The girl's eyes were filled with shock. She seemed to take a step back instinctively, and the pebbles under her feet rolled down the narrow path as if they had disappeared into the abyss without making a sound.
Mo Qingchen noticed her movements and curled his lips in a mocking smile. "Chuanliu, you've schemed everything, but you didn't expect me to make a move at this time, did you?"
A hint of confusion flickered across Chuanliu's face. She sighed softly and slowly said, "You could get 300,000 by cooperating with me, but if you killed me, you'd have to split the money with the 'Dark Gate,' ending up with 240,000. Why did you still choose to kill me in the end?"
Mo Qingchen drew a short knife from her waist and pointed it directly at Chuan Liu. "Cooperate with you? Can I keep making this much money? Let me tell you, after this job, I'll be promoted to a top-tier assassin. I should thank you for not only getting me promoted but also taking care of Song Luo and Mandala."
He approached Chuanliu step by step, tightening the rope in his hand. He slowed down, cautiously observing the movements of Zhuiming behind Chuanliu. "I know I can't beat Aqiang, so I deliberately chose this place to make my move. He can only save you if he can fly."
"Mo Qingchen, you..." Zhuiming tried to shorten the distance between himself and Chuanliu while maintaining his balance, glaring angrily at Mo Qingchen, whose expression had suddenly changed.
Chuanliu raised her hand to stop him, signaling Zhuiming not to go forward. She tilted her head and said, "The road is so narrow, aren't you afraid I'll fight back?"
Mo Qingchen's lips curled into a contemptuous sneer, his voice filled with disdain: "You were seriously injured and climbed this mountain for so long, what threat do you think you could pose to me?"
As he spoke, he raised the knife in his hand without hesitation and stabbed at Chuanliu.
However, just as the blade was about to touch Chuanliu's body, Mo Qingchen's pupils suddenly contracted.
A sharp pain suddenly shot through his abdomen, as if it were being burned by fire, causing him to involuntarily gasp.
A wave of panic washed over Mo Qingchen. He quickly took two steps back, trying to steady himself, but the pain surged like a tidal wave, rapidly spreading throughout his abdomen. His face instantly turned pale, and large beads of sweat slid down his forehead, dripping onto the narrow stone path with a crisp sound.
He gritted his teeth, struggling against the excruciating pain, trying his best to steady himself, but his body had already begun to tremble uncontrollably.
Mo Qingchen looked at the girl in disbelief, only to see her take two steps back, distancing herself from him, and looking down at him like an emperor descending. The girl's eyes were filled with indifference and disdain, as if she had already seen through his trickery.
Mo Qingchen felt a cold sweat run down his back, an unprecedented sense of loss of control eroding his mind. He wanted to run away from the narrow stone path immediately, but his physical condition made it difficult for him to walk steadily across.
He tried to use the stone path to scheme against Chuanliu, but ended up scheming against himself.
"You...you poisoned me!"
Mo Qingchen's thoughts raced, but he eventually turned his gaze to the girl.
He couldn't think of any other possibility.
Chuanliu nodded casually, as if acknowledging something insignificant.
Mo Qingchen immediately thought of the bottle of water the girl had drunk due to "excessive nervousness" before they went onto the bridge. "Impossible! You clearly drank that water yourself!"
Chuan Liu laughed dismissively, "Mo Qingchen, do you think you've seen through me these past few days? Well, you probably don't know me very well."
As she spoke, the girl took out a piece of paper and carefully wiped the white powder from between her fingers.
Mo Qingchen felt a wave of dizziness and quickly squatted down, lowering his center of gravity until he was almost lying on the stone path. "But if I've been poisoned, why is it only taking effect now?"
“Oh,” Chuanliu rubbed his nose and explained, “Although I don’t know much about poison, Zhuiming told me that the residual poison you were poisoned with before was triggered twice more.”
So, I only added a tiny bit of the poison left over from that waiter's poisoning. That amount wouldn't even cause a normal person to experience any poisoning reaction; it just happened to trigger the release of any remaining toxins in your body. In other words, it prolongs the onset of the poison. This inspiration came from the datura plant.”
Chasing after life...
Residual poison...
Prolonging the time for the onset of poisoning...
Now, it was Mo Qingchen's turn to be shocked. For a moment, he didn't know which question to ask first.
He could sense that the symptoms of this poisoning were not as severe as before, but his current location and physical condition were enough to kill him again.
He said incredulously, "You used me just to find the 'secret door'? You planned to discard me from the start, didn't you?"
"Hey, don't always think the worst of people," Chuanliu patiently lectured, "Is it possible that I've figured out your scheme?"
"What do you mean?"
Mo Qingchen stared intently at the girl in front of him.
Chuanliu then "kindly" explained to him: "Actually, you pretended to surrender and risked your life to help me time and time again, so it was easy for you to gain my trust. However, there are a few things that I've always found strange."
Mo Qingchen: "What's strange?"
Chuanliu explained in detail: "You told us from the beginning that Mandala was the last assassin, and that you gave up the order to assassinate me before Mandala. Actually, the reason you didn't act before wasn't because you gave up, but because it simply wasn't your turn."
If I'm not mistaken, it's because you're ranked after the Mandala that you're so sure there are no more assassins after the Mandala.
A look of resentment flashed in Mo Qingchen's eyes, "Just because of this guess?"
Chuanliu continued, "Also, you approached me beforehand just to cooperate with me, and even tried to get a down payment. That's not like the style of assassins. It can only be said that you have 'ulterior motives'."
Your fellow assassin once told us, "Mo Qingchen is skilled in disguise." This rumored "disguise" must refer to a scheme like the one we're setting up today.
I think you're far more cunning than those two top assassins, Mandrake and Susan. You had us deal with your rivals while you acted when we completely trusted you, completing this order. What a brilliant two-birds-with-one-stone strategy! Actually, if you weren't involved in the "underground," I, as "Square 10," would welcome you to my city.”
Mo Qingchen's eyes trembled; the girl's speculation was so airtight that he was speechless.
After a long silence, he spoke with a dry throat: "These... are all your guesses. What if you're wrong? What if I didn't betray you? You still poisoned me anyway."
Chuanliu touched his nose and said calmly, "But there are no 'ifs,' are there?"
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