Hidden Assassin 202

## Chapter 202: Chaos Before Sunset

**Volume 3: Cohabitation Era**

**February 8th, 2013**

The plaza outside the Sacred Heart Academy gates at 4:30 PM.

“Little ones! Did you pay your protection fee today…”

“Meng Ge, you know this area…”

“Oh, I know this isn’t Sand Bamboo Gang’s territory, but business needs to expand, right? Come on, we’re all familiar now, just give us a little something…”

“Please…”

“Haha, just kidding. Did you see any strange people here today? About 10, looking like they could fight, carrying big bags… ”

“…”

As the sun started to set, dozens of Sand Bamboo Gang members gathered from different parts of the plaza, seemingly casually. Little Meng, leading the group, held a position second only to Liu Zheng, appearing somewhat cultured and polite, always smiling, but inherently ruthless.

It was the last class of the afternoon, mostly self-study or club activities. Students walked out of the open school gates, one after another. After scanning the area outside the school, Little Meng finally spotted his target near a small shop on the side of the plaza. A few people with travel bags were sitting inside, laughing and talking, while many unfamiliar faces could be identified nearby. These people were skilled at disguise, but even so, they couldn’t hide from Little Meng, a local boss. Some of them seemed to have photos in their hands, comparing them to the students exiting the school.

However, when Little Meng found them, they noticed the strange atmosphere.

“Something’s wrong. Who are they? Chinese police?”

“No… seems like local gangsters, collecting protection fees…”

“This isn’t good. We’re moving so fast, we haven’t stopped in China at all since we entered. Yan Huang Jue Xing or Flower-Picking Great Thief Yujinxia can’t have found us…”

“It’s still possible. We’ve already pinpointed the location of several target individuals. Gu Jia Ming who just left. Chen Gu Xia, Yue Chi Xun, Ye Ling Jing in the school, and the teacher named Zhang Yahan. Poison Dragon has been inside for over two hours. Even though they’re just loosely monitoring, there’s still a chance they’ve been discovered…”

“We confirmed the situation inside the school a while ago, everyone was normal. Even if someone was discovered in the past 10 minutes, they wouldn’t be able to find everything immediately and react… call Poison Dragon once, reconfirm the situation inside the school… hey, wait, I think I know why they’re here…”

With over 40 people, equipped with various heavy weapons, experienced in brutal Middle Eastern battlefields, some even participated in the Vietnam War, they were fearless against the gangs and police of this city. They charged forward, one of them waved his hand towards the front, “Look, that guy, I remember him from the train station. It’s obvious… he stole our bag.”

It was the thief who had taken their belongings. Because of the strong suspicions surrounding Sacred Heart Academy, Liu Zheng had sent him to follow Little Meng to find the thief. He was already terrified seeing a bag full of weapons, now he was forced to come here, saw the real owners, and froze in fear. Those who could carry a bag of weapons in China must be ruthless killers… even more terrifying, before he could even turn to run, they’d already noticed him. A man walked towards him casually.

A chill instantly swept through him, his legs trembled. He didn’t know whether to kneel down and apologize or run. In the next moment, a hand gently patted his shoulder, with a friendly smile, Little Meng stepped forward, “Hello, hello, I don’t mean any harm.”

As he walked closer, the dozens of people scattered across the plaza also noticed the situation, gathering around the mercenaries. Little Meng smiled and nodded, “Look, my friend accidentally took your stuff at the train station, so we just wanted to find you and return your things. How does that sound? Don’t worry, no one else knows about this except us.”

Little Meng spoke smoothly, but the man understood. He frowned slightly, not speaking for a moment. A strong dragon doesn’t suppress the local snake. They were on a tight schedule this time, and the bag incident was a bit of a blunder, but if it could be resolved here, it would avoid a lot of trouble. But they were all out there to make a living, always relying on strength. You couldn’t just say “let’s settle this” and then go your separate ways. They could return the bag, and they definitely wanted to make a friend, hoping for some benefits in the future, but how to build this friendship, there were many issues to handle.

Their hesitation and condescending attitude was expected. Little Meng smiled, speaking sweetly, but his eyes already scanned the entire plaza, memorizing their faces, assessing their strengths. Unintentionally, he glanced at the photo in the man’s hand.

“…Because we didn’t know you were here, the bag is still at our gang’s headquarters. Oh, forgot to mention, we’re called the San Qing Gang in Jiang Hai. Our Big Brother is called Huawei, he’s definitely a warm, hospitable, and loyal person. Next time you come to Jiang Hai, we’ll definitely… chop your big watermelon!”

The tone suddenly shifted without warning. At that moment, Little Meng abruptly pulled out a machete from behind and swung it down towards the man’s head. But the other party wasn’t someone who could be fooled by words. He hastily blocked Little Meng’s chop with a wave of his hand. In the next moment, Little Meng launched a headbutt, his knee slammed forward, but at the same time, he took a fierce kick from the other side.

