Chapter 81: Take Off Your Clothes!

“Show me some Chinese angelica,” he said. “And some deer antler gelatin...” Lu Feng didn’t give the clerk a chance to speak. He hurriedly bought a pile of expensive medicinal herbs. After the female assassin finished her purchases and left the pharmacy, Lu Feng immediately paid with his card and followed her toward the bus stop.

He kept his distance, doing his best not to be noticed, trailing her all the way to the bus stop. But she didn’t stop to wait for a bus; instead, she continued walking ahead. Beyond the stop was a local produce market. Lu Feng followed her inside and saw her buy a few tomatoes, some eggs, a piece of lean meat, and a fish.

She then passed through a busy section crowded with street vendors. With so many pedestrians, Lu Feng was afraid he’d lose her and drew closer.

Suddenly, she paused, picked up a compact mirror from a nearby stall, and held it up as if to examine herself. The angle of the mirror reflected precisely where Lu Feng was standing.

The moment Lu Feng saw her pick up the mirror, he quickly stepped back and ducked into a nearby shop, avoiding the mirror’s reflection. He grabbed a baseball cap from the store and put it on, handed over fifty yuan without a second thought, and continued tailing his target.

It seemed she had grown suspicious; her pace quickened, and she weaved through the market streets as if she knew the area well. After pursuing her for two blocks, Lu Feng lost her—she was, after all, the professional.

Left with no choice, Lu Feng surveyed the surroundings and noticed there were only two residential complexes nearby: one they’d passed earlier, and another a few hundred meters ahead.

Lu Feng instinctively guessed the female assassin likely lived in the complex ahead. However, as he began to make his way there, he realized she wouldn’t be foolish enough to lead him to her home only to shake him off.

So, Lu Feng turned back to the complex they’d just passed.

It was a modest neighborhood, the apartments small and the property management unremarkable. As Lu Feng tried to enter through the main gate, a security guard stopped him, asking for his name and the resident he was visiting.

Glancing at the security desk, Lu Feng noticed a delivery parcel. On the shipping label was a recipient’s name and address, so he wrote down that building and resident’s name on the visitor log.

The guard checked the record and, seeing the information matched an actual resident, allowed Lu Feng inside.

He wandered through the community, hoping to catch a whiff of herbal medicine drifting from one of the buildings. After making a circuit, he smelled nothing out of the ordinary.

On a stone bench by the lawn, a few elderly women sat enjoying the evening air. Lu Feng approached, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then asked, “I keep smelling Chinese herbal medicine every day—do you know which family is always boiling herbs?”

“Herbal medicine?” one of the women fanned herself thoughtfully. “Now that you mention it, yes, there’s often the scent of medicine... Oh, that young girl on the fifth floor, her apartment often smells of it. She’s so young, yet drinks herbal medicine every day—I wonder what illness she has. Still, at least she doesn’t throw the dregs onto the road—she has a good heart.”

There’s a saying that if someone leaves the dregs of boiled medicine on the road, a passerby who steps on them will carry away the sickness, allowing the patient to recover. Young people rarely believe such things, but many elders do, so the woman muttered her thoughts aloud.

Lu Feng had learned a crucial detail. He glanced up at the fifth-floor windows, then made his way up the stairs.

Each floor had three apartments. On the third floor, Lu Feng saw three doors but couldn’t be sure which was his target.

Each entrance bore its own character: the first was decorated with large crimson couplets, gold characters on a red background, exuding festivity. There was even a kumquat tree by the door.

The second door was plastered with cartoon stickers, the kind children would put up—likely a young couple with a child lived there.

The third door was plain and unadorned, somber even. If their quarry was an assassin, this third apartment seemed the most probable.

Lu Feng approached the third door. Hearing nothing from inside, he peered through the keyhole but found himself at a loss—he couldn’t pick locks.

He considered for a moment, then simply knocked.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

After three firm knocks, he heard soft footsteps inside. The steps halted right at the door; the person within was likely observing him through the peephole.

Lu Feng stood calmly in front of the peephole, allowing the person inside to get a good look.

The person made no sound, nor did she open the door. Lu Feng remained silent as well, waiting patiently for three whole minutes.

“Who are you looking for? I don’t know you.” At last, the person spoke, unable to endure the silence any longer.

“If I was able to find this place, do you think there’s any point in denying it?” Though the voice inside was deliberately altered, Lu Feng could still tell it was the female assassin.

“I don’t know you. Please leave, or I’ll call security.”

“I think the police would be a better choice. Your fingerprints are on the knife you dropped—it won’t be hard to prove your identity,” Lu Feng replied.

There was silence again for two minutes.

“What do you want?”

“It’s simple. Tell me—who hired you to attack me?” Lu Feng asked directly.

“I don’t know. I was just paid to do a job; I don’t even know my contact.”

“Is that so? Then you’re of no further value. Let’s talk about you and me. You’ve attacked me twice—how do you plan to resolve this?” Lu Feng smiled, his tone casual.

“I was just doing my job. I have no personal grudge against you.”

“The last person who took money to attack me died in prison, though I wasn’t the one who killed him,” Lu Feng said.

“I told you! I was just paid for a job!” The voice inside grew agitated. “I’ll return the money tomorrow. You’ll never have trouble from me again.”

“It’s hard to trust an assassin’s word. I think we need to have a face-to-face discussion. Open the door,” Lu Feng insisted.

“No.”

“If you won’t, I’ll do it myself. I doubt this door could withstand a single kick from me.” Lu Feng stepped back as he spoke.

“Wait!” The person inside panicked, fell silent for a moment, then finally opened the door.

When the door swung open, Xia Yubing stood at the threshold, her expression clouded and uncertain as she stared at Lu Feng.

Lu Feng took a step forward, closing in on her. He seized her right wrist, pulled a short blade from her sleeve, and pressed it to her throat, commanding, “Spit out the blade in your mouth!”

She had nearly severed his carotid artery with that hidden blade before—he wouldn’t give her another chance.

Xia Yubing had no choice but to remove the blade from her mouth and place it on the shoe cabinet.

“Take off your shoes—and your clothes as well!” Lu Feng ordered.