The Osaka Police Headquarters was currently shrouded in an unprecedented low-pressure atmosphere. The usual busy and orderly environment was replaced by heavy grief, indignation, and subtle panic. Officers hurried about, but all wore solemn expressions, their eyes filled with disbelief and anger as they conversed in low voices.
In the hallway outside the Key Investigation Laboratory, Hattori Heizo stood like a volcano about to erupt. His usually meticulously combed hair was somewhat disheveled. The muscles on his stern face were taut, and his sharp, hawk-like eyes were now bloodshot, burning fiercely with the pain of losing his son and towering rage. His tightly clenched fists had white knuckles, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged, as if he were desperately restraining the impulse to destroy everything.
The laboratory door opened, and a Senior Forensic Doctor and a Ballistics Expert walked out, both pale-faced, holding the preliminary examination report.
The forensic doctor's voice trembled, clearly shocked by the examination results. "We conducted a preliminary inspection of Heiji-kun's remains... The fatal injuries are two gunshot wounds to the chest, but... but these bullets..."
He swallowed hard and continued with difficulty: "They absolutely could not have been caused by any standard firearm known to us! The warhead... or rather, the damage wasn't caused by a physical projectile at all, but a kind of... a kind of pure energy that we cannot analyze! It instantly annihilated the cellular structure of the heart and surrounding tissue upon impact. The method of destruction... is unheard of!"
The ballistics expert added, his face filled with confusion and fear: "Based on the residual energy fluctuations and the form of the trauma at the scene, reverse deduction suggests that this weapon fired something more like... a highly condensed 'Conceptual' killing energy, a '377,' rather than a physical bullet. Our database has no matching entries. This is completely outside the realm of modern weaponry!"
"Bizarre... completely different..." Hattori Heizo repeated these words in a low voice, each syllable squeezed out through gritted teeth, carrying a chilling coldness. He suddenly lifted his head, his eyes blazing with terrifying light—a madness mixed with extreme pain and absolute certainty. He almost roared:
"Kanjuro!! It must have been Kanjuro!!!"
His voice echoed through the corridor, making the surrounding police officers freeze in dread.
"Only him! Only that devil would use such bizarre methods! He killed Heiji! He killed my son!!"
The immense grief caused his body to sway, and a subordinate nearby quickly tried to step forward to support him, but he shoved the man away.
He clutched the absurd inspection report tightly, the paper twisting and deforming in his hand.
"Search!! Even if you have to turn all of Osaka upside down! Find Kanjuro for me!!" he roared at all the officers, his voice hoarse but filled with undeniable resolve. "Mobilize every resource! Every method! I don't care what dark magic he uses! I will make him pay for this blood debt!!"
The entire police station trembled under his roar. Everyone could feel the imminent, uncontrollable rage and despair of this father who had lost his son, who was also a police giant. The flames of hatred had burned away almost all of his rationality.
However, they did not know that just as Hattori Heizo let out his roar of vengeance, outside the police station, around the corner of a bustling street, Kanjuro was walking steadily towards the main entrance of the police station with Kazuha and Hattori Shizuka, appearing like ordinary passersby.
A faint, knowing, and mocking smile hung on Kanjuro's lips, as if he had already heard the desperate and furious shouts coming from inside the police station. Kazuha, behind him, had eyes sparkling with excitement and anticipation, while Hattori Shizuka kept her eyelids lowered, hiding all complex emotions beneath an exterior of obedience.
The storm was about to strike this barrier symbolizing order and law head-on. The atmosphere outside the Osaka Police Headquarters was tense. When Kanjuro appeared leisurely outside the cordon with Toyama Kazuha and Hattori Shizuka, as if taking a stroll, all the officers responsible for the perimeter instantly grew nervous. Countless gazes—wary, angry, and even tinged with fear—focused sharply on the three of them.
"It's Kanjuro!"
"He actually dared to come here?!"
"Grab him!"
