Isn't it very scientific to use the Death Note to kill people?

Vodka, Tequila, and others helped each other and quickly squeezed the wounded into the carriage.

The car was filled with the smell of disinfectant mixed with old leather. The space was small, but large enough to accommodate the remnants of their army.

As soon as the car door closed, a cell phone placed in the corner of the car suddenly rang. The man in the driver's seat handed the phone to Gin, clearly pointing it at him.

Gin grabbed the phone and answered it without hesitation.

"Good evening, my dear boss." Jun Du's cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone. "How does it feel to escape death? Could you share your experience with me later so I can write it in my book?"

At that moment, Cohen, who was still half asleep, suddenly raised his eyes.

He seemed to want to say something, but he didn't have the strength. Gin, upon hearing these infuriating words, tightened his grip on the phone, his voice sounding like it was being squeezed out of an ice cellar: "Thanks to you, I'm still alive."

"Hehe, don't say that." Jun Du chuckled. "After all, you are an important boss to me. If you were gone, I would be very troubled."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Gin interrupted his feigned concern and cut to the chase: "Where is Rum now?"

Despite his poor condition, the first thing he did after escaping was, as expected, to cause trouble for Rum.

Jundu on the other end of the phone seemed to have anticipated this question and laughed: "Don't worry, Rum's rebellion has been under that gentleman's control from beginning to end. As for that gentleman's safety, you don't need to worry either... after all, he has entrusted me with the full authority to handle Rum and the aftermath."

"I'll leave it to you?"

Upon hearing this, Gin raised an eyebrow, then sneered, "Are you kidding me?"

This doesn't make any sense at all.

Putting aside the fact that Jundu's stance was ambiguous at times during this incident, given his unpredictable and enigmatic way of doing things, it's impossible for the BOSS to trust him so much.

Why do you think it's impossible?

Coindus retorted, his calm tone infuriating, "Is it because I watched you walk into the trap without saying a word? But the problem is, if I don't let you—especially you, Gin, if I don't let you personally step into this trap and fall into a desperate situation, that cunning and cautious old fox Rum won't be able to launch a rebellion with confidence."

"Simply put, whether it's you or the entire task force, to that man you're just a tool to be used however he feels is appropriate."

"Your mission this time was to be the bait, and you accomplished it brilliantly once again, that's all."

"Besides, haven't you ever wondered how I actually found out Rum's true identity in the first place?"

"..."

Gin's breath hitched.

Jundu's words weren't exactly harsh to him, since he himself had always been aware that he was merely a tool to that man.

But none of this matters to Gin.

But what struck him was the amount of information conveyed in Cointreau's words.

How did Cointreau know Rum's identity?

He had pondered this question countless times. Rum's identity was one of the organization's top secrets; even he had gone to great lengths to learn what he looked like. How could Cointreau, the guy he had personally discovered, know so precisely? He had previously attributed it to Cointreau's exceptional intelligence capabilities and shrewdness, but now, considering Cointreau's words just now…

(Could it be... really the BOSS...?)

(Did the BOSS personally reveal Rum's identity to him? Had the BOSS been plotting this since then?)

The shock of this speculation was even greater than witnessing the factory turn into a hellish inferno.

If this is true, it means that Jundu enjoys far more trust from the BOSS than he imagined, and that the BOSS may have already noticed Rum's disloyalty and chosen Jundu as the executor to clean house! Their painful losses and their experience of being manipulated like pawns were merely part of a plan that was tacitly approved or even promoted by the BOSS.

The sheer volume of information and the possibilities it contained left even someone like Gin speechless for a brief moment.

"Otherwise, why do you think Vermouth went to the trouble of keeping Naomi Algent around in the first place? Why do you think she deliberately disappeared at this time?"

After a while,

"...I will personally verify this with that gentleman."

Gin, whose heart was wavering but who could not fully trust anyone, simply said this and immediately hung up the phone.

