Chapter 397: Forged Evidence and We Really Did It This Way

Broly was originally a neutral party, at most showing some bias toward his friend Aihara Enju, but after yesterday's situation of clashing with a huge herd of internet trolls, his stance has now completely shifted toward the Cursed Children.

When chatting online with Miss Nightingale, he also took the Cursed Children's perspective, and right now he is telling the other party about Aihara Enju's excellent performance in the Campus Hero Legend script; of course, this is limited to the external performance — the internal plot design he did not tell the newly-met stranger.

"You and your friend are both brave people."

Tina gave her evaluation: fighting Gastrea for a classmate, fighting trolls on the internet for a friend — these are things she would find very hard to do.

"Tina, what are you doing?"

Just then, a person wearing a white coat entered the room, looked at the girl happily tapping on her phone, and frowned to ask.

"Ah, Professor A. Rand, I'm chatting with someone else."

Tina hurriedly stood up to answer.

"Someone else?"

"A friend I met on the internet yesterday."

"Do less of this boring stuff; you must remember you are just a tool. Now there's a mission — go kill the people listed on this."

The white-coated man didn't seem to care, handed over a document; Tina took it and nodded in reply: "Sorry, Professor, I'll carry out the mission well."

As a mechanized Initiator Soldier of 【NEXT】, the work Tina Sprout does most isn't fighting Gastrea, but assassinating people of power and status inside some human Safe Zone cities.

Simply put, it's hitman work; as long as someone commissions the organization she belongs to, and the organization needs her to kill, she has to go kill.

Of course, the other Initiators in the organization are the same; they've long since grown used to this kind of thing.

Still, Tina Sprout occasionally yearns for an ordinary girl's life — going to school, making friends, occasionally sleeping in is fine too.

"I've got work on this side, so I'll stop chatting."

"Okay."

Ending the online chat, and flaming a few more internet trolls, Broly put away his notebook computer.

"Where are you going?"

Seeing the boy about to leave, Satomi Rentaro couldn't help but ask.

"Outside the city."

"Doing what?"

"Catching Gastrea."

"Eh?!"

Satomi Rentaro was a bit surprised; after asking he learned it was Doctor Muroto Sumire making the boy do work.

Learning the other party possessed the ability to capture Gastrea alive, she immediately used her pursuer identity to request the boy to do this.

"That guy really knows how to order you around."

The youth spoke up for the boy.

"It's fine; she's happy, and I'm happy too."

Broly didn't think being ordered around was any problem.

Muroto Sumire counts as the capture target he's met in this world who is most likely to agree to become his wife.

"Watch your safety; don't let the doctor do anything too absurd."

Satomi Rentaro wasn't worried about the boy's safety; rather, he was concerned about what kind of personal behavior Muroto Sumire might do after having the boy catch live Gastrea.

"Absurd things — treating someone to a meal doesn't count as absurd, right?"

"Eh, she's going to treat you to food?"

"Mm."

"Can I ask what you're preparing to eat?"

Satomi Rentaro got a bad premonition.

"Gastrea."

Sure enough, the answer he got from Broly's mouth was terrible.

"As long as Gastrea meat is cooked thoroughly, it won't affect the eater's health; on the contrary, some Gastrea meat is even tastier than commonly eaten chicken, duck, cow, sheep, pig, and fish meat."

Doctor Muroto Sumire, the world's number one Gastrea gourmet expert, felt very dissatisfied with Satomi Rentaro's words claiming Gastrea meat was harmful.

After personally cooking a pot of red-wine-braised Varan meat and seeing the Saiyan boy take it and eat without hesitation, she was very happy.

"See? Broly likes eating it so much."

"Tastes good; Rentaro, want a taste?"

Seeing the dark cuisine the boy held out, Satomi Rentaro hurriedly waved his hands to refuse this garishly colored dish.

He stood there stunned watching the two of them clean up a whole huge pot of cuisine made from Stage Four Varan meat.

And that Varan caught from outside the city is now stuffed in the freezer, in a state of hibernation anesthesia.

To research live Gastrea, Muroto Sumire used her connections to obtain a large experimental freezer.

And the female doctor who originally refused the Saiyan boy's first courtship now has a complete reversal in her attitude toward Broly.

The somewhat uneasy Satomi Rentaro who followed along just now saw Muroto Sumire wipe the sauce off the Saiyan boy's mouth corner and put the wiped sauce into her own mouth to eat — a scene with the attitude of someone treating a little boyfriend.

Though it's also hard to say whether she's deliberately currying favor with the boy because she's happy after obtaining this precious research material — a live Gastrea.

In short, judging by this posture, it seems only a matter of time before the other party forgets the fiancé who once had a marriage contract with her and has been dead for many years, defects to Broly's Crystal Palace, and agrees to become the Saiyan boy's wife.

In the evening, Satomi Rentaro picked up Aihara Enju from school, then took the girl to the supermarket to purchase a huge pile of normal ingredients, and headed to Muroto Sumire's new research institute.

"Rentaro, why did you suddenly want to treat Doctor Muroto to a big meal?"

