The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 30

The searchlights set up by the Mobile Unit suddenly turned on. The beams of light pierced through the thick darkness, casting a large area of warm yellow light on the ruins.

Unlike the faint flashlight on a phone, the lighting equipment brought by the Mobile Unit was so bright that you could see the dust churning in the air. Even the bumps on the broken steel bars had a golden glow, like a sharp knife that had been used to forcefully slice through the darkness.

Kenji Hagiwara stood at the front, his figure standing tall and straight against the light, casting a translucent silhouette.

He stared straight at Lin Jianyue. His drooping violet eyes were incredibly bright, filled with fear, gratitude, and a certain kind of urgency that had been forcefully suppressed.

Around them, the other trapped people were gasping, cheering, and sobbing softly.

Under the gaze of these tired and shocked eyes, Kenji Hagiwara stood still. His gaze was like a warm net, silently sweeping over Lin Jianyue.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice.

Lin Jianyue shook her head lightly. “I’m fine. I only have a few minor scrapes.”

Kenji Hagiwara’s tense shoulders suddenly relaxed. A long sigh, as if it had used up all his strength, came from his chest.

“I’m sorry.”

He lowered his voice and whispered so that only the two of them could hear. The words were filled with a deep sense of self-blame.

Just as Lin Jianyue was about to speak, he had already turned around and plunged into the depths of the ruins without any hesitation.

Lin Jianyue stood still, her voice still suspended in her throat. She stared blankly at Kenji Hagiwara, as if the wisp of air with his body temperature was still lingering behind her ear.

“There are injured people in the southeast corner. Call the coordinates for medical personnel! Squad one, clear the rubble! Squad two, use the thermal sensors to search for other trapped people! Hurry!”

“Yes!” The members of the Mobile Unit who were following Kenji Hagiwara quickly dispersed and went about their duties.

The sharp screech of metal cutting rang out. Kenji Hagiwara’s voice was mixed in, calmly, with no ripples. It was a completely different style from his usual lazy and sweet voice. “Be careful not to cause a secondary collapse!”

He bent down and worked with another member of the Mobile Unit to lift the broken beam that was trapping the middle-aged woman.

Lin Jianyue stood in place. Her gaze was as if it was being pulled by an invisible string, her eyes never leaving his figure.

His movements were quick and efficient. His commands came through the dust, carrying an unquestionable certainty. “Takahashi and Shimizu, take the people who can walk out first. The rest of you, follow me to clear the rubble pile on the west side!”

A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, mixing with the dusty particles on his face and sliding down his jawline and into his collar.

Lin Jianyue should have left with Takahashi and the others, but it took time to count the trapped people. Also, the only exit was a little small, and they needed to bend over and line up one by one to get out, which also took time.

Lin Jianyue could only stand at the end of the line and wait quietly.

When Kenji Hagiwara turned around, his gaze would occasionally sweep over her like the wind.

His eyes held a worry that had not yet dissipated. He would pause for half a second on the scabs on her arm, as if he was making sure the wounds weren’t bleeding again. But in the next second, he had already looked away, giving accurate and correct commands to his team members. His eyes were as deep as a pond, suppressing all his emotions in his focus on the rescue.

Lin Jianyue suddenly smiled and subconsciously touched the dried bl00d on her arm.

She didn’t feel the slightest bit of neglect. Instead, she felt as if she was filled with something warm, and even her breathing became steady.

This was the man she loved.

He should be like this, carrying justice and responsibility on his shoulders. Even if his eyes were filled with panic when he first saw her, he was able to calm down quickly and immediately focus on his work.

From a distance, she heard Takahashi urging people to leave. Lin Jianyue looked back at the figure who was bending down to check a support pillar.

The back of Kenji Hagiwara’s black riot gear was covered in large patches of dust. He and his team members used their bodies to hold up a wobbling stone slab. His back was bent heavily, but he was carrying a weight of a thousand pounds of responsibility.

