Not a detective

Page 193

A terrible thought surfaced in my mind.

Yes, this riot was just a smokescreen spread by Shinonome Kosuke. If you don't see through this fog, you won't be able to discover his true goal.

"Shinonome Suetsuki... his target is the detective."

Asakawa Riku gritted his teeth silently.

Regarding the matter of inheritance, Higashino Kosuke was not as indifferent as he appeared. Even though a steady stream of believers could provide him with money, the status of a conglomerate and a company was not something that could be easily relinquished. Otherwise, he wouldn't have deliberately made a strange old man take the blame for the "founder" in order to preserve the social reputation of the Higashino Group.

Only by combining "financial conglomerate" and "believers" can he ascend to the divine position he desires. This was his original plan, but it was interrupted by Asakawa Riku and Suetsuki.

His willingness to lure Asakawa Riku into his camp with promises of benefits and his efforts to sow discord between Asakawa Riku and Suetsuki proves that he actually cares a lot about that will.

That will was a deadly poison to him.

So, once you think about it, it becomes clear that Higashino Kosuke's invitation to meet him was very likely just a ploy to lure him away from his prey!

Their real target is the detective in the agency!

It seems he already knew his daughter's true superpower. What that old fox really wanted... was Suetsuki's [immortal] body; that was Shinonome Kosuke's true dream.

With the physical body being "immortal" and the soul being "undying," if he successfully possesses someone's body, Shinonome Kosuke will become a true god.

Moreover, he will take over the Dongyun Group himself as the rightful heir of Dongyun Suegetsu and become the new head of the family.

At that point, nothing will be able to stop him!

"Damn..."

There was no time to rest, so Asakawa Riku turned his ankle and sprinted away.

We can't let Shinonome Kosuke succeed! We have to get there before him...!

There are only Suetsuki and Hoshino in the agency now, and they are both in danger!

Winter of God: Chapter Twenty-Five - The Inspectorate

"Ring ring ring————"

"Ring ring ring————"

The telephone on the table was ringing incessantly, not stopping for the past half hour, and you could almost feel the urgency behind it through the telephone line.

In contrast, the man behind the table was unusually calm, sipping his coffee with a magazine in his hand.

"Ring ring ring————"

When it rang again, the man swept the telephone to the ground with his leg, smashing it to pieces.

But there was no sign of impatience on his face. He was just stroking his beard, seemingly looking at the words in a magazine or at the swimsuit-clad beauties.

"Jingle bells—"

It rang again, and this time the tone was slightly different, and the vibration came from inside my pocket.

Huh? The man was puzzled. He remembered that his private phone had been switched off long ago. He took it out and saw that the screen was indeed still black.

That is……

He pulled out another phone from his pocket, and finally put the magazine down. He didn't expect the phone to ring at that moment.

But the moment he saw the nickname, a sly smile appeared on the man's face.

"Hey... the Yorozuya (Odd Jobs Shop) doesn't accept requests at this time, it's too difficult, it's beyond our capabilities."

He complained loudly on purpose.

The next second, his smile froze:

"Oh, so you saw through it. You should have said so earlier. It's embarrassing to be exposed while you're acting... When?"

"Oh, so it's summer... Indeed, it's not something an ordinary organization can do to keep that big fish in the harbor from you."

"Favors...? No need for that. We've always wanted to be on good terms with you. There are bad people interfering. You have to believe me."

"This time? This time, we still have some problems on our end, so we can't move out immediately."

"...You said you have urgent business on your end and need us to help you with other things in Tokyo? You can't say that. Protecting the citizens is what we should be doing."

"Haha, young people are just hot-tempered. Okay, I'll stop with the official talk. I promise you."

"No need to say anything, let's just be friends, Asakawa Riku."

Just as the man hung up the phone, his office door opened, and a smart-looking woman in a long trench coat walked in.

Wu Yu Kui's face was gloomy. She held a long sword in her hand, and her whole body was covered in blood, as if she had just fought her way out of hell. Her whole body was filled with an undisguised murderous aura.

"Oh, what perfect timing! Your boyfriend just called. I should have let you answer and let him know you arrived safely!"

The man smiled slyly.

Kirisame approached coldly with her knife in hand, and it seemed that it wouldn't be surprising if she were to strike at any moment.

The man had no choice but to raise his hands in surrender.

“Are you still angry that you didn’t go to save him right away? I understand how you feel, but since I’ve joined the Inspection Department, I must do my duty. My family is also in danger.”

Kiri Aoi finally softened a little and spoke:

"Report, Minister. An investigation has revealed that among the 83 agents in the Tokyo branch, 7 have been infected by their faith, and among the 9 executive officers, 1 has been infected. All have been incapacitated."

"You wouldn't take this opportunity to eliminate the 'Anti-Nue Faction' members as well, would you...?"

The minister, forgetting all his lessons, started joking around with a grin.

The next second his face was splattered with blood.

With a cold wave of her hand, Wu Yu Kui shook off the blood, every drop of crimson on the blade. Her eyes were filled with contempt, not at all like someone who could take a joke.

The minister sighed and slowly stood up: "Alright, alright. You have to understand, although the situation outside is urgent, our department is special. After all, we manage some dangerous superhumans. If we don't clean up the internal situation as soon as possible, and let the infected executives or agents wander outside, it will cause even greater harm."

Wu Yukui knew that his theory of "considering the big picture" was correct; only by starting from the big picture could losses be minimized.

Therefore, the Non-World Inspection Department did not take immediate action, but instead allowed the external chaos to continue for a period of time, prioritizing internal issues.

