I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

At this point, Qingdeng adopted a half-joking tone.

"You wouldn't actually be a female ninja who's learned some kind of ninjutsu, would you?"

The rumor that Neko-sō is a female ninja is actually half true; Neko-sō is indeed a woman.

This made Qingdeng wonder: Could the latter part of the rumor also be true...?

Whether it was Kinoshita Mai's ability to move effortlessly on complex terrains like rooftops, or her martial arts skills, they all left a deep impression on Aoto.

Thinking back to the night he first encountered Kinoshita Mai in her "cat-monk form" at the Magistrate's Office, the slap Kinoshita Mai gave him to force him back was still fresh in Qing Deng's memory.

To be able to unleash such a powerful palm strike... Qing Deng concluded that Kinoshita Mai's unarmed combat skills must be very high!

Kinoshita Mai, who had been answering every question just moments before, did not immediately respond to Aoto's question as she had done before.

Her expression changed slightly, she pursed her lips, and remained silent.

Qing Deng wasn't in a hurry and quietly waited for Kinoshita Mai to give her answer.

Kinoshita Mai didn't keep Aoto waiting long.

A moment later, she turned her head slightly and cast an apologetic look at Qingdeng.

"Mr. Tachibana, I'm sorry... I'm not in a position to answer the question about where I learned these skills."

"I'll answer you when I have the chance later."

—Is it inconvenient to answer? Why?

Qing Deng was taken aback.

However, he didn't ask any further questions.

This kind of thing involves someone's privacy, and since Kinoshita Mai is unwilling to say more, it's not convenient for him to ask further.

"It's alright," Qingdeng quickly replied. "If you don't want to say more, I won't force you."

The question of where Kinoshita Mai learned all these skills was so quickly glossed over.

The various questions about Kinoshita Mai... or more precisely, about "Nekosō" have been answered in this question-and-answer session.

Now, only one question remains in Qing Deng's mind: Where did Kinoshita Mai take all the large sum of money she had stolen from those villains?

Forty years ago, the little monk who stole money distributed it directly to the poor.

However, the magistrate has found no record of the current Neko-sō (Neko-sō) distributing stolen money to the poor, as the Neko-sō (Rat-sō) did 40 years ago.

So, in the streets, there was a saying: Cat Monk is far inferior to Mouse Monk. Although both of them only steal money from evil people, the latter would give all the stolen money to the poor, while the former would only keep the stolen money for his own enjoyment.

What did you do with such a large sum of money? Just as Qingdeng was about to ask this, suddenly...

“...Tachibana-kun”.

Kinoshita Mai, who had been playing the role of "responder" the whole time, suddenly switched roles and became the "questioner".

She blinked hard at Qingdeng, a strange emotion welling up in her eyes that was hard for outsiders to detect.

"The question you just asked me reminded me of something I've actually been wanting to ask you for a long time..."

"Tachibana-kun, on the night I secretly sneaked into the magistrate's office to see how you all worked the night shift, you could have run very fast when you chased me after you spotted me, so why did you end up running so slowly?"

"Huh?" Qing Deng's eyes widened, and then his expression gradually became strange.

Why did I run so slowly? Because at that time, I hadn't yet replicated my talent for "taking the lead"!

Qingdeng shouted the answer to the question in his heart.

However, he could not possibly tell Kinoshita Mai the real answer...

So, Qingdeng could only stammer for a moment before nodding slightly: "Um...yes, I did deliberately run a little slower at the time."

"Because... I've told you before, I don't dislike cat monks who only target evil people."

"I didn't want to catch him, so I deliberately slowed down."

Qing Deng told a fabricated story with absolute certainty...

To avoid giving himself away, Qing Deng deliberately turned his head away while rambling on about his made-up lies, so that Kinoshita Mai wouldn't see his somewhat unnatural expression.

"Did you deliberately slow down?... Haha, then I guessed right."

Qing Deng heard Kinoshita Mai's excited voice coming from behind him.

"Thank you... for deliberately slowing down so that I could escape more easily."

"You're welcome. I just did what I wanted to do." Hearing Kinoshita Mai's words, Aoto secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He secretly rejoiced that his lie had worked well and successfully fooled Kinoshita Mai.

Qing Deng had no idea that his lies were more than just effective.

Behind him, Kinoshita Mai, who had quietly said "thank you" to Aoto, reached out and pulled her face mask up higher and tighter.

The thick face mask effectively concealed Kinoshita Mai's face, which was constantly chuckling and beaming with joy.

She smiled so hard her eyes curved into two crescent moons, as if what she had just heard was some unparalleled joyous occasion.

woohoo...

A sudden night breeze brought a touch of coolness.

Just then, Qing Deng, who was still secretly relieved that he had successfully fooled Kinoshita Mai, suddenly noticed a strange dark shadow wriggling at the north intersection of the crossroads.

"Ms. Kinoshita." Qing Deng's expression sharpened, and as he called out to Kinoshita Mai in a deep voice, he pointed towards the north intersection, "Look over there."

