Chapter 349: The Truth
The glow of the multi-monitor setup cast long, flickering shadows across the darkened interior of Random Play. Wise leaned closer to the primary screen, his eyes scanning lines of text scrolling at a dizzying pace.
Search results for the name 'Hoshimi Miyabi' yielded exactly what one would expect for a high-profile figure: officially released public relations statements, sanitized combat records, and endless tactical discussions. But buried beneath the mainstream algorithms, hidden within fringe dark-web forums and anonymous image boards, lay scattered fragments of obscure lore.
Wise's gaze locked onto a single, highly speculative thread that had barely gained any traction. It proposed a wild theory: the formidable, almost unnatural strength displayed by the heads of the Hoshimi family throughout the generations wasn't purely biological. It was intrinsically tied to a specific ancestral weapon. The true source of their overwhelming power, the rumor claimed, stemmed entirely from the inheritance of that blade.
A sword.
The word struck his mind like a physical blow, instantly shattering the fog of confusion that had plagued him for hours.
That's right! The sword!
Hoshimi Miyabi's signature katana, 'Tailless'. Back inside the Hollow, the weapon had gone violently out of control. At the time, it seemed like a bizarre anomaly, but Wise knew better now. That was absolutely not a standard weapon malfunction. The sheer density of Aetheric power contained within that blade during its rampage had been terrifyingly high.
The puzzle pieces snapped together with brutal clarity. The enemy was never targeting Hoshimi Miyabi for her status or her life. They were targeting the ancestral treasure she carried. They wanted 'Tailless' and the incredible power sealed within it.
Framed in this new light, every single unreasonable event from the past few days suddenly made perfect, horrifying sense.
The unseen enemy likely lacked the raw firepower to directly confront a Void Hunter of Miyabi's caliber in a fair fight. Instead, they opted for a highly orchestrated trap. They exploited the environment, aiming to destabilize 'Tailless' from afar, or perhaps... to forcibly strip it from Miyabi's hands. They intended to plunder the power housed within the steel.
The massive explosives planted at the Ballet Building weren't just a crude attempt to silence witnesses. They were a calculated maneuver designed to trigger extreme environmental upheaval, generating a localized Aetheric chaos massive enough to create an opening. An opening specifically targeting 'Tailless'.
It also explained Bringer. The man had been practically foaming at the mouth in his eagerness to take Miyabi away into custody. He wasn't rushing an interrogation; he was rushing to transport 'Tailless' to a secure, predetermined location where the enemy could finally execute the final phase of their extraction plan.
"I understand!" Wise abruptly pushed away from the console, the rolling chair clattering against the floorboards. His expression hardened into grim certainty.
His fingers flew across the keyboard, immediately switching the store's communication array to the encrypted frequency Tsukishiro Yanagi had provided him. He punched in the emergency connection request.
The line clicked open almost instantly.
Through the speakers, the background audio was chaotic. The harsh whipping of wind and the rhythmic, heavy thud of tactical boots hitting concrete made it clear that Yanagi and her team were currently engaged in a rapid, high-speed pursuit.
"Deputy Chief Yanagi! Our entire line of thinking might have been wrong from the very beginning!" Wise spoke rapidly, entirely bypassing any standard pleasantries. "The enemy's target has always been Hoshimi Miyabi! Or, to be precise, Miyabi's sword—'Tailless'!"
He took a sharp breath, forcing his racing thoughts into a coherent tactical breakdown. "From the very start, I felt a lingering sense of incongruity. It was bizarre that a highly organized enemy went through so much trouble to kidnap Perlman instead of simply executing him on the spot. It was as if Perlman was a living 'lure' that strictly needed to stay alive to keep us moving."
Wise paced behind the counter, his voice echoing in the quiet store. "Then, inside the Hollow, Miyabi's 'Tailless'underwent an abnormal, violent rampage. We know it was triggered by an unknown Aether substance attached to the enemy's bullets. This proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that the enemy possesses a specific chemical or technological means to directly influence and provoke'Tailless'!"
"Next was the Ballet Building. The sheer volume of explosives rigged to that structure was wildly excessive, far beyond what was necessary for a simple assassination. Rather than intending to kill us, the blast was likely meant to create an environment of extreme Aetheric energy and physical chaos, acting as a smokescreen for their true objective!"
"And just now," Wise continued, his tone dropping an octave, "Bringer was desperate to take Miyabi away, yet he completely blacked out the news from the media. This directly contradicts their usual political tactic of using public opinion to exert pressure on your division!"
Wise leaned over the microphone, his voice carrying absolute certainty. "All of their actions ultimately point directly to Hollow Special Operations Section 6. More precisely, to the 'Tailless' held by Hoshimi Miyabi! What they truly covet is the power contained within that blade!"
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the other end of the communicator. For several seconds, the only sounds transmitting through the speakers were the howling wind and the heavy, ragged breathing of the operatives.
Finally, Yanagi's voice broke through the static. It was tight, tinged with a sudden, horrifying realization and deeply suppressed shock. "...I see."
Wise's rapid-fire deduction had instantly shattered the frosted glass obscuring her tactical vision.
She had felt the same lingering doubts. There were far too many illogical points throughout the entire incident, specific contradictions and deliberate theatrical elements in the enemy's movements that simply didn't add up. Now, the Proxy's analysis threaded every single disparate clue into a single, cohesive noose.
Crucially, the absolute media blackout served as the final, damning piece of evidence. If Bringer's goal was merely to politically cripple Section 6, right now would be the absolute perfect time to launch a massive public opinion offensive. The fact that the enemy hadn't leaked a single word to the press indicated they had a much more urgent, highly concealed task to perform in the shadows.