Several sharp shouts rang out. A few young officers, eager for merit or blinded by anger, immediately drew their pistols and tried to rush forward to make the arrest. Their orders were to control Kanjuro at all costs the moment he was spotted.
However, they couldn't even get within five meters of Kanjuro.
Kanjuro didn't even look at them directly. He merely raised his hand casually, and a dark glow flashed momentarily on his fingertip. An invisible force, carrying extreme coldness and destructive energy, spread out like a ripple.
The bodies of the charging officers suddenly stiffened, as if struck by an invisible sledgehammer! The expressions on their faces froze in shock and pain, their eyes instantly dimmed, and their skin visibly turned ashen. Then, as if all life force had been drained, they collapsed softly onto the ground, lifeless. There were no wounds, no blood, only the silence left behind after life was instantly stripped away.
Instant kill!
A true instant kill, utterly without resistance!
This scene was like a bucket of ice water dumped on all the surrounding officers who had been ready to act, causing them to freeze instantly, cold sweat pouring down their backs. Their hands gripping their guns trembled, and the look in their eyes towards Kanjuro was filled with unprecedented terror. This was not a power that humans could comprehend! This was simply... a devil!
"Brother Ye Xiao! That was amazing!" Toyama Kazuha clapped excitedly nearby, her eyes full of admiring light, as if the ones just extinguished were not several living human beings, but annoying insects.
Hattori Shizuka watched Kanjuro's casual act of taking lives, and looking at his tall, cold silhouette, her heart began to pound uncontrollably. A feeling of admiration, mixed with fear, awe, and twisted affection, surged within her. This was the man she chose to follow: powerful, ruthless, and above all rules!
Just then, the police station doors were violently shoved open!
Hattori Heizo burst out like a raging lion. He had clearly received the emergency report from the entrance. The still-wet tear tracks on his face mingled with towering fury, making his normally dignified features appear particularly savage and terrifying.
His gaze instantly locked onto Kanjuro, who stood confidently in the center of the crowd, looking as if he were merely visiting. Then, his sight abruptly fixed on the woman behind Kanjuro—the woman wearing an elegant Kimono, standing submissively just behind Kanjuro's side, was his sister, his nominal wife, Hattori Shizuka!
And standing on Kanjuro's other side, looking at him with an expression of worship, was Kazuha, whom he had regarded as his own daughter just yesterday!
"Shizuka!! Kazuha!!" Hattori Heizo let out a heart-rending roar, his voice filled with unbelievable anguish and fury. "You... you're actually with him?! Heiji... did you kill Heiji?! Answer me!!"
He saw the bodies of the officers who had instantly lost their lives on the ground, and then he saw Shizuka and Kazuha's undisguised obedience and... worship toward Kanjuro? A bone-chilling despair mixed with sky-high rage threatened to completely incinerate his sanity.
Facing Hattori Heizo's questions and fury, Kanjuro merely raised his hand slightly, gesturing for the two women behind him to remain calm. He stepped forward, meeting Hattori Heizo's fiery gaze, and a curve of extreme indifference yet endless mockery appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Inspector General Hattori," his voice was calm, yet it clearly carried across the silent scene, "it seems you have received my first 'gift'."
His gaze swept over the bodies on the ground, as if merely counting a few insignificant objects, before returning to Inspector General Hattori's face, his tone carrying a condescending "pity":
"My condolences."
"However, perhaps the death of your son will allow you to realize more clearly..."
His eyes suddenly turned cold and cruel, and he spoke word by word:
"The price of making an enemy of me." - Hattori Heizo's roar was like the starting gun. Driven by extreme fear and rage, the police officers who already viewed Kanjuro as their son's killer and a devil on earth finally pulled their triggers!
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!"
Instantly, gunshots erupted densely like popping beans! Countless tongues of fire spewed from all directions, and scorching bullets wove a lethal net of metal storm, enveloping Kanjuro, Kazuha, and Hattori Shizuka! The officers clearly disregarded the order to capture him alive, focused only on tearing this terrifying devil to shreds!
