"What would you like, Mrs. Yanahara?" Since she sought him out, Zhongshan Akiyu knew she had a request and asked directly.
Mrs. Yanahara lifted her head, suppressing the resentnt and anger she felt towards her husband's killer, and locked eyes with him. "My husband is dead, and it's very likely the work of soone from the Noguchi Group, considering they've always greedily wanted to usurp his position. I want to avenge him, and for that, I need strength. So I hope Police Chief Asai will support , allowing to take my husband's place and continue to cooperate with you."
"That's fine, I can even take less of a share, but I want the ledgers. Just hand over the ledgers to , and we can discuss everything," Zhongshan Akiyu agreed right away, his expression sincere.
"No," Mrs. Yanahara shook her head, "I'm just a vulnerable woman. What if I give you the ledgers, and you go back on your word? I need that sense of security."
Zhongshan Akiyu's heart was filled with murderous intent and violence, yet his deanor beca even more gentle. As he was about to placate Mrs. Yanahara, he noticed that her glance frequently strayed towards the handbag on the table.
His expression changed, and he suddenly grabbed the bag.
"What are you doing!" Mrs. Yanahara exclaid in shock, reflexively standing up to try to snatch the bag back.
Zhongshan Akiyu dodged her hand, opened the handbag, and his face turned cold as he pulled out a voice recorder pen in working condition.
Mrs. Yanahara's face turned ashen, blood draining from it.
"Bitch, are you trying to trick ? You don't even have the ledgers!" Zhongshan Akiyu's eyes were filled with violence.
He cared deeply about the ledgers, so Mrs. Yanahara's ruse in using them against him also enraged him deeply.
Seeing that she had been discovered, Mrs. Yanahara seed to abandon further pretense, showing her true emotions with a face full of hatred and gritted teeth, "You're the one who killed my husband!"
"Did Aoyama Xiu Xin tell you that?" Zhongshan Akiyu pierced through the matter, his fury needing an outlet as he revealed a sinister smile, "So, what if he did? Do you have evidence? The little they have isn't even enough to investigate . Did Aoyama Xiu Xin teach you to do this tonight? Unfortunately for you, he overestimated the psychological quality of a full-ti housewife. All for naught."
"Bastard! Give back my husband's life!" Mrs. Yanahara's defense crumbled, her eyes reddening as she cried out, stretching her hand across the table to scratch Zhongshan Akiyu's face.
"Get lost!" Seeing that the staff had begun to take notice, Zhongshan Akiyu did not wish to prolong the altercation and pushed Mrs. Yanahara away, straightened his tie, and said with a cold laugh, "You should be grateful that Yanahara Dong protected you well and didn't actually hand over the ledgers to you, otherwise you'd be joining him."
With that, he took the voice recorder pen and turned to leave.
Mrs. Yanahara collapsed onto the table, crying softly, seemingly blaming her own incompetence.
"Ma'am, are you all right?" A waiter ca over, asking in a low, concerned voice.
"I'm fine." Mrs. Yanahara lifted her head, watched Zhongshan Akiyu drive away through the glass window, wiped her tears, and then touched the area over her chest.
In that spot, there was another voice recorder pen.
Aoyama Xiu Xin had anticipated her lack of ntal fortitude, so he had prepared two pens for her.
One was to confuse and infuriate Zhongshan Akiyu.
The other was to record any significant information that an enraged Zhongshan Akiyu might reveal.
Mrs. Yanahara grabbed her bag and walked out, dialing up Aoyama Xiu Xin to arrange a eting.
About twenty minutes later, she t Aoyama Xiu Xin as planned in the park, "Mr. Aoyama."
"Where's the pen?" Aoyama Xiu Xin was eager.
Mrs. Yanahara carefully handed over the voice recorder from her bag, "Here, it recorded everything clearly."
"Excellent, Mrs. Yanahara, you really did a great job," Aoyama Xiu Xin said, showing a satisfied smile.
