"Wait," the clerk voice suddenly cut through the bounty den.
His eyes narrowed behind his jade spectacles. "What did you say your name was again?"
Victor froze and tried to play it cool.
"What do you mean?... I already told you..."
The air thickened around him.
The lanterns flickered faintly in the silence that followed.
The clerk straightened and waved a hand over a carved jade slip on the counter. It glowed for a moment before dimming again.
"There's no Void Veil listed in our registry," the clerk said. "No assassin by that name has taken the Fang Chen bounty."
Victor's fingers twitched.
He tried to play it off. "Look, it doesn't matter. Just take the body. I'm not here to talk."
He shoved the unconscious cultivator onto the floor with a heavy thud and turned to leave.
But he didn't make it two steps before weapons were drawn.
Steel rang out and qi began to crackle like sparks behind him.
