Chapter 141, Fifty-Seventh Cycle (13)
Scotland was seriously wounded while chasing Rye, shot in the shoulder by a sniper.
Whether as a sniper or an intelligence team leader who needs to be adept at using computers, this is a fatal flaw for him; if it leaves lasting effects, it would essentially ruin Scotland.
Shuichi Akai did it on purpose.
Vermouth didn't continue pursuing Shuichi Akai. Instead, she quickly retreated and sent Scotland back to the organization's best medical room before letting out a sigh of relief. Then, she frowned, leaned against the outside, lit a cigarette, and used her phone to send a message to the BOSS explaining the situation.
Upon hearing the news, the BOSS was furious and sent even more men to hunt down Shuichi Akai, determined to surround and kill him in Japan.
However, Shuichi Akai ultimately led a large number of FBI agents who came to Japan to defeat most of the organization's members. He demonstrated his intelligence and sniping skills in all aspects, and he grasped the advantages and disadvantages that he had planned in advance but caught the organization off guard with great skill. He almost played most of the organization's members with ease, and the organization members who participated in the pursuit suffered heavy casualties.
Cohen and Chianti's helicopters were shot down by Shuichi Akai's sniper rifle and almost killed them. Even Vodka, who was next to Gin, was injured. In the end, only the furious Gin was left to forcefully lead his men to continue chasing Shuichi Akai.
However, Shuichi Akai's reputation within the organization had become utterly terrifying. Even the lowest-ranking members without codenames were terrified and tried to find excuses not to participate in the assassination plan, since that would be suicide.
June 4th.
While Bourbon had just taken a flight of more than ten hours from Italy back to Japan, Shuichi Akai had already completely broken free of the organization's encirclement and escaped back to the United States two hours earlier, with Gin still chasing after him.
The boss ordered Bourbon, who had just gotten off the plane, to immediately head to the United States to continue hunting down Shuichi Akai with Gin. He even began mobilizing outstanding members of the organization from other countries to go to the United States to kill Shuichi Akai. Even on FBI territory, they had to find a way to kill Shuichi Akai. The organization would never allow a traitor to leave alive.
Bourbon agreed, but then went to the hospital to see Scotland.
Vermouth was still in the hospital, but she was already preparing to leave for America to hunt down Shuichi Akai. She was surprised when she saw Bourbon, and her eyebrows were raised high.
“Bourbon?” she laughed. “You’ve come to see Scotland?”
"Tsk, how is he?" Although his face was dark and he was in a terrible mood, Bourbon was indeed very anxious and concerned about the safety of Scotland.
“He’s doing alright for now, no danger to his life, so don’t worry.” Vermouth walked over and put her arm around his shoulder, tilting her head to meet his purple eyes. “Bourbon, you wouldn’t…”
Bourbon and she made eye contact.
Vermouth slowly uttered the following words: "Could it be that you're really like me? If Scotland dies, your secret will be exposed?"
It's pretty clear now. Bourbon seems to have no desire to continue the performance. He turned his head irritably and clicked his tongue. After a couple of seconds, he turned back and said helplessly, "So, if possible, could you please protect that guy in the future as well?"
Finally, Bourbon confirmed it, and Vermouth leaned on his shoulder and laughed gleefully until a doctor peered into the hallway and frowned at them, which she barely managed to suppress.
In fact, the doctor immediately withdrew his head after discovering that it was Bourbon and Vermouth, pretending that he hadn't seen them at all.
“I never thought you’d have a day like this.” Vermouth wiped away the tears of laughter, straightened up in a good mood, and patted his shoulder. “But I’m sorry, little Bourbon, I’m also very interested that your secret has been exposed. And I can’t possibly protect that dangerous man in Scotland. He’s no less dangerous than Shuichi Akai, and I don’t want to mess things up with him too.”
"Even if what's revealed after his death could put my life in danger?" Bourbon sighed.
Vermouth was stunned, and frowned slightly: "That serious?"
Bourbon nodded with a troubled expression.
Vermouth was well aware that he was playing the victim, but she still fell for it.
Moreover, the fact that Bourbon went to such lengths suggests that Scotland indeed possesses leverage over Bourbon's life. It seems that if she doesn't want Bourbon to be in real trouble and have her secrets exposed, she really needs to protect Scotland in the meantime when things get dangerous.
Now, Vermouth was also a little annoyed.
“You’re really going too far, Bourbon.” She glared at the blond youth who was laughing gleefully. “Just you wait, one day I’ll find out your secrets too. I want to see what amazing secrets you have.”
Bourbon thought to himself, "I have a lot of secrets, and any one of them could probably shock you to the point of questioning your existence."
Vermouth left in a rather unpleasant mood.
Bourbon continued walking forward and opened the door to Scotland's hospital room.
Scotland, leaning back in his hospital bed, had been watching the doorway. Upon seeing the blond youth, he immediately broke into a happy smile.
"Bourbon, you still came to see me." The man's blue eyes were bright, and apart from being a little pale, he seemed to be in pretty good spirits.
Scotland wasn't in mortal danger, but his injuries were extremely serious. The sniper, who was very familiar with human anatomy and knew him intimately, specifically targeted his shoulder, causing massive bleeding and severely damaging the nerves in his arm. He may never be able to use a sniper rifle again, which is why his situation is so serious.
