Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner
Chapter 214 - 135: Banquet at Hongmen

Chapter 214: Chapter 135: Banquet at Hongmen

In fact, over the past month, Minamoto Tamako has not been idle.

Feeling distressed and mentally oppressed, she went to the shooting range to practice shooting every day after work—going dazed and confused through a day of work, then unloading rounds after work helped ease her mind and body.

Mainly because she learned from the train shootout incident, following Mr. Fu Jian’s advice, to practice shooting rather than physical training to avoid the tragedy of being helplessly weak; secondly, because she was in a bad mood and needed an outlet, she had no mind or ability to continue investigating, after all, she was not good at dealing with gangsters...

In short, after more than a month of professional training, Minamoto Tamako’s shooting skills... remained quite unremarkable.

The real world isn’t like anime; it’s impossible to suddenly leap in strength after some time of training, like high schoolers beating a national team to enter the World Cup... From a shooting novice to having a certain professional level, it usually takes 6 months to a year or even longer.

During this stage, a lot of live-fire practice is needed to constantly improve shooting accuracy and speed. Additionally, various shooting techniques must be learned, like quick draw, moving shooting, multi-target shooting, etc. Take professional shooters in the military as an example; they undergo more than half a year’s concentrated training to complete shooting tasks in complex environments.

Reaching the level of a professional sniper is even harder—it’s simply impossible without years or even decades of firearms training.

However, the coach at the training range often praised Tamako for her talent, slightly restoring her confidence, which is one of the reasons she goes to practice shooting right after work, obtaining some emotional value from the coach to some extent.

All in all, although Minamoto Tamako grows very slowly, at least she is progressing step by step.

But Fushimi Roku is different; he likes to reap without sowing, enjoying rewards unearned, and leaping to success in one step. The two believers said he lived a hard life, which, in a sense, was true. Compared to ordinary people, he was confined within the factory, eating one meal a day, enduring intense brainwashing and torturous daily training.

However, compared to believers who joined the sect at the same time, he had been receiving the best of the best.

Others were eating literal pig feed (not a metaphor, but actual pig feed) or retrieving moldy food from garbage bins, while Fushimi Roku enjoyed pork or seafood rice every day; other believers had to engage in production or cleaning work, while Fushimi only needed to boss others around while lounging in a wheelchair.

Besides physical torment, there was mental brainwashing.

The Master’s sermons were often enigmatic and confusing, leaving listeners baffled. Anyone who dared ask questions was scolded by the Master or other leaders, criticized for lacking wisdom, being too stupid, or being told only the sect would accept such people... They used this method to gaslight believers, constantly testing their obedience, enacting scenarios daily that twisted the believers’ life view, values, and world view.

Fortunately, Fushimi Roku helped interpret the sermons.

Not understanding the Master’s sermon didn’t matter; come evening, Fushimi Roku would gather all believers, carefully explain the essence of the sermons, patiently answering all questions, encouraging them to enrich their confidence, assist and love each other, and regain dignity as human beings.

As time went by, everyone felt that Roku’s explanations were better than the Master’s. During daytime sermons, the crowd’s interest was lackluster; but come evening, when Fushimi Roku interpreted, everyone eagerly signed up...

The Master saw everything but said nothing, not only refraining from suppressing Fushimi Roku but even granting him the privilege of going out for medical treatment.

Fushimi Roku regularly went to the hospital for check-ups, making a good recovery. After recuperating for two and a half months in total, he finally got his cast and screws removed—soon enough, with continued rehabilitation, his body would be as good as new.

That said, the fate of different people can’t be generalized; Fushimi Roku thrived, while Zhao Chunshu suffered.

He had to eat pig feed like other believers, and at night he was dragged into the interrogation room where the Master continued to press him on who Heavenly Punishment truly was... The sect had already caught three scapegoats, even if the Master were foolish, he’d be suspicious by now.

Plus, he’s no fool.

The Master’s real name was Asano Yoshi, from a fishing village in Igen Town. His parents were fishermen, and by all accounts, he should have followed in their footsteps, spending his life as a fisherman. But at nineteen, he left home, ventured into Tokyo alone, and his life trajectory drastically changed.

As for why Asano Yoshi left home, it was an ignoble reason: in a drunken stupor, he raped the village chief’s daughter. The locals wanted to use vigilante justice and drown him at sea. His parents couldn’t bear to see their son punished and helped him escape the village overnight, telling him never to return.

After arriving in Tokyo, he worked as a handyman, entered the workforce, slept under bridge abutments, and was a vagrant for a while. Later, he met Matsuboto Toshitsuo, who was also struggling, and the two lamented about social injustice, and after a night of discussion, they hit it off, opening a yoga studio and began preaching under its guise.

Yes, that’s how the Aum Truth Sect was born.

Matsuboto Toshitsuo wasn’t inherently a charlatan; he was legally blind with a high school education, and his parents were tatami mat craftsmen. The initial goal of founding the sect was merely for power, passion, and wealth. Even now, they’re still tirelessly striving for power, passion, and wealth, unchanging in their original intentions and relentlessly dedicated.

Such people are natural dictators, unwilling to share power with others under any circumstances.

Asano Yoshi’s indulgence towards Fushimi Roku mainly stemmed from a dire lack of manpower under his command.

Back when he and Matsuboto started their venture, living frugally, their relationship was naturally harmonious; but now that their sect succeeded, they started scheming against each other, Asano Yoshi aiming for the position of Sect Hierarch, while Matsuboto Toshitsuo sought to eliminate the meritorious.

Recently, a police crackdown temporarily halted their ideas of splitting. Matsuboto Toshitsuo simply sent Asano Yoshi to Tokyo, letting him expand and establish a branch church on his own.

When Asano Yoshi left, he had start-up capital and funds voluntarily donated by believers, so he wasn’t short on money but on people—he wanted to form his own armed forces, just like Matsuboto, for assassinations, bribery, kidnappings, or exerting violence.

He had recently funded the Heavenly Punishment Group, attempting to convert it into Aum Truth Sect’s private squad, but Kazama Chihime wasn’t an obedient figure; not only did she ignore orders, but she also caused the Church significant losses of some two to three hundred people.

The manpower was already sparse, and it only became more strained now.

Asano Yoshi wanted to expand the number of believers, and it just so happened that Fushimi Roku was excellent at preaching and firmly believed in superpowers—the time seemed right, so he planned to discuss with Fushimi Roku, drawing him into the fold to handle external preaching.

Before that, he needed to arrange gunmen.

If Fushimi Roku was disrespectful, Asano Yoshi planned to personally clean the house.