Chapter 105

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Most of the underprivileged people living in the prosperous Feikexin City are a black and white pantomime, they’re silent.

Standing in front of the windows of the new apartment, the ladies and gentlemen are well-dressed, meanwhile the poor are all curled up in the corners, obscured by thick shadows. Nobody cares what they’re thinking, they’re just the background on this glamorous stage.

“It’s not bad here, you can stay for a while.” Qi Leren, who was standing by the window, turned around and said to Ning Zhou.

Since Gavin lived nearby, Willow sometimes would also go and look for him. Qi Leren was secretly taking care of someone in an apartment of the same block, it’s like keeping a mistress in a tucked away apartment (1).

Ning Zhou nodded and pondered at the paper full of names.

“King of Diamonds and Queen of Diamonds are out. Now there’s still the King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, King of Clubs, and Queen of Clubs. There’s one person in Clubs that we’re certain of…. although we don’t know how he got from the Underground Ant City to the Village of Dusk.” Qi Leren frowned and said rather distressedly.

In the small bar before starting the mission, Qi Leren recognized him. Although they were all wearing masks at the time, the familiar Tang Dao (2) and his undisguised voice made the two of them aware of the other’s identity——a passerby who was at the summoning ceremony of Utopia in the Underground Ant City.

He claimed to be a passerby. After destroying the ceremony, he took advantage of the chaos and left, but he left a deep impression on both Qi Leren and Ning Zhou.

In this copy, he picked up an innocent passerby on the side of the road as his “partner”——the poor partner was brought in a sack.

“Luna, might be a certain player.” Ning Zhou said.

“Luna? Oh, Duccio’s mistress.” This person was also on the hit list. Qi Leren remembered that she was a drama actress and recently got into a fight with Duccio, who just came back. He couldn’t help but glance at Ning Zhou, maybe she’d be Ning Zhou’s stepmother.

But Ning Zhou obviously didn’t care about it. He hated his current identity and body a lot, but this kind of grievance and helplessness on a seven year old kid was very cute.

Just like when he woke up in the morning, Qi Leren kissed Ning Zhou’s chubby cheeks when he wasn’t prepared: “Morning.”

The little ‘golden retriever’ Ning Zhou was expressionless: “Morning.”

“I just kissed you, won’t you kiss me too?” Qi Leren asked excitedly.

Ning Zhou blushed, then solemnly leaned over to give Qi Leren a sweet good morning kiss on his cheek.

At this moment, Qi Leren was very happy.

Mama, this little angel is so cute! How can there be such a cute person in this world! It’d be nice if he was my son! No, wake up, this is my boyfriend! And we can’t give birth either!

Qi Leren finally knew the limits of being gay, it’s a pity they can’t give birth. (3)

For the next few days, Qi Leren stayed in the small apartment rented for Ning Zhou all day long, even forgetting about the targets on the hit list. Just watching little Ning Zhou was enough to make him happy.

Unfortunately, the good moments didn’t last long. When Qi Leren was returning home one night, he was stopped by Gavin next door. Gavin informed him that David was looking for him.

Qi Leren had to go to David’s office to meet his immediate boss. When he arrived at his destination, David was reading today’s newspaper in the meeting room on the third floor. The headline was “Feikexin City Mafia’s Grand Banquet, Six People Killed In a Conflict Within Five Days”.

David put down the newspaper and expressed his dissatisfaction with how Qi Leren has been slacking off at work.

Qi Leren replied calmly: “I need something challenging.”

“Alright, you’ll be in charge of this person. Be careful, she’s not easy to deal with, even Brandy died in her hands.” David stated.

Qi Leren took the paper and glanced at it. When he saw the familiar name, he couldn’t help the way his eyes narrowed.

Luna, Duccio’s new lover, the actress.

After returning from David’s office, Qi Leren finally switched from his vacation mode back to work mode. He quickly contacted several of his colleagues, especially Rum, and got more detailed information about Luna.

Rum is good at trailing people. He’d been trailing this woman for the past two days, and he was the one who found Brandy’s dead body in the parking lot near Luna’s house.

“Old pal, what have you been doing recently? You’re as quiet as a squirrel that’s hibernating, it’s not like you.” Rum asked curiously and handed a cigar to Qi Leren.

“Thinking, I’ve been thinking.” Qi Leren cut his cigar and replied slowly.

Needless to say, this kind of pretentious style really suits Whiskey the assassin. He naturally carries the aura of a youth who likes literature and art. When he bows his head to smoke, it’s as if he’s a poet who’s conceiving poems.

