Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

"Shut up! What do you care?" She lay on his back and said muffledly, her voice carrying a barely detectable nasal tone due to shame.

"Are you angry out of shame? Looks like I was right."

"You evil bastard!"

Su Shi couldn't help but curse, but his voice was as small as a mosquito's hum.

Because she sadly discovered that her current posture made all her resistance seem so...weak and powerless.

"Compared to someone putting a bug in their friend's guitar bag, this is just normal fun."

Here we go again! This guy always hits her sore spot!

Su Shi buried her face in Xiangzi's neck, trying to escape the suffocating embarrassment.

Xiangzi's soft hair rubbed her cheek, bringing a slight itch. This intimate contact made her feel dizzy.

She knew that the person carrying her on his back was the devil Kujo Renji, but the touch of his body and the smell he smelled reminded her all the time that this was "Toyokawa Shoko".

This cognitive dislocation made her brain confused.

"I say, Miss Nagasaki,"

Jiujo Liansi's voice rang out again, breaking the strange silence:

"Shouldn't you thank me?"

"Thank you? Thank you for tricking me into this desolate mountain area and causing me to sprain my ankle?" Su Shi retorted unhappily.

"That's not the way to say it. I only suggested climbing the mountain. It was your own lack of energy and not paying attention as you walked that led to this 'accident'."

"Your tone is really, disgusting."

"Oh? So what tone of voice would Miss Nagasaki want me to use? 'Ah, Miss Suyo, are you okay? This is all my fault. I shouldn't have brought you hiking. Please forgive me.'"

"...You should just speak normally."

"Speaking of which, Ms. Nagasaki."

Jiujo Renji was silent for a while, then asked:

"What were you thinking when you saw the 'fireworks' on the top of the mountain just now?"

Su Shi's heart couldn't help but tighten.

She was silent for a moment, then said sullenly:

"I was thinking...it must have caused a lot of damage, and a lot of people must have been hurt by it." She tried to make her voice sound righteous and compassionate.

"is it?"

There was no emotion in Kujo Renji's tone:

"I thought you'd be thinking something like, 'What spectacular fireworks! Even more beautiful than the ones over the Sumida River.'"

"I don't!"

Su Shi immediately retorted, but his voice was a little weak.

Because she had to admit that after the initial shock, she was indeed shocked for a moment by the visual impact brought about by the extreme destructive power.

"Human nature always yearns for something beyond 'order.' The more suppressed one is, the more they crave release. Miss Nagasaki, you've always wrapped yourself up too tightly."

Jiujo Renji sneered:

"Don't you think it's fake? Whether it's the deliberately strained tone or the fake gentleness."

Su Shi didn't say anything.

She knew that this guy was trying to dissect her and break her down again.

But she also knew that what he said made sense.

The girl said in a muffled voice:

"What does it have to do with you? How dare you, a guy who's using someone else's skin, say such things?"

"I just think you're too tired."

Jiujo Renji chuckled:

"Isn't it fun to 'lose control' occasionally like now? Look, if you hadn't twisted your ankle, we wouldn't have this opportunity for 'intimate contact' now, right?"

"I don't find it funny at all!" Su Shi said gritting his teeth.

"Then why is your heart beating so fast?" asked Kujo Rensi in confusion.

Su Shi's cheeks flushed red again.

She could feel her heart beating faster and faster.

Is it because of anger?

The night wind blows gently, blowing through the mountains and forests, making a rustling sound.

Kujo Renji carried Nagasaki Suyo on his back, walking slowly and steadily down the mountain path. The city lights in the distance shone brightly, like diamonds scattered on black velvet.

The area that was ablaze not long ago gradually died down, leaving only wisps of black smoke, leaving an ugly scar in the night sky.

"Hey."

After a while, Su Shi spoke sullenly:

"What...what do you want to do?"

"Hmm? Miss Nagasaki, do you mean...now, or in the future?"

"All."

"Now..."

Jiujo Liansi paused:

"I'm carrying you down the mountain. As for the future..."

"That depends on how much 'help' Ms. Nagasaki can provide me."

"I won't help you do bad things!" Su Shi said immediately with a firm tone.

"The definition of 'bad' is very subjective, Ms. Nagasaki."

Jiujo Renji snorted:

"Just like you think eavesdropping on your friends is 'protection,' while I think it's 'privacy invasion.' Different perspectives naturally lead to different conclusions."

Su Shi was speechless again.

She felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

Perhaps, from the moment she chose to wear that collar, from the moment she acquiesced to this "monster" using her to monitor him, she had already... no turning back.

"At least...at least don't use Xiangzi's body to do those dangerous things anymore."

After a long moment, she whispered, a hint of pleading in her tone.

