Chapter 510

The atmosphere at the Shoryo Bureau crime scene had dropped to freezing point.

Looking at the dense tangle of cables all over Horikawa Nen's body, many colorful wires were exposed, wrapped around his body, looking extremely complex and dangerous, with some detonator-like objects prominently stuck on the outside of his vest!

It's a bomb!

Horikawa Nen has a full explosive device strapped to his body!

"It's a bomb ah ah ah!"

In the conference room at the scene, the originally certain-to-succeed few Imperial Palace plainclothes officers and the Shoryo Bureau department head, upon seeing the terrifying-looking explosive device on Horikawa Nen's body and the detonator in his hand, were instantly terrified, their faces turning deathly pale.

We had laid out the capture plan with all our strength, seamless and waiting only for the prey to fall into the net—why did the outcome turn out like this?

"Don't move! Nobody move!!!" Horikawa Nen's face showed a smile mixed with despair, madness, and a strange sense of relief.

It's over, everything is over.

But he won't surrender quietly; he wants to make this palace he hates die with him!

"Get back! All of you get back!" Horikawa Nen roared: "Get back! Otherwise I'll blow it up!"

"Okay, okay, Horikawa, stay calm, we're backing off, we're backing off!" The Shoryo Bureau department head could only frantically signal his subordinates and the Imperial Palace police to retreat, while the Imperial Palace police were already so frightened their faces turned ashen; even the most capable plainclothes officers couldn't have imagined that the capture, which seemed certain to succeed, would turn out like this?

The security checks of the Imperial Household Agency and the Imperial Palace are extremely strict! How could this guy possibly get a bomb?

Maybe he's just bluffing us?

However, no one dared to bet, no one wanted to bet, everyone could only listen to Horikawa's command and slowly retreat backward.

And the sudden change at the scene also stunned the Special Mission Unit members who had only intended to watch.

Watanabe Minami, the Young Lady, was still a bit dazed, but upon seeing this scene she instantly sobered, her eyes widened, pupils contracting to the extreme, she sucked in a cold breath, all the previously prepared capture plans instantly shattered before absolute power. She instinctively opened her arms, blocking the movement of the team member behind her, her voice caught in her throat, unable to utter a single word.

And the remaining Special Mission Unit members froze instantly, as if frozen by invisible ice.

What? A bomb?

Uesugi Muneyuki also widened his eyes, staring at the seemingly mad Horikawa Nen, wondering what this guy actually wanted to do? What does the existence of the Inner World want to do? Are they planning to wipe out the Living God Family in one fell swoop?

Date Nagamune's hand, reaching for his waist gun holster, froze in midair; the impulse to rush forward was brutally shoved back by the primal fear of explosion, his blood seemingly freezing instantly, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

His gun holster was empty! Because carrying guns is not allowed when entering the Imperial Palace! So the M9 pistol issued to him by the Metropolitan Police Department wasn't worn on his person, and as a former Self-Defense Force officer and operator who tinkers with various black technologies, after careful recognition he immediately screamed in pain: "No! That bomb is real!"

"What?" Nanxiang Yui also broke into a sweat, and he even felt a sharp stomach pain: "Speak clearly!"

Kai Toru, Eirina, Igarashi, and others also turned their gaze toward Date.

"That bomb is real! I know what it is—it's a crude variant of ANFO explosive (ammonium nitrate fuel oil) made by mixing ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, not hard to make! There's such training in the Self-Defense Forces' counter-terrorism drills!" Date Nagamune couldn't help trembling: "After compressing it, it's packed into multiple hard plastic tubes, then tightly bound together with tape, forming a vest-like shape; this one blast might not be enough to blow up the entire Imperial Palace, but it's enough to send nearby buildings flying into the sky! And moreover..."

"And moreover...?" Uesugi Muneyuki sensed something unusual.

ANFO explosive—it's used for blasting mountains!

"And moreover... I can't be sure whether this guy's bomb is the only one... this kind of detonation device... can simultaneously detonate multiple bombs!" Date Nagamune said, cold sweat pouring down: "Officer, Uesugi Chief, you should remember—today in the early morning we discovered this guy frequently moving around inside the Imperial Palace, right? Could it be... he actually already..."

Saying this, Date dared not continue.

And the entire Special Mission Unit drew in cold breaths without cease.

"We must make everyone careful!" Ishihara Mikoto also spoke up; the forensic beauty likewise wore an anxious expression: "This homemade ammonium nitrate fuel oil IED (improvised explosive device) is extremely unstable! It might accidentally detonate during movement, falling, or even temperature changes."

"Get the police to retreat quickly, retreat!" Mikoto urged fearfully: "As soon as he touches the detonator, it will explode immediately! Moreover, even a strong impact like a bullet could possibly directly detonate the bomb!"

Damn it!!!

And similarly reacting were the Imperial Household Agency Director Maeda Toshisuke and others, who, upon seeing Horikawa's detonator in his hand and the bomb on his body, saw Maeda Toshisuke's teacup "crack!" fall to the ground and shatter. He felt utterly drained, staggered a step, braced himself with his hands on the control panel to avoid falling, his lips trembling, yet unable to utter a word, only his eyes filled with unprecedented shock and despair.

Bomb! A bomb has appeared inside the Imperial Palace! This is the most terrifying nightmare of his career and even his life.

And Kenji Chief, this police commissioner who has weathered storms, was now as if struck by lightning—he violently rose from his chair, then weakly sank back down.

He spoke into the microphone, but could not utter a single clear command, only able to emit meaningless sounds like "uh... ah..." Cold sweat instantly soaked through the back of his shirt.

