Chapter 164 Showdown I can't let you go.
There was a period of time when I was under too much work pressure and had to work overtime every day. I had no time to play games, so I always liked to read short stories that didn't require much thinking in my free time.
Among the many popular themes, themes derived from the "Chasing Wife to the Crematorium" plot have always been very popular. According to her, this setting is the female version of the Dragon King's Return - 30 years in the east, 30 years in the west. In the past, you ignored me and hid many things from me, but now you can only watch me appear in front of you in a different identity and you can't wait... In a sense, human pleasure points are always similar.
She'd previously thought the setting was a bit corny, but her body couldn't help but click through. But in this kind of plot, it's inevitable that the heroine will forget her past love, and despite having suffered so much before, she'll easily forgive the hero just because he's had a minor injury or a look of grievance...
Generally speaking, when seeing this kind of plot, Chaomu would withdraw in disgust, thinking that it is boring that it is forgiven so easily.
But when this kind of plot really happened to her - not watching someone else's story through the screen, but standing at the center of this absurd drama, her mood seemed to be different from when she was reading the novel.
She watched as Zhu Fujingguang's fingers, white as they gripped the gun, their knuckles tense. The gun she had once fought alongside and subdued robbers was now pointed at her forehead.
Perhaps due to his professional ethics, his hesitation was actually very short-lived, just like the vulnerability, a bit of sincere protection and tenderness he occasionally showed to her. These emotions, a part of his true self, were eventually forcibly sealed back into the shell that belonged to Scotland.
But he was a human being, and could not be as cold and hard as the gun in his hand - those slender hands belonging to a sniper should not have had any tremors, but the muzzle of his gun was indeed slightly deflected.
"...I'm sorry." He responded to her question, veins bulging on the back of his hand holding the gun. "But why?"
It was his fault that he hid it from her, but she...why...?
The blue eyes were as cold and hard as ice, but the surface of the ice was full of cracks, as if it would shatter into pieces if it was poked lightly.
It's quite pitiful.
Chaomu's hand was still on Xiao Heimian's shoulder. She turned around and looked at the cat-eyed young man pointing a gun at her, thinking so.
Just by her light-hearted question, his eyes looked even more vulnerable than before. A character with this background obviously had many difficulties. For a long time after their first meeting, he seemed to have shown a tendency to not want her to get close.
Was it out of protection? Or was it one of those clichéd "from different worlds" plots? But all in all, compared to the usual wife-chasing crematoriums where the male protagonist's crimes against the heroine alone are enough to be executed, Midorikawa Kei actually didn't do anything to her, and even allowed her to spawn an SSR skill.
It was that skill that made her clearly sense that his feelings for her were genuine: the plot might be deceptive, but the numbers weren't. Drop rates were tied to favorability, and her luck was low. The fact that she'd gotten an SSR from him was definitely based on his fondness for her.
And the harm he did to her... didn't seem to have caused any harm? They had completed all the tasks together, and he wouldn't be as stingy as Shi Er and take away most of the rewards... She thought about it again and again, and found that apart from the matter with the little black face, Midorikawa Jing didn't seem to have hurt her much.
This isn't a good sign, the player thought. Having this thought, like the heroine in a crematorium story, meant she was already considering whether to forgive him—she even began to make excuses for him, thinking he must have been carrying out some mission at the time, and that there must be a reason for concealing the truth.
But he was pointing a gun at her head! Although he seemed hesitant, Chaomu could sense his hidden determination: if she did anything to hurt Xiao Heimian, he would probably shoot her in the head.
"Ask me why... I wanted to ask you." Thinking of this, she tightened her grip on the Black-Faced Man a bit more, tilting her head and asking innocently, "You were the one who hid the fact that you and the evil Black-Faced Man knew each other from me first, and you were the one who pointed the gun at me first... If you're asking me why I did this, why not ask yourself first?"
She was the victim! She'd arrived first, only to discover her beloved "adopted father" was secretly colluding with the enemy... though, if you think about it, she was the last one to arrive; Scotland and Bourbon had clearly known each other for a long time. But so what? In her storyline, he was her Midorikawa Kei first, and then someone else's Scotland.
Her questions were a bit childish, yet clearly targeted.
For a moment, Scotland felt as if he had returned to the nights before when he had helped her "compete" with Bourbon. Back then, their competition had been just a small one, but now it had affected the lives of countless people.
"Bourbon and I are just colleagues." Unsure whether their identities had been fully exposed, he remained vague. "If you're wondering why I'm hiding this relationship... I just don't want to drag you into the organization's struggles. That's dangerous."
Almost 80% of this sentence was true. Apart from his concealed public security identity, the rest was sincere: without knowing her true identity, he really didn't want to drag her into the shadow of the organization. He just wanted her to stay away from him... and wanted to protect her.
