And what surprised Yang Ce most of all was that Su Ya and Chen Shutang had actually been in contact in private long ago, and had established a certain tacit understanding. This delighted Yang Ce, and at the same time left him somewhat puzzled. By any reasonable account, given Chen Shutang's temperament, how could she have accepted Su Ya so easily?

How could Yang Ce have guessed that Chen Shutang had done so in part to keep her word? And Chen Shutang also understood Su Ya's standing in Yang Ce's heart. Indeed, she could kick up a fuss with him over Lan Ling, Lin Yanhe, even Zhou Yanning—but over this Su Ya, she could not.

Back at the hotel, as he opened the door, Yang Ce hesitated a moment, then still used his ability to glance into Zhang Bin's room across the hall. Fortunately, Zhang Bin and Wang Mei had not left; they were lying in each other's arms, fast asleep.

Yang Ce was the sort who liked to peek at others, but at this moment he had to be careful. If Zhang Bin was not in the room, he would be in for more trouble.

Earlier, while he had been with Su Ya, he had not felt especially sleepy—he had been full of energy. Now, back at the hotel, drowsiness set in. Yang Ce collapsed onto the bed and was soon fast asleep.

He had not slept long, however, before Yang Ce was startled awake by the urgent ringing of his phone's alarm. He picked up the phone and glanced at it—it was a reminder from the schedule in his notes.

Then it came back to Yang Ce with a jolt: today was the release day of the new issue of the Macau Street Shopping magazine. That meant that today, the assassin who had taken the job would find the location for killing Zheng Shaopeng in the magazine.

At the thought, Yang Ce dared not delay any longer. This was the first assignment Fang Tian had given him to carry out alone, and Yang Ce dared not be careless. Though he had only been asked to get to the bottom of the matter, Yang Ce still had to treat it seriously.

After a quick wash of his face, Yang Ce went out and came to the café near the hotel that he had visited last time. The moment he walked in, Yang Ce spotted the same waiter as before.

The waiter certainly remembered Yang Ce—after the generous tip last time, it would have been impossible to forget. He hurried up with a smile. "Sir, you're back. Welcome."

Yang Ce nodded. Since the waiter still recognized him, there was no need to stand on ceremony. He said directly, "The Macau Street Shopping magazine has a new issue out today, doesn't it? Let me have a look, and bring me a coffee while you're at it."

"Certainly, sir. One moment, please," the waiter said with a smile, though inwardly he was puzzled. Truly, the world was vast and full of wonders—someone actually took an interest in a magazine stuffed with nothing but advertisements.

The waiter brought Yang Ce the coffee and the latest issue. Yang Ce casually handed him a hundred patacas. "Keep the change."

The waiter took the bill joyfully, thanked him, and turned to leave.

Yang Ce wasted not a moment. He opened the magazine and flipped to the page in the middle where advertisements ran in every issue. Sure enough, in the same spot as always, a coded message had been placed.

Yang Ce could not read the meaning of the code at once. After all, he had only been in the assassin trade a short while. Though he had already mastered a great deal, he could hardly memorize every one of these codes; he could only look them up against the "dictionary."

Yang Ce took out his phone, photographed the coded message, then quickly rose and left the café. He left behind only the waiter, who shook his head in bewilderment. This customer really was strange—generous with his money, true enough, but why on earth was he so interested in that shabby magazine?

After clearing Yang Ce's table, the waiter idly flipped through the magazine Yang Ce had just been reading. He found nothing particularly exciting inside, and tossed it casually into the rack in front of the bar.

Back at the hotel, Yang Ce brought up the dictionary file on his computer and compared it against the code on his phone, translating one symbol at a time until he had the complete message.

"Tonight at eight, Zheng Shaopeng, director of the Warwick Casino, will attend a small exchange meeting held by an amateur gambling association. After the meeting, he will attend a banquet and a dance."

Of course, the specific times of the banquet and dance were not mentioned; presumably they were not fixed, and were most likely arranged on the spot. The moment to strike was left to the one who took the job.

Eight o'clock tonight—Yang Ce still had plenty of time to prepare. Seeing this message, Yang Ce breathed a sigh of relief. At least on the surface, this assassination had little to do with Huang Yan, for the killing was not to take place inside the Warwick Casino but while Zheng Shaopeng was attending the event.

Whether it was aimed at Huang Yan's casino or not, Yang Ce no longer had time to investigate, nor any clue to investigate by. But none of that mattered—so long as Huang Yan came to no harm.

As for that Zheng Shaopeng—Yang Ce was no international humanitarian, and he did not much care whether this stranger lived or died.

A knock came at the door outside the room. Yang Ce hurriedly closed the dictionary file on his computer, set his phone screen back to standby, and only then rose to open the door.

Zhang Bin and Wang Mei were already awake, having just finished breakfast. Something important had occurred to Wang Mei: her parents were still in Macao. Yesterday she had been in such a volatile mood that she had not given it much thought. Only today did it strike her—if she went back to Songjiang with Zhang Bin, what was to become of her parents?

Most importantly, Yang Ce had made a fool of Liu Jihao yesterday. If Liu Jihao could not find her, what if he took his revenge on her parents? Wang Mei had never mentioned her family to Liu Jihao, but this was hardly something that could be kept hidden. All Liu Jihao had to do was check the personnel files at the airline, and he would easily learn where her parents lived.

"Boss, I'd like to go home with Meimei and bring her parents back to the hotel." Wang Mei did not dare speak up, so Zhang Bin voiced her thought for her.

Yang Xutang could not help but frown. At a time like this, wandering about outside was the last thing one should do. If that Liu Jihao was no fool, he must have sensed something by now—that check could not have vanished for no reason. He had not lost it himself, so the possibilities left were few.

So if Zhang Bin and the others ran into trouble, there was really very little he could do—because Yang Ce had more important business to attend to today and could not be in two places at once.

"Can you go tomorrow? I'll go with you. Today I have other, very important things to do." Yang Ce glanced at Zhang Bin as he spoke.

"But boss, I'm afraid that by tomorrow, Liu Jihao might already—" Zhang Bin said, looking troubled.

Yang Ce hesitated a moment. He knew Zhang Bin was right; if Liu Jihao really did use Wang Mei's parents as leverage, things would get ugly. After a long silence he said, "All right then. Go and come back quickly. And remember—don't bother taking anything from the house. Just bring the people. Once you're in Songjiang, you'll lack for nothing."

For now, Yang Ce could only hope Liu Jihao had not thought of this. It was not the ten million that pained him—it was simply that Liu Jihao was a man no one could stand.

"I understand." Wang Mei nodded hurriedly. She too understood the situation and did not want to cause Yang Ce any unnecessary trouble. Besides, Yang Yanzhou was right—there was no need to care about those few belongings at home. Once back in Songjiang, they would have everything.

"If you run into trouble, call me at once," Yang Ce instructed.