You don't even want to call me godfather

"Jimmy was obviously no match for an adult man. Even when he rushed out, the man happened to run past them. Jimmy managed to grab the man's clothes, but he was quickly freed." Koshe took a sip of wine, and the wine slid down his throat, moistening his dry mouth. "Then he rushed over again, hugged the man's legs and tripped him. No matter how the man resisted, kicked him, and hit him, he never let go. Until I arrived and subdued the man with Jimmy's parents, Jimmy was crying and holding his legs tightly."

"Should we say he's timid or brave?" Jill raised his glass and clinked it with Koshe's. "He cries but refuses to let go. What a strange character."

"Yes, that's why I pay so much attention to him. At first, I thought he was very interesting. After he knew my identity, he kept calling me 'Boss'. Sometimes when I was angry, he would tremble, but when I was scared, he would never forget to comfort me."

"He's a good person. At least in Syracuse, there are hardly any such people."

Jill commented pertinently.

"Yes, but the last time I saw Jimmy was at a jazz club last night," Koshe agreed, then changed the subject and got down to business. "Lapland showed up at the club, and Jimmy didn't stop her, so I chased her out, and then we came to the Valhalla Bar."

"Here, you met with Lapland again," Jill remembered what happened last night, she asked, "You drank a little and went out, what happened after that?"

"Lappland and I made a bet, a bet concerning the lives of family members. I'm not sure if I won the bet, or that Lappland would look at me from somewhere and say to himself, 'This is cheating.' But I'm worried that Jimmy might get into trouble because of this bet." Koshe regretted making the bet with Lappland. He regretted too many things in the past two days. "He didn't respond to the Godfather's summons this morning. He's a reliable person and he won't break his promise."

"Well, I understand the general situation," Jill said after listening to him. She put her half-drunk glass on the bar, "There was indeed a guest last night. He looked about your age, a Luper with short brown hair, and wore a blue cross pendant. Does this description match?"

"...Yes, it was Jimmy. The pendant was a coming-of-age gift from his father. He had his coming-of-age ceremony two years earlier than me, and he showed off his birthday gift to me." Koshe paused for a moment after raising his glass, then put it down and confirmed, "What did he tell you?"

"Some trivial matters, all the recent troubles, his inability to comfort his friends when they were angry, and..." Jill said halfway, deliberately observing Koshe's expression, and then continued, "On the way to the bar, he was followed by someone."

"track?"

"Yes, he told me that every time he looked back, he could see a hint of silver, maybe it was hair or clothes," Jill recalled Jimmy's words and said, "'It was a murderous intent that had never been suppressed', these were his original words, and he said that the color made him feel a little familiar."

"And what else? What did he say?"

Hearing this, Koshe stood up from his high chair a little excitedly, walked up to Jill and asked.

"No, that's all. He ordered a few bottles of whiskey like you did and then he didn't say anything else. He stayed until the bar closed."

Although she wanted to help Koshe more, Jill could only tell him the truth that there was nothing she could do.

"...Okay, okay, I understand." Koshe's mind flashed through last night's bet and Laplander's confident expression. He understood everything in an instant. He hurriedly left his seat and ran out of the bar. "Thank you very much, Jill! I'll buy you a drink next time!"

Looking at Koshei who left in a hurry, the unfinished wine in the glass on the table, and the cigarette that had long been burned out in the ashtray, Jill sighed.

I really hope you don't have to face this, Koshe.

You and I both know what the consequences will be for those who are targeted by Lappland.

"Wow—"

In the dark bar, the sound of a match lighting was heard again.

After a moment, there was the sound of smoking and a few helpless sighs.

Chapter 21 Storms from All Directions

The silver-haired figure showed undisguised murderous intent.

Koshe couldn't think of anyone except Laplander, and besides, she had met Jimmy that night.

Now Koshei has a clear direction. If the suspicion still lies with Laplander, then...

Koshe stopped.

If before he was just looking for Jimmy aimlessly, now he was even more confused.

Where to find Lapland?

