Chapter 13: The Purpose of the Assassination

Washington, Star Commandery.

Tian Yi's bookshop was still open for business on a quiet little side street.

He had passed through several cities and taken care of a few things before coming here. It was May 23, his second day in town.

Something depressing, disgusting, infuriating, maddening was happening.

The bookshop actually had lots of customers…

Men, women, children, old people… It was all too terrible, too unexpected. Tian Yi wanted to mount a machine gun on his desk and spray the shop with bullets.

“I'd like to borrow this book,” a kindly-looking old man said, approaching Tian Yi.

“This isn't a library. You can buy it.”

“How much, then?”

“Whatever seems fair…”

The old man paused for a few seconds. “Sorry, what did you say?”

Tian Yi pulled a handful of change from his pocket and slapped it onto the desk. “Enough? That's all I've got.”

“Um… I'm buying a book, not selling…”

Tian Yi shoved the money into the old man's hands, followed by the book. “The door's over there. I suggest you close it on your way out.”

The old man had barely left when a middle-aged woman came up with a little boy. “Do you have…”

“No.” Tian Yi cut her off before she could finish.

“I haven't even asked what it is yet.”

“We don't have anything.”

“Well, I see you've got a bastard sitting there.” The woman began cursing him out.

Tian Yi drank his coffee without even looking at her. “You wish. You can't have me either.”

The woman left in a huff with her child, lecturing her son as she went. “Chris, did you see that? If you don't start studying properly, you'll grow up to be a good-for-nothing asshole like him…”

Tian Yi turned a deaf ear. All he wanted right now was for every last person wandering around his bookshop to disappear from his sight.

Then some even more annoying people arrived. A few men dressed like petty thugs entered the shop and came straight up to Tian Yi's desk. “Hey, buddy, don't think I've seen you on this street before.”

“Are you here to collect protection money?” Tian Yi asked bluntly.

The three exchanged looks, then the one in the middle sneered. “Ha! That's right, you little shit, so you'd better wise up. The cops around here…” He was preparing to launch into a lengthy account of all the ways he could put Tian Yi's bookshop out of business.

Just then, Tian Yi reached under the desk with his left hand. All three flinched, thinking he was about to pull out a gun or something. Their hands went to their switchblades and pistol, ready to act. Seeing this, some of the quicker customers were already ducking down and quietly making for the door.

Instead, Tian Yi brought a one-gallon can of gasoline up from under the desk.

Then he opened a drawer with his right hand. The three thugs flinched again, but this time Tian Yi took out a box of matches.

“All you need is… time, gasoline, and matches,” Tian Yi said. “Gas prices have gone up quite a bit, so this is all I've got left. Go outside and pour it around the shop. Try to spread it fairly evenly. Don't worry, it's all books in here. It'll definitely burn.” He went on drinking his coffee as if nothing were happening. “What are you standing there for? Don't you understand? I just spent the last of my change.”

“You think you can fuck with us, asshole? Huh?!” One of the thugs grabbed Tian Yi by the collar and hauled him up.

“This again… No wonder my collar's always wrinkled…” Tian Yi sighed helplessly. “All right, all right… Any of you know where the nearest pig farm is?”

“Having fun, are we?” Gu Wen happened to walk into the shop just then, with Gambling Snake behind him. Neither seemed at all concerned by the scene.

“Please head home, everyone. I'm afraid we're closing for the day,” Gu Wen said.

Most of the customers had already slipped away. The rest took the opportunity to clear out.

“Hey! Hey! Look, look, look, look. He's got backup.”

“Ooh… I'm so scared. Hahahaha.”

“This is Skull Gang turf. You'd better get that straight.”

That was how petty thugs operated, bluffing and bullying whenever they had the upper hand. In truth, they were often cowards at heart and rarely dared to act alone. Only with numbers and weapons on their side did they have the nerve to play tough. On their own, they might not even be able to beat an ordinary office worker or student. Once beaten, all they could do was make threats and round up a crew to take revenge. After a year or so of scrapping, a few of the particularly vicious ones would rise through the ranks and recruit underlings just like their younger selves. Then they graduated from petty thug to boss. The cycle repeated, forming the lowest level of the organized crime network.

Tian Yi didn't dislike these people. He just found it sad, that was all.

Seeing how listless his boss looked, Gambling Snake knew Tian Yi either considered it beneath him to deal with them himself or simply couldn't be bothered. So Gambling Snake would have to do it for him.

He strode over to a bookshelf and triggered some sort of switch. Steel plates sealed off the shop windows and the glass in the door, plunging the shop into darkness. Barely a second later, the lights came on.

“The usual?” Gambling Snake asked.

Tian Yi's collar had already been released. Slumped in his upholstered chair, he yawned. “Only been here a day. Finding somewhere to dump the bodies would be a nuisance. Just knock them out and throw them outside.”

The sight of those steel plates coming down outside had already told the three thugs something was wrong. Now, looking at Gambling Snake's face under the pallid lights of this sealed little room, they couldn't see him as anything but a hitman…

“Don't… don't come any closer…” The thug in the middle raised his pistol and pointed it at Gambling Snake. The other two drew their knives.

