AZI Volume 1 Chapter 4

"You all done hiding? I even went through the effort of picking out an alley that most people wouldn't think to come through."

Standing within an alley that is made up of two windowless buildings, Long Hua calls out to his pursuers.

One by one, a total of four individuals came down from above, and landed a few meters away from him.

Each of these individuals is dressed in a white set of robes that covers them from head to toe.

(Honeycomb patterned?)

Squinting his eyes, Long Hua is barely able to make out the honeycomb patterns that decorate the assassins' robes.

"Where's the fifth person?"

Despite how casual Zhou'er may have sounded on the phone, she is someone who takes this part of her job seriously, so she couldn't have miscounted.

"1029-874, correct?"

Turning his head to the side, Long Hua sees the fifth person dressed in the same attire. As they have used a voice changer, it's difficult to distinguish their gender.

"I've always wondered. Don't you people in charge of us—Sinners, find it to be quite a mouthful to call us by numbers?"

Although this is done to dehumanize Sinners further, Long Hua can't help but think it to be quite a hassle for both those in charge of the Sinners and the Sinners themselves.

"Either you exchange your ballot for this one, or we erase you from the records."

Ignoring Long Hua's question, the person behind him takes out a ballot that is labeled with F.

"What difference does it make? Aren't both of them a death sentence?"

*Klang.* as the metal ballot drops onto the ground, and rolls a few inches forward, the five figures in white vanish from sight.

(So those robes have a camouflaging function?)

Straining his ears, Long Hua tries to see if he can pick up on the sound of the fives' footsteps. However, their shoes seem to be just as specialized in canceling out the noise they make when moving.

Maintaining a defenseless stance, Long Hua waits for the enemy side to make the first move, which doesn't take very long, as two figures emerge from behind him with daggers in hand.

"Did you know?"

As two ribbon like objects abruptly burst out of Long Hua's back, the two unaware assailants are impaled by them in the next instance.

As these objects had impaled the two assassins through their heads, they had died instantly without any awareness of what had happened.

"Snakes are apparently able to see heat."

As the two assassins' daggers slip from their lifeless hands, the weapons are dropped onto the ground, which is then followed by the dripping sound of fresh blood.

"Attack him together!"

Recovering their wits quickly, the remaining three assassins didn't bother to hide behind their veil of invisibility any further as they attacked from the front.

Towards the three who are coming in for a frontal assault, the ribbon like objects that are connected to Long Hua's back flick forward, and hurl the two corpses at them.

Two of the assassins are pushed back by the hurled corpses, while one of them manages to charge through, and close the distance with a blade lunged outwards.

"…!?"

"…"

Effortlessly, the blade is caught by Long Hua using his right hand as he pinches it between his fingers and thumb.

"What are you? …!?"

As the two ribbons close in on him, the assassin sees them for what they are for the first time.

These things aren't ribbons at all.

Eyes of deep azure, pale white scales, and venomous fangs, these two things are living, breathing serpents.

"What? Is it so surprising to see a Sinner—whose Relic is a part of their flesh?"

"A-"

Without giving the assassin the time to react, the twin serpents flattened their bodies into blades, while sweeping themselves towards the assassin's neck.

As the twin serpents overlap their bodies in a way that is reminiscent of a scissor, the assassin's head flies with blood overflows from the wound.

"Ah…"

"…"

Looking at the remaining two assassins, who continue to breathe, but have lost their will to fight Long Hua licks his lips.

"I was taught to never let my enemies live without good reason."

Similarly to whips, the twin serpents continue to lash outwards and within the blink of an eye, they decapitate the two enemies that had planned to flee.

"…"

Retracting the twin serpents back into his body, Long Hua tears off a honeycomb patterned piece of fabric along with a part of the shoe worn by these individuals.

"…"

Looking at these two items in detail, Long Hua mutters—

"Seems usable. Tài Xuán."