Zongman, working as a teaching assistant in Trasen

It was Uozuka Saburo who was a bit surprised. After instantly understanding the hidden meaning of Yagyūki Koichi's words, he turned to look at Kiryu Kazuma and shrugged: "I think this is quite obvious, right? As long as you observe carefully and think about it in your mind, you can come to this conclusion - don't you think so, Kiryu brother?"

"Ah."

Kiryu Kazuma, somewhat awkward with words, nodded. After a moment's silence, he looked at Night Walker Princess Koichi and said in a serious tone, "This European-style manor is large, with numerous rooms on a single floor. During a large banquet like today, all doors should be locked and cleaning tools put away to prevent guests from accidentally entering and damaging the decorations. But this tool room on the second floor at the foot of the stairs...was unlocked and stocked."

"...I see. This was indeed an oversight on my part."

Kiryu Kazuma understood the flaw halfway through his words. Night Walker Princess Koichi couldn't help but lament her own aging body, her slow thinking that hadn't even noticed such a detail. Then, she immediately adjusted her composure and leaned forward slightly, saying, "Thank you both for your clarification. I was being reckless. Please continue your reasoning, Master Uozuka."

"What else do you need to infer, Butler Night Walk? As the head steward of this banquet, you can't be so clueless after all these reminders, right?"

Chapter 100 How could there be humans and horsegirls in this world who don’t like watching crime dramas?

Of course, Night Walker Koichi is not a meritorious police inspector of the Metropolitan Police Department who has no reasoning ability and can only ask "Why is this happening, brother XX?" when faced with various difficult situations.

On the contrary, as a former senior official of a large organization, he is not only proficient in various fighting and killing techniques, but also has unique insights in observing and reasoning about the surrounding scenes.

Although he may not be as good as some genius detectives in detective work, he can also be called an elite who can "see the whole picture from a small part". He only needs to be reminded of the point and he can naturally deduce the subsequent logic.

And now, Uozuka Saburo and Kiryu Kazuma's reminders are already completely in place, and we can even draw the conclusion without thinking too much:

The employer who placed the order to the Wu family is among the guests staying here today!

This wasn't a difficult thing to think of: firstly, the financial resources required to hire a large assassination organization like the Wu clan would already be enough to support a large number of entities with vested interests with the Mejiro family. If your strength was slightly weaker, they wouldn't even accept your order.

Secondly, after Uozuka Saburo's suggestion, it became clear that Wu Fengling's maid outfit was intended to infiltrate the Mejiro household for a certain period of time, and definitely not something she'd simply murder or steal at a banquet. This naturally led people to think of a stay overnight.

In the end, they spent a huge amount of money to hire the Wu family to infiltrate the Mejiro family's house. How could the mastermind behind the scenes not be there to supervise in person just in case, to prevent the money from being spent without knowing it, or to prevent the mastermind from leaving early and being unable to respond to the accident in the first time?

We are all thousand-year-old foxes, and our distrust of human nature and almost pathological desire for control are deeply ingrained in our bones.

Even if suspicion arose, so what? As long as she finally accomplished what she wanted to do and completely eliminated all evidence, would a mere woman, head of the Umamusume family, dare to risk breaking the rules and "slander" others?

Brilliant... not really, it's just something that can make people admire it slightly as "a good plan that is almost foolproof."

After all, who could have imagined that tonight, a few such muscular and nosy guests would be able to foil the conspiracy before the Mejiro family did, and capture alive the assassin sent by this renowned assassination family?

The biggest trump card was exposed in advance and completely ineffective. No matter how many calculations were made afterwards, it would be meaningless. For example, who had instigated Mr. Heimu to cause trouble, and who had discovered such a hidden channel, etc., were all just insignificant details.

For a large conglomerate like the Mejiro family, it is only a matter of time before the truth is uncovered, and it cannot be hidden for long.