Idiot, you’d better not get hurt.

Her lips moved. Lin Jianyue left a silent instruction, then she turned around and joined the crowd of people leaving.

Kenji Hagiwara’s voice behind her became more and more distant, mixed with the muffled sound of stones hitting the ground.

The group walked very quietly. Only the suppressed sound of footsteps echoed in the ruins. They followed the Mobile Unit members for about two hundred meters, and then a bright light suddenly poured in through a large hole that had been broken in the wall.

The crowd instantly stirred. The rustling sounds were filled with an excitement that they couldn’t suppress. Some people sped up their pace, and some even started to jog, rushing toward the light.

When Lin Jianyue walked out of the hole with the crowd, the evening breeze carried the smell of gunpowder and dust, which was a little choking.

The open area outside the City Building was crowded with police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances. The flashing red and blue lights were dizzying, making everyone’s faces flicker between light and dark.

The uniformed police were maintaining order. The people in white coats were pushing stretchers back and forth in a hurry. Firefighters were rushing into the building with hoses. The sound of running mixed with the sporadic sounds of walkie-talkies creates a tense web.

“Shinichi Kudo! Come out!” A sharp shriek suddenly cut through the chaos.

Lin Jianyue looked in the direction of the voice. Next to a police car in the open area, Teiji Moriya was handcuffed, his neck strained as he yelled at the sky.

“Shinichi Kudo, stop hiding! I know you’re around here!”

“Shinichi Kudo! If you have the guts, come out and face me!”

His voice held a kind of almost-crazy stubbornness. His eyes swept over the crowd, as if he were searching for his prey.

Wataru Takagi rushed over and grabbed Teiji Moriya’s shoulder, pressing him firmly against the hood of the police car. “Don’t move!”

The young police officer’s voice was filled with urgency. It seemed like it was his first time dealing with such a chaotic situation.

“Let me go!” Teiji Moriya struggled, making the handcuffs clatter. He arched his back, and the veins on his neck bulged. “Let Shinichi Kudo come out!”

Lin Jianyue stood on the periphery of the crowd, looking at the architect who had once spoken so eloquently at the banquet, now a hysterical prisoner. The red light from the police car fell on his distorted face, making him look grotesque and terrifying.

“Mr. Moriya,” Lin Jianyue’s voice suddenly rang out. It was as light as a feather on the water, but it carried a coldness that instantly suppressed the surrounding noise.

Teiji Moriya’s head shot up. After he saw who it was, he narrowed his eyes. “Oh, it’s you. Saito’s disciple.”

He suddenly let out a long sigh of relief. His shoulders even relaxed a little, as if he had found a kindred spirit in the desert. “You must understand me, right? That anger of art being desecrated! How dare they… how dare they use such crude modifications to defile my perfect designs!”

“Yes, I understand your pursuit of art.”

Lin Jianyue’s voice was very soft, with just the right amount of approval. “I’m the same. I also hope to create a perfectly flawless work. I was indeed inspired by you at the banquet yesterday.”

Wataru Takagi was stunned. His expression changed slightly, and he gave a wry smile. “Miss Lin, please don’t make a joke like that.”

“See!” Teiji Moriya, however, acted as if he had found a life raft. His voice suddenly got louder, and his eyes burned with the fire of anger and hatred. “As I thought, people who truly pursue the highest beauty of art can understand me! They all get it!”

“But!” Lin Jianyue suddenly spoke, her voice getting much louder and interrupting Teiji Moriya.

She looked up, her eyes as deep as a bottomless pond. When she looked at Teiji Moriya, her eyes were burning with anger and contempt. “From today on, your name will rot in the foundations of Tokyo, along with these collapsed steel bars.”

Teiji Moriya was silent for a moment, then he exploded. “Shut up! You, a half-assed amateur, have no right to talk to me about my achievements!”

He was a tall man. Wataru Takagi almost couldn’t hold him down.

