48 Hours a Day

Chapter 786: Wise Choice

The thugs looked at each other when they heard what Zhang Heng said, not expecting that he would make such a proposal. He just robbed them of their money and used their money to hire them.

Was he planning to take advantage of them without breaking his wallet?

Since the five thugs required money now, the leader quickly responded. They would not be able to get the money back if they said no to Zhang Heng right now. The wisest thing they could do right now was to hear what Zhang Heng had to tell them first.

He then asked, “So, you want us to teach the people at Hunahpu Arena a lesson?”

“Oh, no. Rest assured. I won’t make the task difficult for you guys,” replied Zhang Heng. “It has nothing to do with the Hunahpu Arena. I just want you to help me to investigate something.”

Zhang Heng briefly told them Varo’s story, then went on, “With Varo’s talent, it was a waste that he was sold and thrown into the gladiator school. Clearly, someone had spoken to Mark Reuss in advance. Varo’s wife and his friend are just civilians. They shouldn’t be powerful enough to do something like this. I need your help to find out who did such a thing to him. Let me give you a friendly tip. You can look for a slave trader called Chickpea and ask him about it. I will give you ten Denarius first. Once you are done with this task, I will give you the rest of the money. What do you think? If you are pleased with this arrangement, maybe I will give you more jobs next time.”

The leader looked at his allies, one of them hesitated, and the remaining three nodded at him. So the leader then nodded at Zhang Heng, “Okay.”

“A wise decision. Come to the gladiator school to find me when you have what I want.” Zhang Heng counted ten silver coins and returned the daggers to the five thugs.

...

Zhang Heng would always help with Varo’s affairs. For example, he taught Varo how to pass the final assessment, and during the twelve-man mixed fight, he chose to give to support Varo mentally instead of helping him defeat his opponent. By doing that, he could help Varo to boost his confidence. If Zhang Heng were right, the two would not team up again.

Zhang Heng had always guessed that someone powerful must have wanted Varo to suffer. It would not be easy for him to regain his freedom. When they were at the training camp, Zhang Heng did not say much to Varo. He asked the five thugs who attacked him earlier to investigate this matter since he stumbled upon a good opportunity. If it went well, Varo would at least know who his real enemy was.

Besides, Zhang Heng was trying to recruit someone that could help him to complete specific tasks from time to time. After all, he was just an outsider in the city of Rome. When it came to the people he knew and how to deal with them, he was not as good as the five thugs in front of him. Besides, he was still a slave.

According to Dadatis’s statement, Balance Blade had a group of excellent peripheral members. However, Zhang Heng was still in the test period. In other words, he would not be able to make use of them for now. Besides, even if Zhang Heng finally passed the test and joined the Balance Blade, he figured he would not be able to trust the Balance Blade fully. In the end, he still needed to come up with his own trusted team. Those five thugs might not be his permanent team members, but it was good to start with them.

In short, whether it was the gladiator school or the Balance Blade, Zhang Heng had to be cautious of them. He had to prepare a way out for himself when things went south. After that, Zhang Heng did not go and visit the temple after those thugs attacked him. Not because he was worried that the people from Hunahpu Arena would attack him again, but because the sky had begun to turn dark.

So Zhang Heng had to return to the gladiator school. Mark Reuss seemed to have high hope on him. Earlier, he agreed to Zhang Heng’s request to change to a different place to stay. When Zhang Heng walked into the new room, he found out that the room was more than doubled his previous room size. And Zhang Heng did not need to listen to others’ snore anymore. Other than that, Mark Reuss also assigned a female slave to serve Zhang Heng. Not only would she take care of Zhang Heng’s daily life, but she was also asked to meet Zhang Heng’s sexual needs.

However, Zhang Heng was more accustomed to living alone. When he thought about how Mark Reuss might punish the girl if he drove her away, Zhang Heng decided not to say anything in the end. When the sky was completely dark, he did a simple wash-up and went to bed.

This time his senses were sharper. When he opened his eyes, he saw Dadatis standing in front of his bed. Dadatis then beckoned to him. After that, the two walked past the asleep slave girl lying on the floor and left the house.

For the past week, he had visited Zhang Heng several times in the middle of the night. It seemed like Dadatis wanted to keep this a secret. Such a problem, however, had never existed when he was dealing with Habitus.

“How’s it going? Did you have a nice afternoon?” Dadatis asked.

“You found the people who attacked me?” Zhang Heng was a little surprised. He knew that those gangsters did not lie to him.

“You are only half right. Those people that attacked you are from the other arena. All I did was give your basic information in advance to them. Based on your performance in the twelve-man mixed fight, anyone smart enough would attack you. “Dadatis said leisurely, “Very well, you have asked Mark Reuss for the right to go out freely. Our next stage of training happens to be outside school.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been practicing stealth for so long. Only actual combat can help you to digest the theories that you learned from me,” Dadatis said, “You need to lose the person that is following you. And this time, you can’t attack them.”

“It doesn’t sound difficult.” Zhang Heng said, even if he did not learn how to be stealthy, he could get rid of people who were following him with his speed.

“No, no, you don’t understand what I mean. I want you to stay around them without being discovered by them. This is what it means to be stealthy for an assassin,” Dadatis said.

“Are you serious? I’m a foreigner. It’s hard not to notice me in the crowd.”

“That’s why this is the exercise that best reflects the stealth ability of an assassin.” Dadatis’ assertive words made it difficult for Zhang Heng to refute.

Dadatis paused and continued, “You possess excellent combat skills. Whenever you have a problem, you will think about how to solve it with your skills. Usually, this is not a problem. However, it will hinder your progress on the road to becoming a great assassin. You need to overcome this if you want to be a great assassin.”

Even though Dadatis’s tone was similar to his usual tone, Zhang Heng still heard something wrong with his voice. He then asked, “Did you encounter any trouble recently?”

“Some of the members in the organization disagree with you joining the Balance Blade. But I am not worried about this.” Dadatis hesitated and decided to tell Zhang Heng the truth. “About two hundred years ago, there was a traitor in our organization. He took refuge in Octavius, the Roman emperor at the time. With the help of Octavius, he formed an assassin organization to assassinate the members of the Balance Blade. This is why I don’t want others to know that we are meeting each other constantly. Over the years, I have to make myself available and show my face to get certain things done. Although I have done some disguise, I still can’t hide it from the veteran assassin.”