Muroto City, Hot Spring Mountain.
When Qiu Miyazuki stepped into the abandoned hot spring village, she was keenly aware that someone was spying on her.
She looked up and noticed a human face hidden in the dense woods. It should be a killer guarding the outside of the branch to drive away irrelevant people.
The two sides looked at each other dozens of meters apart, and Qiu Gongyue vaguely felt hostility in each other's eyes.
Qiu Gongyue didn't care. The hostility she had felt recently was so much that she was numb.
When she was a child, Qiu Gongyue was confused for a while. Why did so many people hate her when she had never made any mistakes?
When she grew up and became more sensible, she finally understood.
Sometimes, other people's likes and dislikes of you have nothing to do with what you have done, but with your identity and position.
She has done nothing, but since she is a descendant of the Moon Clan, she will be ostracized by the other killers.
She had obviously been abstaining from voting, but the result was not in line with the wishes of Tsugumo Shinji and the other three-star killers, and she became the public enemy of most of them.
After understanding this, Qiu Gongyue stopped trying to explain anything or change other people's views on herself.
An idea even came to her mind that shocked her - get rid of all the people who are hostile to me, and then no one will be hostile to me.
Entering the branch along the dark tunnel, Qiu Gongyue found that the number of killers in the branch was more than the last time he came.
These killers cast hostile looks at Qiu Gongyue as always.
Akimiya Yue ignored it completely and walked towards Arakawa Buntais office.
"Come in!"
After knocking on the door, Arakawa Buntais' voice came from the office. Akimiya Yue pushed the door open and saw the branch director sitting behind the desk.
Akimiya Yue was surprised when she saw Arakawa Buntaishi.
Arakawa Buntais is a very strong person, with a resolute personality and a firm will. Although he is not young, he looks like the kind of elder who is not easy to mess with.
But now, the Arakawa Buntai who came into view seemed to be more than ten years older, with a frown on his face and a look of distress in his eyes.
It had only been a few days since we last met, but there had been such a big change.
Seeing Akimiya Yue come in, Arakawa Buntai's depressed expression softened a little, and he said, "Sit down."
Akimiya Yue sat on the chair in front of her desk and couldn't help but ask: "Instructor Arakawa, are you okay?"
She was not concerned about Arakawa Buntai's health, but was confused about what kind of pressure he had endured to look like this exhausted.
"Thank you for your concern, I'm fine."
Arakawa Buntai coughed, and then asked: "Have you contacted your son?"
Qiu Gongyue was stunned for a moment: "Who is the son?"
Arakawa Wentai said calmly: "It's the young man whose killer codename was dad. I changed his codename and now calls him son."
Qiugong Yue:......
Imagine Xu Cheng's expression when he heard this, Qiu Gongyue's mouth twitched slightly.
I wanted to laugh, but pinched my thighs to hold back.
???
She took a deep breath to calm down, and then said: "I haven't seen him since the last time we went on a mission to explore the construction site. Do you have anything to do with him?"
Arakawa Buntai stared into Akimiya Yue's eyes and asked: "You also went to the Kantelai Hotel the night before yesterday. Didn't you see him?"
Qiu Gongyue frowned slightly: "He also showed up the night before yesterday? Sorry, I wanted to take advantage of the chaos to get the eight-foot magatama, but because I couldn't find the whereabouts of the jade, I had to retreat."
Arakawa Buntais was noncommittal about Akimiya Yue's words: "He showed up last, took away the eight-foot magatama, and then disappeared. Now many people are looking for him, including our employer, who is very angry and asked me to give him a refund within a week." Find someone and hand over the Eight-foot Qiong Magatama."
Akimiya Yue was secretly surprised, what kind of employer could actually speak such condescending demands to the deceased, and Arakawa Buntais also seemed to be under great pressure.
Fortunately, Xu Cheng did not come back with him, otherwise Arakawa Buntai would have ordered his capture.
She asked tentatively: "You asked me to come back, do you want me to find his whereabouts?"
"No, someone else will do this."
