Tokyo: From Lawless Madpolice to Minister
Chapter 175 - 171: The Bearded Man Who Faced Many Disasters, Highly Valued

Chapter 175: Chapter 171: The Bearded Man Who Faced Many Disasters, Highly Valued

"Slap!" "Slap!" "Slap!"

In the living room at home, Aoyama Xiu Xin emotionlessly slapped Yamakawa Ichiro’s face three times in a row.

Yamakawa Ichiro’s chubby face soon swelled red, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, yet he stood respectfully in place, daring not to move an inch.

"Slap!" Aoyama Xiu Xin fiercely delivered another slap and yelled angrily, "Idiot!"

"Understood!" Yamakawa Ichiro responded, bowing his head.

Whereas he was usually all smiles, harmless to humans and animals, his face now bore no smile, only respect and seriousness with sweat beads covering his forehead.

"Mr. Yamaoka, you can find the person, can’t you?" Aoyama Xiu Xin asked, enunciating each word.

Having been busy all day and toiled all night, he had barely fallen asleep when he was awakened by a call from Yamakawa Ichiro, saying that the Bearded Man was lost—how could he not be furious?

"Understood!" Yamakawa Ichiro answered again.

He added, "I’ve already sent people to look for him, and his family has also sent someone to keep watch."

"If you can’t find him, you don’t need to see me anymore," Aoyama Xiu Xin said with an icy tone.

Hearing this, Yamakawa Ichiro bent even lower.

Aoyama Xiu Xin sat down on the sofa, legs propped on the coffee table, "Who took him?"

"The Daokuan Association," Yamakawa Ichiro answered.

Aoyama Xiu Xin knew it had to be the Daokuan Association, orchestrated by Renping Kuniaki, and said, "Control the members of the Daokuan Association, do not let them spread the news that the man is lost, search secretly, do not draw attention."

Otherwise, once the Daokuan Association realized the Bearded Man was out of Yamakawa’s control and they also started searching, it would be troublesome if they found him first.

If Renping Kuniaki found the Bearded Man first, not only could he tear up the promise to help promote him within the Police Headquarters without fear of his threats, but he might also use the Bearded Man to strike back.

"Understood!" Yamakawa Ichiro responded.

Aoyama Xiu Xin waved his hand, signaling him to get out, then picked up the phone and called Renping Kuniaki. Once connected, he said with a smile, "Director, heh, you must be very disappointed now, unable to succeed tonight, finding another hideout will be much harder now."

"......" Renping Kuniaki remained silent.

Indeed, he was very disappointed, very angry. The Black Society was just that—the Black Society, a ragtag bunch of nobodies who had sworn up and down that they would hand over the man tonight, only to come up empty-handed.

After this disruption, Aoyama Xiu Xin would surely hide the Bearded Man even more secretly and increase the guards, never would such a good chance occur again.

Aoyama Xiu Xin shifted his tone, cold and sinister, "I keep my word, as long as you keep your promise to help me ascend to the Police Headquarters, I will never use this matter to cause trouble, but if you do something like tonight again and anger me... hmm, you better watch yourself."

With that, he hung up the phone, because the man had run away, hence he had to bluster.

He must not let the other party see that he was insecure.

"Idiot!" Renping Kuniaki, on the other end, silent for a moment, angrily smashed the phone. After panting heavily a few times, he picked up his desk phone and called Inakawa Hong, "Enough, stop looking for him."

He compromised because, firstly, he felt there would never be as good an opportunity as tonight again, and secondly, he truly feared provoking Aoyama Xiu Xin into an act of desperation; after all, that guy was audacious enough to do anything.

The Bearded Man indeed had escaped during the commotion.

The scene of the bloody clash frightened him, his only usual exposure to blood being when his male partner forcibly penetrated him without lubricant.

He had always feared being silenced by his employer.

Tonight’s events had terrified him even more.

Stumbling and sprinting through the fields, he had no idea where he was until he saw a highway in the distance, took a deep breath, and kept running.

When he reached the roadside, he collapsed, gasping for breath, feeling like his heart was about to burst out.

Suddenly a beam of headlights shone from afar, blinding him, making him instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes.

Then, excited, he scrambly stood up and waved down the car.

A white Corolla stopped in front of him.

The Bearded Man lunged at the window, excitedly looking at the two people inside, "Can you give me a ride?"

Both people inside were around thirty years old.

Both of similar build, the driver had lighter skin, while the passenger was darker.

"Aren’t you the man from the newspaper a few days ago, the one assaulted by the rich second generation?" The dark-skinned passenger recognized him and asked curiously seeing his appearance, "What are you doing here in the middle of the night, all sweaty? What, is someone chasing you?"

"No... not really, I... I just got lost," the Bearded Man stammered in his lie.

The driver, with lighter skin, chuckled and said nonchalantly, "If you don’t tell the truth, we might just leave."

"It is, there are people chasing me, please let me get in the car quickly," the Bearded Man said anxiously.

The two exchanged glances and nodded to each other.

They then let the Bearded Man into the car.

After driving for over half an hour, skyscrapers began to appear in their view; the Bearded Man finally relaxed, "Thank you both for helping me, you can drop me off anywhere up ahead."