Therefore, just like some Go endgames, if a key piece is captured, the entire game can be revived. Ye Xingfei Gu Yi only needs to report it to the head of the family, Ms. Kitano, and follow the steps and accurately use force to defeat the opponent's cleverness, and she can make the opponent lose the whole game in a fair manner, without even a trace of a wave.

Uozuka Saburo doesn't think he is a smart man, but he believes in his vision of finding smart people and identifying capable people. This former big shot in the dark world who is capable of strategy, decision-making and fighting is undoubtedly someone who can be fully trusted.

And Yexingfei Gu Yi's subsequent actions once again proved his vision and did not disappoint him.

He first pondered for a moment, then sincerely thanked Uozuka Saburo and Kiryu Kazuma again, and said that the next matters would be handled by him and his good apprentice Yagami Kaku. The two men, the Golden Ship, and Mejiro Alisa went back to enjoy the banquet. After a while, they would present the generous gifts. Then, they carried Wu Fengling, who was wrapped like a caterpillar and looked wilted, and left without stopping.

He knew exactly what Uozuka Saburo wanted him to do, and he also knew exactly what he should do now. He would handle everything neatly without the need for them, the "guests", to worry about it.

It is truly a model in the housekeeping world!

"...So, that's it?"

It wasn't until they followed Uozuka Saburo down the stairs that Golden Ship, whose brains were almost shaken, finally turned around. Still holding the sack on Uozuka Saburo's shoulders, he said in bewilderment, "What about us? Where are our scenes next? Why were we suddenly kicked out and not allowed to appear?!"

"Huh? We've already done what we need to do, what else do you want to do?" Mejiro Alisa, who was walking nearby, couldn't help but complain.

"Of course we should continue our detective work and get to the bottom of the whole matter!"

Facing the Mejiro family's second-most antagonist after McQueen, Golden Ship instantly recovered from his dazed state, swiftly leaping off Uozuka Saburo's shoulders and excitedly exclaiming, "Searching for evidence! Investigating the scene! Unraveling the mystery! Tracking the whole trail! And the most intriguing part is identifying the murderer and making him kneel down and confess—don't you three usually watch detective dramas? Don't you want to experience all these exciting moments for yourself!?!"

"...No." "No." "Absolutely not."

Mejiro Arisa, Kiryu Kazuma, and Uozuka Saburo exchanged glances and unanimously expressed their disapproval.

The former is simply not very interested in the genre of crime dramas, and usually I don't like lawyers who talk nonsense all the time. As for the latter two...

What villain would enjoy watching the protagonists shove themselves into the ground and act cool? Are they all just masochists?

"Hey, don't say that. How could there be humans and horsegirls in this world who don't like watching crime dramas? Stop lying."

"No way! Who lied to you? If you don't like it, then you don't like it."

"Apologize to everyone who doesn't like crime dramas, you bastard!"

"...Humph~ Grinning teeth, there are actually weirdos like you in this world. I, the Golden Ship, have really learned a lot today~"

"What the hell..."

"..."

They reopened the door while arguing and returned to the corridor on the first floor. They looked at the complicated banquet hall separated only by a glass door. For a moment, they inexplicably felt as if they were in another world.

Even though the physical distance wasn't far, just a few doors and a floor away, it was a completely different world from the one just now...

Chapter 101 Gambler

"...I'm going to go smoke a cigarette and come back to the venue later."

"Same below."

"Huh? You two are so cunning! How come..."

"Um... Golden Ship, look at Sister Aldan... Is she looking at us?"

“…Uwaaaaaaaaah! Still looking so threatening, I’ve been completely discovered… Damn it!”

As a last resort, under the pressure of her eldest sister who was like an elder in the tribe, Pi Ru Huangjin Chuan had to suppress her curiosity and lower her head. She glanced hatefully at the two men who left with their backs turned and their hands shaken, ignoring them completely. She could only think bitterly in her heart:

Die young from lung cancer, you two heavy smokers!

----------

Snap.

“Inhale——Exhale——”

He let out a long breath, and two wisps of green smoke rose in the night sky, rising slowly and steadily until they completely dissipated.

Like the lowest-level street thugs, Uozuka Saburo and Kiryu Kazuma sat side by side on the steps in front of the small garden of the Mejiro family house, smoking the cheapest tobacco and enjoying the most expensive entertainment.

Their own free time.

"Phew—it's so rare to be with you, Kiryu-nii, like this."

Holding a cigarette between his legs, he looked up at the sky. Putting on a new pair of undamaged sunglasses, Uozuka Saburo murmured, "If someone had told me ten years ago that I could sit with the renowned Tang Zhilong, smoking and chatting so peacefully, I would never have believed it."

"Who says it's not? I... am also feeling emotional today."

After flicking the ash off his cigarette, Kiryu Kazuma's serious expression relaxed a bit, his eyes revealing a complex array of emotions that eventually morphed into a long sigh. "I thought the riot fourteen years ago was the most massive event I'd ever witnessed. From now on, even terrorist attacks or wars would only slightly surprise me, not faze me... I never expected that tonight would open up a whole new path."

"Ha~ It's true that when you first encounter it, you'll feel this sense of disorientation," Uozuka Saburo laughed, blowing out a smoke ring. "No matter how many times you've heard about it, or watched from the sidelines, this 'game' that demands both immense intelligence and strength from the participants is still unprepared. Only when you step into it, and become a part of it yourself, can you truly experience that... terror."

"Yeah...horrible."

After savoring the word, Kiryu Kazuma nodded in agreement and took another long puff of his cigarette, trying his best to let the depression in his chest dissipate along with the smoke.

Even though they acted recklessly and aggressively today, and appeared confident the entire time, and even when Wu Fengling bashed them all over, they didn't even cry out in pain, the entire process from beginning to end was actually extremely dangerous...

It’s not about any other problems, but there are one or two most critical basic points, which they finally determined from the behavior of Yagyūki Koichi at the last moment: How did the Mejiro family, as the host of this banquet, view these two "nosy guests"?

In the final analysis, although they each have certain backgrounds and achievements, compared to a large organization like the Mejiro family, they can only be regarded as "small people"...

A small figure who can barely even become a chess piece.

In a chess game that's most likely being played by two "big guys" at a distance, it's extremely dangerous for a small player to intervene without authorization. If you don't do something right and it adversely affects one of the two parties, that person could get upset and wipe you out in a matter of minutes with just a flick of their finger...

As people who are qualified to know some of these things but are completely unqualified to participate in the final decision-making, this action, whether it is Uozuka Saburo, Kiryu Kazuma, or even Yagami Kaku who has a not-so-safe identity, is actually a bit of a gamble - a gamble that their actions can be cautious enough and handle everything perfectly, and a gamble that the Mejiro family has no backup plans and will reward them for their actions.

In the end, they made the right bet, and everything turned out to be a good thing.

This is what is called: the true victory or defeat is always outside the chessboard.

"Actually, Brother Uozuka, you already guessed that the killer's target was the guests staying overnight today, not the Mejiro family itself, right?"

Turning his head, staring at Uozuka Saburo, who was still wearing sunglasses to look cool in the middle of the night, Kiryu Kazuma said firmly, "No, it's even possible... You've even thought of the specific assassination target and why he had to act tonight, at this Mejiro family banquet, right?"

"...How did you know that?"

"Intuition, and a little bit of facial expression observation," Kiryu Kazuma said in a serious tone, his lips curled slightly. "But it's mainly intuition, just my instinctive assumptions about certain unreasonable things."

For example, why did he choose such a desperate confrontation with Wu Fengling? Why did he accept this commission then, and why did he intervene after the Night Walker Butler and Wu Fengling had reached an agreement?

Although Kiryu Kazuma's brain is not as smart as some monsters, he still has some common sense of normal humans. When he saw these small actions that were obviously contrary to common sense, even though he had only been friends with Uozuka Saburo for less than half a day, he could see that there was something wrong.