Wataru Date arrived on time. He kicked the back of Teiji Moriya’s knee, pressing the architect, who was about to stand u, back onto the police car.

Teiji Moriya was held down and couldn’t move, but he was still yelling. “You don’t understand what absolute perfection means to an artist! It’s life! It’s a belief!”

Lin Jianyue looked at him quietly. Her eyes became colder. “Of course, I understand. My teacher is a strict perfectionist, and I’ve always held myself to a high standard, following my teacher’s teachings.”

She paused, her eyes sweeping over his distorted face. “But I knew since I was in school that no matter how amazing a design is, it’s not as valuable as a person’s living heartbeat. A human life has always been more valuable than any kind of perfection.”

A rustling sound of footsteps came from behind her, with a sluggish limp, as if someone was walking on cotton. Every step was unsteady.

Lin Jianyue turned around and saw an unexpected person.

Her teacher, Kiriko Saito.

Kiriko Saito was wearing a wrinkled shirt. It looked like she had just jumped out of bed and grabbed whatever clothes she could find. She had buttoned the first button in the wrong place, which caused the entire row of buttons to be misaligned.

Kiriko Saito’s hair was a mess. A few strands were stuck to her sweaty forehead. Her eyelids were as red and swollen as walnuts. It was clear that she had just been crying.

Lin Jianyue quickly walked over. “Teacher, why are you here?”

Kiriko Saito didn’t answer. Instead, she fell to her knees on the cement ground with a thud, kneeling straight toward her.

“Teacher!”

Lin Jianyue subconsciously took a step back, then quickly and clumsily knelt with her. “What are you doing? Get up!”

Kiriko Saito was about to kowtow without a word. Her forehead was two inches from the ground, but Lin Jianyue held her back.

“Teacher, please get up!” Lin Jianyue tried to help Kiriko Saito up, but the latter stubbornly kept her head down.

Lin Jianyue, in her desperation, told a harmless lie. “You must not, Teacher! In my culture, if a teacher kowtows to a student, it shortens the student’s lifespan!”

Kiriko Saito suddenly froze. She was as stiff as a statue, and her tear-filled eyes showed a blank expression.

A few seconds later, a few sobs came from her throat. “Jianyue, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed you into a fire pit again and again. And I shouldn’t have questioned your intuition. You’re right. There really was something wrong with Teiji Moriya.”

Next to the police car in the distance, Teiji Moriya was still screaming madly. “Saito! You should understand me! We both pursue the ultimate perfection!”

“Shinichi Kudo! It’s all Shinichi Kudo’s fault! It’s all his fault!”

Teiji Moriya’s words were like a poisonous needle, suddenly piercing into Kiriko Saito’s tense nerves. Lin Jianyue could clearly see a layer of goosebumps instantly appear on her arms. Her shoulders were trembling even more. Her voice was trembling, too. “I do pursue perfection…”

She shook her head incoherently. “But I don’t kill people! And I don’t agree with using this method to destroy failed works!”

Kiriko Saito clutched Lin Jianyue tightly, her nails almost digging into her arm. “Jianyue, believe me!”

Her eyes were full of panic and pleading. Tears mixed with the dust on her face streamed down her cheeks. “I arranged for you to go on vacation to the island and to come to the City Building today. It was really just a coincidence! I never wanted to harm you!”

“Tea… Teacher…” Lin Jianyue’s mind went blank from her sudden actions. She could only let her teacher clutch her arm.

She patted her teacher’s back to comfort her for a few moments, but the truth about the “mystery manga” was stuck in her throat. She wasn’t planning on telling anyone other than Kenji Hagiwara and his four classmates about this for now. No one else would believe her anyway.

Looking at Kiriko Saito, who was crying so much she could barely breathe, a complex emotion suddenly welled up in Lin Jianyue’s heart.

She had a strong premonition that the debt of gratitude her teacher owed her was only going to get bigger and bigger.

