The two soldiers from the Special Forces arrived at Chiba Ken in Japan and managed to find the address that was indicated on the adoption certificate.
It was an extremely quiet street with Japanese-styled houses with white walls and black roofs along both sides of a straight asphalt road.
There were cherry blossom trees planted along the road; however, the leaves had all fallen off, leaving the branches bald.
They headed to the Kasahara home listed on the adoption certificate.
However, when they had found the address, the family tag on the outside of the house did not say ‘Kasahara.’ The family tag said, ‘Hita.’
An old lady with white hair opened the door and saw them. She smiled and asked, “Can I help? Who you are looking for?”
She spoke in Japanese.
The two soldiers had been based in Japan on a long-term basis, so the language was not a problem for them. However, they were representing Hua Xia Empire to gather information with the locals.
“May I ask if this home belonged to the Kasaharas?”
“The ‘Kasaharas?’ Oh, they sold the house to us.”
“They moved? Do you know where they moved to?”
“…Do you have things you need to settle with them? It’s been many years since anyone came looking for them…”
“It’s like this. We have some things to clarify with the Kasaharas. We need to see if they knew a girl named Shizuko Kasahara…”
“Shizuko? You mean that little Kasahara girl? It’s been so many years. She even came to my place for meals when she was still a little girl… After that? Didn’t she pass away after that?”
The two soldiers who were based in Japan were speechless. “…”
“Everyone in the Kasahara family had passed on. They were the ones who sinned! To be honest, it serves them right. That’s why we don’t do anything that goes against our conscience!”
“That was her grandfather’s sin. What’s it got to do with her? Old woman, stop talking nonsense!” A middle-aged man beside the old lady seemed extremely unhappy with the fact she shot off what was on her mind.
“That’s why I say that we shouldn’t be doing things against our conscience.” The old lady insisted on her point and turned back to the two Special Forces soldiers. “I remember Shizuko from the Kasahara family. On this entire street, I’m probably the only one who still remembers her. It’s been so many years. People have left, and people have passed on… Only me, this old woman, still remembers her…”
The two soldiers from the Special Forces saw a glimpse of hope. They produced their identification document from the court. “…We are here to garner evidence for a lawsuit. We heard that Shizuko Kasahara had already passed on…”
“Yes, she had. For more than a decade now.” The old lady said, not even looking at the identification document. “Shizuko was adopted when she was young and left us. We all said that she went on to have a good life. However, after about a decade, she came back again. That time around, she was pregnant and was with a man who looked like a thug.”
“You say that Shizuko Kasahara came back?!”
“Yes, she had. She had a daughter then… Her name was… Naoko. She took her mother’s surname because the father was an asshole who did not want to marry her. She took on three jobs on her own, but still couldn’t support the man’s gambling habits.” The old lady sighed. “After that, she got sick. We all had no idea what was going on with her. I only heard that the doctor said it was not curable. That man she came with was so afraid that he would get infected, so he left. Shizuko said that she couldn’t let her daughter become an orphan, so she brought her to get someone to adopt her.”
After that, the old lady fell silent for a long time.
The two soldiers did not dare to even breathe too hard, afraid to disturb the old lady as she thought about the past.
This first-hand information was extremely valuable.
In order to prevent fraud, the soldiers sent to garner information had been instructed to execute all necessary precautions. Therefore, they had voice recordings, video recordings from hidden cameras on themselves, and were sending the information back in real time to the headquarters of the Special Forces in Hua Xia Empire.
In the central control room of the headquarters of the Special Forces, Huo Shaoheng, Zhao Liangze, and Yin Shixiong were watching what was going on in Japan in real time.
“…And then what happened? She didn’t try to find a cure?”
“There was nothing they could do. I don’t know what kind of illness it was, but the doctor had already said it was incurable. She left for half a year, then came back again.” The old lady stood up unsteadily and pointed at a small house in the yard. “She breathed her last breath right here.”
The two soldiers stood up as well and walked around the house before asking politely, “Can we go in and take a look please?”
“Go ahead. There’s nothing left there anymore.” The old lady waved her hand. “It’s really rare that there’s someone who still remembers her. Other than her daughter, no one else has come to visit her before.”
The two soldiers stopped in their tracks and looked at each other. “Her daughter came here as well?”
“Of course. I remember that it was about six or seven years ago. She came here to give offerings. I was the one who brought her to her mother’s altar.” The old lady stood in front of the door and looked up into the grey skies above, filled with emotion.
Not far away was the beautiful Tokyo Bay.
The breeze came from the ocean, and it smelled salty and warm. Therefore, it was not very cold.
Shortly after, the old lady brought the two soldiers to visit the altar of Gu Jing, Shizuko Kasahara.
It was a rectangular-shaped table with her urn of her ashes inside.
It looked like a traditional Japanese house. There was an incense burner in front of the table, and a black-and-white photograph at the back.
That person in the picture should be Shizuko Kasahara, or Gu Jing. It greatly resembled Gu Yanran.
“This is Shizuko Kasahara’s ashes?” The two soldiers were surprised at how smoothly their mission was going. It felt like their opponent was note expecting that they would investigate here. “It is really Shizuko Kasahara?”
“Of course. You can open it up and take a look if you don’t believe me.” The old lady did not understand what was not to believe. “During the cremation, everyone who lived around here attended. Oh yes, when she died, our family organized her funeral because she was taken care of by her grandfather since young. When her grandfather passed away, she became an orphan. It was only later that she got adopted.”
