"No way—didn't you just say a moment ago it was only a name, that it didn't matter what we called it?" Yang Ce said, astonished.

"Well, I've changed my mind now—is that not allowed?" Wang Yanqiu snorted. "What kind of lousy name is that? I don't agree."

"It makes no difference whether you agree or not—it's settled!" Yang Ce decided with breezy confidence. "Tomorrow I'll use my own channels to take on missions under the name Black Butterfly."

Wang Yanqiu was caught between laughter and tears, yet there was nothing she could do. To grow, the assassin group truly could not do without Yang Juehuan's support; if Yang Moyi used his own channels to take on some big jobs, that would do wonders for the group's ranking. Since Yang Ce was set on taking missions as Black Butterfly, Wang Yanqiu could only acquiesce.

"Fine, I won't argue with you about it. Black Butterfly it is. But you're not allowed to tell anyone what the name means," Wang Yanqiu conceded, though she tacked on a condition.

"Don't worry, I'm not that much of an idiot. If they all wanted to come look at my little Yanyan's butt, wouldn't I be the one losing out?" Yang Ce chuckled.

Wang Yanqiu was truly at her wit's end with Yang Ce. The more she dealt with this man, the more she found him shameless—his hide thick to the extreme. She could not fathom what Zhao Ying saw in him.

Little did she know that Yang Ce had been like this since high school; Chen Shutang and Zhao Ying alike had long since grown used to it.

"Where are we going to train this so-called reaction ability of yours?" Wang Yanqiu reclined the passenger seat and lay back comfortably. With Yan, she no longer felt the old restraint; being casual with him was, rather, quite relaxing.

She did not regret what had happened between her and Yan. As partners, they would face all kinds of situations together in the future, and sleeping side by side would be an everyday affair. If they were to get awkward and shy with each other, they might as well give up on missions altogether.

"Let's go back to where we went yesterday—West Star Mountain," Yang Yanzhou said.

"Oh, right, Yang Ce—I forgot to ask you yesterday. Who exactly was that person who got away?" At the mention of West Star Mountain, Wang Yanqiu suddenly remembered the man Yang Ce had been trying to catch yesterday.

To be continued

977. The Bet—Who Exactly Comes Out Ahead?

"Nothing much—a classmate from high school, we've had a bit of bad blood." Yang Shuoxuan was not sure whether Wang Yanqiu knew about the recent haunted-traffic cases, so he did not go into detail.

Wang Yanqiu did not press him, only saying, "Sorry about yesterday—because of me, you didn't catch him."

"Forget it, it's nothing. What's the fun in catching him?" Yang Hengye said. "I'd rather come away with a beauty."

Wang Yanqiu shot Yang Puqi a glare. Talking to this fellow was always such a chore—three sentences in and he was back on his old hobbyhorse, and it was enough to make her temper flare.

The car sped along the broad road, and perhaps because they chatted and laughed the whole way, the time had passed quickly—it felt much shorter than the journey yesterday, or at least far less tedious.

Yang Ce parked the car in the same spot as yesterday, looked at Wang Yanqiu lying there beside him, somewhat alluring, and could not help saying, "How about the two of us relive yesterday's business in the car first, and then go do that reaction test?"

"Yang Ce!" Wang Yanqiu's eyes went wide. "Aren't you tired? Are you trying to kill me?"

With that, she turned away on her own and paid him no further heed. Yang Ce found it rather amusing; he shook his head and said, "Come on, let's get out of the car. I was only joking with you."

Only then did Wang Yanqiu lazily sit up and climb out of the car with great reluctance—though once out, the cold wind sobered her up considerably. She looked at Yang Ce and said, "Shall we start now?"

"Yes, let's start now." Yang Ce glanced at his watch. "It's half past one in the morning. At one forty, come kill me on the dot. You go get ready first."

"One forty on the dot? Isn't that giving you time to prepare? What kind of reaction training is that?" Wang Yanqiu raised the objection.

Yang Shuoxuan had not thought that far. The reason Yang Ce had said to begin ten minutes later was that he wanted to leave ten minutes to make his prediction and see whether a danger warning from his ability would appear. He had not considered much beyond that, but Wang Yanqiu had caught the flaw. So he said, "Then ten minutes from now—any time after that. You judge it yourself."

Wang Yanqiu nodded and said, "All right, then I'll go get ready." With that, she vanished in a flicker into the darkness.

Though Yang Ce could clearly see Wang Yanqiu's movements, he did not use his ability to probe for her. Instead he stood quietly, closed his eyes, and waited for that warning ability to appear.

By any reasonable logic, if Wang Yanqiu was going to assassinate him in a moment, his ability ought to manifest.

One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Yang Lanxu grew more and more tense, but the ability never appeared. Could his guess have been wrong? Were those two manifestations of the ability merely coincidence?

Just as Yang Ce was pondering this, Wang Yanqiu had already made her move. Yang Ce suddenly felt a sharp gust of wind behind him, driving straight at his back.

Yang Yongjin did not dare be careless. Though little Wang's strength was not great, this was not a contest of strength—a killer relied on finesse and placement. A seemingly light punch to the backside and the same punch to the head were two entirely different outcomes.

Yang Juehuan twisted his body to the side and dodged Wang Yanqiu's strike, but another came right after. Yang Shuoxuan had no mind to toy with her any longer; he leapt hurriedly to one side and shouted, "Stop! That's enough—no more testing."

Wang Yanqiu stopped in puzzlement and looked at Yang Ce. "What is it? Why did you stop?"

Yang Lanxu gave a helpless sigh. The ability had given no warning, so there was no point in continuing the fight. What Yang Ce had wanted to test was that warning ability—not any reaction speed at all.

"Your speed is far too far below mine. There's no way to test reaction ability at all—the moment you move, I can sense you." That was the only explanation Yang Ce could give; he could hardly tell Wang Yanqiu that his ability had failed to give a warning.

Hearing Yang Juehuan's words, Wang Yanqiu gave a cold little huff. "I'm no match for you—there, satisfied? Otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to join the Black Widow assassins."

"It's Black Butterfly now," Yang Ce corrected.

"Fine, Black Butterfly." Wang Yanqiu repeated it helplessly. "Since you think this kind of training won't work, then I'll shoot at you with a gun—let's see whether you can react in advance."

With a gun? Yang Ce was slightly taken aback, then said, "That's perfect."

"Perfect?" Wang Yanqiu was dumbfounded. Had Yang Ce lost his mind? A gun, and he called it perfect? A gun was no joke—a single slip and you were dead, and he still said perfect.

"Yes, that settles it." Yang Yu nodded and said, "Use the gun."

Yang Duoran knew well the danger of a gun, but to confirm the existence of his ability, Yang Ce decided to take the risk. With his eyesight and reaction speed, dodging a bullet fired from ambush would not be easy, but making it strike some unimportant part of his body was still possible.

Seeing Yang Ce's resolute manner, Wang Yanqiu had nothing more to say and could only answer, "All right, then wait for it."

Wang Yanqiu once again found a place to hide, though in truth she need not have hidden at all—once Yang Ce turned his back, he did not look around again. She did not know what had gotten into him today, insisting on doing something so crazy. Was he sick in the head?