A pickup truck left the small town behind for the bustling Tijuana.
Lobo Negro, now seated beside the driver, smirked at the sight of the Blue Straw Hat Town through the rear-view mirror.
“Boss, are we really going to let that bastard go?” His subordinate asked.
“Let him go? Ha.” Lobo Negro scoffed. “That’s one hundred thousand USD on the line. Plus tonight’s fifty thousand USD, we’re in for a total of one hundred and fifty thousand USD. We’re coming back tomorrow night. This time, we’re bringing more men with us.”
“Hahaha!” They cackled boisterously.
Pang!
The windshield of the truck suddenly shattered. Before anyone could notice, a bullet flew in and lodged itself into the driver’s skull. His head was immediately split open, blood and bodily fluids splashed disgustingly across the broken glass and dashboard.
“Fuck! It must be Scimitar!” One of them screeched.
“It must be a trap!” Another hissed.
Bang bang bang…
The truck continued to glide forward as more bullets rained onto their truck. Multiple bullets were shot into the windows, causing its resultant shards to dig into their bodies along with the stray metal bits from the car door.
Boom!
The truck lost control and crashed into a tree. It finally stopped.
Lobo Negro tore the door away with strength and rolled out of his seat. He laid flat on the ground, studying his surroundings cautiously with trained sensitivity. Just as he was searching for their assailants, one of their men finally crawled out from the back seat. Pistol in his grip, the younger man was frightened.
“Boss, those fuckers are out to kill us!”
“Go call for help!” Lobo Negro was fuming. “How dare they declare war on the Tijuana gang. I swear I will flood the streets with their blood!”
Lobo Negro’s underling frantically pressed for his contacts. Before he could even make a call, a bullet whistled over and turned his palm into an unidentifiable chunk of meat!
“Ahhhhh!” The excruciating pain caused Lobo Negro’s underling to scream in agony. He clutched the injured palm to his chest and writhed on the ground.
Bang bang!
Lobo Negro fired twice in that direction. He snarled, “Scimitar, do you know what the fuck you’re doing?! If you kill me, our gang will paint the town red with your blood! Let us leave and we’ll pretend nothing has… Ah!”
A petite shadow abruptly leapt over the vehicle’s roof. At that split second, a flash of silver sliced through Lobo Negro’s palm. His right hand was detached mercilessly, falling to the gritty ground.
The petite mass finally made her landing with an impeccably sharpened katana in her grip.
Lobo Negro instinctively reached out his left arm to seize his fallen gun.
Tsukino Kyoko waved her katana, stabbing its tip into Lobo Negro’s left hand to pin it to the ground.
Lobo Negro didn’t dare to make another move. He had encountered many ruthless women in his career but compared to Tsukino Kyoko. Everyone else couldn’t compare to the ferocity in her actions! Her icy gaze was enough to give him genuine shudders!
From scattered directions, four women and two men appeared. Lobo Negro had initially thought that Scimitar was the mastermind behind the ambush but the man in question was nowhere to be found. The faces presenting themselves were strangers and none of them was Mexican.
Those strangers were none other than Xia Lei, Anjum Khan and the four female knights.
Xia Lei went over to the pickup truck and eyed Lobo Negro on the ground. “Kyoko, pull out your sword. He can’t answer me in this state.”
Tsukino Kyoko finally dislodged her katana from his left palm. Yet, she made no move to sheath it.
Lobo Negro palmed his wrist with his injured left hand. His voice shook, “Wh…Who are you? Do you know who you’re messing with? I’m...”
Xia Lei interjected amusedly, “Hey, enough with the Tijuana gang. I’ve got something I need to know. If you’re kind enough to help me, I’ll let you go. If you refuse to answer me, I can guarantee that I will feed your remains piece by piece to a pack of dogs.”
“W...What do you wanna know?” The tremor in Lobo Negro’s voice was growing.
Xia Lei slapped the two pictures against the shaking man’s body. “These are photos you gave Hernandez. Tell me, who gave you these?”
“M… My… My boss. The head of the Tijuana gang.” Lobo Negro gulped nervously. “These two are enemies of the gang. We’ve tracked them down but they’re in America. That’s why we’re asking for Scimitar to get it done for us.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Xia Lei.
“Y...Yes.”
Xia Lei tossed a look at Tsukino Kyoko.
It was a mere undistinguishable emotion. Tsukino Kyoko raised her katana and sliced off Lobo Negro’s last remaining palm.
“AHHHH!” Lobo Negro writhed and screeched in pain.
Xia Lei moved over to the front of Lobo Negro’s underling. He nonchalantly uttered, “See what becomes of him? Same question, what do you know about it?”
“I…” Lobo Negro’s underling looked over to his leader.
Xia Lei reassured him. “No need to worry and no need to fear him. If you make this clear to me, you can leave this place alive. But if he answers me first, he’ll be the one to leave here alive. You understand what I mean?”
He was only intending to keep one of them alive. This was the reason why he explicitly told Tsukino Kyoko to spare two of them with one of them being Lobo Negro. He wanted to pressure them with the stress of doom and trigger their survival instincts. Under those circumstances, anyone would be prompted to betray their own friends.
Lobo Negro’s underling nodded. “I understand.”
“Tell me and you’ll be leaving here soon. You’ll be able to get medical help before it's too late,” persuaded Xia Lei.
“Fucker!” Lobo Negro growled, “Don’t you dare!”
“I…” The fear and power posed over his underling for years were difficult to diminish in such a short time.
