The stall selling human faces drew the largest crowd.
Four people were gathered around it.
Each of them held a face, turning it this way and that as they inspected it.
The stall vendor continuously warned them, "Gently, gently! Don't tear my skin."
Li Ban took a few extra glances, confirming they were artificial, not faces peeled from corpses.
"What are those?" he asked in a low voice, leaning close to Cat Girl.
"Human skin masks, though judging by the texture, they aren't real human skin." Cat Girl threw a glance over, not particularly interested. "But they should be more comfortable than the real thing. If you like them, you can come back and browse after we finish our business."
The two didn't stop. They soon reached a fork in the road and entered the Xuan-grade passage the gatekeeper had mentioned.
There was hardly anyone here.
Cat Girl led Li Ban for about a hundred meters until they reached an iron door at the very end. Set into it was a small barred window.
Cat Girl walked over and patted the grate. A normal human face appeared behind it.
"Spending money or collecting money?"
"Getting a token first."
The face didn't move, but its eyes shifted toward Li Ban, who stood behind Cat Girl.
"Sponsor?"
"Me." Cat Girl pulled a grayish-green token from her waist and flashed it in front of the window.
The voice behind the window instantly grew a bit more enthusiastic. "A Gold Badge? Understood. Newcomers can only be issued a wooden token."
"I know the rules."
Li Ban watched Cat Girl negotiate with the person behind the iron window. She took a pen and paper, filled something out, and shoved it back through.
Afterward, the person inside handed Cat Girl a wooden token.
"Go in by yourself." Cat Girl turned around and handed the wooden token to Li Ban. "You can only truly earn your identity as an assassin by passing their test."
Li Ban took the wooden token and walked toward the iron door, which had just opened.
Behind him, Cat Girl said softly, "I'll wait for you here."
Li Ban stepped through the iron door, and the person behind it instructed him to follow.
They headed upward the entire way, leaving the underground completely and emerging into the courtyard of a wealthy estate.
But just as they walked into the courtyard's bamboo grove, the guide suddenly vanished.
Li Ban froze, instantly going on high alert.
Had the test begun?
Gripping the straight sword he had recently seized, he watched his surroundings vigilantly.
A gust of wind blew past, scattering bamboo leaves.
Suddenly, a single leaf changed direction, shooting straight toward Li Ban.
Because it came from the front, he could see it clearly in the moonlight. He immediately drew his blade and cleaved the leaf in half.
The severed halves dropped to the ground like a normal leaf.
But in the very next instant, another bamboo leaf appeared right at his side.
Having just slashed the first, Li Ban faltered for a fraction of a second before twisting his body to defend.
However, more and more bamboo leaves drifted down around him. Soon, three leaves struck at him simultaneously from different directions like hidden weapons.
Li Ban barely managed to block them all.
Yet the very next moment, six bamboo leaves ambushed him.
This time, no matter how hard Li Ban tried, he couldn't block them all. He could only watch helplessly as the six bamboo leaves sank into his chest and abdomen.
But a second later, he realized the embedded leaves brought absolutely no pain.
When he turned his head, the dozen or so leaves he had cut down had completely vanished from the ground.
"An illusion?"
At that moment, the guide reappeared.
"Skill level is Grade Bing, but that's enough for a wooden token."
He continued jotting something down on the paper Cat Girl had filled out earlier.
Setting down his pen, he asked, "Do you dare to kill?"
Here it comes.
Li Ban looked at the man, recalling the day Lu Qinghe had told him to train in "guarding the heart."
Guarding the heart meant maintaining calmness and clarity no matter what he was doing.
Even if it meant doing something he thoroughly despised.
"I dare."
"Good." The guide pointed at a two-story wooden house just outside the bamboo grove. "There is a woman in there who is four months pregnant. Sneak in, kill her, then cut open her belly and bring the infant out entirely unharmed."
Li Ban stiffened.
He knew that even though he wore a hood, his suddenly widened eyes had likely exposed his emotions.