Bourbon walked in, closed the door, and walked to his bedside with a dark face. Looking at his bandaged shoulders, he crossed his arms and sneered, "What? A mere traitor has completely crippled you? That's perfect, then I can probably take your place."
The Scottish man, unfazed by the mockery, even chuckled and pointed to the water bottle and cup beside him with his other hand: "You've been on the plane for almost two days without rest, and you were called back as soon as you arrived in Italy. You'll definitely be going to America soon, so rest here for a bit and have some water."
Bourbon, who was furious upon receiving the news and hadn't even had a sip of water, thought: "..."
The blond youth gritted his teeth, but eventually strode over and gulped down three glasses of water. Then, with a dark expression, he walked back and sat down on the chair next to his bed in a huff.
"Alright, what exactly do you want from me? If there's nothing else, I'm leaving. Since you're still alive, just watch as I come back with that traitor Lai's head and take your place to become that man's most trusted and valued person." He started with sarcastic mockery and provocation.
Scotland was used to it and smiled gently, "I'm sorry, I forced you to come back to see me before because I was worried that I was really ruined, so I lost control of my emotions and wanted to see you immediately. But I'm fine now, the doctor said that with proper treatment, it is still possible to make a full recovery."
The organization's technology is truly impressive, especially in the medical field, where it can be described as cutting-edge technology.
Bourbon secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the precarious nerve in his mind finally stabilizing a little, but a regretful expression appeared on his face as he turned his head and scoffed, "Consider yourself lucky."
“However, Shuichi Akai is really powerful. I suspect he had some hidden strength in the organization before.” Scotland’s expression turned serious. “Bourbon, the members of the organization that are hunting him have suffered heavy casualties. You must be careful.”
Actually, Morofushi Hiromitsu wasn't very angry after being shot by Akai Shuichi. He could roughly guess that the shot was fired by Akai Shuichi without his knowledge in order to help Zero. He was quite happy, at least he could rest assured that Zero wouldn't be in any danger. He was just worried that Zero would be so angry that he would lose his temper.
"Hmph, I told you long ago that man was no ordinary person. Only I can kill him." Bourbon sneered, arms crossed.
Bourbon's phone rang in his pocket. He picked it up and glanced at it. It was an email from the BOSS, urging him to hurry up and set off to hunt down Shuichi Akai.
Scotland couldn't see the email content, but it was clear that Bourbon's phone screen was covered in cracks.
"What's wrong with your phone?" he asked.
Bourbon: "..."
Bourbon sneered again, his face quickly contorted with rage.
"I saw some really infuriating news, and then I accidentally crushed it," he said, his teeth clenched as if he wanted to tear someone's skin off and grind their bones to dust.
He gripped the phone tightly again, letting it emit a pitiful, faint whirring sound before releasing it. His face contorted with murderous intent, he put the phone away, stood up, and prepared to leave to hunt down the killer.
Scotland:"……"
Wait, could it be that Shuichi Akai sent a message to Zero himself after shooting him?
Hmm... probably not?
*
June 5th.
Bourbon also arrived in the United States, but he did not join Gin and the others, disliking their inability to take down Shuichi Akai and instead started his own operation.
The others were initially unconvinced, but after seeing in the following days just how much trouble Bourbon had caused the FBI and Shuichi Akai, they gradually became convinced.
It's worth noting that even when Gin went to the FBI's home turf in the United States, he was almost captured by Shuichi Akai's trap and suffered some injuries, and is currently recovering.
So, Bourbon's claim that only he could kill Shuichi Akai might actually be true?
When the organization's boss saw Bourbon's genuine desire to kill the FBI agents and Shuichi Akai, he became completely convinced that Bourbon was indeed innocent and could neither be an undercover agent nor a traitor.
Unfortunately, even Bourbon couldn't take down their FBI ace, Shuichi Akai, in the United States; he just caused them more trouble than other members of the organization without getting hurt.
Shuichi Akai has even begun to use the intelligence he obtained from the organization to launch a counterattack, and many of the organization's strongholds and bases have suffered significant blows to personnel and finances.
This is the only major crisis the organization has faced in all these years.
The organization's boss even felt a bit of fear towards Shuichi Akai, and stopped sending large numbers of people to hunt him down. He also called Bourbon and Gin back to deal with the organization's recent chaos, deciding to focus on reorganizing the organization before dealing with Shuichi Akai.
In the end, only Vermouth, who didn't really get involved, was left to continue hunting down Shuichi Akai in the United States.
Shuichi Akai was finally able to catch his breath and had the energy to think about other things.
He truly never expected that the one who would hunt him down and put the most pressure on him after his defection would be Bourbon.
So why?
Why did Bourbon not only refuse to cooperate with him to destroy the organization, but instead become even more enraged and come to the United States to hunt him down? It's as if they really have some deep-seated blood feud.
His emails were so sincere, so why did Bourbon fly into a rage and say he wanted to kill him? Even if it was because his hatred ran so deep that he had to kill Scotland with his own hands, would Bourbon really get this angry just because Scotland was shot once? Isn't he an undercover cop? Is this really okay?
Could it be that Bourbon really wasn't an undercover agent?
Was Bourbon's undercover identity simply not exposed because of his relationship with Akemi?
Otherwise, it couldn't be that Bourbon had genuine feelings for Scotland, could it?
Shuichi Akai didn't understand, and he was very confused.
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