Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before slaying the dragon

Chapter 365 Pushing Tachibana Masamune to the Gallows

"Actually, I should have noticed it earlier. People on the ship mysteriously disappeared every day, and the crew had the same nightmare every night: strange voices calling out to them, and giant dark beasts roaring in the abyss," said Tachibana Masamune. "The crew said it was a monster in the fog at sea, trying to confuse people's minds and then devour those who lost their way."

"I know there are no monsters in this world, but I was so excited after killing Dr. Herzog that a crazy and smooth road stood straight in front of me. I didn't care about the crew members, their words, and their disappearance at all." Tachibana Masamune whispered, "If I had noticed it earlier, perhaps the consequences today would not have occurred."

"I should have thought of this earlier..." Tachibana Masamune said with a regretful tone, "There are no such things as monsters... all unknown and forbidden creatures... are all related to dragons!"

"The one calling you in your nightmare... is it the ancient dragon embryo that merged with the Lenin?" Yuan Zhisheng asked.

"Yes, it invaded the crew's minds in their dreams, corroding everyone's consciousness. No one on the crew could withstand the mental contamination of an ancient dragon embryo," Tachibana Masamune said darkly. "It wasn't until the day the first mate disappeared from the ship that I finally finished reading Dr. Herzog's notes on the ancient dragon embryo. I realized time was running out, so I immediately gathered the remaining crew and rushed to the dark room in the lower cabin where the ancient dragon embryo was hidden. The eerie scene terrified us all... It was like a nightmare reflected in reality."

"None of us have been down in the hold these days, so we have no idea what's going on down there," said Tachibana Masamune. "The moment the second mate pushed open the hold door, a foul odor hit our noses, as if it penetrated our skin pores and went straight into our brains. It smelled like a large amount of moldy and rotten meat that had been piled up in a dark and damp environment for several years!

"All I could see were bluish-black blood vessels piercing and throbbing through the metal walls, ceiling, and floor. This embryo had been freed from the giant petri dish at some point and had completely merged with the Lenin. Its sticky flesh had enveloped the entire lower hold, and it looked like we were in its stomach!" Tachibana Masamune described the nightmarish scene in a horrified tone. "But the truly terrifying thing always happened the next second. Several figures staggered in front of us. They were the missing chief engineer, the chief engineer, and the crew. Their eyes were lifeless, their pupils shrouded in blazing gold... That's when I knew they must have been controlled by the ancient dragon embryo's powerful telekinetic field, and each of them was contaminated by dragon blood!"

"So you killed them all?" Yuan Zhisheng asked.

"Yes, I was originally hoping for the best, believing the path to the world throne hadn't been completely blocked. Only then did I realize how naive I was." Tachibana Masamune said in a deep voice, "The reason the dragon clan's secrets are taboo is because they are not something humans should explore. Humans believe they can master the dragon clan's bloodline and power, but anyone who crosses the boundaries of species will suffer backlash! I was a living example of this right in front of me. I killed the people of the nameless port in Siberia to bury the secret, but as long as human desires are not eradicated, sinful deeds will repeat themselves every day like an endless stream of living water."

"I personally killed the first mate and the chief engineer with the same shotgun I used to kill Dr. Herzog. I saw the bullets pierce their hearts, but they didn't die instantly. Instead, they pounced on us like a ghost, seeking our souls to reap their lives." Tachibana Masamune said in a horrified tone. "The dragon's blood has endowed them with powerful vitality, making them difficult to kill. Many of our crew members were infected during the battle. I knew that to resolve this difficult war, we had to address the root cause, and that source was the embryo that had taken over the Lenin."

"But an ancient dragon embryo is too difficult to kill, so I thought I had to land in Tokyo Bay before the Lenin was completely overrun. Only by relying on the power of the Eight Snake Families could we possibly resolve such a difficult problem." Tachibana Masamune's voice began to accelerate. "But this ancient dragon embryo seemed to understand my thoughts. It invaded the Lenin faster and faster, to a frenzied degree. Thick blood vessels quickly spread throughout the interior of the ship, like overgrown vines, slowing the hull's movement across the sea. At the same time, more and more crew members were infected. The scene was like a real-life zombie siege. There was almost no place for me to stand in the bottom cabin."