“Shizuko Kasahara’s grandfather?”
“Yes. Her grandfather was Shiro Kasahara. When he brought Shizuko here, she was still a baby. His son had died and had left this daughter behind. After that, Shiro-san passed away, and Shizuko was adopted. Then Shizuko died as well. Everyone in the Kasahara family has died. No one is left. Such sinners!”
The old lady seemed to be feeling insecure by now and peeked at the two soldiers.
However, when they looked back at her, she looked away.
The two soldiers did not appear out of the ordinary. They expressed their regret and said, “We thought we might be able to get some leads, because Shizuko San’s daughter is currently fighting a lawsuit. Thus, we would need some things from Shizuko-san. However, since these are ashes, we would be unable to test them for DNA. We can’t guarantee her identity that way.”
“Oh? How can you test for DNA?” The old lady asked curiously. “Is that able to prove her identity?”
“Erm… For example, blood samples, hair, bone marrow, or bodily fluids.” The two soldiers laughed bitterly. They were unable to use ashes to test for DNA.
“Hmm… Is it like that…?” The old lady thought about it for a while and looked determined. “I have Shizuko-san’s hair. She cut a little bit off for me before she passed on. You guys…”
The two soldiers were simply elated. “If it is okay, could you please give us just one strand of her hair?”
“No problem. I can give you ten strands.” The old lady laughed. She went into her house to look for the things that Shizuko Kasahara left behind from the past.
After a short while, the old lady took a little purse out. “There are ten strands of Shizuko Kasahara’s hair in this purse. You can have it.”
The two soldiers gratefully accepted the hair. Since this old lady seemed close to Shizuko Kasahara, they asked her, “Please, ma’am, do you remember if Shizuko-san had requested for a name change before?”
“A name change? I wouldn’t know about that. Perhaps you could go to the county government to inquire? They have all the information.”
The old lady enthusiastically directed them there and walked them to the county government personally.
The two soldiers thanked her profusely. The old lady bowed the classic ninety degrees all of a sudden and said, “I am truly sorry that they had done what they had to your country. They were really unforgivable.”
The hearts of the two soldiers skipped a beat. They felt that the old lady had seen through them, and their minds went blank all of a sudden.
After saying that, the old lady went back to her house, closed the door, and never came out again.
The two soldiers looked at each other and felt confused. Their startled expression matched their fake identities, so they supposed they did not raise any suspicions with the old lady.
After leaving Kasahara’s old home, the two soldiers went to the county government office to follow up on the adoption notice from that year.
As expected, Shizuko Kasahara was the one who was adopted that year. However, three or four years later, someone came and requested for them to change the records of the adoption from Shizuko Kasahara to Reiko Kasahara. Their reason was that it was because Shizuko-san had a change of name…
The original adoption records still had traces of the name change.
…
The video streaming from the two soldiers had stopped.
In the central control room of the Special Forces headquarters, Huo Shaoheng, Yin Shixiong, and Zhao Liangze were all deep in thought with their brows furrowed.
This trip to Chiba Ken in Japan by their soldiers based there managed to gather some information. It was not much, but it was not little either.
They had managed to get their hands on ten strands of Shizuko Kasahara’s hair at least. Soon, they would be able to do a DNA comparison with Gu Yanran.
With this, they would at least be able to further confirm Gu Yanran’s identity.
However, it seemed like they still did not understand why Shizuko Kasahara had been adopted.
Huo Shaoheng sat in front of the computer, deep in thought. He opened the search engine on the internet and typed in ‘Japan Chiba Ken,”Shiro Kasahara,’ and ‘Shizuko Kasahara.’
After awhile, the results of the search engine made Huo Shaoheng’s eyebrows twitch.
“What’s wrong, Mr. Huo?” Yin Shixiong noticed something wrong with Huo Shaoheng’s gaze and moved over to take a look as well.
He took one look and gasped.
“This is Shiro Kasahara?! The grandfather of Shizuko Kasahara?! And Gu Yanran’s maternal great grandfather?!”
“Are they really the same person?!”
“… I think I might have just discovered a crazy situation.” Yin Shixiong looked at the computer from behind Huo Shaoheng wide-eyed.
Zhao Liangze came over to see, then he held his breath too.
“Did the Gu family know that the Shizuko Kasahara they had adopted was the grandfather of Shiro Kasahara?”
“It’s hard to say.” Huo Shaoheng closed the window on the computer calmly. “This isn’t as easy as it seems. At minimum, this means that the county government in Chiba Ken in Japan had taken part in falsifying the identity of Shizuko Kasahara.”
On the adoption certificate, there had been absolutely no mention of Shiro Kasahara.
When the name ‘Shiro Kasahara’ gave results from the search engine, the pictures depicted a notorious biologist from the Japanese history.
Shiro Kasahara was one of several notorious biologists. He was the military doctor colonel, conducting research mainly on viruses.
“But why did it seem like the opponent wasn’t prepared at all? She just spilled the information like that? Is this really not a trap?” Zhao Liangze was doubtful.
Huo Shaoheng thought about that as well. He had a feeling that the opponent was letting them investigate into Gu Nianshi too easily.
In fact, the opponent’s plan would have been perfect, had Huo Shaoheng not managed to save Gu Nianzhi seven years ago.
Therefore, what the opponent had missed was that Gu Nianzhi did not die at that time.