Kinoshita Mai quickly wiped the smile off her face, looked in the direction Aoto was pointing, and then, like Aoto, her expression quickly turned serious.

Because it was a clear day with the moon high in the sky, Qing Deng and Kinoshita Mai quickly saw what the dark figures "wriggling" at the north intersection were under the moonlight.

They were eight samurai, all of whom carried swords.

The figures of the eight warriors kept "wriggling" in the shadows of the houses at the north intersection.

After only a short while, as they slowly emerged from the shadows, their figures gradually solidified into concrete forms, eventually being fully exposed to the moonlight.

The two people in the lead were twins.

The twins were quite different. One of them had two swords, one long and one short, hanging at his waist, while the other had two swords at his waist and a large katana on his back.

The two looked extremely similar; their eyes, noses, mouths... were almost identical. There was only one place where the twins differed significantly—the one carrying the great sword had a red birthmark on his left forehead, while the other also had a birthmark, but it was on the corner of his right eye.

Looking at the pair of twins with strikingly similar features, Qing Deng's pupils contracted slightly.

These twins... gave him a very strong sense of familiarity.

Kinoshita Mai, standing to the side, shared the same feeling as Aoto.

Like Aoto, Kinoshita Mai felt a strange familiarity with the twins. After blinking blankly, she reached into her pocket, pulled out the stack of wanted posters she always carried with her, and quickly flipped through them.

“…?! Found them.” Kinoshita Mai exclaimed softly, then shoved the two wanted posters she had found at Aoto’s face. “These twins are the ‘Red-Faced Brothers’ who fled from Kansai to Kanto.”

Kinoshita Mai's words made Aoto instantly understand why he felt the twins were familiar.

These twins... are the notorious red-faced brothers who are currently wanted by the authorities!

The one carrying a large katana, with a red birthmark on his left forehead, is the elder of the twins—Yoshikawa Ichitaro.

The one who neatly wore two swords at his waist and had a red birthmark on the corner of his right eye was the younger twin brother, Yoshikawa Kojiro.

Six months ago, the two brothers committed a series of bloody crimes in Osaka, Kansai.

They led their henchmen, frequently appearing at night, and together with their underlings, indiscriminately slaughtered every passerby on the street.

When he kills, he neither robs others of their money nor has a specific target—he kills simply for the sake of killing!

The victims were as many as 18 unarmed civilians.

In an effort to capture the two vicious and deranged killers, the Osaka Magistrate mobilized a large amount of manpower and resources, but unfortunately, they still managed to escape.

According to reliable intelligence, the brothers have fled to Kanto with a group of followers.

Therefore, after confirming that the information was extremely credible, their wanted posters were immediately plastered all over the streets and alleys of Edo.

Because both men had red birthmarks on their faces, the government gave them an easy-to-remember nickname: the Red-Faced Brothers.

The government's treatment of these two brothers, whose crimes were extremely serious and whose behavior was extremely heinous, was undeniably generous—a reward of 10 taels of silver for each of them! And it didn't matter whether they lived or died! Anyone who happened to encounter them on the street could kill them without hesitation! Whether they were captured alive or their heads were brought to them, they would receive the 10 taels reward!

Qing Deng looked at the portrait and description on the wanted poster, and his expression slowly became extremely serious.

In the Eta settlement, eight sword-wielding samurai suddenly appeared. The two leaders of these eight samurai were, in fact, wanted criminals who enjoyed randomly killing people…

What this means is self-evident.

At this moment, the group led by the red-faced brothers had completely emerged from the shadows of the houses at the north intersection.

After looking around warily, they slowly walked towards the east intersection.

Aoto and Kinoshita Mai exchanged a glance, then nodded slightly.

The two quietly jumped down from the tree and followed closely behind the group of deranged killers.

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Chapter 134 Qingdeng vs. the Human Slayer Group! Copying Talent [The Deceiver]! [6800]

Was it just good luck? After agreeing to help Kinoshita Mai investigate the "Tsujizaki incident," Aoto had already prepared for a long battle.

After all, there are only two of them, and they don't have much manpower or resources to mobilize. If they just wait for the suspect to show up by "waiting for the rabbit to run into the tree stump", who knows when they will be able to wait.

But little did she know—on the very first night after agreeing to help Kinoshita Mai, she encountered a highly suspicious suspect…

Qingdeng sometimes feels that his luck is really mysterious.

Some very low-probability events often happen to him unexpectedly.

Just over a month ago, after learning that the red-faced brothers had fled from Kansai to Kanto, the Edo Magistrate's Office held a meeting to remind the officers and constables of the "Three Returns" to keep an eye on the red-faced brothers when they patrolled the streets in the future.

During the meeting, the official from the Osaka Magistrate's Office in Kansai who chaired the meeting specifically mentioned some important information about the Red-Faced Brothers.

While silently following the red-faced brothers and their henchmen with Kinoshita Mai, Qing Deng silently recalled what he had heard and heard at that meeting.

These brothers belong to the most difficult type of criminals to deal with: random killers.