"I was forced back onto the deck. I finally realized there was no way I could make it to Tokyo Bay. The embryo was relying on the Lenin to move forward. I had to make a sacrifice, and that was to sink the entire Lenin to the bottom of the ocean," said Tachibana Masamune. "And deep in the sea ahead was the Abyss, where Takamagahara was located. I couldn't let this giant ship carrying the ancient dragon embryo disturb the sleeping God."

"I had to act decisively. The worst-case scenario was everyone on board perished. I was prepared to face death head-on, determined to stop the Lenin's advance at all costs," Tachibana Masamune said excitedly. "So, while I was damaging the hull, I simultaneously sent a distress signal to the Japan Maritime Safety Administration... The human desire to survive is indelible, and deep down, I still hoped to find a glimmer of hope in such a desperate situation."

"Really? So it was you who sent the distress signal." Genjisheng nodded gently, then changed the subject. "But I still have a question. Why didn't the ancient dragon embryo hatch? Instead, it merged with the Lenin? And why did the Lenin eventually sink into Takamagahara? Didn't your desperate move work?"

"Yes, I can't stop the Lenin anymore. All this was planned from the beginning... In the end, I still couldn't outsmart Herzog, that old fox." Tachibana Masamune sighed deeply, as if he wanted to spit out the gloom that had accumulated in his chest for decades.

"This was all planned from the beginning?" Yuan Zhisheng was stunned and frowned slightly. "What do you mean by this? Herzog wasn't on board. How could he guarantee that the Lenin, carrying the ancient dragon embryo, would sink to the exact location of Takama-ga-hara?"

"Because from the very beginning, his goal was to resurrect 'God'!" Tachibana Masamune said shockingly. "To this end, he would even give up such excellent works as you and the young girl, and even destroy his experimental base in Siberia... Before the ultimate goal of resurrecting 'God', anything would give way to it."

"Dr. Herzog hid this ancient dragon embryo in the ship's hold. It wasn't when I suggested relocating the experimental base to Japan that Dr. Herzog made the decision. He secretly hid the embryo in the unpatrolled hold of the Lenin long before her monthly visit to the unnamed port in Siberia," said Tachibana Masamune. "He injected the ancient dragon embryo with some kind of growth inhibitor, preventing it from hatching. However, the dragon race's powerful survival instinct prompts the embryo to assimilate to the surrounding environment and creatures. The entire Lenin and the missing people are the best proof of this."

"Dr. Herzog knows the secret of Takamagahara? How did he know?" Gen Chisheng couldn't help but ask, "And how did he control the timing of the Lenin's precise sinking into Takamagahara?"

"He knows. Judging from Herzog's notes, he does know the secrets of Takama-ga-hara and God. He's been keeping this from me and never revealed it to me." Tachibana Masamune shook his head slightly. "I don't know how he learned these family secrets, but he seems to have known about them a long time ago and has been planning to sink the ancient dragon embryo and the Lenin into Takama-ga-hara to awaken God... He planned all this even before I arrived at his experimental base. My suggestion just happened to inadvertently speed up Dr. Herzog's plan."

"He didn't need to control the Lenin or the ancient dragon embryo. He simply needed to input a command into the soon-to-be-hatched embryo's consciousness, strengthening its desire to be near its own kind with a stronger bloodline... This kind of brain surgery involving genetics has always been Dr. Herzog's forte," said Masamune. "On our way from the unnamed port in Siberia to Japan, we inevitably passed above Takama-ga-hara. The embryo sensed the 'god' sleeping within Takama-ga-hara, and under the influence of Herzog's drug, it desperately wanted to rush to the 'god''s location."

