"We have found the center of the wildfire, sir!"
Two police helicopters were hovering over the Aoki Tree Sea. A policeman wearing the uniform of a Japanese Metropolitan Police Department inspector was looking down with a telescope.
The thick smoke from the burning trees blocked most of the view, forcing the two police helicopters to have no way of lowering their altitude.
This forced the police inspector who was acting as an observer to look down and risk being suffocated by the smoke or even falling off the plane at any time.
"Inspector Takahashi, observe carefully and see if you can find out the cause of this wildfire. Was it a meteorite impact or a real "bombardment"?"
A middle-aged man's voice with a thick Tokyo accent was heard on the Metropolitan Police Department's communication channel.
"Yes, sir!"
Inspector Takahashi rubbed his eyes vigorously which were red from being smoked. He cursed in his heart a thousand times, but he still respectfully replied to the inquiries of the person on the communicator.
There was no way out. The man opposite him was the Deputy Director of the National Police Agency of the entire Japanese police system. His position was four levels higher than that of the police chief in this small place.
"Bombardment, bastards, do you think this is the Middle East or Afghanistan?"
Inspector Takahashi cursed a thousand times in his heart the group of good-for-nothing leaders who were sitting in the office and giving remote commands. He waved his hand, wanting the helicopter pilot to lower the altitude a little more.
The pilot pointed at the billowing black smoke outside and waved at him, indicating that this was the lowest altitude the helicopter could descend to.
In the communication channel, the voice of the deputy minister talking to others continued to be heard.
At the last sound, Takahashi could even hear the Deputy Director of the Metropolitan Police Department calling the man "Sir".
Could it be the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department? Takahashi swallowed his saliva, looked at the real-time video equipment placed in the cabin, and suddenly had a bold idea.
Takahashi shrank back from the cabin door, returned to the cabin, and wrapped himself in two layers of fire-resistant isolation suits.
Then he put on a communication helmet equipped with a camera and tied two rappelling ropes around his waist, back and armpits.
Then, Takahashi came to the door of the helicopter cabin and jumped down despite the pilot's loud dissuasion.
"Wealth and honor are sought through risk. This is a great opportunity to show off in front of the leader!"
This was Takahashi's only thought as he jumped out of the helicopter.
He is already over 40 years old and is not a member of the professional group. Unless something unexpected happens, this position as police inspector will be the last stop in his career.
This may be his only chance to show up in front of his boss, and also his only chance to break through his career bottleneck.
The feeling of weightlessness was accompanied by a strong sense of dizziness caused by congestion in the head, and the sound of the wind whistled past my ears.
It seemed like a moment, but also like a long time had passed.
When Takahashi opened his eyes again, he was hanging upside down, with a burnt old tree two meters below him. The billowing black smoke was enough to choke him even through the protective suit and closed helmet.
Without caring about the consequences, Takahashi directly turned on the video transmission device connected to the helmet.
… … …
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is now in the No. 1 conference room of the Metropolitan Police Department.
A dozen people gathered together and watched the real-time video on the big screen.
The lowest rank among those who can sit here is a senior Japanese police officer at the level of Superintendent of Police.
Including the Deputy Director of the National Police Agency, the Directors of various National Police Agency bureaus, the Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Department, and the district police chiefs.
The highest police rank among them is the Commissioner of Police. At his level, there is no rank badge, but he will be equipped with an additional date badge, which is used as the shoulder badge of the "Commissioner of Police Badge" compared to the rank badge of the Superintendent General.
However, the highest-ranking person present was not the Police Chief, but a thin old man who sat quietly in the chief position and watched the real-time footage.
He was wearing a gray suit and a pair of reading glasses. The lenses of the glasses seemed to have very high degrees. The thin old man had to take off his glasses from time to time and put a few drops of eye drops in his eyes.
"Mr. Ono, you are the only soldier here. In your opinion, are these traces left by artillery explosions?"
The surveillance footage captured by the helmet camera was a bit shaky, with burnt trees and charred corpses everywhere.
The camera swept across the ruins of two wooden houses. Judging from the large hole on the ground, it was obviously not caused by a wildfire, but rather a crater left by some kind of impact or artillery explosion.
The man called Ono-kun was wearing the uniform of a lieutenant general in the Maritime Self-Defense Force. When he heard the Minister of Defense call his name, a trace of worry flashed across his face.
However, he had to stand up and said, "Based on the testimony of eyewitnesses and the analysis of traces at the scene, this should be a crater left by a federal 60MM M2 mortar bombing!
It took at least a dozen shells to create a crater of this size!"
After Lieutenant General Ono finished speaking, he saluted the Minister of Defense and sat directly in his seat.
No follow-up comments were made, apparently, not wanting to cause trouble.
However, he is not the only one who understands the philosophy of keeping a low profile.
When the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department heard Lieutenant General Ono admit that it was artillery fire, he immediately became alert.
"Ono-kun, this involves an organized artillery, which is not something our Metropolitan Police Department can intervene in. I think it would be safer for your Self-Defense Forces to take over this matter!"
