The shogunate compound in Edo looked exactly like an ancient castle of an island nation.
It stood out sharply, completely at odds with the city's otherwise modern skyline.
In the vast city of Edo, the only district that still preserved many historical relics was Kabukichō.
Xiang Nan's five‑person team slipped into the shogunate castle with ease.
They immediately split up, each taking responsibility for searching a different sector of the compound,
looking for any intelligence or clues connected to the Tendoushuu.
Inside the castle each national agency had its own precinct—essentially an office block.
Xiang Nan infiltrated the Cabinet without a hitch.
His chosen target was a minister—one of the shogunate's top power‑brokers in the current regime.
That minister's private quarters lay inside the Cabinet sector.
Since they could not lay a finger on story‑critical NPCs, they would have to make someone else their leverage.
Anything concerning the Tendoushuu was strictly classified within the shogunate;
ordinary people certainly knew nothing about it.
Everyone understood that in Edo the Amanto (aliens) reigned supreme, yet the Tendoushuu's meddling in shogunate politics was not so overt—at least to the average citizen.
Soldiers patrolled every corner of the fortress; security was extremely tight.
But for Xiang Nan's team, once they activated "Zetsu," as long as they stayed out of sight the guards would not react, even if the intruders brushed right past them.
Soon he arrived at a minister's residence
and vaulted over the wall into the courtyard.
That Tokugawa Shigeshige… he's become a total lapdog of the Amanto! Our Hitotsubashi faction doesn't have a shred of influence anymore."
"The Shōgun isn't wholly dependent on the Amanto. I heard he once tried—secretly—to abdicate, but the Amanto refused. The Tendoushuu doesn't want instability in the shogunate.
In the end, they still fear us. Whether it's the Tokugawa house or our Hitotsubashi faction,
we're all just puppets of the Tendoushuu. Whoever takes the throne is still their chess piece."
"They'd rather see our two factions fight each other than establish a clear government…
They treat us like players in their game."
Late at night, in a tatami‑floored side room, two shogunate politicians sat cross‑legged, drinking and grumbling.
"Can you get in touch with the Tendoushuu?"
While they spoke, an unfamiliar voice cut in.
Both men jumped.
Turning, they saw a mysterious figure in a black trench coat standing not far away—no one knew when he had entered.
"You—!"
One man's face changed; just as he opened his mouth to shout, crack! a pebble flicked by Xiang Nan exploded his skull.
Blood spattered across the table.
"I want to meet the Tendoushuu… could you arrange an introduction?"
Xiang Nan's calm gaze fell on the dumbstruck survivor.
…
Half a quarter‑hour later, Xiang Nan—disguised as the surviving official's aide—strode openly out of the residence.
They reached a secret facility the Amanto maintained inside the Cabinet sector.
This was a Cabinet‑level forbidden zone.
Even ordinary shogunate rulers were barred from entry;
Shōgun Tokugawa Shige‑Shige or Hitotsubashi faction leader Hitotsubashi Nobunobu had to request permission first.
This unremarkable building was, in truth, the real power center behind the shogunate façade.
"Th‑this… is the place…"
The shaken official pointed at a gate hung with white lanterns.
His face was deathly pale; his eyes kept darting at the surrounding darkness.
"Thank you," Xiang Nan said with a smile.
Before the words had faded, a dagger whistled through the air and buried itself in the man's forehead, killing him.
Unmoved, Xiang Nan walked toward the gate.
In the next instant, shadows leapt up under the night sky.
They wore straw hats and carried staffs with golden rings, looking like monks,
their faces almost completely wrapped in white cloth, only their eyes exposed.
Murderous intent rolled off them.
Clearly they meant to execute the trespasser.
They were, of course, subordinates of the Tendoushuu.
Xiang Nan had sensed them long ago—they had been watching him for some time.
Swish, swish, swish—
Dozens of figures charged and hurled throwing weapons like a rainstorm.
Xiang Nan strolled on as though they—and the weapons—were air.
His silhouette blurred and vanished.
Knives and shuriken drove deep into the flagstones where he had been.
"Huh?"
The attackers froze, their target gone.
In that instant every body shuddered; the light in their eyes shifted.
They had glimpsed a black shadow—and then found they could no longer move.
Every one of their throats had been slit in the same fashion, blood jetting out.
The man they meant to kill had somehow shifted from before them to behind them, now standing by the stone archway.
A small silver scalpel dripped blood in Xiang Nan's hand.
He extended one arm and, using brute physical strength, pushed open the tall iron gate.
As metal bars screeched and tore, the Tendō troops collapsed as though a trigger had been flipped, corpses littering the ground.
Beyond the gate rose a small inner fortress, stone‑walled like a bastion.
Fighting sounds burst out inside, then fell abruptly silent.
"So this isn't the Tendoushuu's main base… Looks like Beishi's hunch was right:
the core members must be hiding elsewhere. This place is only a control hub for the shogunate."
Inside a hall ablaze with candles, Xiang Nan turned his gaze to the sole survivor—the one he had spared on purpose.
"You're the Tendoushuu's contact? Take me to their base."
"Who are you?"
The man, garbed like a monk but without a hat and in differently colored robes—clearly a Tendō uniform—trembled as he spoke.
Though swathed head to toe, his build was obviously non‑human.
From the gate to this hall, every Tendō operative had been slain in an instant; the air stank of blood, bodies strewn from courtyard to dais.
The stranger had slaughtered them like livestock—none had even reacted before dying.
Such terrifying combat ability was beyond the monk's comprehension.
Xiang Nan ignored the question.
He summoned a system screen and skimmed the messages from his squad channel, then kicked aside a corpse and stepped toward the monk.
Seeing this, the monk's eyes hardened.
He seemed to bite something hidden in his mouth; froth bubbled from his lips and he collapsed, apparently having swallowed poison.
"Tch, stubborn…"
Xiang Nan raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
"Too bad—while I'm here, you won't die.
Even if you don't want to talk, soon your mouth won't be yours to command.
From the look of you, you can hold out a bit longer."
Summoning his Nen ability "Hands of Love," Xiang Nan drew on a pair of white gloves.