Chapter 365
Cohen remained on the opposite rooftop to keep watch, while Usoppei and Ireland chatted as they walked.
Normally, this level of caution isn't necessary, but since the infiltration attempt in Ireland failed and the police discovered them, Cohen has no choice but to continue keeping watch.
On the way to the base, Usoppei asked, "How were you discovered?"
"...Speaking of which, besides me, do you know who else the organization sent to infiltrate?" Ireland questioned. "Surely they could have seen right through me and realized I wasn't who I was? I didn't even get a chance to say a word to them!"
After escaping the police pursuit and finally calming down, he snapped out of his obsessive thoughts and realized that Gin didn't need to be so obvious if he wanted to mess with him... However, his feelings for Gin were already negative, and clearing up one suspicion didn't make things any better.
But if Gin hadn't pulled some tricks, how could the other person have recognized him as a different person the moment they met? Ireland was really confused.
Bo Yezhai asked knowingly, "Who saw through you?"
“Hanchuan Shenliu.” Ireland gritted his teeth. “A consultant for the Metropolitan Police Department… but I’m not sure if it’s really him.”
“Oh, Shinryu Hanakawa,” Suzume Saiki mused. “When you saw him, did you feel that he didn’t look like a policeman, but rather like Gin…”
Ireland was taken aback and quickly said, "Yes, yes, that's it! You know? He really is one of the organization!"
“He really isn’t.” Bo Yezhai sighed. “I know him because I’m in charge of recruitment. He’s somewhat famous in the underworld, so I made some contact with him… I judged that he wasn’t suitable to join the organization, so that was the end of it.”
Ireland was astonished. They hadn't expected that Pottnes, a man supposedly not very hardworking, could provide such useful information: "But how could he... if he hadn't received prior warning..."
“It must be the way you’re looking at him that’s off,” Bo Yezaki calmly analyzed. “I know Hanchuan Shenliu; most people’s first reaction to him is a bit strange, but the Matsumoto manager you’re disguised as isn’t seeing him for the first time, and Hanchuan Shenliu happens to be a very perceptive person…”
Ireland thought about it and felt that it made sense. Even though he was not familiar with Han Chuan Shenliu, he felt that the other party was indeed the kind of person who was very capable at first glance. Before, he thought that no matter how capable someone was, they would not be able to see through him at a glance, but now he could understand.
But if that's the case, wouldn't the mission failure be entirely due to my poor acting skills?
Gin will definitely use this as an excuse to make trouble... Thinking of this, Ireland felt very annoyed: "Aren't the people in charge of gathering intelligence at all right? Nobody told me what Matsumoto Kiyonaga and Samikawa Shinryu's usual interactions are like!"
"Oh, I can tell you that. They're not close. According to my information, they're not close enough that Matsumoto Kiyonaga invited Kanekawa Shinryu to his daughter's wedding, and Kanekawa Shinryu didn't go."
Bo Ye Zaiji shrugged: "It's obvious that your first reaction upon seeing him was too obvious, which is why you gave yourself away."
Ireland:"……"
"It's alright, everyone makes mistakes," Bo Yezaiji comforted him. "Besides, you're in the action team, and your acting skills are only so-so. To send you on this kind of mission... it's just that Gin doesn't know how to use people. He might be deliberately picking a mission you're not good at, just to find an excuse to get rid of you!"
That really hit Ireland right where it hurts.
He also felt that he was not suitable for this kind of infiltration mission, and there was no suitable person in the intelligence group... No one likes to admit their failure, and it feels much more relaxing to push the blame to someone else.
"But failure is failure, there's no need to make excuses." Ireland still had some self-respect and didn't try to shift all the blame. "I overestimated myself and thought everything would be fine before agreeing to Gin's arrangements..."
Usoppei sighed, "You really care about Gin, but I still suggest you be careful with your next mission... Your dissatisfaction with Gin is too obvious, almost as much as mine. Gin wanted to blow me up before, what if he wants to blow you up too... He really likes to settle personal scores."
Ireland's expression turned serious: "I know."
It was because he heard that Gin had once tried to blow up Potniss but was discovered that he secretly inquired about Gin's past missions and found that people often died when they went on missions with Gin... Everyone is a member of the organization, and the mortality rate is not this high when going on missions with other people!
