Chapter 851: The Deepest Scar of the Japanese Police!

"Of course I know him." Watanabe Eiji sighed: "Muneyuki, I've been a police officer for thirty years, handled hundreds of cases, sent dozens to the execution ground. I never thought I'd made a major mistake. But that night at the port—if I had known there were Public Security officers inside, if I had warned them in advance, if I hadn't turned on those emergency lights—perhaps that young man, Isomura Eigo, wouldn't have died."

"I later looked up his record—an outstanding graduate of the police academy, a key figure in the Foreign Affairs Division, and he had a fiancée. His fiancée still works at the Metropolitan Police Department; every time she runs into me in the hallway, she bows her head and calls me 'Director General'."

"I nod each time, but I never know what expression to wear when facing her."

"Asahina Kyōko." Uesugi Muneyuki fell silent for a few seconds.

Watanabe Eiji spoke these words himself—he didn't need further prompting.

"What about Yaegaki Tetsuya? Do you remember him?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked.

Watanabe Eiji closed his eyes, as if recalling a photo long untouched: "Of course I remember. Back then he was my subordinate, a Police Sergeant in charge of blocking the northern exit. That night he was caught in the blast, suffered minor injuries, and his mental state remained unstable. Later he stayed at the Metropolitan Police Department for a few more years before resigning."

"Some say he was traumatized by that night; others claim he had dealings with Public Security—I'm not sure.

Higher-ups thought he left because he couldn't bear to stay; the polite version calls it 'voluntary resignation', the blunt version 'fired'. Either way, he's gone, the case is closed, and no one cares where he went—until yesterday, when he stood before me with a gun, and I realized he was still alive, and had been investigating that night all along."

"He was a former Self-Defense Forces member." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded: "He wasn't trusted."

"" Watanabe Eiji fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "Muneyuki; you should understand that our Criminal Police intelligence is relatively transparent to Public Security, but we rarely learn what Public Security is actually doing?"

"What does Father mean by that?" Uesugi Muneyuki stared, then quickly grasped the issue: "When you personally led Investigation Division 1 and local police to attack the pier, it's highly likely—Public Security already knew beforehand?!"

"Not bad." Watanabe Eiji said with deep meaning.

"That's not right!" Uesugi Muneyuki frowned: "If Public Security already knew, why did Isomura and those others—wait! Could it be—"

"That's Public Security—you're not seeing it for the first time." Watanabe Eiji sneered: "Without doubt, this affair almost certainly stems from the scheming of that 'Shadow Administrator' who held office then."

"Based on what we learned afterward, that group of former Self-Defense Forces far-right extremists planned to attack German Foreign Minister Ludewah Lu and General Luzhenhua Lu during their visit to Japan, so Public Security should have easily obtained the information internally—but it couldn't be made public, which you should understand: at any time, national defense is politically correct, and we can never directly criticize our own military, even if it's the Self-Defense Forces, even if it's constitutionally constrained, even if it's despised by the lowly."

"——" Uesugi Muneyuki said nothing, merely nodding.

In fact, according to traditional leftist theory and Marxist economics, the state is essentially a violence apparatus, the military even more so a pure violence-maintaining organization; soldiers are just workers who shouldn't enjoy higher status than other professions, and constant glorification of the military's sacred nature is right-wing nonsense originating from French nationalism in the Napoleonic Wars.

But the military is indeed different from many professions—being a soldier may involve life-threatening danger (though nowadays delivery workers die at about 100 times the rate of ordinary soldiers in peacetime, the two are fundamentally different in essence), and they essentially devote their best years to the nation and national defense, while modern armies aren't the Praetorian Guard and can't be sustained on high pay, so they deserve some social respect and legal preferential treatment.

Even the most extreme Russophiles go to lay flowers for the Soviet Red Army on every WWII victory memorial day.

Former Self-Defense Forces attempting such a shocking act cannot be exposed, or cannot be exposed internally.

Even a country like Japan cannot directly attack the Self-Defense Forces, especially when these people haven't even acted yet!

You dare attack our own national defense, our own military?

You Japanese traitor! Did you take 500,000 from Korea?

"But why was it exposed again?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked: "I found it in internal files."

"Simple—because there was an explosion, because there was a large-scale gunfight, because—four police officers died." Watanabe Eiji snorted: "People died, so naturally it could be announced, naturally there would be blame, naturally the Self-Defense Forces could be investigated—so in a sense, the final publicity and handling of this affair relied on those four lives."

"Was this also in Public Security's plan?" Uesugi Muneyuki finally understood.

"So you understand why I dislike Public Security so much?" Watanabe Eiji nodded, then said in a low voice: "They are a group that believes everything can be sacrificed, everything abandoned, in the name of protecting national interests—or at least what they believe to be national interests."

