Chapter 1043: Previously I Had No Choice, But Now I Only Want To Be A Detective

"The Cabinet's decision has come down." Watanabe Eiji's voice was pressed low: "Vikram will be handed over to the US military. Handover tomorrow afternoon near Yokota Base. The other two stay in Japan, have them cooperate with research. We need to figure out what that 'fragment' is, and whether there are more. At the same time, you host the press conference, explain the whole case's ins and outs to the public. Time set for the day after tomorrow morning."

"The other two stay behind, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Public Security want to research 'their physical functions.' You hold a press conference, explain the whole case process. The wording's already been written for you, you just read it and sign." Watanabe Eiji continued: "This is the charter the Cabinet decided on."

Uesugi Muneyuki nodded, not surprised.

Not to mention anything else, just because US President Darahan told Acting Prime Minister Hanzawa that the matter of increasing tariffs on Japan by 15% could be delayed six months, this is a condition that cannot be refused.

And for Japan's side, only Vikram was exposed in the livestream, while the Elephant Person and Lion Person Cheetah Person weren't filmed, so handing Vikram over is no big deal.

"Don't look at me, I've got no way either, I'm just a wage slave, a little grunt, a little grunt." Watanabe Eiji sighed: "Don't look at me being Police Commissioner now, but to the Cabinet, I'm just a ———— well, whatever, I still count as an official, but some things I still can't decide."

"Father needn't be modest either, you're now more or less a First-Class Loyal and Brave Duke, Plain Yellow Banner Manchurian General, Round Bright Garden Guards Battalion President Minister, granted the title Jingqiniha Fanjihao, bestowed wear four-group dragon supplement robe." Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but laugh and say: "Just missing a Grand Secretary title on you, and not walking in the Grand Council."

"Holy shit, End-of-Days Emperor!" Who knew Watanabe Eiji's brow furrowed, couldn't help but say: "Don't come at me with Qing Dynasty stuff, give me Grand Tutor, Liaodong General-in-Chief concurrently Crown Prince's Grand Protector, Ningyuan Earl, be the Wild Boar Skin's adoptive father instead! Li Ruzi! Your father, your grandfather, all slaves under my banner!"

"Holy shit, Great Ming King Chao?" Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but shake his head: "Didn't expect Father doesn't like Qing Dynasty stuff."

"Me not liking Qing doesn't mean I like Great Ming, but if forced to compare, either way Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was invested by Judy as King of Japan, that much I acknowledge." Watanabe Eiji said with some impatience.

Uesugi Muneyuki didn't speak further, he leaned back in the chair, looking at Watanabe Eiji's eyes.

Watanabe Eiji looked at him too.

The air between the two people grew heavy in that instant.

"When's the handover?"

Watanabe Eiji's eyebrows raised slightly, then the muscles at the corners of his eyes tightened, finally his lips pressed into a very thin line.

His voice dropped another degree lower than before, like he was confirming a guess he hardly dared believe to himself: "You're planning to ————"

"Not before the handover." Uesugi Muneyuki cut him off: "After the handover. Police Agency goes through formal procedure first, hands him to US military. US military will lock him in Yokota Base or wherever. Before they put him on a plane to fly him out of Japan, I'll move on the road."

Watanabe Eiji stared at him for a long time.

This matter, besides exposing the power hidden inside the Police Agency, equally exposed his son-in-law's abnormality.

Morofushi Takahiro, Security Bureau Director, in his post-incident report, likewise meaningfully stated that Uesugi Muneyuki performed impressively in this case, yet Watanabe Eiji didn't see Uesugi Muneyuki do anything ———— the injured were all Special Mission Division members, but Uesugi Muneyuki stayed in the rear the whole time.

His fingers interlaced on the desk surface, knuckles whitening slightly from the force.

In his mind he was doing a very complex calculation: on one side the Cabinet resolution, Foreign Ministry diplomatic note, US pressure, India's statement ———— Uesugi Muneyuki doing this is not good for a bureaucrat, even terrible.

Bureaucrats don't want complications, don't want inexplicable accidents, everything peaceful and uneventful all the way to the court nobles is best, especially this case being so complex, Watanabe Eiji also doesn't want anything else to happen, bureaucrats value the matter being resolved, big things made small, small things made nothing, everyone rewarded for merit, not digging to the bottom.

However, words to persuade Uesugi Muneyuki not to act impulsively, Watanabe Eiji just couldn't say them.

Hirate Sarina is dead!

And she was cruelly gang-raped to death! She was not only gang-raped, but afterward apparently tortured and strangled! After death her corpse was thrown into a garbage dump, wind-blown sun-baked rotting fermenting, turned into giantism!

Just like that, Vikram showed almost no regret, his face only a calm willingness to accept the loss!

How could this not make Watanabe Eiji feel rage!

Moreover, Nagase Ren was forced to commit suicide because of this!

