"The name is Ren Cai in this life." Ren Cai said with a hint of annoyance. "I don't think I need to tell you the hardship of coming up with a name for yourself when the past follows you."
"Then, Ren Cai," Hong Zhao's friendly demeanor turned businesslike. If anyone else were around, they would see a ten year old with a maturity level of an adult. He silently thanked his idea to send the others within a one mile distance of each other. "What exactly are you doing here?"
"Zheng Guo. Have you heard of him?" Ren Cai summoned a qi needle and twirled it in her hand like a coin. She kept her eyes on him the whole time she spoke.
"You mean the City Lord of Yuan City?" Hong Zhao raised an eyebrow. "What about him?"
"You always were one to have all the facts. Well, he wants the leader of this ragtag bunch to die, and he's hired me to carry out the deed." She threw the needle, planting it in the tree behind Hong Zhao. To his credit, he didn't even blink as the needle went past. A small trickle of blood appeared from a cut on his cheek, but the smile never left his face.
"How much is he paying you?"
"Three hundred gold upon completion."
Hong Zhao summoned a gold ring from his storage ring and threw it at her. "There are three hundred high quality qi stones within that ring. If I'm right, that's ten times the amount the City Lord is offering."
Ren Cai inserted her consciousness into the ring and returned a second later with a surprised expression on her face. "You don't play around, do you?"
"Of course, there will be plenty more than that if you stick around." Hong Zhao's eyes narrowed with a smile on his lips. He was always good at speaking her language, which was why her success rate was only ninety nine percent. All he had to do was throw a better price at her and she was his best friend, if that's what he wanted. Most of the time, when someone were to hire her services to end him, he'd just raise the asking price way out of her employer's range and send her back to them with a needle behind her back, or more likely in their throats. It wasn't the healthiest relationship, but money talked. It was the assassin's way.
"What are you up to now?" Ren Cai put the ring on her finger and examined the fit.
"I'm going to get rid of slavery in this world." He said simply.
"This world is run on slavery. Are you stupid?"
"Come on, Ren Cai, you know me better than that." He almost laughed. He knew she did know him better than that. After the past five years, he knew he wasn't the only one who had found a new life within this world. If she were here, who else could show up? His thoughts went to Michael Jennings. If he were to find the bastard who had killed him in his world, what would he do?
"I suppose I do." She considered. "I don't suppose you have a plan, do you?"
"For now, we just get stronger." He said with hesitation. Even though he paid her, he didn't know if he could take her at her word that she would join him. He had only just paid Michael when he had pulled the trigger, ending his life as Jason Slate. If he made the same mistake, he might not get another reincarnation and he wasn't ready to die. "If you want to know more, I'll need to know more about the City Lord." Now was the best time to get whatever information he could from her. If she knew the layout of the estate, the hiring process for the servants, what marks one as a slave, or any other useful information, he might have more of a plan than just getting stronger.
"I might have information for you." She smiled as she twirled a lock of brown hair around her finger. "It depends on what you have for me."
"Honestly," Hong Zhao took ten more qi stones from his ring and threw them to her. They disappeared into her storage ring before they touched her. "Will that be enough?"
"The estate is in the center of the city. Their are rotating guards on eight hour shift intervals. Appointment only for entrance."
"You would know a way in though, wouldn't you." He didn't even have to question it. If Ren Cai were anything like him, she would want to know a quick escape route, or silent entrance.
"There are tunnels underneath the city. I know where the entrance is." She smiled. "There's been a new batch of slaves shipped to Zheng Guo from Azeas. They have a bronze band around their throats, marking them as servants to the City Lord." She took one out of her own storage ring and threw it at Hong Zhao. "This just so happens to be my own one."
Hong Zhao looked at the crude band. "He doesn't know the faces of the servants he purchases, does he?" His eyebrow raised as he peered up from the copper device.
"Zheng Guo only cares that the shipment arrives. He leaves the training of the servants to the senior servants."
Hong Zhao set that information aside for another time. "Is the owner of this band going to miss it?"
"I acquired it from a servant that didn't make the trip to Yuan City."
Hong Zhao nodded. "I don't suppose you ran into any other group of mine on the way over here, did you?" He had almost forgotten about Li Wuhan during their conversation.
"Master, I found them." Shadow reported from the voice transmission pearl. Hong Zhao raised a finger to Ren Cai before she could respond.
"Report."
"They went further into the forest than you recommended. They are alive, but they need assistance."
He looked up at Ren Cai who watched him intently. "Ready to earn your keep?" He smiled as he activated vortex thrust. He could sense her following in his tracks as he ran to the location Shadow gave him.