Chapter 609: , Rainy Night Killing Intent!

PS: The second update came late, sorry about that—I had to think carefully to write it properly.

PS2: The previous update was 4200 characters, this one is 4000, so it's roughly equivalent to an extra chapter. The Emperor still owes one update, but last month's monthly ticket bonus added one, so he still owes two updates—please keep track for me.

Lightning split the night sky once again.

In that fleeting, harsh white light, he saw the "shadow" clearly. The figure was entirely clad in a matte black waterproof combat suit, revealing no skin, wearing a full-face mask that exposed only a pair of emotionless eyes, cold as a reptile's.

His build was fluid and lean, every movement devoid of waste—like a precision machine forged for killing. In his right hand, he held the high-pressure injection device that had caused Nakamura's death.

The assassin clearly hadn't expected Uesugi Muneshige to dodge this fatal strike, and his motion hesitated slightly. But immediately, he readjusted his stance, like a venomous snake coiling to strike, stepping closer to Uesugi through the pattering rain.

In those icy eyes, there was nothing but absolute focus on locking onto prey.

Uesugi Muneshige slowly rose to his feet, rain tracing down his black hair and cutting across his taut jawline.

He clenched his fists tightly around the life-saving SD card, his mind racing—calculating distance, wind speed, and the possible angles of the attacker's next move.

I'm just a civil servant, a bureaucrat—I'm not good at fighting. JPG

The two faced off on the rain-lashed rooftop, separated by only seven or eight meters, yet it felt as if an abyss of life and death lay between them.

Thunder exploded overhead, wild winds lashing rain against both men, the atmosphere thick and suffocating.

The assassin seemed to be waiting for the perfect moment to strike, while Uesugi Muneshige searched for a sliver of hope—or perhaps, an opening for a counterattack.

"Takikawa-san, long time no see?" Uesugi Muneshige said casually in the rain.

"——————" The other clearly realized Uesugi had recognized him; he fell silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed: "Looks like you're also one of the insiders—no wonder His Holiness has always been so interested in you."

"Interest meaning you keep defying the purpose for which His Holiness granted you power, doing your own thing?" Uesugi's face blurred in the downpour, torrents of water streaming down his cheeks: "You're not afraid His Holiness will come after you for this?"

Takikawa Tsubasa, if you remember—he's the hostess club boy from earlier, the one Madame Yamada opened a champagne tower for, whom Uesugi and Ikeda personally investigated, only to find they couldn't touch him… until Uesugi exposed his former yakuza identity, forcing him to flee.

In the Yokohama case, the man who sank Sasaki Hisato's car into Tokyo Bay after he killed Aiko Igarashi—this is him!

In the Imperial Palace case, the one who killed Shiromiya Akio and handed the bomb to Horikawa Nen—this is him!

In the case involving the Foreign Minister's son, the man who planted a bomb under the Toyota Century, sending the minister's son, his secretary, and his driver skyward—this is him!

And in the Alice case, the one who killed Nakamura Kenichi in the rain, leaving public security with nothing—still him!

Finally, I've found you!

Takikawa-san, you've made me search so hard!

"He wouldn't dare." The shadow of Takikawa Tsubasa spoke low, clearly dismissing the new Kansai god: "I now serve a greater power!"

A greater power?

Uesugi Muneshige narrowed his eyes, but Takikawa Tsubasa gave him no time: "Hand it over."

"The SD card?" Uesugi gripped the card in his hand.

"Yes, give it to me—give it to me, and I'll spare you and those around you." Takikawa wouldn't tell Uesugi that he'd sensed something ominous about him.

As the village flower maiden described, this cockroach before him is incredibly strong!

And Takikawa Tsubasa could also feel it—this legendary forensic expert before him is incredibly strong!

"What do you plan to do with it?" Uesugi squeezed the SD card: "Are you going to expose it? The Foreign Minister's scandals? Japan's societal rot? Or blackmail the minister, crash N-net with gold coins?"

"Money, power, money, power—Dr. Uesugi, is that all that fills your pitiful brain? You really are high and mighty, aren't you?"

Takikawa Tsubasa sneered.

"This country constantly uses lies of good and evil to deceive, conceal, and fool its people—it steals our precious labor and achievements, built entirely on exploitation. I'm sick of this theft and plunder. My reckoning with this nation begins with that SD card in your hand—it contains what will destroy those corrupt politicians and bureaucrats who've lined their own pockets." He locked eyes with Uesugi: "Now, hand it over! In your hands, this thing can only be surrendered and destroyed—only in mine can it reach its full potential."

