When he left the Black Market, Li Ban was in no mood to browse the stalls. He hurried straight back to the inn.
Cat Girl quickly changed back into her original clothes.
She didn't ask for Li Ban's clothes back, but instead held out her hand. "Thanks for your patronage. One tael of silver."
Li Ban fished out a tael of silver and placed it on the table. Even then, he couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you just rob people?"
He only made two taels of silver a month.
A single outfit cost him half a month's wages.
"I am robbing you." Cat Girl's hand snatched up the silver like a blur, as if afraid he would change his mind.
Her mission was complete; she could have left.
Instead, Cat Girl sat down next to Li Ban and tilted her head. "Feeling defeated?"
His thoughts were turbulent, but he didn't feel defeated.
During that first martial arts assessment in the bamboo forest, Li Ban had recognized he wasn't yet an expert.
But that was also the result of Huo Jiang and Lu Qinghe deliberately holding back.
Furthermore, Li Ban had realized it was an illusion the moment he cut through the first bamboo leaf.
The Flute Sound element, which had seemed useless until now, had finally proved its worth.
When his blade touched the bamboo leaf, the leaf had instantly become insubstantial and unreal in his eyes.
The subsequent bamboo leaves took on an even more illusory hue, letting him know at a glance that they were fake.
It seemed Flute Sound's ability could distinguish between illusion and reality—in other words, it warded off Mental Interference.
Li Ban still wasn't sure if this mental ability could be used to interfere with others.
He had tried actively releasing it before, but hadn't achieved the desired effect.
It was likely still a passive ability.
Martial prowess aside, the most troublesome issue for Li Ban right now was his upcoming missions as an assassin.
Cat Girl saw that his expression wasn't too grim and knew he was indeed adjusting.
She stood up and grabbed her clothes. "Killing for self-defense and killing for money are the same. After the first time, you get used to it."
As Cat Girl turned to leave, Li Ban suddenly called out to her in a low voice.
"Cat, how much does it cost to hire you for a kill?"
Cat Girl raised an eyebrow and sat back down. "Me? I'm very expensive."
"Who do you want dead? Anyone above the 3rd Tier has one price. Below the 3rd Tier, you can handle them yourself."
"I need him to die quietly. It can't be traced back to me."
Cat Girl looked interested. "Oh? Who?"
Li Ban said nothing.
Cat Girl leaned in closer. "Did he offend you? Or—"
"He found out your secret?"
Her eyes sparkled.
"How much?" Li Ban asked, ignoring the question.
"I don't want money. But you'll owe me a favor."
"Deal," Li Ban agreed without hesitation.
In truth, given Cat Girl's status as a Fifth-Tier Gold Token Assassin, he normally wouldn't be able to afford her standard rate.
But the target Li Ban wanted Cat Girl to kill was just a minor figure.
Shen Kong, the handyman who had once reported him and Ze.
When Shen Kong first arrived at the Death Prison, Li Ban had caused trouble for him a few times.
Once the other handymen realized Li Ban's intentions, they had joined in ostracizing him.
Shen Kong had always been meek and subservient, as if he knew he was sent there purely for Li Ban to vent his anger on. No matter how he was bullied, he never fought back, let alone complained to the other prison guards or prison officials.
Gradually, Li Ban stopped paying attention to Shen Kong's situation. It was as if the offense Kong had committed against him in the past was simply forgotten.
And Shen Kong's days slowly became easier.
Just when everyone thought the matter was over, Li Ban felt it was finally time to kill him. Originally, he had intended to do it himself.
But after joining the Assassin Hall, his free time would be severely limited.
Rather than going out of his way to find time for a murder, it was better to commission Cat Girl.
This was something Li Ban had realized after visiting the real Black Market today.
What better way to clear oneself of suspicion than to hire a killer?
Since Cat Girl hadn't told anyone about her suspicion that he was a Wizard, she wouldn't tell anyone about a trivial matter like killing Kong, either.
