Hong Kong variety show: The mastermind behind the scenes is emerging.

It was already late at night when Watari returned to Kobe.

This villa was a reward given to him by the Yamaguchi-gumi. It is located halfway up a mountain in Yamate-cho, Nada Ward, Kobe City. From the floor-to-ceiling windows on the third floor, you can see the entire night view of Osaka Bay.

When he was only twenty years old, he personally led the youth team to wipe out a South Asian gang that was smuggling weapons from the Middle East in Kansai, and carried back two boxes of AKMs all by himself.

Later, Kazuo Taoka personally pinned the gold-rimmed diamond-patterned badge on him at the group's general meeting; it was the most glorious day of his life.

After returning to the villa, he locked himself in the tea room on the second floor, and even his most beloved lover didn't dare to come upstairs and knock on the door.

He paced back and forth in the room, his mind filled with the face of Muranishi Koichi—that old face that had seemed gentle for twenty years, yet whose every wrinkle concealed a blade.

Watakawa grew angrier the more he thought about it, and suddenly pulled out his katana from the sword rack, splitting the low table in front of him in two from the middle.

"Muranishi Koichi! You despicable scoundrel!" Watagawa roared in the Kansai dialect, leaning on his sword as a cane. "I joined the group at fourteen, took three knives for the boss, and broke countless ribs! I took every inch of the Yamaguchi-gumi's territory with my own head! And now this scoundrel has teamed up with those old geezers to throw me out?!"

Watari's voice echoed back and forth between the thin paper sliding doors of the tea room, finally turning into a series of muffled roars.

He cursed for a long time until his voice became hoarse, then he slumped down in the tea room.

After a while, he stood up, opened the door, walked barefoot down the stairs, went straight to the bar, and took out an unopened bottle of Yamazaki 12-year-old liquor from the wine cabinet.

He didn't even bother to pick up the cup; he unscrewed the cap, hung the bottle upside down, and let the amber liquid pour directly into his throat.

He needed to get drunk to soothe his anger and dejection as a loser.

……

Early the next morning, Watari was awakened by footsteps downstairs.

He suddenly sat up, pulled out his Nambu Type 14 pistol (which he never parted with) from under his pillow, released the safety, and silently made his way to the corner of the stairs, his bare feet on the wooden floor.

"Who?" Watakawa stood at the corner, his gun pointed at the silver-gray-haired man downstairs who had his back to him and was admiring an Edo-era ukiyo-e print on the wall.

Upon hearing his voice, the other person turned around and raised an eyebrow towards the stairs.

"Mr. Watakawa, I thought you were going to shoot directly."

Watakawa recognized those grey-blue eyes—the leader of the Death God Group, the White Death God Taras.

"How did you get in?!" Watari frowned, his gun still pointed at him.

He was well aware of the security measures at his villa—after all, he had too many enemies, and he didn't want to die.

Therefore, he installed top-of-the-line infrared monitoring systems inside and outside his house, kept two German Shepherds in the yard, and had three groups of henchmen on guard outside the yard in shifts. Even every window was equipped with a vibration sensor.

"Perhaps your people aren't very dedicated," Taras shrugged, looking at his wet hair and the bloodshot eyes that hadn't faded yet. "Mr. Watari, you're in a terrible state right now."

"None of your business!" Watari walked to the bar, poured a small half-full glass from the Yamazaki bottle that was still half full from last night, and gulped it down.

The liquor slid down my throat and into my empty stomach, reigniting the hangover and lingering anger.

"Of course it's my business, after all, you're a potential ally of mine." Taras said, pulling open the storage compartment of the bar and taking out a gleaming crystal flat-bottomed glass, pouring himself a little more than half a glass.

He didn't drink it, but slowly spun the cup in his palm, letting the amber liquid leave even tear streaks on the cup's surface.

"You've waited so long, waited for Kazuo Taoka to pass away, waited for Kenichi Yamamoto to die suddenly, and now you're this old. And what's the result? Five votes to two, you got tricked by that old fox Muranishi, tsk tsk tsk..."

Watakawa was silent for a moment, then slammed his glass down on the bar with a loud, jarring sound: "What can I do? The election results are in, and according to the rules, he's the new group leader! The most I can do now is lead my men back to Kobe and pull off a few more independent branches to operate on our own."

"And then?" Upon hearing this plan, Taras smiled and uttered a piercing remark, "You'll lead your people to a corner of the world, watching helplessly as he slowly erodes the foundation you've built over thirty years?"

"I have a suggestion," Taras said, placing his glass on the bar counter with a soft tapping sound against the granite surface. "How about we take down Muranishi Koichi?"

"!" Watari involuntarily raised his head, a look of shock on his face.

"Don't tell me you've never had this thought."

"..."

Watari didn't reply, but simply watched the remaining liquid at the bottom of his glass slowly solidify on the bar counter. However, he didn't refuse either.

Taras, unfazed, continued, "That's right, Muranishi Koichi is indeed skilled at cultivating relationships and exchanging favors, and can even chat and laugh with many high-ranking officials. But all of this is predicated on him still being alive... If he were gone, the situation would be quite different."

