"My real name is Asou Yutaka, a member of the Asou family. Eight years ago, at the behest of the family, I acted as a Hua Nation citizen and became a policeman. And under the guise of this identity, I secretly planned and organized a series of MLM activities in Hua Nation. My code name is "Fog."
Qiu Yuanjie's eyes were glazed, and he seemed to be mumbling to himself. He appeared to be admitting his guilt, but few people present understood what he was saying, as he was speaking fluent Japanese. But it was enough to shock Tian Zhenxing and several others, as everyone clearly knew that Qiu Yuanjie's profile did not mention that he had studied Japanese, and the only competency in foreign languages that he declared was a little English. So the fact that such fluent Japanese was coming out of his mouth was undoubtedly enough to raise suspicions.
Luo Shuang was lying on the ground, staring blankly with her trembling eyes. She suddenly felt so strange about the team leader who she had always adored. The other members from the Anti-MLM Special Action Team were also shocked by what they saw and heard. They couldn't accept the fact that their team leader could actually speak such fluent Japanese, but from the bottom of their hearts, they had already believed most of what Xiao Luo had said.
Xiao Luo looked on impassively and continued to ask, "Why did you choose Xiahai City to start the MLM activities?"
"It was because Xiahai City is the central city of Hua Nation, which always been a hub for communications between the continent's main economic and cultural centers. Carrying out MLM activities here would certainly impact the economy of Hua Nation, and that blow will spread to other regions as well." Qiu Yuanjie's eyes were unfocused, and he answered Xiao Luo's questions mechanically, like a puppet whose soul was being controlled.
"Is your Asou family on the right-wing of the party."
"We don't belong to any side, what Asou family has only been loyal to is Emperor Hirohito who regarded expelling the foreign invaders as his own duties. The mission that Emperor Hirohito failed to achieve, we will continue to accomplish on behalf of him, achieving dominion over Hua Nation!"
Despite being hypnotized, Qiu Yuanjie's voice was thick with hatred when it came to this issue, which was an ideology that was deeply rooted in his soul, and even had become his faith.
Xiao Luo smiled coldly and then ended the hypnosis on him.
Qiu Yuanjie soon woke up from his hypnotic state. He found that the people around him were strangely gazing at him; even Luo Shuang, who adored him and was always on his side, was now staring at him in panic and with a sorrowful expression.
"Director, I..." Qiu Yuanjie felt strange and couldn't remember what he had said, but one thing he could ensure was it must have been something terrible.
With a heavy sigh of grief and in a tone of disbelief, Tian Zhenxing said, "Qiu Yuanjie, you... you're Japanese?"
"Of course, he's a Japanese."
Xiao Luo answered on his behalf and looked around. "Is there anyone here who understands Japanese? Translate what he just said."
Everyone stared at each other in silence. It was evident that none of them understood Japanese. After all, learning English was the present trend, so those who learned Japanese were still the minority.
"I will."
Luo Shang picked herself off the ground. There was a trace of blood on the corner of her mouth.
"Can you?" Xiao Luo slightly narrowed his eyes.
Luo Shuang took a step forward and stared with a determined look. "I've studied Japanese, so I understood all of what he just said," she said.
"Luo Shuang..."
Qiu Yuanjie called out her name, pinning all his hopes on her. He realized he must have said something terrible, even if it was in Japanese, so his only hope now rested on the chance that this woman would harbor him and see him through this crisis tonight.
Luo Shuang's eyes went red. She could not believe that the man she so admired, and even worshiped, turned out to be the "Fog," the brain behind MLM activities. She couldn't accept that the man she looked up to, a hero of anti-MLM, turned out to be a foreign subversive who came intending to destroy the Hua Nation.
"He just said that his real name is Asou Yutaka, and he also is a member of the Asou family. Eight years ago, he received this mission from his family..."
Luo Shuang translated what Qiu Yuanjie had said earlier to everyone present. She still wore on her face that dull and dead look of one suffering from internal conflict.
Everyone knew that she had a crush on Qiu Yuanjie, so her translation had to be trustworthy. When all Qiu Yuanjie's words were translated, the crowd looked at Qiu Yuanjie with hostility. It had now gone beyond merely MLM activities, but it involved their national security.
It had been more than seventy years since Emperor Hirohito waged war on Hua Nation, but it was so appalling that there were still such fanatics existing who were attempting to destroy the Hua Nation. Any citizen of Hua Nation would hardly hold back their anger if they heard a plan to seize and hold dominion over the Hua Nation.
Qiu Yuanjie went pale, and he trembled in fear. His eyes were filled with anxiety and desperation. He still couldn't believe that he had blurted out the whole truth.
What happened?
How the hell did it happen?