On the other side, looking at his phone, which had already ended the call, Lin Jiashu smiled faintly.

After Gin hung up the phone, he should have immediately tried to contact Karasuma Renya.

But he didn't care.

Because we can't contact Karasuma Renya anymore...

Chapter 118: Mezzo

It's late at night at 5-chome 39, Yoneka-cho.

The interior of the mansion is like a tiny, secluded kingdom.

Miniature cameras, disguised as decorations, slowly rotate, silently capturing every corner; pressure sensors and infrared grids hidden under the floor and inside the walls form an invisible net; in the central monitoring room, several screens glow dimly, displaying real-time images and data streams from various areas, everything is orderly, and absolute control is evident in the deathly silence.

Fujiko Mine—currently still the maid "Matsumoto"—was wiping the wooden handrail of a long corridor with a soft cloth, her head bowed.

Her movements were calm and slow, but her eyes, hidden beneath a submissive expression, silently recorded the handover times of the patrol guards and the blind spots of the cameras.

(It's truly an impenetrable fortress... However, the more sophisticated something is, the more fragile it often is.)

She chuckled to herself.

Just then, a tiny vibrator hidden inside the sleeve of her maid outfit, close to her skin, vibrated very slightly twice at a specific frequency.

The signal has arrived!

A hint of cunning and excitement flashed in Fujiko Mine's eyes. He stopped wiping the armrest, pretended to rub his back in exhaustion, and naturally turned to walk towards a small high-voltage switchboard room located near the storeroom at the back of the mansion, which he had already scouted out.

The area is relatively remote, and there are some blind spots in the surveillance.

Along the way, she encountered two patrolling maids, who merely glanced at her indifferently and did not ask her any further questions.

Fujiko Mine nodded slightly in acknowledgment, without stopping.

She successfully entered the distribution panel room. The narrow space was filled with a faint smell of machine oil and metal. She gently locked the door behind her. Although this wouldn't keep her there for long, it could buy her some time in a critical moment.

She quickly unfastened the hidden clasp on the side of her maid outfit and took out the fist-sized, seemingly unremarkable Vespanian ore from a specially made, close-fitting lining that could block ordinary metal detectors.

(Alright, time to set off fireworks~)

A mischievous smile played on her lips as she pressed the ore in her hand directly onto the high-voltage switchboard.

Without her needing to do anything extra, the contact between the Vespania ore and the distribution panel instantly sent an invisible yet powerful energy pulse spreading out like ripples on water from the distribution panel room, silently engulfing the entire mansion!

There was no sound, no flash.

However, the situation was quite bizarre to the guards and patrolling maids responsible for security.

In the corridor, the tiny indicator lights on the cameras disguised as wall lamps, vases, or picture frames instantly went out, and the lenses froze, no longer rotating.

In the central monitoring room, all the screens flickered at the same time, displaying chaotic static. A piercing static noise replaced the previous silence, followed by a complete blackout. Back-end staff frantically typed on keyboards and restarted the equipment, but all systems remained unresponsive, as if sinking into the ocean.

"What's going on?!"

"The entire system has crashed!"

"Backup power has not started! All electronic locks are disabled!"

Suppressed gasps and chaotic footsteps echoed in the monitoring room, and even the well-trained staff couldn't help but feel a brief moment of panic.

And this is just the beginning.

The patrolling guards inside the mansion, who relied on wireless communication, could only hear the crackling of static in their earpieces.

"Hello? Hello! Please respond if you hear me!"

"Communication interrupted! Repeat, communication interrupted!"

Without unified commands and intelligence sharing, the previously coordinated patrol rhythm of everyone was immediately disrupted.

In some areas, hidden doors or protective fences that rely on electronic sensors to open are either unable to open, trapping people in place, or they fall heavily with a loud bang due to loss of power, thus revealing their location.

Some access control systems that require electronic authentication have become completely useless.

