Chapter 675: Chapter 457 Extortion
The man with the grim expression could imagine his future after having lost half of his personnel.
Cultivating so many excellent assassins of the sea had demanded tremendous financial and mental resources.
The losses of today could potentially plummet their assassin organization from first place to last among all assassin groups.
They had suffered due to the accursed royal task that they had taken on.
The one who had caused their careers to tumble from the peak to the abyss was none other than someone from the General Mansion.
The General was the person they admired most, but as figures in the worldly society, it wasn’t possible for them not to collect payment for their services.
The fact that they had incurred such significant losses spoke volumes of the General’s exceptional ability to protect his home and country.
Even those in charge of transporting provisions were this formidable; it could be seen as a reason for excitement and joy, as it indicated the abundance of talent amongst the border soldiers.
If the events hadn’t impacted him, he might have joined in the applause for the General’s capable men.
At this moment, the assassin leader only harbored a desire to kill; his career was nearing its end as their organization had plummeted from the heights.
If the Royal did not offer better compensation, it was possible they would never rise again to be the foremost among assassins.
The man with the gloomy expression was already aware of the twists and turns that awaited him.
At this moment, all he wanted to know was one thing: the compensation.
Aside from that, he needed to know if the men under his command on the sea had been killed.
He also had to negotiate with the person in charge of this matter.
With a dark expression, the man instructed his subordinates to send a message to the housekeeper, arranging a rendezvous at a stronghold for negotiations.
The housekeeper who had solicited the assassins was aware that the task had not been accomplished.
Fully aware that this assassin team was incompetent and couldn’t continue with subsequent tasks, he was already considering hiring other assassins.
By now, the housekeeper knew about the negotiation over compensation with the assassin leader.
As an administrator of royal tasks, his superiors had assigned him only this one job, with a fixed allotment of Silver Taels.
Compensating these assassins would mean he couldn’t afford to hire others to carry out the mission.
If he failed to accomplish his mission, the blame would certainly fall upon him, and he might be executed.
Rehiring assassins for the task meant that those who had undertaken the previous job and were privy to the situation also needed to be eliminated.
The administrator understood plainly that this assassin group could no longer serve him.
To pay less compensation and to silence them through murder.
The housekeeper did not appear at the grim-faced man’s agreed-upon location.
Instead, he dispatched guards from within the palace to eliminate this knowledgeable leader.
The man with the ominous expression waited, but the housekeeper never arrived. The source of thɪs content is novｅlfire.net
Suddenly, he detected waves of murderous intent; as an assassin, his senses were keen, and he understood someone had a death wish for him.
In that moment of alertness, he could only think of two people who would want him dead—the one who was supposed to pay him and, alternatively, someone from the General’s camp who had discovered his role as the puppeteer, one intent on silencing him, the other bent on revenge for his own manhunt.
The dark-faced man reacted swiftly, parrying and counterattacking the assault.
His subordinates were also defending themselves rapidly.
He realized they were facing other masked men.
The martial arts prowess of these men was high and not inferior to their own.
Apart from their martial arts and Qinggong, their tactics were fierce, rivaling the ruthlessness of assassins!
The assassin leader realized he and his subordinates were surrounded by many; they fought desperately, then struggled fiercely to break through.
As long as they could escape, they would be able to investigate who was trying to kill them.
The assassin leader had sustained minor wounds during the counterattack, and as the opponent’s numbers gradually increased, they were at a disadvantage!
The opponent’s moves were deadly, not at all like the weapons used by military personnel, nor did it seem like a military person seeking vengeance on them.
The only response to the leader was silence and the clanging of swords!
Instead of answering their plea for life, there was a whistle sound, signaling more people joining the attack.
The assassin leader had a growing suspicion that someone, or some people, serving the Royal cause wanted them silenced.
In order to escape, the leader released poison gas, seductive poison gas.
The pursuers, although masked, didn’t expect the assassin to have this trick up his sleeve; they immediately recognized the sinister tactic and hurriedly covered their mouths and noses.
Their movements hesitated slightly.
Taking advantage of this gap, the leader and his wounded subordinates broke through.
The assassin leader broke out of the encirclement and ran frantically with his subordinates, seeking a place to hide.
The people chasing them were poisoned, also affected by the seductive poison gas; poisoned, they couldn’t keep up with them, allowing them to escape.
They returned to report once again to the Royal housekeeper who had assigned the task.
“Useless, all of you couldn’t kill them; if you don’t remove the roots when cutting the grass, troubles will follow! Don’t wait to find more people to chase,
track down their whereabouts and eliminate them all!”
The housekeeper watched as everyone left and then, staying with only two people, immediately wrote a letter to send back to the manager.
The failure this time meant that the assassin they had hired could not kill, and they would now have to extort a sum from them.
Not being able to kill the assassin leader meant that there might be retaliation.
The housekeeper sent people out again to track down the whereabouts of the two ships, while also avoiding retaliation from the assassin leader.
After escaping, the assassin leader and a few subordinates sent for their counterparts on land.
They wanted to track down the housekeeper who had given them the task, but the leader had one thing in mind: not to go after the General’s people again.
Instead, they needed to find that housekeeper, demand compensation for their organization’s loss, and let the man who had sent people to kill them taste the vengeance of an assassin.
The assassin leader was so filled with hatred; after many years in this profession, to be played by their employer was infuriating.
Being in this line of work, they were mentally prepared to die someday and always on guard to be killed and silenced after a mission.
This time, being capsized in the gutter, his first order of business was to find that housekeeper and demand compensation for his death.
Then, they would seek out the people from the General’s organization and avenge the losses they had suffered twice.
Looking at the still calm river, in the morning, Ye Shiqi had seafood porridge and noodle soup made with seafood.
Perhaps the leader on the ship thought it was time for her to grow, for the breakfast prepared for her was particularly abundant.
They treated her like a food bucket, with lunch and dinner also likely to be copiously served.
Ye Shiqi once mentioned that, apart from feeding herself until full, she would also place the excess meals into a space.
These subordinates must certainly think it was he who consumed them all, perhaps believing that she, as a young lady, was a big eater, a food bucket capable of devouring what would feed a dozen people.
The leader initially prepared a seafood meal for the young lady simply because there was plenty of leftover seafood; to make her meal more lavish, and if she couldn’t finish, it would just be wasting firewood and seasonings.
They never expected that the young lady, given enough food for a dozen people, would leave not a single bite remaining in the plates.