Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

At these words, Liu Jihao, hiding off to the side, was given a fright. He had not imagined the Ouyang family's power was so great—that Ouyang Kanqi was actually the head of an assassin organization.

"Hahahaha!" This drew a burst of contemptuous laughter from Yang Puqi. A world-famous assassin organization? Yang Ce was about to laugh his teeth out. This Ouyang Kanqi really had no shame—he did not even blush when he said it.

If he had said this to anyone else, he might well have frightened them. But trying to fool Yang Ce was fooling the ancestor himself. Who was Yang Ce? The disciple of the King of Assassins, ranked number one in the assassin world.

The future King of Assassins—how could he not be familiar with the ways of the assassin world? This Eagle Eye Group, far from being world-famous, might not even rank within Russia, the country where it was based. The old fellow really did have a nerve.

"What are you laughing at?" Ouyang Kanqi had no idea what Yang Juehuan was thinking, and Yang Cenbin's sudden laugh left him baffled.

"Nothing." Yang Ce waved his hand, too lazy even to mock him. There was truly no end to the shamelessness in this world.

Ouyang Kanqi had wanted to see Yang Ce's panicked, terrified face before he died. But now, seeing that this Yang Ce was truly arrogant beyond belief, he lost interest at once. He was furious, and now he only wanted to finish him off quickly to vent his hatred.

"Yanchi Xia 001!" Ouyang Kanqi shouted. "The rest is up to you."

Another figure flashed out from the room. The man had an extremely sinister look about him, giving off a very bad feeling.

Yang Ce was rather depressed. Why did people keep coming out of this tiny room one after another? Curious, he looked up and used his supernatural ability to probe—thankfully, this "Xia 001" was the last one.

"Kid, I hear you've got some martial arts on you. You think you're pretty badass, huh?" Yanchi Xia 001 looked at Yang Ce with some disdain. In his view, sending him to kill such a nameless nobody was a waste of talent.

"I do know a little martial arts. But I should be more badass than you," Yang Ce replied.

"Hmph." Delay Man 001 gave a cold sneer. "All talk and no substance. Tell you what—you make the first move, and I'll see just how tough you really are."

"I'd really rather not," Yang Ce said, looking at Delay Man 001 with an expression of deep reluctance.

"And why not?" Delay Man 001 asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Because the moment I lift a finger, there won't be anything left for you to do," Yang Ce said carelessly. "So you'd better go first. Otherwise it'll be over too fast to be any fun."

The only reason Yang Ce was bantering with him at all was that he had known beforehand what the Hawkeye Group was capable of and felt sure of himself. Otherwise, even if he had not wanted to strike first, Yang Ce would have beaten him to the punch.

The man's words were downright suffocating. What did he mean, the moment he lifted a finger there would be nothing left for anyone else? Was that not plainly looking down on him?

"Fine. You brought this on yourself, so don't blame me for killing you with a single strike!" Delay Man 001 ground his teeth and pointed at Yang Ce.

"Enough. If you're going to make a move, then get on with it. Cut the useless drivel—when the time comes, who kills whom with a single strike is still up in the air." Yang Ce waved his hand mockingly. "Why are you just like your master? So much blather. Every one of you can pose better than the next."

"Stop wasting words on him. Kill him!" At this point Ouyang Kanqi spoke up. He had to admit that Yang Ce was indeed eloquent—but what good was eloquence?

To be continued

852. A Single Strike to Kill

852 A Single Strike to Kill Eloquence could not bring the dead back to life; in the end he would still be killed by his own hand. In Ouyang Kanqi's eyes, Yang Ce was merely running his mouth, tossing out words to needle him.

"Boy, you asked for this. I gave you the first move, but you gave it up yourself. When you see the King of Hell, don't say I never gave you a chance," Delay Man 001 said to Yang Ce, following Ouyang Kanqi's command.

"Oh, I gave you the first move, so when you see the King of Hell, you can tell him you were the one who failed to seize the opportunity," Yang Ce said with a careless shrug.

Delay Man 001 sneered. He admitted that Yang Ce had a sharp tongue and that he could not outtalk him. But that did not matter. Since Yang Ce wanted to die early, he would oblige him.

Delay Man 001 paid Yang Ce no more mind. His figure blurred, and he struck. Delay Man 001 wielded a razor-sharp dagger hidden at his waist. His right hand darted out, and the blade was firmly in his grip, glinting with a cold light.

Yang Ce might have been joking, but once Delay Man 001 made his move, he dared not be the least bit negligent. However poor this Hawkeye assassin group might be, there were always one or two pillars holding it up, and if Ouyang Kanqi had brought Delay Man 001 along, the man surely had something extraordinary about him.

Yang Ce fixed his eyes on Delay Man 001's movements. When the man lunged at him, Yang Ce was about to dodge backward—the blade was simply too sharp, and meeting it head-on would surely mean injury. To his astonishment, Delay Man 001 stopped dead, right there before him, the knife half a meter away, suspended in midair.

Yang Ce was astonished. Had the man just had some kind of epileptic fit? Or was his hand not working?

How could he know Delay Man 001's usual habit when killing? Before finishing off a target, he always allowed a one-second delay, the better to savor the terror and panic on the victim's face in his final moment.

An ordinary person could not react at all in such a situation—a mere second, gone in a flash. But Yang Ce was different. One second was more than enough for him; he could do a great many things in it.

Though Yang Ce did not understand what had come over Delay Man 001, he would not let such a perfect opportunity slip. Yang Ce shot out his hand, snatched the dagger from Delay Man 001's grip, and, beneath the man's stunned expression, drove the blade straight into his heart.

"How is that possible?" Those were Delay Man 001's last words before death. He could not fathom how Yang Ce had reacted so quickly; with only a one-second pause, the man had actually managed to wrest the dagger away.

Little did he know that Yang Ce was already highly skilled to begin with, and had undergone long, rigorous training. Even without that one-second pause, Yang Ce could not have been stabbed by him; but that pause only gave Yang Ce the chance to seize the blade.

The instant the dagger was pulled free, Delay Man 001's blood gushed out like a fountain, spraying everywhere.

"I say, Old Man Ouyang, next time you bring someone out to kill me, could you find one without defects?" Yang Ce's tone was utterly casual, nothing like a man who had just killed someone. "Does this fellow have epilepsy? His movements come in fits and starts."

Ouyang Kanqi stared in disbelief at Yang Ce and at Delay Man 001 lying on the ground. He had never imagined that Delay Man 001's somewhat twisted habit would become the cause of his death.

Although Ouyang Kanqi had always thought Delay Man 001's flaw was not ideal—it easily gave opponents a chance to catch their breath or flee—he had never once believed an enemy could counterattack in the space of a second. This was not a movie. How could it be possible?

One could only say his thinking was that of a frog at the bottom of a well, convinced his assassin group was formidable, never dreaming there were those even more formidable.