Chapter 733

After a continuous string of gunshots, the world fell quiet.

Only three people lying on the ground remained, plus Takakura still standing.

In the quiet room, pained low groans rang out in waves.

Amidst the agony, Marie lifted her head, looking at Takakura in disbelief: "You... why..."

Takakura was cold: "Because your 'revenge drama' was too verbose. True revolution needs concise explosions, not family ethics dramas. 'One by one, one by one, each person treating themselves as a savior?' Takakura couldn't help but laugh. He held the empty-magazine handgun, first pointing at Marie: 'A stupid pig blinded by hatred! Only thinking of revenge against her father, willing to betray anything!'"

"And another, loving his daughter dearly, has already completely strayed from the original revolutionary intent, his will worn away during thirty years of affluent life in Brazil. Clearly knowing his daughter might be deceiving him, yet he dares return to act out a family ethics drama? Heh, wanting to be a good father, do you even have the qualifications?" Takakura continued mocking.

Finally, he looked at Uesugi Muneyuki: "And this one, especially likes playing the moral vacuum in public, 'I forgive you,' 'stop,' 'everyone is equal'! Who do you think you are? Do you take yourself for Jim Hack or Batman Bruce Wayne? Like to flaunt your moral nobility so you're innately entitled to Brahmin status? Amusing? Can this bit of sympathy move anyone? Why don't you go be a terrorist then a dispatched employee yourself? Truly laughable!"

"What cheap sympathy! 'White left' describes exactly your kind!"

"Wuwuwu ming, gugugugu eee!" Marie lay on the ground clutching her right shoulder, wailing in pain. She pointed at Takakura's face, only now realizing she had been played!

Takakura was the one who had used everyone!!

But she no longer had the strength to speak.

Just then, Takakura sneered. He took the detonator from the fallen Honda Atsuhito: "Anyway, it doesn't matter how it goes. 'Bomb goes off, gold flows ten thousand taels! How will the police verify three corpses already blown to bits and completely charred? Oh, perhaps someone could, but that person..." Takakura laughed looking at Uesugi Muneyuki on the ground: "is going to die here today!"

Marie's resentful gaze stared straight at Takakura. Uesugi Muneyuki showed no movement. Honda Atsuhito lay face-up on the ground.

He won.

Takakura smiled triumphantly, toying with the seized detonator in one hand, saying to Uesugi Muneyuki: "'Red Goldfinch'? Outdated fairy tale. What interests me is their overseas secret funds account and weapons smuggling network. That old waste Koyama Shigeo guarding a huge sum enjoying life, this crazy woman Marie only thinking of blowing things up... too wasteful."

"With Honda's tech plus the organization's funds, I can rebuild a more efficient, more 'commercial' armed organization overseas. But first, need a shocking enough 'farewell performance' to make all the old era's ghosts — including Honda and those old geezers who know the account details — shut up completely."

Finished speaking, he nodded in satisfaction: "Art, is, explosion!"

"Let us offer a salute cannon for the newborn Red Goldfinch!"

Takakura grabbed the detonator. He closed his eyes, spread his arms, as if ready to welcome the rumbling and scorching heat that would destroy everything, welcome the 'throne' he had paved with madness and calculation.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds...

However, the anticipated massive explosion did not occur.

The ANFO explosive barrels showed no reaction.

Takakura froze, pressed the button frantically, still ineffective.

"Nani???" Takakura cried out in surprise. He pressed hard, checking the detonator.

"Stop pressing, you idiot!" Honda Atsuhito coughed, propping himself up in the dust, pulling open his coat — revealing a black bulletproof vest inside.

Bullets embedded in the surface layer. Though causing some impact and internal organ displacement, he had not been shot through.

Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, yet he showed a bleak, mocking smile: "You swapped it?... Cough... I've been maneuvering against CIA and Public Security for thirty years... your tricks, I've seen too many... the real explosive circuit... I never connected it..."

"????!!" Takakura froze completely. He stared wide-eyed at this old geezer before him.

On his body, he was wearing a bulletproof vest?!

Then that means?

Just saw Uesugi Muneyuki, who should have been shot in the chest and unable to rise, now bracing against the wall, slowly, steadily standing up. Not even a bullet hole could be seen on Uesugi Muneyuki. And only now did Takakura notice: after being shot, no blood had flowed from Uesugi Muneyuki. Because blood seepage through the human body generally takes a little time, he hadn't paid attention at first!