"Don't stop me! I want to find my godson!"

"Old man! Calm down!"

While thinking, a noisy quarrel came into Koshe's ears.

Before he knew it, he had returned to the vicinity of his mansion. At the door of the mansion, an old man in his sixties was shouting excitedly, while Destiny was trying to stop him from entering the mansion.

"Hey!" Koshei saw this and ran over there, shouting, "Hey! What's going on!"

"Brother! You're finally back!"

When Destiny heard Koshe's voice, her expression instantly changed from impatience to helplessness.

"What happened, Destiny?"

"Well... I was just taking a nap at home when I was suddenly woken up by a rapid knock on the door. I thought my brother had gone out without bringing his keys, but when I opened the door it turned out to be this old man, and he kept yelling that he wanted to see you."

After Destiny's explanation, Koshe roughly understood what had happened.

He fixed his eyes on the old man next to him and recognized his identity at the first sight.

"You are...Jimmy's father?"

"Godson! You must help me!"

The old man anxiously stepped forward, grabbed Koshe's shoulders, and pleaded.

"Please tell me what happened."

Koshe was forced to take a half step back. He knew why Jimmy's father came this time, but he still asked.

"It's like this..." The old man calmed himself down a bit, and then said, "I was supposed to be discharged this morning, and Jimmy told me that he would come to pick me up after he met the Godfather. But I waited in the hospital for a long time and didn't see Jimmy. He didn't come until I was discharged. I went to ask the Godfather, but the Godfather told me that Jimmy didn't go to see him. The Godfather asked me to come to you, Godson, about this matter."

Koshe was speechless. This was one of the things he was most worried about, that Jimmy's family would come to him in person.

Now he is simply unable to make any promises, promising that he will find Jimmy and give them an explanation.

"Godson! You and Jimmy have a very good relationship, and the child talks about you in front of me all day long. Please make sure to find him!" The old man became more and more excited as he spoke. He grabbed Koshe's shoulders with both hands and trembled slightly. "I am already old and have mineral disease. My wife left me two years ago. Jimmy is the only child I have. If anything happens to him, my old bones can't bear it!"

"Old man, calm down first," Koshe didn't know how to respond, so he could only comfort him, "Jimmy will be fine. He is a member of the family. The whole Syracuse knows that no one dares to attack the members of the Cascade family."

Except Lapland.

"Originally, Jimmy was going to go to church with me to pray after he was discharged from the hospital today. He is not a child who goes back on his word. He would not leave without saying a word..."

"I know, old man, I know..."

The old man's words suddenly awakened Koshei.

When the body of the family member was found in Javi's auto repair shop a few days ago, Koshe noticed that the body was in the shape of an inverted cross facing the window, and looking towards the window from the direction of the body, there was the church.

An ominous feeling arose in his heart.

"Destiny."

"Huh? I'm here, bro."

Destiny, who was suddenly called out, responded that although she was still a little upset about being woken up in the middle of her sleep, she rarely showed her dissatisfaction with others in front of Koshe.

"Please keep an eye on this old gentleman. I am going to the church."

"Oh, yes, leave it to me."

"Godson, do you have any idea?"

Seeing Koshei suddenly become depressed, the old man calmed down a lot and asked.

"No, although it's just a guess...but I also need to confirm it."

Ten minutes later, Koshei arrived at the church alone.

Looking at this place where he had often come to worship and pray since he was a child, he walked into the church with mixed feelings.

Unlike every time he came before, the church seemed empty today, and the priest was pacing back and forth anxiously in the church.

"Sorry, the church is temporarily closed today. Please go back."

Hearing the footsteps of someone entering the church, the priest said with his back to the door.

"It's me," Kosheyan said. "What happened, Father? I've never seen a church closed before."

Seeing that the person coming was Koshei, the priest seemed relieved, but then he became nervous again. He hurriedly came to Koshei, grabbed him and walked to the host seat in the church.

"Godson, you are finally here," the priest looked at Koshei with concern and said, "I was originally hesitant about whether to tell the godfather about this, but now that you are here, I am relieved."