Based on the comparison, it's definitely Gin that has the problem!
Unfortunately, Gin's position was hard to shake, and he couldn't say these things to anyone else... He never expected that the legendary figure, Potts, would suddenly appear and stand on the same side as him.
Ireland felt he should probably listen to Potts's advice more, since he could call Gin an undercover agent and had been alive for so many years without being killed by Gin.
However, they didn't have much time to chat privately, and soon they arrived at the gate of the stronghold.
Scotland opened the door for them.
Usoppei swaggered in and glanced around: "Where's Gin?"
Vodka, without looking to either side, said, "Brother has other things to do."
He had just tipped off his older brother that Potts was coming soon, so his brother changed his plans at the last minute... No, it wasn't that his brother didn't want to see Potts, it was just that there was no need for him to personally handle such a matter, and it was better to save time to do other things!
The Scottish man handed over the gun: "Here you go."
Bo Yezaki took it and glanced at it: "Yes, this is it."
Scotland was conflicted... This gun was a really common model; he could easily get a dozen or so. How was Usakabe Saiki so sure that this was the one he had forgotten to take?
Vodka coughed. "You've got the gun now, shouldn't you be leaving?"
Bo Ye Saiki sat down without changing his expression: "No, Ireland is my friend. He is in trouble, and I want to help him."
Vodka: "...?!?!?!?!"
I hadn't heard that you two knew each other before, how did you become friends... Oh right, that's how it is with Usaku Saiki, friends are very cheap.
Over the years, Vodka had long known that arguing with Bo Ye Saiki about this was pointless, so he decisively looked at Ireland and signaled with his eyes that Ireland should reject Bo Ye Saiki.
He felt that generally no one would like to associate with Usaku Saiki. Back then, he had inexplicably become Usaku Saiki's friend, and Vodka felt extremely disgusted with him. If he hadn't been Usaku Saiki's friend, his fate probably wouldn't have been good. In fact, he wanted to refuse.
Ireland wasn't familiar with Bo Yezaki and probably didn't know what kind of treatment Bo Yezaki would receive if his application was rejected. In any case, Ireland should be tricked into leaving first.
Ireland, however, was completely uncooperative with Vodka, saying, "I have no objection. Besides, it's not up to me to decide whether Potts can participate in the mission... If Gin isn't here, shouldn't it be Vodka?"
He tried to subtly shift the blame onto someone, but suddenly the blame was openly thrown back at him, and Vodka's expression froze for a moment.
As expected, Bo Yezaki looked at him: "Is Vodka trying to kick me out?"
Vodka was sweating profusely.
How could he dare? Anyway, Bo Yezhai insisted on participating, and the boss wouldn't refuse if he just told him. Why should he be the bad guy...?
Sigh, my brother was truly prescient; no wonder he didn't come...
Vodka said, feeling frustrated: "You can come if you want, but our compensation has already been distributed."
I believe that Usakata Saiki wouldn't be willing to work for free unless he's paid.
Bo Yezaki: "I already said, I'm just helping my friend Ireland out. Do you think I'm after money?"
Vodka: "???"
He didn't believe that Bo Yezaki's relationship with Ireland was so good that he would be willing to be taken advantage of for free... Something was definitely amiss! Bo Yezaki was definitely planning something big!
Scotland couldn't help but glance at Ireland a few more times.
Why does Usui Saiki treat Ireland so well? Is Ireland also an undercover agent? ...No, we can't think of it that way. After all, Akai Shuichi is also an undercover agent, but he is treated very poorly.
But considering how Usui Saiki usually treats people... it's unlikely that Ireland is actually a girl and is now transgender...
Scotland's gaze grew increasingly subtle.
Ireland, feeling uneasy under the gazes of Vodka and Scotland, said, "Alright, we don't have much time, let's get down to business."
Vodka then got back to the point: "How were you discovered?"
"His acting is terrible," Bo Ye Saiki interjected from the side. "If you ask me, Gin shouldn't have given Ireland this mission! He's just deliberately making things difficult for Ireland, isn't he? I really can't stand it! Gin only knows how to bully honest people!"
