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Chapter 687: Mysterious Situations That Leave People Full of Questions
The restroom door opened and closed, and the bar returned to its previous state.
Near the entrance, two large men in black suits continued drinking silently.
In the corner, the middle-aged man began chatting quietly with the waitress.
"Uh... sorry, about that... I'll be waiting near the bar entrance for a few minutes before I leave."
"Ah?" The waitress was startled.
"If anything happens..." The middle-aged man looked a little nervous, lowering his voice further, "I mean, if you run into any danger, just shout, and I'll help you call the police."
The waitress glanced at the two large men in black suits over there and smiled faintly, laughing, "You're too nervous. Even members of organized crime groups wouldn't casually bother civilians. I've been working here for two years, and I occasionally encounter people from organized crime groups coming in for drinks. Honestly, they're quite polite. The delinquent youths are actually harder to deal with... Well, thank you anyway."
The middle-aged man nodded, then furrowed his brow, "Don't they scare away the customers here?"
The waitress felt the kindness from the 'uncle' and was willing to say a bit more, "You don't know much about the members of organized crime groups, and you don't come to bars often, right? Please don't worry, as long as you don't go out of your way to provoke them, they'll drink their drinks, we'll have our chat, and nothing will happen~"
Lark deliberately relaxed his previously somewhat restrained expression, and a hint of casualness entered his low voice, "I really don't come to bars much. Is working here very tough for you? Like those delinquent youths you mentioned earlier..."
The target for this mission was named Urase Ayaka, a fifteen-year-old junior high student. She was also a rebellious girl, not just a delinquent who skipped school and got into fights, but also associated with violent biker gangs.
Biker gangs are those who ride motorcycles late at night. By nature, they can be divided into civilian biker gangs and violent biker gangs.
Among the so-called civilian biker gangs, some are even office workers, just riding motorcycles late at night to vent stress, and they don't do anything to harm others.
Violent biker gangs are an intensified version of delinquents, but they don't reach the level of organized crime groups. These people are generally under twenty years old, have certain economic conditions at home or themselves, and some already belong to 'delinquent' groups. Threats, vandalism, disturbing unrelated people, and group fights are common occurrences, and occasionally large-scale physical conflicts and armed brawls break out among them.
As for organized crime groups, or Japanese gangs, as the waitress said, they have very strict rules. For example, you must be at least twenty years old to join, you are not allowed to harass civilians without cause, and you must wear a formal black suit to clock in at the office building for work. Drinking is not allowed during working hours. Furthermore, they have their own lawyers, clerks, and financial managers, and you must have a university degree and relevant study certificates to hold a position in the gang...
Getting back to the point, according to Rum's investigation, Urase Ayaka is celebrating her birthday tonight. Her companions ordered a cake to be delivered here, which isn't something urgent, so it's unlikely she would leave suddenly.
He arrived within twenty minutes after Urase Ayaka got to the bar. According to the original plan, he was supposed to meet up with Gin's people, then observe Urase Ayaka, leave afterward, and then arrange further action based on the situation, to find and somehow obtain the necklace Urase Ayaka was carrying, and a diary hidden somewhere unknown.
The purpose of this mission was very strange, just a fifteen-year-old girl's personal belongings and a notebook. The necklace was easy to get, but the diary was nowhere to be found.
Rum had already sent people to search Urase Ayaka's home, school, and secret hideouts, but still found nothing. Urase Ayaka herself also had multiple frequent locations, often riding on violent biker gangs' motorcycles at night, rarely going home, and there were no other places left to search thoroughly.
It was precisely because of this that operatives were sent to interfere.
It's estimated that Rum's patience was wearing thin. If necessary, they would resort to interrogating her at gunpoint, or simply kidnapping her.
He had pretended not to be familiar with the ways of organized crime groups earlier to confirm if the two people Gin had arranged had shown too deliberate surveillance, causing the target to sense danger and flee in fright.
But judging by the situation now, it didn't seem to be those two's fault.
While Lark was slightly distracted, the waitress also leaned her arms on the bar counter, tilting forward, and said in a low voice, "Dealing with those kids is indeed a headache, but it's not extremely difficult either. Some of them come here frequently, like the 'Thousand Swords' biker gang, who have been quite prominent in the city recently. I've gotten familiar with them, and they're not particularly hard to get along with."
Thousand Swords...
Lark remembered this was the biker gang group connected to Urase Ayaka. He took a sip of his drink and asked casually, "It seems those people won't be showing up tonight, otherwise the bar would probably be a bit livelier."
"They were here earlier," the waitress smiled, "It seemed they were planning to celebrate a girl's birthday, but that girl ran into a bit of trouble. It seems she was being followed by a stalker, and those kids planned to deal with that problem first."
