Chapter 139: My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror; everything I do is for the sake of justice.

A day vanished in the blink of an eye.

There were now two days remaining before Noda’s court appearance.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Come in!"

"Inspector, I've tracked it down!" Shinichi Nakamura pushed the door open, with dark circles under his eyes. His eye sockets were deeply sunken, his eyes bloodshot, and his hair greasy and unkempt.

He hurried over to Aoyama Hideki, breathing slightly as he said, "Junko Suzuki and Hirofumi Asano were classmates. They had a very close relationship; Junko Suzuki harbors feelings for Hirofumi Asano, and their contact has been quite frequent lately."

This information was not difficult to uncover. Comparing their backgrounds and asking around among their former classmates had been enough to reveal the truth.

"Bastard!" Aoyama Hideki threw his pen onto the desk, his expression darkening. "They must be colluding behind the scenes, plotting to bring me down."

He dedicated himself heart and soul to the country and the people, yet there were always insidious villains jealous of his talent who wanted to drag him down. Despicable!

"They are definitely harboring an ulterior motive!" Nakamura wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face equally grim as water. "If their only goal was to secretly investigate the truth behind Michiko Ayase's death, they should have actually requested a postponement of the trial. Instead, they are actively pushing to move up the hearing for the Ayase case. When things are abnormal, demons are bound to be lurking."

"Noda!" Aoyama Hideki blurted out, his tone freezing. "Hirofumi Asano secretly enlisted Junko Suzuki's help to persuade Noda. They want Noda to retract his testimony in court. Whether it involves coerced confessions or a miscarriage of justice, once the matter blows up, it will have to be thoroughly investigated. You and I would be immediately suspended. At the same time, the more public attention it attracts, the less room the Kimura family will have to manipulate things. That must be what they're planning."

He thought of this because, based on the reality of the situation, if he were in their shoes, he would have done the exact same thing.

"Damn it! Those two adulterers are utterly insidious!" Nakamura was both shocked and enraged. He bit his lip and asked, "Inspector, what should we do?"

Once suspended, they would completely lose the opportunity to fight back. They could not simply sit and wait for death.

"The crux of the matter still lies with Noda!" Aoyama Hideki stood up, walking in circles around his office with his hands behind his back. His expression flickered between light and shadow. After a long moment, he said in a deep voice, "Take Noda's family under control."

As an upright man, he had no desire to resort to such tactics, but the petty villains plotting against him were pressing him step by step, leaving him no choice but to adopt this desperate measure.

Still, those who achieve great things do not sweat trivial details.

"But because of his repeated crimes, he has brought shame upon his family, making them estranged from him long ago," Nakamura said hesitatingly.

Even when Noda's parents were informed that he had been arrested for murder, they hadn't even come to visit him.

Aoyama Hideki walked over to the window, his back to Nakamura. "There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. Noda failed his family, so it is entirely reasonable for them to despair of him. However, his family has never failed him. As long as he retains even a shred of conscience, he will not allow his own actions to jeopardize his family's safety."

And did Noda still possess that shred of conscience?

Clearly, he did.

Even the most heinous criminals, provided they weren't utter sociopaths, retained a glimmer of affection for their families. Most of the time, they simply felt too ashamed to face them, choosing estrangement instead.

"Understood!" Nakamura replied.

"You don't need to handle this matter yourself," Aoyama Hideki turned to look at him. "Go see Yunosuke Yamada, the Director of the Special Investigation Division. Tell him to find a way to have someone pass a message to Noda for me: if he doesn't want anything to happen to his family, he must testify in court that Hirofumi Asano colluded with Junko Suzuki to use coercive interrogation tactics, forcing him to alter his confession, and claim that he overheard the two discussing their plot. The purpose of this stunt is to ruin me."

Didn't Junko Suzuki and Hirofumi Asano want to make a fuss at the trial and catch him off guard?

Then he would give them a surprise of his own.

Aoyama Hideki had just captured the mastermind behind the Kanagawa Prefecture shootout, and his reputation was soaring. If news were to spread at this moment that the political scion Junko Suzuki had forced a criminal to change his testimony in order to help her beloved man fight for power and frame an innocent officer...

Public outrage alone would drown them out. By then, it would be they who were suspended and subjected to investigation, while he would stand untainted in the image of a pure victim.

"Understood!" Nakamura replied once more.