Arakawa Buntai shook his head and said to Akimiya Yue: "Your mission of finding the eight-foot magatama is temporarily over. I now have another mission for you."
Qiu Gongyue straightened her body and leaned forward slightly: "Please tell me."
Arakawa Buntais did not talk about the mission directly, but asked: "When you come back, can you feel the difference in the atmosphere?"
Qiu Gongyue nodded slowly.
From the moment she entered the branch, she felt that the atmosphere was unusual.
The last time she came back, she only felt the killers' pure hostility towards her, but this time it was different. In addition to hostility, there was also an undercurrent of feeling.
Everything seemed normal, but there was a sense of falseness, as if everyone was trying hard to pretend to be normal.
"The people below are very dissatisfied with me now. They are even excited. They think that I am too biased towards the descendants of the founding family."
Arakawa Buntai leaned forward and folded his hands on the table: "Of course this is just a lie, just a fan of ambitious people, but I can't stand the people below who are willing to believe it, and the situation is already very critical. They seem to be planning something."
Qiu Gongyue was taken aback, and three words instantly appeared in her mind - lower than upper.
She didn't expect that if she didn't come back for a while, the branch would be so serious that Arakawa Buntais could tell him that the situation was critical.
She couldn't help but ask: "Aren't you going to take measures?"
Since there are signs of restlessness, it should be exterminated with thunderous means. Why should we let it go?
Arakawa Buntais stretched out his hand, spread his fingers, and made a metaphorical gesture: "The current situation is like a pot of boiling oil. What we have to do is to turn off the heat and cool it down, rather than pouring water into it."
Akimiya Yue admitted that Arakawa Buntais had a certain truth, but was not convinced.
Since the oil temperature is difficult to control now, why didn't you turn off the flame when it started to get hot?
Akimiya Yue didn't believe that Arakawa Buntais didn't notice it at first. She always felt that this person had been deliberately allowing the situation to escalate.
Although there is no evidence, I am not a policeman and need to provide evidence. Sometimes suspicion is enough.
"Then what do you think should be done to turn off the heat and cool down?"
"This is the task I want to give you."
Arakawa Buntai's expression was serious: "The mission lasts for three days. Find out what the people below are going to do."
Qiu Gongyue frowned slightly: "Isn't it suitable to leave this task to me?"
She is now hostile to most of the killers. Even if she is not hostile, she is still repelled. Asking her to find out what these people are going to do is no less than letting a sheep enter a pack of wolves to find out information.
"No, only you are suitable."
Arakawa Buntais insisted on his opinion: "Only if you are completely independent in the entire branch and have no relationship with other people, can you find the correct answer."
It was obviously a compliment, but it didn't sound right.
Seeing that Akimiya Yue was still hesitating, Arakawa Buntais said calmly: "If you can't help me control the situation, do you think you will be better off in the branch?"
Qiu Gongyue's heart sank.
Although she has always suspected that Arakawa Buntai had ulterior motives, at least Arakawa Buntai could adopt a fairer attitude and did not discriminate against or suppress her.
If a leader is replaced who prefers other killers, Qiu Gongyue may have only one option left to defect.
For a killer, especially a killer who was raised by the dead, there is no right to say 'I quit'.
"I see."
Qiu Gongyue nodded, accepting this task.
The most important thing now is to prevent Arakawa Buntaishi from being defeated and removed from power. The killer organization does not have any gentle and thrifty habits. They are a group of murderers who will not reason with you at all.
If the lower levels want to overthrow their leaders, the only way is to violently seize power and kill all the upper levels or turn them into puppets.
In the long history, this kind of thing has happened in other branches of the Death Grant. The lower-level killers rioted and relied on their numerical superiority to massacre the upper-level ones. In the end, the headquarters tried their best to calm the situation.
Akimiya Yue did not expect that the Japanese branch would also encounter this kind of situation. This was not good news for her, because she was also forced to stand on the opposite side of the lower class and could only choose to help Arakawa Buntais.
Of course, if the situation really develops to an irreversible moment, then she will not be much slower than others in running.
After leaving the office, Qiu Gongyue was walking on the way back to her room.
