Chapter 42

Translator: Larbre Studio  Editor: Larbre Studio

After ending the conversation with the other party, Ling Chen turned off the computer and headed out alone.

He had already given the security system of the Nanrong family a comprehensive upgrade, and it was still early in the morning. Ling Chen reckoned that Snake Lord would not have the audacity to strike in broad daylight. Thus, he was not worried about leaving.

After walking through the front gate, a Land Rover was already parked at the entrance.

Ling Chen got in the car and looked at Zhong Wei, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, and said, “Let’s go to Nanming Road.”

“Why are we going there?”

“To meet someone.”

He had already thought up a plan over the last two days. Rather than exhausting themselves while waiting for Snake Lord to strike, they should actively search him out instead. The majority of killers and mercenaries who operated solo usually depended on a middle man before being able to take on assignments, of course this excluded those in organisations.

Coincidentally, he knew of someone in Donghai City who specialised in intelligence. The person who he contacted just now was exactly this person.

The car drove over to Nanming Road, and as Ling Chen delighted, he said, “Go find a place to park the car. I’ll inform you later when I’m done.”

Nanming Road had an open-air parade square, which was a famous tourist attraction in Donghai City. Thus, the place was swarming with tourists.

Ling Chen scanned his surroundings. Shortly afterwards, a fat youth sitting on a bench caught his attention. The fatty was holding on to an ice-cream, while his other hand was holding a newspaper. The newspaper was folded into a distinctive shape, which was the special code that the two had agreed on earlier.

“Fatty.”

Before the fatty realised that someone had approached him, he found a hand on his shoulders. He took a giant bite out of the ice-cream and flusteredly turned to look to his side. Unbeknownst to him, Ling Chen had already taken a seat to his right at some point in time.

When the fatty could clearly distinguish Ling Chen’s appearance, his face instantly paled, and he shrieked. “It’s you?”

“Since you recognise me, this shows that I have not gotten the wrong person. Were you the one who provided intel to Snake Lord?”

The fatty’s heart was palpitating violently in his chest. “Who…Who exactly are you?”

“Snake Lord must have asked you to investigate me. Could it be that you know nothing about my background?”

“I only know that you are called Ling Chen and I could not find out anything else. You understand our method of communication, proving that Snake Lord’s conjecture was right; that you are someone of the same profession as us. Ling Chen, you should then be very clear about our rules. Business is business and should not be mixed with matters like revenge.”

“I naturally know this rule, I would not ask for details about your employer. I just want to know Snake Lord’s whereabouts. You are the one he’s liaising with in the country. He must have contacted you after the operation failed this time.”

“This…”

The fatty was hesitant.

“What if I choose not to say anything?”

Ling Chen patted his shoulders and curled his lips into a smile. “Both of us are cultured people, so let’s just be frank. I know the organisation behind you, so if I choose to kill you, they definitely will not let me off easily. Based on what I know, in your line of business, as long as the price is right any piece of intel is for sale. So just take me as a potential customer. How does that sound?”

Hearing his words, the fatty immediately let out a sigh of relief and gave his ice-cream another lick, smiling replying, “Great! I love talking business. How about this? I’ll give you a twenty percent discount. Two million dollars; once I got Snake Lord’s whereabouts, I’ll immediately inform you.”

“I have no money.”

“What!”

Ling Chen shrugged helplessly. “I’m indeed broke. But I won’t try to get your intel for free. I’ll use another piece of intel to trade for yours.”

“Then we must see whether your intel is worth the price.”

“Blood Wolf was killed not too long ago. You people must have heard of that, right?”

“Blood Wolf was a legendary character in the world of killers and mercenaries. Who wouldn’t know about that?”

Ling Chen then gave a smile which did not seem like a smile. “But do you know who killed him?”

The fatty’s head immediately shot up. Noticing Ling Chen’s gaze, he expectantly asked, “Could it be that you know who it was?”

Ling Chen lightly nodded his head.

“Deal. If you tell me who killed Blood Wolf, I’ll immediately help you search for Snake Lord.”

“Fatty, I don’t think my intel is only worth two million dollars, right?”

“Then what do you want?”

“Take it as you owe me a favour. Next time when I come seeking your help, you better not reject me.”

The fatty thought about it for a while, before gritting his teeth and decisively agreeing.

If he could get his hands on this intel, he would definitely make a killing selling it. How could a mere favour compare to the profits he was going to get?

“You can tell me now.”

Ling Chen grinned and uttered one word. “Phantom.”

“Phantom?!”

The fatty was shocked, before muttering, “It was actually Phantom. But, to think of it, other than Phantom, who else has the ability to kill Blood Wolf. Wait… No!”

He stared at Ling Chen and asked doubtfully, “Phantom has never revealed any trace of his existence. There are only rumours about him, but no one has ever seen him before, much less knows of his identity. Why are you so certain that he was the killer?”

“I have my sources. I guarantee that this intel is one hundred percent accurate.”

The fatty was not convinced yet, continuing to press Ling Chen, “Then how much do you know about Phantom?” The moment the sentence left his mouth, before waiting for Ling Chen to answer, he hurriedly continued, “For this intel, you can request for whatever sum you want.”

Ling Chen shrugged. “I would like to know the answer to your question as well. Fatty, I already said my piece. Don’t forget the matter regarding Snake Lord. Inform me immediately once you know his whereabouts. You know where to find me.”

With that, he then turned to leave.

Phantom. The most mysterious entity in the world of killers and mercenaries.

No one knew of his origins, and not a single person had seen him before. However, everyone held a deep-rooted reverence and fear towards Phantom.

Phantoms were just like how their name suggested. When they came, you would not see a trace of their presence, and when they left, you could not even catch a lingering shadow. As long as Phantom targeted someone, his death was confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt. Or at the very least, no exceptions had ever been made to that rule.

There was a time when the world’s two most premier intelligence agencies invested a mind-boggling amount of money and effort to dig out Phantom’s identity, but their investigations yielded no results.

In this world, the people who knew of Phantom’s existence definitely would not exceed twenty people.

Phantom was not a physical person, but rather an organisation. Its identity was as China’s most mysterious squad that specialised in covert operations.

And among the organisation of Phantom, there were a total of twelve operatives, situated in various parts of the world.

Ling Chen was an operative in the past and was amongst the top elites of Phantom, the one with the most potential and ability.

When he initially received the order to eliminate Blood Wolf, to ensure the successful completion of the mission, the organisation had specially dispatched two other operatives as reinforcements.

It could not be helped. As a legendary character in the world of killers and mercenaries, Blood Wolf was no simple figure, even Ling Chen was not fully confident in subduing him.

For that mission, Ling Chen had spent countless months in preparation and finally cornered Blood Wolf in a hotel, killing the other party. However, Ling Chen had suffered heavy injuries in the process, narrowly escaping with his life. At that time, he had been too careless, thinking that Blood Wolf was already dead. He never expected the other party to detonate a grenade with his dying breath, with the intention of sending everyone to hell.

Luckily, his two other teammates had discovered that in time and used their bodies to shield Ling Chen from harm.

Although his life was spared, the lives of the other two were unfortunately forfeited.

From then on, his heart became an empty husk. He blamed himself and his oversight for the loss of his teammates’ lives. Even though the organisation did not condemn him, and showered him with praise for the monumental deed, he remained unable to forgive himself and thus chose to retire, leaving the place of grief and sadness.

Before he left, he gave all of his retirement funds to the families of his deceased teammates, wanting to make up for his failure.