Chapter 15: The Hunt

Sounds rose and fell from the room, sometimes lilting, sometimes loud enough to shake the walls, then quick and rhythmic.

The knockout drug from the Afghanistan Region became ten times as potent when mixed with alcohol. Wuxue hadn’t expected a noblewoman raised in the finest etiquette, someone whose every word and gesture could serve as a model, to sleep like the dead.

She’d tied the woman up tight and dumped her in the bathtub. The bathroom door was locked. No matter what she tried, she wasn’t getting out of the room.

On the balcony, Wuxue pinpointed the security cameras outside the building. If Lanxiang was going to the top floor tomorrow, there would surely be bodyguards and hidden guards up there, too. The ordinary route was probably out of the question. Climbing the wall from the twelfth floor might be a better option. At five in the morning, no one would see her.

Skok hadn’t given her everything she needed. Aside from a gun and ammunition, he’d provided only four knives—and the knives were all with Shisan.

The club was a modern building, its exterior walls made with the latest materials. Unlike the old-world buildings, battered by years of wind and rain, this was no easy surface to climb bare-handed.

But Wuxue had no choice.

She tore the slit in her evening gown wider until it became a miniskirt and tossed her high heels aside. Then she gathered her loose hair into a knot. It was two in the morning. The wind howled across the balcony, sweeping over her body and reminding her just how dangerous this was.

A hunter didn’t abandon the pursuit of prey just because she was in danger. Wuxue turned sideways and leaped off the balcony. Her hand caught a pipe on the exterior wall. It was one of the few things she could use to climb.

Using it as a support, she began to inch upward.

She moved with quick, nimble precision. Each time she pulled herself up, the even lines of muscle in her arms stood out. The climb was only a little over three hundred feet, but every inch was difficult. Each leap left her balanced over a long drop.

The cameras turned every thirty seconds. Wuxue carefully timed her progress to avoid their gaze.

After about half an hour, she estimated that she’d climbed a hundred feet. She made her way sideways to a platform holding an air-conditioning unit. Climbing straight up was exhausting, and she decided to rest for five minutes.

Moving sideways was easier than climbing, but no less dangerous. She had to abandon the pipe and grip the window ledges, inching along the glass. The windows were damp in the early morning chill, and cold to the touch.

There was still plenty of time, so Wuxue moved slowly. Then she heard something through the glass. She froze, immediately forcing herself to stay calm. It was still the middle of the night. As long as she kept quiet, no one would notice her.

At first, she could make out only muffled voices. Then she heard a bang, and a flash of fire lit the room in front of her. Wuxue didn’t know if the person inside had seen her in the sudden light, but she saw everything that happened in the room.

A woman in a dark evening gown shot another woman. One shot, and the victim fell to the floor.

The sudden murder wrecked Wuxue’s plan. She hurried to the air-conditioning platform and hid. At that moment, the lights came on in the room, and seven or eight people began filing inside.

Once Wuxue could see everything clearly, she was even more shocked. She recognized the dead woman. She’d been one of the guards posted on the second floor during the dinner. Why was she dead?

The fatal shot had landed squarely between the woman’s eyes. The room had been dark when the killer fired, yet she’d hit the guard’s most vulnerable spot with perfect accuracy. Unless she was wearing night-vision goggles, she had to be a professional assassin.

More and more rooms in the building began lighting up. Climbing any higher had become much harder, and Lanxiang would surely know there was a killer in the building now. She’d be even less likely to make a move.

Wuxue had no choice but to abandon her original plan. Someone else was making trouble here. All she could do was watch and wait.

One of the people who entered was a woman, also a hidden guard. She must have been the dead guard’s partner. When she saw the body, she could barely control herself. At the dinner, Wuxue had seen her as sharp-eyed and focused. Now she was sobbing uncontrollably, clutching the dead woman and crying out in anguish. If they’d been no more than colleagues, she wouldn’t have been this devastated.

Wuxue wasn’t in a good position to escape. Everyone in the room gradually filed out, leaving only the two guards—one alive, one dead.

Maybe they were lovers, Wuxue thought. After all, this was Night Lily Garden.

Once everyone had finally left, Wuxue climbed another floor and slipped through a window into a storage room. Now she planned to return to her room and question the lady again, looking for another chance.

