"Hasegawa-san... we really do have a very special bond."
Inside the carriage, Ogata looked with emotion at Hasegawa in front of him, whose sitting posture became a little strange due to his leg injury.
There were only three people in the not-so-spacious carriage: Ogata, Atachi, and Hasegawa.
I met Hasegawa again in Koyasan - it would be inappropriate not to say a few words to this person who had a wonderful connection with me and had been with me on and off for countless times.
Therefore, Ogata just asked Atachi to help bring Hasegawa to a carriage where they could talk conveniently.
Without any outsiders present, Ogata could finally feel at ease and boldly "recognize" Hasegawa.
"Every time I say goodbye to you, I feel like this will be the last time I see you." Hasegawa was full of emotion at this time, and he sighed silently, "But every time I see you again in strange places and at strange times..."
Ogata smiled slightly, then changed his expression and tone to a serious one.
"Mr. Hasegawa, Mr. Isshiki, and the old monk, please take them to a safe place."
"Yes." Hasegawa's expression became serious at this time, "Leave it to me. This is my duty as the leader of the Fire Thieves."
"We can set off at any time!" Asai's voice sounded at this time.
"Ah..." Hasegawa sighed heavily, then raised his hand and touched his injured leg, "If my leg wasn't injured... I really want to go with you guys..."
"The thought of turning Edo into something like Choujima makes me feel uneasy..."
Hasegawa's face was now terribly pale.
Just now, when Xuanzheng uttered the words "human pillar" and "Edo Battle", Ogata asked Xuanzheng what they meant, Xuanzheng only responded with a very simple sentence -
"If I explain it slowly... it will take too much time. Do you know Choujima? To put it simply, it means to make Edo like Choujima, and to make Edo like Choujima, we need human pillars. If we sink the human pillars into the Kandajosui, where the people of Edo depend on for survival, we can make Edo like Choujima."
The "old monk with a goatee" and Hasegawa's subordinates, who had no idea what Choujima was, looked confused.
But Ogata, Genichi, Hasegawa and the others all looked very different.
No need for any further discussion.
They quickly made up their minds - rush to the dock and chase Toyotomi!
The pursuers were naturally Ogata, Genichi and their group.
The injured Hasegawa fled to a safe place with his subordinates, Isshiki's family, and the old monk with a goatee.
Asai had already shouted "You can go", and Hasegawa walked towards the car very tactfully.
However, just as Hasegawa was about to leave the car, his body suddenly stopped.
"...Ogata-kun."
Hasegawa slowly turned his head and looked straight at Ogata.
Before Ogata could ask "what's wrong", he said word by word:
"Once we leave Koyasan, I will use whatever forces I can to deal with Toyotomi."
"Before that, please...you must stop Toyotomi Nobuhide. We must not let Edo become like Choujima..."
“I’m counting on you…”
After saying that, Hasegawa bowed to the "most wanted criminal in the country" in front of him and saluted solemnly to Ogata.
After saluting Ogata, Hasegawa slowly left the carriage.
After watching Hasegawa leave with a dazed look in his eyes, Ogata's mouth slowly drew up a helpless arc.
"This time... I really got involved in a serious incident..." He murmured in a voice that only he could hear.
At this time, Yuan Yi and others boarded the carriage one after another.
After confirming that everyone was on the bus and no one was left out, Asai shouted "Go" and pulled the reins in his hand.
The horse, in pain, raised its two front hooves, shouted "Huaihui" several times, and then pulled the carriage behind it forward.
However - just as the carriage started, a figure suddenly jumped out from the curb in front of the carriage and stood right in front of the carriage.
Asai was startled and quickly stopped the carriage, then looked carefully - the person blocking the way was the "old monk with a goatee" who had been lying on Ogata's back just now.
The carriage that Ogata was riding in was the same carriage driven by Asai.
Ogata, wondering why Asai stopped the car immediately after starting it, stuck his head out of the car.
Seeing the "old monk with a goatee" blocking the way of the car, Ogata was startled: "Sir, what are you doing?"
"Please take me with you!" the "goatee-bearded old monk" shouted, "I want to see with my own eyes who dares to desecrate Koyasan!"
