Chapter Twenty-Three: The Ambush (Part I)

Listening to Li Yongzheng drive away, Fujiyama Ken wore an obscene smirk on his face as he climbed the five wooden steps and gently slid open the wooden shoji screen before him.

"Baka! Where have the servants gone? How dare they slack off and hide, not even opening the door? Don't they know to greet their master even when they are usually so submissive? It seems they really need a good disciplining..." Fujiyama suddenly felt a surge of anger. Had the estate's discipline really rotted to this point just because he had spent five years in prison?

However, the moment he thought of that sexy vixen—the one who postured so provocatively on the television screen, radiating a natural, seductive charm—and how she would soon be standing before him, posing in every way he desired, a burning heat flared in his lower abdomen.

But the moment the shoji screen slid open, Fujiyama’s burning lust was extinguished as if doused by a bucket of ice water.

He saw a pair of eyes—a pair of dark, bright eyes that shone with an eerie, jewel-like luster.

Even though he knew this person was standing only a few meters away, for some reason, the first thing Fujiyama saw were those eyes. It was as if they radiated some strange charm, as if they could suck a man’s very soul into them.

"Intruder—" Five years of prison life had not dulled his instinctual reaction to danger. Fujiyama moved quickly, taking a step back to retreat from the doorway while opening his mouth to shout. But before the sound could even leave his throat, and before his rapidly lifted foot could touch the ground, a blur passed before his eyes. Fujiyama felt a heavy hand-blade strike the back of his neck, and his body went limp, collapsing backward.

In his ear, he faintly heard two words come through the intruder's walkie-talkie:

"Cleared!"

"Could it be that my men have all..." Before he could even finish the thought, Fujiyama lost consciousness completely.

***

At four in the morning, a pickup truck traveled along the winding coastal road to a desolate beach. The road ended here; two kilometers away, the castle perched on the rocks was already in sight.

Three dark shadows flashed by, leaping from the vehicle to the roadside, and within seconds, they vanished into the jumble of rocks. The pickup slid forward for another dozen meters, then suddenly and eerily soared a meter into the air, clearing the guardrail. It glided through the air for dozens of meters, moving even faster than it had on the road.

"Splash!" Like a master diver, the pickup entered the vast sea at a precise angle, sending up a two-meter-high spray of white water before submerging without a sound.

Just as the vehicle took flight, a fourth shadow merged into the darkness like a ghost.

Dozens of meters away, three thumbs were raised. A gruff voice whispered, "Awesome. You actually made a car perform a water-entry maneuver!"

"Shut up!" the fourth shadow hissed. The gruff voice paid no heed, letting out a soft chuckle before falling silent.

These four shadows were, of course, Lei Dong and his comrades. With the exception of Song Jingang and Luo Haoran from Group C, who had split off to carry out a separate mission, members of Groups A and B were all gathered in one vehicle, having arrived at Fujiyama Ken’s castle estate. For a heavily guarded castle with a large number of personnel, four men was the absolute minimum force required to control the situation and neutralize the target silently.

A few minutes later, the four ran along the coastal rocks, reaching the rear of the castle to lie in wait.

By now, the moon had set below the western horizon. Dim starlight spilled over the sea, and the castle, backed against the coast, stood dark and looming like a giant beast waiting to devour its prey. The rising tide beat against the rocks on the shore, creating a rhythmic, splashing sound.

The castle occupied a treacherous position. For two kilometers to the north and south, there were no roads or trees to obstruct the view. The only road extended westward from the main gate, winding its way to the center of Kyoto. Such terrain meant that anyone approaching from those directions would be spotted by the sentries patrolling the towers.

Behind the castle, however, lay the endless sea. A ten-meter-high wall stood flush against the thirty-meter cliffs. The wet, slippery rock face would cause anyone attempting to climb it to fall into the deep sea, where they would be smashed into a pulp against the hard rocks and swept away, leaving not a bone behind.

Now, the four men were silently lurking beneath these cliffs. The team members were spaced fifty meters apart. Lei Dong trailed behind, holding a .50 caliber sniper rifle, aiming loosely at the castle ramparts while sensing the activity within.

Bei Shiliang quickly set up anti-infrared detectors and anti-eavesdropping equipment, nervously scanning for electronic and infrared signals. A few minutes later, Bei Shiliang reported softly, "A1, no infrared sensors detected, no abnormal signals found!"

Lei Dong gave a sneer of contempt. "In the end, he's just a gang leader. Did he really think that relying on terrain and sheer numbers made his base impregnable?"

