“This is the toughest and the most elusive criminal we have ever encountered in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department! This day is also the most shameful day for us, and I hope that everyone sitting here will give this your full attention and put everything you have into this case. Don’t just put in your best effort—I want you to catch the criminal Xiao Han in the shortest time possible so we can solve this case quickly!” said the old Chief as he eyed everyone in the meeting room. His voice rang with an air of authority and inner toughness.
“Understood!” Everyone replied in unison.
The old Chief looked at Miyazaki Ronjin. Back when he was still in charge, Miyazaki Ronjin had been an outstanding police officer and had single-handedly eradicated the Yamaguchi-gumi in Dongjing. And in return for his excellent work, he had to pay the painful price of losing both his wife and child. He felt sympathy for Miyazaki Ronjin.
He asked Miyazaki Ronjin, “Ronjin-kun, what are your thoughts regarding this matter?”
Miyazaki Ronjin furrowed his brows. He had yet to come to terms with the fact that Xiao Luo had turned into a wanted person. How was it that a police officer who had come to the Ri Nation to solve the cases of the missing citizens of Hua Nation suddenly direct his attack toward a Ri Nation official? He looked at the old Chief, and with a heavy heart, said, “Chief Hiroshi’s death is not the end, but just the beginning.”
Hmm?
Everyone present turned their heads to look at him. The effect of those words was like a bomb going off and the roomful of officers was caught completely off guard. That was not the end, but just the beginning—was he implying that Xiao Han was going to kill more people?
“Continue,” the old Chief said with a serious look on his face.
“On the night of the 14th, a genetically mutated person attacked me, Kimura Akino, and Xiao Han. This mutated person had grown blue-colored scales to cover his body, and not even bullets could penetrate it. The only thing we were sure of was that he was one of the missing Hua Nation people, Wang Leyou…”
Asou Shuyao suddenly interrupted him. “What nonsense? You will only see this sort of thing in a sci-fi film. There’s no way this can happen in real life. Department Head Ronjin, are you sure it wasn’t because you were drunk that night and accidentally knocked someone over, so you thought of this excuse to cover up your crime? This excuse is simply too ridiculous. Not even an idiot would believe such nonsense,” she sneered.
The old Chief had a smile on his face and said, “I trust all the things Miyazaki-san has said.”
Everyone looked shocked. No one had expected the old Chief to support this sloppy over-the-hill cop, Miyazaki Ronjin. Asou Shuyao’s face turned slightly red, and she immediately kept her mouth shut.
“Ronjin-kun, please continue,” the old Chief said.
Miyazaki Ronjin nodded and said, “We have confirmed that the mutated monster was the missing Hua Nation man, Wang Leyou. Given that fact, I believe an organization was behind the abductions of these missing Hua Nation citizens, and they were used as test subjects for secret experiments.”
“You’re trying to say that there are people who are conducting genetic engineering experiments in Ri nation? And that they’re using Hua Nation citizens in our country as guinea pigs for these experiments?” the old Chief asked.
“Yes. I believe the explosion and avalanche that occurred at Mount Fuji yesterday was no coincidence either. My hunch is that something happened at the bio-research facility, and someone in Ri nation is trying to bury the evidence. That was the reason for such an enormous explosion,” Miyazaki Ronjin said.
“Gasp!”
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. Conducting genetic engineering experiments on living human beings—were they trying to go back in time and recreate Unit 731?
“Department Head Ronjin, even if all the things you have just said are true, how is this related to Chief Hiroshi’s death?” Someone stood up to ask.
Everyone else stared at Miyazaki Ronjin with unblinking eyes, waiting in anticipation to listen to what explanation he would provide as a plausible cause.
Miyazaki Ronjin exhaled and then continued, “A group of men in black uniforms took Wang Leyou’s corpse away. The perpetrators got the route and timing perfectly right. I find it hard to believe that they could do that unless they had an informant within the police force helping them.”
“You’re saying that Chief Hiroshi is their spy?” the person who spoke earlier asked.
“There is no evidence at all, and this is just my assumption. If, and I say if, Chief Hiroshi was one of those involved in this scheme, that would easily explain Xiao Han’s motive. He is planning to get rid of everyone involved in the bio-research facility and is seeking revenge for his Hua Nation people,” Miyazaki Ronjin said.
Suddenly, everyone stirred in shock and bewilderment, and there was a buzz in the meeting hall. What Miyazaki Ronjin had just said might have sounded bizarre, but yet it made absolute sense.
“Is that why you said earlier that this is just the beginning and not the end?” The old Chief looked at Miyazaki Ronjin with penetrating eyes.
Miyazaki Ronjin nodded his head and replied, “Yes. Xiao Han must have a name list of all the people involved in the project. It is a hunting operation. He’s treating the entire Dongjing like a jungle, and he’s the predator hunting down his prey!”
Treating Dongjing as a jungle? Hunting?
It terrified everyone in the room. Only someone crazy would have the nerve to do something like this.
“You have no evidence. All of this is just your speculation!” Asou Shuyao sneered.
“There will be evidence because the next victim is going to appear soon,” Miyazaki Ronjin said.
As if validating what Miyazaki Ronjin had just said, someone knocked on the meeting room door. After getting permission for entry, a police officer walked in looking pale with fright and handed a document to the old Chief.
The old Chief took a brief look at the document. With a solemn face and a look of wrath on his face, he said, “The president of the Ri nation bank, Mr. Okamura Neji, just died in his house. A fire burned down his mansion. According to forensics, he was conscious and had been burned alive. His corpse was badly burned and has turned to ashes. They are somehow fused to the floor, and our people are unable to scrape it off.”
At that moment, the entire meeting hall fell into a deathly silence. You could even hear a pin drop, and everyone could feel a chill in the air.
The news of the fire stunned Asou Shuyao. It was turning out to be precisely what Miyazaki Ronjin had said. She was feeling frustrated and slammed her hands on the table, “Fool!”
Then they showed the picture of the suspect that the security camera had captured on the screen.
“This isn’t Xiao Han. The facial features are not the same at all,” someone said.
“This is Xiao Han. No matter how he changes his appearance, he still has those pair of ferocious-looking eyes that resemble a wolf.”
Miyazaki Ronjin said this aloud, and he felt genuinely troubled. He had thought that Xiao Han could be a good friend, but now they stood on opposite sides. Xiao Han had turned into someone that he had to arrest, no matter what. He saluted the old Chief and said, “Old Chief, it most probably wasn’t the Prime Minister’s intention to develop this sort of genetic engineering test facility, but I’m sure it involves certain Cabinet Ministers. If we’re going to stop this killing spree, we must get our hands on that list of names. We need to get to the people involved with the project before Xiao Han finds them. Otherwise, he’s going to execute every single man on that list.”
The old Chief nodded his head and said, “I’ll head to the Cabinet Office and meet the Prime Minister this afternoon!”
