Chapter 8 The blond man and the distillery
After finishing his meal, Cheng said he had urgent business to attend to and was in a hurry to leave. Just then, Kenji Hagiwara stopped him and asked, "Shall I take you home?"
"No need, thank you. I'll just take a taxi back. You two continue chatting." Cheng You smiled and left.
Instead of taking a taxi, he planned to walk to Nishino Ward to investigate, hoping to gather information about the crisis in Beika Town. After all, seven years ago, Nishino Ward was known for its rapid flow of yakuza information.
This time-travel mission lasts for one month. After completing the mission, he can either end the time-travel early and return to normal time, or he can stay in the time-travel mission until the time runs out.
According to the system, as long as the rescue objective is achieved, the remaining time mileage will not be affected even if the disguised body dies.
Now that the mission is complete, this persona can try some dangerous things. Why not take this opportunity to investigate more deeply? But dying so easily would be pointless, Cheng thought; he'd rather go to the West Wilderness District and do some big things.
Following the route he remembered, Cheng arrived at the outskirts of the West Wilderness District. He could hear many sounds of killing and bloodshed all around him. He exhaled and moved forward with determination.
Seven years ago, the Japanese Public Security Bureau and the Metropolitan Police Department had relatively lax oversight of Nishino Ward, which led to the emergence of many potential criminal organizations in the area.
[I heard the bounty for killing him is quite high; I might as well give it a try.]
【Baka! What kind of lousy organization is this?】
[Damn it, that bastard, the research on this drug was almost complete?!]
...
After wandering through alley after alley, the things I heard weren't very important; most of them were about personal feuds between Japanese gangsters or taking on side jobs to make money.
Before he even turned into another alley, he suddenly heard two people whispering to each other. Cheng had a sixth sense that there was danger ahead, so he instinctively stopped and listened carefully.
"What happened? You said the tool the boss carefully cultivated ran away?" a male voice said.
“I don’t know what happened. It might be the organization that the boss used to work with.” Another man said anxiously. “We’ve already sent people to look for him. Someone just reported that they’ve spotted the silver-haired man from the Black Organization.”
"Why are they here?! Did they use some underhanded means to find out we were here today, so they came specifically to annoy us?! This must be their organization's doing! Damn it, they actually stole the boss's hard work!" The man thought: [After severing ties, they resorted to such despicable methods! What should I do if the boss arrives soon? He'll definitely punish me; I'm the boss's confidant!]
Cheng stood silently in the darkness, pondering these clues. He wondered what organization the other party belonged to. Silver hair—the first thing that came to his mind was Gin. If that was the case, it seemed that they and the distillery were enemies who had fallen out over their cooperation? A tool being cultivated… what was this? A person?
"Sir, what are you doing here?" Just as Cheng was distracted in thought, a sinister young man's voice suddenly came from behind him.
"!" Cheng Youxin was startled and turned his head to look behind him. He only caught a glimpse of the person's sparse golden hair out of the corner of his eye. Then a fist wrapped in cold wind rushed towards Cheng Youxin's face at lightning speed.
Fortunately, Cheng reacted quickly, using his agility to slide downwards and dodge the attack.
Just as Cheng You was adjusting his posture to get a clear look at the other person's face, the person who had been talking in the alley hurriedly came out and respectfully addressed the blond man: "Boss."
"Kill him." The blond man's cold voice rang out, tinged with a hint of amusement.
Cheng You looked up at the blond man, who was wearing a mask with a ferocious expression. Cheng You had some impression of the pattern on the mask; it seemed to be Izanagi, a Japanese creator god. It seemed that the blond man in front of him had quite the ambition.
In the dim light, the blond man's green eyes gleamed with a dangerous and terrifying light.
The two men pulled out pistols from their pockets, and Cheng You immediately dodged, his nimble movements cleanly avoiding the bullets. He turned to run away, but the blond man seemed to have seen through his thoughts and did not take any action.
