
Zhang Heng tailed the assassin all the way, wanting to see who he would come into contact with next. Considering how he had taken such a long time to prepare and execute this plan, then failed miserably, he would obviously need to give his employer a good explanation.
After that, the assassin walked into a laundromat. Zhang Heng knew that it belonged to a small gang from this area. Having also joined the anti-patrol alliance, this gang was one of the more aggressive groups that had always promoted violence. Their goal was to curb the patrol’s growth.
However, Zhang Heng made no moves when he entered the laundrette. After that, he waited for about a quarter of an hour before the assassin came out of the shop, personally escorted out by the small gang’s boss. Zhang Heng then waited for his target to walk for a considerable distance and began tailing him again.
If it was someone else, they might have thought that the small gang’s boss was the one that hired the assassin to kill Zhang Heng. After all, Zhang Heng was working his way to becoming a full-fledged assassin. Earlier, he had learned from Dadatis about how an assassin’s mind worked.
Excluding the incompetent ones, most assassins would have a handler. The handler would help them to scout for more business opportunities, and at the same time, negotiate with their employers as well. When the salary was agreed upon, the employer would tell the handler they wanted the assassin to eliminate. After completing the task, the handler would take part in the assassin’s reward as his pay. Their pay was about 10% to 20% of the assassins’ reward.
This was done to protect the employer. Even if the assassin was caught while carrying out the mission, they couldn’t tell who their employers were. Secondly, doing this protected the assassin and prevented the employer from killing the assassin after completing the task.
And this assassin who dared to attack him was good. Obviously, it wasn’t the random lyncher that one could pick off the streets. It made no sense for him to contact his employer after he had personally failed the mission.
At the same time, Zhang Heng was very patient about it. He followed him for about half an hour before the assassin walked into a butcher shop. The butcher shop’s owner obviously knew him, seeing how he did not ask his customer what he wanted to buy. After confirming that there was no suspicious person behind him, he opened the side door and allowed him to enter the backyard. Once he got there, he put down his guard entirely and complained, “What kind of job did you pick for me?”
In the backyard, a Samaritan who was blind in one eye dangled a bag of gold coins. And there was a wonderful melody coming out from it. He raised his head when he heard the question, “He is the champion of the Amphitheatrum Flavium! Didn’t you say you can deal with him? I asked for three hundred gold coins from the person so you could complete this task. You can go on retirement once you complete this job, and I can also make a lot of money. How did it go? Please tell me that you have completed the task!”
There was a touch of eagerness in Samaritan’s eye.
“It’s a pity that I brought you bad news this time. I failed the task.” The assassin shook his head.
“How is that even possible?! You are my best assassin. You said that the gladiatorial champion possesses only a strong frontal fighting ability, and he was no different from ordinary people?!” The Samaritan had a hard time accepting the bad news.
“I don’t know how he dodged my fatal attack. He even took the dagger from me, and I don’t feel too good about it,” the assassin hesitated. “It seems he and I are the same kinds of people.”
“What? Are you from the far and mysterious Eastern Empire, too?” the one-eyed Samaritan asked.
“I’m not talking about where he comes from. For a moment, I thought he was also an assassin.”
“Do you think he is an assassin too? Then why would he give that up and transform himself into a gladiator?”
“I know it sounds a bit ridiculous. Forget it… Maybe I’m wrong,” the assassin muttered. “And I’ve also managed to lose him and put on a show to confuse him before I come here.”
Before he could finish his sentence, the one-eyed Samaritan on the opposite side had his eye wide open as if he saw a ghost.
So the assassin also turned around, followed where the Samaritan looked and saw Zhang Heng standing by the wall.
“I heard you talking about me, and I just have a few questions to ask. So please forgive me for the uninvited visit.”