"Oh?" Lark feigned surprise, "Stalkers are indeed annoying people. Do they already know who was stalking that girl?"
"Yes, the girl said she felt someone was following her and even told me the man's characteristics. At first, like her companions, I didn't quite believe it, thinking she was too sensitive. But it turns out that man actually followed her into the bar today! Although he was wearing a hat and had a fake beard glued on, I still recognized him when I handed him a drink. The lighting here might be a bit dim for most people, but having worked here for a long time, I've gotten used to distinguishing guests in this environment," the waitress shared this with Lark, sounding quite interested. "Even if he's not necessarily a stalker, secretly following a girl is a despicable act. After I noticed him, I told them [the biker gang], and those kids probably wanted to lure him outside and deal with him..."
Lark drank the last sip of his drink, suppressed the speechlessness in his heart, and stood up to pay the bill, "That's quite interesting, but I should be going."
No need to listen anymore. Rum's man messed up.
He had seen that person's file. A Kumamoto native, thirty-six years old, with a prison record for harassing women, stalking, intimidation, ignoring warnings, and being a repeat offender.
The evaluation left on the organization's platform was: has learned stalking and counter-surveillance techniques and applies them proficiently...
Although it was clear the evaluation was written seriously, encountering such an oddball made the evaluation feel like it was saying, 'I'm being sarcastic'.
This person likely learned these techniques for better stalking and was indeed not a good person. After using them on women, he seemed to feel unsatisfied that no one knew about his stalking and began subtly appearing near his targets, applying psychological pressure, and even writing letters detailing what he had learned from his stalking and investigations to threaten and extort them.
There were as many as eleven victims. At most, he simultaneously stalked three women. One young office worker was nearly driven insane by him, moved away from Kumamoto, cut off contact with everyone she knew, and never returned until this guy went to prison.
After being released from prison, this guy lost his original job, had no source of income, and was ostracized by his former neighbors. Finally, he also moved, changed his name, and altered his hairstyle. Coupled with the changes over the years he was in prison, besides the victims from back then, hardly anyone paid attention to him anymore.
In an organization operation five years ago, this guy came into contact with the organization, taking money to provide information on a certain assassination target for the organization. He was originally someone they planned to use and discard, but considering his abilities and criminal psychology, he was kept around.
This person's stalking ability was actually only enough to deal with ordinary people, but the organization also needed some people to run errands. Kumamoto also needed informants. They couldn't have people like Bourbon running errands for every small matter, so he had been kept around until now. Under the organization's arrangement, he opened a convenience store, which was doing quite well. Coupled with occasionally helping the organization transfer or transport some illegal items, or providing intelligence and getting paid, his life was quite well-off.
He hadn't expected that the person who had once troubled those women would actually fail this time at the hands of a fifteen-year-old girl and a waitress. He wasn't sure whether to lament this as retribution or to advise that person to perhaps be a little superstitious and find a Daoist priest to see if he had been cursed by the Fiend of Light 180 times a day in someone's heart. How could people in the organization keep running into such baffling, mysterious situations every so often...
After Lark left, the two large men in black suits also became a little restless.
Lark was worried about being ambushed by agents, and these two were worried about people like them, who illegally possessed firearms, being targeted and trapped by the police.
The difference, however, was that Lark was wary of these two turning against him, while these two didn't worry about the coded member sent by their superiors having issues. They simply worried that the 'uncle' who had just left might have noticed something amiss and decided to call the police.
Waiting for Lark was fine, but they wanted to ask if they should leave the bar first. If he was going to take a long time to arrive, they could wait somewhere else...
The two silently exchanged glances. The one closer to the inside of the bar took out his phone, just about to send an email to Gin, when he saw an incoming call. He checked the number and answered.
"Lark?"
The voice on the other end of the phone was hoarse and unpleasant: "Outside the bar, come out."
After speaking, he hung up the phone directly.
"Let's go!" The man put away his phone, called out to his companion, placed the money next to the glass, and without further delay, turned and left the bar.
At the alley entrance across from the bar, Lark had just put away his phone and torn off the middle-aged man's disguised face, revealing the face of a young European man with blond hair, blue eyes, and light freckles underneath. He saw the two men had already come out.
The two men also saw the process of Lark 'violently' tearing off his face with a whoosh. They were momentarily stunned and stopped to observe him.
"Call Gin."
Lark reminded them in a hoarse voice, confirming his identity in passing.
These two's execution ability was quite good; they didn't procrastinate and acted immediately when told. It was just their reaction a moment ago that was a bit slow-witted.
But one couldn't be too picky. As periphery members responsible for operations, these two were considered decent.