But she only said:

"If anything happens to Asakawa Riku, I will turn your entire plan upside down, I promise."

"Okay, okay... Now that you have a boyfriend, you don't call me 'Master' anymore. It's really disheartening."

The minister silently tore a page from the magazine, wiped the blood off his face, and expressed no dissatisfaction.

"That bastard Zhao Jiu disappears at times like this, showing no respect for the responsibilities of the honorary expert position he's given. Looks like I'll have to teach him a lesson next time."

He could only vent his anger on other people who weren't present.

He walked out of the office, casually picked up a trench coat that he hadn't worn in a long time from the clothes rack, and draped it over his shoulders. In that instant, the unserious middle-aged man's face turned solemn.

"Although it's a bit late, it's time to end this farce."

...

Asakawa Riku was unaware of what was happening over there; he was running as fast as he could and finally made it back to Shibuya.

He encountered many fanatical believers along the way, but he had no energy to deal with them. He had thought that Shibuya, as the birthplace of the carnival night, must be an even worse place.

Upon arrival, it was indeed true; the number of believers here was at least twice that of Shinjuku.

But the situation was slightly different from what he had imagined.

This place has almost become a "snow country".

A biting sleet was falling from the sky, and everything in sight was pure white, with the ground turned into a smooth ice surface, like a giant ice rink.

The fanatical believers wandering the streets were mostly trapped with their ankles frozen in ice, unable to move forward.

A few who managed to escape the net also found it difficult to walk on the ice. Their frenzy had clouded their judgment, making them prone to slipping and unable to take more than a few steps, which was quite comical.

Asakawa Riku had expected to face tremendous resistance and had even prepared to break through the encirclement. If Shinonome Kosuke wanted to target Suetsuki, he would definitely send many believers to besiege the office, and perhaps that "god" was among them. But to his surprise, it went so smoothly. Those believers couldn't move at all, and he made no progress.

All of this is the effect of this heavy snow.

It's only the end of October... From what he just saw, the weather wasn't very cold, and it was impossible for it to snow. It's just that the weather suddenly turned into this extreme weather.

It seemed that only Shibuya was like this, and Asakawa Riku suddenly realized that there seemed to be no other possibility in this situation.

He looked up towards the office, and sure enough, the windows were open and the lights were on.

"Brother!"

A clear, girlish voice came from there, and the white-haired Yukie peeked out, her eyes full of surprise.

She glided across the ice and threw herself into Asakawa Riku's arms.

Winter of God: Chapter Twenty-Six - The Office

Snowflakes fell in a flurry, and the ice surface reflected the night sky like a mirror.

The girl on the ice wore a traditional shrine maiden's outfit, her long sleeves flowing, the hem swaying gently in the cold wind. Her hair was as pure as snow, seemingly shimmering with a faint blue light.

"Why are you dressed like this too? Did Xingyu drag you into dressing you up?"

The sash of her shrine maiden outfit was tied gently at her slender waist, outlining her figure.

Asakawa Riku looked at Yukie's slender shoulders and felt a pang of heartache. He took off his coat and draped it over Yukie's shoulders.

Yukie smiled and looked up, her eyes shining with admiration:

"No, it's Halloween, and I was planning to surprise you at home."

She didn't refuse the kindness, but instead tightened her clothes even more.

Asakawa Riku was speechless. He understood. Yukie was probably waiting at home worriedly again, so she came to the agency and happened to be here.

"make you worry."

He touched Yukie's hair, and she simply moved closer and rubbed against his chest.

"Asakawa-kun, are you alright?"

At that moment, Hoshino also came down from upstairs in the office.

However, she wasn't as agile as Yuki on the ice. She moved carefully, but still almost slipped and fell, her hands flailing like a penguin's, which looked quite comical.

With that outfit, she looked like a clumsy but adorable maid.

Asakawa Riku turned his gaze to her: "This... you guys made it?"

He was referring to this vast world of ice and snow.

This should be Yukie's own "Yuki-onna" ability, which can cause a blizzard to fall within a certain range, but Asakawa Riku knows that Yukie's own ability should not be able to do this.

Take, for example, the ice surface that froze the fanatical believers. It was an incredibly large-scale control that successfully turned the entire Shibuya into a frozen wasteland. It was utterly unbelievable.

Riku Asakawa felt that perhaps only the original "Snow Child" had the ability to create such a domain.

Yes, that's right.

Xingyu said with a grin, "Impressive, isn't it? This is our combination technique!"

Xingyu's Crimson Ray bloodline grants her the ability to control water, not only manipulating the water element in the air but also causing torrential rain to fall from the sky.

From this perspective, her abilities are actually somewhat similar to Yukie's, except that Yukie is more focused on "temperature," but both snow and ice are different forms of water.

Therefore, when they join forces to bring rain and snow, covering the streets of Shibuya with extremely low temperatures, instantly creating conditions for freezing, the snow can condense into frost.

"Well done."

Asakawa Riku said sincerely.

He never expected that the two people's abilities could be combined in this way to achieve such a powerful effect.

Honestly, if it weren't for their actions, the disaster area in Shibuya would probably have been dozens of times larger. It was precisely because they controlled those believers that they were spared from falling like other areas.

"hey-hey."

Xingyu proudly made a "V" sign, but got carried away and fell heavily before she could even stand up straight.

"Ouch—" She clutched her bottom, feeling wronged and unable to stand up. The ice was still too difficult for ordinary people to walk on.

Asakawa Riku smiled, took Yukie's hand and walked over, pulling her up with his other hand: