Chapter 157: Ally

When the Nepalese boy, Kitaba, woke up, he quickly saw Lei Yin standing between the two men, talking.

“You… you finally came,” the boy said in a mix of surprise and joy, immediately scrambling to get up from the bed.

“How are you? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?” Lei Yin turned and looked at him.

The boy shook his head. “When did you get here?”

“I just arrived. You must be hungry, right? Let’s eat first,” Lei Yin said, taking a lunchbox from one of the men and handing it to him.

The boy had not eaten for an entire day and was indeed very hungry. He opened the lunchbox and began eating ravenously.

“You two step outside for a while. I need to talk to him,” Lei Yin said to the two men.

After the men bowed to him, they left the room.

Once the boy finished eating, Lei Yin said to him, “Kitaba, there are some things I want to ask you.”

“What’s the matter?” The boy set down his tea cup.

“Do you remember what happened around noon?”

“I don’t remember,” the boy replied, avoiding Lei Yin’s gaze.

“Kitaba, some things can’t be solved just by burying them. Given your current situation, what’s the use of sending you back to Nepal?”

“I… I really don’t understand what you mean,” the boy stammered.

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember what happened when you went mad. And don’t tell me that these things on your body are just natural,” Lei Yin suddenly tore open the boy’s shirt.

The boy screamed in shock, then immediately jumped to the far corner of the bed, wrapping himself tightly in the blanket.

Seeing the boy look at him with fear in his eyes, Lei Yin didn’t back off; instead, he walked toward him.

As Lei Yin drew closer, the boy curled up like an injured animal, crying out loudly.

When Lei Yin reached his side, he suddenly tapped a few times on the boy’s body, causing the boy’s screaming to stop instantly. Then, Lei Yin grabbed his head and forced him to face him.

“Listen to me. The only way I can help you is if you tell me everything. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to live a normal life,” Lei Yin said loudly.

The boy was stunned by Lei Yin’s forceful words, and for a moment, could only stare at him in a daze.

Seizing the opportunity, Lei Yin continued, “You have to trust me. Maybe I can help you return to the way you were before.”

Upon hearing the words “return to the way you were,” the boy’s eyes flared with anger.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.

Seeing that the boy had something to say, Lei Yin immediately patted his body a few times.

“Y-you… you really can help me return to the way I was?” the boy asked tearfully, looking at Lei Yin.

“I can’t promise it will work, but I’ll do my best to help you,” Lei Yin replied.

The boy began to calm down, the panic in his eyes gradually fading away.

“My body became like this because of those bad people,” the boy finally spoke slowly.

“Are you referring to the people in white clothes?” Lei Yin asked.

The boy’s face showed fear, and he nodded.

After more than ten minutes of painful recounting, the boy, exhausted, rested his head on his curled knees.

“So, if you don’t take the medicine they give you for a period of time, you start going mad?” Lei Yin asked.

“I’m not sure. I just know that if I don’t take the pills, sometimes my whole body gets hot, like a fever. And when I wake up, everything around me is a mess, and my fingers and lips are injured and bleeding. I think it’s probably something I did to myself,” the boy lowered his head and explained.

“Then, did the hair on your body appear after they injected you with those substances?”

The boy nodded painfully. “I tried pulling them out with my hands, but they would grow back soon after.”

“How many people escaped with you?” Lei Yin asked.

“That night, almost everyone escaped, but many were shot dead by them while fleeing. The number of people who actually managed to escape shouldn’t be many. But my brother Yebin must have made it out safely because he’s a very smart person. I was supposed to escape with him, but we got separated due to the chaos.”

“Is your brother Yebin also Nepalese?” Lei Yin asked.

“Yes. There aren’t many Nepalese there, just five of us.”

“Who else was there? I mean, people from other countries?”

“There were about seven or eight Vietnamese, a dozen or so Chinese, and around twenty Malaysians. There was also a man with golden hair. I think he might be American, but my brother Yebin said that foreigners all look alike, so even he couldn’t guess which country the man was from.” As the conversation continued, the boy spoke more fluently.

