Chapter 306: The Fire in Chang’an (8)

“Would Jangheung Trading Company, which isn’t some hole-in-the-wall shop, start a project just to eat a few gold taels? So what could we do? We reduced materials, replaced them with cheap ones, and roughly filled in with stones.”

Qing’s eyes narrowed.

This guy is just spewing out whatever comes to mind with his loose lips.

“Over 2000 people died in Nakryeong. Including the missing, they say it’s over 3000. What’s missing? They just couldn’t find the bodies.”

At this, Carpenter Zhang’s expression darkened.

“That was just bad luck. We did the core construction properly. If it hadn’t rained so crazily…”

“It wasn’t because of the rain. It was because of you people.”

“If the design had been even a little cheaper-“

“Don’t blame the design. From what I’ve heard, wouldn’t it have broken even if it wasn’t an expensive design? How could it withstand that rain when you were building sloppily to pocket the leftovers anyway?”

“Hmm…”

“Tell me. If the construction costs were half, do you think you would have built everything according to the design?”

“Hmm…”

Zhang just let out uncomfortable groans.

It’s the response of someone with nothing to say.

The excuse that they diverted materials and substituted cheaper ones because the cost of building to spec was too expensive is pure nonsense.

Would those bastards who were going to pocket stuff anyway have cared about that?

If the design was cheap, they would have done the same thing to pocket even more, so it would have burst no matter what when such heavy rain fell.

“Hoping for the next life my ass. After taking 3000 lives, what next life is there? From what I see, you’ll be stuck in hell getting butchered until the end of the world.”

“Damn it…”

“So, who ordered it? I heard that lady or whatever from Jangheung Trading Company directed the construction. Did that bitch order you to divert materials?”

“Yeah. It was her. Everyone was worried. But when the boss orders something, what can you do? If you go against Jangheung Trading Company on Shaanxi construction sites, you might as well consider your work done.”

It was an excuse that he just did as ordered.

However, Qing sees Zhang’s evil karma.

Isn’t it high for just doing as ordered?

Additionally, Qing is a junior carpenter.

She has stories she heard from carpenters.

“I did some carpentry work too, you know? You personally diverted some materials too, right?”

“Is there a carpenter in the world who doesn’t…”

“Well, that’s true. The company diverted stuff, and the master carpenters each took their share and skimmed some more, so what the hell did you build with? Did you just mold it with yellow soil like kids playing with mud?”

“…”

“So as you said earlier, you die stabbed in a shabby room with no one knowing. You died naturally, so you have no right to resent anyone. If someone who deserves to die dies, isn’t that just natural, not something sad or unfair?”

“Keuung. I may deserve to die, but before I die, just one request. I have some hidden gold and silver, so for my wife and kids, gak.”

Zhang, who was about to say something, suddenly made a choking sound.

When a foot firmly presses down on the nape of the neck, no one in the world can continue speaking.

Qing replied with an exasperated expression:

“This mister. Do you think I came here with nothing better to do than listen to some last words? And why pass on money earned with people’s lives?”

Because a large iceberg had risen on his abdomen with her right hand placed on it, Carpenter Zhang flailed with his remaining left arm.

While carpenters are humans trained with practical compressed muscles, at best they’re just at the level of thugs among civilians.

Qing is a master who has reached the Transcendent Realm.

The carpenter’s flailing gradually becomes more desperate, more violently seeking breath.

But Qing’s foot just firmly blocks his airway with the weight of Mount Tai.

And then, tuk, like a thin thread snapping.

That very moment when the desperate struggling with all one’s might suddenly collapses, truly that strange instant.

“Aish. Just wasted time. Hey, are there no other guys?”

“Seeing that an assassin got in, it’s probably too late even if we search more. Originally, assassins are experts at this kind of tracking. Originally, these kinds of hideouts are completely untrustworthy for that side.”

These hideouts inevitably connect to the Hao Sect or similar lowlife groups.

And assassins are guys who maintain friendly relations with them, so while it’s good for avoiding others’ eyes, it’s a very poor choice for avoiding assassins’ eyes.

“Hmm. Then. Well, I guess there’s no choice.”

Qing scratched the back of her head.

“I was told to spread rumors around the neighborhood to ruin them. But there are no witnesses. I guess I’ll just catch that Jangheung Trading Company lady and ask if there are more bastards to kill, then hmm. I should cut off her limb meridians and deliver them to the bereaved families in Nakryeong.”

Indeed, the best healing is revenge.

Strictly speaking, it’s more of a conclusion than healing.

The pain of losing family only fades, so revenge never truly heals.

But at least it’s undoubtedly the best means to help tie up hatred and resentment and move forward.

“If you’re thinking of widely publicizing Jangheung Trading Company’s atrocities, there are still plenty of witnesses left.”

“Didn’t you say the rest will all die too? And there’s no way to find them faster than the assassins.”

At this, Seol Ganom presented a solution.

“So we just need to catch the assassin. If the assassin testifies that he received an assassination request, unless people in the world are fools, they’ll naturally think something’s fishy when all the city’s carpenters are dying off.”

“Wow! As expected! From now on I’ll raise you to the region’s top intellect. The neighborhood is too small to contain this shining intellect. Let’s advance to a bigger world. Yeah. Yeah. As expected of Shaanxi’s top intellect!”

Qing raised her evaluation of Seol Ganom.

Seol Ganom looked very uncomfortable.

“There are plenty of truly smart people, what am I? It’s embarrassing, so please stop saying that.”

“You’re even being modest.”

“Really, you don’t listen to people…”

“But how do we find the assassin?”

