Onodera Sakura... Tachibana Takayuki's comrade-in-arms... These words were like a hammer, hitting Aomori's heart violently.
He cast a blank, straight gaze at the "wogua-face" who called himself Onodera Sakura.
At this moment, neither Aoto nor Souji nor Sanako had any intention to pay attention to the wakizashi with "Evil Demon Slayer" engraved on the stem of the sword.
The extremely clear and beautiful eyes of the two women clearly reflected their stunned eyes.
In fact, not to mention them, even Qingdeng, who was accustomed to seeing rough waves, couldn't help but be shocked by the unexpected change in front of him.
Before Qingto and the others had finished sorting out their emotions, they heard Onodera speak again:
"This Platycodon Mountain is a deserted wilderness with no human contact!"
"It's neither located on a major traffic thoroughfare, nor does it have a place that can be called 'beautiful'."
"Not to mention ordinary passers-by, even travelers who love touring mountains and rivers and traveling around will not come here!"
"But you not only came, but you also accurately found this thatched house, rummaged through the house, and carefully searched every inch of the house."
"I have just been observing your every move, demeanor and expression."
"You're not looking for 'something specific,' but you're looking broadly for 'something that can be used.'"
"It's not so much 'looking for something' as it is 'searching for clues'!"
"Knowing the existence of this house; and also knowing the value of this house, and working tirelessly to search for valuable clues in the house... These two points alone are enough to conclude that you and Tachibana Takayuki have a very close relationship!"
Speaking of this, Onodera turned his eyes sideways and fixed his gaze on Qingdeng's face.
"The technique you used to tie me up is the 'rope-catching technique' practiced by the practitioners. Most people cannot learn this technique!"
"As far as I know, Tachibana Takayuki has a son who returned to the town of Kitabansho."
"You have a close relationship with Tachibana Takayuki, you are proficient in the 'rope-catching technique' of the shrine, and your surname is 'Tachibana'... If my guess is correct, you are Tachibana Takayuki's son - Tachibana Aoden!"
Onodera finished.
It was quiet all around.
Silence surrounded the house and outside.
There was a tense atmosphere instantly.
The people who created this atmosphere were Aoto and Onodera.
A bright, fiery gaze.
A thoughtful, calm gaze.
Two completely different eye waves started an invisible collision and confrontation in mid-air.
All kinds of things and disturbing thoughts were rumbling in Qingdeng's mind like a washing machine.
The strong heart and tough nerves that have been tempered by many hardships come in handy at this moment.
In the blink of an eye, Qingdeng's thoughts caught up with the current situation.
There are many confusing doubts and things to ask.
However, one thing is 100% certain - the strange-looking young man in front of me with a face like a melon is definitely no ordinary person!
Is Onodera really Takayuki Tachibana's comrade-in-arms, as he just said? This is especially unclear.
But they must have a close friendship, there is no doubt about it!
In addition, Onodera's observation and reasoning abilities are also amazing.
With just a few clues, he successfully guessed Qingdeng's true identity.
Even putting aside all the factors mentioned above... the look in his eyes made Qingdeng couldn't help but look at him.
Strong yet upright.
Stay calm amidst the intensity.
This is the look in the eyes of those who are not afraid of death.
That's right... Onodera's "identity self-explosion" is no different from handing over a "letter of surrender" in disguise.
He's gambling.
I bet this "man in a hat" is his ally...
Bet that this "man in a hat" is indeed Tachibana Takayuki's son: Tachibana Aoden...
Onodera had shown his sincerity, and now it was Aoto's turn to respond.
Do you want to be honest with the other person?
Or should we continue the intrigue?
Qingdeng: "..."
Onodera: "..."
For a moment, a heavy silence accumulated between the two.
The sound of wind coming from outside the house sounded inexplicably distant.
About 10 seconds later, the air, as silent as the deep sea, finally changed - Qingden suddenly raised his right arm and grabbed the bamboo hat above his head.
Seeing this, the General Secretary quickly said:
"Jijun, you..."
Although she opened her mouth immediately, her speed was still half a beat slow.
The director's red lips had just opened, and Qingden had already taken off his hat.
"Mr. Onodera, your guess is correct, I am Tachibana Takayuki's only son - Tachibana Aoden."
