Chapter 43 The First Player

It was past ten o'clock in the evening and there were not many people in the store. At this time, apart from the cashier who was working diligently, the only customers in the convenience store were Haruto Nishimi, Kenji Hagiwara, and a young office lady inside.

The moment Mizuo Akira took out the gun, Kenji Hagiwara's fingers reflexively reached for his waist in a vigilant posture, but then he forced himself to stop and let go of his hand - he forgot that it was time to get off work and he didn't have a gun on him.

There were two armed prisoners and a car at the door. It was uncertain whether they had other accomplices outside. The man who came in later must have learned fighting. There were four hostages including him. One of the hostages was a cashier in their hands. One of the remaining two was an ordinary young woman who was barely calm. The other was the young man who was just pointed at by the prisoner with a gun. His face looked even paler than the cashier between the two prisoners... He looked like he was scared silly and didn't move. Kenji Hagiwara even suspected that he would faint.

Hagiwara Kenji relaxed his frown and calmly thought about how to break the situation: it was not wise for him to face two prisoners with guns in their hands alone, and the priority was to protect the safety of the hostages around him. He could not act rashly.

Two criminals herded the three of them together and were looting the convenience store. Hagiwara Kenji raised his hands and squatted on the ground, tilting his head to comfort the white-haired man beside him with a pale face and expressionless face: "Are you okay? Don't worry, they probably just want to rob money, they won't hurt anyone."

This was also said to the other woman. Mainly between the two of them, although the woman also looked scared, she seemed to be a little more stable than Saikai Haruto - in Hagiwara Kenji's eyes, his appearance was no different from being too frightened to the point of being dazed.

The young woman suppressed her fear, closed her eyes and nodded.

Xi Haiqingdou came back to his senses, turned his head to look at him, moved closer to his position, and asked him in a low voice: "Are you a policeman?"

His voice was very soft, and he spoke very close to Hagihara Kenji. Not only did the young woman not hear it, but even Hagihara Kenji almost suspected that he had heard it wrongly.

"What?" He looked at Xi Hai Qing Dou with some surprise in his eyes - how did he guess it?

Xi Haiqingdou nodded pretentiously and asked him, "Then the person who comes in later will be handed over to you? They don't have other accomplices."

Then he turned to the young woman and raised his voice slightly: "Stay away from me later."

Although he said he was "asking" Kenji Hagiwara, his tone sounded more like an affirmative sentence.

What does he want to do with this sentence? Hagiwara Kenji suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Wait, what are you going to do? Wait, calm down, don't be impulsive..."

Only then did he realize that the guy's eyes were not at all like the wooden fear he had guessed... that look was simply "calm".

The robbery of the Mizuo brothers at the cashier counter was almost over. Hearing the noise, Mizuo Ken pointed his gun at them and said angrily, "Hey, what are you guys whispering about?"

"You all have money on you, right? Take out all the valuables you have on you!"

He gave a look to Mizuo Akira beside him, and the two of them walked over with the cashier.

"Cough, cough, cough...Help, help..."

Xihai Qingdou's face suddenly changed, his facial expression became painful and distorted, his body hunched down, his hands grasped the clothes in front of his chest, he gasped and coughed heavily, as if he was having an acute seizure.

Everyone present was shocked by his sudden symptoms.

The young woman next to him was so frightened that she took a step to the side, closed her eyes subconsciously and said in horror: "Ah! Someone is going to die!"

"What, what's going on?!"

Mizuo Akira turned to Mizuo Ken in bewilderment: "Ken, he's not going to die, is he? What should we do? What should we do?!"

"What does this have to do with us? Is he ill? It's not our fault! Maybe he's just pretending!"

Mizuo Ken shouted in panic to cover up his cowardice and give himself courage - after all, the crimes and punishments of "robbery" and "murder" are different. They only thought about robbery but never thought about actually killing people.

Receiving the look from Saikai Haruto, Hagiwara Kenji “panicked” and half stood up to distance himself from him, moving a few steps towards the Mizuo brothers: “He, he seems to be really ill! Ah, if this continues, will someone really die?!”

——Is he crazy?

Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help but think in his heart, why should he listen to that person and follow his actions when he didn't even know him? He actually believed his words, what a hell.

As he thought about it, he honestly took another half step towards the cashier.

Saikai Haruto was still "performing", and the Mizuo brothers walked a few meters in front of him. Hagiwara Kenji "fearfully" grabbed the cashier who was walking over. Mizuo Ken hesitated and pushed Mizuo Akira: "Would you like to take a look?"

What a pity! If he had known this, he would not have pointed his gun at this guy who looked like he would fall down at the slightest gust of wind. This sickly-looking man is indeed really sick!

Mizuo Akira made a bitter face and held the gun in his hand as he moved closer to Saikai Haruto. He squatted down to check - he wouldn't really die, would he? It wouldn't be their fault, would it?

——This is the best time.

