66: Chapter 66 The Toilet Explosion

In Akai Shuichi's safe house, the curtains were drawn tight, and only the light from the laptop screen illuminated his tense face.

The same video played repeatedly on the screen—the Joker standing behind Akai Mary and Sera Masumi, the muzzle of a gun pressed against Mary's temple, and the moment the trigger was slowly pulled, the footage cut off abruptly.

This was the fiftieth time he had watched this video.

Over the past seven days, he had barely closed his eyes; the ashtray was overflowing with cigarette butts, and the coffee cup on the table was emptied and refilled, emptied and refilled again.

Two thoughts swirled constantly in his mind: on one side, the safety of his mother and sister, and on the other, the lives of countless innocent people and the catastrophic aftermath that incident might trigger.

He had tried to track down the Joker, utilizing all available FBI resources, and even risked contacting MI6 operatives lurking in Tokyo, but the Joker seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no clues behind. The other party seemed to have complete control over his every move, and whenever he tried to deviate from the mission, that threatening video would appear in his inbox right on time.

"Shuichi, you can't do this."

Jodie's voice came from the other end of the phone, filled with anxiety and confusion.

"That is Yasukuni Shrine! If it's detonated during the day, many people will die! Plus, the Emperor and the Cabinet Ministers will be present; this will trigger a war!"

When Jodie learned that Akai Shuichi intended to blow up Yasukuni Shrine, she was completely stunned. However, she did not report it to the FBI, only trying to persuade Akai Shuichi to stop on her own.

Akai Shuichi leaned back in his chair, eyes closed, his voice raspy: "I have no choice."

"We can think of other ways!"

Jodie shouted, "We can save your family, we can..."

"We can't."

Akai Shuichi interrupted her, his tone filled with powerlessness, "The other party's strength is far beyond our imagination; they can even precisely locate my safe house. If I don't follow their instructions, my mother and Sera Masumi will die."

Silence fell on the other end of the line. After a long while, Jodie said in a low voice:

"Shuichi, you will regret this."

"I already am."

Akai Shuichi hung up the phone, looking at his mother's determined face on the screen, a flash of resolution in his eyes.

He could not lose them.

...

The next day at dawn, Yasukuni Shrine was shrouded in a thin mist.

Wearing a cleaner's uniform, Akai Shuichi pushed a cleaning cart and blended in with the early shift workers, walking into this building despised by countless people.

His heart was beating fast; every step felt like walking on cotton.

He kept his head down, his cap brim pulled low, scanning the surroundings with the corner of his eye—

There were four armed guards at the entrance, carrying automatic rifles with grenades tucked at their waists; there was a security camera every ten meters around the main hall, set at tricky angles with almost no blind spots; patrol teams passed by every five minutes, moving in unison with vigilant eyes.

It was even more secure than he had imagined.

But this couldn't stump him. As an ace agent of the FBI, lurking and infiltration were his strengths. While pretending to sweep the floor, he used a micro-camera to record the positions of all the guards, shift change times, and the angles of the security cameras. His brain, like a precision instrument, quickly analyzed the best spots to place the bombs and the escape routes.

At noon, under the pretext of going to the storage room to get cleaning supplies, he avoided the cameras and slipped into the ventilation ducts.

The ducts were dark and narrow, covered with dust and spiderwebs. He crawled through them like a gecko, accurately locating the main hall, the side halls, and the worship building based on the route he had mapped out in the morning.

He took the specially made plastic explosives and timer detonators out of his backpack—these were items he had obtained through secret channels, possessing immense power, enough to destroy reinforced concrete structures.

He carefully attached the explosives to the load-bearing pillars and beams, connected the detonators, set the delay timer, and then quickly withdrew, restoring everything to its original state.

By the time he finished all of this, it was already evening.

Akai Shuichi stood on the hillside outside the shrine, looking at the building that appeared particularly glaring in the sunset, his heart filled with complex emotions.

He had originally planned to detonate it late at night—when there were only a few staff members on duty at the shrine, which would minimize casualties. As long as he completed the mission, he would have a chance to save his family and then find a way to make amends for all of this.

But just as he was preparing to leave, his phone received a message from the Joker, containing only one sentence:

"Tomorrow at ten in the morning, wait until the 'distinguished guests' have arrived before you act."

Akai Shuichi's heart sank sharply. He immediately dialed that familiar yet strange number, almost roaring:

"You said all I had to do was blow up the shrine! You didn't say anything about harming innocent people!"

There was silence on the other end for a few seconds, followed by the Joker's mocking voice:

"Mr. Akai, you are too naive. What's the point of blowing up an empty house? If you're going to blow it up, you have to make it a bit more 'lively'."

"I object!" Akai Shuichi roared, "That will kill many people!"

"Oh?" The Joker's voice turned cold. "It seems you still haven't recognized your own situation."

The next second, Akai Shuichi's phone received a live video—in the footage, the Joker was sitting in front of Akai Mary, a Desert Eagle in his hand pressed against her temple, his finger slowly pulling the trigger, the "click" of metal friction clearly audible.

Mary did not speak, only looking at the Joker with cold eyes, as if mocking his despicableness.

"No!" Akai Shuichi's voice turned hoarse instantly. "Stop! I agree! I agree to your terms!"

The video cut off abruptly.

Akai Shuichi slumped on the hillside, looking at his phone screen, his whole body trembling. He knew he had completely run out of options.

...

The next morning, the sky over Tokyo was ominously overcast.

Outside Yasukuni Shrine, security was tight; hundreds of police officers and Self-Defense Forces soldiers formed a human wall, blocking the protesters.

