Chapter 85, Twentieth Round (4)

“I have no problem forming a whisky group with Bourbon, Rye, and Scotch from the same period, but—” Vermouth pointed incredulously at herself, “Me? I corrupted Bourbon?”

Gin snorted coldly, his face full of displeasure: "What else? Bourbon may be crazy, but he was quite diligent and serious before he partnered with you. Ever since you took him under your wing, he's started to develop all sorts of lazy and wasteful habits. Now, except when it comes to things involving Rai and Sakura, he doesn't even take the initiative to do missions for the organization anymore. If we don't call him back soon, I'm afraid he'll be lost somewhere and doing nothing. I've had enough of this annoying mysticism."

Vermouth: "..."

She initially wanted to refute it, but upon closer reflection, it seemed to be true.

But Bourbon has always been a mystic, it's not like she corrupted him... No, what's wrong with mysticism? Mysticism is the most charming thing, okay?

Moreover, Bourbon clearly didn't slack off like her. That guy even secretly investigated her secrets and then coerced her into becoming his protector in the organization and teaching him voice-changing techniques!

She corrupted Bourbon? Does Gin even know what he's saying? Does Bourbon need her to corrupt him?

To be honest, Bourbon is using her. Now she not only has to worry about Bourbon accidentally dying and her secret being exposed to the world, but she also has to teach him how to change anyone's voice at will.

Even so, Vermouth still likes Bourbon very much. In fact, their relationship and way of getting along has become more casual and intimate compared to the previous pretentious and dangerous way of testing each other. But that doesn't mean she thinks Bourbon is a good kid.

What's wrong with Gin? He was warning her to be careful of Bourbon a year ago, but now he's gradually being misled by Bourbon's behavior?

Vermouth thought about how diligent and hardworking Bourbon was in the first three months after joining the organization, how much he contributed and how quickly he obtained a codename. She also recalled that in the past year or so, Bourbon had either been eating, drinking and having fun with her or provoking Ray and cheating and swindling in the organization. In short, he had never done anything productive... Vermouth was completely unable to refute him.

She knew she had been tricked by Bourbon. After getting his codename, Bourbon no longer wanted to work hard for the organization. Although he was lazy, his efforts to dedicate himself to the organization were different from Gin's. That guy also had his own secret goals.

So that guy set his sights on her, not just out of curiosity about her information, but more importantly, to use her as an excuse to adopt a mystical style of slacking off and disappearing. He wanted to learn her disguise skills and voice-changing techniques, and even threatened her with secret information to make her protect his life in dangerous situations... Tsk, he really had a lot of schemes, and the scariest thing is that he actually succeeded in all of them.

In all her years, Vermouth had never encountered such a dangerous and unpredictable person.

Even Gin wouldn't go that far.

Gin's type is actually quite easy for her to deal with.

As for Bourbon... their status has been completely overturned.

Vermouth's perception of Bourbon has evolved from an audacious, pleasure-seeking intelligence broker to a newcomer in the organization's fierce competition, then to a charming little fox partner who suits her taste, and now to a grown-up Bourbon who seems to have been bitten by a wolf she raised. All of this has taken less than two years.

The witch wanted to raise a cute and beautiful little fox, but the fox tricked her so badly that even after being bitten, she still had to use her magic to protect its life when it was in danger.

"Alright, let Bourbon torment your nerves. I'm looking forward to your reaction, Gin." Vermouth wore a gloating expression.

Now that Bourbon can basically transform into anyone's voice at will, the deal is done. She'd better hurry up and get rid of this big-tailed fox who always likes to disguise himself as a kitten.

Foxes are cute, and it's fun to be around them. Because they're smart, there are usually no conflicts or disagreements, and life even becomes more colorful. But the feeling of them suddenly and accurately biting your neck when they're unhappy is really too dangerous.

Ferocious beasts cannot be domesticated.

The best option for her and Bourbon is to maintain a certain distance and a superficial friendship so that neither of them dies. They can help each other out when they encounter trouble, and that's enough.

She couldn't do anything to Bourbon, so she let him wreak havoc on the Qin Bar.

Actually, as long as she wasn't the one being messed with, Vermouth was quite happy to play with Bourbon.

*

Rye was standing on the rooftop smoking, his face serious as he made plans for the dangerous life that was about to begin.

His life was originally very peaceful.