Cheng You squinted at the blond man who exuded a dangerous aura just by standing there, then smiled and said, "Ah~ sir, you shouldn't focus your attention on me, an outsider. You can ask your dear subordinates; they seem to have lost something important to you."
Upon hearing this, the two subordinates paused. At this moment, Cheng jumped onto the railing and sat on one leg, looking over with a gloating expression.
Sensing the blond man's aura grow even colder, the two subordinates looked panicked.
The blond man raised his gun, pointing it at Cheng You, and said, "You can die now."
"Oh dear, so irritable." Cheng You casually jumped down from the fence.
"Which organization are you from?" The blond man put down his gun and fiddled with it in his hand.
"Which organization?" Cheng thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "I'm a member of the 'Invincible East Pavilion'." He made one up on the spot, wanting to see what the other party was up to.
"Oh? Never heard of you. Looks like you're just an ant." The blond man's green eyes curved into a sly smile. "I've taken a liking to your abilities. Join our organization."
"Aren't you going to take care of that tool you've carefully cultivated?" Cheng You asked casually, slowly approaching his two subordinates.
In a flash, Cheng You had already snatched the gun from his subordinates. The blond man quickly fired a shot at him, but Cheng You bent down, snatched the gun, and quickly shot the right legs of the two subordinates. Using the momentum, he immediately rushed in front of the blond man and reached out to remove his mask.
The blond man was no pushover either; he swiftly dodged while continuing to fire a few more bursts of bullets at his opponent.
Cheng dodged nimbly and, as he got close to the man, kicked the man's gun away. The man attacked him at the same time, causing Cheng to lose his balance and almost fall. The gun in his hand also fell to the ground, and the two began close-quarters hand-to-hand combat.
"What? You want to kill me?" the blond man provocatively asked.
"Tsk, you talk too much." Cheng was very strong, and each punch was delivered with seven-tenths of his strength.
The blond man was clearly struggling. He gritted his teeth and gestured to his subordinates behind him to pick up a gun and subdue the man in front of him.
However, Cheng You noticed the man's subtle movements but didn't pay much attention to them. Instead, she asked, "Why don't you have your subordinates kill me? Why keep me alive? Are you training me to be your tool?" Immediately afterward, she threw a punch that left a blur in her mind, aiming for the man's chest.
The blond man snorted coldly and quickly bent down to dodge. "Yes, you are quite capable. I value talent, and you will definitely not be at a disadvantage here."
Cheng You noticed out of the corner of his eye that his subordinate behind him was struggling to pick up a gun and aiming it at him. However, because of the subordinate's leg injury and Cheng You's movement, the subordinate's hand was trembling. The subordinate's panic was completely exposed to Cheng You: [Damn it, what should I do? It's so unstable, this will accidentally hit the boss.]
Even the distant whispers of others could be heard, sounding like the blond man's bodyguards had arrived.
It's not advisable to stay any longer. Cheng thought to himself. He had to do something.
Thinking this, he immediately pulled a scalpel from his pocket and made a deep cut on the blond man's chin, the cut extending all the way to his chest. Sensing that the man was wearing protective armor, the scalpel paused for a moment when it reached the chest.
The knife was jammed, and Cheng You, who was holding it, was also stunned. Now his opponent had found an opening and kicked him hard. As he slid backward, Cheng You keenly caught the sound of bullets whizzing through the air. He leaped a few steps and flashed into another alley. "Goodbye," he said arrogantly.
"Damn it," the subordinate said through gritted teeth, looking at the spot where he had left.
He suddenly felt a shadow descend upon him. Looking up, he saw a gun pointed at him and a blond man coldly holding a gun. The subordinate froze, not realizing the bullet had already pierced his head.
Seeing this, another subordinate panicked, his arms trembling uncontrollably: "Boss...Boss...we—"
"Bang—" The blond man coldly pulled the trigger. His icy green eyes peered through his mask at the two corpses before him with satisfaction. His tone was gentle, but it was more like honey hiding a knife. "You deserve to die for making a mistake, don't you? I rarely take a liking to a tool and want to train it. You can't even do this. You're really useless."