"Qiu Yuanjie, sorry... now I should call you Asou Yutaka. You actually buried your identity well enough, and if it wasn't for Mr. Xiao, all of us would have believed that Guan Tong was the mastermind 'Fog.' While you were arresting MLM members, you also organized new MLM activities and trained more MLM leaders without our knowledge. You are f*cking cancer, constantly harming our fellow countrymen in Hua Nation," Tian Zhenxing roared.
Qiu Yuanjie realized that his cover had been blown now. He glared at Xiao Luo with deep hatred. "What wicked witchcraft did you use? What f*cking black magic did you just use on me!" he screamed.
"Just your life will be more than enough. My old friend on the other side has been waiting for you for a long time now!"
Xiao Luo sneered at him. Then he stepped forward, and with a twirl of the samurai sword, he loped off Qiu Yuanjie's neck in a single stroke.
SLICE!
Qiu Yuanjie's head separated cleanly from his body and rolled on the ground like a ball. The side of his head and neck were soaked in fresh blood.
Although the people present had seen many bloody crime scenes before, it was the first time they had personally witnessed a living person being beheaded, and some of the female police officers screamed out in fear.
Looking at Qiu Yuanjie's body, Luo Shuang widened her eyes in shock and said, "How could you kill him, even if he is the "Fog," he should be judged by the law..."
Luo Shuang's statement lacked any conviction and came across weakly. She did nothing more than to mutter to herself rather than question Xiao Luo's actions.
Without another word, Xiao Luo dropped the sword on the ground casually, then turned around and strode away into the distance.
No one thought to stop him, as all of them were rooted to the spot in deep shock, quietly watching him leave until he disappeared from their sight.
"Director..."
The SWAT team captain whispered to Tian Zhenxing.
Tian Zhenxing blinked and finally regained his consciousness. He turned his head around and stared at the captain.
The SWAT team captain asked, "Sir, should we just let Xiao Luo leave?"
"What can we do? Even if we decide not to let him go, can't you see that he can even stop a bullet?"
Tian Zhenxing was still in a state of shock. "This is now a national security issue and is under the jurisdiction of NSA. We're just assisting. Just report the real identity of Qiu Yuanjie, that he was 'Fog,' the leader of MLM, and was shot dead because he resisted arrest. As for the specifics of the arrest, draw on your imagination!"
*****
"Ah?"
The leader of the special police force was stunned. The color of his face changed. Why had he let his imaginations run wild, how many braincells did he kill for this? He wished he could give himself two slaps across his own face. Why the hell did he have to say that? He was asking for it. Now all he had to go back with was a headache.
...
After returning to Crescent Bay, Xiao Luo took a cold shower in the bathroom before going to lie down on the huge and soft bed in the bedroom. The corpse of his old classmate, Guantong, had already been turned in to the police. Although his heart felt really heavy, he had questions regarding the state he was in during the afternoon.
At that moment, it was as if he had no control over his body and the only thought in his head was to kill.
To kill everyone and not spare a single person. To kill every single living being there!
And in that moment, he had gained a weird, but tremendous amount of power. It felt like if he used all his strength, he would have been able to smash the entire Wild Wolf Mountain into pieces just by himself.
"System, what happened back there? Are my abilities coming back to bite me?" Xiao Luo communicated with the system that was one with his body.
"Ding, this is the Berserk State. It consumes some points to maximize the physical strength of the host, including, but not limited to: speed, power, internal force, sight, hearing, and many more." The icy voice of the system started speaking inside Xiao Luo's head.
"Berserk State?"
Xiao Luo furrowed his eyebrows, then looked at the number of points he had in his system. He still had 1.9 million points. He had 2.1 million points the last time he checked. But this amount was supposed to increase on a constant basis. Before the Berserk State, he should have roughly 2.3 million points, or even more. This would mean that he had used up about 400, 000 points just by entering Berserk State.
"Why did the Berserk State activate? Besides, why is it that I couldn't control my body at all when I was in the Berserk State?"
Xiao Luo was most concerned about these two points. The system had activated the Berserk State, which he had never heard of before, without his permission and this was bothering him quite a bit.
"Ding, when the host's anger reaches a hundred percent, the system will automatically activate the Berserk State. In the Berserk State, all the stats in the host's body will reach its maximum value, and the host will lose control of their body." The system replied.
"So, it's just like when one only knows how to drive a car, and you have that person drive a huge truck all of a sudden, that person won't be able to get used to it?" Xiao Luo said.
"Ding, you can put it in that way as well."
"Can I switch off this Berserk State?"
Xiao Luo hoped that he didn't hurt unintentionally hurt someone if he lost control again. It was fine if that person was an enemy, but he would never forgive himself no matter what if he accidentally hurt someone he loved or a good friend.
"Ding, the Berserk State is a hidden ability of the system. You can't switch it off. The host will have to better control their own emotions because the Berserk State will only activate when their anger reaches a hundred percent. This way the host does not have to worry about anything else." The system tried to assure him.
Xiao Luo sneered: "It seems like the system that's self-proclaimed to be a hundred and thousand years ahead of technology has its own negative side effect as well!"
After saying that, he switched off the interface window that allowed him to communicate with the system. He also turned the system into the 'do not disturb' mode, so that he didn't receive notifications about the points he had gathered from the system because it could get really annoying.
Lying on his bed and looking at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, Xiao Luo was in a rather terrible mood. Though he might not have been very close friends with Guantong, but that was his university classmate, and he still treated him as a close classmate. Guantong's passing must have had a big impact on him, if not he wouldn't have lost control in the afternoon.
"Xiahai won't have any more MLM organizations, and I've already gotten rid of 'Fog' from behind the scenes. Guantong, you can rest in peace," Xiao Luo muttered to himself, sighing.
...
Su Li had become a lot busier recently. From the starting up of "Liyue Media", to choosing the office location, to recruiting talents and many more, she was in charge of everything. Besides that, she had accepted a role from a TV series, and was about to board the plane soon. She was really busy now.
Su Xiaobei had been living at Silver Dragon Villa all this while. She was living with Su Li's mother and younger brother. She did come back once because she really missed Xiao Luo. After spending an entire day with Xiao Luo, she then went back to Silver Dragon Villa. This was Su Li's intentions, Xiao Luo needed a career of his own and couldn't have his life revolve around a little kid.
Since she was being taken care of by Su Canye and her mother, Xiao Luo was not too worried about that little girl.
Liu Yiyao and Si Yueting, two of the staff under him from Huayao Group, sent him a voice message all of a sudden. They mentioned about how the new department head had flipped out again and talked about how he should just get lost if he didn't want to work anymore. He should stop taking up the position of a team leader if he was always not reporting for work.
"Where's the new department head from?"
Xiao Luo raised his eyebrows. Shen Qingyan had already given him special permission, had this new department head not heard of it?
"The company recruited him from outside, his surname is Ma, his name is Ma Dequan. I heard he opened a headhunting company in the past, so his network is wide and is really capable. Since taking over, the sales department has been doing pretty well. Targets that used to take a month and a half to achieve can be achieved in just a month now. Because of that, CEO Shen has even written a special post in the company's forum praising his performance," Si Yueting said.
"Just because CEO Shen has praised him, he is raising his tail up high now. He basically has been using you as a negative example and won't stop mentioning you on a daily basis. He keeps saying that you're a typical example of a chicken that occupies a nest without laying any eggs," Liu Yiyao reported.
Xiao Luo giggled: "Does he not know that the reason I have so much freedom is because CEO Shen has already approved of it?"
"I'm sure he knows, but the new boss has to crack the whip three times. Since there's nowhere else for him to burn, he's burning you instead," Si Yueting said.
Xiao Luo was stunned, then laughed and said: "Alright then, I'll head over to the company in the afternoon."
There was no other reason as to why he was going to the company but to quit this job that had given him so much freedom. Firstly, it was because of Guantong. It was a sad place that would remind him of his classmate. Secondly, it was because he no longer saw any reason in continuing with the job. He had already given in to Su Li once, but he was not going to keep giving in to her for the rest of his life and make himself feel miserable.
"Yay, Team Leader! We haven't seen you in such a long time, we've missed you so much," Si Yueting said while laughing.
"That's right that's right! Our Team Leader is so handsome, and so sophisticated. Even if I had to be your mistress and serve you every single day, I'd do it willingly," Liu Yiyao said in a seductive tone.
Xiao Luo cut them off in one sentence: "Alright, you girls are like female hooligans when you speak, but are actually good girls in real life."
The two women were surprise and kept quiet. They could only chuckle a little over the phone. Because of the nature of their job, they had developed an occupational disease, and that was to subconsciously try to get close with other people. The methods they used were ambiguous. Everyone in the office saw them as a loose and fickle person and had most probably slept with multiple clients. Xiao Luo was the only one who understood them and could tell who they really were as a person.
"Team Leader, do you know that we're really touched now. If you're right in front of me now, I'll hug you no matter what," Liu Yiyao said.
Si Yueting also said: "Team Leader, it'd have been great if you weren't already married, I'll go after you, and pester you so much so that you'll fall for me."
"..." Xiao Luo had nothing to say.
"Right, Team Leader, I heard something happened to Guantong?"
Liu Yiyao became serious all of a sudden, "The death notice was sent to our company. Just what in the world happened? Why did he... die all of a sudden?"
Xiao Luo couldn't help but sigh: "To be honest, I have no idea what exactly happened either."
[TN: Berserk State = lit. Berserk State. I thought Berserker sounded cooler]