Long-term salvation

After completing the discharge procedures, black-haired Nikki walked into the ward and saw that Asuka Iki had fallen into a deep sleep.

The girl with long black hair had already put on her discharge clothes, but they looked a little thin in this season, and the styles were also old ones from several years ago. It was obvious that after being hospitalized, she had no time or spare money to buy better clothes.

"This lovely face is indeed pitiful," Nikki, wearing sunglasses, reached out and stroked the girl's face. Her touch was soft, smooth, and slightly warm. "But... it makes me want to destroy it. I want to see her lying in a sea of ​​pure white flowers with her lifeless eyes open."

His fingers slid down the girl's skin, stayed at her neck for a few seconds, and then crossed her chest. Nikki then smiled victoriously.

"Okay, Sleeping Beauty," Nikki reached out and picked up Asuka Ikiji by the waist. The girl was very light, lighter than Nikki had expected. "We should leave here and find your Prince Charming."

There were two dripping sounds and a slight electric current sound.

[Yang, four men in black suits are walking towards your ward... I saw the tattoos on their fingers, they're definitely not good people.]

It was Little Red Riding Hood's voice. She was on a high-rise building a thousand meters away, and the anti-material sniper rifle named "Wolfsbane" was aimed at the direction of the hospital. Red-haired Nikki didn't need a scope to see it clearly.

"Got it, I'll evacuate immediately."

Yang didn't hesitate. She turned around, walked to the window, opened it, and jumped down holding Asuka Iki!

When four burly men in suits rushed into the ward, all they saw were open windows and curtains slightly lifted by the cold wind.

Yang, who jumped from a height of four stories with someone in her arms, looked calm and composed. Even though she was not Nikki, who specialized in combat, her physical strength was no less impressive.

[This is a bit dire, Yang.]

"what's the situation?"

After noticing Ms. Asukai's absence, the men in black suits started calling for help... About five, no, six cars had already surrounded the hospital from all directions. I couldn't see behind the hospital, but I imagine there were some there too.

"How many people?" Yang's face remained unmoved by the predicament before him, and his words remained calm. Even Little Red Riding Hood, a thousand meters away, looked unconcerned. "Have the hospital staff started to cooperate?"

"So far, we've seen over thirty people. As for the hospital staff, just treat them as potential hostile elements. That girl has lived here for so long, the question is whether the research institute is in cahoots with the hospital."

"learn."

Nikki muttered in response. She pulled out an M9 pistol, fitted the silencer, and then removed the magazine from the live rounds and replaced it with one loaded with Frigga bullets (a powerful tranquilizer round). Nikki's physique could even kill with a baseball, so using a pistol was simply easier. Furthermore, Yang, Nikki's personal weapon, was a grenade launcher, which was clearly excessive for casual use in the city.

After making preparations, Yang recalled the routes for entering and evacuating the hospital, and retrieved the location where the yellow Fiat was parked from his memory.

Exhaling slowly, Yang stood up holding Asuka Ikiji, jogging at first and gradually speeding up. When she jumped over the bushes and over the heads of the gangsters in black suits, the ordinary people realized who their opponents were.

But just like in countless fables, humans always pursue things that they cannot obtain with arrogance and stupidity:

“Catch up with them!!!”

"Stop! Do you want to die?!"

Nikki twisted her body lightly in mid-air, and Frigga's bullet flew out of the chamber and hit the gangster's forehead who had no way to escape. A flower of blood burst out from the latter's forehead, and he fell straight back.

Yang raised her hand to catch the ejected shell, picked up the black-haired girl again with both hands and landed smoothly, then started running again.

"Follow me! That bitch killed the head (かしら)!"

Tsk... I seem to have gotten into some trouble. I hope the commander won't blame me.

As Yang was thinking, she grabbed the gangster closest to her and threw him into the middle of the hospital's side door that was slowly closing. Before the unlucky guy could figure out what was happening, Nikki stepped on his head and pushed it back. His body was also trapped in the side door, and he couldn't help but scream in pain.

"little Red Riding Hood!"

【Received. Received.】

Holding Asukai Muji in her arms, Yang jumped out of the door. The engines of the two black cars in front of her were immediately smashed, and black smoke and a burnt smell poured out, making the surrounding gangsters look at each other in bewilderment.

The next second, the bricks and stones on the roadside were shattered, and the rapidly flying debris immediately hit the two gangsters who were about to give chase - the debris pierced deeply into their thighs, causing the two men to stumble and fall to the ground, their faces covered with cold sweat from the pain.

Nikki ran wildly along the road, and the gangsters who finally opened the side door of the hospital chased after her, shouting. Not only that, the black car coming from other directions also gave chase.

It was office hours, and the streets near the hospital weren't particularly busy, so naturally, there weren't many pedestrians on the road. This was a bit convenient for Yang, as she didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of her.