Haruto Nishimi raised his head, quickly loosened the hands that were tightly holding his coat in front of his chest, and with one hand he tightly grasped the wrist of Mizuo Akira's gun-holding hand that was stretched out towards him, and with the other hand he punched him hard in the face!

——This is the most appropriate time.

The moment Hagiwara Kenji saw Nishimi Haruto raise his head, this thought flashed through his mind, and he quickly pulled the cashier backwards, and then used the thrust to rush forward and quickly approach Mizuo Ken, engaging in close combat and punching him on the forearm of his right hand holding the gun!

“Bang!” “Ah——!”

Just as Hagiwara Kenji was fighting with Mizuo Ken, a gunshot suddenly rang out, and at the same time, Mizuo Akira let out a sudden scream.

"Brother!" Mizuo Ken was so frightened that he no longer cared about Hagiwara Kenji. He paused and quickly turned his head to look in the direction of Mizuo Akira.

Oops, an accident happened! He really shouldn't have acted so rashly upon hearing what the strange man said! Feeling annoyed, Hagiwara Kenji knew that now was not the time to be distracted. He gritted his teeth and seized the opportunity to kick Mizuo Ken's gun far away, and took advantage of his gap in defense to punch him again.

After quickly pushing Mizuo Ken to the ground, Hagiwara Kenji finally had time to look up at Saikai Haruto and Mizuo Akira.

I saw a thin, white-haired man in a black coat stepping on the prisoner with a smile on his face. The prisoner's pistol fell to the ground beside him. The prisoner fell to the ground, holding his arm and groaning in pain. Blood dripped from his arm onto the ground, forming a small pool of blood.

"What's going on?" Kenji Hagiwara was stunned and calmed down a little.

"Ah, officer, that's none of my business. He just fired the gun himself. It must have gone off accidentally."

Haruto Nishimi put his hands in his pockets and kicked the gun away from the ground. Then he stretched out his foot and kicked Mizuo Akira casually out of boredom, and answered with an innocent look on his face.

Cold sweat oozed from Mizuo Akira's face, and he was almost unconscious from the pain. If he could speak, he would have yelled at Saikai Haruto - it was clearly him who had just grabbed his hand and the gun in his hand and deliberately shot at his arm! It was a ghost's "accidental discharge"!

Unfortunately, Xi Hai Qing Dou's movements were covert and fast. Except for himself and Xi Hai Qing Dou, no one could really see how the gunshot was made. Even the camera was turned off by them to facilitate their robbery. There was no longer any evidence to prove who did it.

"I was just conducting a normal self-defense counterattack. I shouldn't have violated any laws, right?" he asked again with a smile.

"...No, it's just his bad luck. But this is still too dangerous. It's best not to act rashly when encountering a robber. If you anger the criminal, you will put yourself in danger."

Hagiwara Kenji blinked his eyes, ignoring the slightest bit of strangeness in his heart, and only spoke to stop his childish kicking of the prisoner after he stopped moving, and put on a serious look and said seriously. If he hadn't moved quickly enough, he really couldn't imagine how dangerous it would be for Xi Haiqingdou to face the two Mizuo brothers.

Then he looked at the other two people hiding nearby and gave them a gentle, soothing smile: "Please call the police. Don't be afraid. The criminal has been subdued."

"Thank you for your concern, officer. But I have learned fighting skills well, because the officer was here just now." Xi Haiqingdou didn't take it seriously, and finally rubbed the blood stain that accidentally got on his shoes on Mizuo Akira.

Are you good at fighting? Hagiwara Kenji looked at him with suspicion. He didn't have time to see the fight between Saikai Haruto and Mizuo Akira just now, but with his appearance, he really couldn't tell.

...But why did he choose to believe him and act with him at that time?

Hagiwara Kenji thought about it and thought that it was probably because... his eyes and attitude were too calm and determined.

It was as if he didn't think there was anything to be afraid of and was sure that everything would be safe. He had an infectious power that made people believe in him. Even now, the expression on his face hadn't changed much.

Xi Haiqingdou sighed: "It's true, I just don't look like it."

As Saikai Haruto said, there were no other robbers except Mizuo Akira and Mizuo Ken.

After they called the police, Hagiwara Kenji temporarily tied up the Mizuo brothers with ropes, and then he had time to ask him curiously: "Come to think of it...how did you guess that I was a policeman and that they had no accomplices?"

Of course it’s because you have the words “Hagiwara Kenji” and “Metropolitan Police Department Security Department Mobile Group Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squad” written above your head.

Of course, I couldn't say that. Haruto Nishimi was checking out with the cashier. Hearing that, he put away the things in his bag and answered him, "When I saw the robber take out the gun, your subordinate consciously put his right hand on his waist, as if he was about to draw his gun. So I made a reasonable guess, and it was you who answered me yourself, officer."

"As for whether they have accomplices..." Xi Haiqing Dou smiled innocently: "I guessed. Isn't this a correct guess?"

If he really has accomplices, then he can just use these two brothers as shields. He is not a good person anyway.