Substitute Toyokawa Shoko, you can become stronger by breathing

She wiped her hands with the blood-stained handkerchief and asked in a calm voice:

"Triangle Chuhua, where is it?"

Kageyama gasped violently, his eyes filled with bloodshot and tears, his voice trembling:

"In... my brother Toyokawa Takaaki, it was him who controlled Mikado Hatsuka..."

She raised her tearful face and looked at the "Toyokawa Shoko" who frightened her to the extreme, her voice filled with despair and a hint of begging:

"This is none of my business. I'm just following my brother's instructions... The fate of Triangle Chuhua is not in my hands. Really, please, believe me..."

Hearing this, Jiujo Liansi finally laughed:

"Okay, I believe you."

.....

Toyokawa Takaaki's recent mood is like the lingering haze over Tokyo, so heavy that it makes him feel a little breathless.

Kageyama has been missing for three whole days.

Three days may not be too long for an ordinary person, but for Toyokawa Kageyama, an important figure in the Toyokawa family's side branch and his own sister, this is definitely not normal.

At first, he thought Kageyama had gone to some newly opened club or gallery for entertainment and forgot to say hello.

But as time went by, no one answered the phone, and the people sent out could not find any trace, and an ominous premonition began to linger in his heart.

Although Kageyama acts flamboyantly, he is not without sense of propriety.

Especially at this critical period when a large amount of benefits had just been pried away from the main system, it was even less likely that she would disappear for no reason.

Could it be a counterattack from that old fox Toyokawa Sadaharu?

Xiaoming frowned, but quickly rejected the idea.

With Sadaharu's ability, it is unlikely that he would use such a rough and direct method. Moreover, the power structure within the Toyokawa family has undergone subtle changes. If Sadaharu wants to touch someone from the side branch, it will inevitably cause greater shock, which will not be worth the loss for him.

So, who could it be?

Just as Toyokawa Takaaki was sitting in his spacious and luxurious office, rubbing his swollen temples and thinking about various possibilities, his secretary knocked on the door and walked in with a panicked look on his face.

"President, someone downstairs delivered packages one by one, specifically for you, and said you must open them personally."

"pack?"

Xiaoming raised his eyebrows unhappily:

"Who sent it? Didn't they leave any message?"

"No, it was just a guy in ordinary courier clothes. He put the package down and left immediately. The surveillance camera only captured a blurry figure from behind."

The ominous premonition in Toyokawa Takaaki's heart became stronger and stronger.

He waved his hand, signaling the secretary to bring the things in.

It was an ordinary, inconspicuous paper box, not big and square, simply wrapped in kraft paper without any markings.

Xiaoming stared at the box, his eyes gradually becoming sharper.

Instead of asking his secretary to do it, he picked up the paper cutter on the table and carefully cut the sealing tape.

As the packaging was peeled off layer by layer, a smaller object wrapped in dark velvet appeared before his eyes.

His heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.

Taking a deep breath, Toyokawa Takaaki suddenly lifted the velvet cloth.

The next moment, his pupils suddenly contracted!

A strong smell of blood hit my face.

Under the velvet, a human finger lay quietly!

It was a female finger, the skin looked pale due to blood loss, the nails were manicured very delicately and painted with Kageyama's favorite burgundy nail polish.

What made him even more furious was that on the broken ring finger, there was a ring.

——A huge, perfectly cut emerald ring, surrounded by fine diamonds, sparkling with a cold and familiar light under the light.

That's Kageyama's ring!

It was a relic left to Kageyama by their mother, and it was also a treasure that Kageyama never left behind! There was no way he could be wrong!

"boom!"

Toyokawa Takaaki slammed his fist on the hard mahogany desk, and the back of his hand turned purple instantly, but he didn't feel any pain at all.

A complex mixture of rage, horror, and bone-chilling cold instantly shattered all his composure.

Just as he was shaking with extreme anger, his eyes caught a small card hidden under the velvet.

He picked up the card with trembling hands. There was only one line of text printed on it:

"You'd better pray that your chips are enough to redeem your life."

...

Chapter 139: Hostages are meant to be killed.

Toyokawa Takaaki never thought that he would fall into such a passive situation.

After the initial outburst of rage, he forced himself to calm down.

He subconsciously separated this matter from the internal family struggle.

In his opinion, Toyokawa Shoko was just an overprotected, naive and somewhat foolish young lady. Even if her temperament changed drastically due to family changes, it would be impossible for her to have such cruel means and meticulous plans.

As for Toyokawa Sadaharu, although the old guy is insidious, his style of doing things is more inclined towards commercial suppression and power struggles. This kind of threat that is almost like underworld behavior does not seem like his style.

Then the enemy comes from outside.

After all, kidnapping, extortion, and using body parts as tokens of threat are classic practices of underworld organizations that live on the edge of a knife.

The first thing that Toyokawa Takaaki thought of was the underground world of Tokyo.

After all, kidnapping, extortion, and personal threats are the "businesses" that those shady organizations are best at.

In this shadow, the Yamaguchi-gumi is undoubtedly the largest and most deeply rooted entity.

He immediately mobilized the connections he had accumulated over the years in the business and political circles, trying to pry open a gap with the Yamaguchi-gumi.

