Chapter 942: The Tail |
Although Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi's men occupied half of the square outside the airport, they did not station anyone at the airport exits, so Liu Xing and the other two easily entered the airport and were led to the VIP lounge by a staff member.
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Liu Xing and the others could clearly see the situation in the square, and because of the material of the windows, they didn't have to worry about Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi in the square seeing them through the glass.
After checking the VIP lounge, Sun Huiwen and Li Hanxing heaved a sigh of relief and sat down at ease.
"Liu Xing, how did you get involved with the Shimazu Family?"
Li Hanxing opened a bottle of mineral water and said, "The big families in the Island Nation are more old-fashioned than the next, and they won't easily associate with others because they think they have noble blood. I also heard a rumor that the new Emperor who recently took the throne secretly writes light novels, the kind that were most popular at a certain point in time, with time travel and harem elements. And the protagonist of this light novel is himself, and the most important thing is that his special ability is his noble bloodline."
"Hehe."
Sun Huiwen smiled wryly.
Liu Xing also smiled and said without turning his head, "To be honest, the light novels in the Island Nation are becoming less and less interesting. Most of them are like the novels from a certain point in time, focusing on selling sex and harem elements. As for why I got involved with the Shimazu Family, it has to do with the faction I belong to in the Public-Military Conflict."
"Oh, let me clarify that Sun Huiwen and I don't belong to any side in the Public-Military Conflict. We work temporarily for whoever can afford our price and can complete the missions they post. And we won't reveal any information about our employers to anyone." Li Hanxing said seriously.
Sun Huiwen knew that Liu Xing was changing the subject, so he followed his lead, "Yes, this Public-Military Conflict is good news for people like us. As long as nothing unexpected happens, we can make a profit without any risk. But we are easily targeted by former employers, as mercenaries like us often accept missions that are not so honorable."
As soon as Sun Huiwen finished speaking, Liu Xing saw a plane flying towards Kagoshima City Airport.
If all went well, there would be members of the Ii Family on that plane.
The calm before the storm.
The men in black on the square, upon seeing the plane, immediately went into combat mode, and some even put their hands inside their clothes.
Liu Xing couldn't help but touch the handgun at his waist.
"Hmm? Liu Xing, how come your handgun wasn't detected by security?" Sun Huiwen asked, a little surprised.
Liu Xing nodded and patted the handgun at his waist, "This handgun is made of special materials and crafted in a special way, so unless there's a thorough body search, it won't be detected by the common security measures used today. But speaking of which, you should also have weapons prepared inside the airport, right?"
"Of course," Li Hanxing said confidently, "On our first night in Kagoshima, we prepared ten handguns and hid them in various locations in Kagoshima City Airport, like under the sofa in this VIP lounge, where there are two handguns."
"So if something happens, Liu Xing, you don't even need to fire a shot, just watch us fight our way out," Li Hanxing continued.
If it weren't for Li Hanxing previously admitting that his shooting skills were average, Liu Xing would have believed that he could really shoot his way out of this "airport level" with a handgun.
At this moment, the men in black on the square started to move.
They suddenly merged into a square formation, with Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi at the front.
Although they were at a distance, Liu Xing could see that Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi were both smiling.
It seemed that Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi had silently reached a consensus: to welcome the members of the Ii Family without causing any trouble and continue to pretend to be good brothers.
Of course, this was the best decision Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi could make. If they were to fight at the airport, Shima Mitsuhiro might lose his life, and Shima Takeshi would become a "traitor" to the Shimazu Family, despised by the entire Island Nation, completely losing the chance to become the next head of the Shimazu Family.
If Shima Takeshi were to fight in public and kill his "brother," he would surely be branded a wanted criminal by Shimazu Nakano.
So, although Shima Takeshi wanted nothing more than to execute Shima Mitsuhiro on the spot, he had to put on a show of friendliness.
It seemed that the members of the Ii Family were about to leave the airport.
Five minutes later, three young men pulling suitcases walked out of the airport.
When they saw Shima Takeshi and Shima Mitsuhiro, they quickened their pace and bowed in front of them.
These three members of the Ii Family didn't seem to be of high rank... but then again, it was unlikely that the Ii Family would send very important members to Kagoshima for a mission, as the city was too dangerous for them from every angle.
After some small talk, Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi arranged for their men to get into the cars, apparently preparing to leave Kagoshima City Airport.
In the end, Shima Mitsuhiro could only take one member of the Ii Family into his car.
The Shimazu Family's motorcade began to leave Kagoshima City Airport.
Seeing this, Liu Xing couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, as it was a good start, proving that Shima Takeshi was still keeping his cool and not doing anything too rash.
So, Liu Xing turned around and said, "We should also get ready to leave, right? To follow the Shimazu Family's motorcade, do we need to sign another employment contract?"
As soon as Liu Xing finished speaking, the piece of paper in Li Hanxing's hand suddenly caught fire and turned into a wisp of blue smoke.
It seemed that they really did need to sign another employment contract.
So, Sun Huiwen took out another piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Liu Xing.
Soon, the second employment contract was also finalized - Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen would help Liu Xing tail the Shimazu Family's motorcade until Liu Xing called it off, or until it became useless to do so at the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game HallJudgment; the base price was $20,000 if everything went smoothly, and 800 points if a fight broke out, with the base price increasing by up to 50% as the tailing time extended.