End of Chapter
The restroom door opened and closed, and the bar returned to its previous state.
Near the entrance, two large men in black suits continued drinking silently.
In the corner, the middle-aged man began chatting quietly with the waitress.
"Uh... sorry, about that... I'll be waiting near the bar entrance for a few minutes before I leave."
"Ah?" The waitress was startled.
"If anything happens..." The middle-aged man looked a little nervous, lowering his voice further, "I mean, if you run into any danger, just shout, and I'll help you call the police."
The waitress glanced at the two large men in black suits over there and smiled faintly, laughing, "You're too nervous. Even members of organized crime groups wouldn't casually bother civilians. I've been working here for two years, and I occasionally encounter people from organized crime groups coming in for drinks. Honestly, they're quite polite. The delinquent youths are actually harder to deal with... Well, thank you anyway."
The middle-aged man nodded, then furrowed his brow, "Don't they scare away the customers here?"
The waitress felt the kindness from the 'uncle' and was willing to say a bit more, "You don't know much about the members of organized crime groups, and you don't come to bars often, right? Please don't worry, as long as you don't go out of your way to provoke them, they'll drink their drinks, we'll have our chat, and nothing will happen~"
Lark deliberately relaxed his previously somewhat restrained expression, and a hint of casualness entered his low voice, "I really don't come to bars much. Is working here very tough for you? Like those delinquent youths you mentioned earlier..."
The target for this mission was named Urase Ayaka, a fifteen-year-old junior high student. She was also a rebellious girl, not just a delinquent who skipped school and got into fights, but also associated with violent biker gangs.
Biker gangs are those who ride motorcycles late at night. By nature, they can be divided into civilian biker gangs and violent biker gangs.
Among the so-called civilian biker gangs, some are even office workers, just riding motorcycles late at night to vent stress, and they don't do anything to harm others.
Violent biker gangs are an intensified version of delinquents, but they don't reach the level of organized crime groups. These people are generally under twenty years old, have certain economic conditions at home or themselves, and some already belong to 'delinquent' groups. Threats, vandalism, disturbing unrelated people, and group fights are common occurrences, and occasionally large-scale physical conflicts and armed brawls break out among them.
As for organized crime groups, or Japanese gangs, as the waitress said, they have very strict rules. For example, you must be at least twenty years old to join, you are not allowed to harass civilians without cause, and you must wear a formal black suit to clock in at the office building for work. Drinking is not allowed during working hours. Furthermore, they have their own lawyers, clerks, and financial managers, and you must have a university degree and relevant study certificates to hold a position in the gang...
Getting back to the point, according to Rum's investigation, Urase Ayaka is celebrating her birthday tonight. Her companions ordered a cake to be delivered here, which isn't something urgent, so it's unlikely she would leave suddenly.
He arrived within twenty minutes after Urase Ayaka got to the bar. According to the original plan, he was supposed to meet up with Gin's people, then observe Urase Ayaka, leave afterward, and then arrange further action based on the situation, to find and somehow obtain the necklace Urase Ayaka was carrying, and a diary hidden somewhere unknown.
The purpose of this mission was very strange, just a fifteen-year-old girl's personal belongings and a notebook. The necklace was easy to get, but the diary was nowhere to be found.
Rum had already sent people to search Urase Ayaka's home, school, and secret hideouts, but still found nothing. Urase Ayaka herself also had multiple frequent locations, often riding on violent biker gangs' motorcycles at night, rarely going home, and there were no other places left to search thoroughly.
It was precisely because of this that operatives were sent to interfere.
It's estimated that Rum's patience was wearing thin. If necessary, they would resort to interrogating her at gunpoint, or simply kidnapping her.
He had pretended not to be familiar with the ways of organized crime groups earlier to confirm if the two people Gin had arranged had shown too deliberate surveillance, causing the target to sense danger and flee in fright.
But judging by the situation now, it didn't seem to be those two's fault.
While Lark was slightly distracted, the waitress also leaned her arms on the bar counter, tilting forward, and said in a low voice, "Dealing with those kids is indeed a headache, but it's not extremely difficult either. Some of them come here frequently, like the 'Thousand Swords' biker gang, who have been quite prominent in the city recently. I've gotten familiar with them, and they're not particularly hard to get along with."
Thousand Swords...
Lark remembered this was the biker gang group connected to Urase Ayaka. He took a sip of his drink and asked casually, "It seems those people won't be showing up tonight, otherwise the bar would probably be a bit livelier."
"They were here earlier," the waitress smiled, "It seemed they were planning to celebrate a girl's birthday, but that girl ran into a bit of trouble. It seems she was being followed by a stalker, and those kids planned to deal with that problem first."
