69novels Page 362
Page 362
But Sakurai Kogure had already resolved to die, so it was impossible for her to say so.
The demons in the Demon Clan are all easily out-of-control demons from the White King's bloodline, while Genjiro is Amaterasu no Mikoto, and is also a demon exorcist.
In an instant, Sakurai Kogure took out a deep purple potion, drank it, and transformed into a little dragon.
Genji knew that drinking the gene serum would turn him into a demon, so there was no point in saying anything more. He immediately drew his Spider Cutter!
After transforming into a little dragon, Sakurai Kogure leaped five meters into the air, wielding the katana she always carried with her, and then used the momentum of her fall to slash down with her sword!
This attack is extremely violent, a move that results in mutual destruction. Whether the enemy retaliates or blocks, both sides will be severely injured.
Therefore, Genjiro chose to dodge to the side.
Sakurai Kogure's strike landed on the granite ground, and it actually cracked the ground!
The blade fell close to Genjiro's side, and he took the opportunity to pull Sakurai Kogure's shoulder tighter, while his other hand plunged the Spider Cutter into Sakurai Kogure's heart.
Sakurai Kogure drank the gene serum, the boiling dragon blood, and even though her heart shattered, she wouldn't die immediately, but she didn't continue to resist.
Inside the fire, the temperature was extremely high, probably exceeding 100 degrees Celsius, and the surrounding air was hot.
Gu Ran used his Sharingan to copy the Word of Power he had learned, "Dustless Land," to dispel the hot air, allowing him to still breathe in the fire.
Outside, the sound of kicking the door came from outside, and two figures rushed in.
It was Sakura Yabuki and the crow. They had heard the fighting outside and, as retainers, were worried that Genji was in danger, so they rushed in without caring how high the temperature of the fire was.
Sakura Yabuki burned her hand while pushing the door open, and also suffered burns on many parts of her body, including part of her long hair.
The crow asked Genjiro if he was alright, and Genjiro waved his hand.
“The ending might not be like this,” he said to Sakurai Kogure.
"We moths drawn to the flame in the darkness are meant to die like this."
Sakurai Kogure had no last wishes. She stayed behind only to die, just as she had told Gu Ran before: she was too tired and wanted to rest.
She died in the end, in Genjiro's arms, but she died with a smile on her face.
She regarded Genjiro as Genjiro.
To die in the arms of the one you love, perhaps in her final moments, was a kind of happiness.
Even though he's fake.
Because Sakurai Kogure's father said he didn't need to come and collect the body, Genjiro placed Sakurai Kogure in the fire and let the flames burn her body to ashes.
That's good; dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
Genjiro left with Sakura Yabuki and the crow. After a while, the building, which had been burning for a long time, finally collapsed with a crash, its main structure unable to withstand the pressure. Countless sparks shot into the sky, like moths flying around the flames. Finally, the sparks slowly died down, and darkness returned.
Those dark and shameful things were burned to ashes in a fire, as if that could cover up all the crimes.
This is what is meant by the mercilessness of water and fire.
Yuan Zhisheng and his two companions returned to the Hummer and took one last look at the collapsed Zhulou.
"I searched for him a thousand times in the crowd, but suddenly, turning around, I found him where the lights were dim." A familiar voice rang out from inside the Hummer.
Genjiro and his two companions were taken aback, and Crow and Sakura Yabuki immediately shielded Genjiro behind them.
Yuan Zhisheng stopped them, because he recognized the voice of the newcomer and asked in confusion, "Why are you here?"
Through the car window, Crow and Sakura Yabuki recognized the person sitting in the passenger seat as Gu Ran.
"Don't you think that Sakurai Kogure eventually mistook you for someone else?" Gu Ran asked.
“Yes, I do have a feeling,” Genjiro said. “She seems to have superimposed my image with that of someone else.”
"She saw you as the person she longed for, the one she was looking for, a substitute in fiction, you know? That's why Sakurai Kogure smiled so slyly at the end."
"...What do you know?" Yuan Zhisheng asked Gu Ran through the windshield.