"As a human relying on a ship for survival on the sea, I simply cannot resist the will of a ship...or rather, a hybrid cannot defy the will of a dragon. Ultimately, the ancient dragon embryo and the Lenin sank to the bottom a hundred kilometers from Tokyo Bay, directly above Takama-ga-hara," Tachibana Masamune said with difficulty. "Only now do I realize how naive my thoughts were. I couldn't even handle an ancient dragon embryo, yet I still dreamed of ruling the world. I'm not a qualified careerist, just an ordinary person blinded by desire and greed...A true careerist is someone like Dr. Herzog, calculating people's hearts, taking every step carefully, and not hesitating to use any means or sacrifice anyone to achieve their goals!"

Gen Chisheng looked at the messy house, recalling the tragic deaths of those Executive Bureau commissioners in his mind. Gen Chisheng looked deeply at Tachibana Masamune.

He couldn't help but think... Indeed, Dr. Herzog, you are such a person. You will do anything to achieve your goals. In the eyes of an ambitious person like you, human lives and feelings are like the lowest ants. Any ant that stands in your way to the throne will be trampled to death by you.

Yuan Zhisheng took a deep breath and suppressed his anger that was surging again.

Masamune Tachibana didn't know that in the past half hour, he had personally told Minamoto no Chisei about the evil things he had done. Every extra word he spoke was pushing Minamoto no Chisei, who had originally followed and trusted him, further away.

Until Tachibana Masamune pushed all his crimes from twenty years ago onto the man he called "Dr. Herzog", Gen Chisheng and him had become strangers and went their separate ways. The image of the kind old man had collapsed in Gen Chisheng's heart, and was replaced by a hideous evil spirit who sucked human blood, gnawed human flesh, and was covered with a hypocritical human skin.

Gen Chisheng told himself in his heart that there was one last question, one last question... This question would directly determine whether Tachibana Masamune was a man with a conscience or a vicious demon... This question would also determine whether Gen Chisheng would personally push this man, whom he once regarded as a father, to the gallows.

"What about Eri? Eri's abilities are even beyond mine and Chijo's. Why isn't she the most powerful experimental subject under Dr. Herzog? Is it because her bloodline is not stable enough?" Gen Chisei turned his head and stared into Tachibana Masamune's eyes. His gaze was as sharp as a hawk swooping down on its prey, as if he wanted to see through Tachibana Masamune's gaze and pierce his heart.

"No, Eri has nothing to do with Dr. Herzog," Tachibana Masamune whispered. "Eri... is my blood relative."

Yuan Zhisheng turned his head and looked into the dark depths of the room. Facing the empty darkness, he silently pulled out a sarcastic bitter smile.

It matches... it matches everything...

Eri is not Tachibana Masamune's daughter... Tachibana Masamune will disguise himself as Bondarev, and his real name is Herzog... If you feel that you are beginning to doubt this world, go find a man named Uesugi Koshi...

The three sentences that Lu Mingfei asked Chu Zihang to convey now all came true.

Sometimes fate plays tricks on people. When you have made up your mind to take on everything, the reality is far more cruel and more... ridiculous than you imagined.

Human faith is like the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament that pierces heaven and earth. It is so illusory and ethereal. It takes so many years to build, but only takes a moment to collapse.

"I'm sorry for hiding this from you for so many years. Eri is actually my biological daughter. Her real name shouldn't be Uesugi Eri, but Tachibana Eri. You should be the current head of the Uesugi family, and Eri is the heir to the Tachibana family." Tachibana Masamune continued to explain. "Chisheng, you must be very curious. Why does Eri, who inherited a father of ordinary blood like me, possess such an extremely powerful word spirit as 'Judgment'? That's because she was also one of the victims on the Lenin who was infected by the ancient dragon's fetal blood. However, Eri has a special physique. The ancient dragon's fetal blood can only corrode her body, not pollute her consciousness. So, although her bloodline is extremely powerful, it is extremely unstable..."

Yuan Zhisheng had asked too many questions tonight. He was exhausted and didn't want to listen anymore. He wanted to put an end to the lies of this demon before him immediately...

Then find a ramen stall on the streets of Tokyo and try the soup to see if it still contains the last bit of warmth in the world.

