Chapter 174 Seventy-Threeth Cycle (4)
No, don't panic, there's still a chance to save it.
Rei Furuya calmed himself down.
After all, he would at least recognize Scotland's face, and Hiro wouldn't say anything in front of the bug, so maybe he wouldn't notice anything amiss?
What he needs to do now is to meet Hiro in the best possible condition. As long as he is sure that there are no major problems, Hiro and everyone will be much more at ease, and he can then slowly figure out how to deal with the aftereffects.
Yes, as long as we get past Hiro...
Rei Furuya's straight back swayed slightly, but he ultimately remained steadfast.
It's okay, he can do it!
Rei Furuya sat quietly in his chair for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing.
This feeling... is actually not bad, or rather, it's very good.
It's like a kite high in the sky being slowly pulled back to the ground by a few strings. Although I feel distressed and anxious, I also feel at ease and happy.
*
May 2nd, 10 PM.
Karasuma Renya received a message from the surveillance personnel in Scotland.
[Reporting to the boss, Scotland is in a hurry to finish the mission and has left. After trying to find out, I learned that he was going to find Bourbon.]
More than an hour later, at 11:30 p.m., the surveillance personnel on Bourbon's side also sent a message.
[Reporting to the boss: Scotland has appeared near Bourbon's house.]
He knocked on the door for two minutes, but no one answered, so he picked the lock and went in.
Karasuma Renya: "..."
He activated the listening device on the device, intending to listen to their movements himself.
Meanwhile, Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji, Date Wataru, and Sawada Hiroki, who were still at Matsuda's house, also overheard their conversation through the Noah's Ark hidden in Morofushi Kagemitsu's phone.
After the door opened, the first sound was the cocking of a gun, followed by Bourbon's icy voice: "Do you want to die?"
"Don't be angry, I just came to see you," Scotland said with a light laugh, even adding with concern, "You were missing for a whole month, and you didn't reply to my messages after you came out. I was very worried about you. You look so pale and have lost so much weight. Were you injured? What were you doing for the past month?"
"What's it to you?" Bourbon's voice grew increasingly impatient and filled with murderous intent. "Get out. I don't want to see you right now. Do you believe I really will shoot?"
Scotland remained completely unaffected, even moving closer as if nothing was amiss, despite the distance of the sound: "The boss said you're involved in an important experiment, and no one else is allowed to approach or inquire. I even got warned by the boss after searching everywhere for you..."
Halfway through his sentence, the sound of fists and feet clashing rapidly suddenly rang out.
"Scotland!!!" Bourbon finally raised his voice, unable to contain his anger any longer.
“Wearing long sleeves in this weather, and even gloves at home… Do you have a cut on your hand? Let me see,” Scotland said.
Bourbon didn't speak, but a strange gunshot with a silencer was heard.
"...You actually fired?" Scotland finally showed some surprise, but he seemed to have succeeded. He then lowered his voice and asked, "Why do you have so many needle marks on your arm? Were you there for an experiment or were you the one being experimented on? How is your body? What kind of experiment was it?"
Bourbon seemed to brush Scotland's hand away forcefully, and laughed maliciously: "Of course it's an experiment you're not qualified to know about. Well then, I'll just tell you directly. From now on, my status will rise rapidly, and even if I really shoot you, it won't be a big problem."
After saying that, he couldn't hold back any longer and cursed, "Why are you, a former sniper and now an intelligence officer, so skilled at disarming? Give me back my gun!"
“Tell me honestly about your current health condition and I’ll give it back to you.” Scotland paused, then chuckled softly, “Or perhaps I should take you to Dr. Lin for a checkup?”
“Get out,” Bourbon said.
"Where did this ring come from?" Scotland's tone suddenly turned serious.
"It was a gift from the boss." Bourbon suddenly laughed. "What? You have a problem with that?"
Scotland muttered unhappily under his breath, "The boss clearly said..."
"What did the BOSS say?" Bourbon didn't hear clearly.
"Alright, enough joking around. Seriously, are you alright?" Scotland's voice turned serious. "Do you need my help?"
“You need to get out now,” Bourbon said without hesitation.
"So I'll examine you myself? Hmm... It's not the first time I've examined and treated your injuries, why are you so resistant today?" Scotland said, and actually began to act, slowly threatening Bourbon as he struggled, "Bourbon, listen to me, you don't want others to know, do you? If the people in the organization find out you actually..."
“Scotland!!!” Bourbon raised his voice instantly to interrupt him, then took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, “Shut up! I have listening devices and trackers planted on me by the organization. I’m still under investigation. If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you.”
Scotland is quiet.
Scotland fell silent.
On the other end of the wiretap, Karasuma Renya, along with Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji, Date Wataru, and Sawada Hiroki, who were contacting each other through Noah's Ark, all fell silent.
The group stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Kenji Hagiwara exclaimed "Wow!"
Kenji Hagiwara smiled and said, "They've gone to such lengths? And their acting is so good now? I almost believed them."
"This..." Matsuda Jinpei clicked his tongue, "Are their scripts and character designs really this perverted? My handcuffs are already itching to come off."
