Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

Almost at the same time that Toyokawa Takaaki was arrested, the video of Toyokawa Kageyama was sent to the private mailboxes of Toyokawa Sadaharu and all the elders of the Toyokawa family's collateral branches in the form of an anonymous email.

Toyokawa Sadaharu was sipping a glass of expensive single malt whisky in his study.

When he opened the email and watched Toyokawa Kageyama read out the most core business secrets in a trembling voice, there was no anger in his eyes, only a feeling of absurdity and subtlety.

On the other side, in various luxurious mansions, the elders of the collateral branches also saw the same video.

Their expressions changed from shock, to confusion, to anger as if they had suddenly realized something.

Within just a few minutes, these two pieces of information overlapped and fermented in the minds of all key figures, ultimately forming a seamless, perfect logical closed loop:

Toyokawa Takaaki was caught by the police on the spot for embezzling huge amounts of public funds for illegal transactions.

In order to fill this hole, or to protect himself after failure, he did not hesitate to kidnap his own sister as a bargaining chip, attempting to sell the core business secrets of the entire family to competitors.

All the "cold-bloodedness" he had shown before, and his order that "Kageyama is a sunk cost", at this moment, became the ironclad evidence of his "premeditated and heartless" behavior.

Public opinion completely exploded in the Toyokawa family.

Overnight, Toyokawa Takaaki went from being a decisive and highly-anticipated leader of a branch clan to a greedy traitor who attempted to sell out his family and a demon who was willing to kill his own family.

Toyokawa Sadaharu seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He didn't even give Toyokawa Takaaki any chance to explain, and quickly convened an emergency family meeting under the pretext of "cleaning up the family."

Those elders from the collateral branch who had already been resentful of Toyokawa Takaaki's "cold-blooded" behavior, faced with this "ironclad" evidence, did not hesitate, and even rushed to side with Toyokawa Sadaharu.

They need to use this method to distance themselves from the "traitors".

The meeting lasted less than an hour.

All of Toyokawa Takaaki's positions were instantly dismissed.

All his shares in Toyokawa Group were forcibly placed under trusteeship.

All his personal assets were frozen.

He was completely and ruthlessly abandoned by his family and his once most staunch supporters.

He became a stray dog ​​that everyone wanted to kill.

Everything he had built, everything he had fought for, his grand ambitions and blueprints, were reduced to ashes in just twenty-four hours.

.........

When Toyokawa Takaaki went through a long and humiliating interrogation at the police station, and was finally released on bail temporarily on the grounds of "insufficient evidence" because the Toyokawa family mobilized a team of top lawyers, he had become a stray dog ​​that everyone wanted to kill.

He was placed under house arrest in his office on the top floor of the group.

This was once the symbol of his power, his throne overlooking his entire business empire. But now, it has become his most magnificent prison.

Outside the window, the night view of Tokyo is still bright, with traffic flowing and neon lights flashing. That was the world that was once at his fingertips.

But now, he doesn't even have the qualifications to walk out of this door.

He sat behind a huge desk, his whole body slumped in the leather chair as if all his bones had been pulled out.

He didn't understand.

Until his death, he could not figure out who he had offended.

But he did not completely lose his fighting spirit.

He was Toyokawa Takaaki after all. As long as he was alive, as long as he could still breathe, he felt he still had a chance.

He needed to calm down, he needed to find evidence, and find an opportunity to explain the whole story to those stupid elders of the collateral branch.

As long as he can prove that he is also a victim, he may be able to make a comeback.

It was at this time.

"Di-"

With a slight sound, the alloy door of his office, which required both a password and fingerprint verification, was unexpectedly opened from the outside.

All the hairs on Toyokawa Takaaki's body stood on end instantly!

He should be the only one who knows the combination lock of this office!

Someone is coming to kill him?

Someone wants to silence someone?

Is that old bastard Toyokawa Sadaharu?!

He finally got too lazy to even act. Was he going to kill himself?

As expected, Toyokawa Kageyama was also kidnapped by him?

Is all this a vicious plot by that old man to regain power?

This old man has actually started to use such despicable means?

The door was pushed open, and in walked two middle-aged men in black suits and expressionless faces.

Their steps were steady, their eyes were sharp, and they carried a cold aura that was unique to professional bodyguards.

Toyokawa Takaaki's heart sank to the bottom. He stood up from his chair with a bluff and shouted:

"Who are you? Who let you in? Get out!"

As he spoke, he quietly stepped back and reached for the emergency alarm device under the desk that could be directly connected to the security center.

However, as soon as he moved, the middle-aged man in the lead quickly pulled out a pistol with a silencer from his arms, and aimed the black muzzle precisely at Toyokawa Takaaki's eyebrows.

"Mr. Xiaoming..."

The man's voice was calm, yet it carried a sense of pressure that brooked no argument, and there was even a smile on the corner of his mouth:

"I advise you not to move. We are only here to see you off for the last time. Otherwise, this farewell would not be so decent."