Gambling Snake walked toward them at a steady pace. “Holding your gun sideways like that does give you a bit of street cred, but when you fire, an ejected casing could gouge your eye out.” As he spoke, he suddenly stepped forward, appearing in front of the man in an instant, as if the ground between them had shrunk.

His hand moved like lightning. The gunman's eyes, brain, and reflexes couldn't keep up. A second later, the gun was in Gambling Snake's hand.

Holding it up, he said calmly, “You should hold it like this, then flick off the safety, aim where you want to shoot, and watch your target's eyes and subtle body movements…”

Two of the thugs had mentally short-circuited by now. They instinctively raised their hands. “Whoa, whoa… buddy, hey, take it easy, man. Don't shoot.”

But the third, knife-wielding thug clearly had the makings of a boss. He vaulted over the desk, grabbed Tian Yi from his chair, and pulled him in front of him as a shield, pressing the knife against his neck. “Drop the gun! You bastard! Or I'll rip your friend's throat out.”

“He's my boss, not my friend,” Gambling Snake said, his voice as cold as ever.

“Shut the fuck up! You son of a bitch! Drop the gun!” the thug with the knife roared.

Tian Yi tilted his head. “What's wrong with you? He's only a few steps away. Why are you shouting?”

“Shut up, asshole!” The thug shouted just as loudly at Tian Yi, who was only inches away. “You stay still!”

Instead of lowering the gun, Gambling Snake pointed it at them. “He's just a little out of control from excess adrenaline.”

“I said drop the gun! You fucking…”

Bang!

The gun went off. The thug with the knife froze, his unfinished words catching in his throat, his face contorted with shock. Blood and brains spattered one side of his face and body.

The other two thugs turned and saw something beyond belief. Tian Yi's head had been blown apart…

What the hell was going on? After all that stylish talk and action, this guy who looked like 007 had actually missed and shot his own boss dead?

“Hahaha…” Gu Wen laughed from behind them, then jogged casually over to the desk and opened a panel on the side facing the shop. There was actually a little freezer inside. He took out a bottle of tomato juice, unscrewed the cap, and took a leisurely sip. “I'm curious. Does that hurt?”

“You're the one having fun…” As Tian Yi's voice rang out, the door behind his chair opened. He emerged unharmed, looking just as he always did, in his shirt and suit, his hair a mess.

He stepped over his own “corpse,” returned to his seat, and poured himself a coffee, shaking his head at Gambling Snake. “Tom… Tom… Tom… You too… You actually believed what Gu Wen told you?”

“Judging by the result of that shot, he was telling the truth,” Gambling Snake replied.

“What if he'd been bullshitting you?”

“Then he could take your place as my new boss.” Gambling Snake added, “If carelessness, coincidence, a twisted sense of humor, or whatever else gets you killed by a few street thugs, or some traitor who can get close to you, then you're far too fragile a boss to be worth serving.”

“Hmm… Fair point,” Tian Yi said. As he finished speaking, his own “corpse” and its clothes rapidly dissolved into a wisp of black smoke on the floor.

“What the fucking… hell… is going on?!” The thugs had completely lost it. “Are you aliens? Or zombies?! Goddammit, you're a secret government organization. You want to take us away for experiments, don't you?! I'm warning you…”

Five seconds later, Gambling Snake had taken all three down. He hadn't needed a weapon. He swept past them like a phantom, resolving the problem swiftly and silently.

“Oh? When did you learn to do that?” Tian Yi asked. He knew exactly what he had just seen.

“Dr. Stranger taught me a little about meridians and acupuncture points and such. These men were convenient test subjects,” Gambling Snake replied.

Gu Wen gave Gambling Snake a sidelong look. “Oh? Acupuncture points?”

“I know what you're going to ask, but I suggest you pick those men up off the floor first and drive them somewhere else to dump them. By the time you get back, we should be more or less done with business. Then you can indulge your filthy fantasies in broad daylight. I won't mind,” Tian Yi cut in.

“You really do know everything, don't you? Even what I'm about to ask?”

“A filthy man with a filthy ability naturally asks filthy questions,” Tian Yi replied.

Gu Wen smiled without speaking, used his filthy ability to disengage the shop's defenses remotely, and began dragging the unconscious thugs outside.

Gambling Snake came up to Tian Yi's desk and got down to business. “When Gunsmith and I parted, he asked me to bring you the upgraded Destiny.”

Tian Yi paused. “Didn't you fly to Washington?”

Gu Wen had just dragged the thugs to the door. He chimed in, “A little switcheroo would get him through security, wouldn't it?”

Tian Yi thought that over and agreed, but he hadn't seen Gambling Snake carrying any large pieces of luggage either. “Where is it, then? In the car?”

Gambling Snake rolled up his left sleeve. “Here.”

“Hmph… heh-heh…” Tian Yi gave a couple of dry chuckles. “Fine, this is my fault. I should've known that putting Gunsmith, Sorcerer, and Marshal together would produce something like this…”

A band of thin, lightweight black metal encircled Gambling Snake's left forearm. On top was a cross-shaped button. He touched it, and the black metal began to transform, revealing a simple control panel and a screen. All he had to do was hold his left arm across his body to operate it with his right hand. Apparently, this portable version of Destiny could even be used while walking.