"Kameda-kun, the source of the mortar shells has not been figured out yet. Everything is just suspicion. Wait until your Metropolitan Police Department thoroughly investigates this matter. If you really need to mobilize our Self-Defense Forces, you can apply to the Prime Minister yourself!"
As a professional soldier, Ono could naturally tell from the traces at the scene that such dense and regular craters would require a salvo of at least ten mortars to create.
When it came to deploying a mortar battalion in the heart of Mount Fuji in Japan, apart from the Japanese government itself, Saburo Onohara could only think of one force - the group of uncles stationed on Okinawa Island.
However, no matter which force it is, he, a vice admiral of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, cannot afford to provoke it.
Seeing Onohara Saburo shrink his head, the Metropolitan Police Department Commissioner turned his gaze to the Minister of Defense.
They are all experienced foxes, and what Onohara Saburo can see, most of the people present can also see.
As a semi-colonial country, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department would try its best to minimize the seriousness of the incident or make nothing of the minor matter when it encountered cases of federal soldiers molesting, harassing or even raping Japanese women.
Now that this major event clearly carries the characteristics of the federal military, the bureaucrats of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department will naturally push it away as much as possible.
"Ahem, let's take a look at the video first. This is first-hand information brought back by our Metropolitan Police Department officers at the risk of their lives!"
The Defense Minister coughed, drawing everyone's attention back to the video.
At this time, the video screen continued to move, and more details of the scene appeared in front of everyone.
The fire in the Aoki Forest was still spreading in all directions, but the fire had subsided in the center of the fire.
The burnt tree house and the charred corpses made many high-ranking officials of the Metropolitan Police Department realize for the first time that there was a secret base hidden in the middle of this suicide forest that they were unaware of.
Of course, they did not see any surprise on any face in the eyes of the Minister of Defense and the Metropolitan Police Department's Commissioner, Director General, and Deputy Minister, who were the real high-ranking officials.
Apparently, to the real high-ranking officials of the Metropolitan Police Department, the existence of the Hand is no secret.
… …
"It's getting foggy!"
Although the fire has been extinguished, the heat from the burning trees still lingers, and the area is like a giant oven.
Takahashi was hanging upside down in the air, and he could feel the sweat soaking through his protective suit and pouring down to his head. The closed helmet was dripping with sweat.
Just when Takahashi was about to give up and wanted to change the channel of the communicator and call the helicopter pilot to leave.
An extremely cold chill swept through his body, and his entire body, soaked with sweat, instantly became icy cold.
Takahashi's dizzy head felt like a bucket of ice water was poured over it, and he opened his eyes wide and looked around.
At some point, a white mist enveloped the entire forest.
He looked around and could see nothing but white fog.
Crash...
Gaoqiao looked around, and suddenly, accompanied by the sound of iron chains dragging on the ground, many shadowy figures appeared in the white mist.
“Someone!”
Takahashi struggled to take out the police gun from the holster on his waist, and then he hung upside down and pointed it at the figure in the white fog.
The sound of chains colliding was getting closer and closer, and Takahashi's hand holding the police gun was shaking uncontrollably.
"Hihihi!"
A figure in the white mist appeared in front of Takahashi, and Takahashi's eyes froze for a moment...
A three-meter-tall ghost in black walked towards him from the white fog, dragging a chain.
The white fog obscured the face of the ghost, and Takahashi could only see the thick chains dragged by the ghost, which were tied with souls who had died in extremely tragic ways.
These undead souls were tied to the chains very unwillingly, and were dragged forward by the ghosts and gods with staggering steps.
Just as the demon walked up to Takahashi and was about to collide with him,
Takahashi screamed in fear and fainted.
But unexpectedly, the tall ghost seemed to be just a ray of light, which passed directly through the inverted high bridge, pulling a string of evil spirits and disappeared into the fog.
… …
"Can anyone tell me what this is? Is it a mirage or a night parade of one hundred demons?"
In the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's No. 1 conference room, more than a dozen high-ranking Japanese police and military officials were watching the live video feed.
The sound of the iron chains rubbing against each other seemed to still echo in my ears.
Even though the conference room was full of people, they still felt a chill coming from behind them.
The Defense Minister looked at the Metropolitan Police Commissioner who was sitting below him.
"It seems to be some kind of supernatural incident!" the Metropolitan Police Department chief said uncertainly.
"However, a professor at the University of Tokyo once analyzed the geology of the Aoki Sea of Trees. There are a lot of magnets in this forest. Perhaps these are all illusions caused by the magnets."
Listening to the ambiguous words of the Metropolitan Police Department Commissioner, the Defense Minister cursed inwardly, “Nonsense.”
"Kameda-kun, the Metropolitan Police Department should not announce such ambiguous matters to the public for the time being!"
"The fire in Aoki Forest is still spreading. The most urgent task now is to put out the fire. The cause of the incident will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department after the fire is put out. Mr. Ono, you, the Self-Defense Forces, should cooperate with the Metropolitan Police Department to put out the fire!"