Mrs. Yanahara blushed at the praise, only managing to mask her bashfulness with the gesture of brushing her hair.
Aoyama Xiu Xin sniffed and asked with a hint of confusion, "Mrs. Yanahara, why is there a scent on this voice recorder? Where did you hide it?"
Mrs. Yanahara's cheeks grew even redder; she lowered her head, not daring to look at him, fiddling nervously with her toes inside her high heels.
She quickly changed the subject, "Is it really useful to record secretly like this? Won't it be deed invalid?"
"Don't worry, 'secret recording' is a thing in Japan. It will certainly be valid," Aoyama Xiu Xin reassured her, although the recording was not enough to convict Zhongshan Akiyu.
However, he had no intention of taking it as far as a court case; that would be too troubleso, with far too many variables.
If he was going to act, it had to be decisive!
At that mont, a gust of night wind blew through, pressing Mrs. Yanahara's thin dress against her delicate figure, revealing the rounded contours of her upper body and the perfect outline of her lower half in great detail, much to Aoyama Xiu Xin's delight.
It turned out even the wind could have a shape.
"Mr. Aoyama, I must take my leave," Mrs. Yanahara, on the brink of embarrassnt, bowed quickly, her face flushed and hands covering her dress as she hurried into her car.
Aoyama Xiu Xin watched her drive off, then found a payphone to call Fujimoto Ryosuke, "Prepare a clean gun. Don't ask questions; just do it if you want to save your future. Don't worry, I won't make a fool of you."
.........
April 30, sunny.
Early in the morning, Aoyama Xiu Xin left his house, t with Asai Ayumi and Fujimoto Ryosuke at the police station, and received his gun.
"Do we really go for the arrest?" Asai Ayumi asked again for confirmation.
Aoyama Xiu Xin nodded, "Arrest him, but let's not bring too many people, just the three of us."
Asai Ayumi realized she couldn't dissuade him, so she had no choice but to join him in his madness; after all, she had no other option.
Fujimoto Ryosuke had even less of a choice, but he had always been brave and was willing to take a gamble with Aoyama Xiu Xin.
"Let's go," due to an unexpected turn of events, Aoyama Xiu Xin, who held the lowest position among the three, had beco the leader.
Without notifying anyone or obtaining an arrest warrant, the three of them drove straight to Zhongshan Akiyu's house.
At 9:30 in the morning, the suspended Zhongshan Akiyu was having breakfast at ho. His wife and children had been sent to the United States, and the large house seed quite empty.
"Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~"
The doorbell rang, and Zhongshan Akiyu put down his cutlery, stood up, and answered the intercom, "Moshi moshi."
"Chief Zhongshan, this is Asai Police Chief from the firearms departnt," Asai Ayumi's voice ca through.
Zhongshan Akiyu laughed softly, then pressed the switch to remotely open the gates of the villa.
He then opened the door and sat back down at the dining table, calmly continuing his breakfast.
Soon after, Aoyama Xiu Xin led the way, with Asai Ayumi and Fujimoto Ryosuke following swiftly into the house.
"It's quite rude to visit soone's house without changing your shoes," Zhongshan Akiyu said with a frown.
Aoyama Xiu Xin smiled, "But we're not here for a visit today, Chief Zhongshan. Regarding the murder of Yeharadong, we've gathered so new information and need your cooperation for the investigation. Please co with us."
"Idiot! What right do you have to speak to ?" Zhongshan Akiyu slamd his knife and fork onto the table, looking at Asai Ayumi, "It seems Asai Police Chief doesn't quite know how to educate her subordinates. If you have the ti, you should learn more from Chief Asai."
"I don't need you, Chief Zhongshan, to dictate how I conduct my affairs. What he says, is also my sentint," Asai Ayumi stated coldly.
"Heh," Zhongshan Akiyu chuckled aningfully and picked up his cutlery again, "I have nothing to do with this case. Why should I cooperate with the investigation?"
"Chief Zhongshan, stop pretending. Yeharadong was killed by you!" Aoyama Xiu Xin shouted angrily.