After thinking for a moment, Ida Kou reached out and covered the child's ears next to him.
Hiroki Sawada: "..."
Scotland, on the other side, didn't remain silent for long either. He was just pretending; he already knew, and he even took the opportunity to take out his phone and type rapidly to show the other person.
I can leave, but you must be honest about your health condition. I've already seen it; don't try to lie to me.
“…Why didn’t you say so earlier? But I don’t mind, in fact, I’d love for more people to know.” Scotland chuckled lightly, his tone flippant, but his expression was serious and earnest.
Bourbon's face showed a gentle expression of helplessness and compromise, but his voice was extremely cold and vicious: "Get out of here."
"Okay, you can leave now. I'll confess in the group chat." He typed these words on his phone.
Scotland stared at him for two seconds to make sure he was serious before being pushed away by his force.
"Are you really alright? Maybe you should go see a doctor. That would put my mind at ease. Although you seem to be in good spirits, but..." Scotland still didn't want to leave like this.
Before opening the door, Bourbon briefly reverted to his original form as Furuya Rei and gave him a bright smile.
[Happy 28th birthday, Hiro.] His blond, dark-skinned childhood friend met his gaze and mouthed a silent smile, [Congratulations on successfully turning 28! I'm truly happy. Looking forward to the rest of your life with me.]
Morobuchi Kagemitsu was stunned for a moment, but was then kicked out of the door.
The current time is 11:45 PM on May 2nd.
The black-haired, blue-eyed youth stood silently in front of the closed door for a while, then lowered his head, chuckled softly, and left in surprisingly good spirits.
Surveillance personnel: "..."
Holy crap! This is terrifying!! Is Scotland really sick in the head?!
Aren't they angry? They were just worried about what would happen if Scotland broke in!
Sure enough, the thinking of these lunatics is something normal people really can't understand.
*
Shortly after Scotland left, Bourbon received a call from the BOSS.
There were no unnecessary questions like "How did you know you had a tracker and a listening device on you?". Instead, he was slightly reprimanded for telling Scotland about it directly and was subtly probed about what he had been doing these past two days.
Bourbon naturally said that he was too tired and had been sleeping and resting, and then he coaxed Karasuma Renya with words that were even better than singing. Even though he knew that Bourbon was just being perfunctory, he could still give Bourbon this kind of willfulness that did not really involve the core secrets of the experiment.
After hanging up the phone and giving Old Crow a perfunctory reply, Bourbon switched to Furuya Rei mode, sat down in his chair with a headache, and turned on his phone.
As expected, the Sakura team's group chat had already exploded with excitement.
Rei Furuya pretended not to see their teasing about their acting and cut straight to the point.
[Zero: I'm sorry, I confess, I did get a minor injury, but it's just a few needle marks from a blood draw and injection. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry or make such a fuss.]
[Zero: My body is fine. I really wasn't there to be a test subject; I was there to conduct experiments.]
[Zero: The injection was a truth serum and a hallucinogen. Because of a dream from the system, the BOSS discovered the venomous fang hidden in my mouth. This fang actually exists, and it caused me a lot of trouble in clearing my name and making him believe it was just a dream, but I eventually managed to fool him.]
[Zero: The fangs are gone, and he fitted me with a denture with a tracking device. The ring on my hand is a lab access device, and it's also equipped with a listening device.]
[Zero: There are no aftereffects, I've recovered completely. I've been doing experiments ever since, with Sherry's help. I'm actually quite free, it's just that I can't get out; being locked up in that pure white lab for too long makes me a little slow.]
[Zero: Okay, okay, I'll go see the doctor with Hiro later. I won't lie. Hiro will show you the diagnosis. But I really can't do it right now. I need to clear my name completely first, because of my entanglement with the boss.]
[Zero: My mental state? My mental state is great, even better. After this ordeal, just as the system wished, I've regained my positive gaming attitude. My will to survive and my competitive spirit are incredibly strong, and I won't cause you any more worry like before.]
[Zero: Don't be angry, don't be angry, I'm serious, but there is indeed another problem.]
[Zero: I learned about hypnosis when I was bored. When I first injected myself with truth serum and hallucinogens, I brainwashed myself, hypnotizing myself to forget your names and faces. I can't remember your faces and names now. But I set a condition for breaking the hypnosis: I only need to look at your faces for ten minutes to break the hypnosis.]
Rei Furuya blinked, looking guilty at the furious chat that had erupted in the group chat, and then continued typing.
[Zero: That's all, that's all for this issue. That's why I haven't dared to tell you guys before, and there's no way to solve it right now. Let's find an opportunity to meet and undo the hypnosis later.]
[Zero: We agreed on honesty first, so if I accidentally run into you guys later and don't recognize you at first, don't get angry.]
"Snap—"
The group, who were furiously pounding on their keyboards, paused and turned to see Matsuda Jinpei grinning as he crushed his phone screen.
"Fine, very well." He gritted his teeth. "Rei Furuya, you're really something!"
Just wait, it won't be long before that guy starts working at Poirot's Cafe...
Oh.
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