Chapter 366 Eri is your daughter

"The ramen tastes really good. After eating the steaming hot ramen on such a rainy day, it feels like my whole body has warmed up." Lu Mingfei put the bamboo chopsticks together and placed them side by side on the ramen bowl. "Thank you for the treat!"

Eiry looked at Lu Mingfei's actions, and after drinking the last mouthful of ramen soup, she also followed suit, putting the bamboo chopsticks together and placing them on the ramen bowl.

"Thank you for the treat, the ramen is delicious." Eri wrote in a small notebook and showed it to Uesugi Yue.

Uesugi Yue nodded, put the ramen bowls and bamboo chopsticks in front of Eiry and Lu Mingfei into the sink, and gave the little girl a kind and gentle smile.

"How about you guys? Have you finished eating?" Uesugi Yue looked at Jude Mai and Su Enxi, "Jiude-san... and Jude-san's friends."

"Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean by Jiude-san's friend? Just because Jiude Mai has a name, does that mean I don't have one? Am I just fit to be a passerby?" Su Enxi complained dissatisfiedly, "My name is Su..."

Su Enxi paused, turned her head and glanced at Jiude Mai who had secretly kicked her under the food counter. Su Enxi was immediately as if deflated, curled her lips and said: "Forget it, forget it, you should just call me Jiude Sang's friend... I'll call you Jiude Sang's friend."

"Are you ready to leave?" Uesugi Yue looked at Lu Mingfei.

"What's wrong, Master Yue? Are you reluctant to leave us?" Lu Mingfei looked at Shangshan Yue with a half-smile. "I remember that not long ago, Master Yue, you were saying you were closing down and didn't want to entertain customers like us. Now you act like you can't wait for us to stay and eat noodles with you forever. Aren't you afraid that we'll go bankrupt by eating you out?"

Lu Mingfei's tone was mixed with a hint of teasing and ridicule. In the past half hour, he had become quite familiar with Uesugi Yue. Lu Mingfei told Uesugi Yue almost everything he could about the recent situation of Gen Chisheng and Gen Chijo.

In Lu Mingfei's words, his brother is a young gangster with the aura of a patriarch. All the elites of the Executive Bureau have to look up to see the back of the man named Gen Chisheng. Once, they encountered two gangs fighting on the streets of Kabukicho, Tokyo. Gen Chisheng strolled leisurely amid the flashing swords and shadows, and could stop hundreds of people fighting with a wave of his hand. He obeyed his orders and did everything he said... Moreover, his brother has a kind heart and is very polite. In the middle of the night, he would drive his younger brothers and confidants in a Ferrari to solve a small matter like a toy store being blackmailed by gangsters. After the incident, he would still patiently take the common coffee handed to him by the girl and never forget to thank her... The only words that can describe this man are probably philosophical sayings such as "with a heart of a tiger, you can still smell the roses"... In short, your eldest son is a living legend of the Japanese underworld.

The younger brother that Lu Mingfei mentioned is a unique man in the world with a strong literary and artistic atmosphere. He likes to look out at the pink and white cherry blossoms in the mountains in the early morning of early spring. If a girl who is outing in the mountains happens to meet him, she may even think that he is the spirit transformed from the soul of an ancient peerless geisha. They will talk to him carefully, and Fengjian Liuli will patiently take them to visit mountain streams and springs, and occasionally sing for them. When he is deeply in love, he may even break off a pink or white cherry branch and pin it between the girls' long hair... Every girl who meets Fengjian Liuli will fall in love with him within ten minutes... No, five minutes... Maybe as soon as she sees Fengjian Liuli's face, she will start to feel springy and her heart will be surging... In short, your little son is a living legend in the world of Japanese gigolos.

Lu Mingfei also told Uesugi Yue that both of your sons are the type that girls will like. If the girls who like them line up in a row, they will have to stretch from Tokyo to Hokkaido!

Uesugi Yue couldn't help but ask, "What about those two guys, Chisheng and Chinu? Among these mountains and seas of girls, did they find a girl they liked? Is the girl they liked pretty?"