Running all the way into the parking lot where the Fiat was parked, Yang put Asuka Iki in the back seat and then started the car - the yellow car passed through the gangsters with a cute buzzing sound, making them dodge in panic, but three or four black cars just caught up, and the shrill horn sounds suddenly resounded throughout the street!

"Little Red Riding Hood," Yang inquired, glancing in the rearview mirror before flooring the accelerator. "How many cars are behind me?"

[Hmm...about four. Oh, there might be another one coming from the left at the second traffic light ahead.]

"You need to change the scene."

[I'm doing it right now. Oh my god, you're such a big shot! I'm trying my best to jump between tall buildings! Just like Spider-Man.]

Listening to the complaints coming from the headphones, Yang's mouth curled up slightly, but the smile quickly disappeared in the sound of the wind whistling past the car window.

The Fiat was driving through the not-so-dense traffic, with the black car behind it chasing closely, causing passers-by to exclaim in surprise, as if this prison made of steel and concrete had some fresh air, adding a touch of bright color to the extremely dull daily life.

After carefully recalling the nearby map, Nikki swerved the steering wheel, causing the Fiat to break through the roadside fence and drive diagonally down the gentle slope covered with grass. Then she crashed through the fence of the road below and drove smoothly on the straight park ring road.

Nikki glanced at the rearview mirror and saw only a black car following behind her, its front bumper distorted by the impact.

"It's really haunting," Yang sighed, and then saw the black car suddenly accelerate, almost to the same level as the Fiat -

The gangsters in the black car saw the yellow car roll down its window and an M4 rifle sticking out from inside.

Without any hesitation, the gangster driving the car immediately stepped on the brakes, and then looked at the person sitting in the passenger seat in surprise:

Forget the pistol, but this standard assault rifle used by the US Special Forces... where did the people in the car get it?! Could our organization be involved in some secret conflict between multinational consortiums?!

Unlike the car behind that had stopped moving, Nikki soon saw two black cars blocking the road in front of her. Six gangsters in suits got out of the cars, holding various machetes and baseball bats full of nails.

Their faces were full of ferocious expressions. The guys standing in the front and the back were also carrying pistols, and it was obvious that they had no idea what had just happened.

"Little Red Riding Hood, can you handle this?"

"Yes, I can, but I can't use bullets to move the cars blocking your way. You still need to get out of the car... Why don't you just get out and kill them one by one? It'll be much faster than me going over to cover you. There aren't many people in the park anyway, so even if we see you, it won't matter—you're just born with supernatural powers."

"Understood. Wait, the commander is calling."

【…】

"...Yes, as you wish, Commander Rhodes."

Yang parked the car, opened the door and got out, clenching her fists as she walked towards the gangsters in front.

One minute later.

"Oh, what a nice day today, Miyuki."

"Yeah, I thought so too, Natsumi," Miyuki Kobayakawa of the Mototo Police Department's Traffic Division replied to her partner, Natsumi Tsujimoto, with a smile, "but the weather forecast says there will be a little snow this afternoon."

“It may not come down.”

"I'm actually hoping it snows so I can go back to the police station and stay comfortable."

Before Miyuki Kobayakawa could finish her words, a man in a black suit fell from the sky and landed on their police car, almost smashing the roof.

Miyuki Kobayakawa: "..."

Natsumi Tsujimoto: “…It’s really snowing.”

Chapter 106 Return (2.5K)

After sending the Amakura sisters back home and leaving their contact information, Rhodes and Sawai Soichiro rushed back to downtown Tokyo. But halfway there, he received a call from Yang. Nikki's voice was still as calm as ever:

"Commander, it's over."

"How's it going?"

"Those gangsters have been shaken off, but I didn't have time to extract any information from them... The female police officers in Tokyo are still chasing them closely."

"..."

Rhodes was silent for a few seconds. He exhaled slowly and calmed down. "Is the police officer who was chasing you okay?"

"I tied them up and threw them into the police car. I also destroyed any equipment that might have filmed us. I also used their phones to call the police."

"Yang, be careful when you're hanging around that area next time."

"Got it, but you don't have to worry. I've taken pictures of their faces with my camera. If anything goes wrong, I can quickly locate their homes."

Box hit, right?!

After giving a few more instructions and hanging up the phone, Rod gripped the steering wheel and sighed deeply. Seeing him like this, Sawai Soichiro said with a smile:

"It can be solved as long as no one is killed."

"No one will be killed, but I'm afraid I'll be blackmailed by the local police station," Rhodes said expressionlessly. "Using the policewoman's own phone to call the police is no different from robbing the police station."

"This is indeed a troublesome matter, but I also have a few friends in the Metropolitan Police Department named Hattori..."

"How come you have friends everywhere?!"

"Haha, young man, it's good to make more friends."

Relaxed, Rod slowed down the car and even felt like appreciating the winter scenery of the Japanese mountains and forests. Perhaps because the population was concentrated in a few large urban areas, there were not many traces of human beings here. There were only snow-covered forests covering the undulating mountains.

