"Ugh!" The man in front of Bloed vomited a mouthful of blood after being punched by Liu Ying.

"Why are you watching us?" Liu Ying asked coldly.

"You are crazy! Help, help! Someone is trying to kill me!" The man shouted with a frightened voice.

Bloed sneered. "Stop shouting, n.o.body will hear you." Bloed then pointed to four small gadgets located in each corner of the alley. "Sound absorbers. They create a small forcefield able to rebound the sound and stop it from spreading beyond their area of effect."

The man's expression changed. Although he could not understand Bloed's words completely, he got a gist of their meaning.

In other words, n.o.body was going to hear him.

The man looked at the three people around him with a look of fear. "W-Why are you doing this? I-I don't know you!"

"Hmph!" Liu Ying snorted and kicked the man on the belly.

How could a weak E-Rank man endure a kick from Liu Ying? His body flew against a wall and crashed against it. He then coughed again and vomited another mouthful of blood.

"Do you think we are idiots? Speak now if you don't want to die." Bloed's voice was frosty.

The man coughed again and held his abdomen in pain. He then wiped the blood on his mouth with his wrist and sighed.

"d.a.m.n, this work does deserve better pay."

Then, he activated his mana.

Bloed's expression changed. "Not this again. Regina!"

Regina kicked the ground and appeared in front of the man. Her palm was covered by lightning sparks that hit the man's chest.

Instantly, a surge of energy rushed into the man's body. The overwhelming energy invaded his mana channels and suppressed his mana, stopping it from going berserk, thus stopping the man's suicide.

But although the man was surprised, he did not lose his calm.

Instead, he vomited another mouthful of blood.

And this time, the blood was black.

"Poison?" Bloed's furrowed his brows.

The man smiled wryly. "People in our line of business don't fear death. Instead, we fear to suffer a fate worse than death. We are used to having more than one way to kill ourselves. You know, in case one of them fails."

"… You sure are very talkative." Bloed's face was ice-cold.

The man chuckled bitterly "These are my last words after all."

One second later, black blood started to flow from his eyes and ears.

Bloed sighed. Waving his hand, he indicated Regina to stop the man's suffering.

And with a stab of Regina's energy blade, the man died.

"… Well, this didn't go as well as we expected." Liu Ying said.

Bloed did not answer and instead searched for clues in the man's clothes. But as he expected, he failed to find anything useful.

"They are very professional, huh."

"He did not even hesitate to kill himself. Master, these people are strictly trained to never reveal a secret. Even if we capture one of them and find a way to stop him from killing himself, that person will probably not speak."

"We need to think of another way then" Liu Ying said.

"I have an idea." Bloed touched his forehead in thought. "Regina, can you find another of them?"

"I can."

"Let's go then."

The group of three left the alley and continued wandering the city. Soon enough, they felt another gaze on them.

They had just killed the man and the information about his death had not spread to the rest of the people observing them. Thus, a new fish quickly took the bait.

It was a middle-aged man with a kind face. To be honest, he seemed nothing like someone secretly spying on a group of youngsters.

This time, the group did not attack him. Instead, they approached the man while feigning they did not know anything.

"Excuse me." Bloed called out at him.

The man was startled. For an instant, a nervous expression appeared on his face, but he hid it quickly.

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"Do you know where I can get information about the surrounding kingdoms?" Bloed asked with a feigned expression of apology.

"Information?"

"Yes. You know, like a place where I can pay to buy the information I need."

The man thought for a moment before answering.

"You can try in the red-light district, I'm not sure. Perhaps you will find what you are searching for there… Oh right, go at night. Most of the establishments are closed in the day."

Bloed smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind." He then nodded at the man and walked away.

The man frowned for a brief moment, but when he confirmed neither Bloed nor the girls seemed to have realized something, he walked away too.

Meanwhile, Liu Ying was staring at Bloed confused.

"What was that?"

Bloed curved his lips up and took out a very tiny b.u.t.ton-like thing from his pocket.

"I created it after the events of Calice city in case a similar situation happened. It's a listening and tracking device. It only works at a certain distance, so we can't be too far from the target, but otherwise, it's perfect."

"Then…"

"I put one on his back. We only need to wait until he reports to his superiors and we will find who is the person behind him and with a bit of luck, the reason they are keeping an eye on us."

Liu Ying was stunned and amazed at the same time.

"That is a good plan."

...

P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels