Chapter 34 The First Player

The weather was excellent tonight. The moon was hanging brightly high in the sky, casting a silvery glow on the ground. There were no clouds in the sky. Even though two of the street lights were broken, the moonlight alone would allow pedestrians returning late to find their way home.

——But then again, in Yokohama, there are very few people who dare to go out in this weather.

Xi Haiqingdou was lying on the rooftop, breathing evenly, with his face pressed against the butt of the gun, staring into the aiming scope of the sniper rifle. His body was as still as a rock, and his face was even paler than before, but his eyes were focused and cold like never before.

He simply tied up his soft long white hair with a black rubber band and let it hang neatly behind his head to prevent it from being blown by the wind and affecting his vision, or being blown to the ground and getting dirty.

Speaking of which, it was he who asked Lei for the rubber band - as both of them were long-haired snipers, it was obvious that they would carry something like a rubber band with them.

However, Lei himself actually left his long black hair alone, letting it hang loose behind his head, which formed a sharp contrast with Xi Haiqing Dou who tied his hair up obediently.

——It must be because he was wearing a hat. Saikai Haruto firmly thought to himself. That was why he dared not to tie his hair up, and he was not afraid of the wind blowing his hair into disarray.

In his heart, he hoped maliciously that a sudden gust of wind would blow up Lei's hair, and preferably shave his face.

This was definitely not because he was jealous that he looked more handsome with his hair untied, nor was it because he suddenly had a stomachache at this moment, so he hoped that Lei would suffer the same tragedy and wanted to cheat by cheating on the weather to cause Lei and others to lose the game directly.

He had absolutely no selfish motives. He was just purely curious.

[Host, you have completely revealed your thoughts.] The mechanical electronic sound of the system suddenly sounded in his mind.

[You can shut up normally, system. You are disturbing my thoughts.]

[…Is this what humans call being angry out of shame?]

[All I know is that if you don't shut up, I might not see you for three days.]

Xi Haiqing Dou calmly threatened that he had the authority to put the system in his head in the "small dark room".

The system finally quieted down.

Xi Hai Qing Dou blinked, took a deep breath in his heart, discarded all distracting thoughts and other senses, and continued to observe everything in front of him.

From this location, he could also perfectly see two of the three routes that Maruno Ryouta had given him. He aimed in the mirror, and the quiet streets appeared completely and clearly between the closely spaced cross-shaped dividing lines in the mirror.

Everything is ready, now we just have to wait for the audience and actors to get in place and go on stage.

Half an hour later.

A huge "boom" explosion sounded from a distance, and synchronously with it, the ground suddenly shook, and a yellow-white flame suddenly lit up grandly and rapidly, followed by gray-black smoke rising up.

Saikai Haruto and Rai remained motionless like statues.

After another two or three seconds, noisy and chaotic sounds rang out one after another. Some lights in nearby buildings suddenly went out, while others suddenly lit up. Then other sounds began to be heard from the area where the explosion occurred and where the flames rose.

Half a minute later, a member of the Takase-kai wearing a black suit and holding a gun appeared in the sight.

Maruno Ryota approached the middle-aged man with blond hair, red eyes and a slicked-back hairstyle, and looked around him, as if he was really looking for something. Then he looked to the side hesitantly and leaned forward - as if he subconsciously wanted to stay away from him.

The other party seemed to have noticed something. While running forward quickly, he also bent over and looked around vigilantly.

It's just that he was looking in the wrong direction, so naturally he couldn't find anything.

It seems that their luck is good - the real boss of Takase-kai seems to be here.

870 yards. 860 yards.

Wind from 11 o'clock. Half speed. Wind speed 6 miles per hour. Wind deviation 2.17[1].

A red sniper dot appeared on the blond man's body.

Saikai Haruto pulled the trigger.

A 0.338 Lapu-Magnum rifle bullet was fired from the muzzle at an initial velocity of 936 meters. It spun at high speed in the air, stirring up tiny air currents, tearing through the air and fiercely attacking the blond man.[2]

A second later, two holes the size of bowls appeared almost simultaneously on the blond man's heart and neck. Then a muffled sound was heard, and like a slow-motion replay, a few drops of red blood splashed in the air. The blond man still had a look of shock on his face, and his body fell backwards uncontrollably to the ground, with a large amount of blood gushing out from behind him.

There was a sudden burst of commotion and noise below, and the situation became extremely chaotic in an instant.

Some people squatted down to check on him, some raised their guns and looked up to find out where the bullet came from; others tried to run away into the deeper darkness.

The defensive esper of the Takase Clan was not here, nor was there any esper who could bring the dead back to life or create large-scale illusions with a range of more than a thousand meters in diameter.

Target confirmed dead, mission accomplished.

A perfect sniper attack, a perfect ending.

"Looks like a draw?"

Lei asked calmly, and before being discovered by the people below, he began to quickly gather his equipment and prepare to leave.

Xi Hai Qing Dou couldn't help but let out a "tsk".

"No, obviously my bullet arrived faster, 0.1 second earlier than yours. Obviously, I won," he emphasized.

While speaking, he did not forget to quickly raise the sniper rifle with one hand, and with the other hand he sent a message of retreat to Vodka and Zhufu Jingguang, and quickly packed up his things and prepared to run downstairs.

He figured it out in 0.1 seconds? Lei was silent for a moment, and suddenly felt that he was at a disadvantage again: So he came here to do so much work, not only did he not get paid, but he also had to pay for a week's food?

The moment he stood up, Xi Haiqingdou couldn't help but sway very slightly, as if he was subtly stuck - his long-term hypoglycemia and the sudden stomach disease before caused his eyes to suddenly go black for about 0.3 seconds when he stood up too quickly.

Although the time of this stuck shell was very short, Lei Yi still noticed something keenly. His eyes paused on Xi Hai Qing Dou for half a second: "What's wrong?"

Is it an illusion of moonlight? I feel that Cointreau's face seems to be a little paler than usual. And it seems... looking at the hair on his forehead, is he sweating?

"Nothing, I was just thinking about what to eat later." Xi Haiqing Dou said with a smile: "I suddenly want to eat some sweets. There is a cake shop next to the Chinese Street in Yokohama. I think it seems to be just right as a midnight snack. What do you think, Lei?"

"Oh, I haven't touched this gun for more than two months. I was worried that I might lose, so I was very nervous... It seems that my decline should not be too big?"

"I think cake is not suitable as a midnight snack - especially for patients." Lei packed up his things and walked out, saying calmly.

Confirmed. He suddenly became so talkative... It seems that Cointreau is sick again? Or there is something wrong with his body. Otherwise, he would not explain so much.

But judging from the fact that he still has time to joke around, it shouldn't be a big problem.

"...When did you become a doctor again? I didn't even know about it." Xihai Qingdou sneered.

"Bang!"

The bullet came from high in the sky, pierced through the cloth covering his back, penetrated his heart, and pierced through the flesh on his chest and crashed into the ground. The man in the black suit fell to the ground without making a sound.

"Cointreau sent a message saying the mission was accomplished. Bourbon said they returned to the villa."

Another bullet was fired, and Zhu Fu Jingguang calmly put away his sniper rifle and turned to look at Vodka: "Prepare to retreat."

This time, all the possible threats to Zero and his exposure should be eliminated.

"Then what should we do with this guy?" Vodka pointed at Maruno Shunta who was lying on the ground.

Morobushi Jingguang glanced at him casually and said, "Just throw him on the ground. He won't die anyway, so just leave him here."

"...Or should we just root out the problem and get rid of him?"

Vodka hesitated for a moment and said solemnly: "This guy knew too much about us and the organization. I'm afraid something unexpected will happen in the future."

"... Cointreau didn't say he wanted to kill him."

Zhu Fu Jingguang glanced at him coldly and said, "I'm not sure if Jundu has any use for him, but if anything goes wrong, you will be responsible for it yourself."

——Although his hands have been dirty ever since he went undercover in the organization, it may sound hypocritical to say this, but he doesn't like to take action against ordinary innocent people unless it is necessary.

Maruno Shunta is just an ordinary outer member of the Takase-kai who has never been stained with blood. Although he is well protected by his brother, in Yokohama, which is known to be chaotic and lawless, such people are rare even for ordinary mafia members.

"Forget it... Let's just go now."

He took a sip of the cold vodka, and a toothache expression instantly appeared on his face. He shook his head repeatedly: "Let's go quickly. It shouldn't be a problem if we just leave it here."

"Walk!"