Upon hearing that there were clues to Yamaguchi Aiko’s whereabouts, Huo Shaoheng’s expression turned a little more serious. “Are you certain? Do you have a photo?”
“Yes.” The other party quickly sent him a photo.
The photo was taken in the morning.
The early morning sunlight had automatically added a filter of soft light to the photo.
The photo showed a three-storied wooden Tang-style building. The wooden window on the third floor was kept open with a thin bamboo stick.
A few cherry blossoms that were in full bloom peeked in from outside the window. Under the flowers, two women in kimonos were sitting opposite each other drinking tea.
A beautiful long-haired woman sat on the left side of the window. She supported herself with her hand and looked at the person opposite her.
The woman opposite her wore black-framed glasses and looked to be in her forties. The crow’s feet on both sides of her face were obvious.
The two of them happened to look at the cherry blossoms that were peeking in from outside the window at the same time and smiled, so their faces were caught in the photo.
The young, long-haired woman was indeed Dou Qingyan. The middle-aged woman opposite her looked very much like Yamaguchi Aiko.
Huo Shaoheng looked at the photo and immediately decided, “You guys keep an eye on them. I’ll send for reinforcements right away.”
He hung up the phone. He had already decided to make a trip to Japan himself.
If he did not guess wrongly, ever since Dou Qingyan was released from prison, she had been with Yamaguchi Aiko.
Huo Shaoheng couldn’t believe his luck when the people he had been tracking for so long suddenly appeared one after another.
However, since luck was now in his favor, he certainly wouldn’t intentionally go against it.
Huo Shaoheng said to Gu Nianzhi through the bathroom door, “I still have something to do, so I’ll be leaving first.”
When Gu Nianzhi came out, he was already on his way to the airport.
When Gu Nianzhi called him, she heard the sound of the wind outside. She asked in confusion, “Young Master Huo, where are you?”
Huo Shaoheng replied calmly, “I was suddenly notified to go into the field. You should go to bed early.”
Gu Nianzhi also understood the nature of Huo Shaoheng’s work, and she quickly said, “Then be careful and don’t stay up too late.”
She paused and said softly, “Call me tomorrow…”
Tomorrow was the day that the “Angel in the Human World” Foundation would be sentenced. Gu Nianzhi really wanted to share this joy with Huo Shaoheng.
“Mmm, be a good girl. I’m hanging up now.”
Huo Shaoheng got out of the car and saw the flight to Tokyo, Japan, docked at the T-3 hangar of the Imperial International Airport.
There was no direct flight from the imperial capital to Kyoto, so he had to go to Tokyo first and then transfer to Kyoto.
He had already completed all the procedures. After his face had been disguised, he looked nothing like his original self. His passport and credit cards were also based on his current appearance and identity.
Ten minutes later, the plane soared into the sky and flew towards Tokyo, Japan.
Three hours later, they arrived at Tokyo International Airport, Japan.
Huo Shaoheng took Yin Shixiong out of the airport, and without stopping, he called a taxi and rushed over to take the Shinkansen to Kyoto.
The sky was already bright after this long journey.
In the clear morning, the antiquity of Tokyo showed itself. It was shrouded in a thin layer of mist.
The Kiyomizu-dera was famous for marriage prayers. It was the oldest temple in Kyoto. It was fully made of wood and was located at a great altitude, overlooking the entirety of Kyoto. There were cherry blossoms in spring and maple leaves in autumn; the scenery was very beautiful.
With the weather in early June, the cherry blossoms had long since withered. It was not quite the same as in the photos.
However, the heavy eaves and tall roofs and the shade of the green trees carried with them an ancient dignity and solemnity.
However, what sort of evil was hidden under this dignity and solemnity was up to anyone’s guess.
Huo Shaoheng and Yin Shixiong contacted the field staff in Kyoto and asked, “Did they stay here all the time?”
“We received a report yesterday and checked. They were indeed here, but the middle-aged woman seemed to have just arrived here. She wasn’t always here. Dou Qingyan was always here.”
Huo Shaoheng narrowed his eyes and looked up at the great temple in front of him. “Have you verified Dou Qingyan’s identity?”
“Yes. Our people snuck in yesterday and got some of her hair. We’ve already tested her DNA.”
The field staff took out the DNA report and showed it to Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng’s current identity was only that of a typical field operator. Even the field staff at his side didn’t know that he was the head of their special operations forces.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at the report and had the man send it back while he worked out a plan with him.