How could this happen? I clearly tripled the manpower, arranged five plainclothes elites, and even specially dispatched a squad leader to command centrally—it was absolutely fail-safe, absolutely safe and reliable!

How on earth did this guy Horikawa discover it?

At this moment, Takeuchi Jichou had already reacted; he glanced at Maeda Toshisuke and Kenji Nagamune, quickly understood who was at fault, grabbed Kenji's collar, and roared: "You TMD what the hell have you done?! Kenji, didn't you promise me it would be foolproof?!"

"I, I..." Kenji Chief stammered for a long time before managing: "I, I clearly already arranged it?!"

"How exactly did you arrange it?" Maeda Toshisuke was so anxious his legs kept shaking; the elderly head of the Kanazawa Maeda family had burst into tears: "Say it!!"

Kenji Chief struggled to explain his arrangement of tripling police manpower and specially assigning five plainclothes elites.

And upon hearing his arrangement, everyone present painfully closed their eyes.

Kenji Chief's move of adding large numbers of personnel was originally intended as insurance for saturation rescue and to guarantee the capture would go smoothly, but this act of overdoing it, for a mentally highly tense, bird-startled insider, was nothing short of the most piercing alarm!

"Damn it all!!!" Takeuchi Jichou, furious, slapped Kenji Chief across the face: "I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you national traitor!"

Kenji Chief also knew he had made a huge mistake; being slapped to his knees, his facial muscles twitched, yet he still shouted: "Haiyi!"

"You beast! You're finished!!!" Takeuchi Jichou delivered another heavy slap: "I'll kill you, I... you... ah ah ah!!!"

This time with greater force, Kenji Chief was slapped into the table behind him, yet he could only crawl up, still shouting: "Haiyi!"

"Quick, quick look at the screen!" Nakajima Jikan pointed at the screen, signaling you guys to look quickly!

Only then did everyone turn back to look at the screen.

In the surveillance footage, Horikawa Nen had already exited the Shoryo Bureau, surrounded by over a hundred police, the Special Mission Unit members had also arrived, yet no one had any idea how to handle the current situation!

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!" Horikawa Nen shrieked, his voice distorted by extreme excitement and fear: "Take one more step forward! I'll send everyone here flying into the sky! Including this filthy palace!"

Time seemed to solidify.

Every Imperial Palace police officer who lunged forward froze in place as if under a immobilization spell, their expressions shifting from resolute to shock and fear in an instant.

Letting the rat scare the weapon! No one dared to risk causing greater casualties by gambling with an explosion.

"Horikawa! Stay calm! Put down the detonator, everything can be negotiated!" Watanabe Minami shouted sharply, but her heart had sunk to the bottom.

Damn it!!!

"Negotiate? What's there to negotiate with you lapdogs of the establishment!" Horikawa laughed maniacally, tears mixing with sweat sliding down his twisted face: "My life has long been meaningless! But today, I will use this decaying body to leave an eternal scar on this false symbol!"

Contrary to everyone's expectation, he did not try to flee or take hostages, but instead suddenly turned, heading deep into the corridor—toward the Imperial Palace's innermost "Honmaru" residence, the palace—slowly moving; any police attempting to approach him would cause him to twitch his hand on the detonator, making all police collectively retreat.

"Stop him!" Minami's scream almost cracked.

But how do we stop him?

No one dares to shoot, not even the most elite sniper present can guarantee to instantly disable his detonation capability. Any bullet could trigger an unpredictable explosion.

No one dares to rush forward for physical obstruction, which would be tantamount to suicide and might immediately trigger the bomb.

The Imperial Police's daily training is for intruders and maintaining order; when have they ever faced such a desperate "human bomb" charge? They futilely chase after him, hoarsely shouting "Stop!" and "Calm down!", forming an absurd and terrifying scene: a group of fully armed police, actually being forced to retreat step by step by a naked upper-body madman strapped with bombs, with no one daring to truly step forward to block him!

Horiguchi Nen moved like a meteor burning with the flames of despair, slowly advancing, within the Imperial Palace—a domain originally symbolizing absolute safety—unstoppable!

The alarm wailed shrilly across the skies above the Imperial Palace, more guards poured in from all directions, yet they could only form fragile encirclements thirty or forty meters away from him, retreating in panic as he moved, the scene completely out of control!

At the same time.

The core cabinet members, who had only rested for a little over three hours, had just reassembled, preparing to hear a report of good news, when Onoda Kanbocho's encrypted mobile phone suddenly rang.

After answering, his face turned deathly pale at visible speed, the hand holding the phone trembled violently.

"... What?!... A bomb?!... On... on him?!"

He let out a shocked cry, his voice changing tone.

The conference room fell instantly silent. All ministers stopped moving, staring in disbelief at Kanbocho.

Yamada Prime Minister's pen "crack" fell onto the desk, he suddenly raised his head, his eyes no longer weary but filled with extreme shock and panic: "Speak clearly! What bomb?! Where?!"

After Kanbocho reported in trembling, fragmented language the horrifying scene unfolding within the Imperial Palace, the entire conference room plunged into dead silence.

The faint optimism that had existed moments ago was completely crushed, replaced by a near-suffocating despair and icy cold.

Police Commissioner Tamaru subconsciously slumped onto his chair, while Minister of Defence Watanabe Eiji clenched his fists tightly—everyone understood—the worst-case scenario, in a way they could not imagine, had arrived!

Once the explosion occurs, regardless of the outcome, they will be the most failed cabinet in Japanese history.

Cabinet resignation bomb!

The heart of Japan's National Power Core was stopped by the improvised explosive device on Horiguchi Nen's body, the desperate air spreading to every corner.

Marala!!!

(Chapter End)