Chapter 972: Chapter 758: Hundred-Eyed Ghost Half an hour earlier, at dusk, when the rain was coming down hard.
A van stopped at the back door of the izakaya.
The young man who jumped out into the rain flipped back his rain cape and gave a slight bow to the proprietress who had been waiting a long time. "Eighty set meals, please."
"They’ve been ready for a while." Lady JinJiang pointed at the huge insulated box beside her. "Rain’s pouring like this, Ushijima-kun, want to come in for some ginger tea?"
"No need, everyone back at the gang is still waiting to eat. If they get too hungry those bastards will throw a fit."
The young man called Ushijima-kun waved his hand with an embarrassed grin and turned down the proprietress’s offer. He was just about to lift the box, but he couldn’t get it off the ground in one go, almost threw out his back, and his face flushed bright red.
"So heavy!"
"It is dinner for eighty people, after all. Ushijima-kun, it’s a bit much for you to carry alone." Before Lady JinJiang finished, the helper girl beside her reached out and easily hefted the box up, blinking a pair of blank, innocent eyes. "It’s not heavy... Boss, where should I put this?"
"..." Lady JinJiang’s expression froze; she wanted to grab this girl who still hadn’t learned to read the room by the cheeks and twist a few times.
Instead, the young man called Ushijima didn’t mind at all and waved it off. "Ah, so you must be Miss Zhenxi. I heard that bastard Uehara say you’re really strong and I didn’t believe it. Just help me put it in the back of the van, that’s all."
Once everything was loaded up, Ushijima politely said goodbye, rubbed his lower back, and climbed back into the van.
In the downpour, the van started up. The driver glanced at his sorry state and burst out laughing. "Told you it was heavy, but you wouldn’t let me help."
"Shut it!"
Ushijima shot him an irritable look, wiped the rain off his face, then turned off the blaring rock music on the radio. He pulled a notebook from his pocket and went back to memorizing vocabulary.
"Hinc, hinc, H-I-N-C... astra, astra, A-S-T-R-A..."
Seeing how serious he looked, the guy driving couldn’t help but shake his head. "You really are studious. You forget what you learned in the morning by the afternoon. What’s the point of studying this crap?"
"I like it, what’s it to you!"
Ushijima glared at him and put away the notebook, still reciting under his breath. But the guy next to him seemed intent on messing with him and suddenly started singing at the top of his lungs.
Ushijima got so pissed he kicked this Wang Ba hard.
"Knock it off, I’m driving here!" His buddy shoved him back. "Don’t distract the driv—"
Boom!
In the sweeping curtain of rain, a Land Rover suddenly shot out from a dark alley, tore through the wall of water, and slammed viciously into the side of the van.
With a deafening crash, the world flipped over. Ushijima’s vision went black, and he felt his body flung around like a rag, smashing violently into everything.
Good thing I buckled my seat belt... otherwise I’d definitely have been thrown out...
When he dragged himself out of the haze, he saw his buddy slumped over the steering wheel, head cracked open and bleeding, life or death unknown.
"Fuck, the airbag didn’t deploy..."
Ushijima fought for breath and tried to push his shoulder.
Then he heard a sound outside the window.
Someone tapped on the shattered glass. On that all-too-familiar face was a mocking smile.
"Ushijima-kun, looks like you’ve been living pretty comfortably lately."
The few men climbing out of the Land Rover peered in through the window. The one in the lead narrowed his eyes and grinned savagely. "Not picking up the phone, huh? Looks like you’ve really decided to switch sides?"
Iron King Party!
In an instant of shock, the worry that had been gnawing at him these past days surged up all at once.
Staring in disbelief, Ushijima gaped for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What took you so long?"
"Huh?" The Iron King Party guy blinked.
"I thought you’d forgotten about me!" Ushijima ripped off his seat belt in fury and roared, "If you’re really gonna make a move, you could at least give me a heads-up, fuck! Might as well kill me too while you’re at it!"
"Huh?" The man still didn’t quite follow, then his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why didn’t you pick up the phone?"
"Everyone’s phones got confiscated, okay! Couldn’t you tell? I’m already under suspicion!" Ushijima snapped back. "Even when I go out to pick up food, they’ve got people watching me. Otherwise I’d have poisoned the Huaizhi Gang’s guys to death already; what would I need you for!"
"..."
Outside the van, the men looked at each other. Then the leader seemed to get it and forced out a delighted smile. "Very good, Ushijima-kun, I knew I hadn’t misjudged you! I said a good man like Ushijima couldn’t be a traitor..."
"You’re planning to ambush the Huaizhi Gang, right?" Ushijima glanced at them and volunteered, "I’ll guide you in."
"No need for directions."
The leader shook his head, pressing a hand to the gun in his pocket, and suddenly asked, "Where is Huai Zhisu?"
"He went out."
Ushijima answered without thinking. "Went to a banquet at the Ochiai Family. Right now the Huaizhi Gang’s base is practically empty, not a single Sublimator inside..."
Before he could finish, a gloomy voice sounded from behind the crowd, like a hideous silhouette woven from countless writhing strands of hair, speaking in an impatient tone:
"He’s lying."
In that instant, everyone’s eyes on Ushijima turned strange.
In the silence, Ushijima froze, mouth half open as if to say something, but in the end he said nothing. He just let out a sigh.
He raised his hand and flipped the man outside the window the bird.