Chapter 14 The Deal with Cecil
In the dark underground parking lot, Cheng You keenly sensed a sense of danger as soon as he entered, but he still calmly stepped in. In the distance, he could vaguely see a tall, blond figure.
"Ah~ I finally caught you." Noticing someone had arrived, Cecil, still wearing that strange Izanagi mask, turned to look at Cheng You with a smile.
"It wasn't you who caught me, it was me who came to you," Cheng You calmly corrected, his eyes darkening as he noticed the gun in the blond man's hand.
However, Cecil didn't care what the other person was saying. He just smiled faintly, his tone full of smugness and hypocrisy. He said, "If it weren't for my scheme, would you have come to me on your own initiative? No matter what, you're in my grasp, and you'll never escape my control."
Cheng You suddenly smiled: "What's your plan? To plant bombs to scare them?"
“No, this is a threat. None of the tools I set my sights on have ever escaped.” Cecil toyed with the gun in his hand and said with a smile, “I’ll give you two choices: join me and obey me, and I’ll let your police friend go and promise never to bother him again. Or you refuse, and I’ll kill that policeman.”
"I think there's a third way."
"Oh? What road? Do you want to kill me? Hahaha, since I dared to come to you alone, I must have made preparations. Don't make a futile struggle." Cecil saw the ruthlessness in Cheng You's eyes and couldn't help but sneer, thinking to himself that the other party was still completely under his control.
Cheng You said dismissively, "You won't deliberately cause an explosion because you're a coward—" He deliberately dragged out the last syllable.
Hearing such disrespectful words, Cecil's eyes flashed with anger, but he still put on a fake smile and looked at Cheng You: "Ah~ you really need to be taught a lesson. It's okay, training hunting dogs is also one of my hobbies."
Cheng ignored him, slowly approached him and attacked directly. Cecil's anger intensified, but he still used a fake smile to cover up his anger. He gripped the gun and pointed it at Cheng, but Cheng was too agile and he couldn't get a good grip.
Cheng You understood this perfectly. If the other side couldn't kill him with one shot, a second or third shot might attract others. Currently, Cecil's power wasn't strong, not even comparable to the distillery, and he dared not invite disaster without cause.
In close combat, Cheng, having learned from his previous experience, knew to be wary of the man's protective gear. Sure enough, Cecil was wearing steel armor under his suit, and a punch to him did no harm. Instead, Cheng's own hand ached slightly. Even the man's shoes were the kind of thick work boots that would hurt if you kicked him.
But Cheng You didn't intend to kill him. Since this person was one of his main tasks, he was definitely not easy to deal with. He nimbly dodged the bullets, and the moment he got close to Cecil, the other man instinctively dodged backward. In a flash, Cheng You had already flipped the man's coat pocket and taken the bomb controller.
“!” Cecil frowned and looked at Cheng You. Even though he had just been humiliated, his desire to control Cheng You grew wildly, and his eyes were full of greedy desire and admiration.
But Cheng doesn't need such praise.
"Ha. So what if you resolve this matter? I'll still have the opportunity to threaten you with your police friend in the future."
Cheng smiled and said, "I'm afraid there won't be another chance in the future, since I'm leaving Japan."
"Oh? So what? You leave Japan, and I can threaten your police friends until you are completely mine."
"Sigh," Cheng sighed, "Oh, I see. Alright then." He fiddled with the bomb controller in his hand and asked with a smile, "My name is Matsukawa Yuki, what's yours?"
Cecil didn't understand what he was trying to do, but still introduced himself in a gentlemanly manner: "Gabriel Cecil".
"Hmm..." Cheng nodded, silently making a mental note to find out who this person was. He casually leaned against a pillar and started scrolling through his phone, chatting casually with Cecil like friends.
"Are you American?"
A hint of doubt flashed in Cecil's eyes, but he maintained his gentlemanly smile: "You're of mixed American and Japanese heritage, and you want to make a name for yourself in Japan. And you, Mr. Matsukawa, why are you going abroad?"
"Studying abroad." Cheng You smiled. "Maybe after I return to China, I can consider joining you." Perhaps Cecil will have changed his mind by then.
