Chapter 152 Eight Vigilantes

"His statements are contradictory. First he said that bombs were strapped to the hostages, then he said that the bombs injected into the hostages were timed. Isn't this sabotaging himself?"

Someone at the stage pointed at the live broadcast on the screen and said confidently: "So I think this criminal is probably just pretending. Otherwise, who would be so serious as to confuse the bomb he just installed on the hostage?"

The inexplicable crime live broadcast was interrupted after the criminal who called himself "Assa" said that the game time was up, and then gave them a reminder that the hostages were in a perfect position to enjoy tonight's fireworks. Under pressure, the Metropolitan Police Department quickly gathered people to discuss the case in the conference room.

It was obvious that many people in the packed conference room agreed with this statement, but the small number of people who had doubts in their eyes did not speak rashly, which made the person on the stage even more proud of his discovery.

"No, I'm not dismantling my own platform."

Suddenly, a voice interrupted his speech. The man looked over in annoyance and saw the curly-haired young man who was talking in the corner, leaning lazily on the back of a chair with his arms folded, his face strictly blocked by a black baseball cap.

The sound came from under the hat.

The man's expression immediately turned even uglier, especially after the half-long-haired young man who was sitting next to him with his chin in his hand and a big smile on his face spoke up: "I also think what Xiao Zhenping said is right. Rather than saying that the prisoner is contradicting himself, it is better to say that what the prisoner meant is..."

"It means that the hostages have more than one bomb on them." A tall, sturdy, fierce-looking man with a buzz cut sitting in the front row of the conference room said in a deep voice, taking over the conversation as the third person in the conversation. "From his performance and what he said before and after, the hostages are likely to have bombs tied to their bodies and micro explosives implanted in their bodies."

"You guys!" the person on the stage was angry.

"Haha... the squad leader is right." The young man who spoke first yawned and took off his hat. "If we only focus on removing the bombs from their bodies after finding them, the hostages will eventually be killed by the explosions inside their bodies. If we want to remove the explosives inside their bodies, we will be almost too late."

"That's what the criminal meant. He deliberately told the police about this and tried to trick them into ignoring the truth he told them. He wanted to see the police, who were slowly finding the hostages, struggle over whether to sacrifice the hostages or let a bunch of people die with them."

After the baseball cap was taken away, anyone could see that there was no sleepiness in the police officer's blue eyes, but only the sharpness of a sword drawn from its sheath.

Matsuda Jinpei suddenly changed the subject: "Come to think of it, even if the bomb is fake, it would be best to find the hostages within half an hour. After all, they are 'those' children. Who knows if the bomb will explode in the blink of an eye, right?"

He pulled the corners of his mouth, and the second half of his sentence was extremely sarcastic. Hagiwara Kenji beside him looked helpless, sighing and skillfully putting his hat back on his face. Physically muted: "Sorry everyone, Xiao Zhenping probably didn't have time to sleep because he dismantled too many bombs yesterday. He's not in a good mood today, so he's speaking so directly."

However, no one could see any apology in Hagiwara's tone and actions, and even the man on the stage lost his temper instantly.

Because both Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara were right.

The hostages were the children of several so-called big shots. They had no right to refuse. Not to mention that many of the people present had come with the purpose of "a successful rescue would win the favor of the big shots". They were asked to give up the hostages? Are you kidding me? Do you not want your job anymore?

Furthermore, Hagiwara said that Matsuda was in a bad mood today because he defuse too many bombs yesterday... This...

The three people just mentioned are the ace of the Explosives Squad, Kenji Hagiwara, Jinpei Matsuda, and the chief of the Third Section of the First Investigation Division, Kou Date. They joined the Metropolitan Police Department seven years ago when it had not yet been completely eroded, and they have always been very conspicuous. During these seven years, they and others have insisted on keeping some parts of the Metropolitan Police Department clean.

Not to mention Ida Kou, who has outstanding case-solving ability and is valued by the Chief of the Criminal Division, so no one dares to make things difficult for him. The other two guys, whose positions are not particularly outstanding, have a superior status because of their superb bomb disposal skills.

In Tokyo, where bombings happen every day, the terrorism handling team has long been the least popular department for new recruits, and has not recruited new members for several years. It is only because of Matsuda Hagiwara and his police officers running around Tokyo every day that the city is not really deserted even during the day due to bombings every day.

Even in today's important case, the Explosives Squad played a necessary role. These two trump cards are indispensable, so they would naturally not offend them if possible.

The man on the stage could only dejectedly step down and blend into the crowd.

Some people behind them were vying for a position in the action and were giving orders. Matsuda and the other two, who were very familiar with the process, did not stay to listen, but left through the back door at the same time. Most people in the conference room were already used to it and looked away without being surprised.

Bang.

Matsuda Jinpei punched the side of the vending machine, and two cans of oolong tea wobbled and fell out of it. When he was about to press the button for the third time, an arm came up from his back: "Oh, I have to drink coffee today."