The most deadly part is the lighting system.

The mansion's numerous electronically controlled lights, including emergency lights, all went out the instant the pulse swept through. Only a few oil lamps or candlesticks, added for atmosphere, struggled to provide a faint, flickering light, casting countless distorted, swaying shadows onto the originally solemn mansion, as if haunted by ghosts.

Darkness amplifies fear, and silence intensifies unease.

"Stay alert! Light the spare torches!"

"Everyone stay at your posts! No one is allowed to move around!"

The head maid's cold, hard voice rang out in the darkness, attempting to maintain order.

However, without the global surveillance provided by electronic eyes, she was unable to grasp the situation of the entire mansion, and the efficiency of transmitting orders was greatly reduced.

In this man-made darkness and chaos, Fujiko Mine had already slipped away from the original corridor silently, like a melting shadow, when the lights went out.

She took off her creaking maid shoes, her bare feet touching the cold floor. Using the route she had planned from memory and her still-keen senses in the dark, she moved quickly and stealthily deeper into the mansion, into the area considered forbidden.

Inside the mansion

When all electronic devices went completely silent at the same moment, and even the backup communication devices failed to activate, the security manager in the building immediately felt an alarm bell ring.

This is no ordinary malfunction!

"It's an EMP attack!"

She growled, her voice ringing out clearly in the sudden silence filled only with the sounds of voices and footsteps, "Someone deliberately cut off our eyes and ears!"

The well-trained security team experienced a momentary commotion, but quickly regained their composure under the cold gaze of their leader.

"Everyone, proceed according to Emergency Plan C!"

The person in charge—the head maid—shouted sharply, her voice echoing in the dimly lit corridor, "Groups A and B, guard all entrances and exits in the core area and activate the mechanical door bolts! Group C, patrol teams, two people per group, expand the patrol area and be alert for any intruders! Group D, follow me!"

She quickly selected several of her most elite subordinates.

Their goal was clear—the deepest part of the mansion, that forbidden area that had to be protected at all costs.

"Group E!"

The head maid turned to her four subordinates, "You all leave the mansion immediately and find a way to contact the outside world! Use any means possible to find any working communication devices and call for help! Repeat, we are under targeted EMP attack and need immediate support!"

"Yes!"

Without hesitation, the four members of Group E turned around and rushed towards the perimeter of the mansion.

They knew every inch of this land well and could move quickly from memory even without lighting.

The four-person team from Group E shot through the silent courtyard like arrows released from a bow, rushing towards the heavy black iron gate.

One of them skillfully opened the heavy mechanical latch behind the door by hand.

The door was just opened a crack—

call out!call out!call out!

The silenced guns emitted a faint yet deadly whistling sound, and the bullets, like precise venomous snakes, shot out from the shadows across the street and from the flanks!

"There's an ambush!"

The leader of the team only had time to utter a half-sound warning before he was shot in the chest and forehead at the same time, and fell to the ground without uttering a sound.

Another team member who followed closely behind was also instantly knocked down by crossfire.

The remaining two reacted quickly, immediately rolling to find cover and using the doorposts and walls to fight back.

Bang bang bang!

The sound of a pistol firing was particularly jarring in the silent night air.

However, their counterattacks were like stones sinking into the sea.

The enemy's firepower was more ferocious and precise, and they clearly had a numerical advantage, having already set up an ambush.

"There are too many of them! We're surrounded!" one of the team members shouted to his companions.

"We must get the message out!" Another team member gritted his teeth and tried to peek out, but a bullet grazed his scalp and made him immediately pull back.

However, their resistance did not last long, as several stun grenades were accurately thrown near the bunker where they were hiding.

Boom! Boom!

The intense flashes and deafening noise instantly robbed them of their sight and hearing.

Immediately afterwards, several figures dressed in black combat uniforms, moving as swiftly as leopards, rushed in from different directions, their submachine guns spitting out short bursts of fire.