The Defense Minister changed the subject and directly changed the focus of the entire meeting, and the theme of the entire meeting evolved from tracking down the murderer to disaster relief.
As for Takahashi who is still hanging on the helicopter, who still remembers him? !
… … …
A sheltered valley on the outskirts of the Aoki Sea of Trees.
Several soldiers were using ropes to carry heavy wooden boxes to a bus halfway up the mountain.
The wooden box is made of simple iron birch boards nailed together, and you can even see the flashing golden light inside through the gaps in the boards.
These are the spoils looted from the Hand's base.
There were more than twenty wooden boxes in total, filled with large gold bricks, small gold bars, and gold pans.
The twenty or so boxes together weighed more than two tons, so several soldiers specially found a bus.
Soon two buses drove along the winding mountain road in the direction of the wildfire.
In the shady place under the mountain valley, Frank did not leave with the bus. After the bus went far away, he carefully took out the small flag from his arms.
The boss called this unfinished magic weapon the White Bone Ghost Banner, and used the banner to house thousands of ghosts to devour the enemies.
However, according to what the boss said, because it is a semi-finished product, this magic weapon can only control those evil spirits for a short time, and it is difficult to truly unleash its power.
All these evil spirits must be sacrificed and refined into the banner before they can be controlled at will.
Frank still didn't quite understand how to keep these evil spirits in a piece of cloth.
But Frank was sure he had heard the boss's general meaning correctly.
Although he didn't learn Chinese as well as Lai Enquan, he clearly remembered what Boss Tang said on the phone when he asked someone to deliver the banner.
The four black jars contained the souls of those who had died unexpectedly that they had collected in New York over the past two years. These souls had been refined by the Taiyin Refining Formation for a long time and had reached the level of evil spirits.
Once they see blood, the viciousness of these evil spirits will be immediately aroused. If these evil spirits get out of control, you can use this White Bone Ghost Banner to seal them back in the jar.
Frank looked at the four open black jars in front of him.
Holding the small banner, he followed the spell taught by the boss and sprayed a mouthful of blood from the tip of his tongue mixed with his internal energy onto the eyes of the black-clothed ghost on the banner.
The black-clothed ghost god, who originally had only form but no spirit, was sprayed with blood from the tip of the tongue mixed with true energy, which was like the finishing touch. It gave people the feeling that it had suddenly transformed from a clay sculpture and a wooden body into a flesh and blood body.
Came to life directly.
The sound of chains being dragged was heard. When Frank looked at the banner, he saw that of the two ghosts, one black and one white, who were originally surrounded by many demons, only one in white was left.
… …
Time passed little by little,
The white fog unknowingly enveloped the entire valley, and even the winding mountain road halfway up the mountain was shrouded in white fog.
Listening to the sound of the iron chain sliding in the white fog, Frank's mind kept emerging with the scene of the Japanese man in kimono being eaten up bit by bit.
But soon, stimulated by the cold air in the white mist, the true energy around him began to circulate on its own, and the vigorous true energy enveloped his body, as if he was covered with a layer of red flames.
From a distance, Frank looked like a fiery red mandrill.
In the white fog, a ghost in black came out, pulling a group of evil spirits.
The black-clad ghost came to Frank's side, lowered his head and said, "Hand over the order!"
The chain broke in mid-air and turned into a huge net. Many evil spirits turned into balls of gray-white smoke and ran around in the net. Finally, they were forced into the black jar by the shrinking net.
Frank finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw all the evil spirits entered the jar.
He deftly placed mahogany lids on several black jars and affixed talismans to seal them. Only then did Frank feel completely relieved.
When he came to his senses again and looked for the black-clothed ghost, the black-clothed ghost had disappeared.
Frank couldn't help but look at the bone ghost banner that he was holding tightly in his hand. At this moment, the disappeared figure of the black-clothed ghost appeared quietly on the banner again without him knowing when.
Frank came to the foot of the cliff and said something into the communicator. Soon, two nimble soldiers slid down from the cliff halfway up the mountain.
Frank asked his two men to bring a backpack, and carefully put the four black jars into it.
After the black jar was installed, the two soldiers pointed their grappling guns at the stone wall on the cliff.
The retracted grappling gun carried the two soldiers up quickly, while Frank, on the other hand, stepped on the protrusion on the cliff and jumped four or five meters high. He was as agile as a big monkey and quickly rushed to the winding mountain road halfway up the mountain.
In a corner of the winding mountain road, an inconspicuous black Toyota sedan was parked quietly in a secluded place.
… … …
Not long after Frank left the Qingmu Forest with Boss Tang's magic weapons, the valley where he had been standing before shook violently.
The rocks collapsed, and a hundred-meter-long crack appeared on the mountain wall.
A huge snake head poked out from the crack, with black scales and a white belly. The snake head poking out from the crack alone was taller than the tallest tree in the Aoki Forest.