Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 560 - 430: Respecting Professionalism

Qu Jianlei answered the female assassin's question very candidly.

The woman also understood what this meant, so she frankly shared her side of the story.

She and the male assassin were not a team, they just worked together on two tasks.

The woman had her original profession; she really was a psychological counselor.

In her main job, she discovered a phenomenon — post-traumatic stress disorder, which is most common among assassins.

The assassins she could contact at the time were basically ones who had washed clean and come ashore; they weren't afraid to mention past events.

Can assassins really get cleared? It sounds hard to understand, but in fact, as long as assassins can make a great contribution, they can request a pardon.

For those assassins who have awakened their Attributes, the Imperial policies were even more lenient; after all, Superpower Warriors are rare.

But then again, even if the Imperial policies are so friendly, certified "clean" assassins are still very rare.

The woman became somewhat interested in the assassin industry and wanted to try it firsthand.

As a result, she got involved and became immersed in the feeling.

In fact, most psychological counselors are not quite normal themselves — normal people find it hard to do this job well.

So she essentially chose to be an assassin herself.

But the man was different from her; he seemed to have received training in assassination from a young age, and is an all-rounded assassin.

Upon hearing this, Qu Jianlei couldn't help but ask, "Is this assassin... organized?"

"Probably," the woman nodded, "you should know his Perception Ability is not something an ordinary Earth Attribute can possess."

Qu Jianlei heard this and couldn't help but chuckle bitterly, "This organization seems to be quite something."

He genuinely didn't want to cause trouble, but couldn't avoid trouble finding him.

The Starr Family clearly wasn't reasonable; couldn't they just accept the loss? Why such strong desire for revenge, wave after wave?

And now, they've provoked such an organization that can develop new Elemental Manipulation techniques; could it be simple?

The woman looked at him and spoke calmly, "Your organization... is not worse than theirs."

My organization? Qu Jianlei smiled and raised his chin slightly, "Continue."

Continuing, there wasn't much left to say; she was commissioned by the Feiyang Materials Group to help the Starr Clan handle the crisis.

The middle-aged man came mainly for the cleanup task, while she came to make overall plans and resolve the crisis.

An assassin does not necessarily have to kill; many assassins have the ability to solve problems comprehensively, and this woman is a typical example.

Qu Jianlei found it a bit extraordinary, "The Starr Clan gave you two the power to choose?"

"I didn't insist on it," the woman spread her hands helplessly, "they said they wanted to respect professional expertise."

Qu Jianlei shook his head and spoke helplessly, "Then you asked for it, no one else to blame."

The woman, however, dismissively snorted, "This is the Starr family's tactic, forcing us to resort to tough measures."

"Think about it, we came to a foreign Star Realm, unfamiliar with the place, and our information and connections were far from sufficient..."

"Without the support of a local, what solutions could I come up with, wouldn't I have to rely on force?"

Qu Jianlei understood and couldn't help but smile, "The Starr Clan, at least a few of them understand the calculations."

These two assassins were strong, especially the woman, who was very comprehensive; if the Starr Clan was willing to cooperate, they could stir up a storm.

But if the Starr Clan didn't cooperate, no matter how capable the woman was, she could only gather partial intelligence.

No matter how strong a foreign master is, in the end, it's an issue of acclimation.

So the Starr Clan's indication that the two of them make the choice was actually forcing them to choose a firm solution.

What Qu Jianlei did not know was that his line of thinking was also skewed by the woman.

The woman's thinking was not an issue, but she had not considered the formidable aura they came with.

The female boss of the Feiyang Group, the cousin of Robin Hood, hired them to Star No. 4, with the intent of having them solve problems.

But she was worried that the family members might not cooperate or might be sluggish, so she deliberately emphasized the strength of those coming.

However, she was mistaken; the current Starr Family was no longer what it was when she got married.

The B-level in the family had died, and the family's reliance on her side grew increasingly strong.

So she made it a point to emphasize, but the family misinterpreted directly, thinking these two were omnipotent.

It's not that nobody thought about the possibility that doing so might place the two in some informational blind spots.

People who didn't think of it really didn't think of it, but those who did each had their own considerations.

On the surface, the Starr Family didn't appear to hold back.

They provided the two assassins with a wealth of intelligence, writing clearly the situations of several major opponents.

Cultivation Level, age, potential, preferences, specialties, relatives, and friends... all clearly provided.

