One-way traffic

This instantaneous movement immediately drew Hatsune Miku's attention, and she quickly looked behind her.

But naturally, there was no one there.

"Hama, Mr. Hamazura—?"

When Miku turned around again, there was no one in front of her.

She stood there, stunned, staring at the empty space, a feeling she couldn't quite describe completely overwhelmed.

"...Really, what an incredibly naive young lady."

Hidden behind the wall not far away was Hamazura Shige, who had swiftly grabbed Takitsubo Ri and ran away in that instant.

He saw Hatsune Miku, still bewildered, through the corner of the room. Her innocent and pure appearance was so silly that it was almost endearing.

"But that's precisely why I can't let someone like you step into this darkness, absolutely not."

"Hamazumi..."

Takitsubo Riko's voice brought him back to his senses, and Hamazura Shiage looked at her with a wry smile.

"I'm sorry, Takitsubo... Someone like me can't be of much help, and I've actually done something that has harmed you."

"It's okay, Hamazura. I understand what Hamazura is thinking. A pure girl like that really shouldn't be dragged into such darkness..."

The two shared the same idea, which is why they were able to stand together.

Unfortunately.

"...How could that be?"

He said the same thing about me...

Recalling the almost identical words spoken by Hamazura Shiage and that person, Hatsune Miku's heart sank completely, like a quagmire.

Am I... really unable to live in this kind of world?

The girl's hand unconsciously touched her chest. Even though there were no wounds there, she felt very uncomfortable.

...Just as I expected.

So, is it really because of this?

"Because I can't do anything."

She stood there alone, head bowed, and spoke.

It was unusual that there was no one around except the girl standing there alone.

"Because I can't do anything, I can't protect or help them...that's why I can't get involved in that person's world."

"Is that so..."

Her eyes, a deep blue like jewels, appeared quite cloudy.

Hatsune Miku gritted her teeth and wandered aimlessly alone on the deserted street.

Even she herself didn't know where she was going.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The group returned to the RV together.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

This statement was made by Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

The driver was temporarily unavailable, apparently out doing something else, so the four of them needed to wait here for a while.

However, no one responded to his statement.

"The remnants of the terrorists have all been eliminated."

"That was to be expected."

Accelerator sat on the sofa, frowning.

The expression on his face… no, the expressions on all of their faces were gloomy.

"In other words, all those who tried to find out information about the 'Dragon' are dead."

"..."

One sentence made the atmosphere inside the car even colder.

They were tricked by the Chaoan of the Overseeing Council from the very beginning. The other party had been using them to kill people, and all those who wanted to investigate the "Dragon" were personally silenced by them.

No.

It shouldn't be like that; it should be more than that.

"…What's wrong?"

Seeing Accelerator suddenly display a strange expression, Kihara Tsuki couldn't help but frown.

"I admit this incident has been very upsetting for us, but you didn't have to go so far as to—"

Before she could finish speaking, the other person had already stepped on the car door.

Boom!! The thick iron door was kicked away by him, but—that wasn't Accelerator's goal.

He walked directly to the front of the car, and everyone saw what happened next through the windshield.

Something was blasting directly at their RV.

Bang! Then, Accelerator's reflection took effect.

The momentary pause allowed him to see clearly what it was: an anti-tank missile.

Boom! A loud explosion came from afar, and the other three people ran out of the car.

"I see."

Upon seeing this, Tsuchimikado Motoharu's expression suddenly became one of complete understanding.

"Is that Chao'an even going to silence us?"

This further confirmed what they all thought.

Anyone who intends to investigate the information about "Dragon" will be silenced. First, it was the terrorists, and then it was the turn of the four who were overly investigating the information.

"How interesting, are our superiors actually planning to kill us?"

"Ha! What high-level officials? When disaster strikes, they'll all be the same people who will fight back. Human malice is just disgusting."

Accelerator casually turned around, and if he hadn't noticed this, the three people present would probably have been implicated.

Moreover, the sound of a car could be heard from not far away.

"It must be the pursuers sent by that guy Chao'an."

