There was also a reason why Altrus did not escape right away. Not only was Zhang Heng wearing a black suit, but he had also put on a hood. Although Altrus did notice Zhang Heng’s arrival in time, he did not know who sent the assassin to deal with him.
According to the news that he received, the Balance Blade was now dead. There was only one backup member left. Even if he was still alive, Altrus figured that he would be overwhelmed by the troubles he had to face, and he should not have time to come here to assassinate him. Although the Hounds was his ally, Altrus would not trust them completely. The two had only formed an alliance because they had a common enemy, but now that the enemy was gone, their ally-relationship would be dismissed naturally.
Altrus was not too surprised if the Hounds sent this assassin. Other than that, he had made a lot of enemies throughout the years. He had to find out the identity of the assassin as soon as possible. And how did the enemy find his hiding place? Hiding at the temple was Altrus’s greatest secret. If this secret were exposed, his most important channel of intelligence would be cut off. Although Altrus was quite capable, losing the temple was like a magician losing his magic wand.
If possible, Altrus still wanted to keep this secret safe. That was the reason why he took the risk to talk to Zhang Heng. Altrus had always been a very cautious person, but at the same time, he was also very conceited. Most of the time, he was very confident with the tricks in his sleeve. By making use of the legend of the underworld, no matter how determined enemies were, they should have been nervous about the whole thing.
To his surprise, Altrus received a small gift from Zhang Heng, and it did anger Altrus at the beginning. He wished to crush the bastard who scraped the copper pipe with a knife. However, after he recovered from the effects of the screeching, he gradually calmed himself down. And Altrus realized that it might not be safe for him to stay here anymore.
He regretted that he did not leave as soon as he realized that there was an intruder. Fortunately, it still wasn’t too late to leave; hence Altrus did not hesitate this time. He grabbed his cane and said to the guards around him, “Let’s go to the tunnel.”
The moment the guards received his order, they quickly surrounded him and formed a protection circle. After that, they left through the side door to another room. However, after taking only two steps forward, the guards positioned at the back of the team suddenly knelt on the ground. His heart was shot through by a sharp arrow. And it caused the remaining guards to become nervous. They spontaneously divided into two teams. One team stayed back to stall the enemy, while the other team continued to protect Altrus and moved towards the underground path with stone rooms.
While getting panicked, Altrus, who had a physical disability, fell and dropped his cane. However, Altrus did not have time to pick it up. Although the copper pipe was good at transmitting the sound, it would get quieter once he got too far away from it. In order to listen to what Zhang Heng was saying, he chose to enter a stone room that was closer to Zhang Heng. However, the price he had to pay was that he could not enter the tunnel from that particular stone room. He had to walk for another fifty meters to get to the tunnel.
Altrus felt that the fifty meters were the longest distance that he traveled in his life. Right after he fell, two guards would quickly get to his feet. After walking for another thirty meters, the guards carried him to run towards the final destination. Altrus faintly heard the sound of fighting coming from behind. However, it did not last too long.
After the fighting sound disappeared for a few seconds, a glimpse of hope reappeared in Altrus’ heart. The six soldiers that stayed back to fight with Zhang Heng were brought over here by him from the front line. Logically speaking, they were not supposed to be trounced by the enemy. Their odds of killing the assassin were greater. However, Altrus did not stop moving. He continued to run towards the stone room.
And now, he was only less than two meters away from the stone room. But the next moment, he felt a blast of air passing over his ears. And the guard on his left fell to the ground with an arrow penetrating his body. It caused Altrus to lose his balance. The guard on his right attempted to draw his weapon to protect Altrus.
However, the assassin with the Persian short swords cut open his chest without much effort. After that, Zhang Heng walked to Altrus’s side, who was still crawling on the ground. The latter was extremely close to touching the stone room’s door. However, he heard the assassin next to him saying,
“Your sister asked me to send her regards to you.”
At that moment, Altrus had finally lost all his pride and composure. He pleaded, “No, this is impossible. How much is she paying you? I can double it! No! I can pay you ten times her offer. Don’t kill me!”
“I feel your sincerity, but I’m sorry. You can’t give me what she paid me,” said Zhang Heng as he grabbed Altrus’s hair.
The fear in Altrus’s eyes gradually turned into anger. He kept repeating, “No, I have escaped death once! I won’t die here! I won’t die here! I won’t die here!”
“It’s a pity. This time you will die for real. But the good news is that everyone heard of your death five days ago. I also attended the funeral held by his majesty. It was pretty good.” Zhang Heng slit Altrus’s throat as he spoke.
The latter’s fear and anger eventually turned into unwillingness, forever enshrined in his eyes.
…..
Zhang Heng had eliminated his first target of the night. However, he ran into a bit of trouble when he attempted to get out of the stone chamber maze. Since his way in was blocked, Zhang Heng had to take a long route before he could get back to the ground. By the time he left the maze, the sky had turned bright.
After that, Zhang Heng saw his wanted portrait posted on the streets. Immediately, he put on his hood when there were not a lot of people around him. The first thing that he did was to return to the southeast city. There was still one person on his assassination list. It was someone that had managed to hide well.
The person was the Hounds’ leader.
So far, Zhang Heng had not obtained any information about him. Altrus was mysterious enough, but most of the people from the upper class had heard of his name before. However, when one compared him with the leader of the Hounds, no one knew if he was even a real person. If it weren’t for the coincidence, Zhang Heng would’ve never known who the Hounds’ leader was.
Initially, Zhang Heng wanted to assassinate the leader after killing Altrus, but he was accidentally trapped in the maze. Last night was the best time to eliminate him. Unfortunately, he missed the window of opportunity. When his wanted portrait was posted everywhere on the street, Zhang Heng’s actions were also greatly affected. Fortunately, since Zhang Heng knew who the Hounds’ leader was, he knew the best time to eliminate him. Zhang Heng ceased all his actions and waited quietly for his target to approach him.
