Chapter 33 The First Player

At dusk, the devil's hour.

The huge sun gradually moved westward, hanging on the intersection of the sky and the ocean, as if it would fall from the sky into the ocean at any time. The huge golden ball dyed the clouds in the sky and the sea level with a dazzling golden color of varying shades, as if it was trying hard to delay the day from fading.

Obviously, both the temperature and brightness are much lower than during the day, but under such a magnificent scenery, the golden sunset in front of us gives people an illusion that it is warmer and more dazzling than during the day.

Fūya Rei unexpectedly thought of Jundu's golden eyes.

Although he is a man with his hands stained with countless darkness and blood, he has a kind of appearance that looks gentler and more harmless than anyone else. His hair is white without a trace of dust, and even his eyes look as bright and warm as the sunset after the disguise.

But after dusk comes darkness, and dusk can only sink into darkness. The seemingly gentle dusk...is also part of darkness.

And Cointreau... He arranged for them to deliver Passetto to Hong Kong. Was his intention really that simple?

Is there some other purpose behind this that he hasn't discovered yet?

For some reason, even though everything was going well, he intuitively felt that something was wrong.

He withdrew his gaze from the distant sea, handed the box in his hand to Asahina, and said in a deep voice: "Let's go."

Asahina stuffed the box into the trunk and closed it. After seeing his expression, she couldn't help wondering, "What's wrong, Zero? You don't look very happy... Is there something wrong with the plan?"

He counted on his fingers and thought for a while: "But now the suspicion of us being undercover agents has been eliminated; Pasetto has the handle in your hand, and with his personality, he should not go to see Dr. Mori again, and he will not let the Hong Kong underworld and the organization reconcile, right? I will find time to call Cointreau later and expose the fact that Pasetto and Takase are in contact. In this way, the organization's undercover agents in the Hong Kong underworld will be gone... Isn't this all going well?"

"By the way, I didn't expect that Passetto would hide something that might have something to do with him and Takase in the house... Now the evidence is more sufficient, right?"

"For a man like him, the most dangerous place is also the safest place, and he only trusts himself. It's normal for him to hide there."

Fūya Rei returns to Shinto.

They just came out of "Imai Akito's" house - of course they didn't use the normal method of using a key to open the door when they entered, but relied on Asahina's superb lock-picking skills - this was something the player had casually chosen for himself for fun before entering the game, and he didn't expect it to "achieve great success" after entering the game.

While Passetto was away, the two of them searched Passetto's house thoroughly, searching not even a carpet or a fly.

Furugaya Rei opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat, then started the car. He paused for a moment, as if he remembered something, and turned his head to ask, "Oh, Kazuma, that Mr. Mori... I remember we met him that night. I was sure it was just a coincidence, but he went to the hotel to find you the next day. Now it seems that he did it on purpose... Do you still remember him?"

——Their encounter with Mori Gugai began at dusk on the second day after they arrived in Yokohama, when they accidentally ran into a crime scene of robbery and kidnapping of children. He originally wanted to wait and see, but the kidnappers seemed to think that he and Kazuma, who were passing by, were the companions of Dr. Mori and wanted to attack them.

After all, their real identities were from the police, and in that situation, the other party took the initiative to attack, so he simply beat the other party in return. When he was still hesitating about what to do with those people, he turned around and saw that Kazuma had already sent the kidnapped little girl back to the family, and they had started chatting, and it seemed that they were getting more and more interested in each other as they talked...

Asahina Kazuma was cheerful and outgoing, with a strong affinity. He could always get along with anyone, even those with extremely strange personalities in the organization. Therefore, Furuya Rei was not surprised at their good chat atmosphere. He even suspected that if he hadn't stopped them, they might have exchanged contact information in two minutes.

However, since they had a mission in Yokohama, the "Dr. Mori" looked like he wanted to take them both to the Metropolitan Police Department to thank him... so he just took Kazuma and left.

He originally thought it was just an ordinary little thing. Even though he felt that the "Dr. Mori" was not an ordinary person, he did not take it to heart at the time. He did not expect that the identity behind him was actually related to the port mafia and was also connected to Cointreau...

In this case, it was hard to say what the reason was for Mori Ogai to go to them the next day. However, he had very little contact with Mori Ogai, so it was difficult to judge what was wrong.

"Ah... that Doctor Mori?"

Asahina sat down in the passenger seat, not knowing what she was thinking about, her tone suddenly sounded a little regretful: "Come to think of it, why didn't you let us go to see him with Passetto before? Doctor Mori is quite, uh, interesting. I thought I could see him again."

Furutani Rei was a bit amused and said, "Kazuma, have you forgotten that we are in disguise? Even if he sees us, he may not recognize us. And if we go in, what if Passetto contacts the Hong Kong Blacks and traps us inside Hong Kong Blacks? That would be troublesome. Even if there is only a 1% chance that he suddenly changes his mind again, it is better not to take the risk."

"Oh, well, let me get back to Dr. Mori."

Asahina scratched her hair, thought for a while, and then edited and pieced together some of the things in her mind and said it out loud: "In fact, when Dr. Mori came the next day, Jingguang was also there. Later, after Cointreau came, I don't know why the two of them started chatting... Dr. Mori also stuffed the award certificate to Cointreau, and you also knew about this later. Ah, I remember that he also gave Cointreau a business card at that time? Maybe the two of them were connected because of that business card!"

