Chapter 571

The storm in Kantou continues, the kidnapping case of a National Diet member's daughter remains under control, and the Japanese police announced to the outside world a "complete victory," while specifically praising Kashiwagi Jin's decisiveness and speed, and expressing regret over the outcome, declaring that the kidnappers had torn up the hostage.

As for Uesugi Muneyuki, the series of news following Ōsumikawa's surrender can be described as "explosive within explosive," with all major television stations launching special programs, immediately linking Ōsumikawa's case with the earlier Akimoto Shōta case, and Fuji TV directly doxxed Ōsumikawa's family, confirming that his mother first appeared on camera flying to HK, then transferred to Morocco, after which she vanished from human society.

What exactly happened to Ōsumikawa's daughter?

Why did he do this? To let the world feel pain in the most extreme way?

Was there any hidden truth behind Akimoto Shōta's death by explosion?

Moreover, was the strange incident at the Imperial Palace actually related to Ōsumikawa?

This part of the content became the focus of everyone's attention, and everyone soon discovered that one department had experienced all these events, and for an old man who wanted to blow up the entire world, was vicious and evil, yet full of the pain of a terminal illness, Uesugi Muneyuki could actually persuade him to surrender!

He must know the inside story!

But where did Uesugi Muneyuki go?

All television stations and media are searching for Uesugi!

Millions of views are focused on him, yet he himself has vanished!

"Find him! Find him immediately!!" Fuji TV President Kameyama screamed in his office: "With Uesugi, we have the headline! We have the ratings!"

Thus, all major news media began a carpet-style search.

And rather strangely, the Metropolitan Police Department has remained silent all along.

At the same time, in Kansai, Osaka.

A quiet room converted from an old bank vault. Metallic reliefs not of this world's geometry are inlaid on the walls, and the air is filled with the scent of old books and incense.

A middle-aged man approximately forty years old or older is kneeling cross-legged before an ancient zelkova tea table, preparing for his daily meditation.

He meticulously wears a high-end custom-made white clergyman's robe, but casually wears over it an old-fashioned waistcoat commonly seen among elderly entrepreneurs in the Kansai region, forming a peculiar mixed style.

His smooth hair is combed into a neat 2:8 part, he wears round-frame gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze is gentle but with no emotional fluctuation in the depths, as if observing a specimen under a microscope, his face bears a kind of affable, slightly weary business smile (like the classic "Osaka merchant" smile), but this smile never reaches his eyes.

He is playing with two ancient copper coins engraved with unknown patterns in his hand.

In front of him, the sole core doctrine of the sect is carved.

"Unity."

"Do you feel that you were once part of some grand existence? Let every lonely person return to the wholeness of the world."

Suddenly, the door of the quiet room was violently pulled open a crack, a young woman with part of her skin already showing semi-transparent crystallization on her face, trembling all over, kneels outside the door.

"Your Holiness—like—out, out something happened. It's about—Number 3'!"

"Number 3?" The middle-aged man did not turn back, still maintaining his pre-meditation preparation posture, a piece of suede lightly wiping his gold-rimmed glasses, his voice calm as usual: "What happened to him? Was it the side effects of the 'diversion' too intense, causing his form to collapse? I warned him not to abuse his power, each action requires——rest."

"No—no! We—we were all deceived! He is not a lonely seeker of liberation! He is a member of the 'Red Goldfinch'! He used the gift you bestowed" to plot—an explosion——against the Foreign Minister's son——that is the thing on TV——"

She could no longer continue speaking, her body trembling violently from fear.

The air in the room instantly solidified. The incense smoke no longer rose straight up, but began to strangely swirl and tangle.

The middle-aged man's motion of wiping his glasses stopped. He slowly, very slowly, put his glasses back on his face, then he reached out and picked up the cup of freshly brewed matcha, steaming hot, in front of him.

"Speak."

"He, he used his ability to kidnap Akimoto Shin'ichirō's son, Akimoto Shōta! And, and he detonated the explosives in one go, blowing up the minister's son, the driver, the secretary, and the guard! Now, Kantou is in chaos, media, police, and even the Self-Defense Forces' special units have all been deployed! News helicopters are broadcasting live all the way!"

Crack.

A clear sound of breaking.

The middle-aged man's hand-held Raku tea bowl, worth a fortune and inherited from the Azuchi-Momoyama period, cracked open perfectly down the middle. Scalding tea water flowed down along his finger gaps, splitting into several streams, but he seemed utterly unaware.

He gently placed the broken tea bowl back on the tray, his movement still maintaining a kind of terrifying elegance. He took out a piece of white handkerchief with his other hand, and slowly wiped the tea stains off his fingers.

"Hah—I just greeted the Chief Priest of Kantou earlier, Number 3—now I understand, I thought what burned in his eyes was the desire for 'return,' but I never expected—it was such crude, such short-sighted—political passion." The middle-aged man chuckled softly, yet there was no smile in his eyes: "The Red Goldfinch left and right are truly everyone has a disease, my gift was actually used for this."