Before leaving, she checked the floor number. Twenty-four.

As far as Wuxue knew, this floor, like the twelfth where she was staying, contained ordinary rooms. She checked her reflection in the hallway mirror. Her dress was nearly torn to shreds, and after a night in the wind, she looked even worse. At the end of the corridor, she spotted a bottle of decorative wine. She poured it over herself. If she pretended to be drunk, no one would suspect a thing.

Wuxue reached the elevator and pressed the down button. A moment later, the doors slid open. She hurried inside—and found someone curled up on the floor.

It was Luo Shisan.

Shisan didn’t seem to notice her at all. Wuxue had no intention of helping her this time. Every second mattered. Her life was on the line, as were Qiongna’s and the others’. Wuxue knew she wasn’t a bad person, but she’d never claimed to be a good one.

“Sorry, scavenger,” Wuxue said to Shisan. They barely knew each other. There was no reason to risk her life for her.

“N-no… it’s okay,” Shisan replied drunkenly.

“Goodbye, scavenger.”

The elevator reached the twelfth floor. Wuxue waved.

“G-goodbye, Wuxue…” Shisan waved from the floor. There were bloodstains on the white sleeve of her shirt. “You’re a good person… I’ll miss you.”

Wuxue didn’t answer. The elevator doors closed again, and Shisan disappeared from her world once more.

They said misfortune never came alone, and good fortune never came twice. Ever since word got out that Wuxue had killed her employer, life had been miserable. She’d once been full of confidence, but now she was down on her luck. The upside was that this wretched month had turned her into a cautious beginner again.

Wuxue didn’t go straight back to her room on the twelfth floor. She climbed out through the storage room window at the same spot and made her way to the bathroom in her room. Peering through the glass, she drew in a sharp breath. Thank goodness she’d been careful. The bathroom was empty. The ropes she’d used to tie up Vino had been untied and tossed on the floor. Vino was nowhere to be seen.

This was bad. She quickly climbed into the ceiling through the bathroom vent. It was the most humiliating experience of her hunting career. She felt as foolish as a rookie.

Sitting in the ceiling, Wuxue studied what Vino had left behind in the bathroom. The ropes hadn’t been cut, and the door showed no signs of having been forced. Someone must have come and rescued her. But what about the knockout drug?

Vino shouldn’t have woken up without an antidote.

Then Wuxue thought of Shisan. Maybe Shisan had returned to the room, found Vino, and gone to get help. That would explain why Vino had been able to leave without disturbing anything.

She’d noticed blood on Shisan’s sleeve. Had Shisan been drunk in the elevator, or injured? Was her injury connected to the person who’d killed the guard?

The more Wuxue thought about it, the more complicated things became. But she couldn’t afford to stop thinking. A good hunter had to know the forest better than her prey did.

If Vino had been revived, she’d certainly tell Lanxiang someone was trying to kill her. If she hadn’t woken up, she’d have been taken to the infirmary. Either way, the shooting upstairs and the kidnapping would put everyone on alert. Getting close to Lanxiang would be harder than ever.

“Come on, check over here!”

Voices came from the room. Wuxue pulled the vent cover into place, then held her breath and listened.

“The guards downstairs say it might be those two who forced their way in yesterday. They had the Countess’s letter of recommendation.”

“The Countess would never bring dangerous people like that in here.”

“Not if they were sent by the Count of Copperbeard County,” someone else said. “He’s wanted Lanxiang dead for a long time. Apparently, this isn’t the first time he’s tried.”

“Good thing the Countess’s car got here so quickly. Lanxiang might be safer if she leaves with her.”

“Either way, let’s find them first.”

“Right.”

After searching the room, the two people hurried out.

Wuxue climbed down from the ceiling, a smile tugging at her lips. What a lucky break. Now she knew exactly what to do. If Lanxiang was leaving, all Wuxue had to do was wait by one of the doors and kill her as soon as she came out. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about how to escape.

Wuxue took out the map. Lanxiang’s position was still clear. She was on the seventh floor. Now Wuxue only had to figure out which exit she’d use once she started moving.

Wuxue studied the map, analyzing it carefully. She didn’t notice the other dot racing across the display—the one that marked the Shisan she’d abandoned.