Chapter Thirty: Identity

The alley was shrouded in dim light. The only spot bright enough to see clearly was by the skull-shaped oil lamp hanging near the entrance of the Nightfall Bar.

A woman stood half-shrouded in shadow, yet her posture and the tone of her voice radiated an unmistakable authority that pressed down upon everyone present. Under the weight of her presence, Wolf Rat's lips quivered, but no words escaped him. He even found himself bowing his head slightly under her gaze.

"He's just a pirate. Given your current situation, even if you killed him, it wouldn't matter much."

Her eyes followed the direction where Maud had slipped away, and the implication in her words was clear. It was as if to say: You got shot, yet had to swallow your pride and apologize. Then, when the other party sensed danger and fled, you didn't even have the courage to give chase.

Wolf Rat glanced instinctively at Tatam. He had explained everything to Tatam about ten seconds ago. But now, facing this woman—who in a strict sense was his superior—he had to find another way to justify himself.

"That guy just now, he works at the weapons shop."

"What?" The woman started, her figure blurring as she instinctively used Shave, one of the Six Powers, dashing off in pursuit of Maud.

In a heartbeat, she appeared several dozen meters away, but did not use Shave again. Instead, she stood in silence, gazing ahead.

Wolf Rat watched her uncharacteristically flustered back and silently thought, Why don't you chase him? What's stopping you? But he still valued his life, so such thoughts remained unspoken.

After a few seconds of silence, the woman turned back toward Wolf Rat. She came to stand before him, her head tilting slightly to glance at Tatam, who lingered at the bar’s entrance. It was the first time since her arrival that she actually looked at Tatam, even though he had shown hostile intentions earlier; she had simply ignored him, her confidence in her own strength unwavering.

"Don't kill him."

Wolf Rat replied in a low voice, "He has nothing to do with this, and I can guarantee he won't get in the way."

The woman said nothing, but her thumb nudged the hilt of her sword.

Seeing this, Wolf Rat's expression grew cold. He stepped between Tatam and the woman, looking her straight in the eye. "Trust me."

"I trust you, but not him."

Her thumb pressed further against the hilt.

"Then I suppose I have no choice but to walk away from all this."

Her silence lingered. Seeing Wolf Rat’s resolve, she hesitated, then finally released the hilt of her blade. For the first time, she conceded.

Wolf Rat's work was simply too important to them. If he quit, it would probably be a long time before they found another suitable candidate.

Seeing her compromise, Wolf Rat breathed a sigh of relief, turning to Tatam. "Go on inside."

Tatam frowned but didn’t move. Wolf Rat’s gaze grew more stern. Tatam, catching the look, glanced warily at the woman whose presence weighed so heavily upon him, then turned and walked into the bar.

The door closed behind him. Only then did Wolf Rat turn back to the woman.

"A few days ago, I took a job from some pirates. They wanted me to find the one who killed their comrade. Unfortunately, the killer turned out to be from the weapons shop."

"You've been exposed?" The woman’s face paled as realization dawned.

Wolf Rat shook his head. "These past days, I haven’t been sure if that old man has noticed me. But just now, I’m more inclined to think he hasn’t. Or perhaps he simply doesn’t regard me as worth noticing—otherwise, I’d probably already be a corpse in a gutter somewhere."

"But even if he did find me, there’s no way he could uncover my true identity. So you don’t need to worry about that. At worst, you’ll just have to find another replacement."

Hearing this, the woman’s gaze softened, and she nodded.

Wolf Rat continued, "All these years, I’ve never dared get too close to that weapons shop, never dared observe the old man directly. My gut tells me that even a single deliberate glance at him could lead me perilously close to death."

"Caution is a good thing," the woman murmured, her wine-red eyes cold as frost. "After all, he’s the Phantom Gun—his perception and intuition are top-tier. Given that, you shouldn’t have come to find me so openly."

"Nothing will happen tonight," she said, her meaning clear.

Wolf Rat sighed softly, understanding the source of her confidence: the chaos of tonight’s grand event. He glanced in the direction of the auction house. "How many of you came?"

The woman held up three fingers.

"Three, huh... Well, it shouldn’t affect me."

He turned back toward the direction Maud had fled. "That guy just now is the very killer the pirates are after. Running into him here was a stroke of fate—it’s given me my only point of entry."

The woman, remembering Wolf Rat’s earlier groveling, suddenly understood. "You want to use him?"

"Yes."

"But he’s just a rookie. He’s not the first, and won’t be the last."

"This time is different. The old man intervened for his sake."

Her eyes narrowed. Intervention meant an increased risk of exposure.

Even so, the Phantom Gun had made a move. That spoke volumes about how much he valued that person. Perhaps this was...

A spark lit the woman’s eyes, brightening her striking features. Wolf Rat was momentarily dazed; her usual strength of character often made him forget how attractive she truly was. He shook his head abruptly, banishing any dangerous thoughts. Some women’s beauty was best admired from a distance.

"Rat, I don’t care what your plan is. If you succeed, I promise your years of effort will not be wasted!"

"There’s something I’ve never understood," Wolf Rat said. "If you all are so determined to get rid of that old man, you must have a motive worth such trouble. Why not just mobilize enough force from headquarters and hunt him down directly? Why all the roundabout schemes?"

"You think we don’t want to?" The woman’s mind conjured images of two elders, and she cut herself off.

Wolf Rat grew even more puzzled. "So why not?"

"Because..." she ground out, "he runs too fast."

Wolf Rat was at a loss for words.

The woman drew a deep breath. "In the end, making the bird walk willingly into the cage is never easy."

...

Maud ran quickly, not stopping until he’d put several streets between himself and the bar.

"Is that woman insane?" he muttered, shaking his head. He pulled out three pistols and loaded them one by one. Until he possessed the legendary speed of Jesus-B, reloading these flintlocks would continue to be a constant annoyance.

"Not a bad haul. Maybe I can find a few more good targets before midnight. The auction probably isn’t over yet, right?"

Finished loading, Maud glanced toward the auction house. The moment he did, a series of explosions rang out from that direction.

Maud froze in surprise.