Chapter 28: An Assassin Encounters Another

With one hand gripping the handlebars, Sui Yi sped through the city streets, weaving between traffic at the fastest pace possible. In her other hand, she clutched her phone, quickly dialing a number.

"Zhang Xiao, it's me... He's found me!"

"He? Who? That killer? Oh god! Where are you?"

"I..."

The roar of an approaching car behind her made Sui Yi instinctively glance back, catching sight of the man at the wheel. His smile was vicious, ferocious—a true killer who left no blood behind. Madness!

With a swift twist of the handlebars, Sui Yi darted into a narrow, deserted alleyway. She feared involving innocent people.

"I'm near the school on the commercial street. Could you let Mr. Tang know to be careful? This man has a car, the license plate is..."

Sui Yi worried whether the killer belonged to some organization. He found her so quickly; surely someone tipped him off.

But before she could finish speaking, her nerves suddenly tensed. Her arm jerked to the right...

A bullet grazed her arm in an instant...

Bang!

It struck the wall, shattering stone. People were startled, barely processing what happened before seeing a bicycle and an SUV careening through the street, one after the other.

"What happened?!"

"My god!"

-----

"A silencer?" Sui Yi turned to see the man’s gun fitted with a silencer. It looked almost like a toy, different from the gun she’d seen that night.

Now, his car pressed in from every angle down the alleyway.

"Sui Yi, Sui Yi! What’s..." Zhang Xiao’s anxious voice came through, but then—violent crashing sounds erupted, followed by static, and the call abruptly dropped.

Inside the police station, Lin Quan and his team were tense.

"Captain... The killer seems to have fired a shot," Zhang Xiao said, pale-faced.

He fired? In the commercial street?

Is he insane?!

"Damn it, this lunatic killed the middleman who sold him the gun, and now he's after Sui Yi in broad daylight... Truly arrogant!" Lin Quan’s anger was palpable. He’d traced the gun’s origins, but arrived too late—only finding a corpse killed with a single shot. This time was different: the killer left behind a bullet, as if mocking the police.

And now... he was openly firing.

Unbelievably brazen!

---

The police station buzzed with agitation and fury. Meanwhile, Sui Yi raced through the silent, deserted ancient houses by the tranquil southern river.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three shots in quick succession, each ruthless, aimed at Sui Yi’s arm—as if he wanted to capture her alive. Yet, to the surprise of those in the car...

She managed to dodge every one.

Seeing Sui Yi slip into a narrow alley too small for the vehicle, the man holstered his gun with one hand, spun the wheel, and screeched to a halt at the mouth of the alley.

"Heh, interesting..."

-----

"Huff..."

Sui Yi exhaled, one foot planted on the ground, turning to look at an alleyway whose entrance was now out of sight. The alley was quiet, only the distant sound of water trickling nearby.

Her grip on the bicycle tightened as she squinted her eyes.

Had he given up?

That shouldn’t be... Anyone who dared to fire and chase her in broad daylight was clearly wild and unrestrained to the bone—a madman.

Such a person would not easily relinquish his prey.

But the alley was too narrow for his car, unless he pursued her on foot...

Yet these winding alleys made it unlikely he could track her movements.

Sui Yi’s eyes closed briefly; she mounted her bicycle and entered a side alley. Hiding here wasn’t a solution—he could still enter on foot, armed.

Her wheels rattled over the uneven stone path, barely a meter wide, flanked by grey-white walls and black tiled roofs.

Her phone rang. Sui Yi answered.

"Sui Yi, where are you now?" Mr. Tang’s voice was low and anxious.

"I..."

"Damn it! Old Lin’s informant is dead—the one who’d been in contact with Black Skin. Lin’s terrified now, hiding out. He just managed to contact me secretly. I reckon that killer’s already headed my way. You need to get back! I refuse to believe he’d dare kill me right at my door!"

Kill at the door? Sui Yi didn’t want to say the killer had already fired at her in broad daylight...

The killer must have hit a dead end with the informant, couldn’t reach Lin, and with Mr. Tang on guard, he turned to her—the easiest target.

Heaven help her; she was the most innocent, dragged in without knowing anything.

Sui Yi sighed inwardly.

"Hey, hey... Say something! I’m worried sick!"

"I’m fine now, I’ll head back soon..."

Creak—the bicycle suddenly stopped as Sui Yi stared at the crossroad ahead.

"Good, hurry home... Hey, damn, why’s there no sound again!"

---

"Mr. Tang..."

"Hmm?"

"Help me find a place—something old, with a bit of cultural charm, ideally by a river."

Click. The call ended. Mr. Tang was left frustrated. Damn, a killer comes knocking, and you want to move out. Isn’t that too pragmatic...

And so many demands!

Little did he know, Sui Yi slipped her phone into her pocket, her eyes falling to the bicycle, pausing at the central axis beneath the handlebars, where a tiny black lump was stuck, blending in with the color—almost undetectable.

With a flick of her finger, she pried off a small tracker, its red light barely visible.

She looked up at the crossroad. "You’ve gone to a great deal of trouble to catch me, overestimating me... even using such an expensive tracker."

It must have been planted while she was paying in the shop... No wonder he found her so easily.

The crossroad was silent. After a moment, a low, chilling voice spoke, "I thought I’d overestimated you, but now I realize I underestimated you... I’m curious—how did you know I was here?"

Seven or eight meters away, the man stepped lazily from the intersection, leaning against the wall, hands thrust deep into his wide coat pockets, smiling.

He did not look like a killer.

At least, not now.

"Just a feeling," Sui Yi replied offhandedly.

"A feeling? I like that word. We killers rely on feeling, too," he said with a faint smile, striding steadily toward her.

Silent, invisible pressure.

Escape was impossible now.

There was no time.

Sui Yi’s eyes closed for a moment; her long legs stepped off the bicycle.

Then—the killer watched as Sui Yi bent over to lock her bicycle, then hung her backpack on it.

"..."

For a moment, the killer seemed speechless. "You’re not afraid I’ll kill you? You still care about locking your bike?"

"For prey cornered by the lion, does the lion care if the prey tidies its fur?"

"Heh... I like that answer," the killer chuckled quietly. When he was four or five meters away, he pulled a gun from his pocket, tapping its muzzle against his pant leg, making a sharp sound.

"Though the local police are utterly incompetent, I don’t want to waste time. Tell me where the goods are... Honestly, I don’t like killing."

He said this, his smile growing ever more charming.