The thick black hair without Tsukiyo, the regular facial features, the eyes that radiated high-spiritedness... Onodera stared at Aoto's face with a dull expression.
His behavior at the moment was like an old computer with a malfunctioning program.
After Qingdeng's words fell for a while, he came back to his senses and muttered:
"It's so similar..."
Suddenly, the "program" fault was corrected and the "old computer" returned to normal operation.
"Ah, sorry for making you laugh."
He apologized and corrected his posture.
"Well, I'm older than you, can I boldly call you 'Orange-kun'?"
Qingden nodded.
"So - Tachibana-kun, first meeting."
Onodera let out a long breath.
"Tachibana-kun, you and your father... look so much alike. Just now, for a moment, I thought Tachibana Takayuki was resurrected."
Qingdeng smiled slightly and said half-jokingly:
"This should be enough to prove my identity, right?"
"Hahaha, that's true. It seems that you are indeed Tachibana Takayuki's son."
After saying that, Onodera laughed softly.
However, with just a snap of his fingers, the smile on his face turned into solemn and dignified.
"Ji Jun, why are you here? This is not the place you should be."
There was obvious tension in Onodera's voice.
Although his emotions were expressed very reservedly, his worries and anxieties were completely conveyed to Qingdeng.
Now that the matter has come to this, there is no need to be mysterious and cover-up anymore.
"Mr. Onodera, I am currently investigating the case that caused my father's death."
Qingdeng said directly one word at a time.
"I learned from a certain channel that there is a 'secret stronghold' of my father on the top of Mount Kikyo, so I came with my companions to check it out."
Onodera's eyes widened every time Aoto said a word.
In the end, his eyes were as big as horse bells.
"You, you... you are investigating... that case?"
Onodera seemed to be petrified, motionless and cast a horrified look at Aonto.
His lips moved several times, as if he was planning to say something, but he couldn't form any words.
Finally, he gave up the struggle and let out a long sigh.
"Two father and son actually jumped into the same case one after another... How in the world could such a thing happen..."
Onodera's vocal cords vibrated incoherently.
Qingdeng asked quickly, regardless of the fact that the other party was still in confusion:
"Mr. Onodera, since you are an old acquaintance of my father's, may I be able to lend a helping hand?"
The next second, Qingden turned his sharp eyes towards Onodera.
"May I ask what is the relationship between you and my father? What is their friendship? Is this place my father's 'secret stronghold'?"
Onodera pursed his lips and fell into deep thought in response to the questions Aonto threw out like a machine gun.
It wasn't until a long time passed that he asked solemnly:
"... Mr. Ju, let me take the liberty of asking: Do you know how dangerous the case you are currently investigating is?"
"I know."
Qingdeng replied without hesitation and forcefully.
"In fact, I have found out a lot of shady facts about this case that are unbearable to watch. I am fully aware of the danger of this case, but I am mentally prepared for any bad outcome."
"..."
Onodera raised his head, his sharp arrow-like eyes piercing Qingdeng's eyes.
Qingteng accepted Onodera's gaze calmly. He looked calm and unhurried.
This brief confrontation ended with Onodera surrendering.
"Haha...it seems...you're not trying to show off or tell lies..."
Onodera sighed again, then twitched the corner of his mouth and forced out an ugly forced smile.
"Tachibana Takayuki, Tachibana Takayuki, you must have never imagined, right? Your son would actually take over your 'mission'..."
Having said this, Onodera took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and faced the sky.
After a moment, when he opened his eyes, the confusion and trance in his eyes were gone.
Instead, there was excitement and exhilaration.
"This is God's will!"
"At this moment when I was desperate and about to be forced into a desperate situation, you, who took over Tachibana Takayuki's 'mission', happened to appear here and now... Apart from God's will, I really can't think of any other reason!"
"Perhaps... God allowed me to live on just for this day!"
"Okay! I will tell you everything I know! I will answer every question of yours truthfully!"
"However, before that, can you reveal the progress of your current case investigation to me? So that I can tell you the truth you don't know one by one based on your actual situation."
Qingdeng nodded, and then briefly stated his recent experiences.