I met some killers on the road. They were all whispering, but when they saw Qiu Gongyue passing by, they stopped and looked at her with a strange look.
This look not only contained hostility, but also had other meanings in it. Qiu Gongyue couldn't figure out what it was for a while.
When she passed by the hall, the dozens of killers who were talking inside subconsciously stopped.
The buzzing sound suddenly turned dead silent, and the killers were like a group of puppets with eyes staring at people.
The whole hall was filled with a strange atmosphere. Qiu Gongyue passed through it and glanced back, finding that everyone was observing her with the same eyes.
At this moment, she suddenly understood that these were the eyes of a hunter.
They are observing their prey and preparing for the kill.
Qiu Gongyue subconsciously quickened her pace and left. Instead of going back to her room, she left the branch directly and went to the nearby dense forest to send a text message to Basi Jishui.
A few minutes later, Basi Jishui sneaked over, with nervousness and uneasiness on his delicate little face.
"Sister Xinyue, you are back."
Seeing Qiugong Yue, Basi Jishui seemed to see the backbone, and the uneasiness on his face eased a lot.
Qiu Gongyue nodded and asked, "Has your investigation produced any results?"
Yoshimizu Basi quickly said: "Yes, they are secretly spreading some dissatisfaction with Minister Arakawa. Some family killers defended them and then started quarreling."
Qiu Gongyue frowned and said, "First tell me carefully what happened during my absence."
Basi Yishui originally had a lot to say, but seeing Qiu Gongyue's request, he had to start from the beginning.
The cause of the matter was about half a month ago. A Samsung killer and a family killer had a dispute while competing for a certain task. The two sides fought each other and each suffered injuries.
The matter came to Arakawa Buntai, but Arakawa Buntai punished the three-star killer and then handed the task to the family killer.
The killers who were originally ordinary people were very dissatisfied with the family killers. Arakawa Buntais' favoritism suddenly angered them.
Many Samsung killers went to Arakawa Buntai to ask for an explanation. As a result, Arakawa Buntai not only failed to explain, but also severely punished all the leading killers.
His behavior completely angered all the ordinary killers, and the atmosphere in the entire branch suddenly became weird.
The killers began to communicate in private, and their dissatisfaction with Arakawa Buntais became more and more serious, but Arakawa Buntais did nothing.
After listening to Yasushi Yoshimizu's story, Akimiya Yue was completely sure that Arakawa Buntais was deliberately letting the situation get out of control.
What on earth is he going to do?
Qiu Gongyue was puzzled, and for a moment she had the idea of 'I'm quitting, you can just go and play with yourselves, I'm lost'.
But if she really runs away now, the label of a defector will be taken off immediately.
Unless absolutely necessary, Qiu Gongyue would never want to embark on the same path as her grandfather.
She asked Basi Yishui: "Do you know what they are planning to do recently?"
"I do not know."
Basi Jishui shook his head and said, "But they have a private party tonight, and I plan to attend it to see what they want to talk about."
Qiu Gongyue nodded: "If there is danger, remember to protect yourself."
Basi Jishui smiled: "Don't worry, Sister Xinyue, if nothing else, I'm definitely the best at running away."
The two separated, and Qiu Gongyue returned to her room.
She had a hunch that within three days at most, these killers who were working together in secret would make big moves.
The anger that is aroused will not disappear out of thin air, but will intensify in the suppression.
The reason for this dissatisfaction against Arakawa Buntais is not only the recent events, but also traces back to the previous conflicts between ordinary killers and family killers.
When Tsugumo Shinji planned to become a candidate but was rejected, conflicts had already begun to accumulate at an accelerated pace.
Although Tsugumo Shinji was voted out, Akimiya Yue's abstention was regarded as the direct reason, but many killers also believed that this was the branch's upper-level suppression of Tsugumo Shinji, a killer with an ordinary background.
Don't forget, although Qiugong Yue is rejected by many people because of the Moon Clan, she is also a family killer.
