Zhang Heng did not stay at the same place for too long. After a while, he continued to move forward, pretending to not notice the person that was following him.
He strolled along the banks of the Tiber River. At a pace neither fast nor slow, he blended into the people around him. After walking for a while, he turned right into Perfume Shop Street.
As the name suggested, this street was full of perfume shops.
Perfume’s origins were discovered to be earlier than what most people had thought. It was used in ancient Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, before finding wide use in ancient Greek and Rome. The advertisements that were painted on the walls at Victor Arena where Zhang Heng fought earlier informed the audience that they would be spraying perfume at the lower stands. This served as a means for the arena to attract more audiences.
Other than that, the ancient Romans had many creative ways of using perfume. For example, when building a house, some people would mix it into the mortar. By doing that, when the sun shone on the mortar, it would emit fragrance. And some people would spray perfume on their slaves and horses, making them feel refreshed and happy wherever they went.
Due to the ancient Romans’ passion for perfumes, the business of perfume shops flourished. Many people walked around Perfume Shop Street every day. Those tailing Zhang Heng felt as if they were facing a wave of enemies, worried that he might slip away if they failed to pay attention to him for even one second.
After a while, they realized they did not need to worry about Zhang Heng getting away from them. That was because Zhang Heng did not speed up his pace or look for somewhere to hide. From the moment he turned into the Perfume Shop Street, he was always within their sights. Until he left the Perfume Shop Street and came to a group of apartments at the back of the street, it was quieter over there.
Zhang Heng then walked into an alley with clothes poles. The bright-colored clothes hanging on top of it gently surfed in the wind. The group of people following Zhang Heng secretly glanced at each other, feeling that the right time to attack Zhang Heng was almost upon them. So, they quickly drew their weapons, most of which were daggers, and among them, one short sword. The group of five then dashed into the alley.
Zhang Heng had just turned into the alley a few seconds ago, but they lost sight of him.
What happened to their target?
The five people rubbed their eyes and were shocked to find out that Zhang Heng had vanished into thin air. They had been following him around for the whole day without losing him, but just as they were about to attack, Zhang Heng was nowhere to be found. This was something that they could not accept.
How did someone disappear into thin air? If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they would have probably not believed it. Just when they were thinking about dealing with the person who hired them, a voice came from above their heads.
“Are you looking for me?”
Zhang Heng loosened the grip on his hand that was holding the wall and jumped off. And he landed right on the back of the last person, who lost balance and fell into the four people in front of him.
Immediately, Zhang Heng took advantage of the split second he had to pick up the opponent’s short sword that fell on the ground. The four people in front of him also turned around to help their ally up.
The peace did not last very long. The next moment, the five people charged at Zhang Heng without saying a word.
And Zhang Heng had no intention to talk to them as well. Judging by their appearance, they looked to be street thugs that had committed all kinds of crimes. To make them talk, Zhang Heng had to give them a good beating first.
Fortunately, such a battle was a piece of cake for him.
Zhang Heng chose to fight them at this location because it was a relatively remote spot. It would also force the five thugs to attack him here. And the second reason was that the alley was very narrow. It could fit only a maximum of two people when they stood next to each other. If they made too much movement, they would definitely alert passers-by.
Although there were five people on the enemy’s team, only two of them could attack Zhang Heng simultaneously. And they might interfere with each other’s attack. So Zhang Heng went ahead and stabbed them. One wanted to move to the right, and the other tried to move left. In the end, none of them could dodge Zhang Heng’s attack.
Since they were just a group of thugs, none possessed any notable fighting skills. All they could rely on was their brute force. Even Varo, who had only been trained for fifty days, could deal with the two of them at the same time.
And it took Zhang Heng less than three minutes to make them succumb to him. It meant none of them dared to get up from the ground after Zhang Heng beat them up.
Then Zhang Heng squatted in front of one of the thugs who seemed to be the leader, lifted his head with a short sword, and asked, “Come on, tell me, who sent you?”
“I can’t say. Otherwise, I won’t be able to live in Rome anymore,” replied the young man with gritted teeth. Looking to be of only about sixteen or seventeen years old, he was one tough cookie.
“You should know that I’m not happy with this answer, right?” Zhang Heng looked into his eyes.
Although Zhang Heng spoke calmly, the young thug could not help but begin to tremble in fear. Before he could talk, the person next to him said, “Just tell him. Tell him everything. We are all in this together. We didn’t make much money anyway. Each of us can only get seven Denarius. It is not worth risking your life for so little money.”
Upon that, a look of hesitation appeared on the young thug’s face.
“I think what your friend said is very reasonable. If I were you, I would take his advice,” Zhang Heng said, driving his sword deeper into the thug’s neck at the same time.
“Hunahpu, the people from Hunahpu Arena hired us. They paid us to follow you whenever you leave the arena alone. We did not expect that we would get the opportunity to execute our plan on the first day,” the young man replied in a low voice, his words filled with bitterness.
“They asked you to kill me?” Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows.
“No. We just had to make sure that you stayed in bed for two months.”
“I see now.”
Zhang Heng knew that the Hunahpu Arena must have hired them to attack him because of the gladiatorial show that was going to be held at the Amphitheatrum Flavium in a month’s time. After coming to Rome for some time, Zhang Heng now knew a thing or two about gladiator schools. He knew that Hunahpu Arena was the fourth-largest gladiator school in Rome and was considered one of Mark Reuss’s competitors. Over the years, both gladiator schools were filled with conflict.
However, Zhang Heng did not expect that they would act on him so quickly. He had only gained fame a few hours ago after the twelve-man mixed fight ended. Even if the Hunahpu Arena wanted to mess with Mark Reuss, it was only logical that they would start with Habitus first.
Zhang Heng tapped the hilt with his fingers as he pondered over the matter.
The five gangsters looked at Zhang Heng nervously. Their faces were filled with anxiety because they did not know what would happen to them.
A moment later, Zhang Heng stretched out his hand, “Hand over the money you received.”
The five thugs did not do what Zhang Heng asked right away. They were reluctant to hand over the money to Zhang Heng. Since they did not have a proper job, they would not have any source of income. It was not easy for them to come across an opportunity to make money. Although it was not much, handing over the money to Zhang Heng just like that was very much a painful affair. Moreover, they had to think about explaining to their employer after they failed the given task.
Seeing that the group of thugs wouldn’t hand over the money to him, Zhang Heng said again, “I am always fair. You can choose between not getting out of bed for two months or giving me the money.”
In the end, they had to hand over the money to Zhang Heng reluctantly. After Zhang Heng counted the coins, he did not put them into his pocket. Instead, he said, “Very well, I now have a profitable business to discuss with you guys. I’m not sure if you guys will be interested in it.”
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