While Gin was busy with his evaluation, Jiangxia Tongzhi grabbed a wet towel to wipe his hands after eating, and glanced at the two people sitting across from him with a curious look.
But they still showed no sign of speaking.
Meanwhile, the ghosts had finished smashing all the obvious murderous auras nearby. Now, they were forming a little circle, watching the mermaid ghost use that murderous aura to weave a pretty flower rope.
Miyano Akemi stared with bright eyes for a moment, then gently placed the rope beside the mermaid, took the simple bow she'd been holding, and began knitting it like her.
Xiaobai snatched a piece of the braided rope and looped it around each of his ghost parents' wrists, pretending he was tying the famous red thread of fate.
Only the honest ghost Tengu was still carefully observing Gin, occasionally tugging at him, hoping to detect any new murderous vibes.
Jiangxia glanced at the ghosts having their fun, then looked back at Gin. He still couldn't figure out what kind of tricks he had up his sleeve today.
The meal was finished, and Gin still had no intention of bringing out any assassination materials.
Jiangxia had no choice but to ask.
But instead of diving straight into business, he casually picked a conversational entry point: "That industrialist named Asahi Katsuyoshi—did he do something bad to us?"
Asahi Katsuyoshi was the assassination target Gin had emailed Jiangxia about, instead of handing the information over in person.
Meaning, even if this kind of info was somewhat secret, it wasn't that secret, and should be safe enough for small talk.
Gin didn't treat it as classified, and glanced over at Vodka.
Vodka responded with a serious expression, sounding a bit stiff: "When Asahi Katsuyoshi built that underwater restaurant, he accidentally found the sunken corpse of one of our affiliates in Tokyo Bay. He also tracked and photographed the images of the sinking corpse."
"Now Asahi Katsuyoshi's business is growing fast. With his talent and background, he's already a bit out of our league. After a quick check of the affiliated organization, he mistakenly thought it was just some small illegal group. So he threatened us to become his secret agent helper."
Jiangxia: "…"
He was slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of twists and magical logic circuits.
...People in this world, no matter how strong, all seem to have wild imaginations.
Eighth-grade syndrome, every single one.
And that affiliated organization—are there really people in Tokyo Bay? This was a tough topic to bring up, because Jiangxia felt the details didn't quite fit with his own logic.
After a pause, Jiangxia remembered another name on the list that sounded familiar, and curiously asked why the second person was targeted by the organization.
Vodka glanced at Gin. Seeing that his older brother said nothing, he reluctantly shifted his gaze and continued acting as Jiangxia's intelligence database.
Nearby, Gin was thinking about the evaluation form Vermouth had made.
There was already a big illusory "X" marked across it, with only one box left unchecked: "Lack of motivation, no desire, indifferent to losing things he once cared about."
Thinking about that, Gin looked at Ouzo. This guy didn't seem much like Vodka, and the conversation had already finished quickly. At that moment, Gin noticed Ouzo staring at his briefcase.
Gin thought for a moment, took a document from his bag, showed it briefly, then put it back: "This is a new assassination target. But you just got five, so finish those first." He handed the documents to others.
Ouzo's eyes immediately locked onto it.
After a pause, he said calmly, "Since it's a random mission, the total number of people doesn't really matter. It mainly depends on who I can reach. If the mission has a time limit, I can go to where that person is, and try to complete the Organization's requirements as much as possible."
Gin looked at Jiangxia and paused—a strong desire to kill was still clearly there, wasn't it?
And based on Ouzo's words, he definitely wasn't "indifferent" to this list of killings about to be lost.
So Gin ruled out that last checkmark.
He glanced at the sushi on the table, which looked like a flower and a willow branch, rang the call bell to order more, and started pushing people: "It's nothing, you can go back."
Vodka glanced over hesitantly.
Jiangxia also hesitated: "The list…"
Gin: "We'll talk."
Jiangxia: "…"
He wanted to say more, but just then, the ghosts who had been sneaking around returned.
The ghosts whispered to him—they had just stuck their heads into Gin's briefcase and saw that the document Gin took out was just a bunch of subordinates' mission reports.
Jiangxia: "?"
His eyes twitched, and without another word, he turned to leave.
Although inexplicably delayed by one night, the sushi really was good, so it wasn't a total waste.
...The only question left was: what the hell was Gin doing today?
...
After Jiangxia left, a waiter brought fresh sushi.
When she exited the box and closed the door, Vodka looked at Gin and whispered, "Brother, weren't you supposed to send him to Vermouth?"
"The premise is that he actually has mental problems." Gin recalled the evaluation results and frowned. "None of those were hit. Since the issue isn't severe, it's better to keep his current exposure and activity level."
Gin didn't care much about the specific ending of the serial murder case at the submarine restaurant.
But this incident had given him a wake-up call. Combined with the gossip Vodka provided, Gin realized that Ouzo needed a psychiatrist.
At present, although they had picked a candidate doctor, Vermouth couldn't leave the U.S. for now.
That's why they needed a simple assessment.
If Ouzo's mental state really had collapsed to the dangerous level Vermouth warned about, then avoiding his self-destruction must come first.
But after the observation just now, Gin judged Ouzo's problem wasn't urgent.
So naturally, no need to lock him up.
After all, whether sent to Vermouth or held in protective custody, Ouzo would disappear from public sight for a while.
If he met an opponent too sharp in the meantime, that missing time could be a fatal flaw.
In short, Gin hoped Ouzo could keep working as long as possible, building his reputation at the same pace as before.
...
Jiangxia failed to get the new assassination list, so he had to continue with the old one.
Besides Asahi, another familiar name was Tokio Ebihara.
Jiangxia remembered this was a hacker—skilled, but impatient.
(end of chapter)
Glossary:
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 19/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*