Chaomu could also sense how much sincerity was in his words. Apart from anything else, the small words "Scotland is very worried about you" were enough to prove his sincerity.
It sounds a bit pathetic, but she also wanted to forgive him - after all, her original intention of taking off her vest was to see how the plot would develop, and she didn't mean to completely destroy the relationship between the two.
Her distraction was obvious, and Fūya Rei, who was so close to her and was being held by her with great force, could naturally sense it clearly.
Although she looked like she was hiding her identity and coming to take revenge on Scotland - in fact, she was also wavering and not as calm as she appeared.
This information eased his tense mood a little, but only slightly. After all, this woman might know more than he imagined, and it might be more dangerous. She clearly had ulterior motives... He couldn't bet on her sincerity.
"Or rather, when we first met, I didn't actually know Scotland was my colleague. Miss, as you can see, our relationship is probably more distant than you think... So if you want to get revenge on him, strangling me probably won't be much use, you know?"
The two people in the stalemate continued to look each other in the eye without saying a word. The blond young man, who had recovered a little, took on the responsibility of breaking the deadlock. After the shock, he regained his composure and clarified the connection between himself and his childhood friend to avoid self-destruction.
"Approaching Scotland... and repeatedly testing me, was this all planned by you?" He let the young girl pinch his vitals, leaning against the railing, forcing his body to relax, and asked in a relatively relaxed and natural tone, "Now that I think about it, with your status, when you were competing with me for the job opportunity, your goal couldn't have been to support yourself as a cleaner. Is the Vongola also interested in Councillor Fujita? And actually sending their own daughter to infiltrate and work there?"
This was the best answer he could think of. She came for the Vongola and only got involved in their work at that time. This meant that there was still room for recovery for his and Jingguang's identities.
As for Hagiwara and Matsuda... her connection to them was at best a simple accident. Regardless, this little bastard's identity was far more complex... and far more dangerous than he had imagined.
He thought he had found the correct answer, but when Chaomu heard his question, he came to his senses and showed a little disgust.
"You guys are just playing with yourselves over there. Don't assume others are as bad as you are." She lifted him up a little by the collar, shaking him from side to side. "I was actually working seriously at the time—unlike you, who was clearly working part-time but still worked so hard. You're such a bad boy, you little black-faced girl!"
She hadn't even become a disciple at the time, so how could she have been working for the Vongola? Back then, she was actually doing her mission seriously, completely different from these cunning undercover agents.
The blond young man who was being held hostage was unexpectedly lifted up, and then was hit in the face by this somewhat childish straight ball attack.
There was a rare hint of unexpected confusion in his purple-gray eyes. When their eyes met, he realized that she was not lying - she truly felt that his idea of classifying her as an enemy was outrageous.
"Then... I'm sorry?" He naturally couldn't believe it completely, but his attitude still softened a bit. "After all, someone like me naturally can't understand the deeper meaning of your actions, Miss... So, can you please let me go first? Every grievance has its perpetrator, and every debt has its creditor. Why don't you go to Scotland first? You're worried about him deceiving you, right?"
What he needed to understand most was her thoughts. First, she had concealed her identity and came to them, but now she had suddenly stopped pretending. What was she trying to do? What was she asking for? Was it simply because she felt Jingguang had deceived her? How much did she know about their identities?
The undercover agent's thoughts were naturally chaotic and complicated, and Zhu Fujingguang had already slowly put down his gun: Although she was clamping Furuya Zero, she actually did not make too many dangerous moves, and her hands were not strangling the opponent's neck. With Zero's physical skills, he should be able to counterattack at any time.
If she came for him, whether it was out of reason or emotion, pointing a gun at her would only intensify the conflict. He lowered his eyes slightly, staring at her quietly with his blue eyes, as if waiting for an answer.
When they first met, Chaomu had actually noticed a certain contradictory temperament in him: the gentleness and righteousness in his bones were difficult to completely conceal, but he happened to be engaged in such a dangerous job, and his whole body was full of "I am dangerous, no approach allowed" written all over.
She didn't want to lose her temper with him, so she turned her head away from him. Instead, she pinched Bourbon's cheek in revenge: "What's the point of lying? Do I care about Midorikawa? No matter how I think about it, it's you who bewitched my good friend - you evil little black face, don't try to pass the blame!"
And even now, they were still colluding to lie to her, saying they were just colleagues... Oh, police colleagues are also colleagues, right? If she kept hiding this, how would she proceed with her mission of "deeply understanding the organization"? How deep would it take to be considered a thorough understanding?
The blond, dark-skinned young man was pinched by her cheek, and his handsome face rarely showed a bit of embarrassment. He subconsciously tried to turn his head to avoid it, but was pinched back by the huge force in her hand - damn, this kid's strength was still ridiculous.