Although it was mostly what Lei Yin had guessed, he still felt uncomfortable.

It seemed that the mad scientists were using smuggled immigrants as test subjects—people who had sneaked into Japan. This way, they didn’t have to worry about sourcing the test subjects, nor did they have to fear any investigations. But the fact that they could transfer captured smuggled immigrants to the laboratories meant that it was impossible without the help of government officials. The corruption involved was likely deeper than Lei Yin had initially thought.

But since this matter involved his own countrymen, Lei Yin couldn’t ignore it. However, it was inconvenient for him to personally investigate it.

The reason was the same as why he had eliminated Chiyama Genjiro: if he personally got involved, even with great caution, his identity could be traced. He wasn’t afraid of the trouble it might bring him, but he feared what those people might do to his family or friends. This was something Lei Yin didn’t want to see. So, he needed to find someone to represent him, someone who could take action while he used Black Dragon’s power to investigate from the shadows. Once he had evidence, he could use that person to expose everything.

An agent? Suddenly, a face appeared in Lei Yin’s mind.

※※※

Seeing Tsukida with a look that seemed like he had just attended a funeral, the other officers couldn’t help but laugh in schadenfreude.

“Let me guess, you got another scolding from Lady Snow Maiden, didn’t you?” Mada Daisuke said, rubbing his chin.

Tsukida slammed the report he was holding onto the table and cursed, “I don’t know what that woman’s problem is. I’ve been getting scolded by her almost every day lately. If it’s really because of her period, then this one’s lasting way too long.”

“I already warned you,” Mada Daisuke said. “She’s been looking really pale lately; maybe something’s going on at home. You should have been extra careful to avoid mistakes, but you were careless again. Even something as small as flipping through a magazine at work ended up being caught by her.”

“I couldn’t have known I would be this unlucky,” Tsukida muttered.

“Anyway, I don’t get it. Why did she make you investigate this guy, Gennai Masashi? He just looks like an ordinary student, and he doesn’t even have a criminal record. It’s really strange,” Mada Daisuke said, looking at the photo on the report.

“Who knows what that woman’s thinking. Maybe she’s got her eye on the kid, and she’s making us investigate him for personal reasons…” Tsukida didn’t finish his sentence when Mada Daisuke suddenly slapped him on the back.

“What’s that for?” Tsukida grumbled, a bit displeased at being interrupted, but he quickly understood the reason.

Just then, the same woman in a black skirt suit, Ayano Eiko, walked out of the office.

“Take care, Chief Ayano,” all the officers immediately saluted.

After returning their salute, Ayano Eiko told them, “You all should head home soon.”

“Thank you.”

Once she had left the Criminal Investigation Department, all the officers let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Eh, why is she leaving work so early today? Normally, she’s the last one to leave,” Tsukida said, a bit puzzled.

“Maybe she has a date. Didn’t you see that the florist downstairs sent a big bunch of violets up for her today?” another officer replied.

“Who would have thought that woman would have someone chasing her? But why violets? Wouldn’t red roses have been better?” Tsukida asked.

“How would I know? But honestly, Ayano Eiko is quite a catch. In terms of looks, she’s one of the top women across all the police stations in Tokyo, and her figure is stunning. Too bad her personality is lacking. What a shame,” Mada Daisuke said, shaking his head as he spoke.

The other officers nodded in agreement.

“Eiko, I need to talk to you about something,” Ayano Akiko suddenly said to her daughter, Ayano Eiko, during dinner.

“What is it?” Eiko lifted her head to look at her mother.

Ayano Akiko, in her forties, suddenly blushed. After a while, she said, “Mr. Yajiro proposed to me yesterday. I… I don’t know if I should accept.”

Upon hearing her mother’s words, Ayano Eiko’s expression immediately darkened.

“That kind of thing, you can decide for yourself. I’m full now,” Eiko replied, standing up and heading toward her room.

“Eiko…” Akiko called from behind, but Eiko’s footsteps didn’t stop.