After obtaining his assassin identity and returning, Huo Jiang took Li Ban directly to see Zhai Liu on the fourth floor of the Death Prison.
Zhai Liu glanced at the wooden token in his hand and tossed it to Li Ban without interest.
"You need to advance to a Copper Badge as soon as possible."
"A Copper Badge?" Li Ban's heart sank. The situation was worse than he'd thought.
In the Assassin Hall, he had learned from a guide codenamed "Pen" that the assassin ranks were divided into Wood, Iron, Copper, Silver, and Gold.
The competition for promotion here was extremely fierce.
Furthermore, unlike other factions, even if there was a vacancy for a higher-tier identity in the Assassin Hall, one still had to pass a competition or an assessment to fill it.
Assassins lacking sufficient capability had no right to advance.
And as an organization that dealt in human lives, the mortality rate of their promotion trials was incredibly high.
For Li Ban to advance from a wooden token to a Copper Badge, he would need to be promoted twice.
"Lord Zhai, you're well aware of my capabilities. Expecting me to advance to a Copper Badge in a short amount of time—" Li Ban smiled bitterly, his face full of helplessness. "I couldn't do it even if you killed me."
Zhai Liu wiped his damp chin. "Relax, you still have time. Besides, I will make sure you succeed. Your current abilities are indeed quite poor, so you'll need a bit of external force for a forced enhancement."
"A forced enhancement?" Before Li Ban could ask what Zhai Liu meant, his entire body suddenly grew as heavy as if a massive mountain had been dropped on his back.
With a sharp crack, his spine bowed downward.
Li Ban immediately shifted the Iron Fish Scale to his back, but nothing was actually attacking him.
A moment later, his knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground. The arms he tried using to prop himself up couldn't withstand the pressure, either.
Finally, Li Ban curled up on the floor, unable to even lift his head to see what was happening.
"What—are you—doing?"
With his lips pressed against the floor, Li Ban barely managed to pry his mouth open a fraction to force out the muffled question.
Huo Jiang, who had been standing on the sidelines enjoying the show, gaped in surprise before hurriedly snapping his mouth shut.
As a confidant who had pledged loyalty to Zhai Liu long ago, he naturally knew what Lord Zhai was doing.
In fact, he had experienced the exact same thing.
But he hadn't expected that Li Ban, who had only just been promoted to a prison guard, would actually perform better than he had back then. At the time, Huo Jiang had been crushed so badly by the invisible weight that he couldn't even open his mouth.
"Not bad." Zhai Liu was clearly thinking the exact same thing.
Only, where Huo Jiang felt surprise, Zhai Liu felt appreciation.
"You are indeed stronger than Gu Yueqi. It's a good thing he died when he did."
Zhai Liu looked at Li Ban and gave a light blink.
"Ugh!"
Li Ban instantly felt his teeth bite through his lip. Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.
At the same time, the rusty tang of iron rose in his throat.
It felt as if his internal organs were rupturing beneath the crushing gravity.
The pain arrived belatedly.
Yet, beneath the immense weight, even the pain felt suppressed and muffled.
Li Ban could no longer even maintain his curled-up posture. He lay flat against the floor, feeling as though the invisible gravity was going to crush him straight into the bluestone floorboards beneath him, flattening him into a bloody pulp!
Li Ban's consciousness blurred. He thought he was going to be crushed to death.
The world before his eyes gradually distorted.
Black mist appeared at the edges of his vision and rushed rapidly toward the center like a prairie fire.
Just before darkness completely engulfed his sight, Li Ban suddenly saw something on the fourth floor of the Death Prison, directly in his line of sight.
There was a dark silhouette curled up, hugging its knees.
"Zhai Liu."
The next second, a cold, clear voice suddenly rang out across the fourth floor.
At the same time, Li Ban felt all the gravity bearing down on him vanish.
However, he had already been crushed numb and possessed absolutely no strength to get up.
"Lord Du."
Li Ban heard Huo Jiang's somewhat panicked voice.
Du An was here?
Why would he come here?
Could it be... he was here to save him?