"The wait is too long and it's agonizing," Cecil sighed, shaking his head, but his eyes clearly showed a hint of pleasure.
“I’ll sign an agreement with you. You won’t touch the people around me. I’ll come looking for you after I return to China, but I’m afraid you’ll have someone else you want by then.” Cheng You said casually, his tone as relaxed as if he were discussing dinner with a friend. “If your organization can become famous quickly, I’ll consider joining your organization.”
“That’s not bad.” Cecil’s eyes gleamed with cunning. “However, Mr. Matsukawa doesn’t seem to have much credibility with me.”
"How about I give you a gift to show my appreciation?" Cheng You smiled.
"Oh~ I'm really looking forward to Mr. Matsukawa's gift~"
"In alley number 174 of Nishino Ward, there is the body of Soichiro Uchimura. According to my investigation, it seems to be a recently launched bounty on the dark web by the Gray Fox Assassin. An assassin accepted the job and killed him."
“The Grey Fox Assassins’ dark web…” Cecil narrowed his eyes in thought. “I’ve heard of it, but it remains to be seen. But Uchimura Soichiro’s body does have other uses. However, this gift doesn’t seem worth my years of waiting, does it?”
“This is just a small gift,” Cheng You glanced at his phone, casually typed a few keys to bring up the information, and handed it to Cecil. “Take a look at this information; you’ll want it.”
Cecil took the phone, glanced at it, and her eyes lit up. "This is really a great thing!"
Cheng chuckled softly, took back his phone, and Cecil, still savoring the moment, smiled very gentlemanly.
"Add me on email, I'll send it to you."
Cecil immediately became interested and asked, "Send it directly to me?"
“My sincerity,” Cheng said with a smile, “so your sincerity must be sufficient as well.”
“Of course I mean what I say. You’re all I have in my heart now, Mr. Matsukawa. There’s no room for anyone else, not even your police friends.” The blond man’s green eyes shone with a deep light.
The two exchanged email addresses, and Cheng You packaged all the files and sent them to Cecil. After receiving and confirming that everything was correct, the blond man sent Cheng You the layout diagram of the bombs that he had his men plant.
"Then I'll be going now." Cheng You glanced at the bomb briefly, confirmed its location, took the bomb controller, waved, and left.
The blond man maintained a gentlemanly smile as he watched him leave, then looked at the documents on his phone with satisfaction.
These are the general locations and layouts of certain black organizations in the Nishino district, which is undoubtedly the best gift for Cecil, who is expanding his power.
However, for Cheng You, this was just a small operation of double-crossing, which could also quickly deal with some small fry.
Cheng You found some of the bombs according to the bomb distribution map. On the way, he encountered Kenji Hagiwara and other police officers who were searching for and defusing the bombs. Cheng You deliberately erased the location of one of the bombs on the bomb distribution map and sent this modified bomb to Kenji Hagiwara.
"This is a bomb distribution map that I obtained using my own method. I hope it can help you."
Kenji Hagiwara asked in confusion, "This..."
"That's my secret," Cheng said with a smile. "It's just that everyone has their own strengths."
Kenji Hagiwara smiled and asked no more questions, then immediately went with his colleagues to other bomb sites.
Watching them leave, Cheng You's smile vanished, and he stared at them expressionlessly. He looked at the location where he had hidden the bomb, on the top floor of the catering department.
He stood on the windowsill of the top floor, enjoying the cool breeze, his hair flying wildly. He saw the blond man in the suit remove his mask, put on sunglasses, and walk out of the hotel, followed by two muscular bodyguards.
Seemingly noticing the stares from outsiders, Cecil raised his eyes and looked straight over, exchanging a smile with Cheng You on the top floor.
At this moment, Cheng You received a message from Kenji Hagiwara. He had finished defusing the bomb and was preparing to leave the hotel. He asked Cheng You if he had time to have dinner together and return the watch.