"what happened?"

"It's there," the priest pointed to the front of the church, where there was a statue of the Son of Heaven, a statue of the Son of Heaven nailed to a cross. "This morning when I came to the church to open the door, I found blood and other things on the statue of the Son of Heaven. It is taboo to see blood in such a sacred place as the church, so I closed the church in advance and forbade anyone to come in."

Generally speaking, pointing at the statue of the emperor is a very disrespectful act, but apparently the anxious priest no longer cares about it.

Koshe walked forward and saw some bloodstains on the statue, as if they had been smeared on by humans.

At the same time, he also found a pendant hanging around the statue's neck.

A blue cross pendant.

"This is!"

Koshei walked quickly forward, stepped on the wall, climbed up by grabbing the statue, and pulled off the pendant.

There was no mistake. This was Jimmy's pendant, his coming-of-age gift. Every time he saw Jimmy in the past two years, he could see the pendant, which he regarded as a treasure.

"Teach... Godson?"

The priest stood behind Koshe nervously. At this moment, they had no time to care whether these actions were disrespectful to the emperor and God. He was only curious about the pendant.

Koshe ignored the priest. He looked at the statue of the emperor, thinking about something.

If Jimmy's pendant is here, then he is very close to the truth.

Koshe knocked on the statue of the emperor and found it was solid, so it was impossible for anyone to hide inside it. There was also no sign that the statue had been damaged.

He looked around, trying to think of somewhere he could hide the body.

He didn't even notice that he now regarded Jimmy as a corpse.

Suddenly, something occurred to him.

"Cross... cross..."

When family cadres died, they were deliberately placed in the shape of an inverted cross. The blood on the ground formed an inverted cross along the cracks between the bricks. What you can see through the window is... the cross on top of the church.

A terrifying idea came to Koshe's mind. He quickly ran out of the church and ran to an open space next to the church, where he and Lappland had met.

Looking at the cross on top of the church, Koshe fell into a daze.

"God--Godson! What's the matter with you all of a sudden?"

The priest who ran out right after him asked him.

"Is that cross lying down?" Koshe pointed at the cross on top of the church and said, "It seems to be turned upside down."

"This!" The priest was shocked, because the iconic cross was now in an inverted cross. "This is a taboo! This is a desecration of the sacred place of the church!"

"Bring a ladder," Koshei's tone became gloomy again, "bring a ladder quickly."

"Yes, yes, I'm going now."

After a while, the priest came running over carrying a long ladder.

Koshe took the ladder, stretched it out and placed it outside the church. The priest held the ladder at the bottom and Koshe climbed up quickly.

Standing on the top of the church, in front of the cross, Koshe's pupils seemed to have an earthquake. Perhaps he had never shown such a surprised and angry expression in his life.

It was Jimmy, leaning against a cross that had been turned upside down. There was a horrific wound on Jimmy's neck, and blood was stuck to his face.

He is here, he is here, but we meet again in this way.

Koshe's fists clenched and shook violently. He had never felt so angry.

"Godson!"

Just as he was furious, the old gentleman was already standing at the foot of the church, with Destiny beside him, and they were looking at Koshe on the high ground.

"Destiny! What are you doing!" Koshei was furious. He shouted to the bottom, "Take him away! Now! Get the hell out of here!"

At this moment, Koshe discovered that one of Jimmy's arms was raised and fixed on the cross, and his finger was pointing in another direction.

That's... the direction of the Godfather's mansion.

"boom--!!"

Suddenly, a sound of explosion was heard. Koshe looked in the direction of the sound, which was exactly the direction Jimmy pointed.

It was the area where the Godfather's residence was located. Even the people in the church could see the flames rising into the sky. The blast spread over hundreds of meters, even knocking Koshei back a few steps.

He lowered his arms that were subconsciously covering his face. He saw that the neighborhood that was prosperous just now had been devastated by the explosion and turned into ruins.

This day was the most turbulent day in the history of Syracuse.