Looking at his watch, he noticed it was already six in the morning. It was exactly the time for Kiyomizu-dera to open.
“Let’s go.” Huo Shaoheng took the topographic map and tickets that the field operations team had prepared for him, and he and Yin Shixiong followed the crowd into Kiyomizu-dera.
Dou Qingyan was staying in a meditation room in a small building at the back.
Of course, ordinary people did not receive such treatment to be allowed to stay in a thousand-year-old temple like this.
However, it would be easy if someone helped her.
Thinking about it, Aiko Yamaguchi was indeed influential in Japan. It was no wonder that she could hide for so long.
Huo Shaoheng and Yin Shixiong split up and stealthily made their way to Dou Qingyan’s meditation room.
This area was not a scenic tourist attraction, so it was very quiet and peaceful.
A small bird with a black back and a red head was chirping on the tree. Even when it saw people approaching, it was not afraid. It blinked its bean-like eyes and tilted its head to look at them.
Huo Shaoheng raised a finger to his lips and shushed at the bird.
The small bird chirped and spread its wings, taking flight into the blue sky.
The window of Dou Qingyan’s small building creaked open. A middle-aged woman wearing black-rimmed glasses leaned out to take a look.
She had short hair, and thick bangs draped over her forehead. Her skin was a delicate milky white.
Huo Shaoheng felt a strange alarm going off in his heart. He stopped and stood under a big tree, looking in the direction of the building without moving.
Yin Shixiong had already reached and was climbing up the building from the wall.
After looking outside, the middle-aged woman used a thin bamboo stick to prop the wooden window open.
Huo Shaoheng waited for a while, and decided to follow his original plan and go up the stairs.
His footsteps were so light that they made no sound at all.
However, when he was about to reach the second floor, a cat suddenly rushed down the stairs. It was caught off guard when it saw Huo Shaoheng, meowed and scuttled past him.
The door not far from the stairs opened, and a voice echoed out, “Is it Mimi? It’s so early and it’s already up?”
The voice was very clear. It was Dou Qingyan’s voice.
Then, they heard a gentle voice speaking in Japanese, as if the person were saying, “It’s a cat. Of course, cats get up early. Do you think she’s like you?”
There was, however, no tinge of berating in her tone.
Dou Qingyan smiled and said with some disappointment, “It’s said that this place is the best for praying for marriage, but I’ve lived here for almost two years. I’ve been praying at the Jishu shrine every day, but that heartless person still hasn’t come to visit me once.”
“With your current status, how can he come to visit you?” the gentle female voice spoke again. “However, maybe you’ll see him when you open the door. In the last moments of life, dreams always come true.”
Huo Shaoheng’s heart was ringing with alarm. He was about to leave, but it was too late.
The wooden door on the stairs was pushed open. Dou Qingyan appeared before him in a bean paste green kimono with flying crane motifs.
She glanced at Huo Shaoheng in his disguise and frowned. “Who are you? I think you’ve gone the wrong way. This isn’t a scenic area…”
She thought he was a tourist.
Huo Shaoheng was about to speak when the sound of a silenced pistol suddenly came from behind Dou Qingyan.
A few bullets shot into Dou Qingyan’s back all the way to her heart.
She didn’t even close her eyes before she fell straight to the ground.
All she could see was Huo Shaoheng’s tall and handsome figure.
This figure was so familiar…
In the final moments of her life, Dou Qingyan thought, “The Kiyomizu-dera’s marriage stone is indeed the most effective…”
The stairs were narrow, so Huo Shaoheng could not dodge or retreat.
The moment Dou Qingyan fell, a middle-aged woman in black behind her was revealed. She held a gun in her hand and looked at Huo Shaoheng in shock, as if she had not expected someone to come to such a secluded place at this time!
“Who… Who Are You?!” she asked in a trembling voice as she clutched her chest. She raised her hand and fired several shots at him.
Huo Shaoheng remained silent. He twisted his body, leaned against the handrail of the stairs, and raised his wrist to fire a shot as well. There was a dull thud, and the shot hit the woman’s wrist.
The gun in her hand fell to the ground. Her other hand held the injured wrist, and she knelt on the ground in pain.
Huo Shaoheng looked up and saw that Yin Shixiong had already flipped into the room through the window behind her like a monkey.
