But that was only the secondary concern. Actually, it would not be a big deal even if Xu Zhi managed to find them. However, Ren Xiaosu had used a sniper rifle when they rescued Xu Zhi’s group, so it would be bad if the Zhou Consortium were to link this to Zhou Xilong’s assassination.
The Zhou Consortium was a well-known consortium in the Central Plains. If they wanted to take revenge on someone, it would surely not be trivial.
Even after Zhou Yingxue returned to the black market alone, she still stayed in the hotel every day and rarely left her room. If she had to go out, she would wrap herself up very tightly.
As it was already a month into fall, no one would really get suspicious even if she wore thicker clothes with a silk scarf and sunglasses.
After hiding in the hotel for several days, Zhou Yingxue finally couldn’t stand it any longer. She wrapped herself up in disguise and headed to the bank at the black market to check her account.
She concealed herself so tightly because Ren Xiaosu told her the consortiums would certainly not let go of any vital information they could get and would set up surveillance cameras in hidden places.
After arriving at the bank, Zhou Yingxue was stunned as soon as she went in. She saw two people wrapped up even tighter than her standing in front of the automated teller machine.
When she saw them keying in numbers with a sense of familiarity, she believed they must have been here on more than one occasion. When Zhou Yingxue saw that veterans like these were also guarding against the consortium’s banks, she wondered if Ren Xiaosu could really be right.
Zhou Yingxue keyed in her anonymous account and password at an ATM and noted there was four million yuan in it. Of that amount, one million yuan was received from the previous mission she had accomplished, while another one million yuan was the reward for assassinating Zhou Xilong.
This showed the Anjing House had already recognized the completion of that last mission and that she had gained the opportunity to ask for their protection once.
The remaining two million yuan was paid by Xu Zhi who promised it for saving his life.
When she keyed in Wu Tong’s account and password, Zhou Yingxue’s eyes lit up. There was 5.3 million yuan in Wu Tong’s account!
Frankly, Zhou Yingxue really did not expect Wu Tong to be so rich. But upon thinking about it, Wu Tong was considered a very experienced A-rank hitman. And with the Zhou Consortium’s internal resources readily available for him, he could easily carry out his missions there.
So it was normal he had earned so much money.
After checking Wu Tong’s account, Zhou Yingxue got lost in thought. After all, she now had 9.3 million yuan in her hands. This amount of money could last her for the rest of her life at any stronghold, right?
Then should she continue leading such a dangerous life?
Based on how Ren Xiaosu had reacted, he would not hunt her down to the ends of the earth even if she absconded with the money. In that case, what else did she have to worry about?
Her purpose for deliberately staying in the bathroom of the restaurant for half an hour the previous time was just so she could see how Ren Xiaosu would react about the money. Actually, what she was most worried about was getting hunted down by Ren Xiaosu.
That young man made her feel like he was a massive mountain she could not conquer. In fact, it felt like she could not even muster up any resistance against him. If the two of them really became enemies, Zhou Yingxue would definitely escape rather than think about how to fight back.
“Should I leave or not?” Zhou Yingxue had experienced such a struggle recently. She initially thought that she could accept remaining as a maidservant to that young man, but after seeing such a large sum of money, she still felt tempted by it.
After all, Ren Xiaosu would be getting 80% of the money when he returned.
Zhou Yingxue walked out of the bank while gritting her teeth and muttering to herself, “Why does he have to take such a large share of the money? Seriously, I wouldn’t be caught in such a dilemma if I could just get another 10% more!”
But when Zhou Yingxue was about to leave, she hesitated again, because no one had ever given her any sense of security like Ren Xiaosu had in this chaotic world.
By following Ren Xiaosu, things would be totally different. She could munch on melon seeds comfortably even while standing on the roof of a building.
To be honest, Zhou Yingxue believed that as long as Ren Xiaosu was around, any missions could be completed and she would not have to be put in danger at any time.
After all, Stronghold 73 might not necessarily be tougher than Stronghold 146, and that young man was someone who had destroyed a stronghold before.
A sense of security was simply too important in this chaotic world. Or rather, it was really too important to Zhou Yingxue.
Moreover, her master was also quite a nice person. Although he looked unfeeling on the surface, he had a warm heart. If something happened to her someday, Ren Xiaosu would definitely save her, right?
With those thoughts, Zhou Yingxue involuntarily walked back to the entrance of the hotel. Zhou Yingxue sighed, “Since I’ve already come back here, I should just wait patiently for Master to return….”
The feeling of being a maidservant wasn’t too bad after all.
All of a sudden, Zhou Yingxue felt much more relaxed. She turned around and ran to the black market’s casino.
She had earned some money, so she needed to spend it now!
But when Zhou Yingxue went into the casino, she only exchanged for 500 yuan’s worth of chips. She held the five small chips in her hands and looked around for a long time but did not really sit down at any tables to play.
Not for any other reason, but because she could not bear to part with the money. What if she lost?
In the end, Zhou Yingxue traded the chips back for money and returned straight to her hotel room to soak in the bathtub. The casino staff rolled their eyes after she exchanged the chips without playing at all.
Just after Zhou Yingxue left, Vanilla of the Anjing House stood at the casino’s entrance and smilingly said through his micro-earpiece, “She doesn’t look like someone who would double-cross her teammates. I don’t think there’s any problem with the mission at Stronghold 73. Moreover, the Zhou Consortium also claimed they killed four of the hitmen, so everything matches up.”
But a voice rang out through the earpiece, “I still think there’s something suspicious with this A-rank hitwoman. After all, her teammates all perished for both the missions she was involved in.”
“Then let’s observe her again when we get a chance next time. I’m off to carry out another mission now,” Vanilla said.
Right now, Vanilla was dressed in a black suit and tie, and he looked like any other handsome young man out there. In fact, one might even mistake him as the most popular gigolo of a host club, the type older women liked the most.
“By the way,” Vanilla suddenly asked, “what about the D-rank hitman that caused a lot of trouble at Stronghold 61? No, he should’ve been promoted to C-rank, right?”
Someone said through the earpiece, “It seems that person has disappeared.”
“Is it possible the person used other people’s cell phones to carry out the missions? Check if there’s been any similar situations recently,” Vanilla said.
It would have been fine if they did not check, but the person in charge of assigning the missions at the Anjing House suddenly realized a similar situation had also occurred during the previous D-rank mission assignments at Stronghold 73. No one managed to complete it even after a long time, and those who accepted the mission had all disappeared!
Vanilla was a little puzzled by this. “Could that troublemaker have gone to Stronghold 73? The distance between the two strongholds is way too vast. Could that D-rank hitman actually be Zhou Yingxue?”
“That’s not the case. We had our people investigate and sought eyewitness accounts. They said the troublemaker’s a young male individual.”
At this moment, Zhou Yingxue was still unaware she was almost targeted by the Anjing House. Ren Xiaosu was right about it after all. If they wanted to lead a better life in this chaotic world, they would have to be even more cautious.
