CHAPTER 133: CHAPTER 131 THE MASTERS ARE VERY ANGRY_1

Tokyo, Shinjuku.

The top floor of the Iwasaki Group building.

Huge floor-to-ceiling windows allowed sunlight to illuminate the hall.

Soft sofas were arranged in a circle, surrounding a table.

Tea was steeping on it, with six teacups set out.

Apart from Iwasaki Yizo, five other elderly men were seated here.

One of them was of a massive build, faintly revealing the majestic presence of his youth.

Now, however, he needed a walking stick for daily outings to prevent falls.

BEEP BEEP. The sound of the landline phone broke the silence of the reception room.

Iwasaki Yizo answered and put it on speaker. "How’s the situation at the mansion?"

Tamagawa Takeshi, on the other end of the line, sounded nervous and said in a low voice, "Mr. Iwasaki, I regret to inform you of some distressing news. Your grandson and the others have been murdered.

"Not a single person or dog was left alive in the entire mansion.

"The killer... by the time we arrived at the scene, they had already left the mansion."

At this point, Tamagawa Takeshi quickly added, "Please give us a little more time; we will make every effort to apprehend the perpetrator."

"Fine, I’ll give you time."

Iwasaki Yizo didn’t react with the anger Tamagawa Takeshi had expected.

He was very clear about when to lash out and when not to.

Any display of rage or roaring now wouldn’t instill fear; it would only expose his own incompetence.

"Yes, sir. I definitely won’t disappoint you."

"I’m hanging up now."

After Iwasaki Yizo hung up, he calmly said, "Taro and the others are dead. Who do you think did it?"

"The mansion was guarded by forty bodyguards armed with AK47s, military drones, and over a hundred hounds. How many attackers would it take to neutralize them all?"

"With that many personnel, it couldn’t have happened silently. Could someone have bribed the Kasukabe police department?"

"Impossible."

Iwasaki Yizo shook his head, quite certain. "The people in Kasukabe, from top to bottom, are all acquainted with the Iwasaki family; they wouldn’t betray me."

Iwasaki Yizo was very confident on this point.

"Still, we should check his recent bank account transactions."

"It’s also possible communications were cut."

"For specific details, let’s wait for Mayers’ autopsy report," Sumitomo Taisei spoke up.

...

Silence once again fell upon the hall.

Though unspoken, the six men began to ponder: Who would commit such an act against them?

And who stood to gain the most from it?

In their minds, a storm was brewing.

RING RING. The sound of a phone shattered their thoughts.

Sumitomo Taisei put his phone on speaker. "Mayers," he said in a deep voice, "have you found anything?"

A flippant voice came from the other end. "Mr. Sumitomo, based on my examination of the wounds on the bodies, I judge the killer acted alone."

"Are you sure you’re not mistaken?" Iwasaki Yizo interjected, his voice laced with doubt. He knew very well how formidable the Iwasaki family’s defenses were, and the professional competence of those forty bodyguards.

"One person took out forty well-trained bodyguards, over a hundred fierce hounds, and dealt with the drones and 007?"

"Yes. Bodies don’t lie. No matter how shocked you are, I can give you a definitive answer.

"The killer was one person, and they dispatched those people and hounds in under fifteen minutes.

"The only distinct wound was on the unit you call 007; the damage was to its right hand.

"I see no other damage. I’m not familiar with such things, so I won’t comment further."

Iwasaki Yizo couldn’t help but exclaim, "Killed all those people in under fifteen minutes?

"Even if they stood still and let the killer slaughter them, it would take longer than fifteen minutes!"

"Calm down, sir. I have strong reasons to suspect the perpetrator is a Superpower user."

"Superpower?!" Sumitomo Taisei struggled to maintain his composure. The last time he heard such an absurd term was during the era when Superpowers were supposedly prevalent.

"Indeed. Unless the perpetrator can teleport, I don’t know how else one person could silently eliminate all those people in different locations within fifteen minutes, and also destroy a robot."

Mayers was a seasoned forensic pathologist. He trusted the information the bodies provided. The truth inferred from that information, no matter how absurd or outrageous, was, in his view, the truth.

Naturally, Iwasaki Yizo and the others didn’t believe it.

"Your words make me doubt your professionalism."

"Mr. Sumitomo, you can invite any forensic pathologist you wish. They will undoubtedly confirm the time of death was within fifteen minutes."

Mayers replied with conviction, silencing Sumitomo Taisei. He knew very well that Mayers, the "Coroner of Death," was highly renowned in the underworld.

In autopsies, his skills far surpassed his peers, and he was adept at both saving lives—and taking them.

"Alright. Bring the robot to the usual place. Payment will be transferred then."

"Then my job here is done. I look forward to our next collaboration."

Mayers hung up.

The atmosphere in the hall grew heavier, more sinister.

They had thought Mayers’ call would bring them closer to the truth, but now, the truth seemed more elusive than ever.