Looking at the "old monk with a goatee" who was so stubborn that he would not turn back until he hit the Nanshan Mountain, Ogata could not help but twitch his lips, and then deliberately shouted in a vicious tone:
"My Lord! The place we are going to next is not where you should go! If you really follow us, you might die!"
"Please get out of the way!"
"If you don't get out of the way, we're going to knock you out!"
If it is true as Xuanzheng said that the two ships, Hikari Maru and Kuramaru, are about to set sail for Edo with Xiaolin on board, then now is truly a time when we need to race against time.
Ogata, who didn't want to spend too much time on "persuading the old monk to leave", made a naked threat to the "old monk with a goatee" in order to persuade him to get out of the way.
"Hey..." As soon as Ogata finished his threatening words, Asai, who was driving, couldn't help but whispered to Ogata in the back, "Don't joke... I won't drive over an innocent old man..."
"It was just to scare him. I'm not cruel enough to use force on an innocent old man." Ogata responded in a low voice.
Ogata didn't know whether his threat just now worked, he saw a thoughtful look on the face of the "old monk with goatee".
Then, after a moment, the "old monk with a goatee" stood back to the side of the road without saying a word.
Seeing that the "old monk with a goatee" was successfully moved aside, Ogata couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Osamu gave Asai a wink, and Asai nodded vigorously as if he understood. He pulled the reins again and drove the carriage straight forward.
The carriage driven by Shimada followed closely behind.
Hasegawa stood there, watching Ogata and the others go away.
"Lord Hasegawa..." After Ogata and the others left, one of Hasegawa's subordinates quietly walked up to Hasegawa and asked, "Earlier, that old man said something like 'Let Edo become like Choujima'... What does that mean?"
"And——are we just going to let Ogata Ittosai and Mamiya Kuro leave like this...?"
Hasegawa glanced at him deeply.
"…We can’t take care of Ogata Ittosai and Mamiya Kuro right now."
He replied.
"We have so many injured people here, and there are people who need our protection."
"At all times, protecting the safety of the people takes precedence over catching the thieves."
"Besides, with the number of people we have now, it is impossible for us to catch those two people."
"In any case, we should first transfer the civilians and the wounded to a safe place."
"We'll talk about the rest later."
After saying that, Hasegawa turned around and counted the number of people.
All of his subordinates were present.
All the same family - not one is missing.
That “old monk with a goatee”—hmm…?
Hasegawa opened his eyes and looked around hurriedly.
"Hey!" Hasegawa asked his men hurriedly, "Where's that old monk with a goatee? Have you seen him?"
The subordinates who realized what was happening quickly looked around.
The "old monk with a goatee" who had just arrogantly stood in the middle of the road to stop a car, disappeared without a trace...
…
…
Lin saw many images that were sealed deep in her mind appear and disappear before her eyes one by one.
Looking at the scenes constantly flashing before her eyes, Lin suddenly understood - she was dreaming.
Although she knew she was dreaming, Lin couldn't wake up.
It was as if the body was tied to a chair, with the limbs unable to move, and one could only watch as the memory images stored in the mind popped up in front of his eyes.
Among the various scenes that kept appearing and disappearing, only one scene remained, then slowly solidified and finally condensed into a specific scene.
Lin could tell at a glance: this was the hillside where she often played as a child.
It was not until her grandmother and mother passed away that she followed Genichi and left her hometown to explore the world.
Before that, she had always lived with her family in a remote countryside somewhere in Satsuma Domain.
The poor life in her childhood actually honed Lin's willpower.
With this honed will, as well as her hard work, talent and opportunity, she built the gourd house in a very short time.
In fact, Lin’s life was not always so hard since she was born.
Before her father died and her brother took all the family property and ran away from home, Lin's life was not luxurious, but she had enough food and clothing.
On weekdays, I even have time to play on a small hill not far from home.
Looking at the hillside in front of her, looking at the extremely familiar plants and trees in front of her... Lin guessed that her gaze now must be quite gentle.
This was her childhood paradise.
It is also a "treasure" that she cherishes very much until now.
However, just as Lin was looking at this precious land that meant so much to her with a face full of nostalgia, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a petite figure out of the corner of her eye, which made her mouth open involuntarily.