But he soon realized that showing weakness at this moment might be the best solution. In the end, he only struggled a few times symbolically and then lay motionless in her arms, revealing a somewhat pitiful expression and a helpless smile on the corner of his lips. "I didn't bewitch him... If you must say, we are not in the same group. You should know that, right? I am affiliated with the intelligence team under Rum, and Scotland was recruited by Gin. If anyone wants to beat you up, they should beat up Gin."
"As for the offense I caused you by failing to recognize a great man before..." He opened his puppy eyes and blinked twice as if to show weakness. "I'm very sorry. How can I make it up to you? If you ask, I'll do anything."
Still acting, still acting - Chaomu's patience was almost exhausted by the two of them.
"That's not what I'm talking about. You should know better than me, right?" She gave up the roundabout way and went straight to the point. "It's just that colleagues in the organization don't need to be so taboo. You're so cautious because you two knew each other before joining the organization, right?"
"Do you want me to expose your identities directly? Mr. Undercover?"
As her voice faded, the expression on the blond youth's face, which had once looked somewhat pitiful, gradually disappeared. His purple-gray eyes, still gleaming with a hint of water, stared directly at her, and after the shock faded, understanding began to take over.
She knew... She really knew.
Although Fūya Rei had always had a vague guess about this, once the truth was exposed, the balloon called truth suddenly exploded, and the violent heartbeat made the air silent and depressing.
The girl continued to gaze at him intently, her golden eyes burning his heart like the sun. But in reality, he and his companions had already reached an agreement before she revealed the truth.
Everything happened in a flash.
Still feeling the upper hand, Chaomu was about to take a screenshot when she felt a numbness in her wrist. The grip on the blond's cheek was suddenly released by a deft force. Like a wild animal breaking free, the young man's left hand precisely grasped her wrist and twisted it behind her. Simultaneously, his right hand gripped her slender neck, restraining her strength but forbidding resistance. With practiced precision, he pinned her in his arms from the front.
Almost at the same time, Zhu Fujingguang's shadow covered her from behind. His knee pressed against her knee, forcing her to lower her center of gravity, blocking her retreat from behind.
...So fast, Bourbon was not joking, his physical skills are indeed quite excellent.
Chaomu was forced to bend his knees, his back pressed against the young man's solid chest. The warmth of his former friend pierced through the thin fabric, and his heartbeat was intense, but it was clearly not out of joy or excitement, but out of nervousness and...unspeakable guilt.
"I can't... let you go." He held her wrist tightly, as if he was simply talking to her, but also as if he was trying to convince himself, "Now that I know so much, no matter who you are, I can't let you go..."
"No need to say more—I think after Miss Chaomu made such a statement, she should also be able to realize what will happen next."
Furuya Rei's tone was calmer than his companions, almost cold.
He looked down at her, his eyes flashing coldly under the overhead light: "Or perhaps she is deliberately provoking you and me to achieve the situation she wants..."
"Now, can you please speak? What exactly is your purpose in approaching us? Is it simply a young lady's bad taste, or something else? If it's the former... I hope you won't treat other people's work as a game. Otherwise, even if you are a young lady of the Vongola family, you will encounter some... 'dangerous situations'."
The grip of guilt, the revenge of a great vengeance, the arrest that seemed long anticipated. The two were completely different, but they led to the same result - Chao Mu was trapped between two bodies, and for a moment, the two men were advancing and retreating.
From this perspective, there is not much difference in the behavior of the two.
The forced bend of her knees made her center of gravity unstable. The chest against which her back pressed felt like a furnace, burning with a disturbing intensity, each heartbeat resonating with hers. She could smell the dangerous scent of gunpowder from her "adopted father." She tried to move her wrist, but his knuckles tightened, turning white, a resolute determination to perish together.
She was not in a hurry to resist, but suddenly realized that she seemed to have inadvertently triggered some magical plot, like she would be imprisoned by two undercover agents after her identity was exposed... It really deserves to be a game for all ages, and there are elements of chasing wives to the crematorium. Is the small dark room also a must-try part?
But the only one who will be imprisoned is the traditional little white flower heroine, who is the invincible raccoon king.
Under the blond youth's scrutinizing gaze, the player clenched his fists and revealed a dangerous smile. "Dangerous? Where's the danger? If you really want to brag, then see if you can keep me here. Come on? Let's fight and see."
She can't just use physical skills to deal with the little black face. Watch her use the raccoon motorcycle to defeat him!
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Author's note: I've completed it. Actually, there aren't many words missing. I was stuck on a line of dialogue, but I was a bit overwhelmed at the time (57 points) and the word count was enough. I was worried about a repeat of the tragedy, so I posted it first. After posting it, my takeout arrived and I had to eat it urgently. After eating, I came back and found that it had been reviewed and I had to wait for the review to be completed before I could edit it.
It's so embarrassing, it's so embarrassing to dance on time... (Although I always say that I will dance on time next time, I always end up making the same mistake.)
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