Lu Mingfei nodded and said yes, yes, the two brothers each have a very good relationship with the girl, one is the assistant of Gen Zhisheng, called Yabuki Sakura, the other is the subordinate of Gen Zhinv, called Sakurai Kogure, one of these girls is a killer and the other is the former casino owner, both are very beautiful and excellent, each has many suitors, although Gen Zhisheng did not show obvious intentions towards Yabuki Sakura, but the girl has long been secretly in love with him, not to mention Gen Zhinv, she hugged and touched the girl, kissed her on the mouth, all that's missing is giving Master Yue a big, fat grandson... and the two girls are wholeheartedly devoted to the brothers, I think it's good, these two pairs are simply a cuckold looking at a mung bean... ah, they are two pairs made in heaven for talent and beauty! It can be said that they are quite a match! I tell you, Master Yue is the best at judging people. I can bring together my senior brother who is so incompetent that he can't even fart, and my junior sister who is naughty and cute but extremely scheming. Everyone says that I have the ability to be a matchmaker.

Uesugi Yue beamed. "Really? Are these two girls so amazing? As expected of my son, Uesugi Yue. He doesn't follow the usual path when it comes to picking up girls, picking up a female assassin and a casino owner. Like father, like son... Then I'd like to ask Brother Lu, your matchmaker nature, to help bring those two guys together. When you have time, invite them to my ramen stand for some ramen. Chef Yue will give you guys a free meal... Oh, and bring Eri along too. She seems to love my ramen. She ate four bowls in one go. Watching her enjoy her ramen makes me happy and satisfied too."

Lu Mingfei nodded vigorously and said, "Of course, of course. Where can you find such a great restaurant? It has ramen and alcohol, and it's open 24 hours a day. The most important thing is that it's free, not a penny. If you have time in the future, I will definitely come more often to take advantage of you... Oh no, I will come more often to support you!"

Lu Mingfei talked incessantly, and Shangshan Yue was so excited that he cheered continuously. He hadn't been so excited in many years. He was even more excited than those beautiful old lovers who took off their clothes in front of him. He was also very motivated to stretch the ramen.

In order to get Lu Mingfei to talk more about the heroic deeds of his two sons, Uesugi Yue almost emptied out all his savings. The dough and cornstarch in the flour bucket were all gone, and there was only a thin layer of wine left at the bottom of the wine barrel.

Uesugi Yue couldn't help but sigh that these young people had a huge appetite and could drink a lot... Especially the little girl named Eri, she consumed more food by herself than the other three people combined.

"You little bastard! You've made so many appearances and drank so much wine from me, yet you still don't know how to be grateful? You really treat this place as a free cafeteria?" Uesugi Yue was so angry at Lu Mingfei's teasing that he blew his beard and glared. "Can't bear to part with you? What is there for you to be reluctant to part with? I can't bear to part with Eri-chan, you understand? It's rare to see a beautiful girl as pleasing to the eye as Eri-chan. There are slippery boys like you everywhere!"

"Are you full?" Uesugi Yue put the washed dishes into the drawer of the trolley and waved his hand at Lu Mingfei with disdain. "If you're full, get out of here! I should have closed up shop long ago. I have important things to do next, you know? First, that old bastard Ange got in the way, and then you kept me waiting for a long time!"

Uesugi Yue plopped down on a rattan chair on the inside of the trolley, searching through the colorful piles of adult videos on the table beside him and in the cardboard boxes, muttering, "This one's no good. The scenes aren't exciting enough and too drawn-out. Just watching the heroine put on stockings takes ten minutes." "This one's no good either. The plot is terrible. What's the point of a loser neighbor and a beautiful housewife? In my opinion, a housewife and a plumber can show the characteristics of our Yamato nation. They're a perfect match." "This one's even worse. The heroine is fine, and the forbidden plot between the female teacher and the male student is also reasonable...but the male lead is too bad."

Uesugi Yue flipped through the discs one by one, sorting the ones he liked and the ones he disliked into different categories, his expression as serious as a strict high school teacher correcting his students' homework.

So the "next important thing" was watching adult videos? Lu Mingfei, Su Enxi, and Jiude Mai's faces darkened simultaneously... They should have known what "important things" this frivolous old man could possibly have besides this little hobby? To their surprise, even knowing he had a son couldn't change his stubborn lecherous tendencies!