Tsuchimikado Motoharu looked at the car lights flashing in the distance, a cold, merciless smile on his face.

"What a convenient way to kick someone when they've already done their bidding! We cleared the way for him, and now he's coming after us? Interesting. That guy really doesn't know the meaning of death!"

"You're planning to attack Chao'an? Don't blame me for not telling you, we don't even know where that guy is."

"That's what you say, but the expression on your face doesn't look like you're going to let him off the hook at all."

That's right.

The only thing on Accelerator's face was a devilish smile.

"I won't kill him."

"so?"

“I will peel off half of his skin and interrogate him to extract all the information.”

“Interesting. You take care of skinning him, and I'll take care of pulling out his intestines bit by bit.”

"Hey, this isn't a gathering for the bizarre, so stop talking nonsense."

From this moment forward, the goals of the "Group" have been completely changed.

Instead of working for Chao'an, they directly handed over the reins and eliminated this scoundrel who betrayed them after using them.

Chapter 222 Attack on the Unified Council

The mission objective has changed.

From now on, the goal of everyone in the "Group" will be to extract information about "Dragon" from Chaoan.

"That's true, but we should first split into four groups."

Tsuchimikado Motoharu immediately looked at the group and said.

“The soldiers on the shore are chasing us. We each have our own ways of dealing with them, but that’s not the main problem. Those guys will keep following us, and it would be bad if they involved people close to us.”

"The worst-case scenario is that the guy will attack people close to us. To avoid that happening, let's split up for now."

"That suits me perfectly. A bunch of small fry are getting in my way, and I've been annoyed with them for a long time."

"You really dare to say that."

Ignoring the others' wry smiles, Accelerator soared into the sky alone.

Whether the remaining three people were alive or dead was no longer his concern. First, he needed to find a way to force Chao'an to confess.

'The most important piece of intelligence is: where exactly is that guy's hideout?'

Although it was possible to deduce that Shioshi was hiding in a shelter that even a nuclear bomb couldn't destroy, there were actually many such facilities in Academy City, making it impossible to pinpoint exactly where it was.

Accelerator flew as fast as possible in mid-air. In the past, he would have worried about whether the enemy would use jamming waves to attack his electrodes, but now he no longer needed to care about that.

The simple AIM diffusion field interference device is useless against him, and Chao'an has no way to stop Accelerator from chasing him. Therefore, he should be Chao'an's biggest target now.

however.

"Be honest with me!"

Such a sound came from the ground.

Accelerator couldn't help but turn around, and what he saw was a large group of soldiers escorting someone away.

"That's...Oyafune Monaka?"

He did have a vague recollection of him; he was a member of the board of directors who had been assassinated by the 'School' of the Dark Side last time. He remembered that Tsuchimikado Motoharu had once said that the guy was a rare kind-hearted person.

The soldiers chasing her, judging from their equipment, seemed to be the same kind of men as the soldiers under Chao An who attacked them.

"So that's how it is. That bastard won't even let the other council members go?"

Accelerator raised an eyebrow and charged toward the ground in an instant.

boom--! ! !

A fierce gust of wind blew wildly, and in an instant, the ground was smashed into a sizable crater by the monster's impact.

The soldiers were thrown into the air by his attack, while Accelerator prioritized checking the surroundings, trying to find the center of the ship.

however.

"Gone...?"

Despite searching the surroundings, he could not seem to find the innermost part of the royal boat.

Was he kidnapped? Impossible, there's no way the other party could kidnap someone and leave so quickly in such a short time.

He frowned and looked around, but there was no one else on the ground except for the corpses he had killed.

Could it be that they've hidden in a nearby building?

If that's the case, Accelerator could easily find the figure of the bride by simply using a tornado of more than a Category 12 typhoon to lift up the ground.

But he would never do that; harming innocent people is something he would never do.

"Damn it... is this how they deliberately hide? They're well-trained soldiers!"

Continuing like this will only lead to a stalemate, and in the end, it will only be Accelerator who loses.

The first person, upon realizing this, was so angry he wanted to grit his teeth.

then.

Bang! !

Loud gunshots rang out from a building not far away.