Cooperation

Two days later, a piece of news appeared among the trending topics, though its popularity was mediocre—it couldn't even compete with a certain celebrity who had suddenly announced they were gay. Furthermore, the news linked to this information, regarding the serious illness of the Huajin Group's chairman and president, garnered even less concern, save for the group's creditors and a few business partners.

Seemingly under significant pressure from this, the group's heir soon stepped forward to clarify that these were false reports. He claimed his father was in excellent health, working until one or two in the morning every day, so how could he possibly be in a state of serious illness?

However, the mainstream media still considered the illness of the Huajin Group's leader to be a fact. There were slightly more reports, but aside from those in the industry, attention remained sparse.

"A group chairman with terminal cancer?"

Shiraishi Wataru, scrolling through his phone, clicked on the relevant news to get a better understanding. The media outlet had thoughtfully summarized the rise of the Huajin Group and the achievements of Nobuo Hirosue, giving Shiraishi Wataru a basic grasp of the conglomerate.

It was a company that started with chain hotel operations and also involved hotel design, management service training, and winery management.

However, it had once gone through a period of decline. After Nobuo Hirosue took over, he carried out drastic reforms, barely pulling the group back into the ranks of second-tier financial groups, though it was clearly powerless to challenge the first tier.

Now that the Holy Infant Society was always hiding in the shadows, it wasn't a sustainable situation. Therefore, Shiraishi Wataru had been scouting for a financial group to conduct an exchange of benefits, allowing the Holy Infant Society to continue developing and occasionally surface to maintain its presence.

In Shiraishi Wataru's eyes, the pawn that was the Holy Infant Society had already achieved its goal of testing the waters. Its continued existence was already a bonus; as long as the timing was right, he could even have the Holy Infant Society cooperate directly with the authorities to gain more support.

But the timing was not yet ripe, so the group sheltering the Holy Infant Society had best not have any major conflicts of interest with the authorities. A family-run business where one person held all the power was best, and its strength shouldn't be too overwhelming.

After finding and reading more information about the group, no matter how Shiraishi Wataru looked at it, the Huajin Group seemed perfectly suitable. He decided to make contact.

Two days later.

At two in the morning, Nobuo Hirosue arrived at the company parking lot.

He had maintained this routine for the past few days, just waiting for that potential contact. If he felt tired, he would sleep in his office for a while and wait until the time came to leave work.

Today, he had waited for it.

He arrived at his car, but the driver did not come out early to open the door as usual; instead, he was slumped over the steering wheel, as if asleep.

The rear window was one-way glass, making it impossible to see inside from the outside.

Nobuo Hirosue struggled to calm his emotions and reached out to open the back door. What appeared before his eyes was a stranger—an ordinary-looking man wearing an ill-fitting office worker's shirt.

"Are you... the 'Guardian'?" He had seen photos of the Society President, and this person's build and appearance were far from it, so he thought of another existence whose title he knew but whose appearance he did not.

"It seems you know of me." The Ninth Guardian said with interest. The Nobuo Hirosue before him was not much different from the photos found online—a typical elderly executive: meticulous attire, a hairstyle maintained with effort, and a few short whiskers.

He didn't look like a man suffering from a terminal illness at all.

Nobuo Hirosue nodded, sat into the car, and closed the door.

"In order to make contact with the Holy Infant Society, I had no choice but to use a small method," Nobuo Hirosue admitted candidly.

The Ninth Guardian hadn't actually realized this was an invitation for contact; after all, that news story wasn't particularly eye-catching. If he hadn't had the habit of reading through the top twenty trending topics, he probably wouldn't have noticed it.

At the same time, his interest in the man before him grew stronger. Since the other party had done this, he must have had some degree of certainty. He wondered what logic had led him to this conclusion.

"A very clever method." The Ninth Guardian nodded. "So, how much do you know about the Holy Infant Society?"

"The Heavenly Punishment is coming; only by believing in the Holy Infant can one receive salvation and enjoy the redistribution of the world after the Heavenly Punishment." Nobuo Hirosue blurted it out. He had been repeatedly reading these materials over the past few days; he hadn't deliberately memorized them, but he had learned them by heart nonetheless.

"Then are you willing to join the Holy Infant Society?" The Ninth Guardian asked bluntly.

"My son and I are both willing to join." Nobuo Hirosue did not hesitate, even dragging his son into it, appearing as if he were ready to dedicate the rest of his life and his descendants to the Society.

"Hmm." The Ninth Guardian didn't say whether it was acceptable or not, but instead asked, "Who came up with this method of contact?"

Nobuo Hirosue finally hesitated for a moment: "My... granddaughter."

The Ninth Guardian opened the car door and handed him a slip of paper from his pocket: "Tomorrow, go to this nursing home to pick up this person and arrange a safe place for them."

Nobuo Hirosue read it several times, committed it to memory, and crumpled the paper into a ball: "Understood, Guardian."

The Ninth Guardian left.

Nobuo Hirosue glanced at the still-unconscious driver, stepped out of the car, and made a phone call.

Soon, someone arrived, efficiently strangling the driver with a wire, placing him in the back seat, and driving the car away.

In a few days, his family would receive a generous compensation package, claiming that the driver had died heroically fighting off robbers to protect company property.

The next day, at noon, Hideyasu Hirosue drove a company car to a hotel under the group's banner. It looked like a very ordinary inspection; no one noticed that he, having disguised his appearance, drove away in a prepared vehicle and arrived at an obscure nursing home.

Using the excuse of a family member's birthday, he picked up a little old man named Kutsui Goro.

It had to be said, Nakai Hayato felt that his decision to go to South Korea for advanced training was the right one. His makeup skills were part of the supplementary training program, and they had already come in handy many times.

"Since you have passed the Guardian's test, we must hold the initiation ceremony as soon as possible." Nakai Hayato had received the notification from Shiraishi Wataru yesterday. He also hoped to get out of living in a place like a nursing home as soon as possible. Every day, he not only had to disguise his appearance but also his personality, chatting with a bunch of old fogies about boring, uninteresting things. It would be better to just have another go at the investigation team.

Cough, cough. After experiencing the beauty of power, his way of thinking had gradually been led astray.

However, the last incident had taught him a lesson: there were many methods used by the investigation team that he was unaware of. If he were to fall into an encirclement again, he couldn't be sure he would definitely be able to escape.

"President, I wonder what needs to be prepared in advance for the initiation ceremony?" Hideyasu Hirosue asked cautiously.

"Everything is simplified for now. You don't need to prepare too many things; they are all common items. However, your primary task now is to protect the Society members without exposing yourself."

"Yes, we will definitely complete the initiation mission perfectly."