"But you can't guarantee Public Security is Roosevelt or a barber, right?" Uesugi Muneyuki understood.

The two fell silent for a while, then Uesugi Muneyuki spoke.

"I want to investigate further."

Watanabe Eiji looked at him—those weary eyes, having endured too many pre-dawn and late-night hours, showed no opposition, no encouragement, only a quiet "I knew you'd say that."

"You may investigate. But I cannot give you any overt support. You're investigating Public Security—it involves not just the Police Agency, possibly even higher levels: the Cabinet, intelligence agencies, even those Americans. I'm not sure. I only know that behind that wall aren't one or two people, but an entire set of rules neither of us understands. If you touch what you shouldn't, no one can protect you—not even me."

Uesugi Muneyuki's fingers tapped the dark brown wood grain: "That explosion killed four police officers. One young,

engaged, innocent officer. His fiancée has sat a cold bench in the Equipment Management Division for ten years, seeing only firearms application forms and equipment scrappage sheets. Yaegaki Tetsuya spent seven or eight years seeking answers, and in the end could only point a gun at someone's head. These lives cannot be dismissed with the phrase 'involving state secrets'."

Watanabe Eiji fell silent for a long time.

He stood up, walked to the window, turned his back to Uesugi Muneyuki, and gazed at Tokyo's night scenery. His silhouette at that moment revealed age—not bodily decay, but a fatigue from being weighed down too long, finally visible to others.

"I've been in the force thirty years, seen too many cases crushed by the words 'superior'. Some truths aren't that I don't want to investigate—I can't. You want to investigate this? I've known from day one it's not something I can touch."

"But you can. You're different. You have the Special Mission Division, those young people following you, Minami, your mind full of things you shouldn't know. More importantly, you don't live off the Police Agency—you left, yet you're still a Tokyo University professor, still invited as a TV guest, still queued for autopsies. So they can't touch you, they can't suppress you."

He turned around, his expression frozen in a complex angle between "father" and "superior".

"I'll have someone compile non-classified materials from the port incident eleven years ago for you. The classified parts I can't give, and you shouldn't ask. You investigate yourself—what you find is what you find. If one day you uncover something you shouldn't, get stopped, don't force your way through. Step back, change direction, keep investigating. What this system fears most isn't someone hitting a wall—it's someone taking a detour."

"Don't let heroes bleed and weep, Muneyuki—this is what I say." Watanabe Eiji spoke softly.

"Father——" Uesugi Muneyuki likewise remained silent—such simple words, yet so hard to act upon.

This is the system: you begin to hate it, loathe it, try every way to escape it, but in the end you realize you can't leave it—you don't even know how to live or survive without it.

"Yaegaki used his life to bring us an immensely important piece of intelligence." Watanabe Eiji suddenly said.

"Understood." Uesugi Muneyuki reflected.

Though I dislike labels and stereotypes, Yaegaki Tetsuya was indeed a former Self-Defense Forces member.

What got him a gun? What made him plan this attack? What gave him direction and clues after seven or eight years of investigation, leading him to launch this siege of the Metropolitan Police Department?

Former Self-Defense Forces.

If we put it that way—Uesugi Muneyuki recalled the earlier Tokyo Bank car-chase robbery.

Looking at it now, perhaps there's some connection between the two.

But who can Uesugi Muneyuki turn to for help?

If this case is to be investigated, he must face the darkness of the entire system.

The darkness of the Japanese Police—beyond your imagination!

This darkness cannot be matched by the Uesugi family's darkness.

Meanwhile, at Sakuradamon of the Metropolitan Police Department.

The commotion from last night's Metropolitan Police Department siege has not yet faded; this morning Sakuradamon still operates normally.

"Oof, I'm exhausted!" Date Nagamune stretched, having finished a series of tasks, then came to the stairwell to smoke.

Date Nagamune originally didn't smoke, but after becoming a police officer, pressure mounted and he naturally picked up the habit.

"Date rice cracker, you've worked hard!" At that moment, Maeda Toshihide arrived, holding a can of Coca-Cola and a can of Pepsi, then handed the Pepsi to Date Nagamune: "Congratulations, Police Sergeant Date!"

"Hmph!" Date Nagamune proudly puffed out his chest, and at this moment, the badge and ID on his chest had already been changed to "Police Sergeant"!

This is a legitimate local civil servant, with a staffing quota!

Having a staffing quota means having an identity, and having an identity means having Akane-chan!

In the future, it won't be Moriya Akane, but will eventually become Date Akane!

"You've been promoted, yet you don't treat us to drinks?" Maeda Toshihide said with a wicked smile.

"No treat, no treat, I'm poor!" Date Nagamune got annoyed upon hearing about treating others, thinking to himself that all his money needs to be saved to give Akane-chan her bride price!

