Red Talon Piercing The Darkness

Ren Cai followed behind Xuan Hua as he began to brief her on the seven months that Hong Zhao had been in the estate, starting with the moment that he landed in the shared cell in the dungeon. Her eyes brimmed with excitement when she learned of the many deaths that were dealt at his hands. She had always thought that Zheng Guo kept the cells far too full. The criminals ranged anywhere from murderers to rapists in the first cell. She was not too sorry to see them go. Then the further cell from there was the thieves. Though they did not truly deserve death, it didn't quite bother her that the men had parted with their lives.

Her eyes lit up however when she learned that he had completely cleared out the cell of cultivators that did not follow Li Xiao's edict and surpassed the student rank. She thought for sure that he would have enlisted their help in order to overthrow the city lord, but instead, he just slaughtered them. It seemed as though she did not know him as well as she thought she did. The boy named Hong Zhao was different from the man Jason Slate that she had known in her past life. He seemed to be either more cautious, or less depending on the circumstance. Though, the more she thought of it, she figured the city lord would see that uprising from a mile away and either put the men to death immediately, or have Hong Zhao killed before he could strike the rebellion.

When she learned that he formed a key of his own to escape his cell to murder Zheng Guo's opposition, she burst out laughing. Xuan Hua looked at her as if she were mad when she seemed as though she had heard the funniest joke she had ever encountered. She laughed even more when she learned that the entire city thought the man and his son had just left due to the pressure. She had been along on a few missions with Jason when he had to do much the same thing. These operations were much more difficult on earth since they had no storage stones to put the bodies in to cover their tracks. Instead, they would bleed the corpse dry in the tub, cut up the bodies into tiny pieces and stuff them in bags. After this, they would put the air tight bags within luggage bags and make it look like ten people were just checking out of their hotels as they brought the bodies to their benefactor to turn in for payment. She grimaced at the thought when she remembered the older man scrubbing the tub clean, using various chemicals to hide the scent of blood. On the plus side, they always received a small tip from housekeeping, seeing as though there was nothing to clean when they left.

When they left the dungeon, the light shone upon the small frame of Ren Cai for the first time in a half a year, yet she did not so much as blink. The blood red robe stood out brilliantly as tiny gold birds swayed on the fabric. Though she was only twelve, she was a sight to behold. Servants stopped what they were doing and gaped as they saw this girl climb the final step from the dungeon. It seemed like an angel ascended from hell as she walked into the light. Yet with a stern look from Xuan Hua, they all scampered back to work.

Though Ren Cai had been held in the dungeon for more than half a year, her bearing still showed respect for the city lord's estate. She was not quite a prisoner within the dungeon, instead she chose her quarters on her own. She never had done well in a crowd unless she was on a job. Being stuck inside such a small body was more of an annoyance to her than her surroundings. She was used to seducing her target with her perfect looks. To bring the person to where Jason lay in wait to clean up her mess. It was far too easy to slip a needle into someone's carotid artery as they were looking at her cleavage.

As Xuan Hua finished his brief, they finally made it to the third floor where he gave a slight bow to her, signalling her dismissal. She sighed as she opened up the door to her third floor room which just so happened to be located across the hall from Hong Zhao's. Once again she would have to operate in the light of day. Once again she would be able to see her friend. Her lips curled up into a smile which didn't seem to reach her eyes.

She thought of the many months she had spent getting to know Hong Zhao. It was obvious from the start that he was her old partner. The way he carried himself was like a mirror image of the man she had respected the most from her other life. She didn't blame him for finding his way the way he did through this life. How many more of them could there be? She had gotten lucky to meet a lady as alluring as she once was at the time of her death. This woman gave her promises of a life in which she would thrive in, as long as she did not lose her memories within the great void. When she held on to herself, she was reincarnated into this world, yet she had to start again from birth.

She looked at the door across from hers and sighed. Though she had lost her life during a job she was working with Jason, she couldn't blame him. If she had done everything he had told her to do, she wouldn't have been killed in the first place. It was her fault for getting greedy. She vowed to herself that if she had the chance to do the same job within this world, she would listen to her team leader and carry out the mission.