Although he is now a codenamed member of a transnational criminal organization and has to team up with another member of a dangerous organization codenamed Scotland as a sniper partner, they get along fairly well, complete their missions perfectly, and have no problems in their personal lives.

Moreover, after he received his codename and got his girlfriend to break up with him with a single sentence, Bourbon stopped targeting him in extremely dangerous ways.

It's also possible that Bourbon followed Vermouth to the United States to slack off and started manipulating the FBI.

But Rye wasn't happy at all, after all, he was an undercover agent sent by the FBI to infiltrate the organization.

And it's not just his girlfriend; his partner, Scotland, has now practically become an undercover agent planted by Bourbon around him.

Even if Bourbon is not in the country, because of Scotland, Bourbon can still control all his information, and then use the internet and intelligence to make things difficult for him whenever he has time.

Scotland is great in every way, and as an organizing partner, he's almost perfect. The only thing he's hopeless about is his bias towards Bourbon; his filter for Bourbon is at least 800 meters.

Scotland was also very formidable, so much so that Rye often wondered why such a man had to be a member of the organization. But even so, he was no match for Bourbon.

No one understood the man's danger better than he, who had been constantly targeted by Bourbon and was also an FBI undercover agent.

Rye had assumed that Bourbon would try to drive a wedge between him and Scotland, causing Scotland to abandon him as a partner, just like his girlfriend had broken up with him.

Insiders within the organization even started betting on when Scotland would abandon Rye and when Bourbon would abandon Scotland.

Rye didn't think anything of it. He even stepped forward and bet the 100 million yen compensation that Bourbon refused to accept, betting that Scotland would abandon him as his partner. Just like Calvados became Vermouth's tool, Scotland would ignore everyone and run to Bourbon to become his tool.

Add to that the rumors of a close, ambiguous relationship between Bourbon and Vermouth, and perhaps Calvados's relationship with Scotland will become rather strange...

Although others couldn't tell from the surface, Ray was also a little curious about it, and even hoped that the people in the organization would start fighting amongst themselves as soon as possible, preferably banning both Bourbon and Gin.

Leigh doesn't rule out breaking up with Scotland; in fact, he's quite looking forward to it.

If he could, he would prefer to act alone. After all, he was an undercover agent and had no interest in teaming up with others; he was already used to being alone.

Even if he wanted to gather intelligence, he would approach Bourbon, whose brain was full of important information about the organization, or Vermouth and Gin, who were highly experienced and had high positions, rather than a rookie sniper of the same generation as him.

But something unexpected happened.

Scotland did not propose changing its partner.

Although Gin might not agree to the proposal, Ray had previously proposed to go solo after discovering that Scotland was under Bourbon's control, but Gin refused.

He was even mocked by Gin, who asked if he was afraid of Bourbon.

Of course, Ray said he wasn't afraid of Bourbon, but he found him troublesome and worried about what would happen if the mission went wrong.

Then Gin said okay, he would solve their problem.

The guy's solution was to simply bind them all together.

While it's normal for two action teams' snipers and an intelligence team's intelligence officer to form a partnership, putting the names Ray, Scotland, and Bourbon together is just absurd, isn't it?

What are they trying to do? Are they raising a treacherous spirit?

As Lai thought of this, his hand holding the cigarette paused, and the ash fell to the ground.

So it seems his life wasn't peaceful before. How did he get so worked up by Bourbon that he thought that kind of life was peaceful?

However, compared to the news that Bourbon was returning home and even forming a three-person team with him and Scotland, it really didn't matter.

Ray could already imagine how dangerous and troublesome life would be afterward.

*

One month later.

Ray stood on the rooftop again, smoking, the wind ruffling his long black hair.

But this time it wasn't because he wanted to clear his head or think things through, but because Bourbon wouldn't let him smoke in the room.

Ray didn't understand why Gin was so angry, saying that Vermouth had corrupted Bourbon and that Bourbon had become lazy and undisciplined.

Yes, Bourbon has indeed become less enthusiastic about doing tasks, but that's because he's shifted his attention to other things.

Although he doesn't do any tasks, he spends all day glued to his computer, seemingly busy with something, and even needs Scotland to prepare his meals and bring them to him.

When he's not busy, Bourbon will also go to the kitchen to cook delicious meals for Scotland. And he almost never repeats the same dishes, always experimenting with different recipes and never making a mistake.

Lai, who was there to freeload, said it was really delicious.

After witnessing firsthand the relationship between Bourbon and Scotland, Ray found it not so hard to understand why Scotland had been deceived by Bourbon.