Unfazed and with a scornful smile on his face, Zhongshan Akiyu responded, "Detective Aoyama, you need evidence to make allegations. Do you have any? If not, I might sue you for defamation. Please, don't disturb my al if it's not necessary."
"Looking for evidence?" Aoyama Xiu Xin also revealed a smile, taking out a recording pen and starting to play it.
As he listened to the recording, Zhongshan Akiyu's smile gradually stiffened, and his complexion grew dark.
Both Fujimoto Ryosuke and Asai Ayumi were shocked and delighted, not having expected Aoyama Xiu Xin to conceal such a move—no wonder he dared to co here to make an arrest today.
After the recording ended, the mockery on Aoyama Xiu Xin's face deepened, "Do you have any questions now?"
"Idiot! Are you scheming against ?" Zhongshan Akiyu's breath beca hurried, his hand holding the knife and fork turned white at the knuckles from gripping too hard.
Aoyama Xiu Xin simply smiled without a word.
"Ha! Hahaha!" At that mont, Zhongshan Akiyu suddenly laughed, rising fiercely and pointing at Aoyama Xiu Xin with a fierce expression, "Don't talk about whether this recording is admissible in court, even if it is, do you think you can convict with just a recording? That's too naive! You think you can climb over to rise higher? You're still too green!"
"Therefore, I never planned to go through the process of legal conviction; outside of the courtroom, I am the judge," Aoyama Xiu Xin drew his gun and aid at him.
Zhongshan Akiyu was dumbfounded.
Asai Ayumi and Fujimoto Ryosuke were also stunned.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Before they could co to their senses, the gun had fired.
Zhongshan Akiyu was hit by three bullets in the chest, staggered back a few steps, and then fell heavily to the ground. He stared at the ceiling with wide-open eyes as his chest heaved violently and blood kept pouring from the bullet holes, staining his white shirt red.
His eyes were filled with unwillingness and confusion—he never dreamt that Aoyama Xiu Xin would actually shoot him!
"You're crazy!" Asai Ayumi scread, pushing Aoyama Xiu Xin and yelling, "Are you addicted to killing? Since there's evidence, we could have controlled him and investigated slowly. Why kill him!"
"He knows why I had to kill him," Aoyama Xiu Xin said lightly, looking at Zhongshan Akiyu.
Realization dawned in Zhongshan Akiyu's eyes. After coughing up a few mouthfuls of blood, he gasped, "You... you... so cruel."
As he finished speaking, he took his last breath, dying with his eyes wide open.
"Gun," Aoyama Xiu Xin said, looking at Fujimoto Ryosuke.
"Ah? Oh, oh," Fujimoto Ryosuke, finally snapping back to reality, took out an oiled paper package from his bosom and handed it over.
Aoyama Xiu Xin put on gloves before opening the oiled paper package, revealing a black gun with its serial numbers filed off and loaded with bullets. He bent down and placed it in Zhongshan Akiyu's hand.
After arranging the scene, he turned to Asai Ayumi and Fujimoto Ryosuke and said, "Upon hearing the recording, Chief Zhongshan resisted arrest with a gun, and I was able to shoot him first, dead. We're all witnesses to each other."
"His death ans Yamamoto Hiroshi has no need to sacrifice himself to protect him—Yamamoto will surely change his testimony to push Yeharadong's murder onto Zhongshan Akiyu. Combined with the recording and Mrs. Yanahara's testimony, it's enough to prove him the murderer of Yeharadong, so we're ritorious without fault."
Asai Ayumi stared blankly at the body of Zhongshan Akiyu lying in a pool of blood and did not respond.
"Hey!" Fujimoto Ryosuke said, looking at Aoyama Xiu Xin with a hint of fear as if he was truly eting him for the first ti today.
Aoyama Xiu Xin walked over and hugged Asai Ayumi, whispering, "You will receive the main credit. Prepare yourself to write the report and face the dia interviews. I'll tell you later why I killed him—he had to die."
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