NIKKE, When the Milky Way Blossoms

boom!

An armor-piercing shell pierced through the corrugated iron wall and embedded itself in Shangcun's ankle, forcing the minor leader of the Qingming Society to fall flat on his face.

Lieutenant Phoenix, who had specially picked up a rifle for the other party, was now slowly walking towards Uemura's location, step by step.

"What...what are you?!"

Enduring intense pain, the small-time leader, struggling to turn over, looked in horror around the corner behind him. As the masked man approached him step by step, he instinctively drew the pistol hidden at his waist and fired several shots into the man's chest.

Dangdangdang——

The bullet was still mercilessly deflected by the blob of silvery-gray liquid.

It's not an illusion...

The last glimmer of hope in his heart was extinguished, and Uemura, whose worldview was shaken, involuntarily opened his mouth wide, staring blankly as Phoenix walked to his side.

Where is the nearest underground passage?

The man deliberately lowered his already deep voice and said coldly:

Tell me, and I won't kill you.

"You...you blew up the secret passage of our Qingming Festival..." Uemura started to say, then changed his mind, "No, that's not right. You couldn't have carried that much explosives by yourself. You weren't part of the group that blew up the secret passage...Awooo—!!!"

The excruciating pain caused the junior officer to scream involuntarily. The lieutenant's right hand was already touching his cheek, and the nanometal silently cut through his skin, tormenting his fragile trigeminal nerve.

Trigeminal neuralgia is recognized in human medicine as the pain with the highest suicide rate.

"I don't have time to waste on you."

Stop torturing Uemura, Phoenix said calmly:

"Second time, where is the nearest underground passage?"

"No, there aren't any more... The nearest secret passage has been destroyed, and there can't be any more secret passages within a dozen kilometers, because it's impossible to dig a secret passage next to another one."

Uemura wasn't stupid. Judging from the question the other party asked, and considering his strange abilities, he was most likely not from the Outer Boundary.

“Call your master.”

"Wha...what?"

"Tell your patriarch that your life is in my hands. If you don't want to die, make her come to see me. Now, drive here!"

"..."

Upon hearing the man's request, Uemura's expression became increasingly distorted and distressed.

"I...I'm just a small fry, I can't contact home directly...Aww—!!!"

Yes! Yes!

……

……

drip-

When Sakura answered the phone, Phoenix didn't immediately ask any questions, but instead chose to wait for her to speak first.

"Uemura, why are you contacting me directly, two levels above me? Is there something important?"

"He's in my hands. If you want your man to live, you must come to see me in person at the bakery in block 32588. Remember, drive over."

I need to see you within an hour, or I'll be collecting his corpse.

"you……"

drip-

Without giving the other party any chance to communicate, the lieutenant hung up the phone directly, looked down at Kamimura, and a hint of worry inevitably appeared in his emerald green eyes under the mask.

"Hey, your family head isn't going to just abandon you, is he?"

"What do you mean by that? Do you think our Qingming Society is some kind of lowly, shady organization?" Upon hearing someone's question, Shangcun's face flushed red, and the veins on his forehead throbbed, clearly indicating that he was quite angry at these words.

"We, the Qingming Festival Society, would never abandon our family members!!!"

"is it?"

Phoenix's tone grew increasingly strange, and he continued to ask:

"But I heard you all cursing your patriarch behind his back before, so how come you trust him so much now that you're about to die?"

This statement was incredibly powerful, immediately leaving Kamimura gritting his teeth in anger, yet unsure how to refute it.

"Sigh, it's no wonder our family has fallen on hard times, with all these ungrateful wretches around during the Qingming Festival."

The man shook his head, using the simplest gesture and the calmest tone to utter the most lethal words.

"Speaking of which, something like bringing shame upon the head of the family would be hard to resolve without committing seppuku within your Qingming Society, wouldn't it?"

Uemura: "..."