Lu Mingfei took a deep breath, turned to Eiry and said, "Eiry, you, Jude Mai, and Jude Mai's friends, please go back to the helicopter first, okay?"

"Where's Sakura? Isn't Sakura coming with us?" Eri wrote in the notebook.

"Master Yue and I have something important to discuss." Lu Mingfei smiled at Eiry. "Ten minutes. I'll come find Eiry on the helicopter in ten minutes, and then we'll go to a new place together, okay?"

"Okay, I'll wait for Sakura." Eri nodded obediently.

After writing this sentence, Eri put the notebook into the small bag she was carrying. Then she stood up, holding the princess-like long dress she had changed into at the amusement park, and prepared to leave the ramen stall.

It seemed that in Eri's opinion, as long as she left earlier, Lu Mingfei would start talking about important things with the master chef selling ramen earlier, and the ten minutes would end earlier, so Sakura would come to find her earlier.

Lu Mingfei looked at Su Enxi and Jiude Mai and said, "I'm leaving it to you. Please take Eri to the helicopter and wait."

Su Enxi and Jude Mai nodded. The two girls held up umbrellas and surrounded Eri on both sides as they left Master Yue's ramen stall.

"Boy, I noticed early this morning that you seemed to be paying close attention to the weather." Uesugi Yue, who was rummaging through adult DVDs, said to Lu Mingfei without even looking up, "Are you in a hurry?"

"Yeah." Lu Mingfei nodded. "If I don't leave before dawn, I'll be in trouble. After all, I 'stole' the head of the Uesugi family from the Sheqi family, and I don't plan to return him anytime soon."

"You little brat is quite romantic, no wonder girls like you." Uesugi Yue scolded with a smile and shook his head slightly, "I think that girl likes you very much. She trusts you, so don't bully a good girl."

"Yes, I won't bully Eri... To be honest, I probably can't beat her either." Lu Mingfei nodded sincerely. "I didn't expect Master Yue to be so open-minded. Don't you think that kidnapping a girl and running away from home is... not a good thing?"

"What's wrong with that? Young people should do what young people should do. Selling ramen on a street for decades is what we old people should do. Young people should take advantage of their time, energy and enthusiasm to indulge themselves and live their lives to the fullest." Uesugi Yue smiled, his tone like an educator, "The world of young people has no boundaries. If you like a girl, you should take her to the ends of the earth."

It seems that in Uesugi Yue's eyes, this kind of thing of kidnapping girls and running away from home is very common. It seems that this ramen master has done similar things many times when he was young.

"I just like watching young people like you guys' silly drive for love." Uesugi Yue's attention was completely focused on the adult disc.

He seemed to have found a disc he liked. The woman on the cover was wearing obscene clothes and posing seductively. Uesugi Yue's eyes were almost shining. He said to Lu Mingfei casually, "Besides, it's not my daughter you kidnapped. Why should I worry about this?"

"Really?" Lu Mingfei scratched his head. "What if she is your daughter?"

"Even if she is my daughter, it doesn't matter if you kidnap her. After all, don't you young people advocate free love... freedom... my daughter... my daughter?!" Uesugi Yue failed to react to Lu Mingfei's words at first. When he really thought about it, the rest of the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't say them.

"Who?!" Shang Shanyue stood up suddenly, grabbed Lu Mingfei's shoulders with both hands, and stared at Lu Mingfei, "Who are you saying is my daughter?!"

"Eri... Uesugi Eri." Lu Mingfei pointed at the figure in the dress who had already walked away. "This is why I stayed here alone. This is the first important thing I want to tell you."

"The little red-haired girl who was eating noodles with you at the ramen stall just now and was communicating with you through a notebook..." Lu Mingfei looked into Uesugi Yue's eyes and said in an extremely serious tone, "Uesugi Eryi... She is your daughter. Like the brothers Minamoto Chisei and Minamoto Chijo, she was bred with your genes... The daughter of your blood relative."

pat!

