No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"Hey, what's going on? Wasn't that gangster on the phone talking to someone outside?"

Faced with the secretary's question, Kitahara Masaki also felt strange. Could it be that the person who activated the signal jammer was among these people? But now that Mizoguchi has been captured, there's no need for his accomplices to struggle anymore.

"Sigh, why don't we just be honest? Things have come to this point, and we clearly don't want anyone to die."

“Yeah, if it weren’t for Officer Kitahara, we would probably all have been killed by that gangster.”

Manabe Katsuhiko, the Utsui couple, and Kurishima Atsuro all had expressions of having something difficult to say but having to say it. Kitahara Masaki had already noticed the connection between these people, but he never expected that they had conspired to plan the underground parking garage bombing.

"But what's going on now? Mr. Okumura was the one carrying the jamming equipment, so why is he only turning it on now?"

Upon hearing this, Kitahara Masaki felt a chill run down his spine, wondering how he could have made such a huge mistake!

After Okumura Satoru was shot by Mizoguchi, Mizoguchi covered his body with a blue plastic sheet, and he remained motionless for several hours. Therefore, even Kitahara Masaki initially assumed he had been shot dead. However, it now appears—

Upon lifting the plastic sheet, all that remained were piles of coats.

The next moment, Okumura Satoru, just like Mizoguchi, jumped out of the shadows and grabbed the pregnant woman with a dagger.

What happened next was exactly the same as what happened in Mizoguchi. In order to prevent Okumura from shooting and injuring civilians, Kitahara Masaki had to be tied up again, this time even more tightly.

"Haha, I didn't expect I'd still be the better strategist. Sorry, Officer Kitahara, please sit down and listen to the truth."

"Hehe, it was my oversight, but I really didn't expect you to be an accomplice of Goukou. And the truth you're about to tell should be related to the people present, right?"

Okumura picked up the pistol from the mitten again, smiled, and looked like the ultimate victor, before beginning to tell his story.

"These people are all relatives of victims from a tunnel collapse five years ago, and Hasumi Kyoichiro was the only survivor of that accident. Oh, right, this Mr. Manabe was a member of the rescue team at the time, and he made the decision to rescue Hasumi first. But he regretted it afterward, hahaha. Sigh, how interesting. In short, whether it's the yakuza or you naive guys, I've used them all."

------------------

Those outside the ruins also noticed this, as it was remarkably similar to the accident five years ago—when a truck crashed into the tunnel, blocking the entrance and exit with rubble, and the chemical reagents it was carrying produced toxic gas, resulting in the last person being rescued.

"Sister Evelyn, Sister Yue Shui, I found the accident report from back then and the list of victims' families! Look!"

Vermouth and Nanatsuki Koshimizu fell silent after reading the information that Ai Haibara had found. Katsuhiko Manabe was the captain of the rescue team at the time, while the Utsui couple and Atsuro Kurishima were the relatives of the victims.

“Let’s go ask the current rescue team leader now and see if he knows anything about what happened five years ago.”

The three quickly found the current captain of the rescue team. Because the ditch entrance threatened them that they could not carry out the rescue, all they needed to do now was send people to clear the outer rubble and find a place for the endoscope to go in. The captain of the rescue team also had enough time to tell them the truth of what happened.

"Actually, we only opened a small opening. The children and women were supposed to come out first, but Captain Manabe decided to rescue Mr. Hasumi first. As a result, it took too long, and then a second collapse occurred, so in the end only one person was rescued."

"Can you tell us why Mr. Manabe chose to rescue Mr. Hasumi first? Was it because someone put pressure on the rescue team?"

"No, that's not how it happened. At the time, Captain Manabe saw through the endoscope that Mr. Hasumi was about to die from asthma, while the others were in relatively normal condition. So the captain prioritized rescuing the people who needed emergency care. As a result, no one expected that a second collapse would occur... Afterwards, the captain said that he was not worthy of continuing to be a rescue team member and left. I never expected to meet him in this way today."

Koshimizu Nanatsuki immediately recalled something incongruous and asked:

"Is Mr. Hasumi's asthma real? Did you see him coughing constantly at the time?"

"Yes, we saw him coughing very badly, and then he told us through the endoscope's microphone that he had a history of asthma, so Manabe decided to rescue him first."

The other two also asked:

Is something wrong?

"Yes, there is a big problem. I saw Mr. Hasumi smoking several cigarettes during the luncheon just now. He doesn't seem to have asthma at all. So the history of asthma must be fake. The victims' families found out the truth, so they planned this bombing to trap Mr. Hasumi and make him confess his crimes."

