As expected,
when he heard the other party calmly state that their target was Miya Harukiko, Fujiwara Shunsui felt that everything finally made sense.
Why were Taro, Yuna, and even himself facing life-threatening situations, yet not to the point of losing their lives?
Why was Mino Hisashi so obsessed with Kiko-chan?
Why was the bounty on the Dark Web only for investigating his information, rather than taking his life directly?
These all felt like provocations rather than declarations of war.
Same resources, same results,
but the opponent still chose this obscure method
to show off their power and make him nervous.
Fujiwara Shunsui looked at the people in the room,
and at Kinoshita Hisashi, who had already removed his mask, lost in thought.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
If Kiko-chan hadn't changed rooms early on,
and if the system prompt hadn't alerted him to a mission,
the one to suffer tonight might have been Taro.
Taro wasn't the type to let someone inject him quietly; if a bloody incident had truly occurred, it wasn't the outcome Harumizu wanted to see.
These events were coming together like pieces of a puzzle,
making Harumizu's thoughts increasingly clear.
Harumizu looked back at Taro and thought, 'I've saved your life again, kid!'
Taro met Lord Harumizu's gaze with confusion, wondering,
'Did I do something wrong again? Why is Lord Harumizu looking at me like that?'
Seeing Fujiwara Shunsui's silence, Kinoshita Hisashi remained nervous and finally chose to speak again:
"Shunsui-kun, do you believe now that we aren't here to cause trouble for you?"
Fujiwara Shunsui looked at him with interest, as if looking at a fool.
Were all these people from Japanese Syndicates so dim-witted?
I already said this definitely involves me, so why are they still trying to make me believe that?
As expected,
Japan really is something; any conflict at any time is always about information warfare!
Harumizu continued to fiddle with the sharp knife in his hand and said to Kinoshita Hisashi,
"You should know that we announced Miya Harukiko's identity before, right? She's a member of the Sankou-gumi."
If the other party hadn't even investigated this, then Harumizu would truly be at a loss.
Hearing Harumizu say this, Kinoshita Hisashi acted as if he had caught the last straw after drowning and quickly responded:
"We've investigated all of that. Miya Harukiko is not a member of the Sankou-gumi; there is no substantial information to prove the truth of that claim."
Hearing him say this,
Harumizu laughed, a happy laugh.
Indeed, when one is speechless, they really do laugh out loud.
Finally,
Fujiwara Shunsui said faintly, "Doesn't my public declaration count as proof?"
He froze.
Kinoshita Hisashi felt as if he had been struck by lightning upon hearing Fujiwara Shunsui's answer.
This... this, why aren't you following the usual rules?
All of them had subconsciously assumed that Fujiwara Shunsui's actions were just neighbors helping each other out,
but they never expected
that the highest-ranking official of the Sankou-gumi in Shinjuku would admit right to his face: Miya Harukiko is a member of the Sankou-gumi.
This meant that all their actions were a provocation—a blatant provocation.
"Oh, but there might be a bit of a misunderstanding. Miya Harukiko indeed isn't a formal member of the Sankou-gumi Syndicate."
Kinoshita Hisashi breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
As expected,
Indeed!
My information channels are still useful after all. Every personnel appointment in the Sankou-gumi needs to go through layers of screening, and Miya Harukiko's name wasn't on the list of Shinjuku Sankou-gumi members I investigated privately.
"However, she is currently my girlfriend."
Kinoshita Hisashi didn't know if his hands were sweating or if he was just too nervous,
but when he heard this sentence, he subconsciously swallowed hard.
Then he readjusted his grip on the gun.
It's over.
Completely over.
I need to think about how to get everyone out in one piece.
Don't involve family.
This was something the Syndicates cared about most,
who would have thought that the fine traditions of the East would develop in such a distorted way in this tiny place.
"Be careful, don't let it go off. It'll be a lot of trouble if that thing makes a noise."
Seeing that the other party was too nervous, Harumizu still wanted him to relax a bit.
"Can... can we still leave?"
Kinoshita Hisashi squeezed these words out as if from between his teeth, pausing for a long time and undergoing a massive internal struggle.
He knew
that falling into the hands of the Sankou-gumi wasn't a loss.
In fact, if not for his own preconceived judgments, they wouldn't be facing such a situation.
Kinoshita Hisashi looked at each of the underlings following him,
and slowly pointed the muzzle of the gun at his own jaw.
