Tokyo: I'm really not a killer

The MK22 Mod 0 silenced pistol, nicknamed Hush Puppy, is known as the "Silent Little Dog" or "Dog Doesn't Make a Sound" by the Japanese. It is a relatively old model and was a weapon used by US commandos for assassination during the Vietnam War.

The most distinctive feature of this gun is that the slide can be locked, completely eliminating mechanical impact noise and turning it into a purely manual single-shot gun. The gunshot is extremely quiet, and with subsonic bullets and a suppressor, it is almost inaudible at close range.

It's hard to find such good stuff on the black market.

Yuan Zhensheng fired two shots without alerting anyone outside.

Suddenly, a system notification popped up in front of him, and a few lines of small text appeared on the pale blue screen:

"Found an equipable item (common)"

Item Name: The Stand's Throat

"Original owner: Ichiro Nagashima"

Special entry: When you imitate someone else's voice, the similarity in intonation and word choice increases by 30% (passive voice).

Basic Attribute: Presence -10%

"Special Effect: When equipped, you can perfectly mimic the voice of others."

"Note: Ichiro Nagashima spent half his life learning how to become someone else. He imitated Kenkichi Kuwata's walking posture, tone of voice, and even the small gesture of lighting a cigarette, just to become the most inconspicuous shadow when necessary. He succeeded, and he failed."

"Retrieve equipment?"

Yuan Zhensheng subconsciously wanted to close the system notification, but he accidentally glanced at the keywords and froze on the spot.

...So, you spent the whole night staking out the place, risking being targeted by multiple enemies to kick over a truck, and went to great lengths to sneak in, only to find out that you only killed a stand-in?

Alright, alright, you're going to imitate Master Huang, huh!

Now is not the time to dwell on things. Yuan Zhensheng can distinguish between what is important and what is not. There is no point in continuing to pursue what has already happened. The most important thing is how to deal with it. In the face of money and safety, personal emotions are nothing.

He quickly took off his clothes, put on Nagashima Ichiro's kimono, and used the "Face of the Fickle One" to change his appearance, disguising himself as Nagashima Ichiro—that is, Kuwata Kenkichi.

Sugiyama Yuta wasn't dead, he was just unconscious, so the system didn't show any equipment that could be extracted. Hara Masaki deliberately spared his life, not out of pity or loyalty, but simply because there was no money to be made by killing him.

Do not kill unrelated persons unless absolutely necessary.

It's worth mentioning that the gun dealer was in a necessary situation; the other party had drawn a gun and pointed it at his head, while he was unarmed. Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit, and any hesitation for even a second would be disrespectful to one's profession.

While changing clothes, he casually retrieved his equipment.

"Retrieve equipment?"

"Yes"

There was still no movement, not even blood. Ichiro Nagashima's throat disappeared into thin air, and the place where his Adam's apple had been collapsed.

After the extraction was successful, Yuan Zhensheng subconsciously selected the equipment, but the system popped up a prompt message:

"Should we remove the 'face of the fickle one' and replace it with the 'throat of the substitute'?"

Yuan Zhensheng glanced at it and then realized that there was only one slot for head equipment, which meant that only one of each type of head equipment could be equipped, and any extra equipment would just sit in the backpack and gather dust.

Is the throat also part of the head?

Yuan Zhensheng could only accept his bad luck. In the future, when making phone calls or communicating online, the "Stand's throat" would be very useful, but at this time, he definitely couldn't remove the "Face of the Fickle One".

He laid the body against the wall, wrapped the wound with his old tracksuit, poured the liquor on the ground to mask the smell of blood, then opened the sliding door, put his hands in his sleeves, and walked out.

A team member standing guard not far away immediately bowed and greeted the team leader as he emerged, saying, "Thank you for your hard work!"

"Don't disturb the people in the room. No one is allowed to enter," Yuan Zhensheng ordered in a low voice.

"Yes!" The team member bowed.

