I am the protagonist

Chapter 73 Irie Shoichi's Response

"Damn it!"

Everyone in the command room saw that Alice was completely dead.

"That's Sawada Tsunayoshi's Zero Breakthrough. Why is his Zero Breakthrough completely different from what we know?"

Irie is now completely out of control of the current situation.

The information about Vongola X was completely different from what he had. Even though it was Vongola X from ten years ago, the power he displayed was even more terrifying than that of Sawada Tsunayoshi in this era.

"Why was Sawada Tsunayoshi able to kill someone so naturally ten years ago?"

"Didn't the previous intelligence say he didn't like fighting?"

Cerbero was also speechless when asked the question.

They personally investigated the information about Sawada Tsunayoshi, since he was an old rival of the Vongola, and it was only natural for them to conduct in-depth investigations into his information.

"Lord Irie, the information we investigated should be correct. In fact, Sawada Tsunayoshi of this era also has this kind of personality."

Irie frowned and pointed at the person in the picture who didn't care about killing.

"So you believe this is the Sawada Tsunayoshi you've identified?"

"This... Lord Irie, could it be that something happened ten years ago that caused Sawada Tsunayoshi to change?"

This answer calmed Irie down a bit.

"That's a possibility."

It's not impossible that some changes in the past led to a change in Sawada Tsunayoshi's personality ten years ago.

"There's just one strange thing: since Sawada Tsunayoshi changed ten years ago, why hasn't Sawada Tsunayoshi changed much in this era?"

"If the Sawada Tsunayoshi of ten years ago had changed, he should have appeared in the Sawada Tsunayoshi of this era."

"Lord Irie, could it be that this era is too closely connected to the world of ten years ago, which is why Sawada Tsunayoshi, who is from one of the two eras, has undergone such different changes?"

"...You mean that Sawada Tsunayoshi of these two eras is different, but because the relationship between the two eras is too close, Sawada Tsunayoshi of this era has not undergone the same changes."

"But what you're saying means that these two Sawada Tsunayoshis aren't the same person."

"Lord Irie, perhaps this is the explanation for the huge difference between ten years ago and now."

Irie remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding.

"What you said makes some sense."

"Time is beyond our comprehension, and whether future changes will be reflected in the era ten years from now is also beyond our control."

"The fact that Sawada Tsunayoshi has changed so much in the past ten years is just one explanation that can be considered an explanation."

Theoretically speaking, this is an absolutely impossible situation.

A timeline creates a specific future, and any change in time will affect the course of the entire future.

If Sawada Tsunayoshi changed himself for some reason ten years ago, then Sawada Tsunayoshi in this era on this timeline should also have undergone the same change, but he hasn't now.

This is a situation that cannot be explained by common sense.

Is it because of the rocket launcher incident ten years ago that the timeline from ten years ago is so tightly linked to the timeline of this era?

[If that's the case, then Sawada Tsunayoshi ten years ago would indeed be different from Sawada Tsunayoshi of this era.]

Irie is no ordinary technician. He has studied rocket artillery from ten years ago and is the real mastermind behind bringing people from ten years ago into this era. He also has knowledge of timelines and world lines, but under normal circumstances, such a change would never occur.

It seems that something unexpected has indeed happened.

"Can we contact Mr. Bai Lan now?"

"...I'm very sorry, Lord Irie, all communications have been jammed."

Irie's expression was rather unpleasant.

Things have gotten complicated.

"Lord Irie, should we now deploy the troops from the base to take action?"

"...The situation is different now. The Vongola X we are facing is different from the Vongola we knew."

Irie pointed to the passage in the picture that had been completely frozen.

"That ice seal created by the Zero Breakthrough has a sealing effect on the Death Flame. Now, even if we use a large number of troops to besiege it, it will just seal all the combat power in our base together."

Cerbero was speechless as he stared at the unusual breakthrough at zero points.

The extent to which Sawada Tsunayoshi had mastered Zero Breakthrough ten years ago was beyond their imagination. However, the variability of Zero Breakthrough was also beyond their imagination. Deploying a large number of troops to deal with it would probably not be very effective, and might even result in heavy losses.

"Their very presence is designed to attract our attention."

The opponent's ideas and tactics were already very clear, and Irie wasn't stupid, so he could see it all.

"Right now, they are just there to hinder our actions, so we don't need to focus our attention on them for the time being."

"Have the Phantom Knights guard the area around the laboratory, and absolutely no one should be allowed to get close to it."

“What they’re really looking for right now is the lab, otherwise they wouldn’t have sent Sawada Tsunayoshi as bait to distract us.”

