No. 69 Hamburg Street, Queens.
Zhang Yuanqing turned off his burner phone first, then switched on his everyday phone and searched for the address. The map showed that No. 69 Hamburg Street was an upscale apartment building located in a densely populated area.
This was only natural. A stronghold for evil classes would never be tucked away in a deserted suburb; it had to be situated in a bustling downtown where, if necessary, the surrounding civilians could all be used as hostages.
Whether orthodox or evil, any faction driven to desperation would use mortals as human shields.
Clutching his phone, he walked toward the Heaven's Punishment branch while lost in thought.
*Joining the Covenant of Freedom requires yet another test. What a hassle! Let me think about how they're going to vet me. My background in the Second District has always been a mystery. Even though Boss gave me a fabricated identity, I don't actually belong to the Nihility Sect.*
*A Level 6 rogue cultivator who doesn't belong to the Nihility Sect is rare even in the Second District. The Covenant of Freedom has most likely already dispatched people to the Second District to dig into my past. They won't turn up anything, which means tonight's evaluation will probably be a direct verification of my history.*
*The methods can't amount to anything more than lie detection and oaths. As for lie detection, I don't have Secret Shelter right now, and an oath is even more impossible to break. Quite a headache...*
After turning it over in his mind, Zhang Yuanqing felt that the only way out of this bind was the Perfect Human Skin.
He could use the skin to shoulder his karma, letting a yin corpse serve as cannon fodder.
*However, the Perfect Human Skin's karma grafting can only be used once; it won't withstand a drawn-out interrogation. As for lie detection, I can divert that power onto a spirit servant. When it comes to oaths and contracts, if I remember correctly, oaths at the Saint stage are also one-time effects. I wonder if things change at the Dominator stage...*
At that thought, his eyes lit up. Didn't he know a Dominator-stage Knight? If there was a chance to get some free information, why not take it?
He pulled up his contacts, found "Zhai Cai," and dialed.
After a few seconds, an automated prompt came through the receiver informing him that the call could not be completed.
*Did that cowardly Knight turn off his phone? Or did the Covenant of Freedom already harvest his kidneys?* Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, then dialed the number of Zhai Cai's secretary, An Yeqi.
Back when Zhai Cai moved into the little red-brick building, Zhang Yuanqing had exchanged contact information with that petite secretary whose hairline was a bit high.
This time, the call connected without a hitch, and a crisp voice sounded from the speaker: "Xiaoyao Sword Immortal? Are you looking for Boss Cai?"
"Yes. His phone is off. Please hand it to him."
"One moment!"
After a dozen seconds, the sole-heir Knight's smug clicking of the tongue echoed through the speaker:
"Well, well, you're actually still alive. Not bad, not bad at all. Your tenacity rivals a sewer rat. Out with it, why are you calling? Found any leads on Tongtian Jiaozhu?"
Zhang Yuanqing maintained the Swordsman's aloof demeanor: "When there's news, I'll inform you, sewer rat. Right now, answer a question for me. It's very important. Of course, you can refuse, but then our cooperation ends right here."
He spoke forcefully because he was certain that if this sole-heir Knight wanted to recover the Pope's relic, he would have to rely on him, a Swordsman.
When it came to tracking and investigation, Swordsmen ranked among the top three of all classes.
Sure enough, Zhai Cai chuckled. "Lay it out first, and then I'll decide whether to answer."
*His tone is as punchable as ever...* Zhang Yuanqing said in a deep voice, "Do oaths and contracts at the Dominator stage keep hounding the violator until they're dead, or is it a single burst of punishment that you can breach freely once you survive it?"
He was worried that after the yin corpse took the fatal hit in his stead, the power behind the contract or oath might realize the true body hadn't died and continue inflicting damage.
"Punishments for violating contracts, oaths, and the rules set by a Knight only trigger once," Zhai Cai said in earnest. "Furthermore, I must remind you that contracts, oaths, and rules can only be revoked by a higher-level Knight. Aside from that, a Disordered's 'Desperado' skill can exploit loopholes in the rules to briefly trick oaths, contracts, and rules. If you want to bypass a Dominator-stage oath, I advise you to figure out a way to get your hands on a Dominator-stage item from the Alcoholic class."
*Dominator-stage items aren't that easy to come by...* Zhang Yuanqing said, "Understood! What about you? Any leads on the third Holy Plate?"
"Why should I tell you?" Zhai Cai scoffed.
*Whatever. You're being targeted by the Covenant of Freedom now. If Heaven's Punishment learns of the Holy Plate's existence, they'll definitely try to seize it. If you want to retrieve it, your only choice is to turn to me, a capable foreigner with no faction backing him!* Zhang Yuanqing wasted no more words and decisively hung up.
Having heard Zhai Cai's explanation, a plan had already formed in his mind. Tonight, his true body had to go in person, while a yin corpse donned the Perfect Human Skin to shoulder the karma.
This was because the karma grafted by the Perfect Human Skin would belong exclusively to the true body, not a doppelgänger.
In other words, if a doppelgänger encountered the power of lie detection or a contract, there would be no yin corpse to take the hit for him, and he would die on the spot.
