Yama Reborn-Chapter 524 - 521 [You are starting to understand him.]
Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty-One [You’re starting to understand him.]
"The commission for tonight’s task is three hundred thousand US dollars." In an old single-family house on the outskirts of Tokyo, Xicheng Xun casually took out a notebook and quickly flipped through it. "The client wants us to interrogate Daicheng Ichiro and get the password to a bank safety deposit box. We speculate that the safe might contain some secrets about a subordinate branch of the Truth Society..."
While speaking, Xicheng Xun energetically rubbed her temples. "But you really didn’t need to tie Daicheng Ichiro up and bring him back. In the VIP room of the nightclub, when I threatened to chop off one of his hands, he was about to crack and spill it."
Sun Keke’s face showed a hint of apology. "Sorry, I might have been a bit nervous—hearing noises outside all the time, I was always worried that someone might break in, so I got anxious and wanted to tie him up and take him to a safe place for interrogation."
Xicheng Xun looked at Sun Keke and shook her head. "Miss Sun Keke, you are a very strong Ability User. You might not have fully accepted this new identity. However, I can tell you responsibly that as long as no other Ability Users get involved, they couldn’t possibly do anything to you in the nightclub tonight, even if that guy’s entire group of underlings came at you. With your strength, you could have easily broken all of their legs and left calmly.
I can even tell you responsibly, that even if an Ability User got involved, with your level of strength, the whole of Tokyo, no, all of Japan, might not have many who can match you."
Sun Keke took a deep breath. "...Are... the abilities she left behind that powerful?"
Xicheng Xun spoke seriously. "We fought that night in Jinling. I can tell you clearly, if she had gone all out, I probably couldn’t have lasted a single exchange against her. Even though not all of her abilities were passed on to you, even just inheriting a small part, you’re already terrifyingly strong."
As they were talking, the door to the house was opened from the outside.
Li Yingwan kicked open the front door, walked in, threw the gun bag she was carrying on the ground, and strode up to Sun Keke, saying with a stern face, "Hey! Sun Fatso, what on earth were you doing tonight? Why did you tie the person up and bring him back? We were just supposed to interrogate him for secrets, that’s all. You must follow the plan and act according to the mission parameters, don’t you understand that?"
Sun Keke carefully furrowed her brow, looking at Li Yingwan and replied quietly, "I remember... it’s your first mission tonight too, isn’t it?"
Niveer also stepped in through the door, casually tossed a set of car keys onto the table, and said loudly, "Li Yingwan, stop shouting. Bringing the person back isn’t necessarily a bad thing."
She turned her head and glanced at Xicheng Xun. "You go and contact the client. Ask them if they’re interested in taking the target alive—of course, the price will definitely be higher."
Xicheng Xun nodded firmly and turned to leave for another room to get busy.
"Li Yingwan, go to the garage and check if that guy is tied up securely enough. Add another rope, and make sure his mouth is properly gagged. And... go buy some food, will you? We haven’t eaten a thing tonight; I’m starving. I don’t want sushi or sashimi anymore. I want steak."
Li Yingwan rolled her eyes. "There’s beef in the fridge, but I don’t know how to cook it."
"I... I can actually do it." Sun Keke cautiously raised her hand. "But I don’t know how to make steak. Would braised beef be okay?"
The two girls looked at each other and nodded together. "That’ll do!"
An hour later, the four girls sat in the living room, each holding a bowl of rice. In front of them was a small pot of braised beef made by Sun Keke.
The taste, well, it was just so-so.
After all, this was a temporary residence, and they didn’t have a full array of seasonings. Most importantly, the only soy sauce they had was the Neon kind—what Neon People usually use for dipping sashimi.
Xicheng Xun also whipped up some miso soup, so the girls managed to have a proper meal.