Aihara Enju asked curiously.

"This is to save her unorthodox pica, to make Doctor Muroto rediscover the deliciousness of normal food!"

The youth wearing a pink apron looking like he wanted to show off his skills attracted even Broly, who was helping with security work, to come over in anticipation of tonight's food.

But this anticipation was announced over in the evening, after a late-night news program aired.

"Tonight, we have the honor of inviting Professor Kitajima, an expert researching Gastrea, to provide a detailed analysis of the recent incident of Gastrea invading a school campus..."

This is a news program conducting a long-range interview with an expert.

"Thank you. As is well known, Gastrea are extremely averse to the presence of Varanium metal. Our Tokyo Safe Zone, as well as other Safe Zones, were only successfully established because of Monoliths made of Varanium metal. Logically speaking, the possibility of Gastrea invading inside a city is extremely small..."

The man sitting before the video in a suit and leather shoes spoke fluently on the TV news interview video, popularizing the isolation capability of Varanium metal against Gastrea to the public.

"Therefore, this invasion may be an artificially manufactured disaster event."

"Eh, so that's how it is?"

The host put on a surprised look and took the opportunity to ask: "Then, Professor Kitajima, who do you think would be the culprit who manufactured this disaster event?"

"That's hard to say, but based on the principle of 'who benefits is suspect,' whoever benefits the most from this matter has the greatest suspicion."

"Professor Kitajima's words are truly thought-provoking, but according to our investigation and understanding, the Gastrea New Law has also gained considerable public support in society because of this incident.

Could it be, Professor Kitajima, that you are implying that Holy Son of Heaven-sama, who advocates the Gastrea New Law, also played a disgraceful role in this?"

The host appeared to be questioning, but was actually guiding, letting the audience think deeply in the direction of a conspiracy theory.

"I wouldn't dare maliciously speculate on Holy Son of Heaven-sama. I merely proposed a possibility of Gastrea appearing inside a city school.

It's not impossible that that Cursed Child caught one from outside, deliberately placed it in the school, and then stepped out himself to play the hero..."

On TV, the Professor Kitajima being video-interviewed let out a dry laugh, while before the TV, Aihara Enju had already become somewhat panicked.

"That Cursed Child saved the teachers and students of that school after all. Isn't Professor Kitajima's groundless speculation a bit inappropriate?"

The host asked again.

"I am not speculating without basis. In fact, I myself have been very concerned about this Gastrea invasion incident, and through some private connections, hired some Civil Security agencies to investigate this incident. As of now, I already have some intelligence that can barely serve as evidence in my hands."

"Could Professor Kitajima share with us the so-called intelligence evidence you possess?"

"That won't do. The officials have not yet reached a conclusion, so how could I overstep my bounds?"

These words full of suggestiveness, as if he already grasped some kind of proof in his hands that could prove the Gastrea invasion was an artificially manufactured disaster, made the mastermind Broly and the others somewhat restless.

"Broly, Rentaro, are you sure no one discovered you when you brought the Gastrea into the city?"

Doctor Muroto Sumire asked.

"There shouldn't have been anyone who discovered us."

Now that it was on a news program, Satomi Rentaro and Broly were also a bit uncertain at this time — when they transported the Gastrea into the city a few days ago, whether they had been seen by anyone.

"If this matter gets nailed down with solid proof, it's no trivial matter."

On the TV program, that Professor Kitajima could no longer refuse the host's request and agreed to share the intelligence evidence he held that could prove Gastrea were artificially brought into the city during a live broadcast interview tomorrow.

"No good, where is this person?"

Broly couldn't sit still anymore; he stood up after eating only half.

"What do you want to do?"

Satomi Rentaro hurriedly asked.

"Before Enju's hero persona collapses, make the guy on TV shut up forever."

The Saiyan boy was full of killing intent.

"Killing is not good."

"Then do you have a better way?"

"If he has evidence in his hands, perhaps we can just destroy the evidence he holds."

Satomi Rentaro persuaded.

"Fine, but we have to find this person first."

Broly didn't care; as long as it could solve the problem, it was fine.

Professor Kitajima, true name Kitajima Koushi.

He, having finished the remote news program interview, went to take a shower.

But when he came out, he discovered two uninvited guests had intruded into his home.

"Speak, where is the evidence?"

"What evidence?"

Kitajima Koushi was kicked onto the desk by a short masked person, his neck gripped by the other party. The other's strength was immense, fundamentally not something he could resist.

"The evidence you spoke of during the news interview."

The tall masked person lowered his voice and said, then turned on the TV in his home, replayed the program he had accepted a remote video interview for tonight, and paused it on the interview frame where he himself last said he held so-called evidence in his hands.

Seeing this, Kitajima Koushi couldn't help but swallow his saliva, tremblingly raised his hand, and pointed toward the direction of the office desk in the room.

"The evidence is in the second drawer on the right."

Satomi Rentaro walked over, pulled open the drawer, and took out a document bag from inside.