Yet, no one reminded them of the complexity of the entire Star No. 4's power structure.

These pieces of information aren't something a foreign force can easily obtain — local support is required.

Strictly speaking, the Starr should find someone well-informed to assist the two assassins.

Whatever intel they needed, the other party should actively obtain it to coordinate with the action.

Only then can the female consultant plan a better solution, rather than just mindlessly killing people.

However, the Starr Family didn't do that.

They did actively cooperate, providing whatever information was requested.

But the communication between the two parties was inherently secretive, since the killers didn't want to be exposed, leading to delays in information exchange.

As a result, the female consultant naturally thought the family wanted to force the two of them to kill.

However, both of them were A-level, proud and unwilling to get entangled in this—at worst, they would just kill.

In fact, killing one by one was simpler and didn't require much thought.

The only concern was to hide their identities and avoid being traced by various factions, which was somewhat dangerous, but would the killers fear that?

The female consultant always believed that such a plan was without flaws.

It wasn't until she was captured by Panda here, with her companion's life or death unknown, that she realized a crucial problem.

We originally didn't have to kill anyone!

She had handled cases before where problems could be resolved without bloodshed—this time she was truly... negligent.

No, it wasn't negligence, the Starr Family had long chosen a solution, and they had no other option.

She could only resent and blame herself for encountering such a formidable opponent.

Qu Jianlei was unaware that there was such a misunderstanding between them.

He instinctively accepted the information and believed the Starr Family really wanted to get rid of him—including those two families.

The only one the two killers spared was Gwendolyn.

This family... really was a bit domineering.

After figuring out the whole process, he pointed at the middle-aged man, "Are you sure you don't know this guy's background?"

"I don't know," the female consultant firmly shook her head.

Fearing disbelief, she further explained, "Even killers have rules, it's taboo to probe into each other... What about him?"

"He's dead," Qu Jianlei replied solemnly, "Being a killer without fully investigating the situation is seeking your own death."

"Dead..." The woman's face turned even paler; her companion was dead, how could she possibly survive?

When she entered this field, she thought she had come to terms with life and death, but at this moment, a trace of unwillingness still lingered.

As a psychological consultant, she tried to argue, "We couldn't see through you, and hadn't decided how to deal with you."

"I know," Qu Jianlei answered frankly, "But knowing so many of my secrets, could I possibly let you go?"

The female consultant understood the importance of the secrets, yet she couldn't help but plead, "We got involved in this mess accidentally."

Qu Jianlei didn't bother to argue further and directly asked, "How did you both take the assignment?"

"There's a broker," the female consultant answered very cooperatively for survival.

They had a reputation in the black market, but not as killers; they were "trouble resolution specialists."

It sounded like an alias for a killer, yet there is a slight difference; pure killers were known as "non-peaceful resolvers."

The broker had such a list; if someone wanted to hire a killer... or find a way to resolve trouble, they would also come to the black market.

Not through the dark web or anything? Qu Jianlei found such means of hiring killers somewhat beyond his knowledge.

"That broker... is backed by a strong force?"

Without significant power, who would dare conduct such business? 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Dual brokers," the female consultant replied in a low voice, "The buyer finds a broker in plain sight, a broker for the broker."

"Usually, brokers in plain sight lean towards the government, while black market brokers lean towards the underground."

Isn't that white and black colluding? Qu Jianlei thought for a moment and felt such a business structure indeed had its merits.

He then asked the final question, "Where is the black market, and what's the broker's name?"

The female consultant was indeed forthcoming, providing the answer, and even explained further.

"By leaking their information, I can only flee for the rest of my life, but... it's still better than dying now."

This was a full display of survival instincts, and even Qu Jianlei felt somewhat wistful.

However, in the end, he sighed, "Alright, you may be on your way now."

After finishing off the female consultant, Qu Jianlei as usual destroyed the scene and quietly left.

The gains from this round... were quite mediocre.

The woman carried a storage talisman, though its durability was more than half depleted, and the man didn't have any storage talisman at all.

They had some money on them, but not much, totaling about a hundred thousand.

They came to kill, so carrying some money for emergencies was sufficient; it was impossible to carry all their assets with them.

They had various firearms, ammunition, and the like, as well as some fake identities, but Qu Jianlei had no use for those.

What he cared about was that the storage talisman contained some intricate instruments, rarely seen even in the Hope Star Realm.