Chapter 178: A Bunch of Amateurs?

How could he claim earlier that he didn’t know who the others were, but then so confidently say she was number 3? 

Xiao Yu stared coldly at Xia Xingchen.

“I really don’t know who they are,” Xia Xingchen shook his head, “but I can make an educated guess.”

“How did you figure it out?” Xiao Yu pressed.

“Because I browse the dark web often, and I’ve come across things that most people wouldn’t know about,” Xia Xingchen explained. “For instance, the dark web platform I post assignments on is globally connected. People from other countries can access it. Many individuals like to post all sorts of things, including… murder. I guessed she was number 3 because from 3 to A, they all operate abroad.”

“What do you mean?” Xiao Yu frowned.

“The ones who buy the cards aren’t just domestic buyers. Foreign clients are involved too. And numbers 3 to A only handle international targets,” Xia Xingchen’s face turned as pale as a sheet. “The domestic hits are managed by the Jokers.”

‘I see…’ 

Xiao Yu nodded slightly. No wonder the case files Wang Dong had provided only recorded incidents of ‘accidental’ deaths.

“As for how I know about number 3…” Xia Xingchen looked increasingly nervous. “They’re notorious abroad. Every time they kill a target, they leave behind a playing card. Especially number 3—she has a habit of slicing open all her victims’ veins, watching them bleed out and die in agony. Number 9, on the other hand, likes to crush his victims’ skulls. These aren’t things the general public would know about, but on the dark web, they’re public knowledge.”

Xiao Yu frowned. He felt as though he had overlooked something. 

He walked out of the interrogation room, mind focused. When he initially hacked into the dark web server, he had only paid attention to the auctioned playing cards and hadn’t delved into other information.

Taking out his laptop, Xiao Yu sifted through the server’s data logs. 

Sure enough, he found the posts Xia Xingchen mentioned, as well as photos and videos shared on the dark web forum. The materials came from abroad, and in several of the images and videos, playing cards appeared—though not the Joker cards, but rather those marked from 3 to A.

The methods these assassins used to hunt their targets ranged from typical to downright twisted. 

However, in Xiao Yu’s eyes, they still fell within the realm of “normal” killings. None of them involved the kind of staged “accidental deaths” he had been investigating. 

After each murder, these assassins left behind a playing card at the scene. Xiao Yu spotted the cards for 3, 9, and other numbers. Every card represented a life taken, and each killer had their own preferred method of murder.

For instance, number 3 enjoyed using hand-to-hand combat to bring down her target, followed by bleeding them out with a knife. Number 9, as Xia Xingchen had described, favored blunt instruments like wrenches or hammers to crush his victims’ skulls. Such cases were frequent abroad, but law enforcement had consistently failed to apprehend any of these assassins. Internationally, they had earned a notorious name—the Playing Card Killers.

Xiao Yu went to Wang Dong, asking him to look into foreign intelligence. Before long, Wang Dong returned with the results.

“That’s right,” Wang Dong said, his face grim. “They’re an internationally connected assassin group. It’s been confirmed that they operated abroad in the past, and only within the last ten years have they started taking contracts in our country.”

“That doesn’t add up,” Xiao Yu shook his head, recalling the female assassin. “Isn’t there a chance they’ve always been based domestically, but they only took international contracts before? And it’s only in the last decade that they’ve begun accepting domestic jobs?”

It seemed like a small distinction, but the implications were huge. 

One theory suggested the group had grown overseas, possibly with their headquarters abroad. The other implied they’d been rooted in the country all along, with their base of operations right here. The difference between the two was enormous.

“We can’t be sure,” Wang Dong said, his expression even more troubled. “The female assassin… she’s dead.”

Xiao Yu froze. “What?”

He stared at Wang Dong, resisting the urge to yell. You’ve got to be kidding me. How does someone die while in the custody of security personnel?

“When you knocked her out, she was already poisoned,” Wang Dong explained with a bitter smile. “She had a special false tooth in her mouth, designed to be crushed. Inside it was a deadly toxin. Belcher’s sea snake venom.”

Xiao Yu drew in a sharp breath. 

Belcher’s sea snake—one of the most venomous creatures in the world, often referred to as the king of poisonous snakes. To put it mildly, just one drop of its venom could kill a thousand people. What made it particularly terrifying wasn’t just the potency—it acted incredibly fast. If not treated immediately, the fatality rate was 100%. 

But that wasn’t even the scariest part.

The real horror lay in how the venom worked. It caused no pain, no suffering—those affected simply died without realizing it, earning it the chilling title of the Gentle Reaper.

Xiao Yu’s mind raced as he pieced things together. Could it really be that simple to hide poison in a tooth?

Yes, it was entirely possible. Not an actual tooth, but a specialized false one—ingenious, yet deadly.

Wouldn’t they worry about accidentally biting down on it during a meal, poisoning themselves? 

It might sound ridiculous to someone unfamiliar with dental implants, but that’s where the trick lay. The false tooth wasn’t fixed in place like a real tooth. It was attached to an implant—essentially a screw placed in the jawbone, with the tooth fitted onto it. 

This type of false tooth could be swapped out at will, provided it wasn’t permanently secured. So, an assassin wouldn’t walk around with a venom-laced tooth in their mouth on a normal day. They’d only insert it before a mission, ready for the worst-case scenario: capture.

You might think it’s better to live another day, no matter what.

But those who didn’t understand the gruesome fate awaiting captured assassins couldn’t possibly imagine the kind of torture they would face. To these killers, a swift death was preferable to the hell that came after being caught.

“This is going to be a headache,” Xiao Yu groaned, rubbing his temples. “Even if we manage to catch them, it’s going to be hard to take any of them alive.”

“Exactly,” Wang Dong nodded. “Unless we knock them out immediately, without giving them a chance to commit suicide.”

“How’s that even possible?” Xiao Yu shook his head. “With their level of training and caution, it’s almost impossible to make them lose consciousness right away.”

He thought back to the female assassin’s deadly skills. The only way would be to incapacitate them instantly on sight. But the problem was that they didn’t even know the identities of the remaining assassins, who they were, or where they were hiding. By the time they found out and moved in to arrest them, the assassins could already be dead, denying them any chance.

“It’s all up to luck now,” Wang Dong sighed, understanding the grim reality. “The only thing we can confirm is that they’ve entered the country.”

Xiao Yu narrowed his eyes. 

Exactly—No. 3 had already appeared. But what about No. 4 through Ace? And don’t forget the Joker and Little Joker.

There was still a secret tied to Xia Xingchen, one that even he wasn’t fully aware of. Could that be the reason No. 3 was willing to take the huge risk of infiltrating a police station to kill him?

Suddenly, Xiao Yu laughed—a strange, unsettling chuckle.

Could it really be as he suspected?

Were they all just a bunch of tech amateurs?

Afraid of something they didn’t fully understand?

Xiao Yu headed back to the interrogation room. He fixed his gaze on Xia Xingchen and asked, each word slowly, deliberately, “In the past, how did you communicate with the Little Joker?”