Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

The other party's methods were too cruel and too dramatic.

He gave her a finger, an ear, and a provocative card, but never mentioned any conditions. This didn't seem like a request for money, nor did it seem like a commercial revenge.

This is more like a personal revenge with extreme hatred.

Moreover, the power behind the Yamaguchi-gumi that can keep its mouth shut and remain secretive must be definitely not simple.

Toyokawa Sadaharu's eyes gradually became sharper.

He didn't care whether Toyokawa Kageyama lived or died, nor did he care whether Toyokawa Takaaki would collapse. Weakening the power of the side branch would only benefit him.

What he cared about was when did such a person appear in Tokyo?

Is this person's target really that idiot Xiaoming?

Or is this just the beginning, a warning to the entire Toyokawa family?

"Chips..." He murmured the word he heard from his confidant.

A thought, like a flash of cold lightning, flashed through Toyokawa Sadaharu's mind.

Could it be...

Toyokawa Sadaharu paused for a moment.

He quickly rejected this absurd idea, but a seed of doubt was quietly planted in his heart.

He decided to sit back and watch.

The night in Tokyo is as dark as ink.

Renji Kujo stood in front of the panoramic floor-to-ceiling window of a high-rise apartment, overlooking the glittering city skyline beneath his feet.

He put down the phone, having just finished talking with Ishikawa.

Ishikawa on the other end of the phone sounded as calm and reliable as ever, as if he was not discussing a person's life or death, but confirming an ordinary list of goods.

"Ms. Xiangzi, what should we do next..."

"Keep Toyokawa Kageyama alive. Don't let her die."

"clear."

No questions, no hesitation, only absolute obedience.

The call ended, and the room fell into silence again, with only the almost negligible hum coming from the city in the distance.

Kujo Renji didn't put down the phone, but just looked out the window quietly.

During this period of time, Shoko Toyokawa has gradually become accustomed to the feeling of being back in the spotlight.

However, when things developed to this point, when Toyokawa Kageyama's severed fingers and ears became bloody chess pieces on the chessboard, she was still a little scared.

After all, she is still the Shoko Toyokawa who grew up under a normal social order, and her thinking logic is still confined to the framework of "exchange", "negotiation" and "game".

In her opinion, all of this is for one ultimate purpose.

—Forcing Toyokawa Takaaki to hand over Mitsukoshi Hatsuka. This was a high-pressure negotiation tactic, and while the process was uncomfortable, the purpose was clear.

"When are you going to hand over Toyokawa Kageyama?"

Her "voice" sounded in Kujo Renji's mind, with a hint of uncertainty and temptation.

She chose her words carefully, as if afraid her question would seem stupid.

There was a barely noticeable pause in Kujo Renji's thoughts.

He felt a little puzzled.

It wasn't a pretense, but genuine, pure confusion, like a mathematician being asked, "Why doesn't one plus one equal three?"

This question itself reveals the fundamental cognitive misalignment between the questioner and him.

"When did I say I was going to hand her over?"

Toyokawa Shoko was shocked: "I thought you were putting pressure on Toyokawa Takaaki."

She thought it was a complex lever, with Toyokawa Kageyama's suffering on one end and Mikado Hatsuka's safety on the other. By increasing the weight on one end, she could leverage the other end. It was a logical strategy she could understand.

Only then did Kujo Renji realize that there was a slight deviation in his thinking from that of Miss Toyokawa Shoko.

He corrected himself: "No, I was just torturing her."

Shoko Toyokawa didn't know how to comment.

Xiangzi remained silent for a long while, not getting any response. He finally managed to sort out the most crucial words from his chaotic thoughts:

"If you don't hand it over, what will happen to Chuhua?"

This is her biggest concern.

All the revenge, all the plans, the ultimate goal is to save Chuhua.

Jiujo Renji seemed even more puzzled:

"We all know who has her. Why don't we just go and get her back?"

“…” Xiangzi was completely speechless.

Kujo Renji's voice continued to echo in her consciousness, with a cruelty that subverted all her cognition.

"Why did you think of exchanging hostages?"

"Exchange is a compromise chosen by the weak when they are unable to seize directly, or when the cost of seizing is too high. It is a game that only works when both parties have something the other cannot afford to lose."

"But Toyokawa Takaaki..."

Kujo Renji sighed:

"What right does he have to gamble with me? I can always go over and take back the card in his hand. But his sister's life is in my hands."

"Do you understand, Xiangzi?"

"From the beginning, there was no option of 'exchange'."

"So..." Toyokawa Shoko felt a chill: "You kidnapped Toyokawa Kageyama, is it really just to torture her, to make Toyokawa Takaaki suffer?"

"Yes."

Kujo Renji gave an affirmative answer, decisively and clearly.

"Then...then her final fate..."