“Some truths you have to investigate yourself. Even if I tell you, you might not really believe it.” Gu Ran said, reaching out of the car window and throwing a bottle of medicine over.
Yuan Zhisheng reached out and caught it, glancing at it; it was burn ointment.
Gu Ran said, "Miss Ying got burned, didn't she? If the wound gets infected, her skin won't be smooth anymore."
Without saying anything, Genji immediately pulled out the Spider Cutter and cut open the thin armor worn by Yabuki Sakura, applying medicine to her swollen shoulders and back.
The crow consciously looked away, went to the side to whistle, and found a big tree to urinate.
Gu Ran stared at her with great interest, not at Yabuki Sakura's exposed snow-white skin, but at her rosy cheeks.
The usually aloof female assassin has her shy moments, which is incredibly endearing.
Such a lovely girl, I can't bear to see her die like that.
After Genjiro finished applying the medicine to her, he pushed Yabuki Sakura aside and pointed the tip of the spider-cutting knife at Gu Ran.
"Tell me, what do you know?"
The crow, who had been watering the flowers, had unknowingly zipped up his pants and was now pointing a large-caliber pistol at Gu Ran from behind, cutting off his escape route.
Sakura was also on the passenger side, preventing Gu Ran from getting out of the car.
Gu Ran remained calm and instead asked, "Have you found out who was behind the 'Red Guard' who ordered them to attack us?"
Yuan Zhisheng shook his head: "We can't find anything. All the clues have gone cold, but we suspect that the 'King General' of the Fierce Ghost Clan is behind it."
"The King..." Gu Ran sighed inwardly. The King was Tachibana Masamune. Even if he told Genji now, Genji probably wouldn't believe him.
"How's the investigation into the Zhang family in Southeast Asia going?" he asked again.
Yuan Zhisheng replied, "We did find some information. It seems that the Zhang family of Nanyang had already made contact with the Fierce Ghost Clan ten years ago, selling some women from Southeast Asia to be prostitutes. They were also involved in organ trafficking. Meanwhile, the Fierce Ghost Clan has been providing gene therapy to the Zhang family of Nanyang for many years."
At this point, Sakura Yabuki added, "I think you're investigating the whereabouts of the Zhang family's headquarters in Southeast Asia, and you suspect that their main base is on a large ship."
Gu Ran said, "Yes, three months ago, Kassel College should have distributed the wanted notice for the Zhang family of Nanyang to all its branches around the world. I noticed before that the Japanese branch replied that there was no news about the Zhang family of Nanyang."
Sakura Yabuki said, "The Japanese branch has never been very cooperative with the headquarters, so this search was just a random search and then reported. However, in the past few days, I have specifically looked for information from major ports across the country. About three months ago, a cargo ship registered in South Africa docked at Chiba Port."
"Did you find out through Princess Kaguya?" Gu Ran asked.
Sakura Yabuki shook her head: "There is no record of this ship with Princess Kaguya. I found it during a gang fight. Generally speaking, ships that are docked at the dock for a long time need to pay protection money to the gangs at the dock. This ship had been docked for a month. When a local gang went to collect the protection money, they found that the ship had special security and firearms. The local gang was not strong enough to fight it, so they asked headquarters for help."
“But a mysterious person came to headquarters with the clan crests of the Minamoto, Tachibana, and Uesugi families, saying that the ship belonged to our family and that the gang should stop harassing them,” Yabuki Sakura said. “I asked the young master, and he said that the clan crests have never been lent out.”
Gu Ran asked, "So what is your conclusion?"
Yuan Zhisheng said, "Someone impersonated us and forged our clan emblem."
"Or perhaps... there's a traitor among your Snake Clan Eight Families," Gu Ran said with a smile.
Both Genjiro and Sakura Yabuki remained silent, because such a possibility did indeed exist.
"In short, I will give you an explanation for this matter," Yuan Zhisheng said.
Gu Ran shook his head: "No need, knowing this is enough. I'll go find them in a while. Don't make any unnecessary moves. Don't tell anyone about what we found out today. Only the four of us know, okay?"
“Okay, I can agree to that,” Yuan Zhisheng promised.
