The Snake Qi Eight Clans' Response

Tokyo, Genji Heavy Industries.

9:00 PM

The entire building was still lit. Night rain streamed down the glass curtain walls like countless black snakes crawling down from above.

The main lights in the conference room on the top floor of Genji Heavy Industries were off. A projection screen at the center of the long table cast a cold white glow over one silent face after another.

Displayed on the screen was an encrypted letter from Cassel College headquarters. The opening words alone—"Molotov Cocktail"—had already filled the clan heads present with dread.

The head of the Inuyama Family was the first to look up, his expression dark as he turned to the executive secretary accompanying him.

"Where was this discovered?"

"Los Angeles," the secretary said softly. "The headquarters' Executive Department has already intervened. Schneider is personally overseeing the operation, and Cassel College students have also been sent to the scene under the name of the War Practice Class."

"Students?" Someone suddenly sneered. "Headquarters treats something like this as student field training?"

Someone should have chimed in, mocking Cassel College for raising a pack of unruly actors, but the Patriarch seated in the shadows at the end of the long table spoke first.

"Just twelve hours ago, a true 'ghost' was born in Los Angeles. It injected at least five bottles of Molotov Cocktail into its body, and its high-risk bloodline briefly reached A-Rank. It also possessed Word Spirit: Time Zero."

"But a freshman sent out by the Executive Department suppressed it so completely that it could not even make a dying struggle."

The clan heads all fell silent. Inuyama He in particular, who also possessed Word Spirit: Time Zero, knew all too well how much destruction a Dead Servant immune to pain could cause in a city once it had Time Zero.

The Patriarch's sharp gaze swept across the room.

"A batch of drugs capable of forcibly contaminating ordinary people's bloodlines and driving Mixed-Bloods toward the Critical Blood Limit has left Japan through The Ghosts, crossed the Pacific, and caused dozens of deaths in Los Angeles... and the Secret Party knew it existed before we investigated and dealt with it."

The Snake Qi Eight Clans were the emperors of Japan's underworld and also the Secret Party's Japan Branch.

Japan's Mixed-Bloods, criminal organizations, underground hospitals, alchemical material circulation, illegal bloodline trades—everything was theoretically under their watch. Even the lowest street gangs knew what they could touch and what would get them uprooted by the main family.

Yet now, a group of ghosts who had fled the family had actually delivered drugs that so gravely crossed the red line right beneath the Secret Party's nose, even causing the death of an Executive Department agent.

To outsiders, it would look like the Snake Qi Eight Clans had been secretly conducting dangerous research into bloodline refinement technology and distributing drugs on a massive scale, using ordinary people as laboratory rats...

The clan heads present could not even immediately declare that it had nothing to do with the Japan Branch.

The Patriarch clapped his hands. "Kaguya-hime, display the Secret Party's letter of inquiry for everyone."

White text on a black background immediately appeared on the screen, making everyone's hearts tremble.

[Given that this drug bears clear traces of origin, headquarters requires the Japan Branch to submit the relevant investigation results within twenty-four hours and assist in confirming the drug's research, circulation, and smuggling chain. Should the Japan Branch fail to obtain investigation results within the allotted time, the headquarters' Executive Department reserves the right to intervene directly in investigations within Japan—Hilbert Jean Angers]

"Intervene directly in investigations within Japan." Those words were more serious than any accusation. They meant that the buried corpses and sealed secrets might all be unearthed by the Secret Party once more.

"He's threatening us," someone said quietly.

"No," the Patriarch said. "He's informing us."

The conference room fell silent again.

The Patriarch's deep gaze settled on Angers's handwritten signature on the screen, and he made his decision at once.

"Pass down the order. Seal off every underground medical channel in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and Kobe. Investigate records from the past year concerning the circulation of abnormal blood products, alchemical reagents, and dragon tissue samples. Every peripheral member with a background in biological laboratories must be reexamined."

"No one could have escaped Japan with something like this out of thin air. If he got the drugs, someone must have cleared the way for him. Either they think the main family has gone blind, or The Ghosts' influence has been expanding in secret to a degree beyond our expectations..."

Hearing this, Genji Shisheng, seated at the other end of the table, rose to his feet. He took the trench coat from the back of his chair and draped it over his shoulders. The girl waiting beside him respectfully handed him a long sword.

"Contact the Executive Bureau and have them depart immediately. At the same time, invite the four students involved in this incident to the branch as exchange students. Before Principal Angers sets out personally, we need to give the Executive Department's decision-makers an outlet for their anger."

"Yes, Young Master!"

The clan heads rose and answered in unison. They bowed deeply toward Genji Shisheng as he walked out the door.

Tokyo was still raining outside. Water slowly slid down the glass curtain walls of Genji Heavy Industries. The entire city looked clean, quiet, and orderly, like a Japanese sword sheathed in black.

But from within the scabbard came the sound of flames burning.

It had been nearly a week since the War Practice Class ended.

Li Lin and Caesar had both become heroes, handling major situations that even veteran agents could not resolve. Li Lin had subdued an A-Rank Dead Servant with Word Spirit: Time Zero by himself, while Caesar had fought his way in and out of a gang's criminal den seven times over, capturing every gang leader who knew anything alive.

At the time, many people compared Li Lin and Caesar. Students tended to underestimate the danger posed by Dead Servants with certain Word Spirits, and they also tended to underestimate the firepower suppression possessed by fully armed local gangs.

In the end, Caesar personally posted on the Night Watchers Forum, declaring that his accomplishments during the course were indeed inferior to Li Lin's. He then praised Li Lin's excellence without reservation, settling the online dispute.

Amber Hall still held victory banquets every night. Fingel still carried a camera, leading the News Department's paparazzi as they eagerly trailed after Li Lin. Li Lin still tossed little paper balls back and forth with Xia Mi in class.

Ordinary campus life continued until ten o'clock that night, when Angers appeared across from Li Lin at the dining table carrying a tray.

Even while having a late-night meal in the student cafeteria, the old man in his formal suit did not forget to tuck a vivid red rose into his breast pocket.

"Hello, Principal," Li Lin and Xia Mi said after exchanging a glance.

Angers looked at the young man and woman flirting across from him, then asked with a gentle, elegant smile.

"I heard the two of you are dating. Have you considered taking a trip to Tokyo together for a few months?"

"The principal is actually this nosy?" Li Lin was startled. He had thought Angers spent every day in his office, elegantly drinking tea while reading the memorials sent over by the Executive Department.

"After all, the professors have been talking about this lately. They all say the new young people really know how to have fun. They even renovated Norton Hall into a marital home for cohabitation... Of course, the school does not mind. After all, you won Norton Hall this year."

With that single sentence, Angers turned Xia Mi's entire face the same color as the rose in his pocket.