Kyoto's suburb.
A group of swallows flew and the roars of wild animals repeatedly echoed over the vast expanse of a mountain range. The place was the Gene Camp as well as General Fukuda's stronghold. A cluster of ordinary barracks was built around the mountain with hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in four barracks, while inside the massif was an underground space that was limited to the field of activity of Japanese cultivators and genetic warriors.
Inside the secret room, as Ki Kitagawa held a beautiful sable. He stuffed a jade into its mouth and cracking sounds were heard as it chewed the jade. But the faint aura fluctuating from Ki Kitagawa's body made the complexions of the two men in the room change.
"You said General really doesn't have time to see me?"
Ki Kitagawa's voice sounded tranquil, but one could feel the coldness hidden within.
The two men exchanged glances and the man on the left respectfully said, "Sir Kitagawa, General Fukuda fought Yin Buddha of the Joyous Palace for a long time before. Although Yin Buddha eventually suffered heavy injuries, General Fukuda himself didn't come out unscathed either. He suffered internal injuries and is now recuperating, so he told me that he won't see anyone."
"General Fukuda is a powerful man, yet you said he's just on par with Yin Buddha?" Ki Kitagawa grimly sneered. "I feel like suffering injuries is just… an excuse not to see me!"
The man hurriedly said, "General Fukuda absolutely doesn't have such a thought, Sir Kitagawa. He mentioned you many times and told us that you sacrificed too much for the sake of the country. He also said that you could have been the deputy commander of the Gene Camp if it wasn't for the duty you carried out outside."
There was no ripple nor change on Ki Kitagawa's face, but he was sneering inwardly. Although he had been carrying out missions outside, he was crystal clear about the situation in Gene Camp; he had even secretly bought several top officials from here.
He was well aware that that General Fukuda needed him to keep monitoring the Joyous Palace and manage some issues. Else, this General who was respected by many people would have stabbed and killed him since he was like a thorn in his eyes.
Time is of the essence.
As long as I have 3 years, I'm sure I can surpass General Fukuda and make him hand over this Gene Camp to me if I oppress him by force then.
Ki Kitagawa's eyelids raised and glared at the apprehensive and scared man. He suddenly smiled and said, "You seem to have forgotten who the Master is while I was away from the Gene Camp, don't you, Sho Jo?"
In that instant, a frosty light flashed in the eyes of the man on the right. A sharp dagger instantly slashed the neck of the man next to him. He quickly pierced the man's hearts, causing blood to splatter. In just a few seconds, the man on the left was dead.
"Sir Kitagawa, this Sho Jo thinks what you said makes sense. This guy not only apparently become General Fukuda's lackey, but he also managed lots of things for him in the back. Some of which also brought disadvantages to you. However, this subordinate kept wiping off some of the traces secretly, so the issue didn't reach you." Sho Jo cupped his fist and reported.
Ki Kitagawa threw the sable in his arms to the body and let it nibble at it. He then slowly walked to the chair and took a seat, slowly speaking, "That old dog Fukuda has always been overly suspicious. I'm afraid this bastard already told Fukuda about some issues I've been dealing with. But Fukuda is seemingly reluctant or doesn't dare to do anything to me. He must keep treating me amiably as long as the Joyous Palace exists."
"But the Joyous Palace will be massacred by us sooner or later, Sir Kitagawa." Sho Jo argued. "It's very likely that he'll move against you at that time, so we need to prepare ahead of time."
"I'm well aware of it. But now is not yet the time." Ki Kitagawa nodded and said, "Also, the Joyous Palace has a deep foundation, the whole of which I'm not clear about. You can say General Fukuda is just daydreaming like a moron if he wants to completely exterminate the Joyous Palace. He couldn't even accomplish anything in the last decade."
Ring…
A faint ringtone of a cell phone sounded twice, but Ki Kitagawa's sharp hearing could clearly hear the two notification tones.
A short while after, a cold light flashed in his eyes after reading the text on his cell phone. His figure instantly vanished and, a few minutes later, an off-road car sped out of the camp and disappeared on the mountain road. The road itself was narrow, barely enough for two cars.
Whoosh!
Just as the off-road car disappeared at the end of the mountain road in the distance, a ghostly figure appeared outside the camp's gate. The slightly grey-haired General Fukuda stood straight there with a cold light flashed in his mysteriously bewitching eyes.
"General."
A red-haired man in a black coat and wearing a bronze mask appeared next to General Fukuda. The mask looked rusty, yet it added a mysterious vibe to the red-haired man.
"Do you know what made him leave this time?" said General Fukuda lightly.
