Chapter 56: The pot is too big for one person to carry

The heavy smell of gunpowder gradually dissipated.

Nara Hikaru stood alone on the sixth floor of the Black Organization's safehouse.

He glanced around at the corpses of the Organization's peripheral members who had miraculously fled from the fifth floor's alternate stairwell to the sixth. Then, he unzipped his holster and began stuffing ammunition and firearms prepared by the Organization into it.

Although the citizens of Beika Town always had various ways to acquire banned, prohibited firearms to commit crimes, using Nara Hikaru's methods, it was no longer sufficient to rely solely on confiscating weapons from legitimate citizens during Beika's late-night hours, nor was it convenient to purchase them with money—therefore, the Black Organization's safehouses served as the most ideal supply drops.

If you lack guns and cannons, the enemy will manufacture them for you!

Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong—

The wail of police sirens grew closer and closer. Those Beika Town police officers who always arrived a step late were, unsurprisingly, a step late once again, rapidly ascending the office building's stairs.

And the scene before them caused both Superintendent Shiratori and Inspector Megure, leading this police response, to skip a beat in their hearts—

Normally, only one of them, either Ninzaburo Shiratori or Juzo Megure, would lead a team out on a call.

Furthermore, Ninzaburo Shiratori was actually the one who initially received the dispatch order for this operation.

Right before departing, however, Shiratori was struck by a sudden flash of inspiration recalling the serial murder case at the car company a few days prior, so he turned back and brought his former superior, Inspector Megure, along with him.

Under the noble banner of—reinforcing police strength and ensuring citizen safety.

In reality, he was just finding someone to share the blame. If this turned out to be another insane major case caused by that urban legend, just like the car company incident, at least he wouldn't have to worry about shouldering all the blame alone.

However, the situation this time was far more severe and terrifying than Shiratori had imagined.

Because the detective officers currently scouting and searching the fourth floor had not only discovered the bodies of three men in black killed by unknown sharp weapons along with nearby handguns, but also several ammunition crates—

Ammunition crates! What did that even mean? This matter had long since surpassed the scope of a standard criminal case!

And even more terrifyingly, these ammunition crates had all been opened. The submachine gun rounds and pistol bullets inside were noticeably depleted, looking as though someone had taken a portion of them away!

"…Brother Shiratori, if I recall correctly, you were the one dispatched on this call, right?"

Inspector Megure looked at the ammunition crates before him, swallowed hard, and spoke in a low voice to Shiratori beside him.

Seeing his former superior seemingly eager to wash his hands of the matter and run, Shiratori hurriedly grabbed him and retorted.

"You came to the crime scene as well, you can't just claim you were never here, or that this wasn't an official dispatch! You drove all the way here with the police lights and sirens blaring!"

Juzo Megure felt his vision go dark.

Come on, pal, what's your background, and what's my background? You might be able to withstand taking the blame, but I certainly can't!

Before Inspector Megure and Superintendent Shiratori could sort it out, however, a detective returning from the fifth floor wore an expression of utter disbelief, looking as though he were about to vomit, and said with a trembling voice.

"Inspector Megure, Superintendent Shiratori, you really need to go up to the fifth floor and see for yourselves!"

"There are over a dozen men in black dead on the fifth floor alone! There are also traces of two explosions, and professional communication equipment has been recovered!"

Juzo Megure and Ninzaburo Shiratori exchanged glances.

Then, they simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

Very well, this matter was no longer under their jurisdiction. Professional communication equipment meant it involved some underground organization, which meant the case belonged to the Public Security Bureau!

Even so, since they were already here, conducting a brief investigation and making a mental note to prevent themselves from falling into a trap later on was still useful.

Inspector Megure and Superintendent Shiratori, accompanied by Officer Chiba and Officer Sato, proceeded to the fifth floor.

The first thing that caught their eyes was the obvious mark left by explosives right by the stairwell.

As experienced veteran detectives, Inspector Megure lowered his head and estimated the blast radius, then drew a sharp breath. Who on earth designed homemade explosives with this kind of payload? Was firepower everything? Was bigger better and flashier stronger?

They walked down the corridor, and numerous detectives began taking photographs and gathering evidence on the corpses, while several others entered the rooms to photograph and document the bodies of the men in black who had likely been gunned down inside.

Upon reaching a blackened room on the fifth floor,

Superintendent Shiratori stated with certainty.

"This must be the scene of the fifth-floor explosion mentioned in the emergency call."

"I surmise the perpetrator used explosives on the fifth floor to kill the targets who entered the room to scout, then detoured to the fourth floor to eliminate the patrol guards with cold steel, and finally returned to the fifth-floor stairwell to toss a grenade and use a submachine gun to slaughter the rest!"

"In my opinion, there is only one person in the entire city of Tokyo capable of pulling this off—"

Ninzaburo Shiratori and Juzo Megure said in unison.

"【Half-Man, Half-Ghost, The Deadliest Marksman】, Yan Shuangying!"

The two leading inspectors were discussing the case up ahead.

As for Wataru Takagi, ever since Inspector Megure brought him up to the fifth floor to assess the situation, he had been dispatched to wait for the arrival of the Japanese Public Security personnel for the handover. Muttering to himself as he walked down toward the first floor, he already had a definitive answer regarding the perpetrator of the case—

At least a dozen gunmen were dead on the fifth floor; apart from the urban legend of the half-man, half-ghost, who else could accomplish this?

"Just what on earth are the identities of these black-clad gunmen..."

Takagi walked into the second-floor stairwell of the office building, glanced out the window, and suddenly, his gaze froze and locked onto a single point—it was the blinding flash of an explosion!

Right nearby, another place had just blown up!

What kind of situation was this this time?

——————

Rei Furuya's subordinate, Yuya Kazami, was currently leading him and numerous other Japanese Public Security officers rushing to the office building to conduct an investigation.

Just like the serial murder case at the car company, this incident was in all likelihood related to the Black Organization and carried out by Yan Shuangying—even if it wasn't, it could not be exposed to the outside world, as the impact on Beika Town's order would be immeasurable.

If it further disrupted the stability of Tokyo city, even investigative officers might face suspension pending investigation!

However, just as they were driving toward the office building, the fiery glow of an explosion erupted from the fifth floor of a building not far away.

Yuya Kazami witnessed with his own eyes tongues of fire bursting out of the windows.

His eyelids twitched violently. Yet, before he could say a word,

Rei Furuya, whose shoulder injury made driving inconvenient, spoke in a heavy, solemn tone.

"It's Yan Shuangying. He has made his move!"

"Although we don't know how he tracked them down, there's a high probability that both locations are safehouses of the Black Organization!"

"We're heading to the new blast site. We might just get a chance to cross paths with Yan Shuangying!"

"We need to talk to him, and we need to do it now!"