"Excuse me, Takakura-kun," Uesugi Muneyuki raised his head. No weakness from being shot showed on his face. Instead, a calm of dust settled, even carrying a hint of relief: "Police personnel entering high-danger scenes wearing some protective measures, shouldn't be strange, right?"

"You...!" Takakura's pupils contracted sharply.

"You two... you both..." Takakura looked at the unharmed Uesugi Muneyuki, then at the struggling-to-rise Honda Atsuhito. Instantly understood — bulletproof vests! They both wore bulletproof vests!

Turns out these two had been prepared all along!

In the end, only Marie, as one of the masterminds, had not worn a bulletproof vest!

By now Marie had already fainted. Uesugi Muneyuki lightly moved his numbed shoulder. His gaze sharp as a blade, locked onto Takakura: "I've been thinking about one question, Takakura-kun. You schemed so meticulously, even unhesitatingly shooting your accomplice Marie and the coerced party Honda, then preparing to detonate the bomb. Us dying, your controlled subordinates dying — that's easy to understand: silencing witnesses, eliminating traces. But..."

He took a step forward. Voice not loud, yet carrying immense pressure:

"What about yourself?"

"According to your plan, the bomb detonates, the whole building collapses. You're right here upstairs. How do you escape? Or rather, from the very start, were you prepared to perish together with us, with this building, becoming the ultimate martyr of your so-called 'explosion aesthetics'? That sounds 'magnificent,' but based on my analysis of your behavior patterns — meticulous planning, using others, pursuing actual profit... like the overseas funds you mentioned... you don't seem like the kind of lunatic who would sacrifice himself purely for 'art' or 'ideology.'"

Honda Atsuhito endured the blood in his mouth, breathing heavily, eyes deadlocked on Takakura, raised his handgun: "So there's only one possibility... you're not afraid of the bombs here at all. Or rather, you have absolute confidence in surviving the explosion?"

The shock, anger, humiliation at being outmaneuvered on Takakura's face suddenly receded like a tide at this moment.

Replacing them was an extremely eerie calm, even the corners of his mouth slowly curling into a spine-chilling arc.

"Haha... hahaha... hahahahaha!!!"

He laughed loudly. Laughter reverberated in the empty floor, growing louder, more manic, until he was bent over laughing, tears streaming from his eyes.

In this laughter no human emotion remained, only an inhuman, heart-palpitating excitement.

"So there were still these things waiting for me!"

"Those idiots downstairs? Red Goldfinch remnants? They knew too much they shouldn't, saw too much they shouldn't. Dead is perfect. Dead men don't leak secrets." He straightened, wiped away the tears of laughter. Voice became unusually gentle, yet ice-cold: "As for myself?"

He slowly removed the already shattered rimless glasses, casually tossed them on the ground. Glasses hit the floor, emitting a crisp shattering sound.

Seal released!

"You think, relying on numbers, on guns, even on this bit of cleverness and bulletproof vests, you can oppose me?" Takakura tilted his head. His neck emitted a light 'crack': "Not to mention two... even if you had ten people, a hundred people... mortals, how can they understand... true 'power'?"

His body began to undergo eerie changes. An unnatural blue-gray luster rose on his skin surface. Muscles writhed and swelled like living things, stretching his clothes tight to the point of tearing.

His facial features began to distort, stretch. Bones emitted a teeth-aching 'creak'. A yin-cold, tyrannical, inhumanly malicious aura spread from him as center, even temporarily overpowering the smell of gunpowder and fire.

"Explosives won't detonate? No problem! As long as I personally go downstairs, surround the ANFO with firework barrels, I can still blow it up!"

"And you! Are already dead!"

Honda Atsuhito turned pale with fright. As an underworld boss who had weathered countless storms, he had never witnessed such a terrifying, eerie sight: "You... what exactly are you?!"

However, Uesugi Muneyuki beside him, seeing this scene beyond common sense, not only showed no fear, but instead let out a long, deep breath. Those taut nerves seemed to finally relax. His eyes even revealed a hint of 'as expected' certainty and... faint helplessness? "Finally..." Uesugi Muneyuki murmured softly, voice so light it was almost inaudible: "Finally changed."

"Otherwise why would I come personally?"

"It was just to wait for this moment of yours!"

"Finally got you tested out, kid!"