She saw herself.
She saw herself, who was two sizes younger than her current self, running towards a dead tree on the hillside with the "bouncing and clacking" steps of a child.
--etc……!
Lin's pupils suddenly shrank after seeing this scene.
——This is…!
She suddenly remembered.
Thinking back... this was "that incident" that happened when she was 4 years old.
Stop, don’t go there—Lin subconsciously wanted to warn "Little Lin" who was still running towards the dead tree.
But she found that she couldn't make a sound.
She couldn't move her body.
She could only... watch like a spectator as "Xiao Xiaolin" ran towards the dead tree, and towards the young man who was squatting under the dead tree.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Xiao Xiaolin" asked the young man crisply.
The boy raised his head and gave "Xiao Xiaolin" a gentle smile.
"A nasty cat just scratched me, so I'm teaching it a lesson."
"I just wanted to see if a cat would still be cute after being skinned."
After saying this in a matter-of-fact and comfortable tone, the boy moved to the side, leaving enough space for "Xiao Xiaolin" to see clearly what he had been tinkering with.
Under the boy was a kitten that had been skinned from the head down, with only half of its skin removed.
Only half of the kitten's body and fur were left.
Only the bloody upper half of the body remained.
When the boy moved aside, the kitten's furless face was facing "Xiao Xiaolin".
The kitten's lifeless eyes happened to meet Xiao Xiaolin's...
At this point in the dream, the scene before my eyes began to blur and distort.
When the dream was shattered, the last sound Lin heard was the scream of "Little Lin"...
…
…
"Um……"
Lin murmured softly and slowly opened her eyes.
——What am I doing...?
Lin, who had just woken up from a dream and whose mind was still in a fuzzy state, looked around with a blank gaze.
She found herself in a slightly dim room.
There is almost no furniture, only some simple furniture such as tables and cabinets.
Lin subconsciously wanted to move her body.
But after moving her hands and feet, she suddenly found that she couldn't move.
She quickly looked down - she was tied tightly to a European-style wooden chair.
The upper body is tied tightly to the back of the chair.
The two legs of the lower body are tied to the two chair legs respectively .
The only part of the body that can move is above the neck.
The memories before falling asleep flashed quickly in Lin's mind at this moment.
Invited by Yukimura, who was almost a half-member of her Huluya, she went to Yukimura's house alone for a dinner...
Before I had even taken a few bites of my meal, a large group of unknown people suddenly rushed out with guns in hand...
Because she was caught off guard and had no time to prepare, and the enemy was large in number and armed with artillery, and the terrain was also very unfavorable to Lin, so even though she launched a counterattack immediately, she was still knocked down and unconscious because she was outnumbered.
When you wake up again... it will be the present moment.
——Where exactly is this place?! Where are Mamiya and the others?!
Lin then noticed that there was a window on the wall not far from her.
She stretched her neck as far as she could, trying to see the scene outside the window.
But because her body was not tall enough and the angle was limited, Lin's neck hurt from stretching and she couldn't see the scenery outside the window.
However - although she couldn't see the scene outside the window, she could smell the smell coming from outside the window and the sounds coming from outside the window.
She smelled the unique salty smell of the sea.
She heard the sound of waves lapping against the shore.
——I am... at the beach?
Lin was shocked that she was now at the seaside.
"Hey, Xiaolin, you're awake."
"Because I thought you were about to wake up, so I've been waiting here for you to wake up."
"It seems that I have waited for the right thing."
These words... no, it should be this voice, seemed to have some kind of magical power over Lin.
Lin felt her nerves...paralyzed at this moment.
The pupil shrinks to the size of a pinhole at this moment.
As if she couldn't wait to know the truth, she suddenly turned her head to look in the direction where the male voice came from.
Because she had just woken up, her mind was still in a confused state and her consciousness was not very clear. In addition, the room was dim, so Lin did not realize until now that there was a young man sitting in an inconspicuous corner of the room.
The young man smiled gently, slowly stood up and walked towards Lin.
Looking at the young man getting closer and closer to her, Lin was shocked at first, and then the shock on her face slowly turned into anger as if she had seen an enemy.