In under fifteen minutes, one person had killed all the Iwasaki family’s bodyguards, preventing them from even sending a distress signal.

Even in a movie, it would be an absurd plot.

"Given the armament at the mansion, Iwasaki Taro and his people, if they sensed something amiss, should have had time to escape by helicopter."

Could there really be a Superpower user?

This absurd thought flashed through Iwasaki Yizo’s mind, only to be quickly dismissed.

He had once wholeheartedly believed in Superpowers and psychic masters, but after the collapse of another great power, he had come to realize that so-called Superpower users were all frauds.

"What are your thoughts?" Iwasaki Yizo probed.

After serious consideration, Sumitomo Taisei asked, "Why did they stay there?"

Iwasaki Yizo replied, "I asked Kochou. Her answer was that it was connected to Dio.

"Taro and the others wanted to play a game to lure Dio out."

"What game?"

"It involved having someone commit murder, then clearing their name in court and securing their release, all to bait Dio."

As Iwasaki Yizo said this, he also recognized a blind spot and immediately sent his secretary to inquire: Had that criminal died?

Soon, the secretary returned to report that the criminal had died of fright in the detention center.

The six men present exchanged glances.

Was this matter connected to Dio? If it were Dio, he could silently infiltrate the Yasuda Family’s home to assassinate Yasuda Masao, and he could also silently infiltrate the Iwasaki mansion. But there’s a significant difference between killing one person and dozens of armed bodyguards.

"Perhaps someone is intentionally trying to make us think it’s Dio."

Iwasaki Yizo mused, "Let the special task force determine its veracity. They know Dio best."

The other five nodded.

As members of zaibatsu, they knew very well that to achieve a goal, it wasn’t always necessary to use their own conglomerate’s power; rather, one had to know how to leverage governmental power, turning the state apparatus into their personal tool.

The leads on Dio could be handed to the special task force for investigation, allowing them to focus their time and energy on other suspects.

"First, we’ll dismantle the Takizawa Group and acquire all its industries. Then, we’ll interrogate that Takizawa whelp to see if he orchestrated this."

"Agreed."

An event capable of sending tremors through Japan’s business world was thus decided with casual finality.

This extended beyond the business world, from the political sphere to the underworld. Even if they had to dig three feet deep, they would unearth the killer.

No one who offended them could continue to live peacefully in Japan.

...

「Kasukabe, hospital, morgue.」

The creak of a door opening broke the silence.

"What a detestable odor. The moment I smell this disinfectant, it reminds me of a certain irritating fellow."

A sultry voice shattered the silence and eerie atmosphere as a tall, black-haired beauty pushed the door open, her thigh-high boots clacking softly on the floor.

"Alright, Morimoto, stop complaining about such things."

Okayama Buji, trailing Morimoto Chiyoda with a wry smile, didn’t want to get entangled in their feud.

Morimoto Chiyoda shrugged, walked forward, and pulled open one of the refrigerated compartments.

She gazed at the white-sheet-covered body within, lifted the sheet with her right hand, and asked, "Do you think Dio is connected to this?"

"Hard to say," Okayama Buji replied honestly. "Killing forty men armed with AK47s and over a hundred hounds, plus disabling military drones, all in under fifteen minutes—it’s an incredible feat.

"It certainly aligns with Dio’s modus operandi; his methods always defy ordinary imagination."

In his mind, Dio had become omnipotent. No matter how outrageous the case, if Dio was involved, it no longer seemed so outrageous but rather logical. It was Dio, after all.

"Heh. The detainee died of fright, the heirs of six zaibatsu are dead... In my opinion, this case definitely revolves around their heirs and has nothing to do with Dio."

Morimoto Chiyoda shook her head. She believed herself capable, armed with a gun, of using cover and maneuver, relying on her superb marksmanship, to hunt down forty other armed bodyguards.

It was outlandish, but theoretically achievable.

But to evade surveillance, kill armed bodyguards and over a hundred hounds in various locations, all in under fifteen minutes—that was clearly impossible.

In her view, these people must have been gathered and killed together. Then, the killer used a helicopter to move their bodies to different locations, staging the crime scenes.

And only an insider could have gathered all the bodyguards.

In other words, a seventh person was present at the scene.

This seventh person knew the six future heirs of the zaibatsu and might even be the younger brother of one of them.

"I also hope Dio wasn’t responsible," Okayama Buji sighed, his gaze sweeping over the morgue’s refrigerated compartments. Forty-six people... Such a death toll suggests Dio’s methods are becoming more radical.

"You still haven’t changed," Morimoto Chiyoda remarked, shaking her head. She’d always felt his personality wasn’t suited for police work. His abilities were sound, but his disposition was a tad too empathetic.

Excessive empathy, whether for criminals or victims, isn’t a good thing.

"Load the bodies onto the truck. Then let’s see what intel that woman has gathered."