"If my guess is on the mark, it should be related to the Joyous Palace," replied the red-haired man. "Our secret agent reported that he has been wanting to catch the Joyous Palace Saintess. Even before returning to the camp, he dispatched some of his men to go all out to find Gong Wan'er's traces and news."
General Fukuda furrowed his brows and said, "What's special about this Joyous Palace Saintess that makes him so fascinated by her? That old bald ass who built the Joyous Palace has been indulging himself with women literally every day. But why didn't he touch her until now?"
The red-haired man slowly replied, "Based on Kitagawa's report, that Joyous Palace's Master treats her like her daughter. But I feel that it's not a credible reason since that monk already has daughters, two of whom are very attractive and are born belles. Allegedly, this Palace Master also has some affairs with his own two daughters."
Contempt flashed in General Fukuda's eyes as he said coldly, "He even devours his own daughters? He's even worse than beasts. The whole of Japan turned stinky and dirty because of him, especially things related to men and women which turned so messsy now. But I'm certain the atmosphere in Japan will definitely change when that old bald asshole has been removed."
"That's… probably not an easy task to accomplish, General." The red-haired man wryly smiled. "The present situation in the country is still in the status quo."
"You can change and transform anything if you want to." General Fukuda sneered. "People will change as the environment dictates them to. They have to. If it's still useless, you can opt to use bloody means to suppress them, and I'm sure the Imperial family will agree with my method as well."
The red-haired man didn't reply, but he thought inwardly that General Fukuda was dreaming in his wildest fantasy.
The country's condition and the habit of its people were elements that grew along with the growth of countless souls. Using bloody suppression to force transformation in the society would only be like curing the symptoms and would prove to fail to even touch the roots of the problem.
General Fukuda drew in a deep breath and said, "Dispatch the first squad out! If you find any sign that Kitagawa betrayed the Gene Camp, report to me at once."
"Understood!"
The red-haired man replied shortly and his figure quickly bolted away.
****
In the dimly lit nightclub, Mine Takeno quietly observed Tang Xiu with a calm expression. It was conventional wisdom that continuous victories started from knowing oneself and thy enemies. But in his case, at the present, he literally knew nothing about this young man before him. That was all the reason why he didn't dare act rashly despite being confident in his own strength.
Thus, he decided to wait for the arrival of his Big Boss before making the next plan. He knew what he had to do now was to stall this young man and make him wait here until his Big Boss arrived. No matter how arrogant and rampant this brat was, kowtowing and begging for mercy before his Boss would very likely be the only choice this brat would have at that time.
"Come again? Joyous Palace? What the hell is that?"
Intentionally pretending to know nothing, Tang Xiu shot a curious look at Mine Takeno and asked.
"You're not from the Joyous Palace?" asked Mine Kakeno with furrowed brows.
"Bah! I just arrived in Japan a couple of days ago, how do I know what shit this Joyous Palace is?" Tang Xiu rolled his eyes and coldly snorted. "I just came over to Japan for vacation this time, mind you. I was gonna find my old buddies here and chat about the old days, yet little did I expect to run into this annoying shit luck here."
Only now did Mine Takeno finally realize why this fella never spoke Japanese and always conversed in English. It turned out that he just came to Japan and didn't know Japanese at all.
"Who is your friend, Mister?"
The man recalled the prior report he received. It was said that this guy was calling someone over. Maybe that person was the one he called a friend.
"Don't bother." Tang Xiu waved and replied with a downcast face, "I got no idea what happened to this buddy of mine. He fooled around with me the other day but just disappeared all of a sudden and didn't answer my calls at all. There's nobody in his place, and not even any traces of his in every place he loves to hang around either. Ah, there were those two laymen working for him in another site of his, though. But let me tell you, they are a bunch of psychopaths. Killing is like your everyday meal to them, and it's guaranteed that they have done every kind of evil deed you can think of. Make me annoyed and I don't need to act myself, but you can expect to lose your life if I tell them about it."
Mine Takeno secretly sneered in contempt and suppressed his killing intent inside to stall Tang Xiu and keep him here. Then, he said in a deep voice, "How about we drop this matter off since this is a misunderstanding, Mister? The Japanese have the custom to hold a party and drink sake after a misunderstanding to completely close the curtain of the previous clash."
Tang Xiu was stunned for a moment and said, "We've killed so many of your men, yet you wanna drop it off and make peace with me? Are you even a man?"
Mine Takeno's lips twitched a few times. He desperately went all out to restrain himself since his killing intent blasted through the roof. He would have attacked Tang Xiu already had he not been wary of the young man's identity and was in the dark about him.
"It's better killing off an enmity rather than keeping it alive."
After spending some time to suppress the urge, Mine Takeno finally blurted out with a flushed face.