Chapter 8 #7
Time seemed to freeze as Alex took in every last detail of the roughened visages before him. Seeing so clearly the marks of vice, cultivation shortcuts taken. Drugs savored.
Infernal contracts made.
“All right, before we do this, I have one last question for you both,” Alex said, his voice whisper soft.
Snake smirked. “And what would that be, boy?”
“Why did you say that my employer was kitsune?”
Scar stiffened, caught off guard by the question.
Snake’s bonhomie faded into a cold smirk. “Because she is, boy. And you should be damned glad that we’re willing to work with you, because with her kind, you can expect nothing but a dagger in the dark.”
Alex forced a smile, despite the blood pounding through his skull. “Interesting you should speak so casually of them. Because among these desert people, kitsune are no more than myth and legend. Isn’t that right, Lilly?”
Lilly, who had gone pale as a sheet, just gave Alex a horrified look, clearly able to sense the deadly tension in the air.
Alex smirked. “See? She’s speechless with your cavalier sangfroid.”
Scar’s eyes narrowed. “What did you call me?”
Alex chuckled coldly. “I called you Dongfang Hong’s lapdog. Here to pry what secrets you can before you slice both our throats. Isn’t that right, you infernally bound sycophantic lick-boot?”
Snake’s eyes widened. “He knows! Kill the gir—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Alex drove his fist through the man’s chest and tore out his heart.
Find Weakness skill check made! You sense the flaws in your opponent’s tainted techniques.
Find Weakness 100% penetration bonus in effect!
Enhanced Water Strike (Black Swan) effortlessly pierces your target.
Rank 2 SILVER Strength allows you to claim your prize!
You have successfully slain Rank 1 Bronze Body Cultivator (Tainted Foundation).
Experience earned!
Time seemed to slow as Lilly lurched back, inhaling for what would no doubt be an ear-splitting shriek of horror.
Scar had time only to blink in confusion before his steel truncheon was effortlessly plucked free of his grip before Alex whipped it around with such deadly ferocity that it completely tore through Scar’s skull before lodging itself in the man’s chest.
You have critically struck your foe!
You have successfully slain a Rank 2 Bronze Body Cultivator (Tainted Foundation).
Potency Mastery in effect! You are now regaining 4 Qi per second for the next 240 seconds!
Quickness check successful!
Before Lilly could even finish her scream, Alex’s hand was over her face. His cold words froze her to shuddering sobs.
“Your entire organization has been infiltrated and compromised by the most ruthless sons of bitches on the continent. Assholes who would gladly purge you and me for our ‘impure’ bloodlines. Monsters who would see us all in chains, bowing to one corrupt monster. Do you understand what I’m saying, Lilly? Nod once if you do.”
The terrified woman trembling in his powerful grip jerked a quick nod.
“Good. Then listen well, Lilly. If you so much as utter a peep that alerts our enemies, the first thing they’ll do is take every girl up here hostage to ensure absolute compliance. Hell, they might even come after your families. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Lilly jerked a nod, and Alex slowly backed off, wiping the gore off his changshan tunic with a single flick of his hand, his attire spotless once more.
Just as Biochemical Mastery let him cleanse the splatter off his face as easily as taking off a shirt, a single wipe sent it all into the storage space he refused to think too deeply about, along with the remains of both Snake and Scar and the most visible bits of gore now staining Lilly’s boudoir.
Alex had expected horror, dismay, even a glare of betrayal from the girl. What he hadn’t expected was such a bitter smile.
“You’re too late, Alex.”
Alex blinked at that, guts already knotting in anticipation, yet knowing that he had to ask the question. “About what?”
Lilly sighed, shaking her head. “We’ve already been fully infiltrated.
Our new masters know where all of us girls live and all the members of our families.
” She glared out the window into the darkness.
“Everyone we love will be put down like dogs if we dare to disobey them in anything. We seduce who they say to seduce. We slip drugs into the drinks of whoever they tell us to. And we can only pray that they will let us go in the end.”
Alex, far from condemning her as she no doubt feared, flashed a sympathetic smile. “But you already know how it will end.”
She choked back a sob. “Yes. Of course I do. The things they call me, treating me like filth on any night I don’t have a customer, so you better believe I always try to find a gentle customer I can entice to spend the entire night with me…
” She shook her head, tears dripping free.
