Yan Liqiang once again submerged under the water. After going half a round under the bridge and reaching the rear of the small isle, he quietly surfaced out of the water.
Looking at the isle from the water surface, he could only see the green glazed roof tiles at the top of the pavilion behind the shade of those willow trees.
The melody of a guqin reverberated through the night from that pavilion. Just by hearing the melodies of the guqin alone, no one could have guessed the person playing it was a sc.u.m who was worse than an animal.
This isle was indeed a great spot, especially at night when it was filled with an air of romance, accompanied by the moon, water, flowers, and trees. No wonder w.a.n.g Haofei and Lu Beixin chose this place for their weekly meeting.
There were semi-circular stone steps on the isle, by the lakeside, which extended into the lake. Beside the steps was a wooden platform where a small boat could dock. The ripples in the lake made soft sounds as they crashed against the stone steps by the lakeside. Yan Liqiang slowly inched to the sh.o.r.e along with the ripples.
Yan Liqiang crouched in the water, by the stone steps. He took out the oilcloth bundle he had on him and held it above the water surface. Breaking off the rope which was tied around the oilcloth bundle with his teeth, he gently opened the bundle and retrieved the complete set of blow darts from within. After examining the blow dart once and ensuring that it wasn"t damp, he got up quietly to the isle, barefooted with the blow dart in hand.
If w.a.n.g Haofei was an expert or a Martial Master, Yan Liqiang wouldn"t be certain if his movements would be detected by him. However, through the last time he fought with w.a.n.g Haofei, he discovered that although w.a.n.g Haofei"s strength wasn"t bad among the youths, he still wasn"t much stronger than Yan Liqiang. This encouraged Yan Liqiang to become gutsier.
In the dark night, Yan Liqiang was like a water ghost who had crept up from the water. Bare naked with a blow dart in hand, he silently went behind a thicket of willow trees and drew nearer to the pavilion.
After tiptoeing his way past a few willow trees, Yan Liqiang spotted w.a.n.g Haofei.
A few lights were lit inside the pavilion. w.a.n.g Hao Fei sat upright and still in the middle of the pavilion as he played the guqin on the platform before him with full concentration.
w.a.n.g Haofei"s original demeanor had been quite decent and he had a striking appearance. In addition to the fitting lavish sapphire blue long gown he wore, the sight of him playing his guqin in the dimly lit pavilion on the isle in the middle of the lake before Yan Liqiang was enough to make a bunch of little schoolgirls scream in his previous life.
In contrast, all Yan Liqiang wore was only a dripping wet underwear. Together with King Cobra"s evil face mask and the black blowpipe in his hands, the way he hid behind a willow tree and peeked at w.a.n.g Haofei became indescribably sinister. If there was a powerful hero here and saw both of them, there was no doubt he would immediately come for Yan Liqiang with his sword without a second thought.
w.a.n.g Haofei was completely oblivious to the impending danger. Even if he had ten more brains, he wouldn"t have known. Why would someone he had never known or even seen before, be plotting on taking his life at this moment?
At this moment, Yan Liqiang wasn"t bothered about it being wretched as long as it was effective. He squinted at w.a.n.g Haofei a few times, then lifted his black blowpipe to his lips and launched a blow dart at w.a.n.g Haofei, who was about twenty meters away.
The black blow dart was like a tiny black flower which flew out from the blowpipe and blended into the darkness of the night. With a speed so fast that it wasn"t even visible to the naked eye, it bloomed on w.a.n.g Haofei"s neck, right behind his ear. There was a meridian in the human body at that spot so it would spread the venom on the dart in the shortest amount of time.
The melody of the guqin came to a halt as w.a.n.g Haofei instantly stiffened like a stone sculpture, suddenly unable to move a muscle.
The moment the guqin melody stopped, Yan Liqiang quickly dashed towards the pavilion with the speed of a cheetah. His feet carried him over the distance of twenty meters and with a leap, he jumped inside the pavilion and revealed himself before w.a.n.g Haofei.
w.a.n.g Haofei was already immobile and couldn"t speak, but his eyes could still see Yan Liqiang, who had appeared before him. A look of extreme shock and terror filled his eyes. He seemed to be trying to say something, yet he only managed to slightly open his mouth wordlessly.
