by A Sick Frog
“When you’re dying.” Qin Ke Xuan was expressionless.
“…” Yin Xu Dong crawled back, rejected, and washed up to turn in for the day.
Qin Ke Xuan looked at the message she had just received; there was a mission tonight.
As the night drew on, households turned their lights off, Qin Ke Xuan laid on her bed, her eyes closed, sleeping. When her phone on her side vibrated, her eyes flew open, and she quickly got up, answering the call, “Who’s this?”
“An Ye, we’ve reached.”
“Mmh, coming now.” Qin Ke Xuan hung up after speaking and lifted her blankets to get off the bed. She was already in all-black and skin-tight attire.
An Ye, full: An Ye You Ming, was her codename in this organisation, and was also her original codename in that organisation, similar to the top killer in that* organisation.
(T/N: the text was not clear whether the other killer with the same codename was in her current organisation or the organisation she was in last time.)
(T/N: “暗夜幽冥” = “An Ye You Ming” directly translated means Dark Night Hell)
You Ming… she recited this name soundlessly, Qin Ke Xuan’s bright eyes darkened for a split second, but she quickly shook her head, and her eyes regained its gleam once again.
Qin Ke Xuan jumped down from her balcony lightly without any sound and used Qing Gong to skim over the distance towards the location, only stopping to walk when nearing the location. She saw a car parked along the roadside, making out the car plate number under the murky glow of moonlight, she then briskly walked over, pulling the car door open and crawled in.
The people in the car upon seeing Qin Ke Xuan entering started the car.
“An Ye, today’s mission is to infiltrate into the Xiao family and steal the list of names of moles they have planted in our organisation.” A guy sitting beside Qin Ke Xuan said.
Qin Ke Xuan frowned; so far, the missions she had been sent on were just to steal things. They actually dumped her a load of these crappy missions, what, did they think she was a thief now?
The guy sitting in the front beside the driver turned to ask Qin Ke Xuan: “Say, An Ye, exactly how old are you? No matter how I look, you look like a junior high kid. If I hadn’t seen what you are capable of, I would seriously think you’re a kid Boss had abducted.”
When the three of them first saw the so-called comrade Boss had brought, if it were not for the chilly aura she had eluded, they almost thought their organisation was delving into the human trafficking business.
Another guy beside him immediately nodded his head in agreement: “Exactly! Boss is definitely enslaving you, this is child labour! An Ye were you abducted by Boss?”
The Boss they were referring to was Zhou Lin, while the people on the car, including the driver, were Qin Ke Xuan’s accomplices for this mission. The codename of the guy sitting beside her was Wolf, the one in front beside the driver was Jackal, and the driver was Leopard. They had always wanted another comrade codenamed Tiger so they can match and become Wolf Jackal Tiger Leopard, but Qin Ke Xuan “acted upon her own initiative” and codenamed herself An Ye, and for this, the other three of them grieved fiercely for a period of time. That was their long-cherished wish! And it was so easily trampled on heartlessly by Qin Ke Xuan!
They were all twenty plus young adults with slightly extroverted personalities and liked to occasionally tease Qin Ke Xuan, the only female compatriot*.
(T/N: the text was not clear whether Qin Ke Xuan was the only female in their mission group or the only female in the entire organisation.)
After interacting with them for a period of time, Qin Ke Xuan having deeply acquainted herself with their habits looked out the window quietly, ignoring them.
Wolf continued: “Don’t be like this, An Ye babe, chat with Ge Ge*, communicating our emotions or something can increase our tacit understanding.” Qin Ke Xuan replied without even turning her head: “I can still complete the mission without you people.” What she was very unambiguously hinting at was that you guys were not essential, and if possible, it would even better without them.
(T/N: “哥哥” = “Ge Ge”; older brother)
Everyone was shot down by her words.
Leopard pressed his wounded chest with one hand, the other holding the steering wheel, and said: “An Ye Mei Mei, you’re breaking my heart! How can you talk like this to us?”