This price was still reasonable.
After signing the second employment contract, Li Hanxing and Sun Huiwen left Kagoshima City Airport with Liu Xing, their esteemed client, all smiles.
Since there was only one road from Kagoshima City Airport to the city center, Liu Xing and the others quickly caught up with the tail end of the Shimazu motorcade.
Fortunately, there were a few other cars around to keep Liu Xing and the others company, so their vehicle didn't stand out too much.
A smooth journey.
After entering the city center of Kagoshima, Li Hanxing started to get cocky and merged with the Shimazu motorcade.
"Liu Xing, do we need to follow those two special cars?" Li Hanxing asked.
As the top figures, Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi's cars couldn't be similar to the ones their bodyguards drove, as that would make them look bad. So, among the sea of black luxury cars, Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi's cars stood out in white.
At this moment, Shima Mitsuhiro and Shima Takeshi's cars were only twenty or thirty meters away from Liu Xing.
Liu Xing looked around and nodded, "We'll do our best, but if we can't keep up, that's fine too. The most important thing is not to be exposed."
"Understood," Li Hanxing continued, "So, Liu Xing, do you need any extra services, like blowing those two white cars up into the sky?"
???
Liu Xing looked at Li Hanxing in confusion, not expecting him to make such a bold suggestion.
Li Hanxing smiled and said seriously, "If you're willing to pay a little more, we're confident we can blow those two white cars up into the sky, because our car is equipped with a small missile launcher. As long as those two white cars don't have special protective measures, the small missiles will be enough to destroy them."
It must be said that Liu Xing was suddenly tempted, as this was a great opportunity to get rid of Shima Takeshi and also stop the members of the Ii Family from going to Lu Wu. After all, there were also two members of the Ii Family in Shima Takeshi's car.
Even if Shima Takeshi, as a high-ranking member of the Shimazu Family, were to die with the two members of the Ii Family, it still wouldn't alleviate the "anger" of the Ii Family and the Public Faction. They would surely use this opportunity to strike at the Shimazu Family and the Warrior Faction.
But it would be worth it.
Because the most that would happen is that the Warrior Faction would turn against them, openly declaring their opposition to the Public Faction and forcing ordinary people to choose sides. This had been an inevitable event since the start of the Public-Military Conflict, just a matter of time.
So, should he kill two birds with one stone?
If he agreed now, he might be able to get rid of Shima Takeshi, the traitor who had risen above his station, and at the same time, force the Ii Family to abandon their trip to Lu Wu, preventing them from discovering Ii Naoyoshi.
This was a sure win!
But just as Liu Xing was about to agree, his last shred of reason made him choose to give up.
Because the city center of Kagoshima was currently in a traffic jam.
So, while it would be easy to get rid of Shima Takeshi, escaping the scene would be a problem.
Liu Xing was well aware of his character card attribute values and knew that without outside help, escaping from Shima Takeshi's bodyguards was almost impossible.
With this in mind, Liu Xing chose to shake his head rationally.
This was also within Li Hanxing's expectations, "It seems that Liu Xing, you're not the type to lose your cool easily. But that's a good thing, because although we're confident we can take out those two white cars, escaping from here won't be easy, as there are surveillance cameras everywhere in big cities these days. But speaking of which, from your reaction, it seems like you don't get along with those two leaders of the Shimazu Family."
Liu Xing smiled but didn't say anything.
Li Hanxing also wisely kept quiet.
After a long time, the Shimazu motorcade and Liu Xing's group finally drove out of the congested area, and the Shimazu motorcade began to reorganize, trying to push out the unrelated vehicles.
Sun Huiwen, who was driving, didn't choose to fight, but instead drove away from the Shimazu motorcade and continued to follow at a safe distance.
Based on the route they were taking, Liu Xing guessed that the Shimazu motorcade's destination was the Shimazu Group building.
This was not good news for Liu Xing, as the Shimazu Family, as the de facto rulers of Kagoshima, naturally had the tallest building in the city, and Shima Takeshi had two offices. One was in the middle of the building, where he usually worked, and the other was on the second-to-last floor, with a dedicated express elevator.
Obviously, Shima Takeshi would take Shima Mitsuhiro and the others to his guest office, so it would be difficult for Liu Xing to sneak in and eavesdrop on their conversation.
If possible, Liu Xing still hoped he could overhear Shima Mitsuhiro's conversation to confirm his next plan.
So, Liu Xing sent a text message to Shi Zixuan, telling him about the current situation.
Liu Xing believed that Shi Zixuan had already set things up in Shima Takeshi's guest office.
As expected, Shi Zixuan gave Liu Xing an address in an apartment building near the Shimazu Group building.
So, Liu Xing had Sun Huiwen drive to the apartment building and then went in alone... since he still had to continue tailing Shima Mitsuhiro and the others, he didn't end the employment contract.
In the apartment building's fire escape, Liu Xing found the key hidden by Shi Zixuan and entered the surveillance room that Shi Zixuan had modified, but to Liu Xing, it didn't seem very special, except for being very clean and tidy.
But as soon as he turned on the TV in the living room and entered the code "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, 1212" with the remote, the TV screen switched to show footage from several surveillance cameras.
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