Jiujo Renji seemed to "see" the question in her heart that she dared not say out loud.

He said with a matter-of-fact tone, smiling:

"Hostage, she is meant to be killed."

..

Chapter 140: Who allowed you to die?

Admittedly, it is not an easy task to find the deliberately hidden Triangle Chuhua.

The other party was well aware of Toyokawa Sadaharu's power range, so the hiding place and method they chose perfectly avoided all conventional means of detection.

There were no hotels with check-in records, no apartments with rental contracts, and even credit card spending records were cut off.

Toyokawa Takaaki placed Sankaku Hatsuka in an extremely secluded place that had nothing to do with any known industries and channels of the Toyokawa family.

For ordinary people, this is almost an unsolvable problem.

But that's only for "ordinary people".

In a Japanese-style room deep inside a top-tier club in Shinjuku that is not open to the public, Kujo Renji just knelt quietly on the tatami, slowly and methodically stirring the matcha in the bowl with a tea whisk.

The air was filled with the elegant scent of high-quality incense, which formed a strange and twisted harmony with the faint suppressed sobbing and dull hitting sounds coming from the next room.

Those team leaders and cadres who usually have the final say in their respective territories are now kneeling respectfully outside, not even daring to breathe.

In less than an hour, Ishikawa walked in with a bow and handed over a note respectfully.

"Ms. Xiangzi, I've already found out. It's an abandoned sanatorium owned by 'Kageyama Kogyo', located on the Izu Peninsula. They've hired a few untrustworthy thugs to guard the perimeter, but the core area is under the personal protection of Toyokawa Takaaki. The leading thug was very 'glad' to provide us with a detailed map."

The girl only hummed softly. He picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"Prepare the car, we're going to pick someone up."

So, this scene happened.

In the evening, the last rays of the setting sun cast their last rays of light.

More than a dozen black cars stopped in front of an isolated mansion in the mountains of Izu.

The car doors opened almost at the same time.

More than 20 men in uniform black suits moved in unison, led by Ishikawa.

Immediately afterwards, the rear door of the last car was opened by Ishikawa himself.

A foot wearing delicate little leather shoes stepped lightly on the ground.

Then, a petite figure walked out of the car.

Her long blue hair was tied into two cute ponytails, swaying slightly with her movements.

The girl's face was so white that it was almost transparent, and her amber eyes were shining with indifference in the sunset.

It was exactly the appearance of Toyokawa Shoko.

However, when this delicate and seemingly powerless girl stood in front of this group of men in black with terrifying auras, she did not seem out of place, but instead formed a strange and harmonious picture.

The twenty-odd gangsters who could scare ordinary people to the point of limp legs stood behind her with their heads bowed respectfully.

This scene made the middle-aged maid guarding the door of the mansion open her eyes wide and turn pale.

Of course she knew who was imprisoned in this mansion. She was strictly ordered not to let anyone in or out, and not to reveal a single word to the outside world.

But what is happening now?

A girl who looked like a high school student at most, led a large group of thugs who looked like they came out of a gangster movie and arrived at the city gates.

She realized something serious had happened, the kind of thing that an ordinary person like her should never be involved in.

Although her legs were shaking uncontrollably, out of duty and fear, she mustered up the courage and asked through the carved iron gate in a trembling voice:

"Please, what are you here for?" Her voice was a little distorted due to nervousness, sounding more like a plea.

The girl slowly raised her eyelids, and those amber eyes glanced at her calmly.

"Open the door."

He said in Toyokawa Shoko's voice.

"I, I can't... This is private territory. I can't open the door without the owner's permission..."

The maid's voice became smaller and smaller, almost becoming the hum of a mosquito.

She held on, insisting on her position: "If you have anything to say, I can inform you..."

Kujo Renji seemed to have lost all patience.

He didn't want to waste even a second on this meaningless conversation.

In his eyes, this door and the maid behind the door who was trying to stop the car with her bare hands were just insignificant "obstacles".

And clearing obstacles never requires too many words.

Then, under the gaze of everyone—including the maid and all his subordinates behind him—he made a move that froze the air.

He took a step forward, his slender body sinking slightly. With a speed almost intangible to the naked eye, he suddenly raised his right leg and, with a whistling sound that tore through the air, he kicked the heavy door made of solid oak and fine steel with precision and violence.

The target is not the door panel itself, but the location of the door lock.

"Bang——!!!"

A dull, heart-pounding bang exploded!

That was not the sound of wood breaking, but the wail of metal being twisted and broken in an instant by an irresistible force!

The seemingly indestructible door, along with the entire lock core structure, was kicked inwards, becoming dented and deformed. Then, with a loud "clang", the entire door bounced inwards and hit the inner wall heavily, shaking off the dust all over the wall.

The door... just opened.