Opening the document bag for a look, he discovered it was an investigation document. Inside was recorded a smuggled passage from outside the city through various inspection checkpoints — it looked just like the real thing.

"How did you investigate these materials?"

"I don't know."

"Hm?"

Feeling the hand gripping his neck increase its strength, Kitajima Koushi immediately begged for mercy: "Spare me, hero! I truly don't know. This was given to me by someone else."

Kitajima Koushi told how others spent money to hire him to accept a news interview and guide public opinion toward a direction unfavorable to the Cursed Children.

"This is what they gave me. And because I wanted to show my face on TV twice, I discussed with the media interviewing me to split it into two live broadcast interviews."

Kitajima Koushi said with a crying face. He hadn't expected that just after accepting an interview on TV, not even half an hour had passed before such villains came to his home.

"How about it?"

Broly looked at Satomi Rentaro.

"The so-called evidence is all fabricated."

The boy said.

"So, this guy actually has no evidence to prove that the Gastrea were brought in by us?"

Broly asked.

And the man he was choking, Kitajima Koushi, had already widened his eyes.

"No, although the evidence is fabricated, this fabricated evidence is just like the real thing, able to prove that someone brought Gastrea into the city and threw them into the school."

"So, this is slandering us?"

"It doesn't count as slander, because the Gastrea that invaded the campus were indeed brought in by us."

Broly understood; they caught Gastrea and brought them into the city and threw them into the school, creating Aihara Enju's heroic image.

And someone fabricated evidence that Gastrea were brought into the city by a person, wanting to frame the biggest beneficiary, Aihara Enju, as having staged it herself.

It's just that the two things came together, turning into a situation of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse.

"How to handle it now?"

Broly asked.

Satomi Rentaro was silent; the evidence was fabricated, and it wasn't that someone had actually discovered them transporting Gastrea into the city, this showed that the person behind the fabricated evidence fundamentally didn't care about the so-called truth.

In this situation, destroying a piece of fabricated evidence is useless at all, because if you destroy this piece of evidence, the person behind it can still fabricate new evidence to frame you; the person framing you knows your innocence better than you do.

Satomi Rentaro thought for a while, and discovered he fundamentally had no way.

"What would you do?"

He asked the boy wearing a black hood on his head.

"I don't know how to solve the problem, but I know how to solve the guy who manufactured the problem."

"Don't kill me, I just take money to do the job, I'm willing to give you all my money..."

Kitajima Koushi trembled, his calves scared soft.

"Someone's coming."

Broly detected someone approaching from outside, and said.

"Click—"

The gate was split open, a masked figure intruded, the boy decisively acted, and then...

"Eh, Kisara-nee, how did you come here?"

A long blade rested on Satomi Rentaro's neck.

And the brief exchange's familiar defeat made him recognize the comer's identity.

"I should be the one asking you, why would you guys be here?"

The Tenkō Agency only has five people total, and now three have gathered here.

"I wanted to come catch the person here, interrogate whether there's someone behind them hiring them to do this, I suspect this is related to the person behind the hiring of Hiruko Kagetane."

Tenkō Kisara spoke her purpose first.

"We came to destroy the evidence..."

Satomi Rentaro also explained his and Broly's reason for coming here, sharing with the girl the content they had already interrogated out.

"Who hired you?"

"If I confess honestly, can you not kill me?"

"If you don't speak quickly, I'll throw you down from the building."

Broly grabbed this person's leg, lifted him to the window outside.

This is an apartment building, the height of the seventeenth floor scared the man into pissing himself.

"I'll speak, I'll speak..."

Without much effort, this person spilled the beans like bamboo tube pouring beans, confessing the employer behind him.

The man in hand had no more value, just as the Saiyan boy prepared to casually throw him down.

"Hand this person to me, I need an accusation witness."

Tenkō Kisara said.

"Okay."

Broly had no objection, handed the person to Tenkō Kisara.

"You guys also help catch people."

Pull the radish and the mud comes with it, one by one intermediaries were arrested.

Kitajima Koushi wasn't the only one hired, it's just he was the first to jump out, the Gastrea research expert who guided public opinion.

This person was caught, and tracing the vine to get the melon, the public opinion ringleaders behind him and further behind were caught one after another.

These guys engaged in internet trolls/water army initially didn't cooperate, until they were taken to Muroto Sumire's new research institute, woke up the Tatsu caught today.

Facing the Gastrea's open huge mouth, threatened with being fed as feed to the Gastrea, these people cried for father and mother, indicating willingness to cooperate with the investigation.

The Tendo Family's Black Glove, the character Tenchou Shin, thus appeared before Tenkō Kisara, and upon learning the manipulator behind public opinion was actually the Tendo Family, Tenkō Kisara seemed like she was injected with chicken blood, full of fighting spirit.

Just as Tenkō Kisara prepared to go all out, to take down the Tendo Family's Black Glove together tonight, the Holy Son of Heaven's side suddenly sent a communication.

"On the Pacific, satellites discovered traces of Scorpio, the other party is swimming towards Tokyo Bay this side."

This is a piece of bad news.

(Chapter End)