“Well, I hope you don’t think for too long. Brandy’s death was very strange. The way the murderer slit his throat is professional, and even Brandy’s wallet wasn’t taken away, so it wasn’t for money.” Rum said ominously. “Is there someone secretly protecting Luna? It can’t be, I followed her for two days and didn’t find anything.”

“Could it have been Luna’s doing?” Qi Leren asked.

Rum laughed: “Come on, brother, she’s an actress, how can she have that kind of skill? I don’t even dare to say that I can do it myself.”

Qi Leren reluctantly blew his cigarette, feeling the difference in the period of time and the culture. If this brother Rum was someone in the modern times, he would’ve already thought about the possibility of Luna being an assassin or a female agent.

You’ll pay a heavy price for underestimating women.

If Luna really is one of the Hearts, she might’ve already found her own partner.

Qi Leren remembered that when they were in the bar, two women wearing masks came. Currently, this copy doesn’t seem like it has a bad taste like putting players in a body of the opposite sex——although it’s not so far from putting Ning Zhou in a kid’s body——but this possibility has to be considered.

“Please remind me, Luna’s close friends, those who often interact with her, if there are any women who has a unique personality, or a man who looks like a woman.” Qi Leren said.

“A man who looks like a woman?” Rum was dumbfounded. “Like the sissy kind?”

“Uh, yeah I guess.” Qi Leren didn’t know how to explain it.

“Alright, if a man wearing a skirt approaches her, I’ll let you know.” Rum said.

“……” My friend, are you misunderstanding what sissies are? How can there be any men wearing skirts during this era, ah, no, maybe there are. They said that Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, had this kind of hobby in private. He was someone from this era, and right now he should still be the director of BOI, the predecessor of the FBI.

The matter of monitoring Luna was still handed to Rum, and Qi Leren was preparing to slack off again.

Sadly after only two comfortable days, news came from Rum. Luna will go to an underground bar every night at 8 o’clock for the next few days. However, the bar is managed by the Italian mafia, so it’s not easy for Rum to get in.

Now you know how important it is to learn the arts of makeup! Qi Leren complained in his heart. He bought the things he needed and easily transformed himself from an artsy male assassin to a worker with a sturdy physique wearing a blue collar.

It’s not that hard actually. As long as the person’s distinct features are changed, even if they resemble the other, it’s still difficult for people to be convinced that they’re the same person. Qi Leren stuffed a lot of things in his clothes, especially the shoulder area. Alan, the assassin, was skinny, but after such a change, he immediately looked sturdier.

He painted his pale skin so it looked bronze, put on a dark brown wig, decorated his face with a fake mustache (4), put on clothes that fit his identity, and then paid slight attention to the way he walks and his voice, the two of them were completely different.

Ning Zhou stared blankly to the side. That expression can be considered as him questioning life.

“It’s honestly nothing much and very simple, you wanna learn?” Qi Leren wanted to pass on his great experience, but Ning Zhou just shook his head like the pellet drum (5), as if he was a little kid who was about to be sent to kindergarten by his parents.

“Then I’ll be going. I can’t take you there today, since you’d be too easy to recognize.” Qi Leren said.

After all, Ning Zhou’s current body is Duccio’s son. Even though he’s an illegitimate child, Duccio is still not married yet, this is his only son. During the past few days that Ning Zhou went missing, people from the Italian mafia were searching for him everywhere. No one would think that he’d take the initiative to go over to the enemy.

Ning Zhou looked very unhappy.

The sulking golden retriever boy was very cute, Qi Leren squatted down and couldn’t help coaxing him: “How about I dress you up as a little girl and have you pretend to be my daughter?”

The frightened look on Ning Zhou’s face made Qi Leren burst into laughter.

“Dressing up as a little girl is also useless, children can’t enter the bar. Just stay at home and wait for me to come back.” Qi Leren said.

Ning Zhou: “……….”

He seemed really mad!

Translator’s Notes:

Chinese idiom “金屋藏娇” or “The Golden House”, from ‘Hanwu Tales’ (汉武故事) by Ban Gu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The name sounds very familiar but I can’t pinpoint who he is haha if you remember let me know in the comments.This line was so hard to translate? It made zero sense to me if anyone knows the correct translation please let me know. (Raw is: 齐乐人总算知道什么叫搞基无限好可惜生不了了。)This also translates to beard (胡子) so it’s up to you if you like Leren with beard better or with mustache.Pellet drum (拨浪鼓) or Den-den Daiko (でんでん太鼓) is a Japanese hand-held pellet drum, used in Shinto-Buddhist ceremonies, etc.