Cheng You smiled faintly, his gaze still fixed on the hotel entrance, until he saw Kenji Hagiwara and the police officers emerge. Hagiwara's police instincts quickly alerted him to the stares. He slowly looked up and saw Cheng You standing on the rooftop enjoying the breeze. Hagiwara, puzzled, jokingly messaged Cheng You: "Why is Komatsukawa all alone in the breeze?"
Cheng stared at the messages on his phone for a while, then slowly replied. He reached into his pocket with his left hand and pressed a button.
The next second, a deafening "BOOM!" ripped through the quiet morning air. The aftershocks of the explosion sent flames soaring into the sky from the top floor of the catering building, scattering debris, dust, sparks, and fragments.
After the explosion, a deathly silence fell over the surroundings. Only the occasional sirens and distant shouts could be heard.
An ominous premonition filled the air, and even time seemed to freeze at that moment.
The blond man, Kenji Hagiwara, and the policeman who recognized Cheng You, all stood frozen in place, their pupils dilating in shock, their eyes revealing panic.
Kenji Hagiwara, regaining his senses from the confusion, felt his phone vibrate. He opened it but was distracted. Only after noticing the sender did he absentmindedly look at it carefully.
That was a message Cheng You sent him—his last message.
[Sorry, Hagiwara. I concealed the location of the bomb. Don't worry, I'm fine. —Matsukawa Yuki]
"Damn it, saying everything's fine? It was bombed and you still say everything's fine." Kenji Hagiwara felt a surge of anger and resentment.
The blond, green-eyed man on the other side pursed his lips. He couldn't believe that this powerful man would die like this, but it was true. After all, he had witnessed Cheng You being engulfed by the flames.
After the police cleared the scene, they confirmed that they had found fragments of a human body inside.
On the other side, Cheng You, who had finished his mission and returned to the system space, looked at these messages on the system interface and sighed: "That was too dangerous. Luckily, the system teleported us in time." The human fragments in there were the bomb-planting tool that Cecil had blown up in the head with.
“If Furuya Rei can’t find the body of the bomber, he’ll definitely figure this out,” Cheng You smiled. “But we still need to send a message to let everyone know we’re safe.”
He logged into his Matsukawa account and sent a text message to Kenji Hagiwara to let him know he was safe: "I've already left the country~ Don't worry! I'm really not dead. Ask Furuya if you don't believe me; those body parts in there aren't me!"
He sent another message to Rei Furuya to reassure them.
Finally, he sent Cecil a warning: "Don't worry, I'm not dead, our deal can still proceed. As for why I wasn't killed in the explosion… that's my secret, and also my ability. I'm watching you closely, Cecil, don't break the rules of the deal."
Cheng You's main purpose in staging this bombing was to intimidate Cecil. Through his conversation with him, Cheng You had learned that Cecil was a shrewd and cunning egoist businessman who made all his transactions transparent and valued power above all else.
Cheng You couldn't guarantee that Cecil would really keep his promise not to bother Kenji Hagiwara, but intimidation was often the best way to keep selfish businessmen in check.
If you put pressure on him, he will definitely find the most suitable way to cooperate and bring him the greatest benefit. From the way Mr. Matsukawa obtained the information to his escape from the bombing, Cecil has already planted the seeds of admiration and fear in his heart. Even if it is only a little, he will not do something with a low chance of success.
Cheng You chatted with Kenji Hagiwara for a few more minutes and apologized. Finally, he mentioned that he was abroad and it was inconvenient for him to reply to messages, so they lost contact. Although he was a little reluctant, he knew that life had to move forward. Seven years later, they would meet again, but with new identities.
A note from the author:
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Story Timeline ~ 1. Amusement Park Incident. (Unlocks key characters (secret), Bourbon and Bayonetta appear~) 2. Murder Case. (Chance of encountering Hagi and Mazda~) 3. Japanese Research Institute Incident. (The brewery and Cecil appear.) Regardless of which one, it's all about revealing secrets, haha.
Xiao Cheng, watch out, Mazda and Zero might beat you up.
Cheng You thought he was disguising himself very well, but his little habits would actually give him away (as revealed earlier). Cheng You: It's okay, I'll keep creating fake identities, hehe.
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