The only thing in the entire base that would warrant such a move from the Vongola was the laboratory within the base.

As the owner of that laboratory, Irie knew very well what was kept in it.

It was precisely because Irie knew the importance of that laboratory that she prevented the Vongola members from accessing it.

"Yes, Lord Irie."

Cerbero immediately contacted the Phantom Knight who was on standby.

"Phantom Knight, Lord Irie has ordered you to immediately go to the laboratory to guard it. The current situation..."

"Zizi!"

At that moment, the entire command center's view became blurry.

"This……"

Irie now knows exactly what the Vongola is planning.

"The Vongola destroyed the base's surveillance system."

"So that's what they were planning."

Although they knew about the Vongola's plans, the current situation was extremely unfavorable for them.

We cannot allow the Vongola to continue wreaking havoc in the base.

If we let them continue causing trouble, we might as well just abandon this base.

"The rest of you continue to prepare in the command center."

“Cherberlo, come with me.”

"!"

"Lord Irie, could it be that..."

"Ah, I was prepared for that."

Irie is now forced into a corner with no other options.

Faced with the Vongola's relentless pressure, Irie had no choice but to respond in this way.

Chapter 74 Gokudera's Contingency Plan

"boom!"

Gokudera glanced back at the surveillance system and the situation inside the room, then gestured to the two people not far away.

Two other people nearby also cautiously crept over.

"The surveillance system has been destroyed; now is the time for us to begin our operation."

Both Yamamoto and Sasagawa started to get excited.

"You two idiots, hold on a bit. What we need to find next is that thing. I've already checked the surveillance system and downloaded the map of the entire base into our navigators."

Gokudera took out his navigator, which already had a map of the entire Milfiore base and marked what they needed to find.

"What I'm looking for isn't far from here, and it's still possible..."

"Buzz!"

A strong earthquake began to occur throughout the base.

"Squat down!"

Gokudera quickly squatted down against the wall.

An earthquake in such an underground base could be extremely deadly, as they would be completely buried and unable to escape.

After waiting for a while, I could feel the entire passage vibrating strongly, but the vibration did not last very long, and it did not seem like a normal earthquake.

"This doesn't seem like a normal earthquake."

If it really was an earthquake, it wouldn't have happened so suddenly, especially since this is the city center. How could an earthquake happen so easily, let alone stop so quickly?

"Whoa! This situation is really scary."

"We had just finished our mission when this abnormal earthquake occurred. This is not a normal occurrence."

"Octopus Head, are you saying this situation was caused by the enemy?"

"Yes, there's a high probability that the phenomenon was caused by the other party."

Following our actions, Milfiore was indeed forced to take action as well.

[Irie Shoichi is definitely the kind of person who would do that; what he wants to do is probably gather us together and guide us to the same place.]

Irie Shoichi is a spy who infiltrated Milfiore, and Gokudera believes that he will definitely do so, but because he still needs to hide his identity, he may do so in a somewhat brutal way.

[Irie Shoichi, perhaps the few of us won't be able to follow your script.]

Gokudera also has his own pride. Even though Irie is a member of the same family, he doesn't want everything to go according to Irie's wishes.

"Isn't this commotion a bit too much?"

"It's precisely because of this huge commotion that it proves that Milfiore did it."

I've gained a new understanding of the stupid Gokudera of these two guys.

“This is Milfiore’s base. Now that we’ve cornered them so much, even their internal surveillance system has been destroyed, they naturally want to break the deadlock quickly rather than be controlled by us.”

"The vibration just now was most likely because some of the mechanisms in this base started operating, in order to change the situation that we are now in control of."

The most troublesome thing is what happens next.

Gokudera guessed that the vibration was likely related to a hidden mechanism in the Milfiore base, but this hidden secret was the most troublesome.

Using such a mechanism at this juncture is undoubtedly Milfiore's last resort.

However, this tactic is probably not so easy to counter.

At that moment, a slight smile appeared on Gokudera's lips.

"boom!!!"

Another powerful explosion caused everyone present to stumble.

"Another explosion?"

"Yes, it seems like only a few of us have invaded Milfiore, right?"

Yamamoto glanced at Gokudera.

"Gokudera, did you do something?"

This surprised Gokudera a bit, but he didn't object to the fact that he had done some things.

"I did do some things."

"No matter what Milfiore's plans or backup plans are, once the base is damaged to a certain extent, their plans and backup plans will be useless."

“I planted a lot of explosives along every route we came in, so the situation at this base is not good now.”

Gokudera had prepared some unusually heavy explosives specifically for today's mission, as a last resort for this base.

Yamamoto and Sasagawa both felt a chill run down their spines when they saw that devilish smile.