(T/N: “妹妹” = “Mei Mei”; little sister)
Qin Ke Xuan’s temples throbbed. She was already very discontented with having to do a thief’s job, why was it that these bunch of comrades arranged to her were, even more, noisier and shameless!
Going on missions should be a soundless operation, where only a few hand gestures would suffice as commands, even if they were intercepted by the target, they were still to remain silent. Staying silent even if they were injured, consuming poison to suicide if their mission failed and were captured, that, was the way of killers!
She inhaled deeply to suppress her volcanic anger and continued looking out the window, ignoring the three fellows.
Wolf, Jackal and Leopard very tactfully stopped joking with Qin Ke Xuan, aye, girls’ tempers nowadays are so bad! To the point that they were even anti-social, and would not make a sound if the situation did not call for it.
Tonight’s location was a little far, and the mission this time was thornier than previous ones. Of course, the so-called thornier was what Wolf, Jackal and Leopard said, Qin Ke Xuan, however, still thought stealing stuff was not challenging at all, she just wanted to quickly finish the mission and stay far far away from these three fellas.
When they were still a distance away from the Xiao family, the car drove into a dark alley and stopped.
“An Ye is tonight’s main charger, Wolf, stay outside to shadow her, Jackal and I will aid An Ye’s operation.” Leopard was the leader of their team; he was the one arranging the operations every time.
Qin Ke Xuan upon hearing that raised her eyebrows, Leopard saw that and explained: “Even though I’m the leader, everyone in the team must be capable of taking up the main force role. The previous few times were just to familiarise you will our activities, this time was to test whether you can catch up with us. Of course, we know you can definitely successfully complete the mission, so just treat this as a necessary procedure to grasping how the main force works.”
These kinds of missions required familiarising? What a joke! Qin Ke Xuan only nodded her head to express her understanding.
“Wolf, stay in the car and make yourself available to be contacted anytime, Jackal, Leopard, catch up.” Qin Ke Xuan commanded simply, pushing the intercom earpiece into her ears and opened the car door to alight. Jackal and Leopard following tightly after.
“Let’s go.”
Her voice dissipated and Qin Ke Xuan was already dashing in the direction of the Xiao family. Jackal and Leopard immediately followed, and Leopard said into the intercom softly: “An Ye, don’t run too quickly, it’ll drain your energy.”
Qin Ke Xuan was speechless. She could not use her Qing Gong in front of normal people, so this speed was already very slow, but she still slowed down such that Jackal and Leopard would not lose her. When they reached the outside of the Xiao family’s house, the three of them hid in the shadows of the potted plants. Qin Ke Xuan looked at the panting Jackal and Leopard in disdain, saying: “Jackal? Leopard?” With this kind of speed and physical strength, they still dared to name themselves such codenames, were they not afraid of being laughed at?
The two of them were depressed.
After a while, when their breathing steadied, Qin Ke Xuan said: “Leopard, stay behind to take care of the back, contact me anytime there’s any movements. Jackal, follow me in.”
Leopard asked: “Will just the two of you be enough?” He shut up after being glared at by Qin Ke Xuan.
The two of them detoured around the backyard and found a blind spot the CCTVs did not cover. Just as the two of them were about to flip over t
he wall into the place, a pair of gleamingly green eyes under the electric light stared at the two of them. That was bad, it was a house-guarding dog!
Just as Jackal was about the curse, a cobble flew from Qin Ke Xuan’s hands, straight the dog under the wall, cutting off its bark in time.
The two of them leapt down from the wall. Jackal approached the dog lying on the ground, asking softly: “Fainted?”
Qin Ke Xuan replied expressionlessly: “Died.”
Leopard had thought it was a person who died through the intercom and sternly warned them to not kill anyone. They only needed to steal things, so do not kill unnecessarily to invite trouble for the organisation. Moreover, the Xiao family was not to be trifled with. They had intended to handle the dark organisations since long ago, hence all the more they cannot afford to allow them to grasp their weakness.
Jackal’s eyes could not help spark, almost as bright as that dog’s eyes, and gave Qin Ke Xuan a big thumbs up. That move was way too sick!