After driving for a while, human villages and cities appeared before Rhode one after another. The dull and monotonous buildings gave him a false sense of security. An annoying clamor gradually pressed against the car window, becoming more aggressive as the car approached the city, and finally, it was transmitted into the car without restraint.

The weather is not very good. The dark clouds are spreading around the city and slowly moving downwards. Maybe it will snow in a few hours.

The car radio was playing the news that "Anshining" was going to be launched in Japan. After the news ended, it changed to the humming sound of Noh drama performance, but it didn't last long before Rod switched to the gossip channel about Japanese celebrities.

Sitting in the co-pilot seat, Soichiro Sawai was looking through the information Rhodes had found. These ancient texts and diaries were written by Seijiro Makabe, and they detailed the rituals and history of Kaigami Village. The projector was placed quietly on his legs.

"Are you satisfied with my gift?"

Rod asked, rolling down the window slightly to smoke a cigarette. But as soon as he took out the cigarette case, he remembered that he didn't have a lighter - there was no way to light a cigarette with a flamethrower here, and there didn't seem to be a cigarette lighter in this car.

"Very satisfied. I've had a hard time finding systematic records of rituals related to the Otherworld. This is very important to the Foundation," Sawai Soichiro said with a smile. But he paused for a few seconds and said with emotion, "If this ritual proves to be applicable to other Otherworld rifts, that would be a good thing too."

Just sacrificing one of the twins can suppress the rift in the inner world for decades. Such a good thing is hard to find even with a lantern.

Rhode understood what Sawai Souichiro meant, but he did not refute him. Instead, he talked about other topics:

"Does the Foundation have any methods for dealing with incorporeal enemies?"

"Some priests can perform exorcisms," Sawai Soichiro replied. "There are several highly respected priests among the Foundation members. I think you could seek their help—for example, blessing a bullet or something like that. That should be helpful."

"I have nuns at home, very cute ones... and for God's sake, don't joke with me now, Director Sawai."

"Before you showed up, the Foundation's successive directors and members hadn't encountered more than a hundred otherworldly events worth mentioning in decades. This was especially true of those difficult-to-identify incidents—often, after expending considerable effort to investigate, it was discovered that the individuals involved simply ate poisonous mushrooms or licked toads. It wasn't uncommon for this to happen."

Sawai sighed, took the projector in his hand and examined it carefully, but he did not try to take it apart.

"How could we possibly know how to fight incorporeal enemies? You'd need to ask Irons; his research department might be conducting research. But then again, I can ask the Greek-born Director, Noptus XVI, for you. He's currently recompiling and digitizing ancient texts, and I think he might be able to make some discoveries."

"I see... If I have time, I'll go to Europe. I remember there's a director of the Cogito Foundation in France."

"Yes, Charles Jean Plessis, who runs the largest and most extensive logistics company in Europe, and even has logistics stations in the Middle East and North Africa," Sawai Soichiro said of his colleague and good friend, but he was also troubled by the latter's optimistic nature and obsession with speed - but he did marry a good wife with his superb driving skills, and also had a powerful father-in-law.

The two people in the car fell silent for a moment, but soon, Rhodes reached out and patted the projector, smiling and said:

"I'll go back and bring this thing to the researchers first. Then you can look for more records of the inventor, Kunihiko Aso, in Japan. If that doesn't work, you can just approve more funding for the researchers at Atlas and Aperture Science so they have some spare cash to buy more conditioner...it'll definitely come in handy in the future."

"Ha! I don't think conditioner will solve the problem."

Sawai Soichiro was amused by Rhode's joke. He laughed and waved the information in his hand. After the laughter died down, he slowly said:

"I have to say, you're a wonderful person, Rod. When we get to the hot spring hotel, I'll introduce you to my friend, my best friend."

"Then I would rather obey your orders than be respectful."

During the rest of the journey, Sawai talked to Rhodes about some recent events in Japan, and also talked about other directors of the foundation.

The Cogito Foundation is more like a closely connected secret investigation society than an armed organization fighting against the other world. Of course, after Ains joined, the foundation has also undergone some changes.

So, about an hour later, Rhodes saw Little Red Riding Hood in front of the hot spring hotel. She was looking at the tattered yellow Fiat with regret, holding a hammer and wrench in her hands, and seemed to be planning to repair the car.

After noticing the car approaching, red-haired Nikki turned around and waved to Rhodes with a smile:

"You have to pay the fine, Commander!"

"Is it appropriate to bring this up right after we met?!" Rhodes got out of the car in a bad mood and reached out to mess up Little Red Riding Hood's hair. The latter fought back without showing any weakness, but before Nikki raised her hand, she remembered something important:

"You'd better get in quickly, Commander. A menacing-looking old man came over and said he'd already booked a room here, and he'd booked it with Mr. Sawai."

Hearing this, Rhode turned his head to look at Sawai Soichiro who was getting off the car with a pile of information. The latter was stunned, and a smile appeared on his face:

"That must be my friend coming over."

"Excuse me, I never thought of asking, but who is your friend——"