"Nobuhide...!" Lin gritted her teeth and squeezed out the young man's name from between her teeth.
"Xiao Lin, it's been a long time." Toyotomi Nobuhide said softly, "How many years have we not seen each other?"
Lin struggled hard several times with her body tied tightly to the chair, as if she wanted to get away from Toyotomi Nobuhide.
"I knew you would not behave yourself after you woke up." Toyotomi Nobuhide continued to smile, "So I tied you up first."
"Stop struggling. You can't get away."
“I see…” Lin raised her head, her eyes looking as if she couldn’t wait to pick up the knife and kill Toyotomi Nobuhide. “Those arquebusiers who suddenly appeared and knocked me out, are they all your men?!”
"That's right." The smile on Toyotomi Nobuhide's face became even more intense. "The whole process of catching you... was much easier than I thought."
“…Where is this place?”
Lin's originally rapid breathing gradually became smoother and her body stopped struggling.
The ferocious look that was originally directed at Toyotomi Nobuhide also became much calmer.
However - when she looked at Toyotomi Nobuhide, the disgust and hatred in her eyes did not change much.
“Oh…” Looking at Lin who regained her composure so quickly, Toyotomi Nobuhide uttered a low exclamation, “As expected of my Toyotomi Nobuhide’s sister, you regained your composure so quickly.”
Toyotomi Nobuhide glanced at the window next to him.
"We are now on my battleship. And this is the room I live in."
"Battleship?" Lin was surprised.
"Battleship: Hikari Maru." Toyotomi Nobuhide raised his hand and patted the wooden wall beside him. "In order to get this Hikari Maru and the Hulu Maru next to it, I almost emptied my fortune accumulated through years of smuggling."
"But it's still good value for money."
"What do you want to do?!" Lin's voice became uncontrollably excited again, "You suddenly caught me and brought me to the ship. What are you going to do?!"
"I didn't mean to do anything." Toyotomi Nobuhide slowly squatted down, making his eyes level with Lin's, "I just suddenly missed you and wanted to see you, so..."
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Lin:
"Shut up! You don't even believe what I'm saying!"
Lin gritted her teeth, flames of hatred burning in her eyes.
"If you are such a sentimental person, why would you take away all the family's property before running away and never return home once?"
"Oh..." Toyotomi Nobuhide, still smiling, raised his hand and scratched his hair, "Xiaolin, I didn't expect that after all these years, you haven't changed at all... You're so aggressive when you talk to me."
"Okay, I won't joke anymore."
Toyotomi Nobuhide put down his hand that was scratching his hair.
"In a little while, the ship will set sail eastwards, heading for Edo."
"When my two ships arrive at Edo Bay, I will launch the Edo Battle."
"Edo... Battle?" Lin's face lost some of its color. "Are you... going to attack Edo?"
Toyotomi Nobuhide nodded with a smile: "I have waited for this day... but I have waited for too long."
"Are you crazy?!" Lin shouted subconsciously.
Lin knew very well what a big city Edo was.
Lin's clear understanding of the scale of Edo made her subconsciously equate attacking Edo with madness.
"I'm not crazy." Toyotomi Nobuhide's smile was full of meaning. "I am absolutely sure that I can take over Edo."
"Ah, this is a rare opportunity. Since you are my sister and you will make a great contribution to my 'Edo War', I will show you something... something good that I have not shown to many people."
"It just so happens that the thing is stored in my room."
After saying that, Toyotomi Nobuhide stood up and walked to a small cabinet next to him. After fiddling in the cabinet for a while, he took out a brocade box of medium size.
There was a small but extremely complicated-looking lock hanging on the brocade box.
Toyotomi Nobuhide took out a small key from his pocket and unlocked the brocade box.
He held the opened brocade box in his hand, walked slowly back to Lin, and showed her what was inside the box.
As soon as her eyes swept into the brocade box, Lin's body couldn't help but tremble slightly in surprise.
Inside the brocade box... was the head of a young woman.
The young woman had her eyes closed and a peaceful expression, looking as if she were asleep.
"What is this?" Lin asked subconsciously.
"This..." A look of pride slowly emerged on Toyotomi Nobuhide's face, "This is the head of Yaobikuni."