During the following part of the operation, Jackal had never felt so relaxingly simple and easy. Following An Ye cut through all the difficulties, tidying up that hidden alarm system thing was a cinch. With that, they snuck into the Xiao* old fellow’s study room effortlessly.
(T/N: “萧老头” = “Xiao old fellow”; referring to the head/oldest member holding the power in the Xiao family)
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Translator’s Note: frankly I think Qin Ke Xuan seems more like an assassin than a generic killer, but it’s too troublesome to change the title and stuff, so oh well.
Chapter 18 - Injured
As for looking for the safe and opening it, it was Jackal’s job, Qin Ke Xuan knew nothing about such high-tech stuff. Jackal successfully unlocked it and found the name list. Just as he was about to take it away, an alarm suddenly sounded.
Wolf and Leopard outside asked anxiously: “What happened?”
“Fuck! That ol’ Xiao set a fixed time for the which the safe can be opened safely. When it’s opened outside that time, an alarm will sound!” If he had destroyed that system then such a situation would not appear!
Leopard saw the lights flickering on and people moving, and instructed lowly: “Retreat immediately! We’ll provide support!”
Qin Ke Xuan said into the intercom: “Stay outside and don’t move. Listen, I’m commanding this time, listen to my instructions.” She did not need another one to impede their progress. She flicked a bland look at the awkward and anxious Jackal, saying: “Just this once.”
Jackal shouted anxiously: “Da Jie! If we’re caught this time then there’s no next time!”
Qin Ke Xuan grabbed a porcelain and threw it at the window. The glass panes immediately broke, falling on the ground in a pitter-patter. The porcelain, too, flew out the window and landed on the ground with a shattering sound, and then she strode out the study room, “Catch up.”
Leopard followed after Qin Ke Xuan tightly, and walked down the stairs to the first floor, turning into a corner and banged the door open with a kick. The person inside immediately screamed: “Who are you?!” It was a woman.
Jackal closed the door behind them, turning around in time to see Qin Ke Xuan’s shadow zipping forward, and she was already standing in front of the women. Her hand hacked downwards, and the woman collapsed on the ground. Tsk tsk, she was so cold-blooded, even towards women.
Qin Ke Xuan went to the windows and opened it, looking down. This place was not bad, there were no lights shining in this direction. As for the other people, they probably thought they escaped through the study room window, and all went scurrying in that direction to search. The rest of the people were probably still prowling through every level, and probably would not head in this direction at least for a while. However, the problem was that if they did not leave as soon as they can, they would be trapped, and by that time, it would be difficult to escape.
Qin Ke Xuan turned around speaking to the Jackal behind her: “Go down from here.” She stepped on the window ledge and jumped downwards, stepping on the stone ledge protruding from the windows on every level, before dropping down onto the ground.
Jackal remembered that it was still the fourth floor, and lunged towards the window to look down in fear, but saw An Ye completely unscathed below. He heard An Ye’s calm and flat voice through his intercom: “Hurry.”
Jackal looked at the thin water pipe at the side, and swallowed, before biting his teeth and reached out for the water pipe to slide down. He slid down, squeaking all the way. Everything was still all right until he reached the second floor where the water pipe could no longer bear his weight and broke with a “bang”. Thankfully the second floor was not too high up, Jackal only felt his legs numbing, but they were not broken.
This little incident, however, attracted the attention of the people searching for them, “They’re there! Quick catch them!”
Qin Ke Xuan grabbed Jackal’s elbow and ran around the wall while saying into the intercom: “Leopard, go back to where Wolf is.”
“But…”
“We’ll catch up.”
When they reached the surrounding walls, Jackal immediately squatted, inter-crossing his fingers. Qin Ke Xuan quickly stepped on his connected palms, and Jackal’s arms gave a forceful boost, tossing Qin Ke Xuan up into the air and she landed on the wall. She bent down, stretching her hand to pull Jackal up. Jackal gripped the wall, borrowing Qin Ke Xuan’s grip, and scaled the wall.
The people pursuing them upon seeing their targets slipping away actually pulled out their guns and opened fire at them.
