Volume 3 Hello, Eri Chapter 249 Red Lotus Blooms in Fire (I)
Today is the end of Paradise Hall.
The attack started fifteen minutes ago. The eight Sheqi families mobilized twelve oil tankers. After clearing out the surrounding sentries, they established a tight blockade. Dozens of tons of fuel poured down from the hillsides around the Paradise Pavilion, turning the Paradise Pavilion into a swamp waiting to be burned. It only took a spark and the Paradise Pavilion would be engulfed in flames.
Everyone fled, even the guards. People waded through the mountain stream. Countless luxury cars blocked the bridge, horns blared, and the people in the front saw the bridge torn apart by the explosion before they could even cross the bridge. Luxury cars worth millions of dollars flipped into the stream with people inside. Someone immediately rushed up, smashed the car windows and dragged out the dizzy people inside.
"We are not from Paradise! We are just gamblers! We are gamblers!" The man in the vacation shirt explained his identity in panic, but the people who were holding him ignored him and dragged him to the shore and threw him into the van. The family's mission is to not allow anyone to escape from Paradise. The identity of each arrested person will naturally be identified later, and no evil ghost will be let go.
The plan to destroy the demon clan started five days ago. It was supposed to be led by Minamoto no Chisou. As the future successor of the Snake Eight Clan and Amaterasu, destroying the old rivals of the family was an honor, which could both establish his authority and prove himself. However, Minamoto no Chisou disappeared completely after the Longyuan Plan, and the family had seriously considered whether to continue with the original plan. Tachibana Masamune insisted that they should not give up because of this, despite the opposition of many people.
Then the Snake Eight showed their true strength. Five days ago, the Oni Clan controlled eleven of the eighteen underworld gangs in Osaka, and the seven gangs loyal to the Snake Eight had always protected and restrained themselves. But overnight, the world changed completely. The door of Genji Heavy Industries was opened, black vans drove out one after another, and high-level cadres were mobilized. The gangs to which the Oni Clan belonged were crushed one after another before they could organize themselves. Seven of the eleven gangs turned to declare their loyalty to the Snake Eight, and the leaders of the remaining gangs died in some accidents. Overnight, Osaka became the Osaka of the Snake Eight.
Not only this city, but also the entire Japanese territory from south to north, the gangs loyal to the Snake Eight Clan have taken action, sweeping across the country at a speed no less than a blitzkrieg. Even members of Congress are shocked by this secret underworld war. Thousands of casualties have been killed and injured in the past few days. It is like a small war. If it continues, it will inevitably affect the unrelated people. They ordered the Snake Eight Clan to stop the action through various channels, but the Snake Eight Clan closed all channels of dialogue and insisted on their own way.
For a long time, the fierce ghosts felt that they had raised their heads and formed a balance with the Sheqi Eight Clans, so the Sheqi Eight Clans had to restrain themselves from them. But when the family really became angry, they understood what the underworld was like. They were able to survive until today only because the family had been trying to be gentle. After all, they were of the same clan, and the heads of the eight surnames did not want to kill them all before they finally made up their minds.
The final order to attack came, and Yaksha threw his cigarette butt into the quagmire of fuel. Fire shot up into the sky, and the scorching heat was oppressive. The mountain wind lifted everyone's windbreaker, revealing intricate ghost-eating pictures inside.
"I really hope that the young master can see this scene too." Yaksha stood on the top of the mountain, with flames in his pupils. He had burned many buildings before, but never one as magnificently as this one. This was not just an ordinary war. The fire in Paradise represented the end of an era, and the history of the Ghost Clan would finally leave the nightmare that had been bothering the family.
Such a memorable moment always feels less meaningful without someone.
"Don't talk like a dead god!" Crow grabbed the document in his hand and slapped Yasha on the head, "You talk as if the young master is dead!"
Sakura was too lazy to pay attention to these two guys. This was a rare honor. The task that should have been presided over by Minamoto Chikō was handed over to his three close ministers. It was not that the family did not have more suitable talents, but it was these three that were chosen. This showed that Tachibana Masamune also firmly believed that Minamoto Chikō was still alive, so this rare opportunity must be handed over to the people close to Minamoto Chikō.