Ireland:"……"
I'm a little touched, but also a little embarrassed. I know you're on my side and hate Gin together, but there's no need to go to such lengths... Potts' personality is indeed as eccentric as the rumors say.
Vodka paused for a moment, and as soon as he heard Bo Ye Saiki's tone, he felt that things were not going well. Without letting Ireland explain himself, he changed the subject directly: "Forget it, since we have failed, there is nothing more to say. Fortunately, we had a backup plan."
Yes, for an organization like theirs, missions cannot be guaranteed to be 100% successful. It's perfectly normal to have backup plans. As long as the reason for mission failure is not something like betrayal, the mission can continue.
The current situation is that some of the victims in the serial murder case were members of the organization. Because they took the organization's list of undercover agents in the police force in order to protect themselves, the organization is now preparing to eliminate them and retrieve the memory cards containing the lists.
As it turned out, this person had already been killed before the organization could take action. Moreover, the organization's members investigated his home but couldn't find the memory card. They guessed that it was in his personal belongings and had been taken by the killer. Each victim had something taken from them, and it was unclear what the killer intended to do with it, but it certainly wouldn't have been carelessly discarded.
So the organization's goal was to find the serial killer before the police and find out the whereabouts of the item containing the memory card.
Although their plan to infiltrate the investigation meeting and keep track of the case's progress failed, they weren't without other options, just not as effective. They planned to wait until the police's initial reaction subsided before trying to sneak into the meeting room to install a bugging device.
Even the elites of the Metropolitan Police Department don't scan the meeting room for listening devices before every meeting.
The advantage of this method is that the organization is likely to know about any progress. The disadvantage is that it is difficult to control private discussions, phone calls, and sudden progress, so we have to find another way.
As the conversation became more professional, Usakabe Saiki stopped talking and instead looked down at his phone.
Vodka glanced at him and figured that as long as Bo Ye Saiki didn't say anything that would give him high blood pressure, it would be fine for him to play on his phone.
At that moment, Scotland felt his phone vibrate.
Scotland:"……"
Wait a minute, the background of Usui Saiki's phone screen looks like a chat group... Could it be that he suddenly started talking bad about Gin at this time?
Gin hasn't been doing anything lately, has he?
Bo Yezaki didn't even look up, silently typing away.
Potts: [Family, I'm planning to bring Ireland into this. Nobody here has a grudge against Ireland, right?]
Chianti: [Most people in the organization don't even know each other, so where would the grudge come from?]
Potts: [I think Gin harbors a grudge against Ireland, and I even suspect he wants to kill them.]
Chianti: [Huh?]
Potts: [I just did a divination; Ireland is destined to be plagued by villains.]
Bourbon: [You suddenly want Ireland to join the group... Has Ireland been on a mission with Gin lately?]
Potts: [Yeah, Ireland's a friend of mine, I'm a little worried about him... because even for codenamed members, the mortality rate is pretty high when they're on missions with Gin, isn't it?]
Vermouth: [That's because Gin likes to use big scenes like bombs, and it's easy to get caught in them if you're not careful.]
Potts: [Sometimes it's really unnecessary, but he still chose a grander scale... For example, when it comes to killing someone, poisoning would have sufficed, but he insisted on using a bomb to blow up the entire Shinkansen. It's possible he deliberately chose the bomb to kill me... He's probably used this kind of tactic of eliminating dissidents many times before. I suggest investigating him.]
Bourbon: [This is purely a personal vendetta...]
Botnis: [And then there was the Twin Towers incident. He could have just blown up the servers that might contain data, but he insisted on making up an excuse, saying Sherry would be there, and blew up the entire building! Then he said he'd made a mistake, Sherry wasn't there… This happens so often. Isn't he deliberately wasting organizational resources in this way? Or is he deliberately trying to get attention and hint at something? Isn't our organization's principle to keep a low profile?]
The boss, who was lurking in the group chat: ...?
—This angle is a bit novel, I'm not sure, I'll take another look.
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This chapter is almost 4,000 words long...
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Scotland: Why are they suddenly being so nice to Ireland? It can't be that Ireland was a woman before... (an absurd reaction caused by some rumors of gender discrimination)
Ireland: Although Potts doesn't have a good reputation, as long as he's good to me, that's enough (?).
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