Chapter 301

Although in the system's eyes, Usaku Saiki is a lazy bum who only wants to lie down, in the eyes of the other members of the organization, Usaku Saiki's image is terrifying.

Although he has never personally sniped anyone, judging from his command skills and his Middle Eastern background, his level is probably very high, and his actual combat skills should not be too bad either.

Their judgment of people is so accurate it's almost unbelievable; they seem to be able to see into other people's hearts like a psychologist, and can even manipulate other people's behavior to some extent based on this.

He acts entirely on his own whims, his moods are unpredictable, and even when someone like Gin is watching him and trying to assassinate him, he shows no fear whatsoever, as if he has everything under control, and one wonders what other tricks he has up his sleeve...

Therefore, it's understandable that Scotland is so skeptical of this salted fish.

Not only did he have doubts himself, but he also turned around and told his friend Bourbon, making Bourbon doubt as well.

The two discussed it seriously for a long time and finally concluded that Usaku Saiki was joking.

Scotland closed his eyes: "As it stands, he probably just doesn't like Gin, and he shouldn't risk his life for something like that..."

After reaching this conclusion, Scotland and Bourbon felt somewhat empty and lost.

"...Actually, it wouldn't be a bad thing if he really became the boss," Bourbon quipped. "At least it would be more convenient for us."

Scotland sighed: "He's someone who does nothing but cause trouble. Boss can't possibly not have his own children. How could we really let him be the boss? If we were to usurp the throne, he would definitely find it too much trouble."

Bourbon: "Then let's compromise. If he doesn't usurp the throne and just drives Gin away, I can accept that."

Scotland: "...You stayed up all night again last night? Are you still not awake?"

What sweet dreams are you having?

Bourbon gave him a serious look: "To be honest, if he keeps going like this, it'll be over soon."

“He should have toned it down a bit, right?” Scotland pondered. “I asked him if he had complained to the Boss about Gin killing Sherry at the hotel last time, and he said no, and even spoke up for Gin. That should be true. Apart from deliberately saying some ambiguous things, he doesn’t really lie much… I think he’s more inclined to mess with Gin than to actually drive him away.”

Bourbon wore a look that was hard to describe.

He didn't know whether to believe that Usaku Saiki wanted to keep Gin in the organization to cause trouble, or to believe that Usaku Saiki's current restraint was just a prelude to something big later.

After all, that little rascal is full of bad intentions!

Come to think of it, it's been a while since he messed with Gin last time. Maybe Usui Saiki will make some moves soon. He should keep an eye on things.

Bourbon, taking advantage of his position in the intelligence group, didn't hide his attention to Gin, which prompted Rum to ask him about it.

"You've been making a lot of little moves lately."

For an organization like theirs that needs to keep a lot of things confidential, paying too much attention to the whereabouts of other cadres and members is actually a risky move.

But because Bourbon had acted so openly and with such discretion, and didn't seem to have any ulterior motives, Rum was still willing to listen to what his capable subordinate had to say.

Bourbon calmly delivered his prepared lines: "Well, I've heard a bit of a rumor, so I'm keeping a close eye on Gin."

Rum paused for a moment: "Did you hear about this from Potness?"

Rum, as the head of the intelligence team, naturally saw the video of Gin shooting someone multiple times without killing them, then cleverly fighting with thin air and suddenly kneeling down to let the person escape. He also knew very well that the video was recorded by Potts and Chianti.

Although Rum didn't like Potts, he disliked Gin even more. He was happy when Gin was in trouble, so he wrote an analysis of several thousand words based on the video and submitted it to the Boss.

Unfortunately, no one knows how Gin explained it, but the Boss still continues to rely on Gin, which makes Rum very disappointed.

Since the last video was given to him by Bourbon, and he also knew that Potts and Gin didn't get along, he guessed that Bourbon might have heard something from Potts again.

