Chapter 344: Chapter 344: The Filthblood Reaper Returns_1
This person was not Sophie Carter, Susan Feng.
As the thought flashed through Aiden’s mind, with but a blink, the lady with the actress’s foundation and delicate features transformed into a woman with a common face—this face belonged to Susan Feng, who had previously been sentenced to prison for theft.
Just as Sophie had instructed, the primary "Substitute" ability could now only interfere with the observations of onlookers. As long as one knew the essence of the existence and firmly believed in it, the illusion of this observational interference would cease to function.
On the other hand, if one could not see through the true nature of the other’s existence, even if they knew the other was in disguise, the intervention of divine words would still not dissipate.
"Good day, miss, is the butler in?" Aiden asked, mimicking the speech pattern of the maid he had just encountered.
"The butler is helping me with some work in the study right now, are you looking for him?" asked Susan.
"No, I’ve come back to see you about something," Aiden said, waving his hands dismissively. He had only inquired about the butler to make sure he was not being watched at the moment.
"What do you want with me?" Susan frowned.
From the moment they met, she had been carrying a gloomy expression. Aiden noticed that her eye bags were pronounced, and her complexion somewhat haggard.
However, Aiden could understand that it was normal for someone whose life was threatened and could be killed at any moment to be unable to rest or eat properly—not everyone could be at ease and enjoy their final moments to the fullest.
"Someone handed me a letter on the road and told me to give it to you when I got back. They also said that it was..." Aiden began, pulling a letter from his person, "sent from the prison in the city."
"Prison?" Susan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly stepped down and took the letter from Aiden’s hand.
"The sender asked you to read it as soon as you get it," Aiden reminded.
Susan, a bit puzzled, but seeing the envelope signed with "Sophie Carter" and the familiar handwriting, couldn’t wait any longer and immediately tore open the envelope, taking out the letter inside.
There were only two sentences in the letter: "The first favor is always the greatest; it’s time I repaid it. The person who brought this letter works for me; I hope he can help you succeed."
Susan abruptly looked up at the "maid" in front of her.
"May we speak privately?" Aiden lowered his voice.
Susan was clearly startled. She glanced quickly back at the study, still off-limits upstairs, then lowered her voice and said to Aiden, "Follow me."
Aiden followed Susan upstairs to the bedroom.
"Who are you, really?" Susan asked bluntly after locking the door.
"The second-generation Filthblood Reaper; I don’t know if you’ve heard of it?" Aiden directly donned one of his former aliases, "Pleased to meet you, Miss Feng."
Since she didn’t immediately consider the collaboration between Sophie Carter and the client, Aiden felt there was no need to reveal his identity at this time.
Perhaps after the affair was settled Sophie would tell Susan, but for now, Aiden wanted to avoid unnecessary information leaks as much as possible.
"Filthblood Reaper?" Susan frowned, "The offspring of Meiruki’s servant?"
"Knowing our reputation truly honors me," Aiden bowed, "It saves me the time to explain further."
"What is a professional assassin doing here?"
"As the letter stated, I was hired by Miss Carter to help you. Of course, the main reason I came was to confirm and assess the risk of the mission," Aiden replied. "After all, I can’t fully trust the information given by the employer."
"Do you know? This disguise of yours, could it be..." Susan pointed at Aiden in astonishment.
She herself was all too familiar with a method of disguise that could completely change one’s appearance, voice, and clothing to another person.
"Probably as you suspected," Aiden answered frankly.
"Meiruki’s involvement... has she started dealing with authority already?" Susan’s expression grew serious.
Meiruki was somewhat famous among the underworld and wizards, having a bit to do with the Wordless Code, connected to the Great Witch Lamia from the witches’ conclave, involved in ’chaos’ authority. The Scales of Smile also had a handful of information about her.
But according to the Scales of Smile’s information, there was no evidence that Meiruki had discovered the secrets of authority like the Great Witches of the witches’ conclave. Moreover, there were rumors that Meiruki had been imprisoned in Rose Iron Prison.
However, there were also rumors that about half a year ago, there seemed to be a killer who claimed to be the second-generation Filthblood Reaper making moves in the underworld.
If it was truly a killer cultivated by Meiruki who possessed the power of authority, either the information from the Scales of Smile needed updating, or Sophie had made a trade that violated the organization’s regulations within Rose Iron Prison...
Seeing Susan remain silent, Aiden took it upon himself to break her train of thought, "You don’t need to think too much about this, you just need to know, Miss Carter hired me through the contacts she found in prison."
Susan’s face showed a somewhat pale smile, "I don’t want to thank her at all. If she had just... well, it’s still better than doing nothing."
"She offered quite a decent reward, not just money, in my opinion, it’s quite sincere," Aiden stated. "She told me a lot of relevant things, your relationship, which I don’t really want to delve into. But I’m very curious, why would you be willing to be a body double who might lose her life at any time?"
"We were sold here with debts hanging over us, for us, defying the organization’s arrangements means being stripped of everything, going back to the days of abject poverty saddled with debts," Susan replied.
"I can’t understand, if you’re dead, what difference does wealth or poverty make?"
"But when you’re alive, the difference is huge, poverty can sometimes grind a person down more than death," Susan shook her head.
"I heard that your organization gave you sufficient compensation? A large sum of money can buy your life?" Aiden asked.
"Besides money, there was another thing: freedom. There’s a chance I might not die, there’s just a significant risk. The organization promised me that if I could survive under such arrangements, I’d get a sum of money and be free from the organization," Susan answered.
"A nice pursuit," Aiden commented. "Let’s hope your organization keeps its word..."
"How much do you know about the mission?" Susan asked.
"Miss Carter told me most of it, I just came to confirm with you," Aiden said.
"I think what she said must be true, then you probably already know, the enemy is not to be trifled with. To be honest, I’m not clear on how capable you are. Are you confident you can win?"
"I think there’s still a chance," Aiden replied, expression unaltered.
The Wordless Code was far superior to the enemy, and if it were necessary... Aiden felt that perhaps external help could be requested—Joey Lawson’s divine aspect should be quite an enticing bait for those Great Witches of the witches’ conclave.
