As evening approaches, the afterglow of the sunset has not completely dimmed. The air quality in the island country is good, and the colors of the sky are extremely vivid.
Downstairs, Tang Chao found his destination under a dilapidated three-story building. There was nothing to introduce about the surrounding environment. They were basically mostly aging residential buildings. Telegraph poles that were not well planned were erected at random, with several narrow strips sandwiched between them.
There were a few children running wildly in the small streets and alleys. Except for the lack of garbage and pungent smell, they were no different from slum residential areas all over the world. They were dilapidated and crowded.
When he first arrived here, Tang Chao glanced at the roadside signboards several times to make sure he was not looking in the wrong place.
This is not like a place where an employer who can pay nearly three hundred thousand dollars lives.
Following the heavily peeled external iron staircase, Tang Chao walked up to the third floor. The corridor was kept basically clean and tidy. There were several small potted plants on one side of the open-air balcony, and the bottom of the pots were fixed with wire racks. They were growing well.
"Baga!" In the middle of the corridor, an iron door suddenly opened from the inside. Tang Chao looked around and saw that the house number on the door was the specific address left by the employer on the document. A middle-aged man wearing a cheap suit rushed out.
He came out with an angry look on his face, turned around and cursed, "I still want money! How dare you come out and sell it when you are so old? Look at your face, and then look at half of your breasts, vomit, it's so unappetizing!"
A disheveled woman came out and grabbed the man's sleeve tightly: "I took off my clothes, you saw it, give me money!"
"What do you think you look like? Let go -"
"Give me money!"
A little girl poked her head out of the low window next to her, standing on tiptoes to look curiously. Then she was pulled back by the adult behind her, and the window was slammed shut.
"Let go! What the hell are you—do you want to let go, can you let go—"
They cursed and screamed, but during the argument, the man raised his fist in anger and kicked a few more times before breaking free. Finally, he looked at the woman holding her head in her hands and leaning against the iron door, moaning softly, and hesitated.
After a moment, he took out his wallet with a sad look on his face and threw out a few small bills.
"This is medical expenses. If I dare to call the police, I will kill you!"
He cursed and walked away. When he passed by Tang Chao, he looked over fiercely and wanted to say something, but after comparing their body shapes, he wisely closed his mouth and went downstairs angrily.
The woman at the door stopped screaming, lowered her head and quickly picked up the banknotes on the ground, her expression calm, as if nothing had happened just now.
"Emiko Yanai?" Tang Chao walked over and asked uncertainly:
The woman raised her head and glanced, well, there was a reason for the man's overreaction just now. What an old face he had. Not only could the thick and inferior cosmetics fail to cover up the dull, sallow complexion and numerous wrinkles and ravines, on the contrary,
More real and more prominent.
What's more surprising is that the woman's figure is not bad, not well maintained, but good for her age. It doesn't match the seriously old face at all. However, unfortunately, the woman should have had sex before
After any resection surgery, the undulating curve on the left side of the chest was extremely abrupt and sunken, which looked very uncoordinated.
"Excuse me, are you..."
Tang Chao asked again, but was interrupted. The woman who picked up the banknotes turned around and walked into the door.
"come in."
The tone was not very good, so Tang Chao didn't pay attention. After walking in, he closed the iron door and took a general look at the furnishings in the room. Except for a few sets of clean and tidy work clothes hanging on the wall hooks near the door, the rest were completely empty.
It was a mess, with all kinds of debris piled on the floor, on the table, and on the sofa. It was a bit difficult to find a place to stand.
"Sit down, what do you want to drink?"
Seeing the woman casually pushing aside the clutter on the sofa and sitting down, and rummaging around for cigarettes and disposable lighters on the table, Tang Chao shook his head and sat down and said, "No, thank you. Well, let me introduce myself..."
"I know, you are a killer." He lit the cigarette, took a puff, and slowly exhaled the smoke, temporarily covering the expressionless old face, and said indifferently in a sharp voice, "I have no friends, and I don't have any.
Maybe you came to see me. You are so handsome, so obviously you are not here to take care of my business, so you can only be a killer."
"But I don't think you can do it."
Tang Chao rubbed his nose. To be honest, he was rejected directly without even finishing a thoughtful sentence. It was a bit unexpected... but he decided to try his best and asked: "How can I see it?"
"You are so handsome." The woman said bluntly, "Maybe you don't know very well, but I have been doing this job for five years. During this period, I have seen many killers and private detectives who came to take jobs.
.Haha, although I don’t work in your profession, I do know some common sense. Just like the prettier in my profession, the more popular it is, the more common and outstanding in your profession, I think.”
"That's roughly the case." Tang Chao thought for a while and nodded in agreement, then said, "However, there is no direct connection between the killer's professional ability and his appearance. You can understand what I say."
"The man who hit me just now." The woman suddenly changed the subject, "Do you remember the brand of his leather shoes?"
Tang Chao replied without thinking: "There is no brand."
The woman shook her head in disappointment: "It's REGAL. I saw clearly when he kicked him over. Your professional skills are not good either."
Tang Chao smiled: "Although I really want to explain that the killer is not a shoemaker, and the leather shoes are not knives, and there is no value in paying attention to them. But... I'll answer your question first, are the shoes fake, or low-quality counterfeits.
If you take a closer look, you will find that there are obvious problems with both the leather and the workmanship. More importantly, the last letter of the logo on the side of the shoe is not L, but I."