To outsiders, it was just a blink of an eye. Little Meng swung his machete, headbutted, knee-struck, then they both separated suddenly. The mercenary staggered backward, dizzy. Little Meng’s body almost flew straight back. In the next moment, the gang members, trained by instinct, charged from all directions. Dozens of gleaming machetes reflected in the setting sun, creating a brilliant crimson, and an intense scene erupted on one side of the plaza.

There were many people on the plaza, but not too many. The nearby shops were open. Seeing the gangsters fighting, people nearby immediately fled in all directions. Some watched the commotion from afar, mixed with the cries of children and screams of girls. The dozens of Sand Bamboo Gang members were all seasoned veterans. They fought fiercely, fearless of death, with brutal strength, but they were still no match for the dozen mercenaries. The first few who rushed forward were knocked down. Then people flew out with bloodstains, smashing things in the nearby shops. However, a tiger couldn’t withstand a pack of wolves. Amidst the flying machetes, two or three mercenaries were also cut, resulting in not-so-serious wounds.

Little Meng, kicked flying, spat out a mouthful of blood, crawled up, first grabbing a subordinate, telling him to call the police, then pulled out a walkie-talkie from his pocket, hid in a corner and called Liu Zheng.

“Boss, something happened… those guys are really here at the Sacred Heart Academy gate. I don’t know what they’re doing, but I saw one of them holding a photo of Sha Sha. We’re fighting, there are a lot of people here, they probably won’t dare use guns, but they’re very strong. We can’t hold on. Boss, send people over quickly. Oh, also, I’ve already called the police. We should force them to use guns in front of the police, this time, we need to take them all out…”

After finishing the call, he took out a roll of cloth from his pocket, quickly wrapping it around his machete. He wiped the blood from his lips, his eyes narrowed, filled with murderous intent.

“Damn it… this time you’re behind us, we’ll be friends forever… cut them!”

He charged with his men, but just halfway, a mercenary walked out of the shop door, holding a silenced pistol. “Poof”, a man was shot into the air. No one expected them to actually fire guns in such a public place.

For ordinary people, against a gun, a knife couldn’t do anything. Blood splattered, another body flew out. Some were still desperately hacking at the front, while others, under Little Meng’s orders, began to retreat in fear. They turned and ran into a nearby alleyway. Little Meng glanced back and saw the gun pointed at him, then… BANG.

A heavy blow seemed to hit his shoulder, dizziness hit him, and he rushed into the dark alley.

On the plaza, nearby people were desperately fleeing, the man who stole the bag from the train station was at the front, he ran far away before daring to look back at the scene of bloodshed. As he turned, a car sped toward him, knocking him flying.

He landed heavily on the ground, all his bones felt like they were broken. His voice was useless, the sight before his eyes was also covered in a hazy gray. However, the car stopped in front of him. The first person to get out was a man wearing a floral jacket. He pulled out… a gun.

Several people ran past him, but as blood splattered, they flew up. The man in the floral jacket grabbed a man with a knife by the collar and seemed to be asking something. The words took a long time to form in his mind: “Who are you, why are you attacking us?”

Naturally, this man was Wu Nian, the God of Nothingness, who rushed over after being stuck in traffic. The two teams, which were lagging behind, finally reunited on the plaza in front of Sacred Heart Academy.

The Sand Bamboo Gang’s reason for coming was simple and quickly explained. However, why Little Meng suddenly decided to chop people, creating a life-or-death situation, no one knew. After asking a few questions, Wu Nian felt like he was wasting time. He pointed his gun at the security room near the entrance of the school, which was slowly closing under remote control.

“I’m a bit sad, a bit frustrated, but I don’t want to say more. Now the question is, either admit defeat and leave immediately, or keep going, make things irredeemable and then leave… everyone, let’s begin…”

With two gunshots, the security room was stained with blood, the gate stopped closing. The plaza was filled with a chilling atmosphere. Machine guns, pistols, grenades, all sorts of weapons hung on people’s bodies, hands. Before the police arrived, six or seven cars roared into Sacred Heart Academy. The gate finally closed, several mercenaries carrying metal boxes began to lay a large number of bombs and mines inside the school, building a new defensive line.

The sun set, an alarm sounded within the closed, luxurious campus, with occasional screams of fear…

****************************************

Outside Sacred Heart Academy, in the back alley of Jia Ming’s rented house.

In the dim alley, two figures appeared gradually, a man and a woman. They had been following the seemingly ordinary little boy from the moment Jia Ming left the school. They watched him walk to the vegetable market to buy groceries, with an innocent smile, bargaining with the aunts and uncles. After browsing around, he carried several bags of groceries back here. Now, they were still waiting for orders from the other side, to decide when to take direct action against the target.

“Such a warm and leisurely life…” Leaning against the wall, the woman, with a strong physique and resolute expression, looked at the second-floor window, smiling.

