Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

"Soundproofing?" Wang Yanqiu rolled her eyes. She really didn't remember any such thing—she had paid in a hurry at the time, given it no thought, and paid no attention to Li Dagang's introduction. Now that Yang Ce mentioned it, she felt a pang of regret. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"If I'd told you earlier, would you have screamed that loud? Where's the passion in that?" Yang Ce said lewdly.

"..." Wang Yanqiu was speechless. This fellow, acting like some street thug—and yet he was so formidable, more formidable than she was. Among the killers in her own family, Yang Juehuan's skill was probably among the very best.

"By the way, play a game with me in a bit," Yang Ce said. Having had his fill of pleasure, he lay in bed bright-eyed, unable to fall asleep for a while.

"What game? If it's one of those filthy, lewd games, don't come to me—I'm not interested at the moment." Wang Yanqiu was exhausted and could hardly be bothered to move.

"At the moment? So other times are fine?" Yang Ce seized on her slip of the tongue and asked with a wicked grin.

Wang Yanqiu glared at him, too tired to take the bait, then turned her face away and ignored Yang Ce.

"Fine, forget it." Seeing that Wang Yanqiu truly lacked the "interest," Yang Shuoxuan changed the subject and got to business. "The game I mean is one for training reaction speed."

"What? Training reaction speed?" Wang Yanqiu was baffled.

"In a moment, you'll try to kill me—any method, any means. I'll dodge and keep you from succeeding. That's how we train my reflexes," Yang Ce explained.

"And what if I try to kill you and you can't dodge in time?" Wang Yanqiu wondered whether Yang Ce had a screw loose, training his reflexes for no reason at all.

"You think I won't be able to dodge? Besides, it's only a game—no one's asking you to actually kill me. Just a simulation," Yang Yanzhou said.

"A simulation? You think this can train reflexes?" Wang Yanqiu still could not work out what Yang Ce was really after. "And besides, do your reflexes even need training?"

"Can't you just do me this favor?" Yang Juehuan's tone softened, because this matter was vitally important to him, and he was desperate to know the answer.

"All right, I'll help you—but you have to agree to one condition." Wang Yanqiu had come over this time precisely to discuss this matter with Yan.

"Name it," Yang Yuting said with a nod. So long as it was not too outrageous, Yang Shuoxuan would not quibble.

"First: without my consent, you may not betray my assassin organization, and you may not join any other." After Wang Yanqiu went back, she had thought it over from every angle. With skills at Yang Cenbin's level, he ought to have far broader horizons—how could he always be confined to the tiny Black Widow hit squad?

So Wang Yanqiu feared that Yang Ce's interest was merely a passing fancy, and that once the novelty wore off he would leave the Black Widow squad—and then her own future would once again be left dangling.

That was why Wang Yanqiu had decided to negotiate a few conditions with Yan.

"Oh, that. Sure, no problem, I agree." Yang Ce accepted without a moment's thought. "What else?"

"Are you sure you understood what I said?" Seeing Yang Cenbin agree so quickly, Wang Yanqiu assumed he was just humoring her. After all, joining an assassin organization involved no legal contract—and even if one were signed, it would probably carry no legal force.

"Quite sure. It just means I don't join any other assassin organization, right?" Yang Yanzhou said. "I've always been a lone operator; I've never joined another assassin group before. To be honest, if not for you, my little sweetheart, I wouldn't have stayed here at all."

"All right then." Wang Yanqiu nodded and went on. "Second condition—suppose that one day I'm going to marry someone else. What would you do?"

"Marry? Why would you marry?" Yang Puqi was stunned. "If you got married, what would I still be doing in your hit squad—playing the third wheel?"

In just two short days, Yang Minlan had already developed some feelings for Wang Yanqiu, and hearing her say this put a sudden knot of discomfort in his chest.

"I said suppose," Wang Yanqiu bit her lip, and as though summoning great courage, she said, "Would you go up against someone else for my sake?"

"Oh, you mean stealing the bride? No problem. So long as you're willing to be my lover, I'll carry you off—and anyone who dares stand in the way, I'll just take care of him." Yang Xutang said this with complete indifference.

"..." Seeing Yang Cenbin's flippant manner, Wang Yanqiu could not help but feel annoyed. She thought to herself: You really think I care that much about you? I simply don't want to marry a stranger. By comparison, you're just easier on the eyes—that's all. But Wang Yanqiu could not be bothered to explain, and continued, "What if that person is very powerful?"

"Powerful? Heh, don't worry. I am the King of Assassins," Yang Ce said with a laugh.

"The King of Assassins?" Wang Yanqiu was drenched in cold sweat. She thought: If you're the King of Assassins, then the man I want you to deal with is the King of Assassins' disciple. Is this guy even in the assassin world at all—can you joke about something like this? She shook her head and said with a bitter smile, "Stop joking. I'm serious."

"So am I." Yang Ce patted his chest. "I'm a modest man, but if I say I'm second in the world, then only my master is first."

Wang Yanqiu was speechless. She thought: Your master surpasses the student and outdoes the teacher—by his logic, he's saying he himself is first in the world. She had never seen anyone with such nerve.

To be continued.

975. From Now On, We're All Family

"All right, all right, I give up—you win." Wang Yanqiu said helplessly. "You don't seem to be taking it seriously anyway, so let's just call it a joke."

After asking her question, Wang Yanqiu herself found it a little ridiculous. Yang Ce might be formidable, but how could he possibly be a match for the King of Assassins' disciple? The King of Assassins was the number one figure on the world assassin rankings, and even his disciple must surely be terrifyingly strong.

So Wang Yanqiu concluded that Yang Ce could not possibly be the disciple's match—otherwise, with Yang Juehuan's skills, he would long since have made the assassin rankings. Yet hearing Yang Yanzhou say he had always worked alone and never joined any assassin organization gave Wang Yanqiu a flicker of hope: she hoped Yang Ce might be an anomaly, an anomaly capable of beating the King of Assassins' disciple.

Wang Yanqiu gave a faint sigh. Some things, the more you dwell on them, the more they become a torment—better not to think about them at all. When the cart reaches the mountain, a road will appear; she would deal with it when the time came.

"How am I not taking it seriously?" Yang Jiyan said. "I'm completely serious. I have no other virtues, but I take everything seriously—especially matters of the heart."

Watching Yang Ce's shameless boasting, Wang Yanqiu wanted to mock him but could not think of what to say, so she only replied, "Fine, I understand. Since you've agreed to my conditions, let's begin this so-called reflex training of yours."

All that talk from Yang Ce had been for the sake of this reflex training. In truth, Yang Juehuan's idea was simple: have Wang Yanqiu try to kill him, create a threat to his life, and see whether that precognitive ability would surface.

That was also why Yang Ce was so anxious. Yang Lanxu had this ability on his mind, and to test it he needed Wang Yanqiu's cooperation—which was why he had agreed to her conditions so readily.

But there was no help for it. With Yang Juehuan's skills, no one else posed the slightest lethal threat to him; only Wang Yanqiu carried a certain danger, so she was the only possible candidate.