Satoshi Miyahara's hand, hidden just out of view behind the seat, crept toward his gun, ready to shoot the hostage.
But the moment his fingers twitched, Jiangxia—like he had X-ray vision—suddenly raised his hand and cracked the butt of the gun into the side of Miyahara's neck.
A jolt of blinding pain sent Miyahara reeling. He groaned through gritted teeth, his vision swimming. He stayed conscious, but his limbs refused to cooperate. The hand fishing for the gun twitched and fell limp.
Jiangxia calmly reached over, retrieved the dropped gun, and tucked it away.
Then, with practiced ease, he nudged the driver's seat with the gun muzzle and said again, "To Yamahira Town."
Yamahira Town wasn't far from Beika, but it was a bit of a wasteland—disorganized and empty.
A perfect place where no one would hear you scream.
Yamada, the poor soul behind the wheel, flinched at the cold poke in the back. He immediately abandoned the "I can't hear you" act and hit the gas toward Yamahira.
He'd definitely heard the awful crunch when Jiangxia smacked his boss earlier, and he had no desire to experience it firsthand. Plus, of the three of them, he was the only one unarmed and the least experienced. Which made him, officially, the easiest pot to break.
Despite his desperate will to live and his obedience, he got jabbed again in the waist.
Apparently, the hostage had standards.
"Watch your speed. Don't attract the traffic police."
"…"
Yamada hadn't even considered that. But now that it was mentioned, yeah—if he got pulled over, he might actually have a shot at escaping.
Too bad this yinbi hostage patched the loophole before he could even think of it.
With a tearful nod and a broken spirit, Yamada slowed the car and meekly drove to Yamahira, as instructed.
——
Jiangxia didn't bother knocking the three men out.
Unconscious people don't leak killing intent, after all. And that would defeat the whole point.
So the whole crew, including the number two guy Jiangxia had been using as a footrest the entire ride, were very much awake when they reached Yamahira.
Jiangxia avoided any hint of civilization, chose a deserted corner, had the driver stop the car, then hauled the three of them out one by one. He wrapped his scarf tighter and pulled out his collapsible baton.
Yes, today was supposed to be an Organization meetup.
But hey, getting kidnapped was just one of those unavoidable "sudden murders" life threw his way. Surely the Organization would understand.
Right?
——
Meanwhile, on a rooftop far away—
Vermouth shoved aside sniper Korn and used his scope to watch the alley scene unfold.
She raised an eyebrow, quoting Gin's earlier summary of the situation: "'No big deal'?"
Gin, standing next to her, puffed on his cigarette in grim silence.
He agreed with Vodka on at least one thing: there was no way Ouzo (Jiangxia) would be taken hostage that easily. So the fact that he'd been thrown into a car without resistance? Highly suspicious.
Gin's mind buzzed with possibilities.
Maybe Ouzo had been secretly targeting someone important again, got discovered, and this kidnapping was retaliation. Or maybe this was another one of his weird test-the-waters strategies, luring the enemy into acting so he could flip the script and make the Organization clean up the mess.
So Gin, annoyed but cautious, decided not to interfere just yet. He even brought along Korn, the sniper who usually had nothing better to do, to see what kind of twisted screenplay Ouzo had cooked up this time—and whether it might actually be useful.
But Ouzo hadn't given any indication he wanted backup.
Instead, he'd strong-armed the kidnappers, dragged them to a deserted area, and started methodically beating the crap out of them.
Gin watched the scene for a few more minutes.
Finally, he gave up trying to find deeper meaning.
Today's plan, it turned out, was simple.
Ouzo just wanted to beat people up.
And judging from the occasional glimpse of his face under the scarf, he was really enjoying it.
No wonder newspapers sometimes ran headlines like Famous Detective Beats Up Suspects. Tch. Even top talent had flaws, it seemed. Especially flaws like this, which were bad for staying undercover.
After another minute of observation, Gin flicked his cigarette to the ground and told Korn to pack it up: "Go take a look."
——
By now, Jiangxia had already extracted some killing intent from the goons. But most of it came from the two underlings.
The boss of the bunch, Satoshi Miyahara, had realized Jiangxia wasn't going to kill them—so he still harbored thoughts of escape, revenge on the celebrities he failed to assassinate, and maybe even murdering this weird hostage while he was at it.
So instead of losing his killing intent, it only grew stronger.
He was extremely resilient to beatings. He even seemed to be getting used to them.
Jiangxia stared at Miyahara's twisted yet peaceful expression. The air around him was starting to fill with a thick, almost seductive aroma of intent.
Jiangxia paused, considering other ways to extract it.
But before he could switch tactics, he noticed something.
The ghosts who'd been busy floating around him all suddenly stopped and turned to look behind him.
And at the same moment, a voice rang out from behind:
"Ouzo."
Jiangxia: "…"
He froze for just a second, then casually dropped his baton and turned around.
A black Porsche had pulled up at the alley entrance.
All the windows on his side were down. Gin was in the front seat. In the back, a blonde, blue-eyed beauty—Vermouth—watched him with amused interest.
Jiangxia gave Gin a polite nod.
Then his gaze shifted, almost involuntarily, to Vermouth.
Sure enough, faint wisps of killing intent curled around her. And the moment their eyes met, that scent thickened.
The people in the Porsche got out of the car.
Jiangxia quickly pocketed the baton.
Back at the Beika General Building, when Gin's car had turned that corner, it happened to block Jiangxia's line of sight at the exact moment the kidnappers were grabbing people. Combined with the concentrated killing intent inside the van, Jiangxia hadn't noticed the tail at all.
And then Gin, overthinking as usual, had deliberately kept his distance—staying just far enough out of range to avoid the ghosts' detection.
So this surprise visit… was actually a little embarrassing.
Jiangxia had technically ditched the Organization meetup—and now he'd been caught red-handed.
But the awkwardness quickly gave way to something else when he got a good look at Vermouth.
Her killing intent was delicious.
Not as overwhelming as Gin's, but cleaner. It had a crisp, fruity scent.
Apples.
The ghosts—the mermaid, Akemi Miyano, even the tengu—immediately ditched the sprawled-out kidnappers and floated toward Vermouth, tugging at the threads of killing intent around her like kids fighting over a toy.
They clearly had a new favorite.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 60/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*