Facing the overwhelming hail of bullets, Toyama Kazuha and Hattori Shizuka couldn't help but turn pale and instinctively closed their eyes.
Kanjuro, however, remained standing exactly where he was, without even changing the mocking curve of his lips.
Just an instant before the bullets were about to reach his body—
Time seemed infinitely stretched, and space underwent a bizarre distortion.
All the incoming bullets, in the empty space about one meter from Kanjuro's body, slammed into an invisible, viscous wall, abruptly decelerated, and then... completely froze!
Thousands of brass projectiles hung suspended in mid-air, defying the laws of physics. Like insects frozen in amber, they maintained their spinning, forward momentum but could not advance an inch further! Sunlight struck the halted bullets, reflecting a cold and eerie sheen.
This surreal scene stunned all the officers who had fired. They gaped, their eyes filled with ghost-like terror and incomprehensible confusion.
"M-monster!!" Someone screamed involuntarily.
Kanjuro slowly lifted his eyelids. In his deep pupils, countless dark runes seemed to flow, appearing and dissolving. He softly uttered a single syllable, low and obscure, like a chant from the Netherworld.
—!
Following his chant, the shadows behind him suddenly boiled and expanded! Countless black shadow tentacles, formed from the purest dark energy, slick and hideous like octopus limbs, shot violently outward in all directions, moving faster than the eye could follow, like a swarm of furious vipers!
These dark tentacles ignored any physical obstruction, and with precise, cruel efficiency, they instantly pierced the throats of every police officer who had just opened fire!
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi—!
The dull thuds of blades penetrating flesh blended together like a symphony of the Grim Reaper.
The expressions of terror on the officers' faces froze instantly. They clutched in vain at the holes in their throats where black energy continuously surged out. The light in their eyes faded rapidly, and their bodies fell back in rows like mown straw.
In the span of a single breath.
The gunfire ceased.
The previously noisy and murderous entrance of the police station fell into a deathly silence.
All that remained were corpses in various poses scattered across the ground, and the shocking black holes at their throats that continued to erode the traces of life. The thick scent of blood mixed with the burnt smell of residual dark energy was nauseating.
The bullets floating around Kanjuro dropped to the ground with a series of clatters as if they had lost their supporting power, making crisp metallic clinking sounds.
Toyama Kazuha opened her eyes. Looking at the purgatory-like scene before her, she felt no fear; instead, her cheeks flushed with excitement as she tightly hugged Kanjuro's arm. "Brother Kanjuro! You're too strong! These ants can't hurt you at all!"
Hattori Shizuka also took a deep breath. As she looked at Kanjuro's demon-god-like figure, the last trace of slight discomfort caused by the slaughter in her eyes was replaced by fanatical admiration. This was the path she had chosen—to follow by the side of absolute power!
Hattori Heizo stood frozen in place, as if his soul had been sucked out.
He watched helplessly as his most elite subordinates were slaughtered like clay chickens and pottery dogs in a single encounter. That kind of power... was simply not something humans could contend with! Despair, like a cold tide, instantly submerged all his flames of anger and revenge.
Kanjuro lightly brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes. His gaze passed over the corpses on the ground and landed once more on the deathly pale Hattori Heizo, his tone carrying a hint of laziness and playfulness:
"It seems your police station's welcoming ceremony wasn't enthusiastic enough."
"Well then, next, it's my turn to 'return the favor.'"
He tilted his head slightly and gave the two women behind him a 'gentle' smile:
"Shizuka, Kazuha, let's go inside."
"This fortress that symbolizes 'justice' should... change its color today."
He stepped forward, walking over warm corpses and cold shell casings as if returning to his own home, unhurriedly heading into the police station building. Kazuha and Hattori Shizuka followed closely behind him, like the most loyal handmaidens.
Hattori Heizo watched their approaching backs and wanted to stop them, but his feet felt as heavy as lead. He knew that the end of the Osaka Police Department might... be today. And he himself was about to face this demon who had personally taken his son's life and was about to destroy everything he had defended all his life.
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