Once her daughter closed the door, Akiko’s face showed a strong sense of disappointment.

At the same time, on the other side of the door, Eiko was also feeling uneasy.

Why does mom want to marry that crude man? Eiko angrily threw her pillow onto the floor in frustration.

Dad, if you don’t come back soon, Mom won’t be your wife anymore.

Eiko picked up a photo from the nightstand, staring blankly at the image of a refined man with glasses, holding a baby. Next to him was a young Ayano Akiko.

In her heart, Eiko also felt sympathy for her mother, who had been alone all these years. Eight years—how many eight-year periods are there in a woman’s life?

Although she could understand it rationally, she couldn’t accept the idea of another man being in her mother’s life, especially someone as crude as Yajiro.

Eiko was eager to find her father’s whereabouts, but the investigation had yielded no results. She had gone through the personnel files at the police station and found that there weren’t many people with the surname “Hozan,” but nationwide, there were still a few hundred. After narrowing it down to those between thirty and sixty years old, she analyzed each of them individually. After further narrowing, only about thirty people remained. She then carefully reviewed their records but didn’t find anything particularly suspicious. These individuals were scattered across Japan, so she couldn’t possibly follow up on them one by one. As a result, the investigation had hit a dead end.

She even suspected that the “Mr. Hozan” who had met with her father years ago might not even be in these personnel files.

This wasn’t an unfounded guess. From what she knew, the police personnel system, while the most detailed for the general public, didn’t include records for high-ranking officials. For influential people, it was nearly impossible to find their information in these files.

After all these years, the so-called “Mr. Hozan” might have long since moved out of the realm of ordinary citizens and joined the ranks of the powerful. This seemed highly likely.

The feeling of helplessness, knowing she was desperate for the truth yet having no leads, was the main reason for the recent restlessness in Ayano Eiko’s heart.

Maybe I shouldn’t be a police officer, she thought bitterly to herself. Maybe I should run for office instead; at least then I could get closer to some of the inside information.

At that moment, she suddenly remembered something and pulled a card from her pocket.

This card had been tucked into the bouquet of violets delivered earlier that day.

At first, she had thought the flowers were from one of the two men who had been pursuing her, but now it didn’t seem likely. The card was blank, with only an email address written on it. When she asked the florist about the sender, the employee only mentioned that it was a man in a suit with sunglasses, but she hadn’t gotten a good look at his face.

Noticing that the email address had the domain “Hotmail.com,” she felt a jolt of realization. She quickly sat up and turned on her computer.

After logging into the system, she opened MSN and entered the email address from the card into the “Add Contacts” field.

After a quick search, she found the email address. To her surprise, the person was online. She added the contact to her MSN.

Not long after, the person sent a message: “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

“Who are you?” Ayano Eiko replied.

“I’m not going to tell you, but that’s not the point. The point is, I have the information you need.”

“What information?”

“Information about the monster you’re investigating.”

Upon reading this, Eiko’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

“Who are you really?” Eiko typed.

“I told you, that’s not important. If you don’t believe me, you can pretend I don’t exist.”

“Alright, I believe you.” Eiko typed the words hastily, not wanting him to change his mind.

“To be honest, the data I have right now isn’t much, but I know where the monster came from. I will continue to investigate who’s behind it. If I get any new information, I’ll keep in touch with you through MSN. Now, I’m going to tell you what I know, but to avoid being traced, you must delete this chat history after reading it, and you must destroy the card immediately.”

“I promise. Please tell me quickly.” Eiko’s heartbeat quickened.

An hour later, after answering several of Eiko’s questions, the mysterious person abruptly disconnected from MSN.

Only then did Eiko unclench her sweaty fist.

Although she still had doubts about the mysterious person, her intuition told her that what he said was true.

Remembering what he had said earlier, she immediately deleted the chat history, and after ensuring she wouldn’t forget the email address, she burned the card.

With this new powerful ally who could help her, Eiko felt a weight lifted from her shoulders, and most of the oppressive sense of being stuck disappeared.

I wonder what kind of person he is?