The sound of drum-like shutters suddenly came from the side. The white flash of the camera lights made people unable to open their eyes.

Lin Jianyue subconsciously turned her head. The area behind the police line was crowded with media holding long-barreled cameras, but their cameras weren’t pointed at Teiji Moriya, who was being pressed into the police car, nor were they pointed at her.

Following the direction of the cameras, Lin Jianyue saw a stunningly beautiful woman.

She was so beautiful that you couldn’t forget her, but Lin Jianyue’s pupils contracted.

She had long, wavy golden hair and a beautiful black velvet dress that clearly cost a fortune. The hem of the dress had a tear in it, and her exposed ankles were stained with bl00d. The woman was wearing a large, ill-fitting men’s black trench coat, and her face was covered in dust.

The flashing red and blue lights from the police cars fell on her. She was like a blue rose dipped in bl00d, with a breathtaking beauty in her disheveled state.

When they passed by each other, Lin Jianyue smelled her perfume. It was a cold scent mixed with the lingering smell of gunpowder.

The woman’s gaze was fixed straight ahead. She didn’t even spare Lin Jianyue a glance out of the corner of her eye, treating her as if she were an irrelevant passerby.

It wasn’t until she was helped into a black Lincoln and the car window was slowly rolling up that her beautiful, cat-like blue eyes casually swept over.

The assistant in the car poked her head out and glanced at Lin Jianyue a couple of times. She asked carefully, in a flattering tone, “Someone you know?”

“No. But I’ve met her father. He’s a world-renowned musician.”

Lin Jianyue helped her teacher stand up from the ground.

She half-heartedly said some comforting words, but her gaze was fixed on the woman who was being frantically captured by the cameras in the distance. A name popped into her head: Vermouth.

“Chris Vineyard!” Wataru Takagi had just pressed Teiji Moriya’s head into the police car when he turned around and saw that dazzling golden figure.

He rubbed his sore wrist. His voice was filled with a mix of awe and excitement. “I heard she’s a special guest at the Tokyo Film Festival’s opening ceremony the day after tomorrow! I can’t believe I ran into her here!”

Wataru Date rested his arm on the roof of the police car. His eyebrows were furrowed. He spoke with a hidden meaning. “What a troublesome celebrity.”

Wataru Takagi didn’t hear the deeper meaning in his words. He just nodded in agreement. “She really is. If Chris were to get hurt in this explosion, her crazy fans would probably flood the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Twitter account.”

Lin Jianyue didn’t respond. Her eyes were still glued to the taillights of the black Lincoln. It wasn’t until the car merged into the traffic and the red dots disappeared around the corner that she slowly looked away.

A hand suddenly patted her shoulder with a roguish force, startling Lin Jianyue. “I heard you were a hero?”

Jinpei Matsuda was holding a cigarette that was about to burn out in his mouth. His eyebrows were raised high. When he spoke, the cigarette moved up and down with the movement of his lips. “I really didn’t misjudge you.”

Lin Jianyue let out a long, tired sigh and lowered her eyes. “It was the result of everyone’s combined effort.”

Matsuda chuckled softly and threw the cigarette on the ground, stepping on it to extinguish it. He motioned with his chin toward the ambulance behind him with the flashing red and blue lights. “The lady you dug out of the pile of stones with your bare hands has been talking about how she wants to thank you. She said that if it weren’t for you, she might have died in there.”

Lin Jianyue followed his gaze.

Two medical personnel in white coats were pushing a stretcher toward the ambulance. The middle-aged woman who had been trapped under the stones was lying on the stretcher. Her face was still covered in dust, but her eyes were sparkling.

Jinpei Matsuda continued. “I bet in a couple of days, reporters from all the major TV stations will be crowding the entrance of your school.”

He paused, a hint of undetectable worry escaping his voice. “Are you ready to have microphones shoved in your face?”