Dealing with 'Tailless'.
Yanagi's breath hitched, the silence stretching across the comms heavy with sudden, crushing guilt. They had literally stood there and watched Miyabi willingly board the enemy transport vehicle. Blinded by habitual bureaucratic thinking and the official, legal status of Bringer's faction, they hadn't taken the drastic, immediate action required to stop her.
"I... I actually let them..." Yanagi's normally composed voice carried an imperceptible, ragged tremor.
"Deputy Chief, now is not the time to beat yourself up!" Asaba Harumasa's voice suddenly cut into the channel. His usual lazy, casual drawl was completely gone, replaced by a sharp, urgent intensity.
"Proxy, your deduction is incredibly logical, but it's still just a theory!" Harumasa argued over the sound of rushing wind. "Chief Miyabi is a Void Hunter! How the hell could Bringer, or whatever shadowy figures are backing him, possibly possess the sheer power required to suppress a Void Hunter-level combatant in an enclosed space?!"
"No! It is entirely possible!" Wise refuted him without a second of hesitation. "I just told you, Miyabi's 'Tailless' already rampaged once inside the Hollow!"
"The sole reason for that rampage was because the bullets Miyabi cut down while shielding Perlman were coated in that unknown Aether substance!" Wise pressed his hands flat against the desk. "If the enemy has already successfully developed a compound capable of provoking the dormant power of 'Tailless', who can guarantee they don't possess further, more refined means? They could easily have a method to temporarily suppress or violently interfere with the blade in a controlled environment—such as the reinforced interior of that transport vehicle, or a heavily prepared 'workshop'. They might even have a way to directly affect Miyabi herself!"
The harsh reality of that possibility caused a collective, sharp intake of breath from the three operatives on the other end of the line. If the enemy truly possessed specialized, anti-Void Hunter technology specifically calibrated for 'Tailless' or Miyabi's unique physiology, the consequences of her surrender would be unimaginable.
Just as the tension in the room reached a suffocating peak—
Ding-a-ling!
The brass bell hanging above the front door of Random Play rang out crisply as the heavy glass door was violently shoved open.
Wise instinctively snapped his head up. Zhu Yuan stood in the doorway, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. Her usually immaculate New Eridu Public Security uniform was slightly disheveled, and tiny beads of sweat dotted her forehead. She had clearly sprinted all the way here.
Her sharp gaze immediately locked onto Wise. Seeing the heavy headset over his ears and the glowing comms array, she instantly deduced he was in the middle of a critical transmission.
Ignoring the lingering awkwardness from their previous clash over concealed identities, Zhu Yuan marched straight toward the lounge doorway. "Wise!" she demanded urgently, her voice echoing in the shop. "Is Deputy Chief Yanagi and her team on the line?!"
Wise blinked, momentarily taken aback by her sudden appearance, before his reflexes kicked in. "Deputy Chief Yanagi, hold on one second. Zhu Yuan just arrived, and she has something urgent!" He looked at the NEPS officer and gave her a sharp nod, tapping the speakerphone toggle.
Receiving the green light, Zhu Yuan stepped closer to the console, projecting her voice clearly toward the microphone.
"Deputy Chief Yanagi! I need you to immediately physically examine Perlman! Check if he has an old, fully healed scar—approximately two centimeters long—located directly behind his right ear! It should feel like a very slight, hard raised bump under the skin!"
Her tone was exceptionally grave, carrying the heavy authority of a seasoned investigator.
"That specific location is the standard insertion point for a highly classified, subcutaneous tracking chip! It's a proprietary technology that NEPS secretly implants only in a very select, extremely small number of high-profile major criminals!"
Zhu Yuan leaned over the desk, her eyes wide with urgency. "If Perlman has that chip, it means he has been actively sitting on the Public Security Bureau's highest-priority surveillance list for a very long time. And if that's true, it is highly probable... that his entire previous 'disappearance'and subsequent'kidnapping' were nothing more than a staged setup!"
"What?!" Harumasa's voice exploded through the communicator, thick with absolute astonishment.
A loud scuffle echoed over the line. Harumasa had almost instinctively lunged at the still-shaken Perlman beside him. Ignoring the corrupt executive's pathetic, high-pitched yelps of protest, the operative roughly grabbed the man's head, aggressively pushing aside the greasy hair behind his right ear to examine the skin under the harsh streetlights.
Sure enough.
Concealed perfectly beneath the hairline, resting right behind the fleshy curve of the earlobe, was a subtle, linear bump. It was exactly two centimeters long, the scar tissue slightly lighter in color than the surrounding clammy skin. It was absolutely not a natural injury or a surgical blemish; it was the unmistakable, precise mark left behind after the deep-tissue implantation of a micro-device.
"There is one! There really is a damn scar!" Harumasa shouted, his voice ringing clearly through the speakers in the video store.
The confirmation struck everyone's minds like a deafening clap of thunder.
The implications were staggering. It meant that the unseen enemy—or more accurately, Bringer and his faction—had possessed real-time access to Perlman's exact coordinates this entire time.
The so-called 'kidnapping'and the frantic, chaotic'disappearance' were a carefully designed, multi-layered deception from the very beginning. It was a massive, city-wide trap using Perlman as a living, breathing piece of bait. A lure specifically designed to drag Hollow Special Operations Section 6 out into the open, and more, to isolate Hoshimi Miyabi.
And the enemy's ultimate, terrifying goal was exactly as Wise had deduced.
They wanted Hoshimi Miyabi, and they wanted the devastating power of the ancestral blade currently resting in her hands—'Tailless'.
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