Chapter 57: Killed?

"A black rose with twenty-four petals." Fang Xiu's calm voice came from under his black hood.

The waiter immediately became serious and paused slightly before saying, "I'm sorry, sir, we don't have that kind of wine here."

Fang Xiu shook his head. "I don't want wine, I want flowers."

The waiter's attitude immediately became respectful. "Please follow me, sir."

Saying this, the waiter led Fang Xiu to a room behind the bar, where there was a password-protected door. After the waiter pressed his fingerprint, the door opened with a loud bang, revealing a long corridor.

The corridor was very dim, and one could barely make out the path ahead.

"Please proceed inside, where someone will attend to you."

Fang Xiu nodded and walked in, and the door closed behind him.

When he reached the end of the corridor and turned a corner, he saw an elevator, with two burly men in black standing beside it.

Their waists were bulging, clearly concealing weapons.

"Guest, please present your membership card."

Fang Xiu directly handed over Lin Ziyang's membership card.

This type of membership card was anonymous, so he felt confident handing it over.

Black Rose Bar places great emphasis on protecting guest information. They only issue membership cards to qualified individuals but never require guests to register.

According to Lin Ziyang, the forces behind Black Rose Bar are very powerful and likely not local, with branches in many cities.

After checking the membership card and confirming it was valid, the two said, "Esteemed guest, entering the trading market requires a routine check. Conflicts are strictly prohibited inside. Please understand."

Fang Xiu nodded and allowed the two to scan his body with their devices.

Of course, they only checked for heat weapons and explosives. They dared not touch anything related to spirit masters.

After the inspection, Fang Xiu successfully entered the elevator, which then descended.

Clearly, the underground trading market, like the Investigation Bureau, was built underground.

When the elevator doors opened, Fang Xiu entered the trading hall. There weren't many people inside, only a scattered dozen or so, but the space was extremely vast, spanning the size of a football field.

This was merely the hall, not counting the other separate rooms.

Of the scattered dozen or so people, only a few had not disguised themselves; the others had done so to varying degrees, with some even wearing Monkey King masks.

Fang Xiu was not surprised by this; the number of Spirit Masters was already scarce, and there were likely fewer than a hundred in the entire city of Green Vine.

The fact that there were a dozen or so people in the trading market at this time was sufficient proof of its strength.

As Fang Xiu took a few steps forward, a young woman with a beautiful face, a slender figure, and dressed in a black silk business suit approached him.

She wore a respectful yet beautiful smile on her face: "Good day, sir. How may I assist you?"

"I want to kill someone," Fang Xiu said calmly.

The woman's expression remained unchanged, seemingly unfazed by Fang Xiu's words. Instead, she continued to smile: Certainly, sir. Please follow me."

Fang Xiu was then led to a secluded meeting room. After pouring tea, the woman departed.

Soon, a man dressed in a crisp suit, wearing an exquisite silver lace mask, appeared.

"Good day, sir. I am the manager of the business department. My surname is Cheng. You may call me Xiao Cheng. By the way, who do you wish to kill?"

"How much is the president of the Light Club worth?"

Upon hearing this, Manager Cheng's expression visibly flickered, but his professional composure prevented him from showing it.

He explained, "The president of the Light Club is a second-tier Spirit Master and one of the most outstanding among them. Therefore, to take action against him, you would need to hire at least a second-tier Spirit Master.

However, assassinating the president of the Bright Club is equivalent to declaring war on the entire Bright Club. You would also need to prepare additional personnel to deal with his subordinates. The manpower and resources involved would be enormous.

Local assassins would likely be unable to handle this assignment. If you truly wish to proceed, we would need to bring in personnel from elsewhere, but the cost would be substantial."

"How much?" Fang Xiu asked again.

"For someone of this caliber, we don't accept money, only spirit coins or equivalent spiritual materials. Roughly estimated, it would cost around five thousand spirit coins."

Fang Xiu wasn't surprised. After all, he was the leader of a spirit master faction with a large following under him; it couldn't be too cheap.

"How many spirit coins for assassinating Tan Guangyuan of the Light Club?"

"Tan Guangyuan isn't a second-tier Spirit Master, but he's a core member of the Light Club and quite powerful. Killing him would cost at least one thousand spirit coins."

Fang Xiu fell silent. Poverty truly was the greatest sin.

"What about Li Zhiwei?"

"That's cheaper. Two hundred spirit coins will suffice."

"Oh?" Fang Xiu was slightly surprised. "Why is he so cheap?"

"Sir, the question you're asking involves some valuable information. Unless you're certain you want to kill Li Zhiwei and pay a hundred spirit coins as a deposit, or pay separately for the intelligence, I can't tell you."

Slap!

Fang Xiu took out a black briefcase and slammed it on the table. Inside, there was the clinking sound of coins colliding.

Manager Cheng picked up the briefcase and began inspecting it. Upon discovering exactly one hundred spirit coins inside, he immediately smiled broadly and said, "Since you've placed the order, this information is a bonus for you.

Although Li Zhiwei is also a core member, his ability is perception-based, so his combat strength isn't strong, hence the lower price.

Additionally, I'll remind you that Li Zhiwei is the cousin of the president of the Light Club."

Another cousin?

Never mind, I'm killing a cousin.

"Hmm, when should we act?" Fang Xiu asked.

"This is industry confidential information, so I can't disclose it, but we should be able to give you an answer within a week. You can download the 'Kill Me' app, which is an internal program we developed. You can monitor the assassin's movements in real-time and track the order. You can also investigate the situation yourself from the outside.

Li Zhiwei is a prominent figure, so his death should be easy to investigate.

You will have a month to gather information. If the assassination is successful, you must pay the remaining balance within a month." Manager Cheng smiled.

"What if the assassination fails?"

"If the assassination fails, we have two options: one is a refund, but only half of the task amount will be refunded. The other is for you to add more money and hire a stronger assassin to carry out the assassination."

Fang Xiu nodded: "Let's sign the contract."

Manager Cheng quickly drafted a contract.

"You can sign your real name or a pseudonym."

This remark caught Fang Xiu off guard: "I can use a pseudonym?"

Manager Cheng nodded: "As a Spirit Tamer, you can sense the power of this contract."

Fang Xiu immediately picked up the contract and felt a faint, eerie fluctuation emanating from it.

He immediately had a hunch.

"This contract contains the power of a mystical artifact."