Chapter 357 - Second Warning

Qing Zihao did not come that night and neither on the night following his grandfather's death. He did not come for the a whole week.

Christina knew that he was just taking time to grieve his grandfather but she wished that she could at least tell him her condolence. She wanted to be there for him, to comfort him.

She knew that she would not be able to go to their house. Who was she anyway? She was just a lowly waitress in this place. No matter how much she wanted to see him, it would not be possible… or wouldn't it?

She decided that she would see him tonight. No matter it would take. 

Christina got up from her bed and immediately took a bath. Her day started again serving tables and catching the looks from the male customers. She usually just let them be as nobody even dared to touch her. But today, she glared at them and they lowered their eyes.

She wanted for the day to be finally over even when it just started. The boy delivering their newspaper finally tossed their copy and Christina gave it to the old couple behind the counter.

The newspaper were in letters that she did not understand. Yesterday, the news about Qing Zhangwei had a translation as he was a businessman and some of his foreign investors must be watching. 

Christina was dying to get more news about Qing Zihao's grandfather. At least then she would know at around what time would he be back to see her.

"There is another letter for you," said the old woman. There was an envelope as plain as the other one had been.

Christina's stomach dropped. It had been rolled with the newspaper. What place could The Order of the Red Hand would not be able to reach? It was as if the whole world was at their hands.

She did not even bother going up the stairs this time and just ripped the top of the envelope. She would be the only who would understand the letters anyway.

But this time, it was not a note. It was a newspaper clipping, behind it was something that would be the translation.

"Twenty-six-year-old woman found dead and mutilated by the dump."

Christina pushed the paper and envelope inside her pocket. The deaths would just get worse and worse.

"This is your second warning," The Order was telling her.

And that would be the last, she thought.

**

When nighttime came and she was finally off her shift. Christina locked the door to her bedroom and pulled her bag from under the bed and placed it on top of the mattress. She pressed upon the lower portion of it and it opened a secret compartment.

There were only three guns inside and she slid one of the pistols by her thigh and under her skirt. She also slid a couple if knives at her ankles. Then she threw herself off the window and landed on the ground like a cat—silent and sure.

She looked back at the diner. They were not going to look for her. She ran to catch the bus at this interval and it already almost left when she called and waved for the driver to wait for her. 

In the first letter that she got from The Order, there were addresses and she trusted her gut with how she was going to get to Zihao's residence. When she got off the bus stop, she consulted the glassed map and remembered the turns she had to take to get to the street that looked almost like the translation from the letter.

She jogged, walked, then jogged again, to get there as soon as she could. It was almost ten in the evening and the residential area was almost empty. People were already resting in their houses and preparing to sleep.

She counted down the houses from their posted numbers and finally reached a walled property that had spikes at the top of the flat surface of the top. This was the Qing's residence. She huffed and skipped the house and went to the next one. The other one was considerably lower and the walls were topped with glass.

Christina looked at either end of the street, no one was there. She shrugged off her coat and folded it, tossing it over the wall so it would cover the glass. She jumped and hauled herself over to the other side.

She did not waste time, she ran to the side and climbed its pipes so she would be able to cross the much lowered left wall of the Qing's residence. She leapt off from the slated roof and landed with a painful roll over to the next property.

She groaned. She did not even know if Zihao was there, but she was going to see him again. Because if she would not come tonight, she might never see him again.

Christina pressed herself agains the wall of the house. It looked and felt empty. The funeral must be happening someplace else. She still checked anyway. It did not look like anyone was inside the first floor of the house so she slipped herself on the slight slit from a rotating window just in time that a guard was about to be in her field of view. He came with a dog.

Christina stilled and waited until they were out of earshot before she moved around. The house was high-ceilinged. She could not see much in the dark but the little light that shined on the items told her that they were expensive.

She reached the second floor and checked each door. She prided herself for being stealthy. She had light feet, that was what the boss had told her before. Finally, on the room at the far corner of the hallway, there was a shape on top of the bed.

One look at the mess and she knew that it was Zihao's room.