Through his spiritual perception, he could sense cars continuously driving into the castle along the single road to the west. About half an hour later, the castle was bustling. In the central area, more than nine people had gathered. According to Li Yongzheng’s prior intelligence, these were the most important leaders of the Jiaolong Society. They had gathered here to welcome the newly released Fujiyama Ken and hear the chairman's instructions. However, intelligence also indicated that Touyama Jun, the leader of the Black Tiger Group—the most powerful faction in the Jiaolong Society—had always been at odds with Fujiyama, and this time he had only sent a "wakagashira" as a representative; he had not come in person.

This was one of the key reasons Lei Dong had decided to launch this raid.

On the perimeter, about thirty people were present, seventeen of whom were preparing to start their cars. Lei Dong sensed Li Yongzheng’s presence among them. The others were likely drivers or bodyguards brought by the leaders.

Outside of these men were security guards stationed at key points throughout the castle, while nine guards in three teams patrolled the ramparts. Whether it was overconfidence in the natural barrier of the sea cliff or simple negligence from a long period of peace, these guards paid no special attention to the rear of the castle where Lei Dong and his team were hiding. Their patrol frequency in this area was significantly lower, and they always appeared lackadaisical.

Lei Dong expanded his spiritual perception, carefully observing and recording the patrol patterns of the sentries.

As time passed, the vehicles inside the castle began to emit a low rumble. Then, the voice of someone who appeared to be a leader could be heard giving a speech—nothing more than "pep talk" nonsense about welcoming the Eighth Generation leader home and the glorious future of the Jiaolong Society.

Clearly, the crowd gathered in the castle was becoming energized.

After a chorus of "Hai! Hai!" rang out, five cars, led by the one driven by Li Yongzheng, drove out of the castle one after another, heading toward downtown Kyoto along the wide, flat road.

No one felt there was anything wrong with deploying such a large "welcoming" party, and they could never have known what kind of trouble they were inviting by taking nearly a third of the castle's defensive force away.

The cars were now far away. The big bosses gathered in the central hall were chatting on the tatami mats, while their bodyguards were scattered throughout the side rooms—some drinking tea, others yawning and nodding off. It was past four in the morning, the time when the human body is naturally most tired and prone to sleep, especially after being stirred up in the middle of the night.

Lei Dong made a silent calculation. Estimating the positions of the sentries on the ramparts, he made a series of quick hand signals. Wu Yun and Lang Tianyu leaped, their bodies sticking to the rock wall like birds, while Bei Shiliang, having packed his equipment, followed closely behind, climbing up from the center.

On the steep, vertical cliff face, the three dark shadows climbed rapidly, as nimble as fish returning to the sea, moving with perfect, fluid ease. The wet, slippery rock—eroded by the sea and wind until it was smooth and almost completely devoid of handholds—seemed to have no effect on their movements at all.

Below the castle, Lei Dong kept his .50 caliber rifle pointed forward, covering his team members to prevent any sudden emergencies.

In less than two minutes, Wu Yun, Lang Tianyu, and Bei Shiliang approached the ramparts. Pausing for a moment two meters below the crenellations to sense the positions of the roving sentries, Wu Yun and Lang Tianyu hooked their fingers into tiny crevices and floated toward the left and right, shifting from fish to agile apes in an instant, and vanished along the sides of the castle.

Bei Shiliang remained where he was. His body, light as gauze and soft as floating down, pressed silently against the underside of a crenellation, waiting to deliver a lethal blow.

A few minutes later, Bei Shiliang’s body suddenly tensed, his ears pricking up. Leveraging his right hand against the rock face, he darted onto the ramparts like a fierce bird of prey. He landed exactly behind the three sentries who were chatting as they passed by. He clenched his right fist, the second joint of his middle finger protruding slightly, and struck the middle sentry on the spine.

The blow looked effortless, but the sentry was struck as if by a thousand-pound hammer. His upper body bent backward at an eerie angle, like a snapped stalk of sugarcane. He didn't even have time to groan before he collapsed limply to the ground.

Before the body could hit the ground, and before the other two could react, Bei Shiliang flicked his right elbow horizontally, striking the sentry on the right in the temple. Simultaneously, he extended his left arm to clamp the neck of the man on the left. With a slight twist, a soft "crack" sounded—the man’s neck was completely broken. A scream that hadn't even left his throat was stifled in his chest, and he fell silent forever.

By the time the first sentry's body hit the floor, Bei Shiliang had already hooked the corpse with his right foot, lowering it gently to the ground without making a sound.

"Cleared!" Bei Shiliang reported to Lei Dong via his throat-mic.

Almost simultaneously, the voices of Wu Yun and Lang Tianyu appeared in Lei Dong’s earpiece:

"Cleared!"

"Cleared!"