Chapter 255 — Assassination Client

The fact that Bao Lin and Hou Lin were safe and sound left Sui Yuejin both startled and worried. Word from his informants in Songjiang said the two were doing very well indeed—not only were they conducting large-scale manhunts for the company personnel who had absconded with funds, but they were also frequently working alongside the police to crack cases.

The two of them were living well, but Sui Yuejin was not. Facing Tian Long's questioning, it was almost as though he had never hired anyone to assassinate them at all. Yet Sui Yuejin had genuinely commissioned the Butterfly Assassins, a world-class killer organization, to take on the job. As for why Bao Lin and Hou Lin were still alive, Sui Yuejin had no idea either.

Sui Yuejin logged onto the platform where assassination contracts were posted and checked the job he had placed. The task status showed that it had been accepted by the Butterfly Assassins and was currently in progress.

But how many days had it been now, with still no word? The Butterfly Assassins were, after all, the world's most renowned and efficient killer group—how could a single contract sit unexecuted for so many days?

Could it be that they had too many jobs and had simply overlooked his? The thought struck Sui Yuejin as highly plausible. A killer organization surely had no shortage of assignments each day, and his was hardly a major contract—it might well have been overlooked.

But what was he to do if it had been overlooked? Although the website did have a button to urge an order along, previously—

When Tian Long had called earlier, Sui Yuejin had already sent an urgent reminder, yet there had been not the slightest response.

With no other choice, Sui Yuejin began searching the website for the Butterfly Assassins' contact information. After considerable effort he finally found a phone number. Without a second thought, he grabbed the desk phone and dialed the Butterfly Assassins' contact line.

His cell phone had no international dialing feature enabled—only the desk phone did—which was why Sui Yuejin used it. Before long, the call connected. But the other party spoke in English, and Sui Yuejin did not understand a single word.

Sui Yuejin hurriedly summoned his secretary and had him take the call. Sui Yuejin's secretary was a master's degree holder hired at great expense, fluent in three international languages.

"President Sui, this is a voice menu asking us to choose. Press 1 for task inquiry, press 2 for task—"

"—processing, press 3 to leave a message, and press 0 for an operator!" The secretary listened to the recording for a moment, then translated for Sui Yuejin.

[urgent]

"Press 0, then talk to the operator for me," Sui Yuejin instructed after hearing this.

"Yes, President Sui." The secretary pressed 0 and was transferred to a human operator.

"Tell me exactly what they say, word for word," Sui Yuejin said.

After a moment, the secretary said, "President Sui, they're asking what they can do for you."

"Ask them why the task I submitted still hasn't been carried out," Sui Yuejin said.

This secretary was one of Sui Yuejin's trusted men. He had served Sui Yuejin for several years and knew what sort of business his boss was in, so Sui Yuejin kept nothing from him.

The secretary relayed Sui Yuejin's meaning to the person on the phone. After hearing the reply, he said, "President Sui, they're asking you to provide the task order number."

"The number is zxcdf2oo9xxxxxxx..." Sui Yuejin opened his own notebook and pointed out the order number on the page for the secretary to see.

[same as above]

The secretary nodded and read the number to the other party. After a while, he relayed their words to Sui Yuejin: "President Sui, they say they need to look into it and will get back to us. They ask us to leave our contact information."

"Fine. Just leave them my office's landline number," Sui Yuejin said directly.

[same as above]

The secretary gave them the phone number. Hearing their confirmation, he hung up and said to Sui Yuejin, "President Sui, they'll contact us once they've finished checking."

Sui Yuejin nodded and waved a hand at the secretary, signaling that he could go.

Tombstone had long since given the order to thoroughly investigate who had commissioned Wang Kejin's two contracts, but because the platform was entirely confidential, there was simply no way to investigate. Yet regarding the client who had ordered the assassination of Yang Juehuan, an unexpected lead had turned up.

The contract to kill Yang Juehuan had been brought to the Butterfly Assassins by a veteran broker in the assassination world, who said it was a commission from a friend in the trade. This was a valuable lead. Upon learning of it, Tombstone immediately had his subordinates follow up and contact the veteran broker to find out who the client was. But since that client was also an underground operator, he could only be reached by email—and his reply had yet to arrive.

As for the contract to assassinate Bao Lin and Hou Lin, there were no leads at all. The killer contract platform was completely anonymous; not a single clue could be found on it.

And so the matter could only be set aside. Since Tombstone was currently out on a mission, the de facto head of the assassins was Tombstone's junior fellow disciple, Tsunami.

The Butterfly Assassins were remarkably efficient. Not long after Sui Yuejin's inquiry came through, it entered the investigation process. Yet after all the checking, they discovered that the task had been suspended from execution.

[same as above]

The database did not state the reason for the suspension. However, since suspending any task required the approval of the organization's highest authority—no one else had the clearance—the matter could only be escalated to Tsunami.

"Uncle-Master Tsunami, the client for order number zxcdf2oo9xxxxxxx just called asking why this task still hasn't been carried out. I checked the database and found that the task has been suspended..."

a disciple of the Butterfly family asked.

"Oh?" Tsunami set down the work in his hands, his expression shifting slightly—into something like excitement. Recently he had suspended only two tasks. Both were Wang Kejin's, and both were assignments Tombstone had instructed him to keep a close eye on, to find out who had commissioned them. But there had been no response, and the matter had been shelved. He had never expected the client to call in personally—was this not a gift from heaven?

At the thought, Tsunami hastily searched his own computer for the order number the disciple had mentioned. Sure enough, it was the very order he had suspended—the one concerning Wang Kejin's assassination of Bao Lin and Hou Lin!

For the Yang Juehuan contract, someone had already been sent to contact the veteran broker. The Bao Lin and Hou Lin contract, however, had been commissioned through the killer platform, so there was no way to trace it. But now someone had delivered himself to their door—Tsunami's spirits surged at once.

"Did he leave contact information?" Tsunami asked. There was no need to say too much to the lower-ranking disciples of the assassins. These were confidential matters, and naturally Tsunami could not discuss them with them.

"He did. Here it is." The disciple respectfully handed over the registration card.

"Good. I understand. I'll handle this matter myself. You may go about your business."

[same as above]

With that, Tsunami made a gesture signaling that the disciple could leave.

"Yes, Uncle-Master Tsunami." The disciple bowed slightly and respectfully took his leave from Tsunami's office.

After the disciple had left, Haixiao picked up the phone and dialed Tombstone's number.

The phone rang twice before it was answered.

"Hello?" Tombstone's voice came through from the other end.

"Eldest Senior Brother, this is Haixiao," Haixiao said. "The client who ordered the assassinations of Baolin and Houlin—we've found them!"