After Qin Ke Xuan heard a loud “bang”, something flew at her at a ridiculously fast speed. It was a hidden weapon! It was so quick, granting her no time to dodge. Her left hand instinctively raised, her index and middle fingers lifted to clip the hidden weapon, but who knew her fingers were unable to rival the strength and drive of the weapon. It rubbed past her fingers and buried itself into her left shoulder. Her left shoulder throbbed in pain, and Qin Ke Xuan groaned stuffily before falling off one side of the wall.
Jackal grabbed Qin Ke Xuan in time, and the two of them fell down. Just as he was about to check her injuries, Qin Ke Xuan waved his hand away, pressing her wound and stood up, saying with a low voice: “Go.”
“An Ye, your wound…”
“Jackal, go back first then dress the wound, hurry.” Leopard heard them through the intercom and guessed that An Ye was injured, and was commanding Jackal.
“Understood.”
Qin Ke Xuan pressed her wound and detoured around the Xiao family’s house with Jackal to lose their pursuers before rushing towards the little alley where the car was parked. The two of them entered, and the car shot off.
Leopard had already prepared the first aid box that was opened and placed on one side. He stretched his hand, ready to take off Qin Ke Xuan’s clothes, but was slapped away by Qin Ke Xuan, and she glared at him coldly. He paused for a while before reacting, urging her anxiously: “You’re shot, we need to hurry staunch the bleeding, it’s not the time to assess the gender differences!”
“I won’t die.” Qin Ke Xuan was clear of the injury on her own body, “Just tell me how to dress the wound.”
Wolf, Jackal and Leopard frowned, what was she getting at? She wanted to dress the wound on her own? They were out on a mission, yet the three big and alive guys let a girl get wounded, and did not even help dress her wound, were they still worthy of being males? Especially Jackal, who was particularly guilty, if he had been more careful, then they would not have been discovered, and she would not have gotten hurt.
Qin Ke Xuan said lightly: “Why are you people not talking? You won’t let me handle my own wound?”
Wolf slammed the steering wheel, gnashing his teeth: “You know we don’t mean that, we..”
“I don’t know.” Qin Ke Xuan cut him off, “And I don’t want to know, it doesn’t matter if you don’t say.” As long as she took out the concealed w
eapon, everything would be fine. Except that this weapon was a little powerful, to completely penetrate into her flesh, it was going to be a little troublesome.
The three guys lost their anger. Leopard raised his hand to surrender: “Say! It’s just taking out the bullet, except that we don’t have any appropriate apparatus to do that, so we can’t extract it. Since you’re not letting us help, then stop the blood first, I’ll contact the organisation to see if there’s anyone who can help extract the bullet.”
“If the person is a woman, then she can help.” Qin Ke Xuan thought briefly before agreeing.
The three of them were too exasperated to educate her about the fact that human life is beyond value, and beyond gender differences.
Leopard took out his phone to dial for the organisation doctor, “Hello! Yes yes yes, yes it’s my fault, I promise I won’t bother you in the middle of the night in the future. Compensate, yes I’ll compensate okay? Mmh, we’ve got someone who was shot here and needs you to extract the bullet. Aye, she’s a lil’ girl, how can she be treated roughly like men! Okay, we’ll reach soon, get ready the instruments, bye.”
He hung up, and exhaled loudly in relief, turning to say to Qin Ke Xuan: “An Ye, you owe me big time man, I finally found you a ‘suitable’ female doctor!”
Qin Ke Xuan pressed her wound, saying: “Drop me off the car.”
“Aye? Why, are you not willing?”
“I never owe people.” If he wanted her to owe him something, she would rather go back home and grab a knife to dig out the so-called bullet on her own.
Leopard wept bitter tears, “What sin have I committed! Do you need to torment me like that?!”
Jackal turned around and urged: “An Ye, he’s joking, you don’t need to take him seriously.”
Qin Ke Xuan looked at them earnestly, saying: “I don’t accept jokes, and I won’t owe anyone, even while joking.”
Leopard held his anger, gnawing his teeth, saying: “When a member of the organisation is injured, the organisation is responsible for looking after the injured. Can you accept it now?”