"Tras.h.!.+" Yan Liqiang spat softly. Without any hesitation, he moved behind w.a.n.g Haofei and reached out to grab his head with both of his hands. Twisting it forcefully, he broke w.a.n.g Haofei"s neck with a snap. His head was twisted nearly 180 degrees before it hung limply.
Next, Yan Liqiang pulled the dart out from behind w.a.n.g Haofei"s ear and quickly stowed it away. The spot which had previously been pierced by the blow dart was only left with a red dot which was as tiny as a mosquito bite. On the red dot was half a drop of fresh blood.
After Yan Liqiang wiped the blood away with his finger, that red dot behind w.a.n.g Haofei"s ear was barely noticeable.
Yan Liqiang, who had just killed w.a.n.g Haofei didn"t leave straight away but waited instead. He was wearing King Cobra"s face mask to commit the murder this time, it would be completely meaningless if he left without being seen. He needed someone to witness the fact that it was the ruthless King Cobra who had murdered w.a.n.g Haofei of the w.a.n.g Clan from Huanglong County. Only then would his following plans be able to unfold.
The reactions of the two guards accompanying w.a.n.g Haofei were indeed very slow. The halt of the guqin melody didn"t mean anything to them, they probably thought w.a.n.g Haofei merely got bored so they never came to check up on him.
Yan Liqiang waited for about three minutes before he searched w.a.n.g Haofei"s corpse and found a money pouch. By then, he spotted two delicate ladies coming to the isle with incense burners.
When those girls arrived at the pavilion, Yan Liqiang unsheathed the sword w.a.n.g Haofei left on the table. Changing his tone of voice, he bellowed in a low voice. "EAT THIS AND DIE!"
The sword directly impaled w.a.n.g Haofei"s heart, nailing him to the back of the chair he was sitting on. He was so dead that he couldn"t be even more dead.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The expected screams of the ladies and the sounds of their incense burners cras.h.i.+ng to the ground were heard from behind.
Yan Liqiang abruptly turned his head around and shot the two ladies a fierce glare. After ensuring that those ladies had taken a clear look at his face under the light in the pavilion, he fled from the pavilion with lightning speed to the lakeside and dived into the lake headfirst...
By the time the two guards accompanying w.a.n.g Haofei rushed to the pavilion, there was no one on the isle beside the lifeless young master of w.a.n.g Clan and two ladies who were pale from extreme shock...
One of the guards immediately rushed to the lakeside but saw nothing except for the gleaming water rippling in Lake of Longevity under the moonlight. He widened his eyes and stared hard at the surface of the lake as though he was expecting a figure of someone in the lake. Unfortunately, he didn"t see anyone coming above the lake"s surface in the end.
...
The blowpipe which was used as a murder weapon had now turned into Yan Liqiang"s tool for breathing underwater. He didn"t poke his head above the water surface even once, as he snorkeled his way back to the courtyard of Vista Paradiso.
After climbing back to his bedroom through the window, he quickly took off the mask and dressed. He put away the things he should put away and destroyed any evidence he had to destroy. Only then, did he sit on the reclining chair in the room, watch the Lake of Longevity through the window and truly started to relax, revealing a smile on his face as though a heavy burden had been lifted from him.
Two hours later, a clamor was heard outside the courtyard. The officers from the Law Enforcement Office came for room inspections, causing chaos in the inn...
"Sir, I am extremely sorry. I am not too sure what is going on, but a few officers have come for room inspection. I would appreciate it if you can cooperate and step out from your room for a moment…" The staff in the inn apologetically knocked on the door to Yan Liqiang"s courtyard and could only laugh sheepishly as he requested for Yan Liqiang to grant them access to his room.
"No worries at all. We are all good, law-abiding citizens who should cooperate with officers who are on duty…" Yan Liqiang answered very reasonably and immediately stepped out from his room...
A few officers with unpleasant expressions on their faces shot Yan Liqiang a glance and didn"t even bother to inquire his ident.i.ty. They checked around in the courtyard Yan Liqiang stayed in, took a look under the bed and inside the closet to make sure that no one was hiding in there before they left...
Tonight, many people probably didn"t manage to sleep well in the entire Pingxi City. On the contrary, Yan Liqiang slept very soundly tonight...
...