To Make a Man Disappear

Making his way through the ducts, Hong Zhao made slight pit stops along the way to hear the comings and goings of the servants. As he listened, he was able to tell where they had come from, as well as who they were in charge of serving.

"Young master Wei Ye has been rather quiet tonight, don't you think?" One servant said below Hong Zhao to her co worker.

"Usually around this time, he is trying to call one of us into his room for entertainment." The other said with a hint of disgust. "Let us hope he has drunk too much wine tonight." She giggled slightly at the prospect of the young lord falling asleep on the floor or at his desk. "Anything will do to keep his filthy hands off of me for one night."

"Be careful not to say things too loud." The other warned. "We don't want Master Wei Rong to hear us talking of his favorite son. You know how defensive he gets with him."

The servant nodded her understanding before jumping. "Speaking of our master, I must get him his tea before it gets cold!" She gave a quick nod to her friend before walking briskly with a saucer and tea within her hand.

As the woman made to depart, Hong Zhao followed her in the ventilation, taking extra effort not to give off any noise while matching her pace. Since he was wearing the qi blocking uniform, any of the guards they passed didn't give the shaft even a thought. If he did make a small noise, they would blame it on rats or other rodents that could have gotten in from outside.

The woman stopped at a large set of double doors. Sliding one open with her spare hand, she closed it tight behind her. Hong Zhao climbed past the entry to the room from above and saw the servant bow deeply to a man sitting at his desk. This man seemed to be only middle aged if Hong Zhao were to guess. His black hair was up in a tail and he had a neatly trimmed beard. If one looked closely enough, that beard would be peppered with the white hairs accompanied by one who was at least in his mid forties.

The man waved the woman off as she set down his tea. After the saucer hit the desk, she took of instantly and ran to get to her next task. Hong Zhao watched as the door opened for but an instant before it shut once more behind the fleeing woman. Smiling through his mask, he decided to wait and see what the man would do. If he were to just kill him within his office, the men on duty as guards would take it as a kidnapping at best, and at worst would be able to guess at the murder.

A few hours passed as Wei Rong examined paperwork in front of him. Hong Zhao saw minute changes the man made to certain documents, while others he looked at as he rubbed his temples. 'It seems this man works hard for his family.' Hong Zhao thought to himself. It was almost a shame to kill the man, but he wasn't here to think about other solutions. Instead, he had a job that needed to be done. If he failed at it, he would only be a wanted man within Yuan City. Though he didn't have much of a plan after taking care of this job, he would have to trust that the city lord would see the usefulness of keeping him around.

Hong Zhao watched as a candle neared the end of its life before Wei Rong finally got up from his chair and stretched his arms. "Damn these late nights." He muttered to himself as he slowly walked out of his office. Little did he know that he had a shadow following a pace back as he went down the hallway. Nodding to a guard along the way, Wei Rong finally made his way to his chambers. When he entered from above, Hong Zhao saw a cleanly room the size of three rooms that he had entered before. The bed was a large canopy bed off to the corner. There was a desk and a chair off to the side of this bed, and when Wei Rong entered, he walked past a large sitting area before making his way to the bed. There was a basin of water on the desk with a cloth for washing. Hong Zhao noted that this would be for washing after the man woke up.

All in all, the room was quite lavish. It was something like a master suite in a large condo from his previous life. Since he had made it to this world, the most lavish room he had spent time in was the Li family estate. That room had a bed and a desk, with a little extra room for seated meditation, but this room made that room feel like a closet.

Wei Rong went to his bed and prepared himself for bed. Hong Zhao could almost visibly see the stress the man had to deal with through the day and sympathized slightly. Soon, he wouldn't have to worry about such stress anymore.

When Wei Rong blew out his candle and pulled the blanket towards him, Hong Zhao watched as he drifted into sleep. He gave the man more than an hour to fall into a deep sleep before he activated his devouring light technique. Suddenly, all light around Hong Zhao became dimmed as his dark mist surrounded him. If anyone were watching the ventilation shaft, they might notice a hazy darkness that seemed to fall from the ceiling, yet all was calm around the large lavish room.

When he landed, not a noise was made. His skills from his previous life had kicked in, ensuring that when he landed, it was on the balls of his feet to minimize the sound of the impact. The moment his feet hit the floor, he moved as if materializing in front of Wei Rong's bed. Hong Zhao looked down at the man who was sleeping peacefully within that bed. "Know that this is nothing personal." He said quietly as he lifted the man's neck from the pillow and activated qi shot. Before Wei Rong's eyes could open in surprise, they went dim as his soul left its body.

When the deed was done, Hong Zhao took the man's storage ring and emptied the contents into his own. After, he stored the body within the storage ring as well as Wei Ye's. Hong Zhao looked at the small blood splatter on the floor from where he shot the man. With a wry smile, he took the cloth and basin of water and began to clean the mess.

When he was done, he took a small bucket from his own storage ring and poured the bloody water into it. He tossed the rag into the bucket as well before storing it back in his own ring. He would have to dispose of it later. He then took some water from his own ring and poured it into the basin, taking another rag to wash it out. When he was finished, he poured the contents yet again into his ring before refilling the basin one final time. He left a folded rag at the side of the basin, where the previous one was.

After he was finished, he looked over the room one final time to ensure nothing was out of place. He made the bed and gave it the illusion of not being slept in that night. When a servant walked in the next morning, they would see a bed that had not been disturbed, the same as his son's room. They might assume that he took his son on a family outing, or out for training. It could be weeks before anyone raised a fuss.

When Hong Zhao was certain that all was as it should be, he went to the window and opened it. Climbing out, he took one last look before dropping back into the night.