“How hard could it be to find an assassin? They’re guys who kill people for money. If we squeeze the guys who receive money one by one, wouldn’t we find out? I’ll look into it again, so let’s head back for today.”

“Reliable! Trustworthy!”

“Really. This person…”

But the corners of his mouth curved slightly, it wasn’t a bad expression.

In the Central Plains, there’s no saying about burning down the whole house to catch a bedbug.

Because it’s a Korean proverb.

There are various theories about the origin of this proverb.

First, there’s a theory that a tough guy who got fed up with bedbugs that kept coming out no matter how many he caught just burned down the whole house.

Since bedbug bites are incomparably itchier than mosquito bites, someone who has suddenly realized the itching and lost sleep might roughly understand that frustration.

Or there’s a theory that it originated from traditional pest control methods for catching bedbugs.

To catch bedbugs, they filled the house with smoke by burning plants with insecticidal effects like hemp or duckweed, so if sparks flew wrong, thatched houses made of grass would instantly go up in flames.

A fire was spreading like this in Chang’an too.

Of course, Jangheung Trading Company is too big to be treated as bedbugs, and a big city like Xi’an won’t burn down completely just because a few sparks fly.

However, sparks that bloomed from the flood in Nakryeong flew to Chang’an, and Jangheung Trading Company, feeling the heat on their own feet, burned away the technicians at first.

But the embers weren’t properly extinguished, so now those sparks have spread to the assassins.

And so.

Justified violence descends upon the assassins!

Since they’re bastards who killed people for money, it wouldn’t matter even if it was unjustified violence.

So the word “assassin” is too good for them.

It’s not that there were no righteous assassins in Central Plains history, so to elevate them they’re called assassins, otherwise they’re called killers.

The landscape of the Central Plains assassination business is dominated by five huge companies – Killing Heavenly City, Killing Curtain, Killing Valley, Purple Forest, and Heavenly Killing Sect – each occupying their own regions.

Among them, the assassination group considered the best in both skill and price is Killing Heavenly City.

But recently Killing Heavenly City closed down.

However, no one found it particularly strange, because assassination companies can go bankrupt at any time due to the risks involved.

So the hot topic in the assassination industry, the talk of Chang’an, was how and why and by whom Killing Heavenly City was destroyed overnight.

And on top of that, one really big question:

Surely not every single one of Killing Heavenly City’s assassins died, so why aren’t there any survivors among those famously skilled assassins?

People were licking their lips, saying they’d pay huge amounts of gold and silver if any just appeared.

What people don’t know is that those infamous Killing Heavenly City assassins have actually just changed their profession.

Now there are no assassins in the darkness.

They’re proudly showing their faces under the bright sun, just basking satisfactorily in the benevolent world led by the new Heavenly Demon.

Thanks to this, they’ve now come out into the light and tried dating, made friends, shared warm feelings with neighbors, some have even formed families, thinking this is truly the joy of living as a person.

And since all this grace was bestowed entirely by the great Heavenly Demon Lord, isn’t it a faith that should be protected to the death with desperate loyalty!

The covert operatives (former assassins) of the Covert Operations Division are unconditionally all about the Heavenly Demon Lord.

Through the extremely evil brainwashing techniques perfected by the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult over many years, their heads have been thoroughly broken since childhood.

If not for this, the covert operatives dispatched to the Central Plains would immediately apostatize and defect, so it was an unavoidable choice.

Assassins know best how the assassination industry works.

That’s why the Sun Moon Escort Agency had already identified the locations of all assassination request offices in Xi’an.

Thanks to this, Qing was able to receive a booklet containing the locations of all assassination request offices in Xi’an city while eating lunch the next day.

“Wow, this quickly?”

“The escort agency happened to have the data.”

“Heuut, heuik, haat…”

“Huh? Why does the escort agency have data on assassins?”

“How would I know? But originally when you do big business in a city, don’t they reach out first to increase customers by asking you to use them?”

“Hu, huuk, haaa…”

“You didn’t just raid them and find Sun Moon Escort Agency ledgers or something, right?”

“If that were the case, would they have handed over the data so readily? Isn’t it confidence that they have no connection to them?”

“Hat, haheu, ha, hat, ha…”

Hmm. She really eats disgustingly.

Qing looked at Seol Yiri, who somehow managed to cool down the boiling soup by putting it in her mouth first, then breathing in and out with “huut heuut”.

It’s not just soup, but a snake meat soup called osagang.

True to its name, it’s a nourishing food made by thoroughly boiling five types of snakes, and a very, very high-class dish.

But this osagang is Cantonese cuisine, and in Cantonese cuisine, soup is half water, half oil, with starch added to make it thick, so it’s like lava soup with a temperature no different from boiling oil.

No, you’re eating this without cooling it?

Are you human? Isn’t this like a feat of strength performance?

Of course, since it came out after being boiled, it’s not really boiling oil, but still, the thick broth that’s half oil must be much hotter than boiling water.

Hmm. But it’s a bit much to say anything about how someone else eats.

It’s not like she’s harming anyone else, and anyone who sees would just watch the strange sight, well.

“Then, we can start raiding them one by one from tonight. Hmm. Where should we start?”

A bunch of bastards who kill people for money.

Isn’t this like a free pass, all-you-can-eat ticket, free admission?

Qing couldn’t hold back the humming that naturally came out as she got excited.

Songs from Korean masterpieces that don’t exist yet flowed out, but it wouldn’t matter anyway in the ancient Central Plains where the concept of copyright doesn’t exist.

Those who heard just said it sounded very pleasant.