"We’ve taken a total of four commissions recently, earning a total of one million six hundred thousand US dollars." After putting down her chopsticks, Xicheng Xun began to tally up. "I acted alone for the first three, with you three serving as assistants or observers. Tonight was the fourth time, and Sun Keke participated with me. Therefore, for this mission’s reward, Sun Keke and I, as frontline operatives, will get 80%. The remaining 20% will be split between Li Yingwan and Niveer. Any objections?"
"None," Li Yingwan and Niveer answered readily.
These two girls, one from a wealthy South Korean family and the other a noble from Britain, weren’t lacking in money.
Even Xicheng Xun was an Ability User with extensive experience in the Underground World.
Perhaps the poorest among them was Sun Keke.
Sun Keke couldn’t help but widen her eyes and exhaled. "...Now I’m starting to understand why Chen Nuo always has so much money! It’s so easy for you Ability Users to make money. In just one month, we’ve made one million six hundred thousand US dollars..."
Continuing, the girl quickly calculated the exchange rate. "That’s almost ten million Huaxia Currency! My dad, as a vice principal, only makes twelve hundred a month!"
"To accommodate you rookies, this month we’ve only taken on the most basic missions for practice. If it were just me, I could take on higher-paying missions," Xicheng Xun shook her head. "But that Ah Xiu is even more outrageous. If it were him, he might make a fortune in a month. He wouldn’t even need to take on tasks; he could just go rob them directly. Whenever he encountered the Truth Society or any other Underground World organization, he’d go on a mission, finish it, and most likely end up emptying their vaults too."
Sun Keke’s face was full of disbelief. "I feel... Chen Nuo isn’t that kind of person."
The trio of girls turned to look at Sun Keke with strange expressions.
"He is exactly that kind of person."
Even Li Yingwan, Chen Nuo Oppa’s most loyal bootlicker, said as much.
"Okay, let’s talk about the plan moving forward," Xicheng Xun took the initiative to become the spokesperson for this little group.
"First is training. Li Yingwan, you need to strengthen your firearms training. I’ve signed you up for more advanced training courses at three shooting clubs, so you’ll be quite busy for a while. Additionally, there’s militarized training... I’ve hired an instructor for that too."
Li Yingwan put down her chopsticks and nodded seriously.
"As for Sun Keke... Your issue is that you still can’t use your abilities smoothly. So, I will continue to coach you on how to skillfully use spiritual power. So... I will be your instructor. I ask for your full cooperation."
As she spoke, Xicheng Xun stood up and bowed to Sun Keke. "I will be very strict."
"Good, I will definitely work hard," Sun Keke also nodded earnestly.
"Then there’s Niveer." Xicheng Xun continued slowly, "Please continue to be responsible for our logistics. You’ll need to find a way to procure all the equipment and gear. We might also need a batch of better weapons. Especially for Li Yingwan, get her two better guns and a full set of sniper gear. Also, include some life-saving equipment. Before you and Li Yingwan become Ability Users, your self-preservation abilities are too weak, so these are crucial."
"I can get ceramic bulletproof vests, and Kevlar isn’t a problem either, but anything better is out of reach. It’s in high demand on the black market."
"We could consider procuring some melee weapons," Xicheng Xun tilted her head and thought for a moment. "I can teach you some Body Technique."
After a chirpy discussion among the four girls, Xicheng Xun finally continued, "The last matter, and the most important one—our subsequent tasks. I think the four low-difficulty tasks in the previous month have given you a taste of the Underground World’s atmosphere, so next, we need to take on a task that’s a bit harder."
The three girls sitting opposite Xicheng Xun immediately sat up straight.
Sun Keke was a bit nervous; Niveer’s complexion paled slightly; and Li Yingwan seemed eager to try.
"Of course, it won’t be very dangerous; I’ll vet it carefully," Xicheng Xun said slowly, "but for you, the difficulty isn’t in the danger, but in other aspects..."
"Like what?" Niveer asked.