Bourbon said, "I guess so. Anyway, Gin has had his issues before, and although he's explained them, I think it's still good to keep an eye on things. What do you think?"

Rum acquiesced.

Bourbon wouldn't let such things affect his job. He would only glance at it occasionally, and most of the time he would only find out about it after Gin had finished his mission or even submitted his report.

Seeing that Gin's mission completion rate had rebounded, it seemed that his recent setbacks were just a flash in the pan. Even Potts' sarcastic remarks hadn't appeared for a long time, and the group that used to talk bad about Gin was now peaceful and quiet, with no one saying anything bad about him for a long time. This made Bourbon suspect that Potts' account had been hacked.

...No way, they really stopped?

Amid Bourbon's continued suspicions, it turned out that Usuoba Saiki had simply taken a vacation, gone on a trip, and only returned to Tokyo today.

He had previously been saying he wanted to take a vacation, but he often inadvertently raised suspicion levels. This time, he really avoided those key figures completely, even turning off his phone, and took a good rest.

After returning to Tokyo, as soon as he turned on his phone, there was nothing from the organization, but several people from Hanakawa Shinryu's side sent him emails asking when he would be back.

Bo Yezhai: [Sigh, the trouble of being too popular.]

The system nearly burst out laughing: "...Perhaps it's just an urgent matter."

Bo Yezaki quickly checked the email, and before he could decide who to reply to first, a phone call came in.

Usoppei answered the call without hesitation.

"Huh? Finally, it's up and running?" Inspector Megure's voice was filled with relief. "Oh my god, Samikawa-kun, where are you now? Are you back in Tokyo?"

"I'm back. What's up?"

Inspector Megure didn't seem to mind his cold tone; he'd gotten used to it over the years. "I have a case on my hands right now, it's kind of a serial murder case. Do you have some time?"

Bo Yezaki casually said, "Tell me about it first."

“Okay, first is Nishitama City Councilor Oki Iwamatsu, then engineer Hara Yoshiaki. Both of them had broken small wine glasses at their deaths… This is because the deceased were important councilors, and the Tokiwa Foundation is involved. It's uncertain whether there will be any further victims. In this situation, the faster the case is solved, the better. So I was thinking, if you have some free time…”

Because Inspector Megure knew Shinryu Samakawa well, he was well aware that the other party was not accepting the case out of sympathy or anything like that, but rather out of personal preference.

The fact that a small broken wine glass was left at the scene makes this case more interesting to Shinryu Hanchuan than to ordinary cases.

However, Shinryu Hanchuan has a habit of going into a state where he doesn't want to do anything or simply disappears when there are a lot of cases, just like he did recently. Inspector Megure was worried about this.

Yes, he knew that Hanchuan Shenliu had just returned from his trip, but no one could guarantee that he hadn't encountered any troublesome cases while traveling!

If Shinryu Hanakawa's patience runs out during his trip and he refuses to look at the case he's handling... Inspector Megure would feel a bit pathetic.

This case is getting really complicated! The president of Tokiwa Group has become a suspect, and Tokiwa Group isn't one to be trifled with. If we don't act quickly, we might miss a lot of things if we go back to investigate!

Inspector Megure was anxious on the other end, but after hearing the description, Saiki Usaba realized which case it was.

He had originally planned to rest for two days, but now he was going to give up and readily agreed to Inspector Megure's invitation: "Okay, prepare the documents, I'll go take a look tomorrow."

"...Could we do it sooner?" Inspector Megure said, somewhat embarrassed. "It's like this, one of the suspects, Tokiwa Mio, is going to the opening ceremony of the Twin Towers skyscraper tomorrow. As you know, the probability of something happening at such a large event is rather high..."

He wasn't being overly pessimistic; Tokyo really is that dangerous!

But Usoppei remained unmoved: "When is the opening ceremony?"

Inspector Megure replied, "Tonight."

Bo Yezaki said decisively, "Then I'll go there this afternoon."