Bourbon-style honey traps are indeed terrifying.

After being mocked for not being able to cook, Lai tried to learn, but under Scottish guidance, he only managed to make curry.

With Scottish and Bourbon, both highly skilled chefs, as his roommates, Rye quickly gave up wasting time struggling with the food and relaxed to enjoy the dishes prepared by the two top chefs.

The price he paid was that he had to clean up.

However, this kind of life doesn't seem as bad as he imagined.

*

Three months later.

Bourbon seemed less busy. After going on vacation with Scotland for a few days, he suddenly asked Scotland to teach him how to be a sniper.

At the time, Rye was maintaining his sniper rifle: "?"

"Aren't you an intelligence agent?" Ray looked at the blond youth holding Scotland's arm. "Are you trying to gather intelligence up close while also sniping from afar? When did you learn the art of being in multiple places at once? Did you learn it from Gin this time?"

By learning voice changing from Vermouth, clone techniques from Gin, and sniping from Scotland, he could simultaneously conduct close-range infiltration and intelligence gathering while also engaging in long-range sniping.

Bourbon instantly understood what he meant and glared at him fiercely: "What's it to you? What? Who said intelligence personnel can't learn to be snipers? Are you worried that you, as a professional sniper, will lose to me in sniping?"

With a flick of his wrist, Ray assembled the last part of the sniper rifle, stood up, and sneered at Bourbon as he carried the rifle: "Since you're so confident, why don't you let me teach you? Scotland's record is still a step behind mine, so you won't have to make excuses about Scotland's teaching methods when you lose."

Scotland, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, paused for a moment, the smile on his face slowly disappearing, and his sharp blue eyes swept over coolly: "Let me teach Bourbon. After all, he's just starting out, and my abilities are sufficient, so I won't trouble you."

Then, Lai's dinner was particularly bad; it was both salty and sour, as if several times more salt and vinegar had been added.

Lei: "..."

Alright, then I won't bother you two anymore.

Lai went out for a walk that night and came back with a bunch of books on programming and computer information technology. He also applied to the organization for a state-of-the-art computer.

And so, Rye stayed home alone typing on his keyboard, while Bourbon began learning sniping with Scotland. When they weren't on missions, they were always together, training and relaxing.

Compared to Rae, the two of them are more like a pair of sniper partners.

Moreover, Bourbon's shooting talent was terrifyingly strong, shocking all the snipers in the organization.

At first, Chianti would deliberately go to the training ground every time to mock Bourbon, but gradually, she stopped laughing.

Gin also came to see it several times. The last time, he was silent for a long time when he saw Bourbon's performance, which was enough to crush most of the snipers in the organization. Then he turned around and began to sneer and scold all the snipers, saying that if they did not work hard to improve their strength, they would be surpassed by an intelligence officer, which was a disgrace to the action group.

Then, even Gin, who hadn't touched a sniper rifle in a long time, would occasionally come to train, and his grades were currently the highest.

Next is Lei, but that was a result he deliberately concealed, because his persona was that his sniping talent was discovered by the organization and he gradually grew.

Third is Scotland, which is also growing at a very fast pace.

The two newcomers, Rye and Scotland, already put a lot of pressure on the snipers, but now Bourbon's arrival has completely thrown them into disarray.

However, such stimulation was not very effective. None of the organization's snipers were lax; they had been working hard to improve their skills in the world's most advanced training rooms without ever slacking off.

However, each sniper has a very strict limit on their own record. This is no longer a matter of hard work; only a lot of targeted practice and time can make up for some of the talent gap.

The more pressure Bourbon and Gin put on them, the more their mentality collapsed, and the worse their performance became.

Watching Bourbon's performance gradually approach his own best record, Chianti was starting to feel resistant to going to the training ground. He needed to take a deep breath every time he checked Bourbon's results.

Once Bourbon breaks his record again, he will turn around and mock other snipers with lower scores, and then issue a declaration of war that puts enormous pressure on snipers with higher scores.

Chianti and Calvados were almost driven mad by him.

Chianti even went so far as to tell Scotland to get Bourbon out of the sniper training range, but Scotland just happily clapped and praised Bourbon for improving a little more today.

Lei: "..."

To be honest, Lei was a little nervous too.

Looking at his records, he resolved to continue improving his sniping skills while studying programming.

We absolutely, absolutely cannot let Bourbon catch up.