The adult video disc fell to the ground, and the gorgeous woman on the cover was smashed to pieces... and Uesugi Yue didn't even have time to feel sad that the favorite disc he had found with great difficulty was broken.

Uesugi Yue looked at the blurry figure of the girl who had already walked away, and was petrified in place as if he had been cast under a spell.

The calloused, rock-steady hands of this man, who had been a ramen chef for over sixty years, were now shaking uncontrollably, along with his lips, eyelids, and even his entire body.

Today is probably the most unforgettable day in the long life of this old man who has lived half his life as a legend and half his life as a mediocre person.

Chapter 367: The Decision Between Tachibana Masamune's Life and Death

"Eri is my daughter. Out of greed and desire, I touched a taboo that no human should touch and committed an unforgivable sin. But my daughter has to bear this retribution." Tachibana Masamune's expression was painful. "This may be the most painful punishment for me. I thought about the consequences of death or being contaminated by dirty blood... The only thing I didn't expect was that my mistake would cost my daughter's life."

Minamoto no Chisei had his back to Tachibana Masamune. If Tachibana Masamune's expression was one of sorrow, then Minamoto no Chisei's expression was one of indifference, like an outsider watching an extremely bad performance, unable to empathize with the performers at all and unable to resonate with them.

"I can't afford this price. I am willing to accept my death or any other price. The only thing I can't accept is taking my daughter's life, because she is my only relative in this world." There was a sad light in Tachibana Masamune's vicissitudes of life.

"This is one of the reasons I studied these deadpools. To prolong Eri's lifespan, I've tried everything, even if it means bearing the condemnation of human ethics and taboos that absolutely cannot be violated. I must keep my only daughter alive." Tachibana Masamune said solemnly, "I read Dr. Herzog's diary over and over again, searching for a way to save Eri from the thoughts of that genius yet mad scientist."

"Hard work pays off. After carefully reading Dr. Herzog's notes a hundred times, I finally found a viable path between the lines," said Masamune Tachibana. "This path is extremely cruel and risky. It's tantamount to abandoning my entire life. But for my daughter, I'm willing to make any sacrifice, even if it means giving up everything."

"The path to saving Eri could only be achieved through the help of the Yaki family," said Tachibana Masamune. "So I found a highly skilled plastic surgery clinic and had myself reshaped to resemble a Japanese person. I completely discarded my identity as a KGB member, Bondarev, and adopted the name Tachibana Masamune, which my mother had chosen for me. Using my identity as a branch of the Tachibana family, I naturally returned to the family."

"When I was young, I didn't particularly covet the position of patriarch of the eight Snake families. I simply joined the ranks of law enforcers, shouldering the responsibility of combating those 'ghosts' with dangerous bloodlines," said Tachibana Masamune. "Since then, I've actively taken on the task of hunting down every 'ghost' whose bloodline is on the verge of losing control. However, I don't kill the 'ghosts' I hunt down on the spot. Instead, I secretly hide them. When their bloodline completely spirals out of control and they begin to transform into Deadpools, I guide their transformation into Deadpools in a specific direction and use a catalyst to accelerate the process."

"During those years of slaughtering demons, I accumulated numerous military exploits, and my reputation among the law enforcement officers grew ever higher," Tachibana Masamune whispered. "Although my Tachibana bloodline is very thin, nowhere near the strength of the royal bloodlines of you, Nakagawa, and Uesugi Yue, those years coincided with a period of declining talent among the three families. This ultimately propelled me to the position of patriarch of the Snake Eight Families. The power of patriarch also provided me with greater convenience in studying these deadpools."

Gennosuke did not delve into the relationship between Eri and Masamune Tachibana, nor into the issue of Masamune Tachibana's bloodline, because he knew that everything Masamune had said was nonsense... He only needed to follow Masamune's words and raise reasonable questions about the parts that he cared about, to help him distinguish the truth and the reasons behind the matter.

"But I still don't understand." Genji frowned slightly. "You harboring a 'ghost' with an out-of-control bloodline and studying Deadpool's behavior... is there any necessary connection between this and whether you can save Eri?"

