This result left Miwako speechless, her mouth slightly open with nothing to say in response.
A killer organization that had been around for so long, making large-scale moves, and even daring to infiltrate a country directly… She could hardly believe the authorities didn't know its true purpose.
If anything, she suspected that after discovering its goals, many officials were quietly waiting to see if the organization could actually produce tangible results.
"Maybe it's just like you said."
"For such a bold organization to infiltrate a country, I'm sure the government would have investigated it immediately. A killer organization is no match for a state apparatus."
"But if it still exists, then there must be a reason the state allows it to."
Miwako took a deep breath.
"Other than immortality, it's hard to think of another reason."
But that led to another question.
"So if the state knows what they're doing, why not dismantle the group completely and take over the research themselves?"
Ren shook his head.
"Miwako, doing that would mean enormous fiscal spending and would also risk drawing the attention of other countries."
"Besides Japan, think about how many other countries are watching."
"The CIA, the KGB, MI6, Mossad."
"And beyond these intelligence agencies, there are plenty of other foreign powers keeping an eye on things. Do you think any one country can act unilaterally under these circumstances?"
"There are so many intelligence operatives embedded within that assassin organization that many of its core members are actually agents from various nations. With that many undercover operatives involved, almost every country has a stake in it."
"In that situation, which country do you think would suddenly make a move to wipe the organization out?"
Hearing this, Miwako felt her scalp tingle again.
It was hard to imagine such a killer group being such a tangled mess of operatives from different countries.
Thinking back to Ren's earlier explanation, she found herself believing it more and more. It was likely that all the countries with people inside already knew the group's ultimate purpose.
"So all countries actually know about this organization?"
Ren nodded slightly, speaking as if it were obvious.
"It's because every country knows the group's ultimate goal that they're willing to let it keep operating."
"The harder this organization works, the more patient those countries will be in waiting for results."
"Otherwise, why would they tolerate a killer organization that does whatever it wants?"
That made sense.
After thinking carefully, Miwako agreed that the group couldn't possibly ignore state authority. The only real difference lay in the organization's own research into longevity.
By now, she had a general understanding of the group.
"But can they really develop a drug for longevity?"
Ren shook his head slightly.
"So-called longevity is really just about inhibiting the body's cell division cycle, or increasing cell activity and the number of cell divisions."
"So, they can't make a true immortality drug. At best, they can produce something that prolongs life."
Miwako nodded in agreement.
"But even prolonging life is pretty impressive."
"It's not immortality, but being able to extend life would at least prove their research direction is correct."
Ren didn't refute that.
From what he knew, Crow's research direction was indeed correct. Compared to doing nothing, prolonging life was a necessary step toward immortality.
"That's why so many official organizations are keeping an eye on them."
Miwako nodded and then brought the conversation back to the billion-yen robbery.
"So, who was behind that robbery?"
Ren didn't hide it, answering directly.
"The mastermind was the daughter of the developer of the life-extending drug. She planned the robbery because a key member of the organization told her that if she could produce 1 billion yen, her sister would be released."
"The daughter of the developer of the life-extending drug? Then who's the sister she's trying to save?"
"A key member of the organization who inherited the drug research from their parents and continued it."
Miwako's mouth twitched.
"So the promise to release her sister was just to toy with her."
Would they really let go of such a valuable talent? Obviously, it was a scam.
"They were just playing with her. The real reason was that she had ties to the CIA. The core members who orchestrated this made that promise specifically to get rid of her."
"…"
How could someone like that survive in such a cutthroat organization?
Then she remembered the sister's identity and importance to the organization, and she understood.
The only reason the woman was still alive was because the organization wanted to use her as leverage against her sister.
"My goodness, they're using both sisters against each other."
"On one hand, the older sister is used to threaten the younger. On the other, the younger is used to threaten the older."
After hearing this, Miwako finally understood why Ren had targeted the bank robber.
"So, you plan to make her one of the believers?"
"I think a sister who wants to save her sibling will know what choice to make after witnessing a miracle."
"Of course."
After seeing that kind of ability, anyone would know which path to choose.
Miwako didn't believe that an older sister carrying the burden of saving her younger sister would choose wrong.
(To be continued.)