"He—he defiled Your Holiness's gift—" the woman said tremblingly.

The middle-aged man gently shook his head: "No. It is his stupid mind, utterly unable to comprehend what he has invoked. He thought he was rebelling against the 'system,' but he does not know he is ringing the death knell for all of us. The war machine of modern nations is not an enemy we can currently face.' That is not something that can be countered by relying on the supernatural power of one or two awakened individuals—

Pure material violence."

"The times have changed, sir."

"Orbital satellites will lock onto this place. Bunker busters will destroy our sanctuary. Tanks will roll over our ritual grounds. They will use steel, fire, and absolute numbers to utterly erase us, these anomalies they cannot comprehend, along with this building, from the map. And all this is because of a self-important fool, who abused the tool I gave him to 'explore truth,' to play his little house-revolution game!"

"What, does he think the fat man and the little boy aren't enough, or that the lesson from provoking the US Forces Japan isn't deep enough?"

He spat out his last few words almost through gritted teeth, then took a deep breath, as if trying to forcibly press that ill-fitting anger back into his body.

The middle-aged man regained his expression of ancient well without ripples: "So saying, the kidnapping case of Lawmaker Kurokawa's daughter was also done by him?"

"No——the Red Goldfinch side said, things went wrong, they originally planned to kidnap Uno Yukiko, to get sufficient funds from Lawmaker Kurokawa, and also to find like-minded people through this act, but——but the assistant, Taguchi Jun'nosuke, did not do as they wished, but directly killed Uno Yukiko and extracted the fetus alive." The woman panted: "Currently they have already moved, but it's unclear how much Taguchi will confess."

"They also said, Taguchi this person has a disease, actually placing his personal grudges above their great red ideal, they said they have already formally expelled his left registration!"

"Hiss~~~50 million yen, how long did it take to spend it all?" The middle-aged man's voice remained restrained, but the woman could hear beneath that calm tone a surging, like a deep-sea cold current, anger: "Indeed, everyone has a disease, I should not have cooperated with these terrorists!"

"I originally wanted to let them divert Kantou's attention, but I forgot a very important point——these people are infinitely divisible, each has their own ideas."

"Immediately activate the Purification Protocol'. All contact with unnecessary external parties, completely severed. Transfer all core research data and ritual materials." The middle-aged man sighed: "I will resolve this matter, then—give Kantou that side an explanation."

"Poor Asuka. You had the chance to touch the stars, yet you willingly slammed into the cage's wall, and even tried to draw the jailer's gaze toward us—truly, unforgivable stupidity."

"No one can stop my path to High Plain of Heaven and void, when I successfully leave this sad prison of the world, all consciousness within the 'whole' will attain ultimate freedom."

"All things in the world, in the end, shall merge into the whole!"

In the summer afternoon, sunlight filtered through the lush leaves, scattering dappled, trembling light spots on the asphalt road.

The air was filled with the lazy cicada chirping and a hint of Minamoto clan heat vapor.

Saito Asuka wore a fitted light-blue sailor-collar summer school uniform, her dark pleated short skirt swaying lightly with her steps. Her slender legs were clad in a pair of thin pure-white short socks, snugly fitting her ankles, paired with black loafers, each step emitting the youthful rhythm of a high school girl.

In her hand she carried an eco-bag printed with a nearby supermarket, containing milk, bread, and some fresh fruits and vegetables she had just bought.

But at this moment, compared to the items in the bag, what made her heart surge was that message just received on her phone screen.

A short text from Mr. Uesugi, yet it felt like a happy bomb dropped in her heart: the Imperial Household Agency sent an invitation, she will accompany Mr. Uesugi to the royal villa in Karuizawa for a long holiday!

It was as beautiful a piece of news as a summer fairy tale.

"Yay~! Karuizawa, Karuizawa, vacation, vacation!" Asuka murmured softly, the corners of her mouth rising uncontrollably high. She almost subconsciously quickened her pace; her originally regular stride turned into a lively, bouncing skip, and the black hair at the back of her head swung about playfully along with it.

Sunlight fell on her exquisite, fairy-like profile, casting a soft halo. She was completely immersed in her longing for Karuizawa's cool air and beautiful scenery; the rest of the world seemed to have been shut out by this sudden joy.

However, outside this beautiful footage, a discordant shadow quietly existed.

About ten-odd meters behind her, a mask-wearing man in an ordinary polo shirt, looking somewhat awkward, had already been following her for a stretch, neither too close nor too far.

His gaze was tightly locked onto that bouncing blue shadow ahead, his eyes complex, mixed with a certain scrutiny and hesitation.

What to do?

When Asuka slowed her pace to look at her mobile phone because she was happy, he also slowed his speed; when Asuka bounced forward again, he hurriedly caught up. His behavior was out of place with the peaceful circumstance around him.

Just as Asuka was about to turn into a relatively secluded trail leading to Sakata Bridge, that man seemed to have made up his mind and reached his hand toward his pocket.

"Damn!"

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