“Then let them,” Lin Jianyue’s voice was very soft and calm, but it held a sense of tenacity. “I want to be a top-tier illustrator and draw manga that people will remember. I’ve long been ready to be in the public eye.”

Jinpei Matsuda’s mouth curved into a smile, but his voice became half a tone lower. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll find you?”

Lin Jianyue lowered her eyes, uncharacteristically falling into a somber silence. After a long time, she suddenly smiled and raised her hand to tuck her messy hair behind her ear. “Then let’s make a bet. A bet that you guys will get rid of them before they get to me. Besides, they won’t have time to care about a small character like me very soon.”

The silver bullet had been loaded, and the net to catch the Black Organization was slowly taking shape. The cracks in the Organization were getting bigger and bigger, and Gin would only get busier.

“We probably won’t be able to finish work tonight. I’ll get someone to take you home.”

Jinpei Matsuda suddenly bent down, his voice very low. “That big movie star was a member of the Organization, wasn’t she? You should be extra careful.”

Lin Jianyue nodded and pointed to the Beika City Building. “Don’t you need to go help?”

Matsuda straightened up, his lips curving roguishly. “Hagi is in charge of the south side, and I’m in charge of the north side. I got lucky. The north side wasn’t too badly damaged, and we’ve already cleared it.

He gestured with his chin toward the ruins on the south side. “Everyone cramming into the south side would only make things more chaotic. I won’t move unless I get a signal from Hagi for reinforcement.”

Jinpei Matsuda pointed to the line of police cars behind him. These were temporarily brought in by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department from the Beika Police Station. Just find one and ask them to take you home.”

Lin Jianyue nodded. She had just walked a few steps when she suddenly remembered something. She quickly ran back and grabbed Jinpei Matsuda’s arm, who was also getting ready to leave. “Wait, can I borrow your phone?”

“Huh?” Matsuda raised an eyebrow and looked back. There was a little confusion in his eyes, but he still took his phone out of his pants pocket and handed it to her.

Lin Jianyue took the phone. “My phone’s broken. I want to send Kenji a message.”

“Alright.” Matsuda didn’t ask anything else. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the police car, turning his head to look at the busy crowd in the distance.

Lin Jianyue quickly typed a line of text on the screen and pressed the send button.

A warmth involuntarily spread to her ears. She couldn’t help but smile as she handed the phone back.

When Matsuda took the phone back, he opened the chat box. His fingers quickly swiped twice on the screen, and he deleted the chat history without even looking up. He didn’t even look at what Lin Jianyue had sent.

He knew Lin Jianyue wouldn’t ask him to delete it, but this was the least amount of respect he could show her.

A faint static sound suddenly came from the police walkie-talkie, followed by Kenji Hagiwara’s voice. “Jinpei, find two people and bring a cutting machine in. Someone over here is trapped by a broken steel bar.”

Jinpei Matsuda replied with a “Got it,” and his thumb hovered over the screen for half a second. After making sure it was all deleted, he turned around with the people and walked toward the ruins. Their figures quickly merged into the flashing red and blue lights.

Ten minutes later, deep in the ruins.

Kenji Hagiwara bent over and moved the last stone brick. He put his hands on his hips and let out a long sigh of relief. He took off his sweat-soaked gloves. His fingers were pale and wrinkled.

He took his phone out of his pants pocket and glanced at the screen.

It was just a glance, but his gaze suddenly stopped when he saw the content of the text message.

‘My front door password is… I’ll wait for you tonight. Come home early.’

It was also followed by two heart emojis.

Kenji Hagiwara was silent for two seconds. He looked up, and his gaze slowly drifted toward Jinpei Matsuda, who was bending down to cut a steel bar not far away. Then he slowly moved his gaze back to his phone screen.

Even though he knew this message was from Lin Jianyue.

He just felt inexplicably uncomfortable looking at the name of the sender.

It was a little…

Gross.

He suddenly understood how Jinpei Matsuda felt when he told him to get lost after he had deliberately used a high-pitched voice in front of him.