The blond man didn't forget to wipe his hands and his beloved gun.
He put away his beloved gun, then picked up the one that might have Cheng You's fingerprints on it, and made a phone call: "He's escaped. Look for him. Also, investigate an organization called 'Invincible East Pavilion'." After giving the instructions, he smiled with satisfaction and looked up at the black sky, "Ah~ I really want to have it."
On the other side, Cheng You, clutching his lower abdomen which was still aching from the kick, walked along the alley.
"Ouch, is he crazy? Wearing those stiff engineer shoes, it hurts like hell! He looks so refined, how can he be so cruel? Ouch." Cheng You silently shed tears in her heart. π-π
"But Little Fire, why can't I hear the blond man's thoughts?"
System: [Please change how you address the System.]
"..." Cheng You said, "I know without you telling me. There are two possibilities. One, the blond man is neither a potential criminal nor a criminal, but that's unlikely, he looks crazy. Two, he's probably the one who's about to bring disaster to Beika Town, an outsider who doesn't belong to the world of Detective Conan."
The system replied emotionlessly: "Oh, yes, congratulations."
Cheng You: That's too perfunctory, they didn't even bother to act. This is slacking off; you deserve a demerit, and I'll report you sooner or later.
Faint footsteps came from the end of the alley. Cheng You froze. He temporarily forgot his pain and pretended to be an arrogant gangster, wearing a friendly yet dangerous smile.
As he slowly approached, he recognized them by their silhouettes: Gin and Vodka. Vodka was muttering something to himself, and Cheng You couldn't help but prick up his ears.
"Our people found out their boss will be here today, apparently to train some kind of tool for murder. They should be up ahead... making a deal..."
Upon noticing someone ahead, Vodka immediately stopped talking.
Cheng didn't react at all, only glancing at the other person before the three of them brushed past each other.
When Vodka and Gin reached the end of the alley, they took out their guns and cautiously moved towards this side, only to see two corpses with their eyes wide open, and a gun lying quietly on the ground.
Gin's face was icy: "Damn it, they're gone."
Vodka glanced at the two bodies briefly and explained, "There are bullet wounds in the legs, and the fatal wound is a bullet that went through the head. They just died recently."
"Could it be..." Gin immediately recalled the man who had just brushed past him. Could he be the killing machine trained by that blond psychopath? Or perhaps a rat in this organization? He had a feeling the latter was more likely. Regardless, that man knew a great deal about the organization; he had to be caught.
Without further hesitation, he immediately retraced his steps, "to check the identity of that man from before."
Vodka responded and immediately messaged the technical department, but his train of thought suddenly stalled, "What does he look like again..."
Gin also fell silent. The environment was already dark, and the person's face was very ordinary, with black hair and black eyes and no distinctive features. Even with their superb memories, they couldn't recall him.
"Never mind, let's go after them." Noticing that the atmosphere around his older brother had dropped to freezing point, Vodka quickly tried to divert his attention.
On the other side, Cheng You obviously didn't expect that his disguise had become the person that both organizations wanted to find. However, he wasn't worried. The disguise that the system gave him was not just a disguise; it was more like a face change and a body change.
Even if there were fingerprints, they wouldn't be able to find out, which is why Cheng didn't take the gun.
Cheng You is currently thinking about the blond man and the distillery. Judging from Vodka's words, the distillery didn't steal the blond man's training tools. Could it be that a third party has joined in? In any case, it might not be a bad thing if these two sides fight each other.
Just as Cheng was about to leave, he slipped into another secluded alley, hoping he wouldn't run into the blond man or the distillery people.
As he thought this, his figure was gradually swallowed by darkness.
Suddenly, something slammed into his lower abdomen. Cheng You felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen and bent over, clutching his stomach as he leaned against the wall. He struggled to lift his eyes to look at the thing that had hit him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com