"Hey, hey, we've investigated so much for you, you have to tell us something!" Crow stood at the back door of the Hummer, hiding his gun inside his overcoat.
"I've said it before, there are some things that even if I tell you now, you might not believe me. First, there's a lack of evidence, and second, we lack trust."
Chapter 412 Retreat First
Gu Ran said calmly to Yuan Zhisheng, "Trust is always very fragile. Once it is lost, it takes a long time to rebuild it."
Genjiro and the others knew that Gu Ran was referring to the incident at Takamagahara, where they had thrown Caesar and the other two into the sea.
Gu Ran then opened the passenger door, got out of the car, and walked into the jungle.
Genji thought for a moment, then put away the Spider Cutter without stopping him. So Sakura Yabuki and Crow also put away their weapons.
"Let me remind you, don't trust Tachibana Masamune too much. The principal and I both think he has serious problems. The machine gun assassination a few days ago was very likely a setup by him, with the aim of eliminating the remaining forces of Kassel College within the Snake-Headed Eight Families. At first glance, you might think he's upholding the authority of the Snake-Headed Eight Families, but in reality, he's weakening their power. And who's in charge of the Snake-Headed Eight Families now?"
"Oh, right, one more thing, the other day I slashed Tachibana Masamune's car, do you think he'll retaliate against me?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Ran leaped up and used a kind of light-footed skill similar to that in martial arts novels, lightly tapping and jumping away from the tree branches.
Genji watched him leave in silence. Of course, he also knew about the attack on Tamamo-no-Mae at the club.
The attack was sudden. It was Inuyama He who tackled Angers, intending to protect him with his own body. If it weren't for the bulletproof car cover that Gu Ran had prepared in advance, the principal and Inuyama He would likely have been killed by anti-aircraft machine gun fire.
Of course, it is also very possible that it was only the dead dog Yamahisa.
These days, the Inuyama family has been claiming illness and has not attended any family affairs, even sending their subordinates to meetings.
However, the Inuyama family still contributed manpower and resources to the battle against the Oni Clan, so Genjiro and the other family heads had nothing to say about it.
As for Tachibana Masamune... Genjiro still didn't have much doubt, because Genjiro's claim that it was the work of the Oni Clan was logically plausible.
Masamune Tachibana said that the attack was carried out because the Oni Clan wanted to create conflict between the Secret Party and the Snake-Headed Eight Families.
Genjiro also agrees with this point.
Genjiro was not good at speculating about these kinds of conspiracies and tricks, so he didn't want to think too much about it and believed Tachibana Masamune's statement.
However, his retainers, Yabuki Sakura and Crow, exchanged a glance, seemingly with other thoughts in mind.
*……*……*
It was already past 7 a.m. when I drove back to Yokohama Chinatown from Osaka.
Gu Ran drove the car to a small detached house on Zhonghua Street.
This building is located behind the shopping street. The first floor is also filled with shops selling all sorts of strange and unusual Chinese medicinal herbs. Ordinary people don't come here to shop; those who do are not ordinary people.
This shop was one of Liu Yue's bases in Chinatown, specializing in the business of medicinal herbs.
As Gu Ran entered the shop, the staff all nodded to her.
Passing through the shop and exiting through the back door, you arrive at another quiet courtyard. This courtyard is designed in the style of a Chinese garden with pavilions and towers. The front yard is planted with many peonies, which are currently in bud.
The courtyard is quite large, at least four or five hundred square meters, which is quite rare in Chinatown where land is extremely valuable. After passing through the courtyard, you arrive at a three-story bungalow that occupies about 150 square meters.
The first floor of this building houses the security personnel arranged by Liu Yue, while the second floor is Zhang Qiong's residential area.
As soon as Gu Ran entered, the security guards around him were stunned and became nervous for some reason. They only nodded slightly after they saw his appearance clearly.
At this moment, Zhang Qiong, who was upstairs, seemed to have received a message and came downstairs. She saw her eldest son, sniffed the air, and frowned, saying:
"Why didn't you take a shower before coming back? You smell of blood all over you."