"So, Kitahara-nii is innocent, and he was just caught up in a revenge incident?"

"No, if it were just simple revenge, so many people could easily kill their enemy with a single knife each. I think what they want is to expose Hasumi's crimes. In any case, Mizoguchi is likely an accident, or perhaps a third party who was brought in, but we can't get through to him on the phone, so something has probably happened inside! Captain, when can we use the endoscope to see what's going on inside?"

The rescue team leader, who had been closely monitoring the progress, shouted as Vermouth asked him:

"We can see what's inside now!"

What everyone saw was completely different from what they had imagined, because the person holding the gun had been tied up and was now a different person.

Chapter 223 Two Levels Reversed Again

Okumura walked up to the oil drum containing the herbicide and said:

"Originally, these people only prepared a non-toxic potion. They merely wanted to get Hasumi to confess his crimes; they never even considered killing him. How boring. For my plan, I've already switched the reagent in the oil drum. Although you just blocked the water flow, well—"

Okumura pulled out a water pipe from somewhere, and the water flowing out reacted chemically with the liquid flowing from the oil drum, quickly producing toxic gas.

"There are two gas masks here. I'll naturally take one. So who should I give the other one to? Haha, how about giving it to Inspector Kitahara? After all, you're a celebrity officer. Or are you going to hand over this chance to live to someone else?"

Kitahara Masaki remained silent. He naturally wouldn't mention that he had prepared several gas masks in his car. Although the robber seemed to have the upper hand, he was still trapped here just like everyone else. Moreover, he was able to tell Kitahara Masaki important information about solving the case.

"Give it to me! Give me the rest of the gas masks! I'll give you whatever price you want!"

Hasumi Kyoichiro shouted loudly, his life in grave danger, and seeing that the young man might have been bribed, he immediately did everything he could to save his own life.

But upon hearing the president's shamelessness, the others couldn't help but curse at him:

"Don't you know about rescue priorities?! You don't care about others' safety just to save your own life?!"

"Hasami! You're still exactly the same as you were five years ago! You bastard!"

After hearing everyone's reaction to Hasumi spitting on him, Okumura laughed loudly:

"Haha, after all, President Hasumi has an asthma diagnosis."

"That's right, I have the diagnosis report!"

However, this so-called 'asthma diagnosis' completely ignited public anger towards him:

"What diagnosis report? How dare you even mention it!"

"This wasn't something you faked by bribing the doctor to do it for you!"

"That's shameless!"

"You despicable and shameless scoundrel! I only rescued you first because you deceived me, and I regret it every single day! Every single day!!!"

Surrounded and verbally abused by four people, President Hasumi simply dropped all pretense and maintained his shameless demeanor.

“If I die, Japan will suffer a huge loss! My life is very precious, not something that you lowly citizens can compare to! I have dedicated my life to national security and the happiness of the people, and finally the bill against yakuza was successfully passed. It is because of me—the people of Japan no longer need to fear yakuza. So isn’t it only natural that I enjoy privileges now? Okumura! How much money do you want to give me the gas mask!”

Unfortunately, Okumura seemed completely unconcerned. From the very beginning, he intended to kill everyone with poison gas. His so-called offering of a gas mask was probably a ridiculous deception. After all, he planned to let everyone die from the poison gas, and then notify the people outside to rescue him. Once he was alone, he could say whatever he wanted, because at that point, the people outside would still think that Mizoguchi had taken everyone hostage.

"Hahaha!!! Keep arguing! Your affairs were all part of my plan. You'll be slowly dying from inhaling poison gas soon. And this extra gas mask—give it to this lady who hasn't said a word. Just wait to die, President Hasumi. People like you are disgusting. No wonder you raised a son like that."

Then Okumura put one of the two gas masks on his secretary, and then put on a mask himself.

Kitahara Masaki, who had been silent, suddenly spoke after seeing the guy put on a gas mask:

"Heh, you idiot, you don't think you can survive, do you? Take a good look at your gas mask, there's a crack in it."

Upon hearing this, Okumura was naturally agitated. He hurriedly removed his gas mask, but at that moment, Kitahara Masaki suddenly stood up. By the time Okumura reacted and raised his gun to fire, Kitahara Masaki had already closed in on him. As Okumura raised his hand, Kitahara Masaki had already slipped under his armpit, and the pistol could not hit Kitahara Masaki no matter what.

Although Kitahara Masaki's hands were still tied behind his back, he still managed to knock him away with the strength of his shoulder. Okumura, who was lying on the ground, gripped his pistol tightly. After falling to the ground, he planned to get up immediately and shoot Kitahara Masaki, but he was kicked in the shin and fell to the ground again.