Xicheng Xun smiled. The seemingly cute Neon girl now had a sinister smile as she said, "Do you think the commissions in the Underground World for Ability Users are just about taking money to steal something or find someone? Let me tell you, the largest category of tasks in the Underground World is... Assassination!"
"...Are we... going to kill people?" Sun Keke’s face turned unsightly—she was a girl who didn’t even dare kill a chicken at home.
Li Yingwan, however, showed no change in expression—she herself had even been an assassination target before.
As for Niveer, her expression merely turned a bit more solemn.
"I’ll try my best to select the tasks. I’m not a killer; I don’t engage in the indiscriminate killing of innocents. I will try to select someone who deserves death as the target. For example, I have some suitable tasks on hand now."
Xicheng Xun flipped through her notebook again. "The location is right here in Neon. It’s perfect for us.
More than a year ago, when Ah Xiu first came to Neon to save me, he stormed the headquarters of the Truth Society alone. At that time, he killed two of the Truth Society’s top leaders. Then, a few days later, another leader of the Truth Society died unexpectedly.
Ah Xiu told me that woman died while she was with him on a secret mission at sea.
After that, Neon’s Truth Society fractured due to the deaths of several high-ranking members. They fought internally for power, struggling against each other for a long time. To this day, no one capable of unifying the organization has emerged.
Currently, the various factions are all at odds with each other, each wanting to kill the leaders of the other factions, so..."
Xicheng Xun smiled and said, "First, the leaders of the Truth Society are all cultists who deserve to die. These people are thoroughly evil, and sending them to hell isn’t wrong. This can minimize your feelings of guilt.
Second, the reward for this task is quite substantial. I’ve seen that three subsidiary organizations of the Truth Society in Tokyo have all issued assassination commissions. The content of these commissions is quite interesting: mutual killing! Each organization is commissioning assassins to kill the leaders of the other two factions.
Third, the danger is also controllable. Although the Truth Society has significant influence, its members are, after all, ordinary people and haven’t reached the level of an Ability User organization. When we take action, we still hold the advantage."
Having said that, Xicheng Xun put away her notebook. "For us, there are two issues that need consideration.
Firstly, can you overcome the guilt of killing?
Secondly... all three parties have secretly issued commissions in the Underground World. We need to think about which one to accept.
My view is that each of these three has its strengths and weaknesses.
The weakest one offers the most money, probably because they are weaker and feel the most threatened.
The strongest one offers the least money but can provide the most comprehensive and detailed intelligence regarding the targets from the other two parties.
As for the one in the middle, they offer a moderate amount of money, and the intelligence they provide isn’t as comprehensive. However... their contact person is very smooth, and I find their flattery quite pleasant."
At this last remark, Li Yingwan rolled her eyes outright.
"So, which commission are you leaning towards?" Niveer asked with a smile.
Xicheng Xun didn’t answer but turned to look at Sun Keke.
Sun Keke didn’t speak immediately but lowered her head and thought for a moment.
After a short while, the once seemingly fragile School belle Sun raised her head, took a deep breath, and slowly clenched her fists.
"Accept all three!"
Xicheng Xun’s eyes sparkled. "Oh?"
Sun Keke bit her lip. "Accept all three! Take money from all of them! And these three cults... kill all their leaders!"
Niveer laughed. "You actually said something like that?"
Sun Keke’s face was very serious. "I’m afraid to kill... but when I think about them being cultists who have killed many people... then these people all deserve to die. The reason I came up with this idea is also very simple. I suddenly asked myself: if it were Chen Nuo, what would he do?"
The other three girls laughed upon hearing this.
Li Yingwan sighed. "Sun Fatso, you really are starting to understand Oppa! If it were Oppa, he would definitely do the same! He loves taking advantage of infighting. Take money from all three, kill people from all three! That is Oppa’s standard practice."
「Upper East Side, New York.」
Inside a mansion exuding an "Old Qian" style.
In front of exquisite furniture, Kamisou Ichiro sat there, holding a beautifully patterned bone china teacup, squinting as he savored a cup of black tea.
