Chapter 87: Only Two Thousand Today, Tested Positive
A vast sea of emerald green forest, with the snow-capped Mount Fuji visible in the distance.
Aokigahara Forest. This place is very famous in Japan, and even the world, for two reasons.
First, this forest was originally a famous scenic spot at the foot of Mount Fuji in Japan, where the view of Mount Fuji is breathtakingly beautiful. The second point is suicide. The forest here is so dense that after a suicide is completed, the corpse may never be found by anyone again.
Because people often come here to end their life, Japan's Aokigahara Forest is also known as the "Suicide Forest".
A helicopter hovered above the sea of trees, flying towards the depths of the forest. Looking down, the area was filled with huge, uncut tall trees.
Many wooden houses could be vaguely seen hidden within the jungle.
"Lord!"
The helicopter landed on the ground. A group of black-clothed Ninja bowed and waited in front of the helicopter.
The one leading them was a middle-aged man wearing wooden clogs and a Kimono!
"Sowande, Alexandra, Bakuto, have they all arrived?"
"Lord, the Lords have been waiting for a long time!"
The black-clothed Ninja bowed and saluted.
"Mm, let's go see them!"
The origin of The Hand can be traced back hundreds of years. Madame Gao, Sowande, Murakami, Bakuto, and Alexandra were all Outer Disciple of K'un-Lun who stole K'un-Lun's secret treasure, the Dragon Bone. To escape K'un-Lun's pursuit, they established The Hand in Japan.
The five of them are collectively known as The Hand's Five Fingers, and they have lived for hundreds of years by relying on the power of the Dragon Bone.
This forest at the foot of Mount Fuji is their private reserve. It's hard to say how many of the people who committed suicide over the years were "made" to commit suicide because they stumbled upon The Hand's Base.
"Murakami, you're late!!"
Inside a disguised wooden house, Murakami was seen pushing the door open and entering.
A tall black man wearing a suit looked up at him.
He was Sowande, one of the Five Fingers.
Bakuto was a large white man, and Alexandra was the only female besides Madame Gao.
Murakami was not in the mood to bicker with Sowande right now. He looked at the three people sitting there and delivered some bad news.
"We just received information. Tanaka Hayato failed, and all the Ninja we sent to reinforce him died in glory!"
Murakami rubbed his temples: "Everyone, our time is running out. If we don't get the Dragon Bone within a year, we'll soon be meeting Madame Gao!"
Murakami's words immediately made the expression on the faces of the other three Fingers become anxious.
The few of them had lived for hundreds of years relying on the power of the Dragon Bone, but now the Dragon Bone was almost exhausted.
This also meant that without the power of the Dragon Bone, they would soon age and die like normal people.
Having enjoyed glory and wealth for hundreds of years, they were naturally unwilling to accept this.
But to extend their life, their only method was to find another piece of Dragon Bone.
There was definitely a place that had Dragon Bone, but that was K'un-Lun, and they absolutely dared not go back there.
They spent decades finally inquiring about the whereabouts of another piece of Dragon Bone.
It was in New York, which was also the reason Madame Gao had been stationed in New York all this time.
The regrettable thing was, not only had they not found the Dragon Bone, but one of their Five Fingers had been forcibly broken off.
Regarding Madame Gao's death, although the four of them felt a bit like sympathizing with a fellow sufferer, the most important thing now was to obtain the Dragon Bone.
However, after much thought, the few of them still couldn't think of a method to get rid of the trouble that was Tang Song. After all, New York was currently this newly risen underworld emperor's turf.
"If that still doesn't work, then we'll borrow the strength of the Yashida clan. We'll enter New York through legitimate ways and excavate the Dragon Bone under the name of real estate development!"
...
"Mr. Frank, Aokigahara Forest is just ahead!"
A bus was driving on the Highway leading to Aokigahara Forest. The bus had the slogan of Sato Travel Agency printed on it.
Of course, this travel agency was just Ken Sato's family's sideline business; Ken Sato's main business was selling firearms.
Ken Sato knew very early on that the more a country prohibited something, the more that thing was definitely a profitable industry.
Japan was a country that prohibited guns. Ken Sato had been very interested in firearms since he was a child. Later, by chance, he became Yuri's dealer, responsible for Yuri's business in Japan.
However, due to Japan's system, although Ken Sato's business wasn't exactly small-scale, he only sold a few hundred handguns each year.
When he encountered a big client, they would only buy some submachine guns.
Even Ken Sato felt his scalp tingling when he saw the items Yuri had shipped to the warehouse this time.
From the back seat of the driver's seat, Ken Sato said to Frank with a slightly trembling voice.
He couldn't help but be nervous. The bus was packed full of Big man over 1.9 meters tall.
Under the Seat of these fierce-looking Big man, there was a bulging luggage bag.
Ken Sato had personally taken the items out of the warehouse, and he knew the power of these weapons.
As an Arms Dealer, Ken Sato didn't care about the use for which the buyers purchased the weapons.
But even if it was the Red Army, after buying so much serious hardware, shouldn't they be attacking Tokyo?! What were they doing coming to Mount Fuji?
The car drove further and further off the beaten path. Just as Ken Sato was muttering to himself, the car drove into the forest.
Ken Sato almost sat straight up. As a local person, he knew how sinister Aokigahara Forest was.
After entering the forest, the compass would automatically malfunction, causing those who entered to be unable to find a way out and get lost in the forest. Even if they didn't want to commit suicide, they would starve to death.
Although a Professor from Tokyo University had researched and pointed out that the reason for the malfunction was related to the magnetic field effect of volcanic lava.
The tree species growing in this area are simple, and the landscape in every part of the sea of trees is very similar. Furthermore, there are magnetite deposits Underground, which cause the compass to not function normally and be unable to guide climbers in the correct direction. The entire forest is lush and dense, sky-shading and sun-blocking, making it impossible to use the sun to determine bearing.
Moreover, in high mountains above an altitude of 1,500 meters, as the height increases, the air pressure decreases, and the air gradually becomes thin. When surrounded by nothing but forest and the landform lacks change, people often easily lose their sense of direction and cannot find a way out.
However, Ken Sato grew up listening to the legends of Aokigahara Forest.
He didn't believe these so-called experts' explanations.
It is said that most people who come to this forest to commit suicide choose hanging. Some residents living nearby say they often hear the sound of ropes rubbing at midnight, and some have even seen fanged, long-tongued ghosts wandering outside the forest, which is very terrifying.
"Get off the bus!"
The bus was quickly blocked by the dense tall trees. At Frank's call, the many Big man picked up the luggage bags under their Seat.
They filed out from the bus's back door.
"Let's go, together!"
Frank patted the pale-faced Ken Sato's shoulder, almost half-dragging, half-embracing him off the bus.
Gurgle, the sea of trees forest was dense. Even at midday, the dense treetops covered the woods in pitch black.
[Author's Note: Got hit, body temperature 38.1 degrees, just finished getting an injection and taking medicine. Only two thousand today, taking a leave of absence.]
(end of chapter)