Her true motive was not redemption. It was the list she knew Bai Xin Yue carried, the list from The Nexus. The Silent Shadow was the final name on that list, and she was a creature who preferred to be the hunter, not the hunted. She would use the chaos of the city-wide manhunt to observe her true target, Bai Xin Yue, and strike when she was most distracted.
"Let the dogs have their chase," she whispered, a sound that was almost a laugh. "We will be the ones to claim the true prize."
Back in the hidden laboratory, Bai Xin Yue finalized her own plans. "You will walk through the center of The Murk," she informed Chen Fei, her tone leaving no room for negotiation. "You will be the most obvious target in this entire swamp. Every killer who thinks they have a chance will come for you."
Chen Fei looked at her, his face pale. "You want me to be bait for the entire city?"
"Not just bait," she corrected, a cold smile on her lips. "You will be a beacon. The small fish will be drawn to the light, and their struggles will attract the larger predators. Wu and I will handle the lesser threats. Your only purpose is to draw out the Silent Shadow. She is a cautious creature. She will only strike when she believes her target is completely distracted. You will be that distraction."
Alchemist Jiao, who was busy polishing a new, razor-sharp attachment for the golem's arm, looked up with a nervous expression. "Lady Yue, the boy's... luck... is gone. To place him in such a position is to invite death."
"He will not die unless I permit it," Bai Xin Yue stated, her voice absolute. She turned to Chen Fei, her eyes boring into his. "This is your purpose now. Do you understand?"
Chen Fei looked from her cold, determined face to the silent, ebony golem, and then to the half-mad alchemist. This was his life now. A pawn in a game of monsters. A grim resolve settled in his heart. "I understand," he said, his voice quiet but firm.
Their return to The Murk was like diving back into a shark-infested sea, only this time, they were dragging a bleeding seal behind them. The moment they stepped onto the grimy platforms of the city, they could feel the change. Hundreds of eyes, filled with a feverish greed, watched them from the shadows of the crooked buildings and the thick, green mist.
Bai Xin Yue's plan was simple and arrogant: she would walk her bait directly through the heart of the city. She strode through the main thoroughfare of The Murk, her expression cold and imperious. Alchemist Jiao scurried behind her, his eyes darting nervously, while the ebony golem, Wu, walked with silent, heavy steps. Bringing up the rear was Chen Fei, his face a mask of grim resignation, the conical hat doing little to hide the righteous aura that made him stick out like a sore thumb.
The first attack came without warning. From a grimy rooftop, three assassins, their faces covered in black cloth, leaped down. They were the Viper Brothers, known for their coordinated poison attacks. Three short swords, coated in a shimmering green neurotoxin, stabbed through the mist, aimed at Chen Fei's neck, heart, and dantian.
Before the blades could even get close, Wu, the golem, moved. Its featureless head turned, its single crystalline eye locking onto the attackers. It raised one hand, palm open, and a wave of pure, concussive force erupted from it. The Viper Brothers, cultivators in the Golden Core realm, were swatted out of the air like flies. They slammed into the side of a building with enough force to shatter every bone in their bodies, their attack ending before it had truly begun. Wu did not even break its stride.
The display of power had the desired effect. The lesser predators in the shadows hesitated, their greed warring with a newfound sense of self-preservation. But the lure of the Shadeless Grotto was too great. A second, more cunning attack came moments later. As they passed a narrow alley, a cloud of black, odorless, sense-dulling powder billowed out, attempting to envelop them.
This time, Bai Xin Yue acted. "A child's trick," she scoffed. She simply inhaled, and the entire cloud of poison was drawn into her lungs. Her Nether Empress bloodline was immune to nearly all mortal toxins; to her, it was no more harmful than breathing in dust. She then exhaled, and the powder shot back out, now infused with a sliver of her own soul-freezing energy. A series of choked gasps came from the alley, followed by the sound of several bodies hitting the ground, their lungs flash-frozen.
They continued their slow, deliberate walk, a bubble of cold, deadly silence in the heart of the chaotic city. They were a fortress, and Chen Fei was the treasure locked within. But as they passed a crowded market square, a stray dog, kicked by a brutish thug, went tumbling and yelped in pain, landing near a small child who began to cry in fear.
It was a small, meaningless moment of casual cruelty, the kind that happened a thousand times a day in The Murk. But to Chen Fei, it was a spark on dry tinder. His entire journey with Bai Xin Yue, his disillusionment, his shame—it all coalesced into a single, defiant act. He broke formation.
He strode over to the thug, a massive man with a karmic value of -1,200, and stood before him. "Pick up the dog," Chen Fei said, his voice low and steady.
The thug, who had seen the previous displays of power, was about to mock him but then saw the look in Chen Fei's eyes. It was not the naive righteousness of before. It was something harder, colder. It was the look of a man who had nothing left to lose. The thug hesitated, and in that moment of hesitation, a dozen assassins, who had been waiting for just such a distraction, struck.
Darts, needles, and poisoned arrows rained down from all directions, all aimed at the exposed Chen Fei.
"Fool!" Bai Xin Yue roared, a flash of genuine fury in her eyes. Wu, the golem, moved to intercept, its body a blur. But the assassins were not the true threat. They were a diversion.
From the deepest shadows of the square, a flicker of pure, absolute darkness detached itself. It was the Silent Shadow. She moved without a sound, without a ripple in the air, her presence so completely erased that even Bai Xin Yue's senses barely registered her. Her target was not the bait. It was the master. A single, black dagger, forged from a sliver of solidified nothingness, appeared in her hand and stabbed towards Bai Xin Yue's back. It was the perfect assassination, a flawless strike born from a lifetime of murder. The entire city of blades had been a prelude to this single, perfect moment of attack.