However, this guy understood that as long as he still had a pistol, he still had a chance to turn the tables. So instead of standing up, he lay on the ground and fired.

However, Kitahara Masaki had anticipated this possibility. He leaped up and rolled to the other side of a car, and Okumura, who had fired two shots, hit the car.

Enraged, Okumura forgot that grabbing a hostage would have been the best option. When he ran to the other side of the car, Kitahara Masaki had already disappeared. Half of the license plate hit him in the eye with a whoosh, and the moment he couldn't see clearly made him panic. He fired another shot haphazardly.

After he regained his sight, he found Kitahara Masaki standing behind him. He pulled the trigger sharply, only to hear a series of empty shots.

"That's how revolvers are; it's too easy for people to see how many bullets you have left. Also, you chose the wrong opponent. You really shouldn't have continued your plans after I got involved in this incident."

Ahhhhh! !! !!

Enraged, Okumura charged forward with an empty gun, only to be knocked unconscious by Kitahara Masaki in a single blow.

After finally bringing the matter to a close, Kitahara Masaki kicked away the water pipe, stomped on the signal jammer on Okumura, and then called Director Hakuba:

"Hello, Director White Horse, we've got everything sorted out here. You can have the rescue team start the rescue as soon as possible."

"Heh, Masaki... You do have a formidable girlfriend, but she's so formidable that it's almost frightening."

Before he could understand what Director Hakuba was saying, the ruins, which weren't even a major disaster to begin with, were dug through. Kitahara Masaki had just hung up the phone when he heard the shouts of the rescue team.

"So fast!"

Just as he was about to ask a couple of questions about the case, he discovered that Director White Horse had already hung up, and then Vermouth immediately called in.

"Hello? Evelyn, something's come up here. I might be home a little late tonight."

"Idiot, I'm right outside! We were planning to go see a new movie together this afternoon, but this happened."

"Oh! I'm fine now, and I'll be out soon. The rescue team's digging speed this time is really fast."

"Of course, I hired a professional rescue team and even bought the hotel. How could they not work quickly?"

"Hmm, I feel like... this art style is a little off."

Vermouth seems to have adopted a domineering CEO style, which is a bit hard for people to accept at first.

After the rescue team completely broke open the cave entrance, everyone was quickly and successfully rescued. As soon as Kitahara Masaki was out, Vermouth, Koshimizu Nanatsuki, and Haibara Ai all rushed to hug him, extinguishing his initial intention to make a token struggle. They even hugged each other for a full three minutes under the fierce gazes of a group of male police officers and the rescue team.

From then on, most male police officers in the Metropolitan Police Department would privately refer to Kitahara Maki as "that harem girl".

Chapter 224 The Prisoner Escaped Again

"I see. After you saw the situation inside through the endoscope and found that Mizoguchi was no longer in control, you immediately started the rescue... So most people must have heard President Hasumi's outrageous remarks."

"Yes, when that president started speaking, there were thousands of people watching what was happening in the garage."

"Haha, then I'll give him another hand. Ai, send the endoscopy video to all the major newspapers."

Ai Haibara was already prepared, after all, she knew very well that Kitahara Masaki would definitely teach this President Hasumi a lesson.

Okumura was then taken to the hospital, while the families of the victims from five years ago were taken to the police station. However, Hasumi Kyoichiro swaggered away, since his behavior could at most be described as morally corrupt, not criminal.

"Well, it's quite interesting. That guy named Okumura is really something. He didn't just use Mizoguchi; he also took advantage of the victims' families' plans. If I hadn't happened to be inside, he probably would have succeeded. He could have just put on a gas mask and waited for the others to die from poisoning, then pinned all the blame on Mizoguchi."

"He's not the point. The point is, Kitahara-san, are you really alright?"

"Of course, I'm very grateful for everything you've done for me. But Ai, how did you manage to get here?"

"That reporter, Sometani Hotaru, I was originally going to visit her, but she suddenly received a phone call and then brought me here with her."

Kitahara Masaki inwardly cursed, realizing that he was likely to be asked to do an interview with Sometani Hotaru. After all, his relationship with Sometani Hotaru was purely based on mutual benefit, and if he didn't repay the favor, he would probably be entangled with her for some time.

Just as Kitahara Masaki was sighing, he saw Sometani Hotaru waving at him from outside the crowd.

"Speaking of which, I'm not surprised that Yue Shui stayed here to check on the rescue situation, but how come you two have been here until now?"

Afterwards, Vermouth recounted her recent experience to Kitahara Masaki—standing up to Director Hakuba head-on and issuing orders directly. These astonishing actions made Kitahara Masaki feel a stomachache.