The heavy sound of a door opening echoed from the corridor, followed by Nolan striding in quickly.
Nolan’s expression carried a hint of annoyance, his already large hooked nose turning red with anger.
Kamisou Ichiro merely lifted his chin slightly, glanced at Nolan, and then continued to squint and savor his tea.
"Was it your order that canceled all the company’s business in East Asia? Did you also order the withdrawal of all our branches there?"
Nolan clenched his teeth. "You said I’m the company manager! Yet, I only learned about this when the withdrawal schedules arrived from the subordinate branches!"
Kamisou Ichiro slowly held the teacup in his hand, gazing at Nolan. "You saw what happened last time. Chen Nuo, that man, is in Huaxia. Moreover, I suffered a crushing defeat to his Seed there. Therefore, I can only choose to reduce our sphere of influence and maintain distance from Huaxia. It’s an unspoken rule and understanding between us Seeds. Having lost once, one must pay some price and make some concessions."
Nolan shook his head. "You should have told me first! Maybe I could have had a better plan or idea."
"I appreciate you, Nolan," Kamisou Ichiro still spoke in his unhurried tone. "You are a very interesting person. You’re crazy, bold, quite paranoid, and possess sufficient ambition."
"Hm?"
"I also like this teacup in my hand. You see... isn’t it exquisite? It’s an antique from the Victorian era, crafted with inspiration from Huaxia’s ancient techniques... Of course, in the eyes of a true artist, it’s a mishmash. But I quite like it. I enjoy sitting by the window on a quiet afternoon, drinking tea from this cup. I’ve kept this habit for at least ten years. This teacup is also one of my favorite toys."
As Kamisou Ichiro spoke, his face always carried a gentle smile.
Then...
The next second, he smashed the teacup directly onto Nolan’s face!
With a CRACK, the bone china shattered! The scalding tea made Nolan scream.
Broken pieces of bone china embedded themselves in his face; one shard nearly pierced his eyeball.
The gentle smile on Kamisou Ichiro’s face didn’t change in the slightest, and his tone remained calm.
"But no matter how much I like this cup, it’s just a toy to me. If I want to smack it on the face of a disobedient pet, I can do so. As for you, Mr. Nolan, do you know what usually happens to a dog that bares its teeth at its master?"
Saying this, Kamisou Ichiro slowly stood up, lightly brushed his clothes—his exquisite three-piece suit didn’t have a wrinkle on it.
"I will go out for a walk now. I’ll likely be back in about two hours. Before I return, you will clean this place up yourself. Don’t assign it to a maid or anyone else. When I return, if I find even a trace of your blood in the wood grain of the floor, then next time, a shard will go directly into your eyeball, Mr. Nolan.
Please remember, I do as I please. Unless I choose to explain myself, no one has the right to demand an explanation from me. I know you’ve done an excellent job and are quite capable, but I believe you’ve misjudged your importance to me. Next time, be smarter."
Saying this, Kamisou Ichiro lightly patted Nolan’s shoulder. "You’re very angry, and you hate me, don’t you? Good. Feel even more anger. I know you’d love to kill me... but you’re far, far too weak compared to me, my Chosen One! You can strive to make your power stronger, then stronger still, and then even stronger! Until one day, when you are stronger than me, you can also smash a teacup on my face."
With that, Kamisou Ichiro left Nolan sitting on the ground, face twitching, and slowly walked out.
Stepping outside, a subservient attendant was already waiting. He handed Kamisou Ichiro the leash of a top-quality Doberman, then bowed and retreated.
Walking the dog along the impeccably landscaped path, a small forest lay in the distance.
Kamisou Ichiro strolled along, leisurely sighing.
Stimulating my Chosen One with hatred to spur his growth in power—I truly am quite twisted, aren’t I?~
But there’s no helping it. The stronger the Chosen One becomes, the stronger I’ll be.