I don't need you to agree with my ideals, but as a dog of the regime, this thing is useless to you.

"Pfft!" Yet Uesugi couldn't help but snort-laugh at his words: "Takikawa-san, you—you, a hostess club boy and yakuza thug—how did you become like this?"

"Now you look like a fearless assassin? Or like a monk chanting sutras? How does a hostess club boy turn into a glorious revolutionary warrior? Can a yakuza become Batman? Oh, Batman doesn't kill—so you're… the Punisher?"

"No wonder those crazy red-gold canaries—hostess club logic breeds hostess club types, yakuza logic breeds yakuza types."

Damn it!!!

Uesugi didn't answer Takikawa's question—he just kept calling him a hostess club boy and a yakuza thug, instantly enraging him.

Uesugi knows exactly how to provoke this type—he understands why Takikawa shifted from a hostess club boy gaining underworld power to suddenly posing as a champion of the people.

It's simple. Let me give an example.

Why do nearly all borderline welfare girls, streamers, and cosplayers end up throwing punches?

Because they actually earned unimaginable, mismatched income through gray zones, and they know deep down this income, while not technically illegal, is deeply shameful—those sweet nothings whispered to big spenders, the camel toes, the band-aids—once they strike it rich, those become indelible stains.

The moral high ground has been lost~

And humans are the best at justifying themselves and finding excuses—they instinctively seek rationalizations, and the easiest, brainless one is patriarchal oppression—then they start fighting.

The same applies to Takikawa Tsubasa, coming from a hostess club background.

Talk? There's nothing between us worth talking about!

Uesugi's stance is clear: you already have blood on your hands—I don't care about your motives, but I will never stand with you.

That's it—no negotiation!!!

Takikawa's face twisted, veins bulging, eyes blazing.

"Of course someone like you, born into nobility, would never empathize with us lowlifes—(referring to hostess club boys who open seven or eight champagne towers a month, earning two or three million yen)."

Sinai!!!

Takikawa couldn't be bothered with more words—he vanished in a whoosh.

Hide！

Uesugi's expression hardened—he knew the God of Counter-Terrorism had arrived!

The rain still fell.

Shadow Strike!

If this were an ordinary person, they'd already be lambs awaiting slaughter. But Uesugi is no ordinary man—he closed his eyes, his spiritual awareness unfurled, the rain flowing around him becoming an extension of his senses.

Like condensation from shadow itself, Takikawa Tsubasa suddenly appeared at his side—his eyes held no human emotion, only the absolute focus of the hunt.

Uesugi Muneyuki leaned back with momentum, exerted force from his waist, and delivered a vicious scorpion tail sweep—the hard heel of his leather shoe viciously kicked toward the side of Takigawa Tsubasa's knee joint!

"Crack!" A bone-splitting sound that made teeth ache rang out, exceptionally clear amidst the rain.

Takigawa Tsubasa groaned, yet his motion did not cease in the slightest, as if he felt no pain.

He seized the momentum to lunge forward, and another short combat knife sprang from his other hand, stabbing straight toward Uesugi Muneyuki's lower abdomen!

The knife technique was vicious and treacherous, purely a street-fighting killing move.

Uesugi Muneyuki's blocking arm was sliced open by the blade, blood instantly gushed out, mixing with rainwater.

His eyes turned cold, and his other hand flashed like lightning to clamp onto Takigawa Tsubasa's knife-wielding wrist, instantly activating a judo joint lock!

Eriringa Shīshō, bestow upon me power!

"Ugh!" Takigawa Tsubasa felt excruciating pain in his wrist, but his rich street-fighting experience allowed him to react instantly—he headbutted!

His forehead slammed hard into Uesugi Muneyuki's nasal bridge!

Uesugi Muneyuki jerked his head aside, his temple grazed, and a wave of dizziness washed over him.

Yet his grip on the opponent's wrist did not weaken but strengthened, and simultaneously he delivered a heavy knee strike that brutally smashed into Takigawa Tsubasa's abdomen!

"Ugh——" Takigawa Tsubasa's stomach fluids surged upward, and he bent over in pain.

But he clung like a bone-eating worm, using the force of his bend, his other free hand's fingers clenched together like a venomous snake, stabbing toward Uesugi Muneyuki's lower ribs!

The two rolled and wrestled on the muddy, slippery rooftop, each impact producing a dull thud of flesh striking flesh.

Rainwater, blood, and mud mixed together, staining their clothes.

Uesugi Muneyuki's karate and judo skills were exquisite, his footwork steady, each attack and defense efficient and lethal, while Takigawa Tsubasa resembled a wounded beast—his moves chaotic yet extraordinarily vicious, fully exploiting the environment, even picking up rubble from the ground and flicking it toward Uesugi's face.

