Intelligent Moves- 449

After a few minutes, Zhu Yi had made many possible plans, but it all hinged on what the homeless cultivator wanted to gain by acting homeless.

Zhu Yi could not think of anything that wasn't evil, and had no issue with killing the man. Zhu Yi observed the man for a few more hours before finally noticing something.

The target, who had been curled up on the ground and dirty, slowly moved towards another homeless man who was sleeping. It was gradual and slow. So slow that Zhu Yi only noticed it after he was halfway there.

When the target reached the homeless man, he spoke. Zhu Yi could not hear the words, but the target spoke for a while before returning back to his previous position.

Zhu Yi waited for another hour before the homeless man that was spoken to got up and walked somewhere else.

Zhu Yi wanted to follow, but needed to keep his eyes on the target.

"What could it be?" He mumbled to himself.

On his shoulder, Zhou Fan spoke. "Perhaps they work with some sort of intelligence gathering organization."

Zhu Yi's eyes lit up. It made sense. Zhu Yi kept watching the man, but even as night fell, he did not move again.

Zhu Yi eventually returned to his inn and slept. The next day, he returned to the alley, but the man was not there.

Zhu Yi was confused until Zhou Fan spoke. "How much information can be gathered in one location? Perhaps he moved somewhere else." 

Zhu Yi felt that it made sense. 

As Zhu Yi thought, he had an idea. "If the target is a member of an information organization, then perhaps the person who made the mission is from a rival organization. There's a chance that they're tracking him."

Zhu Yi returned to the assassination guild and checked the mission information. As he had guessed, the information on the target's whereabouts had changed.

"So is our guess basically confirmed?" Zhu Yi asked.

Zhou Fan shook his head. "Nothing is ever 100% confirmed, but there is a very high chance of it being the case."

"So, in order to lure him out, he needs to hear about information on the edge of the city. Then, perhaps, we can take him by surprise and knock him out of the city boundaries?"

Zhou Fan shook his head again. "I highly doubt that will work, but we can try. If it doesn't work, then we should probably give up on the mission."

Although giving up on a mission did give penalties, as long as one had a reasonable excuse, it would be very minor.

Not being able to get the target out of White Palace City was a great excuse.

Zhu Yi found his target and watched him for a while before coming up with a plan.

As a person walked past the alley, Zhu Yi walked up from behind and put his arm around the person's shoulder.

He whispered. "Bear with me for a second. I'll compensate you."

The person slightly nodded, surprisingly calm.

Zhu Yi spoke loudly. "What's up brother! Did you hear about that possible hidden group at the north-eastern edge of White Palace City. It's just a rumor, but I heard they had an underground base right near the city lines. Don't tell too many people about this. I heard that they had very valuable information hidden somewhere around them. In a few days, me and my pals are going to search and see what we can find."

When Zhu Yi finished talking, they had already walked through the alleyway and arrived at the other side.

Much to the random person's surprise, Zhu Yi slipped in a gold coin and patted him on the back. The person quietly thanked him and went on his way.

Zhu Yi circled around and spied on the target once again. Surprisingly, his plan worked. The target soon got up and walked to a person. After speaking for a bit, he began to walk away. 

He was heading to the north-eastern part of the city.

"Yes!"

"That actually worked." Zhou Fan was surprised.

Zhu Yi was very excited. He had not expected it to work either. "Of course it did! I am Zhu Yi. My plots span thousands of years! My record is unblemished!"

"Like when you had no plan to escape that lizard?" Zhou Fan asked.

Zhu Yi quieted down and began following the target from afar.

The target got on the express path and cleaned up his appearance slightly. This was Zhu Yi's first time seeing his target's true features.

He seemed like a slightly young middle aged man. He gave off a feeling of indifference. 

"He may have been raised from young to serve the organization." Zhou Fan said.

It was rare for a person to grow up and become indifferent without being raised that way.

"A meaningless life. Maybe killing him is a favor." Zhu Yi sighed.

He continued to follow the target as he arrived at the north-eastern most area in the city. He did not stop and soon arrived near the city lines. This was where the city officially stopped.

The target looked around for a while before moving closer to the city line. He seemed to be investigating the surrounding area.

After nearly an hour, he was only 20 feet away from the city line.

"He doesn't seem to plan to get any closer." Zhu Yi commented quietly.

Zhou Fan nodded and Zhu Yi charged. He moved quietly and quickly, but the target had been alert from the start.

He turned around, but by the time he saw Zhu Yi, Zhu Yi rammed his shoulder into the target.

With his superior strength as a 5th level Qi gathering realm cultivator, the man was barely pushed out of the city.

Zhu Yi did not stop moving and jumped in the air, unsheathing his sword. As the sword descended, the target blankly stared at Zhu Yi's figure.

Pierce.

Blood fell as Zhu Yi's sword pierced his target's forehead. He was dead, and only a few feet from city lines.

Zhu Yi pulled his sword out, and slashed, severing the head and quickly putting it in a bag.