But his shock got the better of him and Lobo Negro gushed, “It was a Japanese who gave me these photos.”
Noticing that he was deceived, the underling grew frantic. Before Lobo Negro could finish his sentence, his underling interjected, “The Japanese paid us five hundred thousand USD to spread this news to new churches in Mexico.”
“Japanese? What do they look like?” Xia Lei asked.
Lobo Negro spoke in a rushed tone, “It was a man. He never stated his name but I remember his appearance.”
His underling supplied, “He’s about 175 centimeters tall. Silver hair. He looked old.”
Xia Lei spared a glance at Tsukino Kyoko.
She nodded. “It’s him.”
The man she was referring to was Yagyu Yuichi. Xia Lei had never once gotten a chance to meet this person but with Tsukino Kyoko’s response, his assumption was pretty much confirmed.
The thought of Yagyu Yuichi passing around photos of Yan Fo and Augustan of the FA Organization to the hands of a Mexican mafia in an attempt to spread the news was highly suspicious.
None of the Mexican mafia gangs had ever been on par with the FA Organization. How would any of the gangs dare to fight the FA’s reign over their underworld? Five hundred thousand USD was not a small amount but to a gang that held control over a drug trafficking network, it was not an impressive deal. There was no way it would appease the higher circle of the Tijuana gang. But if the gang’s higher leaders had no knowledge over the exchange, why would Yagyu Yuichi deliberately have Lobo Negro bring the news to newly-built churches?
“I… I’ve said all I know.” Lobo Negro’s underling pleaded pitifully, “Please let me go. I’ll never tell a soul about what happened tonight.”
“You’re so fucking dead!” Lobo Negro cursed but immediately shifted into a pitiful state. “I too told you all I know. Everything I said is real. Please spare me, I’ll pretend this never happened.”
Xia Lei scoffed. “Hey, I’m not done yet. What are you in a rush for?” Pausing for a moment, he shot another question. “Tell me, do your leaders know about this?”
“No, they don’t. I swear they don’t!” Lobo Negro sounded pathetic.
“They don’t know anything about this. I swear!” His underling followed.
Xia Lei furrowed his brows. “Has he told you his rationale behind the request? I’m sure you probably asked something along the lines.”
“I did. I certainly did.” Lobo Negro was fast to speak. “But he did not answer me. All he said was to follow his instructions and another five hundred thousand USD will be deposited in my account.”
“How many churches have you visited?” Xia Lei questioned.
Lobo Negro answered, “About ten. We’ve visited almost every new church in the country. This was going to be our last stop.”
Xia Lei raised a brow. “This area is right beside your nest. Why did you visit this place last?”
“I needed to send a batch of goods to Guatemala so I planned my route as such. My starting point wasn’t here but Guatemala.” Lobo Negro response sounded earnest.
“How did you ask the other churches?”
Lobo Negro did not hesitate. “I show them the pictures and tell them that these are enemies of the Tijuana gang. I said that they’re in Las Vegas and I needed an assassin to take them out. There were only pastors and their worshippers there, it’s very different from here. All I did was scare them and then leave.”
“No, he’s lying!” The underling called out abruptly. “That Japanese man told us to record the situations in the churches, especially during the exchange and send them to Las Vegas. After that, he will pay us the remaining five hundred thousand dollars.”
Xia Lei huffed out dryly. “Lobo Negro, why are you hiding such an important detail from me?”
“I swear I’m not! I...I was just about to tell you that!” Lobo Negro panicked.
“Tell me.” Xia Lei menacingly spat, “Where did he tell you to send the recordings to?”
“A Japanese branch office.” Lobo Negro did not dare to tell lies. “But I don’t know what the company name is. He did give me an address though. 112, Gold Mine Street. He says as long as I present myself there, I’ll receive the remaining amount.”
“What else do you know?” Xia Lei stared at him hard.
Lobo Negro responded with a shake of his head. “That is all. I’ve told you everything I know.”
Xia Lei glanced over at Tsukino Kyoko.
The female ninja waved her katana in a graceful arch to let a silver sheen slice through Lobo Negro’s neck.
Blood went everywhere. The man clawed at his oesophagus. He wanted to scream but nothing came out. Three seconds later, his brain had lost its blood supply. Lobo Negro was sent into eternal darkness.
“Don’t kill me… Don’t kill me… You promised…” Lobo Negro’s underling went into abrupt silence as Tsukino Kyoko’s katana pierced him in the chest through her armpits.
Xia Lei briefly scanned through a few bodies before removing a wristwatch from one of them. It was a watch with a built-in camera. Its storage was filled with recordings of Lobo Negro and the gang.
Tsukino Kyoko uttered, “He’s there at the Hattori’s company. It’s likely that Hattori Mei is there too. We should head over and end it once and for all.”
Surprisingly, Xia Lei shook his head. “In that case, you’ve bitten the bait.”
“Huh?” Tsukino Kyoko was stunned.
Xia Lei explained, “It’s a series of traps. Not sure if this was your master’s work or Hattori Mei’s but the design is exceptionally meticulous. Sadly, they’re trying to deceive the wrong person.” He looked at Giovanna. “The Relief Society is no longer a secret. Tell your brothers and sisters to be extra careful. Help them go into hiding if it’s necessary”
Giovanna nodded. “I’ll tell them that.”
The Relief Society was expanding at an incredible speed with heaps of new followers every day. Who could guarantee that there was no enemy informant blended in the mix? Plus, there was such a gigantic church built right beside the Peace Mansion. All the intelligence agents sent by America and Japan would’ve surely reported it.