"Right, right, right! The young master is just out for inspection and will be back! Before that, we have to complete his task!" If it were normal, Yasha would have played a boxing game with Crow to see who is the son and who is the father, but they both have the same stance on the issue of Minamoto Chisei. As the head of the family, Tachibana Masamune is under more pressure than anyone else, and those of them who are close ministers are not much better, they have to consider the young master's stance in everything. Although Minamoto Chisei is not here, the three of them have to do their duties as diligently as if he were here.
Crow glanced at the list in his hand. According to the insider's intelligence, there should be twenty high-level officials of the Ghost Clan in the Paradise Hall. The family has already captured sixteen of them, and the remaining four are: King General Unknown, Dragon King Unknown, Longma Chaomu, and Xiyue.
The leaders of the Ghost Clan all use shogi pieces as their code names. No one in the gangs loyal to the Ghost Clan has ever seen the King General or the Dragon King. The highest-ranking Ghost Clan cadres known so far are the two girls codenamed Ryoma. Chaomu and Xiyue are both aliases. Chaomu is Sakurai Kogure of the Sakurai family, and Xiyue's specific origins are unknown. These two people seem to be just female managers who control the Paradise Pavilion. Many ignorant people covet their beauty, but they actually have a high status in the Ghost Clan.
No one knows whether the King General and the Dragon King exist, but since there are dragon horses, it is not wrong to speculate that there are people of higher levels above them.
The fire dyed the windowsill vermilion, and the wood bent and creaked. Sakurai Kogure was sitting on the windowsill of Fengyuejian, and the highest flame was less than two meters away from her feet.
This is the room that belonged to Genji. Now that Genji is gone, she has become the one with the highest status. She has been living in Fengyuejian these days, continuing to maintain the business of Jileguan. She holds the huge funds and high power of the ghosts, and has become the princess of this mountain country, but she has never been happy. In the end, it is debatable whether Sakurai Kogure has ever been happy in her life.
She had long forgotten what her family was like. After she was confirmed to have dangerous bloodline when she was three years old, she was taken to a sanatorium deep in the mountains to grow up. It was called a sanatorium, but in fact it was a prison set up by the Eight Snake Families to imprison the evil spirits that appeared in the family.
Sakurai Kogure had no chance to learn systematically. She grew up there from the age of three to fourteen. During this period, she could not even read and write for daily use. Her language skills were also lost due to long-term confinement. Although her family provided her with the necessities of daily life, they did not give her education or a proper daily life. She was born with an unstable bloodline, so she could only be a demon imprisoned in prison. Every day, or the biggest significance, was to confirm the stability of her bloodline and stab people with all kinds of disgusting questions until they bled. If she can still maintain her current mental state at the age of thirty, she will be released and return to society.
During the eleven years of imprisonment, her family had never seen Sakurai Kogure. She could guess that in a traditional family that valued bloodline, after she left, her family would only blame and curse each other and fall apart.
What's the point of a girl who doesn't even have basic education and can only see the sun at the age of 30? She has no one to rely on and doesn't even have a friend. Many men privately say that women are like tofu dregs when they are 30, not to mention stupid people who don't have any knowledge or experience. They are just deer in the eyes of others. One day, they will be thrown into the sewer and rot until they are eaten by rats, and no one will notice.
Sakurai Kogure never believed in God, and even blasphemed God. She never participated in the traditional Japanese New Year worship. To her, the vermilion torii and shrines were evil and hated, because God was the biggest lie woven by people in the world. They promised that all people were born equal, but there was no equality in this world. You were born high and mighty, sitting in the shrine and giving orders. I was born a demon, and I was thirsty even for a glimpse of sunlight. What right do you have to accuse me of being evil and a scum, and an object that must be wiped out?
Our bloodline is innocent, this is the idea that every member of the demon clan has always believed in, but someone will definitely point at their noses and say that they are wrong. The prejudice is not in themselves but in the eyes of others, so everyone is forced to huddle together for warmth. No one wants to return to that big family. If there is anything in the world that can save the demons, it can only be the bones of the god of Takamagahara, right?