Watari's knuckles slowly tightened at the edge of the bar.

"If we eliminate Muranishi, the interest group centered around him will immediately fall apart. And to stabilize the Yamaguchi-gumi, they'll have no choice but to hold a new vote. Your militant faction makes up half the group; which of the remaining old foxes would dare to vote against it?"

As Taras spoke, he lightly tapped his glass with his fingernail, producing a crisp sound.

"What do you want?" Watari looked up at the other person.

"Not much, half of the territory under Muranishi's name will be allocated to the Death God Group."

Listening to the other party's devilish whispers, Watari remained silent for a long time. He knew that cooperating with Taras was tantamount to seeking help from a tiger—after all, the tragic fates of the Chivalrous Society and the East Asia Society were still fresh in his mind.

However, his inner greed prevented him from refusing.

Finally, Watari slowly spoke: "Killing only Muranishi is not enough. We also need to eliminate his most capable subordinate, Eguchi Toshinari... I'll take care of killing Eguchi, and you help me kill Muranishi."

"make a deal!"

Taras laughed as he moved away from the bar, turned up the collar of his coat again, pushed open the French window leading from the living room to the garden, and disappeared into the still-lingering morning mist of Mount Rokko.

……

Meanwhile, on Tsukishima Island.

Ruan Wen put down the phone, turned over, and pressed her face against Lu Chen's chest.

She had just finished exercising and taken a shower. Her long hair wasn't completely dry yet, and a few damp strands clung to Lu Chen's collarbone, carrying a faint grapefruit scent from the shower gel.

"There's been some activity over there at Duchuan. An old acquaintance of ours has approached him to discuss a big business deal."

"Talas went to see him?" Lu Chen leaned against the headboard, one hand around her smooth shoulder, his fingers slowly tracing the not-yet-dry ends of her hair behind her ear.

"Yes, just half an hour ago, Taras encouraged Watakawa to take advantage of the fact that Muranishi Koichi had just taken over and that the various factions within the group were still observing. Taras would help him deal with Muranishi. After it was done, half of the territory under Muranishi's name in the Osaka Bay port area and along the Amagasaki to Nishinomiya line would be given to the Shinigami Group."

"Talas is quite adept at learning on the fly, using one tiger to devour another—isn't that the same tactic we used on the East Asia Association and the Chivalrous Association last time? Once Muranishi really takes down Eguchi, the Death God Group will probably take the opportunity to eat him up." Lu Chen patted Ruan Wen's back and chuckled, his tone playful.

"So what do we do?" Ruan Wen slowly traced a small arc on Taras's chest with his finger. "Should we help Taras, or thwart his plans?"

"Of course I'll participate," Lu Chen reached out and pulled up the thin blanket that had slipped down to her shoulders, covering the small section of her collarbone exposed to the morning breeze. "After all, the territory controlled by the Yamaguchi-gumi is a big piece of fat meat, and there's no reason for Takamagahara to let it go... But the person I chose is different from Taras."

In his previous life, he had seen Jackie Chan's film "Shinjuku Incident," which was the least like his own film, so he naturally knew all the characters in it very well.

Based on the film's portrayal, Muranishi is a typical appeaser who, to secure his position, dares not wage war against Watagawa. Even knowing he is about to be assassinated by Watagawa, he will only form alliances and pressure Watagawa. This makes it unlikely that a real war will break out, which is not in his best interest.

With Muranishi eliminated and Watari already chosen by Taras, the selection for their side became quite clear...

"Who should we choose?"

Lu Chen turned his head to look at the half of the old pine tree outside the shoji screen, its crown illuminated by the morning light, and then uttered a name.

"Eguchi Toshinari."

"Oh?" Ruan Wen propped herself up slightly against his chest, revealing an expression that was half surprised and half expectant, waiting for him to continue.

"I had someone investigate Jiang Kou. He's not only very capable, but most importantly, he's loyal, yet not pedantic," Lu Chen said, tucking the stray hairs that had fallen in front of Ruan Wen's eyes behind her ear and brushing his thumb across her brow bone. "To realize his ambitions, he wouldn't even mind killing Muranishi."

"I understand. So we won't stop Taras from killing the village head, but we'll stop Watari from killing Eguchi and tell him the truth?" She raised her eyes and met Lu Chen's gaze.

"Yes," Lu Chen picked up the sake next to him and took a sip. "After Watari kills Muranishi, we'll have Eguchi step forward to identify and kill Watari, thus instigating a full-scale war between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Shinigami-gumi. Then, we can reap the benefits."

Ruan Wen remained silent for a moment, then a slow smile curved his lips.

She sat up in bed, reached for the telephone receiver on the bedside table, and dialed a short number.

"It's me," she said into the phone. "Have the Kansai branch prepare a complete schedule for Taro Watakawa for the next week. Also, send more elite troops to secretly protect Toshinari Eguchi. Remember—secretly, absolutely without him noticing."

"Hi!"