A young, limitless-future, even from a certain angle already approaching the truth career-track detective was also forced to death!

Is this humanity's distortion, or morality's collapse?

No, neither!

This is the Japanese police system's structural oppression!

As the saying goes, subordinates' achievements belong to superiors, superiors' mistakes are subordinates' responsibility.

If it were another matter, Watanabe Eiji as a career-track detective who's been Investigation Division 1 Chief, has handled plenty of cases, knows what to do.

But this matter ———— as the saying goes, human life hangs by a thread!

Really making Watanabe Eiji act like nothing happened, he still feels terrible, in his thirty-plus years of police career, in some very deep, very dark corner, a small piece he still retains.

That piece is very small, so small most of the time he himself barely remembers its existence.

That piece, Watanabe Eiji doesn't want to give it a pretty name like "justice" or "conviction" or "original intent."

It's just a very simple intuition: a person who committed such a cruel case, cannot be let walk away just like that!

Because, I am a detective!

And Uesugi Muneyuki also gazed at Watanabe Eiji, a flicker of wavering flashing in his eyes too.

Originally I had no choice, but after experiencing the Dark Knight incident, Uesugi Muneyuki also gained some realization.

Some things just can't be handled, some things just have to be done personally.

In female-frequency novels, the protagonist holds 800,000 border troops and 100,000 heavy cavalry, yet still gets recalled to the capital by a single imperial edict and dies wrongfully in prison — laughable, sure, but equally, wanting some commoner's rage blood splashing five steps, Black Tortoise Gate hard clash eight hundred means eight hundred eight hundred has eight hundred style, Toyota Jingnan my good nephew don't fear fourth uncle's here to protect you — that equally needs someone to make up their mind and personally take the field.

You want to break the rules, you have to personally take the field; if you don't even dare personally take the field, what right do you have to make subordinates and allies break rules for you?

This time, this Uesugi joins the hunt!

"How do you plan to do it?" Watanabe Eiji's voice suddenly turned very light, like he feared the walls hearing.

"After Police Agency and US military finish handover, I'll tail their transport convoy. Route goes through a relatively remote mountain road, moving there is most suitable. I'll use ———— some other means, leave no traces, afterward create the illusion that India sent people to silence him, looks absolutely like India's internal Ganges Superman did it, nothing to do with us. US military won't trace it to us. Cabinet won't be implicated either." Uesugi Muneyuki said in a low voice: "But, I need you to give me the specific route, handover arrangements."

Watanabe Eiji fell silent again for a while.

Then he stood up from the chair, walked to that inconspicuous small door by the office's inner wall.

That door leads to the cubicle he usually uses for private calls or receiving special visitors, he reached out and pushed the door open, turned sideways to make room.

Uesugi Muneyuki stood up, followed him into that small cubicle.

The cubicle's area isn't large, only a small round table and two chairs, no windows on the walls, a small adjustable yellow light recessed in the ceiling.

Watanabe Eiji turned the light to the dimmest setting, then sat in the chair.

Uesugi Muneyuki sat opposite him, the two's knees nearly touching.

Watanabe Eiji fished out a pack of cigarettes from his suit's inner pocket, took out one, didn't light it, just held it between his fingers turning it.

He spoke, voice low like reciting a secret pact's draft: "Be careful. Best to move after we finish handover with US military. Don't leave any traces related to us at the scene. Don't use Metropolitan Police equipment, don't use your usual methods. If this gets found out, I know nothing. Understand?"

"Understood." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded.

"Understood." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded.

"Let me emphasize this once more, Sōsetsu. If you or anyone helping you — any member — gets arrested or killed, or is inadvertently exposed, we will claim we had absolutely no knowledge of your actions. We will immediately announce your dismissal, and publicly declare your connection to Vikram. I'll immediately arrange for Minami and the others to be reassigned, and you will be permanently struck from the rolls on the Japanese side. Do you understand?" Watanabe Eiji said in a low voice. "You want to take a risk, I won't stop you, but I cannot let this matter ——————"

"I know." Uesugi Muneyuki let out a sigh.

Wanting to accomplish something, how difficult it is.

"Also, before you act, don't tell anyone. Including Okada, including those little girlfriends of yours, like that tall beauty, the big-breasted judo policewoman, including Minami. The fewer people who know, the fewer leads that can be pried open." Watanabe Eiji said.

"I know." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded again, a trace of suffering appearing on his face.

Watanabe Eiji put the unlit Marlboro from between his fingers back into the cigarette case, then raised his eyes to look at Uesugi Muneyuki.

He looked for two seconds, then extended his hand and patted Uesugi Muneyuki on the shoulder.

The force was heavy, heavy as if he were unloading something from his own shoulder and placing it onto the other's.

"Then let's leave it at that." He said: "Go ahead and do it. You still have me behind you, Sōsetsu —————— thank you."