"Wait, wait, wait! I said we could just have a proper talk."
Fujiwara Shunsui was truly startled by these people's tendency to commit suicide to apologize at a moment's notice.
Don't do this, big brother.
I haven't even had enough fun with this new account yet; what if you get me banned for an off-site violation?
Harumizu hurriedly stopped him. His intention was clear: he didn't want any "bloody" incidents.
Mainly, he didn't want to kill someone in public.
"Let's talk. I just need you to provide some information, and I can let you go."
At this point, a thought suddenly flashed through Fujiwara Shunsui's mind.
He immediately added,
"I can tell that you're someone who cares about your brothers, just like me. But clearly, you've failed this job miserably."
Behind him, Nissho Taro's back straightened a bit upon hearing Lord Harumizu's words, as if telling everyone: I am that brother Lord Harumizu cares about.
"I don't want to make things difficult for you on purpose. Leave the employer's information and the hand-off method, and I'll let you go."
Harumizu was very blunt,
but clearly,
Kinoshita Hisashi fell into a dilemma once again.
This was also the first time a hint of contempt for the other man arose in Fujiwara Shunsui's heart, though he knew what the man was thinking.
Betraying an employer because they gave you inaccurate information—
you feel that doing such a thing might affect your career development for the rest of your life.
However,
you've saved your group of brothers.
At the very least, compared to the others, these people won't have to lie in hospital beds for a month or two; that's already the greatest mercy.
Otherwise, after having a leg broken each, you'd still have to make this choice in the end.
You don't really think your gun is still useful now, do you?
Fujiwara Shunsui felt emboldened. Ever since Kinoshita Hisashi kept switching his grip on the gun, a terrifying idea had truly formed in Harumizu's mind.
He wanted to test who would be faster at this distance: his reaction or the other's.
If Yuna knew what he was thinking, she would probably just say: You're asking for death.
Seeing Kinoshita Hisashi's hesitation, a flicker of displeasure flashed in Fujiwara Shunsui's eyes. He stood up and said:
"What are you thinking? I'm asking you for information now, and I can let bygones be bygones regarding tonight's events."
"Do you really think you can just walk out of here in one piece without doing anything?"
"I can let you go, but what about the Sankou-gumi's reputation? Do you think that without my mediation, these people wouldn't face retaliation once their identities are known?"
At this moment, Fujiwara Shunsui's height of nearly 190 cm provided maximum pressure.
At the same time, Harumizu's words struck his weakness.
The reason he hadn't fired
was because he knew the consequences of offending a behemoth like the Sankou-gumi. He didn't want his brothers to suffer for no reason along with him.
He wavered.
Harumizu saw Kinoshita Hisashi's hesitation and decided not to give him another chance.
"Fine, you all can leave."
"I can act as if this never happened, but you'd better think carefully—any subsequent actions by the Syndicate will have nothing to do with me."
Hearing Fujiwara Shunsui say this, the people behind Kinoshita Hisashi became somewhat panicked.
"Lord Hisashi, my mother is chronically ill and can't do without my care."
"The Sankou-gumi is truly not someone we should offend."
"I can forgo the money this time; I just hope the Sankou-gumi people won't retaliate against me."
Before coming,
everyone thought the risk was extremely low because there were many of them, and the pay was more than three times that of a regular brawl.
When they learned the target was just a defenseless housewife, they had even planned where to spend their money tonight.
Because Kinoshita Hisashi had hidden the underlying risk of the Sankou-gumi,
let alone in Shinjuku,
even in all of Tokyo, few would dare to challenge the Sankou-gumi.
This was the pressure brought by the hierarchy,
a world where the strong prevail.
The commotion behind him finally broke Kinoshita Hisashi's mental defenses, and he eventually decided to share everything with Fujiwara Shunsui,
without reservation.
"I received this mission on the Dark Web."
Hearing Kinoshita Hisashi speak, those behind him seemed to see hope. The room was left with only Kinoshita Hisashi's voice and the painful groans of the others.
The Dark Web again.
What exactly is this Dark Web?
Why does everyone want to do these things on the Dark Web!
As a young man who was almost out of touch with the times, a surge of anger rose in Harumizu's heart once more.
"Was it someone with a black dragon avatar who contacted you?"
Harumizu could only piece together the information he knew, as he already knew the other party was looking for relevant information and was even certain that the person behind Mino Hisashi was this "black dragon avatar."
