Chapter Twenty-Five: Taking the Initiative

Everyone familiar with Phoenix knew that when she spoke to you in such an even, calm tone while displeased, it only meant her heart was already seething with rage.

What did this feel like?

It was like agreeing to grow old together with someone, only to find out they’d secretly dyed their hair.

In Phoenix’s eyes, Tang Fei’s actions were far graver than simply dyeing one’s hair.

Hair dye changes the hair; cultivation reaps lives.

Deceit!

Yes, this was bare-faced deceit!

"An explanation?" Tang Fei looked at Phoenix, his face puzzled as he asked, "Explain what? Oh, you mean deliberately revealing your Qi Manipulation stage? I figured even if I didn’t say anything, they’d find out… If I shouted it out, it would only make us seem uncultured and ignorant…"

"…"

"And then they’d underestimate us, these refugees from Old Earth," Tang Fei continued with an earnest smile. "There’s no other reason—it would just make things a bit easier on our side."

"With your strength, you should be able to hold out for a while. Once we take care of Shadowless, we can help you deal with Windless as well. Wouldn’t that kill two birds with one stone?"

"I'm not talking about that."

"Then what?"

"The matter of killing him." Phoenix pointed to the lifeless Shadowless sprawled on the ground, eyes wide open in a look of unrelieved fury and grievance.

Phoenix had been occupied with Windless and hadn’t witnessed their fight, but upon seeing the short arrow in his neck and the heavy crossbow the old man had just held…

She could well empathize with Shadowless’s mood.

"We relied on our own talent and strength to kill our enemies… Didn’t you do the same?" Tang Fei retorted.

Though he was dealing with Shadowless, his eyes had never left Phoenix battling Windless.

If she was killed, all the supplies she promised would vanish as well… Wouldn’t all their recent efforts be for nothing?

He wasn’t one for losing trades.

Then he saw, with his own eyes, Phoenix deceiving Windless with her poor acting and then stabbing him straight through the chest.

He couldn’t understand why all these newcomers from the Nova were so easy to fool.

Assassins?

Bah, they weren’t even as clever as the red-eyed rabbit they’d roasted earlier. Even the rabbit knew to have three burrows and to wiggle its tail when escaping.

"I’m a cultivator. I told you this before," Phoenix said, looking at Tang Fei. "But aren’t you a refugee from Old Earth? Aren’t you the unremarkable, number one hunter of Hate Mountain’s settlement? Aren’t you the last disciple of the barbecue master?"

"I’m not the barbecue master’s disciple—I am the barbecue master. I learned my grilling skills on my own, never took a master…" Tang Fei replied.

"You know that’s not what I mean." Phoenix felt her chest tighten with frustration.

Swollen!

Ached!

Tang Fei knew there was no dodging this, so he sighed softly and looked at Phoenix. "You know, I’m a man who lacks a sense of security."

"…"

"So, I don’t wash my face to hide my handsomeness. I didn’t tell you I was a cultivator to conceal my strength," Tang Fei explained.

"Besides, we’ve only just met. There’s no foundation of trust between us yet, and you’re from the Nova… What if you wanted to harm us? What if you wanted to force us into servitude? So, I had to keep something up my sleeve, so that if you ever tried anything, I’d have a chance to resist and struggle…"

"Tang Fei, I thought we were friends," Phoenix said, feeling genuinely hurt.

"Friends? Of course, we’re friends," Tang Fei replied without batting an eye, his expression serious. "Otherwise, I wouldn’t show you my true self."

"This is your true self?"

"Not all of it. The side of me that’s talented, profound, modest, and full of depth—you haven’t seen that yet," Tang Fei said. "There’s plenty of time. You’ll get to know me better. For now, we should discuss our next move."

Phoenix’s expression grew grave as well. "You’re worried their companions will come looking?"

"Yes," Tang Fei nodded. "They found your trail but didn’t alert their teammates. That strikes me as odd."

"…" This time, it was Phoenix who grew evasive.

She knew the reason but couldn’t say it.

"But if those two could find us, so could their companions… We need to plan our next step," Tang Fei said, glancing toward the inner room where the old man and Chubby were fighting over the last chicken foot. He called out irritably, "Have you two had enough? If you’re done eating, come out and help."

The old man snatched the chicken foot from Chubby’s hand the moment he was distracted, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed fiercely. "Coming," he said.

He walked out, looked at Tang Fei and Phoenix, and asked, "Are you two done arguing?"

"Arguing? We were just having a friendly discussion about some issues," Tang Fei replied.

"Seems the feelings aren’t there yet. Once they are, women can’t stand deceit," the old man said, smacking his lips. "Forget it, let’s discuss serious matters. What do you two think?"

Tang Fei looked at Phoenix; Phoenix looked at Tang Fei.

Tang Fei realized she had no ideas, so he spoke up. "When I brought her back, plenty of people saw us… The Shadow and Windless duo… What a name, no wonder they vanished so quickly…"

He couldn’t help but mock the name, forgetting it was he himself who’d named them.

Looking at Phoenix and the old man, Tang Fei said, "If those two could find us by asking witnesses, so can their companions… Our little yard is too small to stage a defense. If they come, we’ll be wrapped up like dumplings and carried off in one go."

"You mean lure them out?" the old man asked, already understanding.

"Exactly," Tang Fei nodded. "Instead of hiding here and waiting to be surrounded, let’s take the initiative and slip into Hate Mountain. What’s Hate Mountain? It’s our backyard, my and Chubby’s playground."

"We know where the bad water is, where the beasts roam, where to set traps—no one knows it better than us. Conversely, these assassins are all from the Nova. They look down on Old Earth and aren’t too bright… If we lure them into Hate Mountain, it’ll be like walking a dog—we’ll take them out one by one. What do you all think?"

