Identity

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The alley was dim.

The only truly bright spot came from the skull-shaped oil lamp beside the entrance of Tatamu's Nightfall bar.

Half of the woman's body remained hidden in shadow, but both her posture and her tone carried commanding authority.

Under that pressure, Wolf Rat's lips moved, but no words came out. Her gaze even made him lower his head slightly.

"He was only a pirate. With your standing here, killing him would have caused no trouble."

The woman looked in the direction Corvin had fled. Her meaning was obvious.

He had shot Wolf Rat, and Wolf Rat had still lowered his face and apologized. After Corvin judged the situation was bad and ran, Wolf Rat had not even dared to chase him.

Wolf Rat subconsciously glanced at Tatamu.

He had explained the reason to Tatamu about ten seconds earlier.

Now, facing this woman who was, strictly speaking, his superior, he had to explain it another way.

"That guy just now is from the weapons shop."

"What?"

The woman was startled. She kicked off with Soru, one of the Rokushiki techniques, and vanished down the street in a burst of speed.

A heartbeat later, she skidded to a stop dozens of meters away.

But she did not use Soru a second time. She only stood there in silence, facing the road ahead.

Wolf Rat watched her from behind. For once, she looked shaken.

He wanted to ask why she had stopped, but he valued his life too much.

After standing there silently for a few seconds, the woman turned and walked back toward Wolf Rat.

When she reached him, she tilted her head and glanced at Tatamu by the bar entrance.

Since her appearance, this was the first time she had looked at him.

Even though Tatamu had already shown an intent to attack, she had ignored him completely.

In a way, it matched her aura. She had extraordinary confidence in her own strength.

"Don't kill him," Wolf Rat said in a low voice. "This has nothing to do with him, and I can guarantee he won't cause trouble."

The woman said nothing, but her thumb pushed the sword guard slightly open.

Wolf Rat's face went cold. He stepped directly in front of Tatamu and looked at her.

"Trust me."

"I trust you. I don't trust him."

Her thumb continued pushing the sword free.

"Then I'll walk away from the job."

The woman said nothing.

Seeing Wolf Rat's attitude, the woman felt puzzled but could only release the sword guard, compromising for the first time.

Wolf Rat's work carried great weight for them.

If he walked away, they might not find a suitable replacement for a very long time.

Seeing her give in, Wolf Rat let out a breath and looked back at Tatamu. "Go inside first."

Tatamu frowned and refused to move.

Wolf Rat's eyes gradually turned serious.

Seeing that, Tatamu gave the woman, who brought him tremendous pressure, a subtle glance. Then he silently turned and walked into the bar.

The door closed.

Only then did Wolf Rat look back at the woman.

"A few days ago, I accepted a commission from some pirates. The job was to find the person who killed their crewmates. Unfortunately... the killer came from the weapons shop."

"Were you exposed?"

The woman's expression changed as she thought of something.

Wolf Rat shook his head. "These past few days, I was never sure whether that old man had noticed me. But after what happened just now, I lean toward thinking he didn't."

"Or maybe he simply never considered me worth noticing. Otherwise, I might have already become a corpse in a gutter."

"Even if he came to me, he couldn't have seen through my true identity. So you don't need to worry about that. At most, you would need to find a replacement."

The woman's gaze softened slightly, and she nodded.

Wolf Rat continued, "For years, I haven't dared get too close to that weapons shop. I haven't dared observe the old man directly either. My instincts tell me that even one deliberate look at him could put me within a step of death."

"Caution is good."

The woman lowered her eyelids. Her wine-red eyes cooled.

"That's Phantom Gun. His perception and instincts are first-rate."

"If you know that, you shouldn't have come to find me in person."

"Tonight will be fine."

The woman spoke as if pointing at something specific.

Wolf Rat sighed softly, understanding what she was relying on.

Nothing more than the cover provided by the auction's chaos.

He glanced toward the auction house and asked, "How many of you came?"

The woman raised three fingers.

"Three... fine. That shouldn't affect me too much."

Wolf Rat turned back toward the direction Corvin had fled and returned to the main subject.

"That guy just now is the killer the pirates are looking for. Running into him may be the only opening I'll get."

The woman suddenly thought of Wolf Rat's groveling from earlier and understood.

"You want to use him?"

"Yes."

"But he's only a newcomer. He isn't the first, and he won't be the last."

"This time is different. For his sake, that old man... made a move."

"Hm?"

The woman's eyes changed.

Making a move meant increasing the risk of exposure.

Even so, Phantom Gun had acted.

That indirectly proved how much he valued the person from earlier.

Perhaps this was...

Thinking of that, light entered the woman's eyes, making her attractive face brighten as well.

Wolf Rat lost focus for a moment.

Wolf Rat caught himself staring and quickly looked away.

Whatever else she was, she was dangerous.

"Rat, I don't care what plan you have. If you succeed, I can guarantee that the effort you've spent these past few years will not go to waste."

"There is one thing I never understood," Wolf Rat said. "Since you people have gone to so much trouble to deal with that old man, there must be a motive worth all this effort. So why not send enough people from headquarters and strike him directly? Why go in circles?"

"You think we don't want to? Whether it's..."

Two older faces surfaced in the woman's mind, and she stopped herself in time.

Wolf Rat became even more confused. "Then why?"

"Because..." The woman gritted her teeth. "He runs fast."

Wolf Rat was speechless.

The woman took a deep breath.

"In short, luring a bird into a cage is never easy."

Corvin ran quickly.

He crossed several streets before finally stopping.

"Is that guy sick or something?"

He shook his head slightly, took out three guns, and loaded them one by one.

Until he gained Yasopp's almost miraculous reloading speed, every reload made him silently complain about how inconvenient flintlocks were.

"The returns were decent. Before midnight, maybe I can still find a few suitable targets. At this hour, the auction shouldn't be over yet, right?"

After loading the ammunition, Corvin looked toward the auction house.

The instant he looked over, several explosions rang out from that direction in succession.

Corvin froze.

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