Chapter One: The Disguise

“Ah!”
In the dim basement of the Xi Alliance, screams echoed one after another. Several men were bound to pillars, their wrists and ankles bloody, their fates miserable.

Leng Zheng stood silently, watching them as she casually pulled out a wet wipe.

“Not bad, Xiao Zheng! After all this time, you’re still so formidable,” Chu Yuxiu praised as he watched through the surveillance feed.

Leng Zheng wiped her fan absentmindedly. “It’s alright. Still, I’m not as strong as I used to be.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ah! The world of the truly powerful is beyond my understanding. By the way, your birth mother wants to bring you back to the Shi family. Are you going?” Chu Yuxiu glanced at the intelligence in his hands, sounding troubled.

Leng Zheng’s biological mother, Leng Shuxue, had divorced her father when Leng Zheng was only a year old. Neither parent wanted her, so she was left alone in the countryside to fend for herself.

When Leng Zheng was barely clinging to life, the master and mistress of the Qin family found her. They took her in, healed her, and adopted her as their goddaughter.

They raised her, and after their deaths, Leng Zheng inherited both the Qin and Su families, becoming the head of both clans.

Throughout all those years, there was never a trace of her birth mother, Leng Shumei, in her life. After remarrying into the Shi family, her mother never cared for her again, and her father remained absent as well.

It wasn’t until now—only because the current master of the Shi family remembered that Leng Shumei had an elder daughter and wanted to bring her back to the family for proper care—that Leng Shumei suddenly recalled she even had a daughter.

“Sure, I’ll go. Might as well watch the drama and enjoy some peace and quiet for a while,” Leng Zheng replied without a care after a brief pause.

Chu Yuxiu simply responded with an “oh” and fell silent. Although Leng Zheng acted indifferent, he knew that she still clung to the faintest hope for parental love—just a sliver, no more.

After all, when disappointment becomes the norm, expectations naturally fade.

...

K Alliance.

“Boss, Xi’s wiped out all our men again,” Cheng Yunting’s subordinate, Cheng Yi, reported to him. As he finished speaking, he felt as if a tremendous invisible weight pressed down on him, making it impossible to stand up straight.

“What happened? Didn’t I send our best people?” Cheng Yunting’s face was a mask of fury.

“Boss, no matter how skilled they are, they can’t beat Xi—the number one on the assassin ranking,” Cheng Er stammered, trembling. In his mind, he couldn’t help but complain: Does anyone really think it’s that easy to kill Xi, the top assassin?

Before Cheng Yunting could reply, his phone rang. Seeing it was his mother, he waved Cheng Yi and the others out before picking up.

“Hello, Mom. What is it? Something you need?” Cheng Yunting straightened his voice.

“Oh, it’s nothing much. I have a friend whose daughter will be heading to the capital soon. She’s the eldest daughter of the current mistress of the Shi family, and the adopted daughter of the Shi family’s master. When she arrives, look after her for me. Treat her well, don’t scare the girl…” Shao Suya instructed him.

Cheng Yunting agreed to everything she said, but he couldn’t help the feeling that his mother was trying to find herself a daughter-in-law.

“Alright, I know, Mom. I have to go, there’s work to do.”

“Fine, fine. I won’t keep you. Don’t forget what I said!”

“Mm, got it. Bye.”

“Bye.”

...

Xi Alliance, basement.

Leng Zheng had two chairs brought in. She sat on one, while Chu Yuxiu wandered down and took the other. He ordered the men to splash water on the captives to wake them, then dismissed his subordinates, leaving only the prisoners, Leng Zheng, and himself.

“Come, speak. Who sent you?” Xin’er asked, playing with her fan, her tone listless.

The captives exchanged glances and stubbornly shook their heads. “Why should we tell you?”

Leng Zheng glanced at them and burst into laughter. “Do you know why assassins everywhere are warned never to provoke me or my friends, or my alliance?”

They shook their heads helplessly, silent.

“Because… my alliance has countless ways to torment you, to make you wish you were dead—but you won’t die.” Leng Zheng stepped closer and whispered in their ears, “You know, sometimes… death is the greatest release.”

Having said this, she returned to her chair, twirling her fan, gazing at them with calm indifference. “Will you speak, or shall I speak for you? If I do, your ‘punishment’ won’t be so mild.”

Seeing the look in her eyes, panic flashed among the captives. Her gaze seemed to hold a power that compelled them to reveal the truth…

Leng Zheng, seeing their unyielding silence, smiled. “If you won’t talk, then I’ll speak for you. I suppose it was Assassin K who sent you? The same one who tried to have me killed all those years ago. Sending killers after me yet again—must be to finish the job. But unfortunately, I’m not that easy to deal with.”

The fan flashed down—not a blade, but just as deadly. With a casual flick, she killed one of the men. The others froze in terror. Chu Yuxiu, unfazed, thought to himself that if these men knew she’d once slaughtered her way up the assassin rankings with nothing but that fan and a deck of playing cards, they’d be even more shocked.

“Remember, in the world of assassins, I am the law,” Leng Zheng declared as she stood. At the door, she looked back at them. “Don’t forget it.”

Chu Yuxiu smiled and followed her out, instructing his men to clear away the chairs and feed the prisoners a slow-acting poison before releasing them, as a warning to Assassin K.

“Xiao Zheng, what are you packing for?” Chu Yuxiu asked when he saw her take out a suitcase.

“I’m going to the Shi family,” Leng Zheng replied as she packed, not bothering to glance at him.

“Look at that, I almost forgot…” Chu Yuxiu suddenly remembered, trying to make amends, but Leng Zheng cut him off. “Enough, I’m leaving.”

“Oh, alright. Bye,” Chu Yuxiu said, startled, the words slipping out before he knew it.

“Bye.” Leng Zheng nodded, then headed downstairs and drove off toward the city center of A City.

After she’d gone, a man emerged from another room, watching her departing figure with disappointment written all over his face.

Chu Yuxiu saw him and teased, “Brother Cheng, not working out for you? You like her but hide it away?”

The man—Qin Cheng, the eldest son of the Qin family—shook his head with a self-mocking smile, lowering his gaze. “She sees me as a brother. How could there ever be anything romantic between us?”

“Ah, even ten oxen couldn’t drag you back. Well, I’m off to bed. Goodnight,” Chu Yuxiu laughed, marveling inwardly: Xiao Zheng is truly remarkable, to have captured the heart of the Qin family’s eldest son.

But little did he know, in the not-so-distant future, their Xiao Zheng would win the heart of someone even more extraordinary. But that is a story for another time.