"I’ll follow Big Brother," Chubby immediately said.

"Don’t you have any thoughts of your own? This is a discussion, not a dictatorship," the old man scolded him.

"Nope. Big Brother’s smarter than me, he’s never wrong," Chubby replied with a grin.

"I agree," Phoenix said.

Though she felt leaving the courtyard risked exposure, as Tang Fei said, taking the initiative was still better than being surrounded.

If they found their exact location, one precision bee-bomb could blow them all to bits.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the old man, waiting for his opinion.

"I agree," he said crisply, even starting to give orders. "Everyone pack up, take what’s important, and hide what you can’t take. Get ready to move."

…

So the old fellow had no real ideas either—then what was the point of discussing?

"I’ll go hide the meat," Chubby said worriedly.

He didn’t own anything more valuable; to him, the meat was his greatest treasure.

Tang Fei and Phoenix had brought back plenty of game today, but he’d only brought out half a rabbit and a pheasant, hiding the rest.

He feared that if they left, the bad guys searching for them would steal all the meat.

"Don’t worry," Tang Fei reassured him. "These assassins from the Nova won’t eat our meat—they’re afraid of residual radiation…"

"They’re really picky eaters," Chubby complained, but then he grinned. Picky eaters meant no one would steal his meat.

…

———

Mr. Shanhe surveyed the small yard before him and the makeshift barbecue grill that hadn’t been packed away yet. He reached out and felt the ashes in the stove. "They left less than an hour ago… You still haven’t found them?"

"We found them." The Clown emerged from the inner room, carrying a corpse in each hand, grinning. "No wonder they were called Shadowless and Windless—they really liked playing hide and seek. Too bad I found them anyway…"

"I win. Victory."

"Clown, they were our teammates," Mr. Shanhe reminded him.

Shadowless and Windless were dead, and Clown was still mocking their corpses…

They were assassins, not scum.

Then again, perhaps assassins were worse than scum…

Things scum wouldn’t do, assassins could.

"Teammates? I don’t have dead teammates," Clown sneered. "Dead people can’t help our mission or provide any emotional value."

He tossed the bodies to the ground and pointed at their masks. "See? What did I say before? Kill someone and no one sees your face. Get killed and they can stare all they want—you can’t stop them. What’s the point of wearing a mask?"

Clown squatted down and rudely tore the masks off Shadowless and Windless, revealing two ordinary, square-jawed faces. One pale, one sallow—faces easily lost in a crowd.

"Pathetic," he spat, literally, on each of their faces. "They’re nothing special. Not as good-looking as me…"

"Exactly! Not memorable at all. Mediocre men," Snake Woman said, playing with her emerald-green snake and giggling.

"Enough!" Mr. Shanhe barked. "We may be from different organizations, but we’re a team on the same mission. If you keep plotting against each other, we might end up just like them. Don’t forget the consequences we’ll face."

"Who’s plotting?" Clown pointed at the bodies on the ground. "They found the target first, and what? Didn’t alert us, didn’t share the location, tried to go solo… Fine, do it alone, but they didn’t succeed and ended up dead instead… Ha, laughable… We all know what they were thinking—they wanted the biggest share of the reward."

"So, let this be a lesson. I don’t want to see this again," Mr. Shanhe declared.

He went over to examine the bodies. "Windless was killed by a sharp weapon—a direct stab through the heart…"

"A smooth puncture, with burn marks on the flesh—looks like it was a high-tech energy weapon from the Nova."

"Ordinary people couldn’t have that kind of weapon. It must have been our target."

He inspected the wound on Shadowless’s neck and the torn flesh where the arrow was pulled out, then said thoughtfully, "He was killed by an arrow… That’s odd. He was wearing full nano-armor, practically invulnerable. How could an ordinary arrow pierce his defenses?"

"Carelessness? Someone found an opening?" a bald man suggested.

Mr. Shanhe shook his head. "He might be careless, but the armor wouldn’t be. As long as you wear it, it protects you constantly… They must have used a special weapon, something far more powerful than ordinary blades or arrows…"

He straightened and said, "So, here’s the question—Windless and Shadowless found this place together; logically, they’d fight side by side. So how did they both get killed? And why were they killed by two completely different weapons?"

"Is that woman being protected by a top expert?" the bald man offered his ‘unique’ insight.

"Impossible," Mr. Shanhe shook his head again. "The employer said clearly she escaped alone in a one-person pod… That pod only fits one."

"Protected by Old Earth experts?"

"Not likely…" Mr. Shanhe’s tone wavered. "Experts on Old Earth are rare. What are the odds she’d run into one?"

"So this isn’t right, that isn’t right—what’s really going on?" He glanced at the silent young man behind him. "Knife, go ask around—find out who lives in this yard."

"Yes," the young man replied, turning to leave.

Mr. Shanhe then looked at Snake Woman. "They left not long ago, probably headed into the mountains… Your pet might come in handy."

"No problem." Snake Woman placed the emerald-green snake in her palm, stroked its body for a moment, then pressed a small button on its head.

With a series of clicks, the green snake began to transform, sprouting two tiny wings from its sides before soaring into the air toward the distant mountains.

It was a mechanical snake.

(ps: This chapter is another 4,200 words.

Thanks to reader 20230101002423448 for becoming our "Galactic River" novel’s newest patron. I checked these numbers several times to make sure I got them right. Wouldn’t want to miss one—that wouldn’t be you then…

The name doesn’t give away any preferences or gender. Look at you, so rich and flamboyant.

But I like it!

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