Chapter 60: The Fog of Truth

Xiluo’er stood before Irene, extending the stack of Red’s documents she held.

“Let me see… it should be around here…”

Irene reached out as if to point, but in a sudden, swift movement, the hand that was meant for the documents shot toward Xiluo’er’s face instead.

A surprise attack was a fundamental skill for an assassin, and Irene’s move was executed with remarkable speed.

Yet, Xiluo’er reacted instantly. Just as the hand was about to connect with her face, her free hand seized Irene’s wrist.

“Quite the quick reflexes, Little Cat Tail.”

With her sudden ambush thwarted, Irene’s tone noticeably cooled.

“The same trick rarely works twice. You should know that, Red Spider.”

Despite the abrupt attack, Xiluo’er’s voice remained steady, as if she had long anticipated Irene’s move.

Holding Irene’s wrist, Xiluo’er remained silent, and an air of serious quietude settled between them.

After a brief pause, Irene was the first to break the silence. She flung away the hand gripping her wrist, then pulled off her mask with a hint of displeasure.

“Honestly, Little Cat Tail, what’s the harm in letting me take a look?”

Xiluo’er sighed, a trace of helplessness in her voice.

“If possible, I’d prefer you just asked me directly.”

“Hehe, I was afraid you’d refuse! If you refused first, the success rate of an attack would be even lower.”

“And yet, you didn’t succeed anyway.”

Xiluo’er rolled her eyes. Irene’s tactics were hardly fresh. If anything, the last time she’d witnessed a similar ploy was Jing Ke attempting to assassinate Emperor Qin, though Irene’s objective was far more childish than that historically renowned assassin.

“If you truly wish to see, I don’t mind showing you.”

Xiluo’er proactively removed her hood, revealing the plain mask and single ponytail that had been concealed beneath.

For ease of movement, Xiluo’er always simply tied her hair back whenever she wore this cloak; the hairstyle Eve had done for her last time was an exception.

Irene pouted, looking somewhat disappointed.

“Honestly, it looked much better last time.”

“Alright, let’s not dwell on trivialities,” Xiluo’er said, pulling her hood back up and transforming once more into the assassin who concealed her sharp edge beneath her clothes. “I’ve got what I came for. I’m leaving now.”

“Eh?” Irene blinked in surprise. “You’re planning to act tonight? You won’t prepare for a bit longer?”

“I recall Red has meetings with other gangs to discuss territory plans almost every night recently. There’s no need to rush, is there?”

Xiluo’er tucked the stack of documents into her embrace.

“Time waits for no one. If I can act tonight, there’s no reason to delay further.”

Irene also stood up, shrugging her shoulders as she spoke: “Alright, I wasn’t wrong last time. Your style, Little Cat Tail, is truly decisive and swift.”

“Go on, go on. I’m going back to sleep. It’s late…”

Irene let out a huge yawn, seemingly indicating that meeting Xiluo’er tonight had cost her precious sleep.

****

Stepping out of the black market, the cool night breeze cleared Xiluo’er’s mind considerably.

After a final check of the information Irene had provided, Xiluo’er moved stealthily through the night, heading in a specific direction.

Red… Rona…

As she traveled, Xiluo’er allowed the night wind to stir the question that had troubled her for some time.

On the surface, a city guard knight and a street thug had almost zero in common.

If these two truly shared some connection, what hidden truth lay behind Rona?

The night wind did not help Xiluo’er find the answer to this question, but at the very least, Xiluo’er was certain that she was steadily approaching the truth.

Rona, Rona…

****

The intricate roads of Cana City were like the veins of a living body.

Having served in the Cana City Guard for over two years, this was Rona’s most direct understanding of the city’s ‘脉络’—its intricate network.

To be precise, she felt like a cell, constantly moving through the city’s vessels.

After long stretches of guard patrol duty, Rona knew the city’s myriad roads, both large and small, by heart.

Of course, it wasn’t just the roads she knew intimately, but also the unseen, unspeakable things hidden within the countless alleys, things that shunned the light of day.

A person’s tolerance for things changes with repeated exposure. By now, Rona had grown somewhat numb to the ‘grey veins’ she encountered in her work.

However, Rona also understood that these elements were an inseparable part of Cana City. Serol was right; deeply entrenched grey industries were part of the city. They couldn’t be eradicated entirely, only controlled.

Rona herself understood this implicitly. After all, continuing the earlier analogy, a person’s body cannot function without its veins.

Even if a vein had issues, it could still transport blood. But if that vein were missing, the person named Cana City would inevitably collapse one day.

However…

Taking a deep breath of the cold night air, Rona forced herself to break off her thoughts.

She was still on night patrol; it was better to focus on her work.

Moreover, some matters yielded no results, no matter how much one pondered them.

During City Lord Serol’s hospitalization, everyone in the City Guard was exceptionally busy. As the captain of the City Guard, Rona naturally shouldered more responsibilities.

Originally, Rona had no patrol scheduled for this evening, but after returning from the hospital that afternoon, she proactively took on patrolling the more vulnerable areas at night.

As she navigated the city’s streets and alleys at night, Rona slowly furrowed her brows.

Cana City rarely had fog. Why was the fog so thick tonight?

Rona gripped her sword hilt and continued toward the fork in the road ahead.

But before she reached the crossroads, Rona suddenly stopped.

Her gaze swept toward a nearby alley.

It was one of those deep, narrow alleys common throughout Cana City.

After a moment of silence, Rona abruptly stepped forward, entering the alley, even though it wasn’t part of her original patrol route.

As she delved deeper into the alley, the surrounding fog seemed to thicken. In a surprisingly short time, the mist had grown dense enough to obscure her vision.

Rona didn’t halt until she was nearly at the end of the alley.

Through the hazy, shifting fog, the expressionless Rona saw the person standing at the alley’s terminus.

Clad in a long black robe that concealed their face, the individual stood silently.

“You’ve finally arrived.”

With a sharp, gender-neutral laugh, the person slowly lifted their head.

At the end of the alley stood Shadow, the Chaos Cult’s hidden operative in Cana City, and Xiluo’er’s contact.