"Do you remember the medicines I asked the doctors to inject into Eri regularly?" Tachibana Masamune suddenly asked Gen Chisei.

Yuan Zhisheng was stunned. Of course he remembered it, and this was actually an issue that he had always been particularly concerned about.

Gen Chisei's thoughts were pulled back to a long time ago... He still remembered the scene of his first meeting with Eri.

It was the season when winter turned to spring and the breeze under the sun was a mixture of gentle coolness and warmth. On the eaves of the shrine, crows were cawing crudely. That day, Gen Chisei was playing video games in the old shrine. The snow outside the window was melting, and the pink and white fallen cherry blossoms were floating like butterflies beside the historic portholes of the shrine. Suddenly, there was a noise outside the door. The father-like man in a haori walked quickly into the main hall of the shrine, followed closely by a group of medical staff in white coats and priests in white robes and black crowns.

A steel-framed hospital bed was clustered among the medical staff and priests. On the bed lay a dark-red-haired girl wearing a ventilator.

The girl's body was developing very healthily, but her breath was so weak that it was barely audible, and her vitality was very slim. To Yuan Zhisheng, this girl felt as fleeting as the thin cherry blossoms outside the window in early spring. But when Yuan Zhisheng's gaze fell on the girl's crimson eyes, their eyes met, and Yuan Zhisheng suddenly felt that there seemed to be a red bird soaring in the sky hidden in the girl's eyes.

The girl was wrapped in white bandages all over. Tachibana Masamune told him that this was caused by the girl hurting herself when her bloodline got out of control. The man who was once like a father to him stood behind Minamoto Chisei with his hands on his shoulders. He told Minamoto Chisei that this was the descendant of the Uesugi family whom they had finally found after searching all over Japan. This girl was the only surviving descendant of the Uesugi family, the only one. The girl's name was Erii, Uesugi Erii... From now on, Erii will live in the family as the head of the Uesugi family. Her bloodline is unquestionable. All the heads of the family have no objection to this matter. Chisei, you must treat her like your sister.

Eri...sister...

Since then, Yuan Zhisheng has deeply engraved these two words and the appearance of this girl in his mind. Yuan Zhisheng had a younger brother, but never a younger sister... From that day on, Yuan Zhisheng had a younger sister in his life.

He felt pity for the girl's tragic fate and couldn't help but give her more love and care. When they met for the first time, Gen Chisheng saw the girl lying on the hospital bed staring at the game screen without blinking, so he demonstrated the game operation of Chun-Li in "Street Fighter" on the spot and gave her his personal controller that he had treasured for many years. Since then, this little girl named Eri has sincerely fallen in love with this kind of arcade confrontation game.

But in the past, Gen Chisheng and Eiry were always apart. Gen Chisheng had become a key law enforcer at the top of the Executive Bureau at a young age, and he was needed to lead the team on missions more and more frequently. Eiry's bloodline issue seemed to be getting more and more difficult. Most of the time, the two met, Gen Chisheng stood outside the sterile warehouse, through the thick glass curtain wall, watching a group of medical staff in white coats busying around for Eiry, measuring her heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse... and finally injecting needles of milky white liquid into the girl's wrists and ankles.

Minamoto Chisei repeatedly asked Tachibana Masamune what the milky white liquid injected into Eri's body was, but each time he only received an ambiguous answer: "It's medicine... the only medicine that can save Eri's life."

Gennosuke couldn't help but ask Masamune Tachibana what the ingredients of the medicine were, where he got it from, and whether he could contribute to getting this medicine... He also sincerely wanted to do his part in saving Eri.

At that time, Tachibana Masamune would answer every question asked by Minamoto Chisei, and Eryi appreciated Chisei's kindness. Eiry would recover faster if she could feel your care. Sometimes "love" is the best antidote... Then the old man would often remain silent, just touching Minamoto Chisei's head with a relieved smile like a loving father.

"What is it?" Gennosuke couldn't help but question Tachibana Masamune, "What exactly is the drug that Eri injected? Could it be that the drug has something to do with these Deadpools I'm raising?"