After Onodera listened carefully, he took a breath:
"You've already dug so deep into this...it's amazing! Now, there's not much left that I can tell you."
"In that case, I won't waste any more nonsense and let's get straight to the point!"
"In order to bribe the officials of the Shimizu clan, Tachibana Takayuki borrowed a large amount of funds."
"After a long period of observation, screening, testing, and contact...in the end, a total of two important cadres of the Qingshui clan were bribed by him."
"One of them is named Beihara Ginzo."
Beiyuan——Qingden's brows jumped when he heard this familiar last name.
However, he did not interrupt and continued to listen quietly.
"As for the other person..."
Speaking of this, Onodera paused.
In an instant, he showed a rather charming expression that was mixed with helplessness and embarrassment.
However, with just a snap of his fingers, he smoothed away all the discoloration between his cheeks.
"……it is me."
The moment Onodera finished speaking, a wisp of breeze blew into the room, blowing open his clothes, revealing his tattoos all over his body.
Onodera's words "It's me" obviously did not use a very loud volume or a very high pitch, but Qingto and others were stunned to hear that the sound was like thunder, one after another, and lasting.
Like an echo in the valley, Onodera's words "It's me" hovered and echoed in the ears of Aomori and others, and then spread far away.
The lively Souji almost screamed.
When her red lips opened subconsciously, she quickly raised her hands to cover her mouth and nose when she came to her senses.
But even so, a low exclamation still leaked out from between his fingers.
Although Seito and Sanako didn't react as violently as Souji, they were also deeply surprised.
At this moment, Qingdeng deeply felt what it means to "find nowhere even if you break through iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get there"!
Ever since he learned the important information from Ugaki Goro that "Takayuki Takayuki obtained 5,000 taels of 'bribery funds' with nothing," Aomori has been worrying about how to find Tachibana Takayuki's bribe partner.
To this day, Aomori still feels helpless about this - as a result, the person whom Tachibana Takayuki bribed actually showed up on his own!
The so-called "pie in the sky" is nothing more than that.
Driven by the excitement, Qingto focused his whole body and mind, unwilling to let go of every word that Onodera said next.
"The casino is the most important industry of the Qingshui clan."
"In order to facilitate management and disperse power, the boss...that is, Shimizu Eiichi divided the huge casino industry into several parts and handed them over to me, Kitahara Ginzo and many other cadres."
"Actually, the story between Tachibana Takayuki and I is not complicated either."
"Takayuki Takayuki found me, offered me a lot of money, and asked me for clues about the 'phantom drug'."
"According to what you just said, you seem to call that damn potion a 'trick potion', while we here call it a 'phantom potion'."
"In order to make it easier for you to understand, I will change my name to 'trick medicine'."
"'The secret medicine' is the top secret of the Qingshui clan."
"Even as a cadre of the clan, I have no idea about it."
"To be honest, I only knew about the existence of this medicine when Julong came to visit."
"It's funny to say that the whole process of Tachibana Takayuki and I meeting, getting to know each other, becoming familiar with each other, and finally becoming comrades who advance and retreat together is full of drama."
"The initial relationship between the two of us... was very simple, without any impurities. It was a simple 'transfer of benefits'."
"He wants information on the 'trick drug', and I want money."
"For this reason, I used my identity to secretly investigate the 'past and present life' of the 'cunning medicine'."
"It's okay if we don't check this medicine. If we check it... it's shocking!"
"To put it simply, 'trick medicine' is a chronic poison that uses poppy as the main ingredient."
"It has two main functions: it is hallucinogenic, and it destroys people's sanity and makes them impulsive and irritable."
*******
*******
Participating in the high school entrance examination + being noisy by the dragon boat race outside which made my head hurt, unable to take a nap + lack of sleep leading to depression = full debuff stack, poor condition.
Hui Changbao apologizes, I only wrote this little today... (Leopard's head cries.jpg)
However, thankfully, the drama plot of investigating the case is basically over. Starting tomorrow, Qingdeng will officially start filming with the Qingshui Clan and the Fa Zhu Party.
Today's high school entrance examination paper is still very difficult, and I almost didn't finish it.
I feel like I did poorly in the exam. I may have to repeat the exam for another year~~
I will take the high school entrance examination again next year~~
(End of chapter)