Chapter 160 As expected of the head of the household

"...I need to see you within an hour, or I'll be waiting to collect his corpse."

Hearing the deep male voice on the phone making demands, the almost commanding tone did not change Sakura's usual cold expression.

After confirming that the other party had hung up, the girl calmly placed her phone on her lap, then silently looked at herself in the mirror and at the maid who was styling her hair.

Her fingertips danced among her dark blue hair, her movements light and agile, like a dancer gracefully twirling on thin ice, not daring to be the slightest bit careless.

"Prepare a car and head to block 32588."

"Hi."

The retainers who had been guarding the gate 24 hours a day immediately nodded and left upon hearing the master's order.

Block 32588, this is not the territory of the Qingming Association.

Uemura is a family member of the Qingming Society. Every family member should report to the society every time they leave the gang's territory.

However, she had just checked the relevant reporting records and found that after 12:43 a.m., all family members had returned to the Qingming Association's jurisdiction and no one had gone out.

Then the problem is coming.

It was the man on the phone who secretly infiltrated the Qingming Society's territory, silently kidnapped them to Shangcun, and then took them to the 32588 block.

Or did Uemura secretly go to the 32588 block, only to be kidnapped by the man on the phone?

If she could choose, Sakura would be the first choice. Unfortunately, her rationality kept warning her that the possibility of Uemura secretly going out was far greater than the former.

A master who can secretly infiltrate the Qingming Society would not simply kidnap a minor character as a hostage.

"Are they starting to disregard me, the head of the household, more and more?"

The girl sitting in front of the mirror slowly closed her eyes, and the loneliness she was unwilling to admit welled up in her heart as always.

Clear and bright,

This was the original intention of the first patriarch in establishing the Qingming Society in the outer area. He hoped that the Qingming Society could become a pure land in the outer area, providing a safe haven for those who are willing to uphold morality.

However, with the succession of family heads, by the time of the last family head, the Qingming Society had lost its original sincerity. Family members also lost themselves in power and material possessions, turning into greedy villains who were no different from other gangs in the outer district.

When Sakura painstakingly seized the position of the current head of the family and expressed to all family members her desire to regain her original intention of "clarity and purity," even the conservative members who initially supported her gradually became estranged from her due to her overly conservative views.

At first, it was just a tentative, superficial compliance, but now, after cutting off human trafficking, banning the sale of illegal drugs, and giving up the sex trade, the fact that revenue has remained flat for several consecutive months has made the entire Qingming Association uneasy.

No one would turn down money. Break-even revenue cannot satisfy the appetite and desires of family members, at least for the outer perimeter area, this is the norm.

Of course, the group of martial artists from the Peony Society are not included in this category.

"The head of the household."

The maid's call from behind interrupted Sakura's reverie. Despite her overwhelming sorrow, the girl calmly opened her eyes, stood up gracefully and dignifiedly, took the coat from the maid, and strolled out of the courtyard.

Even in her private residence, she could not reveal even the slightest weakness, for that would make her loyal servants uneasy.

She is the head of the household.

She should bear the greatest pressure.

……

……

The roar of engines reverberated through the desolate steel jungle.

If you dare to peek out the window, you can see a military jeep with an extremely high chassis crossing the street and heading resolutely northwest.

Fifty minutes later...

"Turn left, go straight ahead... Keep going, stop at the fork in the road ahead... Turn right and go straight..."

Following the instructions on the other end of the phone, Sakura deliberately slowed her pace, taking the opportunity to quickly search every nook and cranny of the alley using her peripheral vision, trying to scan for miniature cameras that might be hidden in the shadows.

Unfortunately, she failed.

Despite using all the counter-surveillance techniques she had learned in her life, and even employing Niki's exclusive reconnaissance accessories, the girl still couldn't find even a single electronic device that resembled a camera.

She even suspected that the other party was hiding in a high-rise building, deliberately mocking and insulting her, the head of the Qingming Society.