Chapter 196: Trouble Has Come

21:33, the foot traffic in Rishuku District's Kabukicho had not yet peaked. But Captain Sarutobi could no longer remember how many times he had checked the detector in his hand; seeing the reading still stuck at zero, he spat on the ground and walked toward the next establishment.

"Captain, is this thing even reliable? It keeps jumping all over the place, yet the key spots never change…" The soldier's face bore a look of grievance. Meanwhile, other squads were either raking in bribes or had already turned on their audio parties—some even did both. Yet here they were, trudging for two full hours in the very heart of He Zujie, where the most beautiful women and the richest bribes were to be found.

"Idiot, don't think I don't know what you're thinking. Blame it on us being assigned to this dump! This place is full of foreigners or aliens—I wouldn't dare touch anything, and you think I'd let you? Hurry up, finish scanning the eastern market district, then we can head west. After that, we can do whatever we want!"

The captain glared at his subordinate. Had they not been related by blood, he would have slapped him long ago. But considering morale, he still spoke up to rally the men.

"That's the spirit. Next we should…"

Just as the soldiers perked up and began checking how much ground remained, Sarutobi's detector suddenly jolted twice—the zero reading had abruptly changed to two characters!

"Shit! You damn jinx!" Sarutobi finally lost control and slapped his brother-in-law across the face, sending him spinning seven or eight times, even leaving a faint dent on his helmet's explosion-proof visor.

The brother-in-law dared not speak, cowering like a quail. Behind them, not a single squad member dared utter a word.

Jokes aside—they were scared to death too.

"What are you staring at? It just lit up. You still want to back out?" Seeing his subordinates' expressions, Sarutobi's face darkened further. But he still stepped forward, following the device's guidance.

He knew well enough that landing the position of squad leader meant this new gear wasn't just for bullying. He had no doubt these detectors had recording functions. If they failed to find the target and just took a little fun along the way, fine—but if they found it and deliberately ignored it, he didn't want to test whether the Naturalized Army was seen as any different from civilians by aliens.

After walking ten meters forward, a high-end bar with a sign reading "Extraterrestrial Cultural Experience Hall" came into view. Sarutobi's face twitched. Such places were almost always run by foreigners, and a faint aura of divine energy was perfectly normal there. But he couldn't skip it. He took a breath and gritted his teeth as he stepped inside.

"Gentlemen, this is a Fujita family establishment—we're right…" The bouncer rushed forward at the sight of the intimidating intruders, but before he could finish, a gloved hand clad in metallic armor clamped around his head. Luckily, he spoke fast—if he'd delayed even a second, his head might not have stayed attached.

"Governor's Office direct order. Should I call Fujita Masaki?" Though his tone was firm, he knew the Fujita family couldn't be provoked, so he pulled up the Governor's Office crest on his display.

"Oh my, officers, if you needed anything, just say so—why resort to violence? We Fujitas are all Naturalized Citizens! Honorary Giant He Xing! How could we refuse cooperation? Wherever you want to search, go ahead!"

The shop owner, dressed in Giant He Xing-style attire, hurried over, bowing awkwardly and fawning. As he spoke, he subtly slipped a gold card into Sarutobi's hand. Sarutobi's visor scanned it instantly—he saw the account balance—and released the bouncer's head, coldly taking the card.

"The Fujita family's face must be respected, but I hope there's nothing wrong here. Men, stay alert!"

"Understood!" Knowing their boss had taken a bribe, the subordinates held back. Though most patrons had fled, nothing was broken—yet…

"This thing?" Sarutobi stared at the gourd pendant before him, then at the detector still flashing its reading. He turned to the owner with a strange expression.

"What's inside it?"

"It's just a pendant! How could it hold anything?!" The owner's face turned as sour as a bitter melon. He knew the device must have detected something—but he genuinely had no idea what!

"Really?" Sarutobi removed the gourd, studying the character "Shou" carved on it, scanning it carefully. Aside from the reading, there was no anomaly whatsoever—it was completely solid.

"Where did this come from?" Sarutobi ordered his men to bring a storage case and placed the object inside. His tone remained stern. The owner shook his head vigorously.

"It's just a regular ornament. Giant He Xing people sometimes hang gourd-shaped items in their homes, but demand is low. Custom-molding is too expensive, so we just buy actual gourds…"

"..." Sarutobi judged the owner wasn't lying, but he didn't want to haul him back. After a moment's thought, he said:

"Call Fujita Masaki now. Explain everything. Tell him I'm waiting here for him to send someone to take over. My recorder is active—you won't get away. Understood?"

"Understood, understood!" The owner, as if freed from death's grip, immediately dialed his master. Less than a minute later, Fujita's heir arrived personally with a team. After the handover, Sarutobi slipped two gold cards and the gourd into his pocket and left the shop.

"Alright, let's keep going!" With a find, Sarutobi's step grew lighter. Had he not feared later audits, he'd have fled this mess immediately.

But the more you avoid trouble, the more trouble finds you. As Tokyo's busiest foreign tourist district, within this single street he encountered seven or eight more readings.

Fortunately, each reading was low, and each item was found. Aside from being annoying, it was manageable. But even Sarutobi himself couldn't stand the public channel anymore—let alone his men!

It wasn't their fault. Even while having fun, these soldiers never removed their gear. Gear on, computers running—the noise kept echoing through the squad channel.

"Damn it!" He cursed inwardly. As they reached the edge of Kabukicho, Sarutobi finally exhaled. He waved his hand toward a shabby izakaya that looked poor as dirt—

Women here were usually unremarkable, but if he caught a few OLs from a corporate drinking party (Note ①), it was still a win.

Just as he pondered whether to invent an excuse or kick the door in, his device trembled again.

"What now?!" Sarutobi glared at the device, thinking it must be another gourd or lucky cat—when his eyes suddenly went blank.

"One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… How many is this?"

(End of Chapter)