Mu Mu Police Department: "…………"

The plan was to have Hanchuan Shenliu handle the case tonight, but it's turned into the afternoon now...

Well, something is better than nothing. After all, Han Chuan Shenliu isn't coming, and the others aren't just sitting around doing nothing. They might make some discoveries, and then Han Chuan Shenliu won't be needed anymore!

The following afternoon, as expected, Shinryu Kanakawa appeared at the Metropolitan Police Department.

Shiratori Ninzaburo was in charge of the case. He had worked with Kanakawa Shinryu many times before, so he didn't complain about the timing Shiratori chose. Instead, he piled all the prepared materials in front of Kanakawa Shinryu.

"This is the autopsy report, this is the scene situation, this is the deceased's social network, this is the suspect's social network, this is..."

Hankawa Shinryu picked up a document and quickly flipped through it. Shiratori Renzaburo knew that he could multitask, so he continued to introduce the document to Hankawa Shinryu so that he could easily take what he needed.

After Hanakawa Shinryu put down the documents and leaned back in his chair, Shiratori Renzaburo asked, "So, any thoughts?"

"...Yes, these two cases should be separate, not a serial murder case."

Shiratori Ninzaburo was taken aback: "So it's a copycat crime? How did you figure that out?"

Han Chuan Shenliu pulled out the crime scene data from the second case: "Look, here, the shards of the wine glass are clearly in the pool of blood, but there is no blood on them, which means that someone smashed the wine glass after the blood had dried."

Shiratori Ninzaburo took it and was immediately shocked: "That's right! But why?"

"For the sake of an alibi. If it's judged to be a serial murder case, as long as there's an alibi for even one of the crimes, suspicion can be cleared."

Han Chuan Shenliu was languid and seemed not to have recovered from the laziness of his vacation.

Shiratori Ninzaburo was a little envious. He had been working overtime for a long time, but the case was finally showing signs of improvement, and his vacation should be coming soon: "So, the culprit is Master Kisaragi, who has already been cleared of suspicion!? But why!?"

Hankawa Shinryu: "Perhaps it's because the twin towers obstructed his view of Mount Fuji."

Shiratori Ninzaburo: "…………"

His strong deductive reasoning and crime-solving abilities are one thing; he's long been used to Hanakawa Shinryu's exceptional skills in that area. But this ability to decipher the criminal's thought process...

He felt that it was impossible for an ordinary person to analyze from such a large amount of data that a murderer wanted to kill because the building blocked the view!

What's with Hanchuan Shenliu's thought process?! How does he know so much!

Shiratori Renzaburo stood up, his lips twitching. "Master Kisaragi should be waiting at the Twin Towers for the banquet by now... I'll report this to Inspector Megure and drive there! He thinks he's cleared his name, so he can't escape!"

Inspector Megure was worried that something might happen at the banquet, so he had originally planned to take some men to keep watch under the Twin Towers. Now it was the perfect time to set off.

Han Chuan Shenliu: "Ah, but there is a lack of evidence. At least from your materials, there is no evidence to identify him."

Shiratori Ninzaburo froze in place as he was about to open the door.

Han Chuan Shenliu stood up leisurely: "Do you have an invitation? I'll go to the banquet."

It might sound like a change of topic, but Shiratori Renzaburo knew that this was just a common tactic used by Samikawa Shinryu to "obtain evidence."

Shiratori Ninzaburo hesitated, then said, "...This is a banquet hosted by the Tokiwa Group. Could you be a little gentler this time?"

Please, please, stop with the nonsense about driving prisoners to the brink of collapse or driving them insane to the point of wanting to take everyone down with them! Can't you be a little more low-key this time?

Otherwise, the Tokiwa Group is familiar with many lawmakers, and even if the case is solved, they might still be criticized!

Damn bureaucracy!

Han Chuan Shenliu fell into an eerie silence for a moment.

"...I'll try my best."