However, neither of them responded to him.

Instead, they turned into a narrow alley after making several turns.

Suddenly, the Bearded Man realized that these two guys might not be good people either and immediately tried to open the door to jump out.

But the door had been locked from the beginning and couldn’t be opened at all.

"Who are you people? What do you want, let me down, let me down now!"

The bearded man cried out in panic, continuously tugging at the car door switch, making a clicking sound.

At that moment, he suddenly regretted having run away.

That’s just how people are, standing at a crossroad, they would regret whatever choice they had made afterward.

Suddenly, the youth in the passenger seat turned around, holding a gun pointed at him, raised his finger to his lips and whispered softly, "Shush, please be quiet."

The bearded man instinctually raised his hands and dared not move.

Finally.

The car stopped in front of a garbage incineration plant.

The white-skinned youth turned around with a slight smile, revealing his pearly white teeth, "Friend, we both think you seem to have some story, it’s safe now, tell us, we’ll be good listeners."

"What if I don’t want to talk?" the bearded man swallowed, tentatively asking.

The white and black skinned youths looked at each other and laughed.

"Then you’ll become dog food, like this."

The white-skinned youth put on gloves, picked up a piece of meat from a bag beneath him, and threw it out, then in the darkness, a dozen pairs of faint green eyes appeared, and a group of filthy wild dogs rushed out to fight for the meat on the ground.

The bearded man’s face turned pale, his teeth trembling.

It wasn’t the wild dogs that frightened him, but the fact that what the white-skinned youth had thrown out was a half of a human hand, pale in color!

It seemed to have been boiled, because a lot of the flesh had fallen off the bones when it hit the ground.

"Eating raw can make you sick," the white-skinned youth met his gaze and explained with a smile.

It’s strange to say, but he was rather considerate.

Kind even to dogs, no wonder after killing people, they would painstakingly give them a warm bath.

The bearded man collapsed on the spot, holding his head and crying aloud, "I’ll talk! Wuu wuu wuu! I’ll tell everything!"

At that moment, he deeply regretted his actions.

This kind of ill-gotten wealth should not be pursued!

Otherwise, how would he have escaped the wolf’s den only to enter a tiger’s lair?

Meanwhile, the Yamakawa family was still searching for the bearded man all over Kanagawa Prefecture, as they assumed he had no car and no way to hitch a ride in the middle of the night, so he couldn’t have gone far, definitely still in Kanagawa Prefecture.

..................

"Ding-ding-ding~ Ding-ding-ding~"

In the morning, Aoyama Xiu Xin was woken up by the phone.

"Moshi moshi," he answered groggily.

"Inspector, there’s been another case in Kanagawa Prefecture involving dismemberment and boiling of the victim, the deceased was a local judge, and the reporters in Kanagawa Prefecture also received a letter, this time with photos of the bribe," Fujimoto Ryosuke’s voice came through the receiver.

"Idiot, the killer is still listening to suggestions and evolving their methods!" Aoyama Xiu Xin cursed; he had said yesterday that there was no evidence proving Rujiang Yangming was a corrupt official, but this one included such evidence.

Without a doubt, this was a provocation to the police!

And the fact that this victim was in Kanagawa Prefecture further indicated that their operations weren’t confined to Tokyo.

If they started moving around the country to commit crimes.

Catching them would indeed be a seriously challenging task.

Nowadays, it wasn’t like there were surveillance cameras everywhere.

Outside of Tokyo, other places had even fewer cameras.

As Aoyama Xiu Xin got up and began putting on his clothes with one hand, he asked, "Anything found at the crime scene this time?"

"Nothing, it’s very clean, definitely pre-covered with film again," Fujimoto Ryosuke sighed.

He was standing right at the crime scene making the call.

"Then I won’t come over," Aoyama Xiu Xin wasn’t keen on making the trip; he wasn’t some detective god who could discover clues that others couldn’t, "Try to get the photos from the reporters, persuade them to cooperate with the police and not let the killer manipulate the media. Be mindful of the language in their reports."

"They might not listen though..."

"I know they won’t listen, just stabilize them for now, others will surely pressurize them later," Aoyama Xiu Xin interrupted him.

Even if the killers have provided evidence of the victim being a corrupt official, what about it? Official pressure on the media not to report the incident would suffice, as it would tarnish the government’s image and affect the uninformed masses’ perception of the killer—all for the greater good.

Surely no reporter would dare oppose the authorities, right?

The incident in Kanagawa Prefecture confirmed that the killer was continuously committing crimes, without any sign of stopping, and, unless caught soon, there would be a second and a third time.

It drew serious attention from the Public Security Committee.

Renping Kuniaki announced the establishment of the Dismemberment Killer Case, forming a Special Investigation Headquarters specifically in charge, personally taking the position of Minister.

A group of elites were pulled into the team, including Aoyama Xiu Xin — this time both the higher-ups and Renping Kuniaki were intent on solving the case as quickly as possible, setting aside any past grievances with Aoyama Xiu Xin to handle matters impartially.

At two in the afternoon, all members who received the order gathered at Police Headquarters for the inaugural meeting.