The woman was stunned, frowned and thought about it for a moment, then nodded slowly: "You are right, I apologize for my previous attitude, mainly... someone has deceived me before and defrauded me of a large amount of money.
hope you do not mind."
"It doesn't matter."
"Do you know Mononobe Heisei?" Perhaps it was Tang Chao's professional performance that finally impressed her. The woman no longer resisted and talked about the task target, "I'm talking about do you know his true identity?"
After a slight pause, he remembered something and said with a bit of sarcasm, "A few killers came before and vowed to help me complete the task. Haha, the lucky ones gave up after investigating, and the unlucky ones continued to investigate.
There has been no news since then... You are also a killer, you know what this means, right?"
Tang Chao nodded: "Of course, thank you for your frank disclosure. Monobe Heisei, I don't know much about him because I haven't actually investigated him yet. I do know a little about the Monobe family, which is quite powerful in your island country, especially
In Osaka.”
The woman's eyes lit up when she heard this: "Aren't you from the island country?"
He spread his hands and said, "Of course not, if my accent makes you misunderstand me."
"Your accent is indeed very standard, with a Tokyo accent. If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you were an authentic Tokyoite."
"Basic abilities are useful for killing people here, so I won't say thank you."
"Haha, okay, you can take on this task from me."
Done! Tang Chao breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Somehow he suddenly had the absurd illusion that this was not accepting a task, but an interview... On the surface, he still stood up calmly: "Well, then I won't delay.
you……"
"Wait a minute." The woman looked over strangely, "Are you killers so eager to do your work?"
"Well, it's not all. I don't know if Ms. Yanai has ever heard of a Chinese saying, which is to die early and be reincarnated early. I think this is a good thing for both me and the target."
"I've heard something similar. When I was in college more than ten years ago, I majored in language, majoring in Chinese..." Behind the smoke, the woman's eyes were a little empty, as if she was recalling something, and she whispered softly.
He said, "China is a beautiful place. I always wanted to visit it after my graduation vacation, and I also made an appointment with my classmates... If I hadn't met that person, I would be where I am now..."
After the cigarette burned out and the cigarette butt was released, the woman came back to her senses, shook her head as if to get rid of something, and took a breath: "So, you are Chinese?"
"It's not important, is it?"
"Yes, it's not important." The woman said, "Every killer or private detective who comes here, I will give them two choices. One is to capture Monobu Heisei and come to me, and the other is to retrieve my child. You
Which one to choose?”
Tang Chao was startled when he heard this. This was not in the information. He frowned: "Child?"
"Yes, I have a child with Monobe Heisei." The woman laughed at herself, "I am Monobe Heisei's wife. If she gives birth to a child, she can be called a wife... It is a boy. My name was Monobe Yuta before. Now
I don’t know what he was altered for, but there is a cyan birthmark on his right back, which is easy to identify.”
Tang Chao suddenly understood. No wonder he had been a little confused before. According to the power of the Mononobe family, it was impossible for Monobe Heisei not to know that he was being targeted for assassination and hung on the assassin's platform. This included the unabashed employer in front of him who did not take any measures.
Action, probably because of this special relationship.
"That was...eighteen years ago. I was still in college at that time. Mononobe Heisei was my senior and my lover. We had not graduated at the time, but I was already pregnant with his child, and it was impossible to stay any longer.
In school, I had no choice but to drop out and become a pregnant woman. After the baby was born, we went on honeymoon, named the baby, and became a carefree, full-time housewife... Haha, it was such a wonderful time..."
She was saying good things, but the woman's face became more and more ugly, even a little ferocious, "Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Not long after I got married, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The tumor area was large, so I could only choose to be completely healthy."
I cut off my left breast to save my life... Haha, if I knew what would happen next, it might be the right choice to take my life... The operation was successful, but I don't feel happy. You should also understand that I
She was a woman, she was still so young at that time..."
Tang Chao remained silent and did not interrupt. The other party's emotional state was a little abnormal at this time, so he just stood quietly and listened.
"What happened next was a matter of course. At first he would comfort me, then he would care less, and then he would ignore me... My attitude at the time must have aroused his disgust. After all, he was still too young to understand porcelain.
Although it is good, broken porcelain can only be swept into the garbage dump, not to mention that his family background is so good... Later, they separated. Because of a series of sudden events such as pregnancy, childbirth, and illness, we have been
We didn't even get a marriage certificate, so naturally we can't get divorced. He gave me a sum of money, but I didn't ask for it. I just want my child back, and that's my child!"
His eyes were vicious, and his old face became more ferocious, "I only have one request, but he refused to agree and wouldn't even let me see him! He also lied to me that he had sent the child abroad, but I hired a private detective to find him.
So he simply hid the child and sent someone to monitor me, and he kept it from me for so many years!"
"Okay, if you don't give me the child, I will kill you!"
"For so many years, I have been abandoned by my family, kept away from friends, worked up to five temporary jobs a day, and sold my body at all hours of the day and night. I have become a human being and a ghost. Finally, I was able to gather together an assassination plan.
Bounty. It doesn’t matter if no one takes it. It doesn’t matter if you can’t complete it. As long as I’m alive, the assassination bounty will get higher and higher. One day someone will bring him to me! One day I will kill him with my own hands! Haha.
, one day..."
The sunset in the sky outside should have completely set, and the lights in the house were not turned on, making it dark and gloomy. However, in Tang Chao's eyes, the pitiful and terrifying face not far in front of him was clearly divided, and the laughter echoed in the narrow space.