So Matsuda turned his hand and slammed the button on the outside of the ice coffee fiercely. With a gulp, the brown and black can fell out.

"Thank you, Matsuda." Ida Kou took the cold iced coffee, looking tired, but still smiled and thanked Matsuda Jinpei, "I'll treat you to dinner when I'm free."

"Write this down, this is the sixty-fifth meal you owe, squad leader." Hagiwara Kenji put a straw in the oolong tea, held the transparent tube in his mouth, and teased in a casual tone.

Ida Hang looked up at the ceiling and chuckled twice.

They are so busy at work. As the few people who are still working seriously in the Metropolitan Police Department, even though they are good friends who work in the same place every day, the last time they had a meal together was more than half a year ago.

"There's nothing we can do. It looks like we'll have to work overtime until the early morning today." Yi Dahang took a sip of coffee and sighed, "...regardless of whether the criminal is caught or not."

The identity of the hostage was clear. If they succeeded in rescuing him, they would have to deal with the prisoner amidst numerous obstacles. It would probably take more than a week for even the 'Inspector Ida', Ida Kou, to get the prisoner investigation report.

Not to mention if their rescue operation fails, those so-called big shots will definitely not let go of those who participated in the rescue.

Besides, Ida Ko didn't think they could catch the criminal - it wasn't that they were trying to boost others' prestige and destroy their own morale, it was that they were powerless.

In order to restrict these "guys who don't know how to read people's cues", the authorities had set up a lot of rules a long time ago, one of which was that they had to obtain approval from multiple parties before taking any action.

Matsuda Jinpei obviously thought of this as well. He drank the remaining oolong tea in one gulp, squeezed the paper box into a ball, and threw it into the trash can opposite.

"Tsk..." The curly-haired police officer took out a cigarette and bit it, looking depressed. "The most important thing now is to know the time of the explosion. The rest can be dealt with later."

"Hey, hey, Jinpei-kun, you're not going to act first and defuse the bomb yourself again? This kind of thing--" Hagiwara Kenji blinked his purple eyes, "Take me with you!"

The childhood friend pair quickly turned to look at Yi Dahang.

"So this is why you were suspended last week." Yi Dahang suddenly realized and said distressedly, "I was wondering why the higher-ups suddenly sent people to my department..."

If being suspended for half a day is considered suspension.

"I really want to join you, but don't mention me. I don't think you can get away this time." He wordlessly gestured with his chin for the two to turn around.

The place they chose for the conversation was a corridor where the surveillance camera had been broken long ago and had not been replaced, so they spoke in a more relaxed manner.

The two of them turned around, and their distance was clearly kept in a corner where they could hear their conversation, and one head immediately retracted in embarrassment.

Matsuda recognized at a glance that they were the people assigned by the higher-ups to monitor him and Hagi after he circumvented the rules and went to defuse the bomb last time, and he looked away with disinterest.

"You said, when will the fireworks be?" He jumped to other topics quickly, immediately putting the matter of sneaking out of his mind and began to think seriously about the case. "I remember that the city banned fireworks four years ago."

"Even the fireworks festival hasn't been held for a long time, and the places that still set off fireworks haven't submitted any applications for fireworks recently." Kenji Hagiwara supported his chin and added.

"So he's not referring to real fireworks," Ida Hang judged.

Four years ago, a resistance group used explosives disguised as fireworks to attack and kill several bigwigs with dirty hands. Soon after that, Tokyo banned all forms of fireworks.

Since Asa mentioned this as the time of the explosion, it means that the fireworks Asa was talking about were definitely something they knew and had an exact time.

Believing the criminals' words is the most undesirable behavior, but they are currently facing obstacles everywhere and have no choice but to believe them.

All three of them frowned and thought intently about the location of the bomb and the hostages. Although they all wanted to catch the criminal, everything else had to take a back seat compared to the lives of the hostages.

At this moment, Jinpei Matsuda's cell phone suddenly rang with the sound of a text message.

He slid open the text message interface quite unexpectedly - Matsuda Jinpei usually uses two mobile phones. This one is a private phone whose number is only known to his close friends and his father. Now that Hagi and the squad leader are in front of him, the only people who could have sent the message are his father and the friend who went undercover.

The question is why did they come to him at this time?

Hagiwara and Date also knew about this, and they came over curiously and watched with Matsuda from behind.

The next second, Matsuda froze when he saw the sender's number, and the unlit cigarette he had been holding in his mouth fell to the ground with a plop.

The other party only sent a simple word: [Suzuki Tower].

But.

The sender column contained the number of a blond bastard who had long since died among the five of them.

…

At the same moment, in a deserted alley in Shibuya, Furuya Rei sneezed without warning just as he was about to say something.

The boy opposite him cast a questioning look in silence, and Furuya Rei rubbed his face in confusion: "Strange, do I have a cold?"