Damn it, Mori Ougai actually gave him a business card later, but unfortunately he forgot about it...otherwise he would have tried to see if he could get through.

"I remember that you all told me that Dr. Mori was a little dangerous, but he hasn't contacted me since then. Maybe he has forgotten about me?"

Asahina said, "Dr. Mori... is very smart, and his medical skills... are also very good, and he has great ambitions... But we are not from Yokohama, and we will be leaving Yokohama soon, so he probably won't do anything against us. I think his relationship with Cointreau is just average... I don't think he is the kind of person who will make friends with people casually. If there is no special benefit, he probably won't do something. But Cointreau can't give him anything, right?"

That's right. If you have a bigger ambition... becoming the exclusive doctor of the leader of the Port Mafia would be an option, right?

Even if Cointreau could be considered a "long-term illness that makes one a doctor", his relationship with Dr. Mori could only be about chatting about his health problems, right? Furuya Rei thought with a hint of malice.

Of course, maybe there could be some kind of deal like "help him get away from the port mafia"? After all, I heard that the "Night Tyrant"'s personality is getting worse and worse.

But there was not enough information...his inference had no basis and was now just empty talk.

"As for the rest, um, I don't have much interaction with him, probably... that's all?"

Asahina's tone sounded a little uncertain.

Although he knew much more than this, he couldn't say it out loud, or he wouldn't know how to explain it well. Should he say "that little girl named Alice is actually his superpower"? Or "he will be the new boss of Hong Kong Black"? He couldn't answer how he knew it.

So it’s better to be a “little fool” who knows nothing about anything, right?

However, Furuya Rei misunderstood his uncertainty as something else. Hearing this, he patted his shoulder and comforted him: "It's okay, these are almost the same... It seems that he should have no other problems here."

"It's just... I don't know why, but I still feel that something is wrong with the Hong Kong underworld. I always feel a little uneasy in my heart." His brows wrinkled unconsciously.

"Are you thinking about that time Passetto turned off the wire?"

Asahina thought about it, patted his shoulder like he did just now, and comforted him with a smile: "Isn't it because he was suddenly summoned by the leader of the Hong Kong underworld? It's impossible to take him to such a place, and it's very likely that he will be found out. Maybe the old leader wants to give him a promotion and a raise, or maybe he found out his undercover identity and wants to kill him? Oh, it would be great if it was the second one."

Fūya Rei was amused by him, and his thoughts were also diverted by him. He shook his head and put what he said back in his mind.

"Well...even if there is something wrong, we can't go back and find out what's going on."

Asahina shrugged. "That's how it is. Let's go. Let's listen to Cointreau first. Let's go back to the villa. After tonight, everything should be over."

***

Night is falling.

"This position can only target people coming out from the east gate and the main entrance. The third route is blocked and cannot be covered."

On the rooftop, Zhu Fu Jingguang took his eyes away from behind the aiming mirror and frowned.

"Ah, it seems so. From here, the road seems to be blocked by the buildings next to it."

"Is it just a little bit off?"

"If we move faster and change positions quickly, we should still have time."

"The one at ten o'clock... ah, it looks like a residential building. The rooftop over there also has a good view angle, and should be able to perfectly cover the third route."

"...This journey will take about ten minutes, which seems a bit rushed."

"Lei, go." Xi Haiqing Dou decided, "Lei's gun is not that difficult to assemble, is it okay to hand it over to you?"

"It's okay, of course. But I feel like I shouldn't have come here in the first place. I feel like I'm working for you for nothing... Even if I didn't do anything at first, it wouldn't have made any difference to you, right? Tsk, your mission has nothing to do with me."

Lai Yi suddenly sighed softly.

Xi Haiqingdou said innocently: "Lei, you are too polite. Given our relationship, do we need to be so clear about it?"

"After all, this is not my job, is it?"

Lei raised his eyebrows, straightened up, and raised his face slightly from behind the sniper rifle's scope. "My appearance fee is very expensive during the non-mission period... Teacher."

——Damn it, he actually wants money!

Xihai Qingdou suddenly became alert.

"Ah, Lei, a man can't be so stingy."

Xi Haiqingdou put his hand on his forehead and casually brushed back his hair that was messed up by the night wind. He narrowed his eyes slightly, rolled his eyeballs, and said in a long tone: "How about treating it as a sniper test? I don't know how your shooting skills have improved after not seeing you for a few years?"

No, it's impossible to take out the money. No one can steal a penny from his little piggy bank no matter what!

"In that case... Teacher, are you going to compete with me?"

Lei deliberately misinterpreted his words, "I thought since you brought so many things with you, you should have brought a sniper rifle as well, right?"

Could this be his real purpose? He did bring a gun, but he didn't bring it up.

Xi Haiqingdou paused, thought for a moment, and then nodded: "Alright, then the loser...ah, a week's meals will be provided."

Anyway, don't even think about taking his money!

“…That’s fine.”

Lei glanced at him, as if he had guessed his intention clearly, and nodded indifferently: "Then, deal."

Vodka looked left and right, as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated.

“Cointreau…”

"Tsk."

Saikai Haruto gestured to him and smiled as if he had guessed what he wanted to say: "Gin is not here, so I have the final say here."

...It's over. Now thinking carefully, is it possible that he will not be able to complete all the things his elder brother told him to do?

Vodka suddenly felt a darkness before his eyes.