“Do you like it? After this matter is over, we can also consider living like this, haha…”

“You? Forget it… you know, since I was born, I’ve been experiencing war. In my country, there are no children who can live such a leisurely life. Everyone is suddenly involved in war against their will. Many people died, even if they survived, you don’t know if you’ll see the sun tomorrow. So every time I see children like this, I think, what if one day, he suddenly loses this life, will he die or will he live, what kind of path will he take… do you think? After experiencing this, will this child die or live? If he loses something, what kind of path of revenge will he take… don’t you think it’s interesting? A child, watching him walk the path of the future…”

“Uh… I don’t know… why are you suddenly so sentimental…”

“Nothing… I’m just jealous. Contact them, how are things going? I think they should be there by now, that Miss Bai Nana…”

The man nodded, took out a walkie-talkie from his clothes, “…The target is back home, now preparing dinner. How’s your side?”

“Some unexpected things happened, but it’s okay. We’ve started to enter, Miss Bai Nana is on her way to your location. Everything is under her command.”

“Yes… looks like we have to wait a while.” The man put the walkie-talkie back in his clothes, nodded and smiled. At that moment, a voice rang out from behind, without warning: “Oh, since we have to wait a while, why not come to my house for a cup of tea?” The voice had a hint of boyish puberty, yet it was fluent Thai, the same language they had spoken in their conversation.

Without much thought, the man drew his sword, turned around, swung his sword and kicked in the blink of an eye. However, he didn’t know what happened, but his body lost its balance in the next moment and fell forward. The woman behind him hadn’t reacted yet, her partner’s body flew past her like a cannonball, landing two meters behind, seemingly unconscious.

Then, the woman finally saw the attacker’s face.

The boy they had been following for half an hour stood smiling in the darkness, wearing an apron with a cartoon of Crayon Shin-chan, a sight that felt strangely eerie.

He walked slowly towards her, the seemingly innocent boy spoke, still in fluent Thai: “Hi, beautiful sister, have you seen Chinese kung fu? I have some moves you’ll love… welcome to China.”

Their orders were to have Bai Nana capture this boy alive. As a member of the mercenary team, her combat skills were better than her partner. She took a step back, drew her dagger, and assumed a defensive posture. The boy in front of her stopped, looked at the knife in her hand, his expression lost.

“You’re not being good, making this difficult for me…”

Suddenly, the boy’s figure moved two meters in a ghostly manner, appearing in front of her.

The movement was too fast, in the next moment, her knife-swinging motion was thrown off, her knee-strike hit air, the boy’s body was already at her side, grabbing her hand, he struggled for a moment but to no avail. Then, a series of elbows, swings, and charges, enough to kill an ordinary person, came out in a row. However, after two seconds, the two intertwined figures went from extreme motion to extreme stillness. It was all like a dream. The woman’s hands were grabbed, her arms were twisted behind her, with a strong pull, her left knee involuntarily knelt to the ground, her right leg extended forward, barely maintaining a kneeling posture.

The sudden change could only be met with a reflex. As this situation unfolded, the woman was still a little confused. A child… no, even if he’s a teenager, how could he have such strength. Before she could react, the other party had already mercilessly stepped on her back. The consequences of this move, she could clearly understand.

“No…”

In the next moment, with her hands twisted straight behind her, he stepped down directly. With the sounds of “click” and intense pain, both her arms were broken, rendered useless. But it didn’t end there. The boy leaned down, pinched her jaw, dislocated it, then clapped his hands.

“I know you have a bomb in your clothes, it’s for your own good, suicide is wrong, you won’t go to heaven. Besides, I have a lot of questions to ask you, I’ll help you put your jaw back on later, remember to be good, otherwise, I’ll knock out all your teeth. Of course… if you’re willing to tell me your purpose right now, that’s even better… uh, I knew you wouldn’t say… wait…”

It seemed like he received some signal. The young boy named Jia Ming pulled up his sleeve, then took out an earpiece and plugged it into his watch, “Hello, oh, Uncle Liu… it’s Jia Ming, I’m home. I’m about to cook, bought two bullfrogs, I’m going to kill them. I don’t know why there are bullfrogs in this weather… Sha Sha? She’s not back yet? Is there something wrong? Something’s wrong? Don’t try to hide it from me, Uncle Liu… hello! Hello!”

He roared a few times, seemingly the other party was also in a state of anxiety, telling him not to worry, not to do anything reckless, then hung up the phone. He took off the earpiece, shook his head, and said to the side, “Brother Meng, come out.”

With a rustling sound, Little Meng, clutching his shoulder, struggled to come out from the darkness. His left side was covered in blood, his face pale. “You… Jia Ming, that… how…”

Jia Ming smiled faintly and looked at him, “You keep it secret for me, then I’ll trust you, okay? Don’t tell Uncle Liu either.”

“Uh…” He hesitated for a moment, nodded. Jia Ming said, “What’s going on?”

“I… I don’t know either. They’re guarding the gate of Sacred Heart Academy, I saw one of them holding a photo of Sha Sha… we fought them, now… I don’t know…”

“Come with me, I’ll help you get the bullet out and bandage you.” Without much hesitation, Jia Ming nodded, reached out and grabbed the woman and man, one leg each, dragged them along the dark alleyway, “Seems like I have to have a good chat with you two…”

Twilight, alleyway, blood, injured, the dragging, slightly groaning bodies, made everything seem cold and eerie…

Night, about to fall.

Inside the school, Fu Yan Jie opened his eyes. The cold wind blew past his face in the dim forest…

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