Before long, the bank building loomed in the distance. Zhang Yuanqing suddenly remembered something: *Come to think of it, my multiplayer instance is coming up soon.*
He had been in New York for half a month already.
Multiplayer instances were a massive headache. Last time, carrying too many Dominator-grade items had caused him to be pulled into a single-player Dominator-level Spirit Realm instance.
Naturally, the same mishap wouldn't happen again, but the Purple-Gold Set bound to his character card was a Dominator-grade item, and on top of that, he had integrated a Phantasm God item, making him a peak Saint of dual classes.
What kind of instance would the Spirit Realm assign him?
An S-tier Saint instance already felt trivial to him, but if he were thrown into a Dominator-stage multiplayer instance, Zhang Yuanqing felt his odds of perishing were significantly higher.
*I'll play it by ear. If things really go south, I'll have the President enter the instance to fish me out, even if it costs me a level drop,* Zhang Yuanqing thought.
***
Ten o'clock at night.
At No. 69 Hamburg Street in Queens, Zhang Yuanqing, wearing a baseball cap and a mask, looked up at the storefront sign. Translated into English, it roughly read: Massage and Wellness Club.
It was a Japanese-style massage parlor.
The entirety of Hamburg Street was mixed-use commercial and residential, with storefronts on the ground floor and apartments from the second floor up.
This mixed-use setup filled the street with vibrant activity and heavy foot traffic. Pedestrians bustled along the street, ducking into restaurants, supermarkets, and various leisure and entertainment venues.
Zhang Yuanqing glanced left and right, pulled down the brim of his cap, and entered the wellness club.
The moment he walked in, a young woman wearing a pink uniform with delicately painted brows and lined eyes stepped forward to greet him: "Hello, sir. What service would you like today? Here is our service menu."
*No hidden euphemisms, no special characters, no 'happy endings'...* Zhang Yuanqing quickly scanned the menu and looked away, feeling somewhat unenthusiastic. Getting straight to the point, he said, "I'm looking for Catherine. She made an appointment to meet me here at ten tonight."
The young woman in pink dropped her smile. A hidden sharpness glinted in her sultry eyes as she scrutinized Zhang Yuanqing for a few seconds. "May I ask who..."
"Tongtian Jiaozhu!"
A smile surfaced once more on the young woman's face. "Please follow me. Catherine is waiting for you inside."
She led Zhang Yuanqing deeper into the parlor. The lighting inside was dim and suggestive, and a unique fragrance hung in the air—sweet, rich, and intoxicating.
The hallway was fairly wide. Black tiles lined the floor and walls, and pictures hung on the walls depicting women lying prone on massage tables with snow-white, bare backs exposed.
Among them, Zhang Yuanqing saw Catherine's photograph.
Private rooms lined both sides of the hallway. Even with Zhang Yuanqing's hearing, he couldn't catch a sound from inside. If he hadn't sensed through his emotional perception that the men and women within were either in states of intense ecstasy, enjoying the comfort of a massage, or sleeping soundly, he almost would have thought Catherine had cleared the building for him.
This indicated the parlor was equipped with sound-insulating items.
Before long, the young woman brought Zhang Yuanqing to a halt outside a private room and bowed.
"The manager is waiting for you inside."
With that, she turned and withdrew.
Zhang Yuanqing focused his senses. Detecting only a single emotional presence within, he pushed open the brass-relief door.
The moment he opened it, a dense, sweetly intoxicating aroma assaulted his nostrils.
The private room was enormous, featuring a bed, a lounge area, and a bathing pool over a dozen square meters in size.
The bath was filled with warm water, shrouded in rising mist, with rose petals floating across the surface. A jade-skinned beauty stood in the pool, her back turned toward him.
Her silver-white short hair was pinned up, accentuating her long, slender neck. The fair curves of her back rose and fell, her body fat neither too little nor too much, perfectly highlighting the lush fullness of a mature woman. Her hips were rounded like a full moon, half hidden in the water and half exposed above the surface.
Her two dimples of Venus were alluring and seductive.
Catherine let out a sigh. "Tongtian Jiaozhu, you ruined our grand plan."
Mimicking Zhai Cai's insolent tone, Zhang Yuanqing scoffed: "You wanted to assassinate Julian Meade and frame the Five Elements Alliance to inflame the conflict between Winnie and Sean. Unfortunately, that guy named Jumang turned out to be tough. That was outside the plan. What does that have to do with me?
"Catherine, meeting you tonight is the extent of my patience. If not for being new here and needing an organization to back me, do you really think I'd waste my time playing these boring games with you?
"Speak. What is the final test? Let me state upfront: if it involves sleeping with you, I refuse!"
Tongtian Jiaozhu was an aloof, solitary wolf with no appetite for feminine charms, and he certainly wouldn't allow himself to be subjugated by the Desire class. True to his persona, Zhang Yuanqing delivered these words coldly and callously.
Yet his inward thoughts were completely different: *Damn it, a Dominator-level Desire practitioner... Just a glimpse of a half-naked body nearly made me lose control, filling my head with nothing but dirty thoughts.*
Chapter 687