Jiujo Liansi was silent for a moment before he slowly spoke:

"Ms. Nagasaki, you seem to have misunderstood one thing. The ultimate goal of everything I do is for 'Shoko Toyokawa'. In other words, it's for her to be... 'happy'."

"Happiness?" Su Shi gritted her teeth. "Will Xiangzi accept happiness gained in this way?"

"Then there's no need to bother Miss Nagasaki." Kujo Renji's tone turned a little colder. "You just need to... cooperate with me."

After saying this, the two fell silent again.

Only the rustling sound of footsteps on gravel and the intertwined breathing sounds echoed on the silent mountain path.

Nagasaki Suyo lay on the back, which was not very wide but surprisingly stable, feeling the ups and downs of the other's body as he walked, smelling the familiar yet unfamiliar breath, with mixed feelings in her heart.

She didn't know how long the road down the mountain was, nor did she know what kind of future was waiting for her.

What a terrible day.

No, maybe it should be said that it was a terrible...beginning.

Chapter 124 Goodbye, Father, and My Cowardice

Time goes back to before the explosion.

Tokyo, Tsukikageitei Restaurant.

Tonight, the lights here are brighter than usual, but the air is filled with an almost frozen tension.

This is one of the secret bases of Tsuyoshi Sasaki, the leader of the "Sasaki faction" within the Yamaguchi-gumi, which has been competing with the Yamamoto faction for many years.

At this moment, this man, who was known for his ruthlessness in the underworld, was sitting around a low table in an elegant private room with several of his closest confidants.

The air was filled with smoke and the smell of alcohol.

The topic, naturally, is how to deal with the increasingly aggressive expansion of the Yamamoto faction and how to plan a counterattack of sufficient weight.

"That old fox Yamamoto has become increasingly restless lately."

Sasaki Tsuyoshi held a cigar between his thick fingers, his voice hoarse with a hint of barely perceptible anxiety:

"His good-for-nothing son actually dares to act so arrogantly outside. Does he really think our Sasaki Group is made of clay?"

"Don't worry, bro. I've already arranged everything. Next week's cargo shipment to the dock..."

A close confidant lowered his voice, a fierce look flashing in his eyes.

However, before he finished speaking——

"Boom——!!!"

A deafening roar, like the gate of hell being forcibly kicked open, instantly tore apart the tranquility of Yueying Pavilion.

Immediately afterwards, there were even more violent explosions, as if some invisible giant beast was wreaking havoc inside the restaurant.

Flames, like the tongues of a devil, burst out from the window of the private room where Tsuyoshi Sasaki was, instantly engulfing the delicate wooden structure.

Thick smoke mixed with a pungent smell of burning and the special smell of some burning chemicals rolled up and blackened half of the night sky.

The explosion was devastating, yet eerily precise.

The shock wave was mainly concentrated in the specific area where Tsuyoshi Sasaki and others were located, and the "tumor" was removed with surgical precision.

The surrounding walls collapsed and the roofs were blown off, but the destructive power of the explosion was cleverly controlled within a certain range and did not cause large-scale chain damage to the neighboring houses.

This is definitely not an effect that can be achieved by ordinary explosives. It is more like a specially formulated mixed explosive that can produce terrifying high temperature and high pressure in an instant, ensuring that all signs of life in the target area are completely wiped out, while minimizing the risk of causing a large-scale fire.

.....

Yamamoto Ryuichi learned about the Tsukikage Pavilion explosion almost immediately at his home through an encrypted communication channel.

"Sasaki Tsuyoshi... and his core team... were completely destroyed."

The wine glass in his hand slid onto the expensive carpet with a clang, and the amber liquid soaked a small piece of wool, emitting a strong smell of alcohol. But Yamamoto Ryuichi could no longer feel it.

His hands and feet instantly turned ice-cold, as if the blood had been drained from them. A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight up to his head, causing him to shiver uncontrollably.

"I already did it for you."

The lazy tone of the girl named Toyokawa Shoko echoed in his mind again.

What did she do?

She actually just so casually wiped out the leader of a major Yamaguchi-gumi faction, along with its core members, from this world?!

Fear, like an icy tide, instantly drowned him.

It was the fear of the unknown force, and even more so the fear that he had been forcibly tied to this crazy chariot.

However, beneath the extreme fear, a morbid and twisted sense of excitement quietly grew like poison ivy, entwining his heart.

Sasaki just died.

Sasaki faction, finished.

what does this mean?

This means that the balance of power within the Yamaguchi-gumi will be completely broken, which means a huge power vacuum and endless opportunities that come with it.

Yamamoto Ryuichi's breathing became rapid.

He knew that from this moment on, he had no way out. The woman had sent him the clearest signal in such a bloody and direct way.