Aoyama Hideki waved a hand to dismiss him, then dialed the leader of the New Era puppet collaborators, the running dog Zhao Qinghong. "This is Aoyama Hideki."

"Mr. Aoyama! Good morning, how may I be of service?" On the other end, Zhao Qinghong, who was currently engaging in morning calisthenics with his mistress, shoved the woman away, leaped out of bed, and bowed repeatedly into thin air, his tone oozing subservience and flattery.

Aoyama Hideki said indifferently, "Arrange for someone to deliver the evidence of Taizhi Chen's illegal activities to me. Also, I'll have him bring you the profiles of a few individuals. Take those people into custody within the day. Treat them well with good food and drinks, and don't resort to rough tactics."

It was just the right opportunity to give his newly kept dog a chance to prove its worth.

"Understood!" Zhao Qinghong shouted loudly.

After the line went dead on the other end, he put the phone down, then hurriedly got dressed to leave.

"Brother Hong, who was that? How could you possibly show him so much respect?" The woman slinked over, wrapping her arms around him.

High emotional intelligence: Respect.

Low emotional intelligence: Sucking up.

Zhao Qinghong let out a chuckle. "A Japanese who can help me soar to great heights and make a fortune off the little devils."

At noon, Aoyama Hideki obtained the dossier of illegal evidence against Fulong Gang leader Taizhi Chen. He handed it over to Asahiro Takizawa of the Shinjuku Police Precinct—a favor that would credit Takizawa with an achievement, killing two birds with one stone.

As for Noda's family background, he passed the information to Zhao Qinghong's subordinate, instructing him to take it back to Zhao.

When it was time to get off work, Aoyama Hideki caught sight of Hirofumi Asano waiting by the elevator doors in the distance. He paused for a fraction of a second, then walked over with a calm and collected expression.

Hearing footsteps, Asano glanced back, then ignored him entirely without even offering a greeting.

Ever since witnessing Aoyama Hideki shield Shinichi Nakamura for murder yesterday, Asano didn't even want to bother with superficial politeness.

Aoyama Hideki was magnanimous and didn't hold it against him.

He simply stood beside Asano to wait for the elevator.

"There's an old Chinese saying: those who commit numerous injustices will ultimately destroy themselves." Amidst the bizarre atmosphere, Asano finally failed to hold back and broke the silence, speaking as if to Aoyama, yet also seemingly talking to himself.

Aoyama Hideki chuckled lightly, still refusing to look him in the eye. "That phrase sounds a bit like karmic retribution from the heavens. Ah, what a pity the heavens are blind."

Otherwise, how could they have granted a second life to a wretch like him, whose hands were soaked in blood and who lived by killing?

Or perhaps, was he the retribution destined for the Japanese?

The little devils had committed too many injustices, and so they had crossed paths with him.

Thinking along this line, Aoyama Hideki felt even more justified in his actions. His heart and actions were as clear as a mirror; everything he did was in the name of justice!

"Ding~"

Right on cue, the elevator arrived.

The doors slowly opened. Since it was the peak hour for leaving work, the car was packed, leaving room for only one more person.

"Hmph!" Asano stepped into the elevator first, casting a provocative glance at Aoyama Hideki.

Aoyama Hideki smiled. "After you."

***

That night, east of Tokyo, Chiba Prefecture.

Chiba City, Miyako-cho 5-chome, 109-110.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

The knocking shattered the silence of the night.

After a moment, the light flickered on in one of the rooms inside the courtyard, and a middle-aged man with a potbelly stepped out. Through the courtyard gate, he asked, "Who is it?"

"Police. We'd like to ask a few questions regarding Noda," replied a calm voice from outside the gate.

The middle-aged man was Noda's brother-in-law. After a moment of hesitation, he opened the gate, looking at the four young men outside. "Officer gentlemen, please ask me whatever you need. My wife and parents have already gone to sleep."

"So Noda's parents and younger sister are all at home, correct?" the lead young man confirmed.

Noda's brother-in-law felt a vague sense of unease, but nodded nonetheless. "Yes. Is there something that must be asked of them directly? If so, I can go wake them up."

"No need, we'll go wake them ourselves."

Before the brother-in-law could react, the young man in front lunged forward, clamped a hand over his mouth, and tackled him to the ground while drawing a pistol with his free hand to press against his head.

"Don't move and don't make a sound, or I'll blow your brains out!"