“I know that me and the other girls are as good as dead, but it’s not like we can flee, can we?
Not without our families paying the price.
At least our families should be safe, even if us girls will probably have our throats cut by the end of it all.
” She gave a bitter chuckle. “Besides, it’s not like there’s anywhere for us to go. ”
“When did they first infiltrate the organization?”
“From what a nobody like me can tell? Almost a month ago,” she admitted with a hitched breath.
“Is there anything else you can tell me?”
She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head. “I just do what I’m told and pray I’ll survive the night.”
Alex gently squeezed her hand in heartfelt sympathy. She flinched, before breaking down in tears, and then somehow she was sobbing in his arms and holding on to him like a lifeboat in a storm. “Gods’ mercy, Alex. What do we do? How do I get out of this alive? How do I keep my family safe?”
“All right. Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to take what you value most here, and you’re going to discreetly knock on every girl’s door on this floor that you trust.” He pointed out the window. “You see that roof over there?”
Lilly gave a hesitant nod.
“Good. In about five minutes, you’ll all be sheltering on that rooftop.
Out of everyone’s sight, out of everyone’s mind.
Then you’re going to slip down the stairs and head home.
I know, it’s a temporary solution, but you’d better believe those assholes will have a hell of a lot more to worry about than terrifying girls they don’t really care that much about.
But just to make sure you’re okay… do you know mapsign? ”
She gave him a curious look. “Back when I had dreamed of making it as a musician, performing at so many high-end gatherings in the Northern Quarter… yes, I do.”
She blinked when Alex’s fingers pressed against her palm. “Do you know this inn?”
“Alex, this is one of the most luxurious spots outside of the palace!”
Alex grinned. “That’s where I should be staying.
Show up there. Tell them you’re there to give me a private performance.
” He winked at her expression. “We’ll hide the truth in plain sight.
And if you’re inside, you’re safely inside, and any informants would have to be damn careful before they tried to cross the Bronze-tier security playing at being concierge. ”
She stared at him for long moments. “Alex…” Her eyes widened when he solemnly handed her the pouch of silver coins that Snake had had on him.
“For you and the other girls. Even if you don’t meet up with me, this should help you all to disappear and find safe places to relocate in the city until this all blows over.”
“Alex, this place is filled with infiltrators! Almost all the original sect members have either been turned, were smart enough to flee… or were, well…”
“Killed?”
She sighed and dipped her head. “Exactly.”
Alex flashed a fierce smile. “Well, all the more reason to clean up house, and no time to delay. But first, you have to tell me where the hell this Chaoxiang is. Because he might be playing softball right now, thinking I’m either in your arms or telling Snake and Scar all my secrets…”
“Snake and Scar?”
“The assholes I just took out. Please, don’t flinch.
They’re the bad guys, remember? Anyway, we know that Chaoxiang will stop playing nice with my friend the second the alarm is raised, which is why I need all you girls already out of here on the neighboring rooftop.
And yeah, take whatever supplies you have.
Not to lose yourself in bliss for a few nights, but to taper off. Do you know what I mean by that?”
Lilly’s cheeks flushed. “I do. I know what happens when people use too much. I would have stopped completely, if I wasn’t so afraid all the time.”
Alex patted her hand in gentle sympathy. “It’s going to be okay, Lilly. In a few nights, this will all be over, and you’ll be trading that hookah for a cultivator’s lessons. Agreed?”
She smiled through anxious tears. “Agreed.”
“Awesome. Now let’s go before anyone misses those bastards.”
With those words, Alex was out the corridor, going at a slow but measured pace, looking every inch the well-to-do gentleman while Lilly hurriedly knocked on multiple doors.
A handful of wide-eyed women around Lilly’s age stared Alex’s way with an odd mixture of hope and horror and soon followed behind, almost all of them with customers dozing in their beds.
Whether they were just asleep or drugged, Alex neither knew nor cared.
The girls whispered in growing concern when Alex led them all to the rooftop, finding it very much set up like the rooftop verandas with wide-open airy views on all sides.
“Lilly, who is this boy? How is he going to get us out of here? Does he have a rope?” asked one girl with desperate hope in her voice. Yet she immediately flinched and lowered her gaze when he looked her way.
He gave her his gentlest smile. “No need to worry about that. Now, Lilly told you to take whatever you need for a fresh start, right? Because none of you are coming back.”