The cold murderous intent enveloped the entire office like a substance.

Toyokawa Takaaki froze in place, not daring to move. He knew the other party was not joking.

It was at this critical moment of life and death.

"Ding-a-ling-ding-a-ling--"

His personal cell phone, which he placed on the table, suddenly rang.

In this dead silent and oppressive space, the ringing sounded particularly harsh.

Toyokawa Takaaki's heartbeat almost stopped. He didn't dare to move or look. He thought the ringing would be a death signal.

But what surprised him was that the middle-aged man with the gun showed no signs of taking any action.

He simply raised the gun in his hand and pointed the phone in the direction of the gun, as if to say:

"Take it."

With trembling hands, Takaaki Toyokawa carefully moved over, pressed the answer button, and turned on the hands-free mode.

From the other end of the line came the synthesized voice with an electronic sound that he would never forget, processed through a voice changer.

"Good evening, Mr. Toyokawa Takaaki. How do you feel about this 'fair trade' we've carefully prepared for you?"

it's him!

It was this voice! This was the man behind the scene that sent him to hell!

At that moment, all the fear, humiliation, and unwillingness turned into overwhelming anger, destroying his last bit of sanity.

He roared into the phone, gritting his teeth:

"It's you! It's you, isn't it! Bastard! Who the hell are you? How did I offend you?!"

"Toyokawa Sadaharu! You're the one sent by Toyokawa Sadaharu, right?! Speak!"

He was like a madman, and the only enemy he could think of was Toyokawa Sadaharu.

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

Then, a slight sigh, which seemed to carry a hint of helplessness and boredom, came through the receiver.

Then the cold, inhuman synthetic voice disappeared.

Instead, there was a clear, soft voice that was even a little girlish and very familiar to him.

"Uncle Xiaoming, it seems that you still don't understand anything."

The voice called softly.

Toyokawa Takaaki was struck by lightning and stood there in a daze for a moment.

His brain completely shut down because of this sudden change that was completely beyond his understanding.

He didn't even react at first.

A moment later, when the memory and the voice were matched in his confused mind, he realized who the owner of this voice was.

——His great-niece.

Toyokawa Shoko.

He never thought... He never dreamed...

The ruthless mastermind who played him in the palm of his hand, turned the entire Toyokawa family upside down, and pushed him from the clouds to the abyss...

It turned out to be Toyokawa Shoko, whom he had never even looked at from beginning to end.

A bone-chilling chill deeper than death rushed from his tailbone to the top of his head.

Regret, fear, absurdity, disbelief... countless emotions exploded in his chest and finally merged into a blank.

He looked at the two expressionless men in black in front of him. They were Xiangzi's men.

He looked out the window at the empire that once belonged to him, but now no longer belonged to him.

He looked at the phone in his hand again, as if there was a devil from hell hiding in it.

All his pride, all his wisdom, all his struggles, at this moment, became a huge joke.

He lost, lost miserably, and lost inexplicably.

His lips trembled, and he used all his strength to ask the question on the phone that overturned his entire worldview.

"Who...are...you?"

"At this point, does it matter who I am?"

"What you should be asking is not who I am, but why you, Toyokawa Takaaki, are sitting here. Why did everything you were once so proud of, your power, your wealth, your wisdom, turn into nothing overnight, like a castle on the beach, washed away by the waves?"

"alright...."

The voice on the other end of the phone seemed to have lost patience:

"Enough of this boring quiz game."

"I don't like to do things too radically. I decided to give you one last choice. A choice that allows you to retain the last bit of dignity."

"Jump out of the window behind you."

"Tomorrow's news will report: Toyokawa Takaaki, of the Toyokawa Group, committed suicide by jumping from the rooftop of the building he led, due to the pressure of failed investments and project setbacks."

Kujo Renji's tone sounded like he was reciting a script that had already been written.

"In this way, you will not be a sinner, but a tragic, sympathetic loser. The reputation of the Toyokawa family can be preserved to the greatest extent. Your death will cover up all the scandals of financial fraud, because the dead cannot be held accountable. For the sake of the family's reputation, Toyokawa Sadaharu can only accept this outcome."

"This is the last thing you, a loser, can do for this family. It's your final 'value.' Use your death to settle everything you have. It's a very good deal, isn't it?"

The devil's whisper.

This is coercion, but it is packaged as a reasonable and logical "optimal solution".

Toyokawa Takaaki was trembling all over, with overwhelming hatred and endless fear surging in his heart.

He knew that the other party was right.

Jumping down was his only way to retain the last bit of dignity.

Because even if he chooses not to jump, the other party will make him "be respectful".

Just as he was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown, a tiny fragment of memory that he had long ignored flashed through his mind like lightning.

That was a conversation he had with Toyokawa Kageyama many years ago.

At a family gathering one day, he was troubled by a difficult business rival. While drinking, he said to Kageyama: