“Boss, come here for a second.” Kraft helped Peppers up before he gestured Jin to approach him. Jin did seem a little reluctant to listen to Kraft after what had just happened, though he continued to move forward.
Peppers still wanted to ask Jin some questions, but suddenly, both Kraft and Jin were gone from her sight.
“EH? Where did…argh, Kraft!” Peppers knew that Kraft took Jin away to do something.
Kraft opened his door, and Jin suddenly recognised the scene. The two chairs, that hanging light bulb and the empty bas.e.m.e.nt, similar to what Jin had gone through not too long ago. “Is this a replica?” Jin questioned, but Kraft immediately asked him to get in before the door was shut tight.
“Yes and no. Since the System became aware of my presence, I made it a point to tell it to create a sort of bridge…a gateway. What you see right here is the amplified version of your subconscious. Can you feel it, you should be hearing two sounds at the same time?” Kraft snapped with his right hand in the room that Jin was in, but at the same time, Kraft was also snapping with his left hand in Jin’s mind.
“This is pure mind f.u.c.kery.” Jin felt really weird listening to the snapping of the fingers projecting from his mind, yet different from what he was seeing in front of him right now.
“Exactly. I purposely made this room here just for you. While it seems like a normal fourth room to you, the rest are unable to see it at all. In fact, even when I opened this door, I had stopped the visual information of that scene from everyone’s sight, including the System’s.” Kraft explained as he twirled one of his bullets.
“The System, despite knowing your attitude, allows you to do that?” Jin was surprised the all controlling System was not able to handle this crafty individual.
“Cannot blame me for being the best counterintelligence agent the System had ever invited. Even now, the System is trying out all sorts of methods to break the barriers that I have created, but I regularly patch them up with new algorithmic patterns. You can imagine it as an overall symbiotic relationship. If not for me, the System would still be a crippling old piece of junk that could not break Yang Ling’s customised psycho thought barrier that you had experienced earlier in the afternoon. And boy, I hardly praise anyone, but she’s good. Took me a full four seconds to get through.” Kraft shrugged.
“Granted it still needs some work not to get detected.” Kraft admitted while fiddling with additional bullets. The proficiency witnessed by Jin made Kraft look more like a magician rather than an ordinary marksman. (As ordinary as a marksman specialised in counterintelligence can be.)
“Anyways, I am here not just to train you, but to provide you with sensitive information whenever needed. Unlike the times when I talk in your head, by having a physical room, I am able to let you examine the evidence I have collected. This way you do not have to go through that tedious process of entering a deep cultivation trance. Especially since yours seems to have a nasty side effect, which can be life threatening. That also gives Ming more time to train you in other aspects.” Kraft explained as he started to scratch the wall with his bullet.
A simple ” “sign was drawn on the wall, and suddenly the empty walls of the room were filled with papers, photographs, redacted classified doc.u.ments, memos and post-it notes. Kraft sat down on the chair and rocked his chair backwards.
“This is all the information I had extracted before I changed …eh. Tweaked his …erm, mindset about Lynn.” Kraft did not know how to phrase it in a politically correct term.
“Just tell me what you mean. You know that you do not have to beat around the bush with me.” Jin said before Kraft sighed happily and said it proper. “I f.u.c.k.i.e.d him up real good before I set him straight. Made damn sure that he should not harass Lynn ever again. You can ask Lynn how effective my reeducation was when you see her. After all, she did encounter him in the police station. But now we should concentrate on the Rats. Look at the information before you, consider it carefully and give me your deductions based on what you have known already combined with this new intel.”
Jin nodded his head and started reading, but he quickly realised that if he was to read this much, it would take him ages. “Does… Is time affected here too?”
“No, time passes at the same pace in this world, unlike when you are in your subconscious.” Kraft shook his head.
“Subconscious…?” Jin suddenly had an idea. Hadn’t Kraft said that this was meant to be a training place? Didn’t that also imply he could start ‘training’ now by utilising his inner self to check the notes and doc.u.ments?
“Oh? You managed to grasp the concept rather well. Alright. I will help you with that since you figured it out. This is also a kind of training that I want you to go through.” Kraft smiled as he pointed his usual silver revolver at Jin.
“Do not move. It might hurt a bit but still not that bad. Evon, get out and help Jin.” Kraft pressed the trigger.
*BANG*
A champagne pink coloured fox climbed onto Jin’s head rather than biting him. She placed her paw on his head before she disappeared. Jin’s head became heavy initially before he started to feel his mouth getting a bit dry while his pupils enlarged for a second. Jin realised that it felt like his brain was being stimulated after Evon tapped her paw on him. For a moment, it seemed as if the room would start to spin.
“Evon’s ability is a bit special. Her bites and scratches will cause you to go high as if you were on drugs…on loads of drugs. Basically, her bite induces the effects of a plethora of drugs combined. What you experience now is a controlled version where she just allows you to receive the positive effect of a stimulant that enhances your cognitive ability. The speed of messages and signals travelling between your brain and body is being multiplied.” Kraft said, but he could already see Jin working through the various notes and doc.u.ments.
His subconscious was left open, vulnerable when Jin was working both in and out of his mental state to get the maximum brainpower and juice cranking. However, Kraft was not worried one bit because Jin was under his care.
Meanwhile, Jin was getting the full picture. The Last Supper Scandal was not just some grand assassination of the Yakuza bosses. The matter was more complicated than that. Yet at the same time, the motivation behind it could be described as nearly ironically simple. The Royal Zodiac Rat in collaboration with the Royal Zodiac Snake had been concocting the specific poison that was used by the Daikokuten Clan to assassinate the Yakuza bosses. That way, it would loosen the grip of the Bishamonten’s Yakuzas foothold just enough for the younger generation like Yamazaki and his superiors to rise and take control.
This was because the old bosses had been keeping the peace and prohibited petty squabbles between the clans which impeded the subordinates from rising through the ranks. The younger generation felt that if things kept going that way, their time at the top would never come. This anxiety was further strengthened since the Yakuza Bosses would be blessed with prolonged longevity by their own gods if they reached a certain number of orbs (aka grades) before they get too old to advance. That Grand Gala Dinner was to celebrate the birthday of Bishamonten’s Yakuza head and it was rumoured that he was going to reach the required orbs within the next few weeks.
It was the best chance for the younger generation to act, hence they used people like Zhen Qing and Mimasaka Sensei to do the job. What they did not know was that Royal Zodiac Rat intended to use this as a deal to expand outward into Japan. Notably, the Ruby Rat Triad under the Royal Zodiac Rat, who wished to expand their entertainment business like King’s Monster dungeon supplier chain outlets and casinos into Japan.
According to Jin’s deduction, it seemed that the Ruby Rat Triad had limited success in previous instances. The older generations were not fond of China taking a share of the pie and placed heavy restrictions on the Triad’s enterprises, which resulted in stagnation and losses for their Japan branches. Under such circ.u.mstances, the Royal Zodiac Rats were more than happy to struck a deal. Once the new Yakuza bosses held reign, they were to terminate the restrictions.
“So, the Ruby Rat Triad is trying to tighten its finances a bit more especially within these few months, and apparently they came to the conclusion that I am hurting their finances.” Jin concluded as he closed his eyes for a while and rubbed his temples. The pressure from the stimulant was hurting him.
“Yes, not just that. The Ruby Rat Triad had sent spies over to your shop on multiple occasions according to Ong’s conversation with Yamazaki. They saw the capability of your shop, although they do not know it’s the System working. What they do know is that it’s a technology that no one had ever seen before. That was one… if not the major reason why they were targeting you.” Kraft clarified as he clapped and the room became empty again.
“What a headache. I expected rivals. Just not this kind.” Jin sighed at the scale of this planned attack.