At 9:30 AM, a fleet of black sedans drove slowly and stopped at the shrine gate.

The Japanese Emperor stepped out of the car, surrounded by bodyguards; he wore a traditional kimono, his face expressionless, his eyes hollow.

Following closely behind were the Cabinet Ministers, dressed in suits, their expressions solemn, as if they were about to attend a sacred ceremony.

They did not know that the shadow of death was already hanging over this building.

Akai Shuichi stood in an office building opposite the shrine, watching everything through binoculars.

He held a remote control tightly in his hand, his fingertips white from the pressure. People came and went in the office building; no one knew that this man in a suit was controlling the lives and deaths of hundreds of people.

"Ten minutes left." The Joker's voice came through the earpiece. "Don't try any tricks; our people are all around you."

Akai Shuichi didn't speak, only aiming the binoculars at the main hall—the Emperor and the ministers had already walked inside and were conducting the worship ceremony.

He could even see several white-haired veterans weeping before the memorial tablets of war criminals.

These people... did they deserve this?

Perhaps. But what about the innocent guards, the staff, and even the protesters in the distance? What had they done wrong?

Jodie's words flashed through his mind, the FBI oath, the families broken by war...

"One minute left." The Joker's voice sounded again.

Akai Shuichi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He seemed to see the smiling faces of his mother and sister, the image of them returning home safely.

For them, he had no choice but to do this.

"I'm sorry..."

He murmured in a low voice, as if apologizing to those lives about to be lost, and also as if bidding farewell to his own former beliefs.

Then, he pressed the detonation button.

"BOOM—!!!"

A deafening roar, as if all of Tokyo was trembling!

The main hall of Yasukuni Shrine exploded first, flames shooting into the sky mixed with thick smoke, brick and stone fragments splattering like raindrops! Immediately after, the side halls and the worship building exploded one after another, the chain reaction of shockwaves shaking the surrounding buildings until they were on the verge of collapse, glass shards covering the streets!

The Emperor, who was in the middle of worship, was shielded by his bodyguards and pushed to the ground, narrowly escaping, but several Cabinet Ministers nearby were not so lucky, instantly buried by the collapsing roof, not even having time to let out a scream.

The police and public outside the shrine were stunned by the sudden explosion; screams, cries, and sirens mixed together, and the entire scene fell into chaos.

Akai Shuichi stood in the office building, looking at the flames shooting into the sky, his face devoid of any expression, only a single hot tear sliding down the corner of his eye.

He slowly turned around, took off his suit jacket to reveal the casual clothes underneath, blended into the panicked crowd, and disappeared around the corner.

...

A few hours later, in Akai Shuichi's safe house.

On the laptop screen, the Joker's figure appeared again, the smile on the mask appearing particularly eerie against the backdrop of the flames.

"Well done, Mr. Akai."

The Joker clapped his hands, his tone excited,

"The news has blown up; the Emperor was slightly injured, and seven Cabinet Ministers are dead. What a 'spectacular' scene."

Akai Shuichi kept a cold face, not looking at him, only saying word by word:

"I have fulfilled my requirements. Release my family."

"Don't be so impatient." The Joker shrugged. "I said, it seems you aren't done yet."

His tone became playful:

"I want you to release a video statement admitting that you did today's deed. Of course, I'm not that unreasonable; you can disguise your identity and use a voice changer, as long as people know it was 'you' who did it."

"You!" Akai Shuichi was shaking with anger. "You go back on your word!"

"I'm just adding a small requirement." The Joker said nonchalantly,

"Once the video is released, I will release one person. The remaining one will be released after the heat dies down. How about it? That's very fair, right?"

Akai Shuichi stared fixedly at the screen; he knew he had been outsmarted once again.

Once this video was released, no matter how well he disguised himself, with the capabilities of the FBI and the Japanese police, they would eventually track it back to him. By then, not only would he become a wanted criminal, but he would also implicate the entire FBI.

But he had no choice.

"...Fine." He said through gritted teeth.

Half an hour later, a video with voice and image distortion appeared on the internet.

The person in the video admitted to being the culprit who blew up Yasukuni Shrine, citing "not being able to stand those war criminals being worshipped" as the reason, and the words were full of dissatisfaction with the Japanese government.

Less than ten minutes after the video was released, the Joker sent a photo—Sera Masumi standing at the entrance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department; although she was pale, she looked uninjured.

"Your sister is safe now."

The Joker's voice carried a hint of a smile,

"Go pick her up. As for your mother... we will meet again."

The video call was hung up.

Akai Shuichi immediately rushed out of the safe house, driving like a madman towards the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

At the entrance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Sera Masumi was standing there, looking lost. When she saw Akai Shuichi's car, her eyes instantly turned red, and she ran over.

"Brother!"

Akai Shuichi pulled her into his arms, feeling his sister's real body temperature, and the heart that had been hanging finally settled halfway.

"It's okay, Masumi, it's okay." He patted his sister's back, his voice hoarse.

Sera Masumi started crying in his arms:

"Brother, Mom... Mom is still in their hands! They are all devils!"

"I know, I know." Akai Shuichi hugged her tightly, but his eyes became incredibly cold.

Joker, just you wait.

I will rescue my mother, and I will make you pay the price.

He looked up at the direction of Yasukuni Shrine, which was still billowing thick smoke in the distance, a flash of resolution in his eyes.

There was no turning back on this path.

But he would continue on it, using his own methods to end all of this. And Lin Long sat in the manor's surveillance room, watching the scene of Akai Shuichi hugging Sera Masumi on the screen, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

The first step, completed.