Hara Masaki strode upstairs with his head held high, trying his best to imitate Kuwata Kenkichi's demeanor, and walked upstairs very naturally.

The journey was smooth and unimpeded, with no one stopping them.

When he reached the third floor, he encountered a middle-aged man with a small braid. The man paused for a moment, then said, "I was just about to come down to find you. The team leader has some questions for me."

Yuan Zhensheng's first reaction was, "Who is this jerk? How dare he talk to the team leader like that!"

Then he realized that this person was most likely the head of the Yamaken Group, the number two person in the group, who knew that Ichiro Nagashima was a stand-in, which was why he said such things.

"Yes." Yuan Zhensheng immediately lowered his head.

If the boss didn't notice anything amiss, he led Yuan Zhensheng through the corridor and pushed open the office door.

The interior decor was almost identical to that in Japanese yakuza movies. Coffee table, fish tank, leather sofa, plus a plaque and samurai sword—the five essentials of a yakuza agency were complete.

Yuan Zhensheng glanced around the room out of the corner of his eye. There were six people in the room. Three on the left, including Ruotou, two on the right, and the group leader sitting in the middle.

The dog-speaker's magazine only had eight rounds, and he had already used two. The remaining bullets were not enough for him to engage in a firefight. The dog-speaker itself was not a pistol designed for firefights, so he could only try to bluff his way through first.

Kuwata Kenkichi was working on his accounts. The gang's revenue this month wasn't enough, and he needed to find a way to make more money.

Seeing the two enter, he didn't even look up, and asked to himself, "So? Did that young man seem hostile towards you?"

Tsk.

Yuan Zhensheng was quite displeased, but he smiled and said, "No, he seems like a very motivated young man."

"Really? That's good." Kuwata Kenkichi glanced up at him and said, "Have the nerves in your face recovered? Your smile looks very natural."

A short sentence, but it contains a lot of information.

Hara Masaki realized that Nagashima Ichiro was not born looking like Kuwata Kenkichi, but had undergone plastic surgery to look similar, which caused damage to his facial nerves and left him with sequelae, so his smile was very stiff.

"I've been consistently doing rehabilitation," Yuan Zhensheng added.

"Keep it up." Kenkichi Kuwata was pleased.

"Yes." Yuan Zhensheng replied respectfully.

Kenkichi Kuwata put down his pen and said with emotion, "If it weren't for those rats in the gutter, you wouldn't have to work so hard... I really want to kill all those filthy people."

"For the safety of the team leader, it's not hard work at all; I just feel incredibly honored," Yuan Zhensheng said.

"Really?" Kenkichi Kuwata smiled. "What happened to your throat?"

"The whiskey was too strong and choked my throat," said Yuan Zhensheng.

"Is that so? Your throat is injured, yet you're more talkative than usual." Kuwata Kenkichi didn't suspect anything; he just asked casually.

Based on Yuan Zhensheng's past experience, when unsure how to feign innocence, all he had to do was flatter those around him. Even if others became suspicious afterward, no one would dare to expose the flattery.

"It's not because my throat is injured that I'm so talkative, but because I've been drinking and want to speak my mind." Hara Masaki began, "These are my heartfelt words. My admiration for you is as boundless as the waves of Tokyo Bay, and as unstoppable as the eruption of Mount Fuji..."

Kenkichi Kuwata chuckled, in a good mood.

Today he had a meal with his daughter, his subordinates stopped the enemy attackers, and he received a lot of flattery. Everything went smoothly for him.

"Okay, I understand how you feel."

Kuwata Kenkichi gestured for him to stop, as there were so many subordinates watching, and it would be a bit awkward if he continued.

Furthermore, he summoned Ichiro Nagashima because he had important matters to discuss with him.

"I can't rest now. I'll have to trouble you to make another trip and negotiate with the Shinomiya family for me tonight."

Kenkichi Kuwata hadn't forgotten that he had the daughter of Representative Shinomiya in his hands. He was a traditional militant, and since the gang was short of money recently, he wanted to take the opportunity to make a fortune.