He opened his mouth but made no sound.
'This is a virtual world. This is a virtual world. This is a virtual world.'
After some mental adjustment, Li Ban opened his mouth again.
"O-okay—"
The sound came out as a muffled, breathy gasp.
Why couldn't he speak?
Was it because the five senses in the Wizard World were too realistic?
Was it because everyone here had their own joys, sorrows, and desires?
Or was it because of the doubt he had carefully buried deep in his heart?
Li Ban tried twice more, yet found himself completely unable to force the word "Okay" from his throat.
He only felt as though boiling water were bubbling between his vocal cords, slowly evaporating his humanity.
As Li Ban stood completely rigid, the guide muttered to himself while continuing to write.
"Conscience not yet lost. Unwilling to kill the old, the young, women, or the weak. Indeed, a good man."
He set his pen down once more and lifted his chin at Li Ban. "Let's go."
He took two steps toward the wooden house, only to realize Li Ban wasn't following.
"What do you mean?" Li Ban asked.
The guide looked back and said, "There is no pregnant woman in the house. Come inside and register your identity."
The "boiling water" in his throat settled, but Li Ban's hands and feet felt ice-cold.
He quickly hurried forward, stepping up beside the guide.
"That was also a test? I'm unwilling to kill a pregnant woman, yet you're still letting me become an assassin?"
"It is a test. After all, where would we find so many pregnant women for all of you to kill?"
The guide chuckled lightly, a teasing amusement in his eyes.
"There are all kinds of people in this world. Assassins are human too, so naturally, they have all sorts of personalities. For someone like you, we simply won't assign tasks that require indiscriminate slaughter. Otherwise, if you agreed against your conscience today, only to grow soft-hearted during a real assassination and botch the mission—or even get yourself killed by the target—wouldn't that ruin the reputation of our Assassin Hall?"
This completely exceeded Li Ban's expectations.
He had thought assassins were required to complete every mission unconditionally, with no room for soft-heartedness.
But the Assassin Hall's task assignments were actually quite humane?
The two entered the house one after the other. Inside the pitch-black room, a single lamp suddenly flared to life.
A person sat at the head of the main hall, wearing a monkey-face mask.
The guide stepped forward, holding up the piece of paper as he bowed deeply.
"Lord Hou, this is the newcomer recommended by Cat Girl. Skill: Grade Bing. Temperament: Grade Yi. Title—"
"Good Man."
The guide smiled faintly.
"Please instruct us, Lord Hou."
Lord Hou lifted his eyelids behind the monkey-face mask and glanced at Li Ban. "Approved."
Instantly approved.
Li Ban immediately heard the voice of the mission assistance system.
[Acquired hidden identity: Tier 1 Identity, wooden token assassin.]
"Understood." The guide backed away and said to Li Ban, "Come with me."
Throughout the entire process, Li Ban hadn't exchanged a single word with Lord Hou.
He had merely been glanced at once.
This Lord Hou was likely a management figure in the Assassin Hall. His gaze was different from Du An's; it didn't make one's hair stand on end.
If Li Ban hadn't been staring directly at him, he wouldn't even have sensed he was being looked at.
Perhaps this was the hidden attribute of an assassin?
After Li Ban and the guide left the room, footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs leading down from the second floor.
A plainly dressed woman slowly walked down. As she descended, she protectively rested a hand over her barely swelling belly.
"Master, this servant has finished organizing the books and records upstairs."
Lord Hou raised a hand. "Go back and rest," he said in a hoarse voice.
"Yes." The pregnant woman curtsied before finally leaving through the back door.
On the other side, Li Ban had already returned to Cat Girl's side with his freshly minted Identity token in hand.
"My codename, 'Good Man'—was that your doing?" Li Ban couldn't wait to ask the moment he saw her.
Cat Girl's eyes went round and wide. She bobbed her head and said, "Yeah, it's just for temporary use. Sounds nice, right?"
Li Ban pursed his lips, his tense shoulders slowly relaxing.
"Thank you."