"What's there to thank, I just want to do something." Uesugi Muneyuki smiled.

"What you want to do is the same as what I want to do, only —————— sigh, there are too many things, I really have no choice." Watanabe Eiji patted the seat beneath him: "The Commissioner's position, if you don't take it, plenty of people want to sit in it. If you don't obey, they'll swap in an obedient one. These Cabinet bastards often want you to do irregular things by regular means, often without even writing a single note, but you have to listen, otherwise they'll find a chance to replace you. I'm already not considered very obedient —————— because of you."

Uesugi Muneyuki gave a slight nod: "Ambiguous politics, but someone still has to solve cases."

"However, Onoda Kanbocho would be better." Watanabe Eiji nodded: "We lean more toward his side, count as our own people."

"To these people, Indians are their own people." Uesugi Muneyuki complained.

"Hahaha~"

Speaking of this, the air between the two people relaxed a bit in that instant, as if a blockage originally stuck in the chest had been slowly moved away.

Watanabe Eiji leaned back in his chair and suddenly laughed, his tone gradually becoming like idle chatter in a relaxed state: "Speaking of which, Indians really have gone a bit too far recently. Did you know, Sōsetsu, I saw an internal report a few days ago. Canada's immigration data came out, last year new immigrants from India accounted for nearly three-tenths of the total. Three-tenths. How many people does Canada have in total? Indians are running all over the world now. Silicon Valley tech companies, out of ten CEOs they wish six were of Indian descent. Microsoft, Google, IBM all occupied by them."

"The UK side is even more absurd. London's mayor is of Pakistani descent, Scotland's First Minister is of Indian descent, even the Prime Minister is of Indian descent."

"On the Japanese side they're coming more and more too. Those dispatch companies at Nagoya Port, used to be Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, now more and more Indians. They come and don't leave, stay a few years and bring over all their relatives and friends, one brings a string, a string brings a patch. As long as one Indian becomes management in a company, in two years the whole department is just his fellow townspeople."

Uesugi Muneyuki listened, the corner of his mouth slightly raised.

The whole world has long suffered from Indians.

But there's no way, because capital forever pursues lower wages, longer working hours, and larger markets.

For example.

The United Kingdom, actually now the vast majority of public services and public facilities in the entire United Kingdom are done by immigrants.

Suppose right now all native British young people aged 18-30 completely disappeared, it would actually have zero impact on the UK's current situation, at most football youth training would have fewer people.

But if immigrants completely disappeared, British society would immediately completely paralyze.

Native-born whites have been Jia Rainstorm for so long, serving people — only immigrants are willing to do that work!

So the British cannot refuse Indians, just as the Japanese also cannot refuse.

He leaned back in his chair, adding: "And they don't pay much attention to hygiene. Those dispatch worker dormitories at Nagoya Port, management has reported it several times. Kitchen used but not wiped, garbage piled at the door, public bathrooms full of hair and foam everywhere. Not everyone is like that, but —————— the proportion is indeed higher than other ethnicities. Dispatch companies also have a headache, but no one dares speak clearly, afraid of being labeled with the 'racial discrimination' hat."

Watanabe Eiji scoffed: "Political correctness kills. Can't even complain."

He thought for a bit, felt being this direct wasn't too good, so he added: "But speaking of it — that Vikram, he's actually quite clean. Lived at Nagoya Port for three years, not a single hygiene complaint record. He keeps himself very neat."

Uesugi Muneyuki didn't respond, he stood up and walked toward the door.

When he reached the door he paused: "The press conference I'll hold. The wording I'll read as they wrote it. After everything is done, I'll handle the aftermath."

Watanabe Eiji sat in the chair without moving.

He watched Uesugi Muneyuki pull open the door, the cold white light from the hallway surging in through the crack, illuminating that young man's profile with clear outlines. He spoke, voice not loud but clear enough: "Sōsetsu, be careful!"

"Mm, steady, no problem, my sword doesn't burn the heart!" Uesugi Muneyuki pushed open the door and walked out.

The door closed behind him, the compartment once again sinking into the dimness of that yellow-lit small lamp.

Watanabe Eiji sat alone in the chair, fished out that cigarette he'd just put back in the case, turned it twice between his fingers, but ultimately didn't light it.

He put it back in his pocket, stood up, pushed open the compartment door, and returned to that office piled with cigarette butts.

The Tokyo sky outside the window was gray, as if it would rain.

He walked to the window, opened that crack wider, letting the outside wind pour in, then he took out a photo frame o

Inside was a photo from when he served as Investigation Division 1 Chief, and he searched for a long time, finding Yaegaki Tetsuya in the corner.

Yaegaki —————— all of us, are living in hardship ah!

I know your difficulties —————— also understand why you had to charge in alone.

You were pursuing your fairness and justice, while I —————— had to watch you be killed by them.

—————— Before I had no choice.

But at least now, I just want to be a police officer!