"I really hope you can succeed." Sakurai Kogure said softly. Among the fierce ghosts, there are many people who call each other comrades like the Soviets. Everyone has the same dream. The actions of the Snake Eight Families will definitely not be able to easily extinguish such a deep-rooted obsession. There will always be some who slip through the net and gather again, carrying their packages and moving towards their dreams again, no matter whether there is heaven or abyss behind the mountain, they will do it at all costs.
So Sakurai Kogure did not run away. As Ryoma of the Demon Clan, this was not only a recognition of her status, but also a recognition of her strength. The intelligence network of the Snake Eight Families showed that they had lost Minamoto no Chisei, and they were not sure of defeating Sakurai Kogure relying only on the close ministers and cadres under them.
But she still stayed, so that she could buy more time for others to escape. Just like those touching movie stories, in times of crisis there is always a hero who stands up and says, "You guys go quickly, I'll cover your back."
Do the heroes want to die? No, of course not. They are also human beings with their own pursuits and dreams . But people always get tired when you try your best but nothing can be done, when your only hope is easily extinguished.
Sakurai Kogure was just a little tired. She had never told anyone that her biggest dream was to go salmon fishing on the shores of Lake Baikal. That place was always very beautiful in movies and documentaries. The clear lake surface was really blue as if the water and the sky met. There were no snake families or fierce ghosts there. Everything was very quiet. Thousands of years had passed, and it would always remain the same as it was at the beginning.
With Sakurai Kogure's financial resources, it would be easy for her to realize this dream, but she had never left Japan, and it was even more impossible for a member of the Demon Clan to have a passport. She had both longing for the dream... and fear, that was the fear of a strange land.
This is probably because we did not have systematic learning and growth when we were young. The so-called hurt is like this. Many times it seems to be just on the surface, a scolding, a slap in the face, a quarrel, everyone always thinks that such things will easily pass, but sometimes, those are really pains that will accompany you for a lifetime.
From Sakurai Kogure's perspective, he could see several officers in fireproof suits entering the Paradise Hall. Entering a burning building like this was tantamount to seeking death. They were the death squads of the Snake Eight Clans, and their purpose was to come in and search for people who might still be in the hall or for secret passages for escape.
The family business has been planned for a long time and will not care about the loss of a single soldier. What they are pursuing is a sure victory and absolutely no trouble can be left behind. Everyone on the list must be found alive or dead.
"Come on..." Sakurai Kogure tightly grasped the cherry-red long sword under the wide long sleeves. She was wearing a gorgeous twelve-kimono, which is the most solemn kimono. It is composed of twelve silk clothes of different colors. The colors change layer by layer from the inside to the outside, like gorgeous clouds.
In Gokurakukan, only Ryoma is qualified to wear twelve kimonos, and only on certain festivals, all the girls will wear kimonos. They will gather around Sakurai Kogure and Shiozuki to welcome guests at the door, like blooming double-sakura. Old customers will come to gamble to appreciate the two female managers wearing twelve kimonos. The luckiest guests of the night will be personally entertained by them and enjoy the best sashimi, accompanied by the girls playing the shamisen.
No man can refuse such luxurious treatment. It is as if he has returned to the Warring States Period, sitting high on the castle tower overlooking the world and having the most beautiful woman in the world by his side. It is simply the ultimate dream of any man.
Wearing such symbolic clothing before death can be regarded as fulfilling a wish. Sakurai Kogure couldn't imagine herself being too old to even walk. After all, she was still a beautiful girl. Dying with a wish in the best time of her life is also a kind of sad beauty like falling cherry blossoms. This is exactly what the Japanese pursued in the Heian period. After leaving the prison, she read a lot of books, as if to make up for all she had lost in the past.
The only regret is that I don't know where Xiyue has gone. Although they have only been together for a year, Sakurai Kogure still likes this colleague very much. He always feels that there is something unspeakable about her, like some kind of secret, just like Pandora's box, which cannot be opened easily, and he should be satisfied just to admire her from afar.
She happened to disappear some time before the war started. Sakurai Kogure had to guess that she got some news and ran away early. This is actually quite good. There will always be someone who can continue to have the opportunity to pursue happiness. The most favorite thing for unhappy people is to watch others be happy.