So it was exactly as he said, mainly based on intuition, plus a little simple reasoning, he was able to come to the same conclusion: Uozuka Saburo saw through it from the beginning and planned to take advantage of this incident to profit from it!

"...It's not as amazing as you think, Kiryu-san."

Shaking his head, Uozuka Saburo looked up at the sky and said darkly, "I'm just trying my best... But really, there are so many factors that could cause things to go beyond my control. I can't accurately predict how each one of them will react. So, in the end, this is just a gamble, an unfair one with low risk but high rewards."

"Yeah... so, we're all gamblers too, right?"

Having said this with a hint of meaning, Kiryu Kazuma smiled and stopped the topic there, not continuing any further.

Chapter 102: There can only be one reason, right?

After all… he wasn't sure if this guy in front of him, who gave him a good impression, was really just a "good guy" who had just joined Tresen Academy and soared to fame, or a "bad guy" with a deep hidden agenda and big goals?

He finally decided to take this gamble just because he believed: Anyone who can be liked by Ma Musume can definitely not be a bad person!

"..."

"...Huh~ Then, let's call it a night."

After waiting for a moment, sensing a new aura emerging not far behind him, Kiryu Kazuma said no more. He smoked the rest of his cigarette in one breath, discarded the butt, and stomped it out. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "With so many things happening, I have to report to the president and discuss the next steps."

"You going to tell him everything?"

"Well, all of it is public, the part he must know."

Placing his hand casually on Uozuka Saburo's shoulder, Kiryu Kazuma thought for a moment before finally saying, "Brother, although I think you should understand this, I still have to repeat this to you: love has always been full of regrets, and loyalty is still needed for a hundred years—being kicked to death by a horse for promiscuous relationships is something that should be stopped even in our line of work."

"...Huh? What do you mean?"

"That's what I meant... take care."

"??? Hey! You..."

I wanted to find him to ask for clarification, but when I turned around, I saw that he had already entered the corridor. Uozuka Saburo had a confused expression like an old man talking on his cell phone on the subway. It took him a long time to suppress the urge to chase him. He turned around and continued to smoke.

He was already exhausted after half the day today... He was too lazy to spend any more time thinking about it. He would just have to deal with this riddle-solving brother and let things take their course.

"call----"

Ta-da, ta-da, puff.

"..."

"..."

"...I say, what are you doing here again?"

With an expression of extreme helplessness, he tilted his head slightly to look at the gorgeously dressed Ashigao Mamu beside him. His voice shone with immense fatigue, the strong man in black said, "As the legitimate granddaughter, shouldn't you be a social butterfly, wandering among the crowds and stealing away those rare desserts? Why did you sneak over to my place to slack off? Where's your pride of the Mejiro family?"

"What's wrong? I just finished my socializing quota and came out for some fresh air... Don't treat me like some fat horse who can't walk at the sight of dessert, you unscrupulous teacher!"

"..."

He thought about it with his mouth wide open, realizing that the other party, like the Golden Ship, truly had the right to call himself an unscrupulous teacher. Uozuka Saburo could only turn his head away in frustration and exhale a long puff of smoke to avoid choking the precious eldest daughter of the Mejiro family. "Look at what you're saying. You come out for some fresh air and specifically look for an unscrupulous teacher who's smoking. Can your lie be any more obvious?"

"Hmph~ What do you care about me?"

Completely different from the elegant and approachable image she had displayed at the banquet, Mubai McQueen now looked like a headstrong young lady, her voice rising a third note in a domineering tone as she declared, "I just enjoy sitting here and looking at the garden at night. It's you, the rude guest, who has the privilege of smoking in my territory and disturbing my enjoyment!"

"Yes, yes, it's all my fault. I beg Miss Mejiro to be magnanimous and forgive me just this once."

"No! You don't have any sincerity! Say it again!"