Uesugi Muneyuki's face bore several new bloodstains, his ribcage throbbed with sharp pain, and his breathing grew labored.

Takigawa Tsubasa fared worse: his injured knee hampered his movement, his wrist possibly fractured, and the heavy blow to his abdomen made every exertion tug at his internal organs with pain.

They were evenly matched, bloody and brutal.

Takigawa Tsubasa again tried to blend into the shadows, his body blurring in the rain as if about to vanish into darkness—this was his greatest reliance.

"Spirit Sphere!"

Seizing an opening, Uesugi Muneyuki formed a trigger shape with his right index finger and thumb, pressing it to his lips; a highly compressed, flickering pale-blue light spirit sphere instantly condensed, emitting a piercing shriek as it tore through the air, shooting straight at Takigawa Tsubasa's chest!

Takigawa Tsubasa's wandering soul quivered, the sense of danger triggering an unprecedented burst of speed as he lunged sideways!

"Boom!" The spirit sphere struck the water tank behind him, unleashing a tremendous roar; the hard iron plating exploded into a ferocious gash, and water surged out in a torrent!

"Monster!" Takigawa Tsubasa gazed at that destructive power, his heart and courage turning to ice.

I must unleash my full strength, otherwise I will die here today!

He clasped his hands into a strange seal, the mantra chanted from his mouth no longer holy but instead carrying a bone-chilling chill that seemed to link to the netherworld; his shadow behind him twisted and swelled frenziedly, as if it had gained independent life.

The space behind him tore like a curtain being ripped apart. Endless shadows surged forth, coalescing into a towering dharma image that stood between heaven and earth.

This dharma image was no mere skeleton, but the ultimate embodiment of "death."

It was a pair of giant skeletons embracing and dancing, one male, one female; their bones were not bone-white, but showed the scorched black and dark gold hue eroded by time, wind, and fire; their eye sockets burned with two clusters of cold blue flame, lacking pupils yet seeming able to devour the observer's spirit and soul.

Upon their skulls rested a twisted crown of human bone, its fissures revealing microscopic shadowy maggots writhing and crawling.

Their bodies were entwined with black ribbons condensed from resentment and grave qi, the edges of these ribbons continually dripping filthy,

like pus-blood, shadowy liquid, which upon hitting the ground corroded it into sizzling pits.

A strange aroma of aged grave soil, rotting flowers, and sandalwood diffused, cloyingly sweet yet laced with deadly decay. Beneath the dharma image's feet, the void birthed a surging phantom sea of blood, countless pale arms stretching out from within, desperately clawing toward the sky.

Lord of the Sky Burial—Lord of Shitōrin Dharma Image!

Indeed, this fellow has already cultivated a dharma golden body!

Seeing the dharma image appear, Uesugi Muneyuki's expression shifted slightly, a mix of joy and worry; he immediately stepped back a few feet, acting swiftly before the opponent's black ribbons could entwine him.

You think you're the only one who can summon a dharma image?

Or that I can't?

Believe in the holy light!

He let out a low roar, his voice like a great bell, shaking off the surrounding stench of decay.

Three pillars of light, brighter than the sun, shot up from his head, chest, and dantian, piercing the sky and transforming in midair into three dharma images of wisdom kings suppressing heaven and earth, arranged in a "品" formation, facing off against the Lord of Shitōrin from afar.

Water buffalo head, nine faces, thirty-four arms, sixteen feet—the Great Virtue Wisdom King.

King's Wrath, six arms holding bow and arrow—the Aizen Wisdom King.

Obstacle to Eating, three faces, six arms—the Vajra Yaksha Wisdom King.

For a moment, heaven and earth lost their color.

On one side was the Lord of Shitōrin's deathly double dance, cold blue flames, the blood sea rising and falling, endless shadows and decay spreading.

On the other side was the awe-inspiring divine might of the three wisdom kings—prajna fire fierce red, vajra thunder jet-black, Aizen's desire scorching hot; the three forces intertwined into an impregnable barrier representing the wrath of wisdom.

Under the pressure of the two forces, the air emitted a groan of being overburdened, space began to twist and shatter, and the apartment's top floor started to become an inner world.

The rain curtain did not cease; Takigawa Tsubasa stared in shock at the three dharma golden bodies summoned by Uesugi Muneyuki, realizing this civil-servant doctor's "inner side" power far exceeded imagination!

No time to think, for Uesugi Muneyuki had already attacked.

Three against one, the advantage is mine!

Come on, let's fight to our heart's content!