At the sight of the gun, Noda's brother-in-law, who had been instinctively struggling, turned instantly pale and froze.

The other three men charged into the house with drawn weapons.

Within minutes, Noda's entire family had their hands and feet bound, gags shoved into their mouths, and were dragged away.

"You don't need to be afraid. As long as you cooperate obediently, nothing will happen to you. Consider it going out on a trip. Otherwise, we won't be so polite."

At the same time, in Tokyo.

The door of a residence in Shibuya Ward was also being knocked upon.

It was the dwelling of Fulong Gang leader Taizhi Chen.

"Moshi-moshi?"

"Police. Open the door."

Hearing that it was the police, Taizhi Chen felt a flutter of anxiety, but still went to unlock the door. After all, he held a legal status and wasn't afraid of deportation, believing the police wouldn't be coming to arrest him—otherwise, they wouldn't have identified themselves.

However, the moment he pulled the door open, a swarm of police officers surged in and slammed him heavily to the floor.

"Taizhi Chen, you are suspected of multiple crimes including murder and smuggling. Come back with us to assist with the investigation!"

Taizhi Chen's eyes bulged in shock. He hadn't expected them to actually be here to arrest him! What kind of courtesy was knocking on the door first?! Why weren't they playing by the rules and catching him off guard?

Following his arrest, the rest of the Fulong Gang quickly caught wind of the news and gathered at headquarters for an emergency meeting.

Zhao Qinghong purposefully timed his arrival to be the last one to rush in.

"Vice-Chairman Zhao!"

"Vice-Chairman Zhao, what should we do now?"

"We can't just sit here and do nothing..."

Seeing Zhao Qinghong, everyone stood up in a flurry, crowding around him and chiming in all at once.

"Everyone, calm down! Calm down!" Zhao Qinghong raised his hands and shouted. Once the hall quieted down slightly, he spoke with a grave and solemn expression: "Thanks to the incident last time, I share a bit of friendship with Inspector Aoyama Hideki of the Metropolitan Police Department. Before coming here, I had him help me inquire about the situation—the Chairman is in deep trouble this time."

A wave of uproar swept through the crowd at his words.

"Ah! What on earth is going on?!"

"Yeah, why did they arrest him so suddenly?"

"What kind of evidence does the police actually have?"

Everyone peppered Zhao with questions, all talking over one another.

"According to Inspector Aoyama, the Shinjuku Police Precinct that arrested the Chairman possesses factual evidence of multiple crimes committed by him." Zhao Qinghong's face turned terrifyingly dark as he spoke, grinding his teeth. "This means there is a traitor among the Chairman's confidants! The Chairman can no longer be saved, but this traitor must be rooted out! Otherwise, it's very likely someone else will be sold out next time."

He intended not only to use this opportunity to supplant Taizhi Chen, but also to make other high-ranking gang members realize the benefits of cozying up to the Japanese police. Most importantly, he would use the pretext of hunting down a traitor to purge Taizhi Chen's loyalists.

At the same time, under the guise of finding the mole, he could hand over the criminal records of other high-ranking officials who refused to submit to him over to Aoyama Hideki, allowing him to swiftly take complete control of the Fulong Gang.

When it came to playing dirty political games, he was quite an expert.

"What? A traitor?! Damn it! Someone actually acted as a traitor for the little devils?! We have to find him!"

"That's right! Even if we can't save the Chairman, we have to avenge him. Find the bastard and hack him to pieces!"

"I hate those running dogs more than anything..."

Hearing that a traitor had betrayed Taizhi Chen, everyone was filled with righteous indignation and burning fury—not least because they were terrified they might be the next to be sold out.

Meanwhile, inside a temporary detention room at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.

"Hey, hey, wake up."

Noda hazily heard someone calling him.

He blinked his eyes open and looked in the direction of the voice, realizing it was the guard on duty. Yawning, he asked, "Officer, is there something you need?"

"Someone asked me to pass along a message to you," the guard said in a low voice. "If you don't want anything bad to happen to your family, you will testify in court that Hirofumi Asano colluded with Junko Suzuki to use coercive interrogation, forcing you to change your confession..."

Noda's drowsiness vanished instantly upon hearing those words.

He sat blankly in his spot, all his previous fantasies collapsing into ruin.

"Sob... sob, sob..."

The sound of muffled crying echoed down the corridor.

Tonight, many people were destined to lie awake.