Oh wait, Japan doesn't have bride price.

But Japan does indeed have the money given by the groom to the bride at marriage, generally ranging from 300,000 to 800,000 yen, this money is for the bride to use for wedding expenses and purchasing various new items, plus compensation money for the bride needing to temporarily stop working due to marriage.

"You're already a Police Sergeant too? Why do I have to treat you?" Date Nagamune got annoyed seeing Maeda Toshihide's Police Sergeant badge on his chest.

"You're a senior after all." Maeda Toshihide then knew he should call him senior.

"——How is it, are you used to the work these few months?" Date Nagamune immediately changed the topic.

"The benefits are quite good, the work gives a great sense of achievement, just exhausted to death." Maeda Toshihide opened the pull-tab of a Coca-Cola, complaining: "The Special Mission Division is really busy, and we're on outdoor duty every day, my face is sunburnt redder than an apple, wuwuwu, and I can't even watch the live broadcasts of my favorite Cat Lei and Mashiro Hanaon! Gang Four just got to rebuilding Rome and didn't want to play anymore."

Gang Four, rebuilding Rome? Date Nagamune heard it and felt his head a bit numb, thinking CK3 rebuilding Rome was fine enough, but how is Gang Four rebuilding Rome?

"However, looking at this Night Come Hui case, it's clear that Date Senbei you still have some extraordinary abilities." Maeda Toshihide casually remarked: "In the future, I'll still have to rely on Senbei for much guidance."

"By the way, Maeda, do you have a girlfriend now?" Date Nagamune abruptly shifted tactics.

"No, I haven't had a girlfriend for two years already."

"Then what kind of girlfriend do you like? Actually, regarding Akane-chan——" Date Nagamune thought actually those little idols aren't too well-behaved, if I could sleep with Maeda like this noble, I could go out and blow for a few years: "By the way, Maeda, what exactly do you like? The top-tier idol of the traditional school, Northeast Rain Sister like that? Or rather, the Germanic-style East Snow Lotus like that?"

"Recently, I haven't had anything in mind." Maeda Toshihide shook his head, he had already entered the Korean male version, playing around is fine, but if it's about marriage, he's extremely extremely extremely cautious.

The two people stood in the stairwell for a while, Maeda Toshihide was reading an e-book.

"Damn, is the author of this light novel called Tang Dynasty Tenshi sick? Obviously writing about writing time-traveling Uesugi reforging Sony's glory in Nogizaka in the novel《Nogizaka Poem》, but this pervert foot fetish just likes writing stockings and writing some inexplicable content, often half a chapter is this, I spent so much money buying physical books, not to read this!" Maeda Toshihide casually cursed: "No wonder it's Tang Dynasty Tenshi, Tang got it! And there's this Bai Shi Mai, one look and it's Bai Chuan Mai with one character changed, obviously the senior adult, he hard-set it as a junior, what bad taste."

"Hey, just be content, many light novels come up with thousands of words of setting dump, everyone often has to search for content in various settings, and there's that book《New Sibling Demon Lord's Contractor》, that book has many chapters in the back with 2000

words of content, at least five hundred words are whatever hum hum ah ah oh oh wow wow wow wow." Date Nagamune said this familiarly, he laughed: "Light novels now are just like this, first the title must be as long as possible, so readers can instantly tell what this book is about, then it's about filling content as much as possible, otherwise following the author's slowing writing pace——《Aria the Scarlet Ammo》you know? After the first few volumes, no matter how the female supporting characters confess to the male lead, how they kiss and confirm feelings with the male lead, the new volume immediately resets all ambiguous relationships."

"I know《Sword Art Online》just because Asuna was early confirmed as the female lead, leading to the later content being very hard to write——" Maeda Toshihide nodded: "Readers are interested in male-female relationships that are vague with good feelings but not expressed, once the relationship is confirmed, interest plummets rapidly——"

Chatting away, the army and navy actually started to connive with each other.

Senior SUKI!

Maeda Toshihide thought Date besides being an idol otaku, former Self-Defense Forces non-career track licking dog delusional syndrome idiot white痴 fool Jia Good anal fissure battle rabbit, he didn't seem that hard to get along with either.

If he finally gets shamelessly dumped by Akane-chan, wailing and tearing up, hanging himself on the spot, we can still be friends!

At this moment, the stairwell's main gate was pushed open.

"You two, where did you run off to?" Uesugi Muneyuki walked in from outside.

"Uesugi Chief, you're looking for us?" Maeda Toshihide immediately became energetic.

"Exactly, Maeda, Date, I have an important matter, needing your help." Uesugi Muneyuki's expression was stern, he pointed his finger at the two young people.

"This world needs heroes!"

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