Through some intermediaries, he had some "friendly" dealings with some cadres of the Yamaguchi-gumi and dealt with some business "troubles".

He believed that as long as the price was right, there was nothing those people couldn't sell.

However, the development of things was far beyond his expectations.

Without exception, everyone he sent to contact them was turned away.

Those Yamaguchi-gumi cadres who used to call him brothers and who would pat their chests and assure him at the dinner table that "Mr. Toyokawa's business is my business" now become extremely secretive when they hear the name "Toyokawa Kageyama", as if they had heard of some plague, and they all find excuses to shirk responsibility.

"Mr. Xiaoming, I'm very sorry, we really don't know anything about this matter."

On the other end of the phone, a mid-level Yamaguchi-gumi official who had always been respectful to him sounded unprecedentedly embarrassed.

"do not know?"

Xiaoming's voice turned cold:

"You don't know, or you don't dare to say it?"

The other party was silent for a moment, then said:

"...You are a smart person. The other party is not someone we can afford to offend."

After saying that, the other party hung up the phone in a hurry. No matter how many times Xiaoming called, no one answered.

In the next few days, he contacted all the people he could get in touch with, but the responses he got were surprisingly consistent.

—It was a taboo topic, avoided talking about it. It was as if the kidnapping of Toyokawa Kageyama had become a taboo subject.

This made Toyokawa Takaaki's heart sink completely. He vaguely guessed that the mastermind behind all this, even if it wasn't the Yamaguchi-gumi itself, must be someone inextricably linked to it, a terrifying existence that could even silence the entire Yamaguchi-gumi.

But he still couldn't figure out when and where he had offended such a person?

Just when he was at his wit's end and was about to resort to more extreme means to force those people to speak, the second "gift" arrived quietly.

This time the package is smaller and lighter.

Xiaoming's hands began to tremble uncontrollably as he opened it.

He had a premonition that he was about to see something even more cruel than last time.

When the layers of packaging were peeled off, a small plastic bag wrapped in an ice pack appeared in front of us.

Through the transparent bag, he saw an ear that had been cut off at the root.

There were still the pearl earrings that Yingshan liked hanging on it, but the warm pearls had now been stained dull by the dried blood.

His stomach churned and he almost vomited.

Next to the ear was the familiar card, with the words printed in the same font:

"Don't worry, there's still a lot of time left."

“Ahhhhh——!”

Toyokawa Takaaki finally couldn't suppress the rage in his heart. He roared and swept everything on the table to the ground.

Expensive pens, piles of documents, and exquisite ornaments were all in a mess. He was like a wild beast trapped in a cage, with red eyes and heavy breathing.

Rage! Fear! And an unprecedented sense of frustration that nearly burned his sanity to ashes!

What on earth does this person want to do?!

He kidnapped Kageyama without asking for any ransom or any conditions. He was just like a cruel executioner, enjoying the pleasure of slow slicing, and repeatedly sent Kageyama's body parts to him for his "appreciation".

"Bargain... redemption..."

Xiaoming nervously muttered the words on the first card. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, but he didn't feel any pain.

Chips?! What the hell are my chips?!

Do you want money? Do you want my company shares? Or do you want me to compromise on a project?! Just tell me! Just tell me!

If you want the leverage I have, just ask! What's the point of torturing hostages?!

Are you showing off your cruelty, or are you mocking my incompetence? !

For the first time, Toyokawa Takaaki felt so completely powerless.

He was like a blindfolded boxer, being hit by punch after punch from an invisible enemy. He could feel the pain and hear the opponent's ridicule, but he could not even catch the opponent's shadow.

He has all the power and resources, but nowhere to use them.

This kind of frustration is a million times more painful than being killed by a single blow.

He even began to pray that the other party would quickly put forward conditions. No matter how harsh the conditions were, at least they would allow him to find a way to solve the problem, instead of just watching his sister being dismembered inch by inch like now, while he couldn't even figure out the enemy's purpose.

.

Unlike Toyokawa Takaaki's office which was filled with rage and blood, Toyokawa Sadaharu's study deep in the Toyokawa family's mansion was as quiet as ever.

Outside the window, the drizzle silently washes the carefully trimmed pines and cypresses in the courtyard, making the green even deeper.

Toyokawa Sadaharu was sitting behind his desk, playing with two smooth walnuts in his hands, listening to the report from his confidant in front of him.

The confidant's tone was very low, with a hint of uneasiness, and he told the story of the "tragedy" that happened in the collateral branch.

——From the disappearance of Toyokawa Kageyama, to the two bloody "gifts", to Toyokawa Takaaki's almost collapsed reaction, he told everything in detail.

From beginning to end, there was no unnecessary expression on Toyokawa Sadaharu's face.

Only after the confidant finished speaking and bowed and left, and absolute silence returned to the study, did Toyokawa Sadaharu's mouth slowly curl up into an extremely subtle arc with a strong sense of sarcasm.

He never looked down on Toyokawa Takaaki.

Now, retribution has come.

When he thought of Xiaoming's miserable appearance in his office, fuming and roaring like a trapped beast, Toyokawa Sadaharu felt a morbid pleasure.

However, this gloating did not last long.

He placed the walnut in his hand on the table and tapped the smooth surface lightly with his fingertips.

This matter has an unusual flavor.