So when the other party mentioned the Dark Web, he immediately thought of them.
Kinoshita Hisashi was clearly dazed for a moment upon hearing Fujiwara Shunsui say this.
He didn't know what he was thinking and just responded to Fujiwara Shunsui in confusion,
"No?"
"It wasn't?!"
Hearing Kinoshita Hisashi say this, Fujiwara Shunsui showed his loss of composure for the first time—and the only time tonight.
His voice couldn't help but rise a few octaves.
This scene made Kinoshita Hisashi tighten his grip on the gun once again.
"Shunsui-kun, please don't get excited. Since I've decided to betray the employer and tell you the information, I naturally won't hide anything."
"As for the black dragon avatar you just mentioned, it really wasn't him."
"But I also saw the bounty information on you from that person on the Dark Web; it's just that the one who hired me really wasn't him."
The fact that Fujiwara Shunsui was on the Dark Web bounty list was nothing new.
In fact, when information regarding Miya Harukiko was shown, words like "suspected," "possibly," or "likely" would appear, indicating that Miya Harukiko might be associated with Fujiwara Shunsui.
Therefore,
when doing the background check, Kinoshita Hisashi had paid attention to this.
The conclusion he reached at the time was:
neighborly relationship, married, Landlord-tenant relationship, not a member of the Sankou-gumi.
Now, what Shunsui-kun was telling him was:
My girlfriend.
Wait, is that right?
Someone else's wife, your girlfriend.
Kinoshita Hisashi felt that his loss wasn't unfair.
"Really not him?"
Fujiwara Shunsui asked again. He felt he was about to grasp something, but Kinoshita Hisashi's answer made him lose his target once more.
"Really not."
Kinoshita Hisashi even felt that Shunsui-kun was intentionally making things difficult for him, that Shunsui-kun didn't want to let them go, and that all of this was just a formal deception!
Thinking this, Kinoshita Hisashi suddenly felt his hand holding the gun grow sore, so he switched hands and changed his posture.
"Hisashi-kun, there's no need for that. It's just that this differs from the information I've come across, which is why I have such questions."
Fujiwara Shunsui naturally saw the other's small movements and could only continue to offer words of comfort.
He then continued to ask, "What was the other party's objective?"
"The other party just said they wanted us to contact them after we kidnapped Miya Harukiko—oh, Miss Miyaharuni."
Kinoshita Hisashi felt his wording was a bit imprecise and had to change his way of speaking.
"Hmm?"
Fujiwara Shunsui gathered some key information from Kinoshita Hisashi's description again.
"Meaning the other party told you to kidnap Kiko but didn't tell you where the hand-off would be, wanting you to tie her up first and then contact them?"
"Yes, that's right!"
The conversation finally returned to normal, and Kinoshita Hisashi breathed a sigh of relief.
"Are you really that naive? The other party just gave you a mission, and you came to kidnap someone? Without even caring about the money?"
Harumizu was a bit angry hearing this, even feeling that Kinoshita Hisashi was tricking him.
"No, no, no, it's not like that, Shunsui-kun. The other party paid a deposit first."
Kinoshita Hisashi was naturally no fool; he could already feel Fujiwara Shunsui's anger and understood exactly what he was angry about, so he hurriedly waved his hands to explain.
"A deposit? How much?"
"70% of the total price."
When Kinoshita Hisashi said this, Harumizu fell into a logical vortex once again.
Wait,
are you all that rich?
You gave someone money, but what if they don't kidnap the person? You'd just lose 70% for nothing? Is that how it works?
Actually, Harumizu didn't understand these things.
Because Kinoshita Hisashi's Dark Web account had relevant reviews,
the buyer would pay a 70% deposit in advance based on other people's evaluations.
This
is called reputation!
Hearing the other party say this, Harumizu fell into silence once again.
Kinoshita Hisashi was like a criminal waiting for judgment,
tightly clutching the 'truth' in his hand.
You couldn't tell if he wanted to go down together
or if he wanted to surrender completely.
All that could be said was that everyone was still in the middle of a friendly communication.
"Fine, I'll let you go!"
After a long silence, Fujiwara Shunsui finally spoke.
A look of joy flashed across Kinoshita Hisashi's face, and a brief commotion came from the people behind him,
but Harumizu wasn't finished yet.
"But I need Mr. Kinoshita to do me a favor."
"Go and reply to your employer: the person has been kidnapped! Request the next step for the transaction!"