Before and after the annual gathering, Arakawa Buntais kept doing some partial actions. For example, Xu Cheng beat Takeshi Iwata into a vegetative state, but was only fined a few points. For example, Akimiya Tsuki killed poisonous snakes and stinging bees, but not only was he not punished, but Promoted to three stars.
Of course the truth is not the case, but in the eyes of ordinary killers, there is no doubt that Arakawa Buntais is violently suppressing ordinary killers like them.
His behavior is accelerating the dissatisfaction of the killers and the accumulation of conflicts.
Until the recent fight between the Samsung killer and the family killer, Arakawa Buntais's usual partiality finally intensified the conflict.
If the killers really riot, Arakawa Buntais will undoubtedly bear the brunt, and the family killers, including Akimiya Yue, will also be affected.
If she wanted to figure out the actions of those ordinary killers, Qiu Gongyue realized that she couldn't do it alone and had to unite the other family killers.
But the family killers are also very repulsive to her, and there are not many like Basi Yishui who don't care about her identity.
Qiu Gongyue stayed in the room until nightfall, then quietly went out, planning to find some old friends from her childhood to find out the situation.
At the same time, Basi Jishui also left the branch with several killers, preparing to attend the private gathering of the killers.
Several people quietly left the branch, entered the hot spring mountain, and followed the road signs left by the other killers to the meeting place.
Along the way, Yashimi Yoshisui listened to several people around him complain about their dissatisfaction with Arakawa Buntais and Akimiya Yue, and there was no lack of malice in their words to kill them, which made Yashimi Yoshisui frightened.
Several people came to a secret cave. Inside the cave was a very vast space, which was brightly lit by dozens of torches. Close to one hundred and fifty people gathered here.
Basi Jishui just took one look and felt the blood in his body coagulate, and his whole heart sank suddenly.
Isn't there only a dozen people attending tonight's party?
Why are almost all the killers from the division here?
These killers were obviously performing tasks all over Japan, so why did they return to the branch quietly and gather in this cave?
Basi Yishui had a premonition that something bad was going on, and subconsciously wanted to run back, but when he turned around, he found that the entrance to the cave was already tightly guarded by several killers.
"Hachiro, where are you going?"
A killer blocked Basi Jishui's path with a cold face.
Basi Jishui said tremblingly: "I suddenly remembered that there is something else and I have to rush back quickly."
"Don't worry, wait a while and then leave."
Basi Jishui, who wanted to leave, was blocked back. When he turned around, he saw that there were many family killers like him in the cave. They all had panic expressions on their faces. They were probably tricked into coming here without knowing anything. .
"Everyone be quiet, people are coming."
Someone shouted, attracting the attention of the killers.
A group of people appeared on a huge stone, overlooking all the killers.
The leader is Tsugumo Shinji, followed by Hoshizaki Yukina, and almost all the three-star killers in the branch.
"Everyone!"
As soon as Tsugumo Shinji opened his mouth, the killers subconsciously kept quiet and looked up at him.
"Everyone knows the purpose of tonight's gathering, and there is only one reason why I am here."
Tsugumo Shinji raised a finger and looked around: "It is Arakawa Buntay who led you to overthrow the discrimination and oppression of us, and the three major families who are above us and have been oppressing and ruling us. I just want to ask, what do they think? What?"
"Why!"
"Why!"
The entire cave immediately erupted in violent cheers and applause, the sound was deafening.
But this is inside a cave, far away from the branch, and there is no fear of being discovered.
In the crowd, Basi Jishui and several other killers from the three major families were trembling.
…
"thorns!"
In the branch, Qiu Gongyue called out to a tall woman.
The other party looked back at Qiu Gongyue, a little surprised: "This is the first time in so many years that you have taken the initiative to greet me. Are you going to run away too?"
"Run away?"
Qiu Gongyue frowned slightly, and then realized that the other party looked like he was ready to go out: "Where are you going?"
"It seems that you don't know anything, and that's right. After all, you've been outside all the time, so it's normal not to know."
Thorns kept walking and continued walking outside: "Those crazy guys have sneaked back from outside and are about to do something big. Why don't I run away and stay to die?"
