Chapter 6: "The Sinigami is Coming"
The Beika Aquarium is built in a relatively remote area away from residential districts.
This area is commercial, and most of the shops here make money from the foot traffic attracted by the aquarium. However, at this hour, with the aquarium already closed, the surrounding shops have also shut down.
Late night—
On the deserted streets, the only sound was the cold air being transported by a few vending machines. At nearly eleven o'clock, there wasn't even a car in sight on the roads, only the pale light of streetlights illuminating the cold asphalt of the night.
"The rat has arrived."
On the roof of a building not far away, Vodka, who was looking down, said mockingly.
In front of his line of sight, a man in a blue jacket could be seen walking with a cigarette in his mouth, heading straight to the second alley next to the aquarium, where he stopped at the alley entrance.
That was Ansei HiroNobu, the small rat the organization ordered to be dealt with.
"The other protagonist hasn't appeared yet. What about the time?"
"It'll be eleven in five minutes, Boss."
"Heh."
Gin stood with his hands in his pockets, his gaze cold as he looked down at the target on the street in the distance.
However, there was also an impatient person joining this operation, who even eagerly called Gin's phone directly.
"Are you ready yet? I say, why don't you just let me shoot that little rat's head off and call it a day!"
"No, only fire when you receive my command."
"Huh?"
The woman on the other end of the line immediately became displeased.
But Gin lacked the patience to appease this crazy woman, so he hung up the phone directly before she could say anything more.
"Compared to Chianti, Korn is definitely more reliable..."
Vodka muttered quietly.
Gin did not respond.
He hadn't directly informed Chianti about this operation; he had only told her to come and stand by as insurance—Ansei HiroNobu was just a small-time character, but his personal qualities were certainly better than untrained ordinary people. Therefore, arranging Chianti here was to prevent Hayashi Yoshiki from making a mistake and letting the rat escape.
"Boss, it's almost 11 o'clock."
"Keep waiting."
Gin was expressionless.
Vodka obediently said nothing, just held his camera, ready at any moment.
Now, they just waited for Hayashi Yoshiki to act, and this camera would capture his criminal evidence, thus controlling the seemingly brilliant new mystery novelist.
However, they waited until 23:04, and Hayashi Yoshiki's figure still did not appear. Ansei HiroNobu, unaware of his impending demise, was also frequently checking the time on his phone.
Killing intent gradually emerged in Gin's eyes.
"I didn't expect such a fool to dare to disobey orders..."
His voice was chilling as he picked up his phone.
When Hayashi Yoshiki left the Daikoku Building last night, Gin had already arranged for another low-level member to follow and monitor him, to prevent him from foolishly choosing to betray the organization.
However, Gin never said too much to his subordinates; the order he gave was just to keep an eye on Hayashi Yoshiki and report if he showed any signs of leaving Mihua City.
At this moment, Gin's killing intent was incredibly fierce.
He ordered Vodka to send a message to the outer member sent to monitor Hayashi Yoshiki to inquire about his whereabouts, while also personally calling Hayashi Yoshiki.
To his surprise, the call was answered immediately—
"Hello?"
"You're bolder than I imagined, Novelist." The killing intent in Gin's tone was bone-chilling.
"Good evening, Mr. Gin."
The voice from the other end still carried an incredible sense of tranquility.
Gin heard the other party seem to chuckle.
"Because killing someone at exactly 11 o'clock is too conspicuous, would you mind waiting a moment?"
"Let me check the current time? 11:05:21..."
"Almost."
"37, 36, 35, 34..."
The clear voice on the other end of the phone suddenly began to count down.
Gin narrowed his eyes slightly.
He suddenly turned to look at Vodka, and amidst the other party's somewhat confused reaction, he carefully sensed and confirmed that there should be no abnormalities around, while covering the earpiece of the phone in his hand—
"Ask Chianti if there's anything unusual around."
"Ah, okay!"
Vodka immediately complied.
The precise countdown on the other end of the phone continued.
Soon, Gin received Chianti's response that she hadn't found anything. After ignoring her repeated request to ask if she could shoot, he suddenly heard her say that a fast-moving dump truck was approaching from the three o'clock direction.
Gin immediately turned to look.
"20, 19, 18, 17, 16... 10, 9, 8, 7..."
Under the gentle countdown, the lights of the rapidly moving dump truck illuminated the road at night as if it were daytime.
Ansei HiroNobu, waiting under the streetlight at the alley entrance, was drawn by the sound and looked up, only to see the dump truck, which was originally driving on a normal road, suddenly jolt its front wheel, cracking and vibrating, causing the vehicle to lose balance and veer over. The dazzling lights consequently shone entirely on him!
Ansei HiroNobu screamed and hurriedly retreated to the side, while the somewhat drowsy driver inside the truck was also startled, sharply gripping the steering wheel and maneuvering the unbalanced dump truck to the side, barely grazing Ansei HiroNobu and violently knocking down the nearby streetlight—
Did it fail?
Gin, who had witnessed the entire scene, had just felt bored when he suddenly realized that the sound from his phone was still coming—the countdown wasn't over yet!?
...4...3...2...1...
Ansei HiroNobu, who had escaped a close call, was sitting on the ground, about to breathe a sigh of relief, when he didn't notice that the nearby knocked-down streetlight violently snapped the bundle of wires at the alley entrance and the iron frame supporting the aquarium's neon sign above, causing the neon light box above to lose its support, sparking dazzling fireworks and swaying precariously under the pull of the wires—
"0—"
The moment the words fell,
The precariously swaying light box, dragging crackling wires, along with the broken iron frame, smashed Ansei HiroNobu, who hadn't even had time to get up, to the ground—
"..."
Silence visited this rooftop.
No more sound came from the other end of the phone, and Gin's eyes widened as he looked at Ansei HiroNobu, buried there, unable to speak for a moment.
After a long while,
"Mr. Gin."
"Hello?"
The voice from the phone was still filled with tranquility.
But Gin's mood was a bit hard to calm down. He replayed the incredible accident that had happened right under his nose.
If it were to be said that this was the result of meticulous calculation, he could naturally accept it, but could calculation really be so precise, down to the second?
He unconsciously grinned.
His dark green eyes burst with excitement and pleasure.
"...Truly unexpected."
"Boss, there's a reply."
Vodka, who had also witnessed the entire process, felt a chill. The sudden message he received made him jolt, and he quickly handed it to Gin.
The moment Gin saw the content of the message, his pupils suddenly contracted.
"Lord Gin, the target has been in his apartment since 7 PM and hasn't gone out."
He hasn't gone out...
"How did he do that?!"
Gin's grip on his phone tightened as he realized that the talent he had just discovered was far more outstanding than he had imagined.
"Interesting!"
"By the way, may I ask? When the target was crushed to death, he should have landed on his chest, right?"
The commotion on the ground in the distance startled the residents in the surrounding area.
As curious individuals stepped out of their homes or peered out of windows to check the situation, Hayashi Yoshiki's words clearly reached Gin and Vodka's ears on the top floor, where only the wind whistled.
"No, he landed on his back."
Vodka answered subconsciously—because Ansei HiroNobu was crushed before he could get up, he saw it clearly.
And it was upon hearing his reply that the originally gentle voice on the phone suddenly became irritable: "Tch!"
...
To be continued...