“Is there a problem with making it like this? I think it's very practical. Easy to carry, and you can hide it under a sleeve,” Gambling Snake said. “Though I usually keep a lot of things up my sleeves, so wearing this wouldn't suit me.”

“Are you familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh!?” Tian Yi asked.

“Not very,” Gambling Snake replied.

“Then there's not much I can say to you…” Tian Yi changed the subject. “Enough about Destiny. Did Gunsmith tell you how the project's coming along?”

“You're not going to ask about the assassination?”

Tian Yi smiled. “I know more about what happened there than you do. I'll tell you about it in a moment. If you want to discuss how Gunsmith pulled off that shot that defies all reason, all I can say is that it's an idiot's racial trait.”

Gambling Snake thought for a moment, then answered the earlier question. “He said taking time out to make the sniper rifle and bullets, plus the sniping mission the day before yesterday, would delay the project a few more days. In any case, it'll be finished by the end of May.”

Tian Yi lifted his coffee. “Good. Everything's going according to plan.” He took a sip and continued, “Now, let me explain the purpose of the assassination.”

“From the sound of it, this goes well beyond simply killing one man,” Gambling Snake said. “Shouldn't you wait for Gu Wen to come back before explaining?”

Tian Yi replied, “Gu Wen knows perfectly well what chain of events assassinating a Celestial Guard will set off. In fact, the assassination was his idea. I merely adopted his strategy. Having a schemer that ruthless working for you certainly makes life easier.”

He collected his thoughts and continued, “When we first planned the prison break, we didn't know the Empire would be transporting Divine Mist. Then I got a call from an old friend, who sold me that information.

“Quite a coincidence, though there's really no such thing as coincidence in this world, is there? Without Blood Owl going to prison, there'd have been no resupply of Divine Mist. These things are linked by cause and effect. My good fortune was that once my old friend got the intelligence, he came straight to me.”

“That hardly counts as luck or coincidence either,” Gambling Snake replied calmly. “I think he chose you because of the impression you'd left on him. Your character and everything you've done convinced him that only a madman like you would buy that information. No one else would dare take it on.”

Tian Yi smiled. “Yes, a very sound deduction. Anyway, when I got that intelligence, I effectively learned something else at the same time. In just a few days, Jefferson, the warden of Tidal Prison, had recognized that Blood Owl was different. He immediately requested more Divine Mist because he needed larger reserves to handle certain ‘emergencies’ that were very likely to arise.

“I think Jefferson's instincts had already told him Blood Owl would bring disaster. But there's another man who doesn't work on instinct. Tea Immortal.

“With his capabilities, Tea Immortal must have deduced the prison-break plan long before. Blood Owl's arrest was obviously part of a plot. A man like him couldn't possibly end up in prison unless he wanted to be caught.

“But Tea Immortal has his pride. He must have specifically instructed Jefferson not to give Blood Owl any special treatment, to handle him just like the other Fierce-rank prisoners.

“Heh… He just wants to beat me, and beat me in style. Whether Blood Owl can escape is another contest between us. To keep the game fair, he wouldn't put Blood Owl in one of those special cells where he'd be held alone under the tightest security and the door would never be opened.

“Unfortunately, back in the Dragon Commandery, Tea Immortal didn't do what I wanted. He refused to enter that basement. So by now, I'm afraid he's no longer in any position to concern himself with the prison.

“The problem facing us now is Tea Immortal's friend, EAS deputy director Joseph Nolan, also known as Time Attendant.

“After we discussed it, Gu Wen came up with the assassination plan. It lets us squeeze the remaining value out of what we did in the Dragon Commandery while accomplishing several other objectives.”

“If Time Attendant was your target, why not have Gunsmith shoot him instead?” Gambling Snake asked.

“Because we didn't know beforehand that he'd go to that dock himself,” Tian Yi replied. “The original idea was that once the Celestial Guard was dead, Xingtian's people could seize the Divine Mist, wipe out the forces aboard those six Royal Fleet ships, and capture at least four armored shuttle vessels still capable of sailing. All we had to do was display the inverted-cross signal after the assassination. As long as a single witness in the city saw that symbol, Time Attendant would come to investigate afterward, wherever in the world he might be.

“When he saw Tosaka's body, he'd realize we were the ones who killed him, not Xingtian. Only then would the puzzle we'd set for Time Attendant begin to work.”

“But he did turn up there that day,” Gambling Snake interjected.

Tian Yi sipped his coffee. “Yes, but even if you'd contacted me for instructions at the time, the sniper's target would have stayed the same.” He paused. “Because I think that bullet probably wouldn't have killed Time Attendant if it had been aimed at him.”

His assessment matched that of Cao Shuo, who had been there at the time.

“Is he stronger than a Celestial Guard?” Gambling Snake asked. His expression hadn't changed, but his tone clearly had.

Tian Yi smiled. “As far as I know, he was indeed invited to join the Ten Celestial Guards. But he turned them down.”

“Oh? Why?” Gambling Snake asked in surprise.