The First Order

“Master, are we gonna take this mission?” Zhou Yingxue asked. Now that there was a mission, it was no longer up to her to decide whether to accept it or not. After all, Ren Xiaosu was the one mainly responsible for conducting them.In the end, Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhou Yingxue. “It’s still very democratic between us. Do you wanna accept it?”

Zhou Yingxue said, “I feel that even though this mission is simple, since it’s only to escort a female singer, the duration of the mission is too long. She’s gonna pass through more than 30 strongholds, and it wasn’t specified how many concerts she would be holding. During that long duration, it’d be enough for us to complete several other missions.”

Ren Xiaosu nodded. “Then let’s accept it!”

All of a sudden, Zhou Yingxue was dumbfounded. ‘Master, do you not understand human language? Isn’t it obvious that I don’t want to accept it!’

Zhou Yingxue said, “Master, I would like to rest for a while longer.”

“It’s easy to fall sick if you rest too much.” Ren Xiaosu patiently explained, “Think about it. Although this mission’s duration is long, the reward she’s giving is also very high. It’s 2 million yuan!”

“Master, since when were you someone who would get enticed by two million yuan?” Zhou Yingxue asked in disbelief.

“See, you still don’t know me well enough! Alright, reply to the text and send them your selfie. In any case, you already revealed yourself to the Anjing House when you became an A-rank hitwoman,” Ren Xiaosu decided.

Zhou Yingxue pursed her lips. She took a selfie and replied to the text to accept the mission.

Ren Xiaosu gave the situation some thought. Zhou Yingxue was previously involved in intelligence work and was even in charge of protecting some of the Yang Consortium’s important personnel. Since the Anjing House knew about Zhou Yingxue’s identity, the probability of her getting chosen for the mission was very high.

The Anjing House’s reply arrived very quickly. “We’ve received your mission application. Please wait patiently as we still require the employer to make a choice. Please do not worry. Your photo was only used to verify your identity, and we will not submit any images to the employer. Given your previous work experience and good mission credibility, we will give priority to your application and recommend you to the employer first.”

Ren Xiaosu raised his eyebrows. The Anjing House’s reply was quite polite. They actually used the honorific form of “you” in their texts.

But from the looks of it, they would have to wait a while longer. This time, the mission acceptance would actually have to be decided by the employer.

It was back to normal again as Zhou Yingxue went out to shop on a daily basis. The prosperity of the black market was something the strongholds could not compare to, with 70% of those who came here carrying large amounts of cash on them.

Moreover, these people were probably unable to go to the normal strongholds for their purchases, so they could only spend their money here.

Hence, the black market specially created an entire range of consumer industries for them like the casino and brothels. They even specially invited some celebrities from the strongholds to perform here. Then there was also Zhou Yingxue’s favorite industry… jewelry.

Ren Xiaosu did some calculations based on Zhou Yingxue’s pattern of buying a piece of jewelry every three days. If that female singer did not hurry here soon, Zhou Yingxue could very well go bankrupt.

At this moment, Ren Xiaosu was in his hotel room holding a book in hand and lying on the sofa by the full-length window. Meanwhile, Zhou Yingxue was happily showing off a diamond ring on her hand to him. “Master, isn’t this nice? I heard that someone dug it out from some Pre-Cataclysm ruins. Who’d’ve known that after The Cataclysm, diamonds would still be intact? Don’t you think it’s really miraculous?”

Ren Xiaosu was puzzled. “What’s so miraculous about that…”

By the time Zhou Yingxue was showing off her other jewelry, Ren Xiaosu had already turned a deaf ear to her and was focused on reading.

Zhou Yingxue muttered, “You’re always reading books every day. Are they really that interesting? Master, why do you like to read so much?”

Ren Xiaosu did not even look at her. “Because I can gain an understanding of this world through reading.”

In the past, he did not have the qualifications to attend school, nor did he have the opportunity to learn through the strongholds’ education system. Therefore, the more he lacked knowledge, the more he desired it.

Zhou Yingxue said, “Don’t we already know enough about this world? People are scheming against each other every day and have so much distrust for each other. Everyone hungers for fame and status so much that it might as well be written on their foreheads.”

Ren Xiaosu looked back at her. “The world is much more than that.”

Zhou Yingxue was stunned for a moment. She did not expect Ren Xiaosu to answer her in such a manner. This was because Ren Xiaosu should have much stronger feelings about those things she had mentioned and experienced it far more as well.

When Zhou Yingxue saw that Ren Xiaosu had gone back to reading, she suddenly felt that this young man who was clearly approaching the peak of humanity was slightly more charming when he read.

Zhou Yingxue received another text. “You’ve been chosen by the employer. The other party requests that you head to the black market on the outskirts of Luoyang City within 48 hours. You are to be dressed formally, and the hem of your skirt can not be above your knees. You are not to sleep before the employer, you cannot eat meat in her presence, you cannot mention cats in her presence, you cannot… You’ll also have to sign a confidentiality agreement and are not allowed to leak the personal habits of the employer.”

All in all, there were 81 terms detailing what Zhou Yingxue could not do!

Zhou Yingxue frowned when she saw these conditions. “Master, I left the Yang Consortium precisely because I couldn’t stand such pretentious behavior. Now that I’ve become an A-rank hitwoman, I can’t believe I’m encountering a person like this again.”

To be honest, Zhou Yingxue was already starting to feel conflicted when she saw the employer had included so many conditions for the mission. She was a professional hitwoman, so why did she feel like she had ended up as a female bodyguard at the beck and call of her employer?

“It’s also possible that this is a more formal job request.” Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “Didn’t you also have to act this way when you were on an escort assignment at the Yang Consortium?”

“That’s different.” Zhou Yingxue pursed her lips. “It’s not like she’s an important figure or something. She’s just a singer.”

Zhou Yingxue replied to the text to state she was already at the black market and asked where her employer was.

The reply came back and said her employer was still in Stronghold 62.

Zhou Yingxue’s temper rose immediately. “She wants us to be here within 48 hours, yet she isn’t even on her way yet?”

“Let’s wait patiently then,” Ren Xiaosu said calmly.

In the end, a week passed.

Zhou Yingxue’s fingers were a blur as she typed her reply on the phone, “Is the employer still coming? Hm? She told me to be here within 48 hours, but she hasn’t even arrived after a week? Hm? Is an A-rank hitwoman’s time any less valuable?”

Over the past few days, Zhou Yingxue had been on the verge of exploding from anger. She was a supernatural being, an A-rank hitwoman, yet she had to wait here without an end in sight for a lousy singer?!

The Anjing House replied with, “You may cancel the mission. The cancellation this time will not affect any of your mission results. Also, the one million yuan the other party has paid as a security deposit will be transferred to you.”

The Anjing House’s attitude was quite clear. They definitely would think from the perspective of their own members. Moreover, an A-rank hitman’s time was indeed worth a lot.

However, the Anjing House followed up with another text, “The employer says that if you can wait, they’ll increase the reward by two million yuan as fees for loss of working time.”

Zhou Yingxue threw her cell phone onto the bed. “Am I someone who lacks that couple of million yuan?”

But after careful consideration, she realized she did.

Ren Xiaosu looked at Zhou Yingxue with an ambiguous smile. “Why don’t we cancel the mission?”

Zhou Yingxue glared at him. “It’s such a waste not to earn a moron’s money!”