"Oh?" Lark feigned surprise, "Stalkers are indeed annoying people. Do they already know who was stalking that girl?"
"Yes, the girl said she felt someone was following her and even told me the man's characteristics. At first, like her companions, I didn't quite believe it, thinking she was too sensitive. But it turns out that man actually followed her into the bar today! Although he was wearing a hat and had a fake beard glued on, I still recognized him when I handed him a drink. The lighting here might be a bit dim for most people, but having worked here for a long time, I've gotten used to distinguishing guests in this environment," the waitress shared this with Lark, sounding quite interested. "Even if he's not necessarily a stalker, secretly following a girl is a despicable act. After I noticed him, I told them [the biker gang], and those kids probably wanted to lure him outside and deal with him..."
Lark drank the last sip of his drink, suppressed the speechlessness in his heart, and stood up to pay the bill, "That's quite interesting, but I should be going."
No need to listen anymore. Rum's man messed up.
He had seen that person's file. A Kumamoto native, thirty-six years old, with a prison record for harassing women, stalking, intimidation, ignoring warnings, and being a repeat offender.
The evaluation left on the organization's platform was: has learned stalking and counter-surveillance techniques and applies them proficiently...
Although it was clear the evaluation was written seriously, encountering such an oddball made the evaluation feel like it was saying, 'I'm being sarcastic'.
This person likely learned these techniques for better stalking and was indeed not a good person. After using them on women, he seemed to feel unsatisfied that no one knew about his stalking and began subtly appearing near his targets, applying psychological pressure, and even writing letters detailing what he had learned from his stalking and investigations to threaten and extort them.
There were as many as eleven victims. At most, he simultaneously stalked three women. One young office worker was nearly driven insane by him, moved away from Kumamoto, cut off contact with everyone she knew, and never returned until this guy went to prison.
After being released from prison, this guy lost his original job, had no source of income, and was ostracized by his former neighbors. Finally, he also moved, changed his name, and altered his hairstyle. Coupled with the changes over the years he was in prison, besides the victims from back then, hardly anyone paid attention to him anymore.
In an organization operation five years ago, this guy came into contact with the organization, taking money to provide information on a certain assassination target for the organization. He was originally someone they planned to use and discard, but considering his abilities and criminal psychology, he was kept around.
This person's stalking ability was actually only enough to deal with ordinary people, but the organization also needed some people to run errands. Kumamoto also needed informants. They couldn't have people like Bourbon running errands for every small matter, so he had been kept around until now. Under the organization's arrangement, he opened a convenience store, which was doing quite well. Coupled with occasionally helping the organization transfer or transport some illegal items, or providing intelligence and getting paid, his life was quite well-off.
He hadn't expected that the person who had once troubled those women would actually fail this time at the hands of a fifteen-year-old girl and a waitress. He wasn't sure whether to lament this as retribution or to advise that person to perhaps be a little superstitious and find a Daoist priest to see if he had been cursed by the Fiend of Light 180 times a day in someone's heart. How could people in the organization keep running into such baffling, mysterious situations every so often...
After Lark left, the two large men in black suits also became a little restless.
Lark was worried about being ambushed by agents, and these two were worried about people like them, who illegally possessed firearms, being targeted and trapped by the police.
The difference, however, was that Lark was wary of these two turning against him, while these two didn't worry about the coded member sent by their superiors having issues. They simply worried that the 'uncle' who had just left might have noticed something amiss and decided to call the police.
Waiting for Lark was fine, but they wanted to ask if they should leave the bar first. If he was going to take a long time to arrive, they could wait somewhere else...
The two silently exchanged glances. The one closer to the inside of the bar took out his phone, just about to send an email to Gin, when he saw an incoming call. He checked the number and answered.
"Lark?"
The voice on the other end of the phone was hoarse and unpleasant: "Outside the bar, come out."
After speaking, he hung up the phone directly.
"Let's go!" The man put away his phone, called out to his companion, placed the money next to the glass, and without further delay, turned and left the bar.
At the alley entrance across from the bar, Lark had just put away his phone and torn off the middle-aged man's disguised face, revealing the face of a young European man with blond hair, blue eyes, and light freckles underneath. He saw the two men had already come out.
The two men also saw the process of Lark 'violently' tearing off his face with a whoosh. They were momentarily stunned and stopped to observe him.
"Call Gin."
Lark reminded them in a hoarse voice, confirming his identity in passing.
These two's execution ability was quite good; they didn't procrastinate and acted immediately when told. It was just their reaction a moment ago that was a bit slow-witted.
But one couldn't be too picky. As periphery members responsible for operations, these two were considered decent.
End of Chapter
