The rain grew heavier.
Cold rainwater dripped from the brim of the black raincoat's hood, splashing into the muddy alley.
Three galvanized steel pipes blocked every escape route Kannazuki had.
The man on the left stepped forward and raised his pipe, pointing it straight at Kannazuki's nose.
"Phone."
The man's voice was hoarse. He sounded less like a robber than someone carrying out a standardized security check. "Unlock it, open the Are You Dead App, and show me your order history."
Kannazuki sat on his electric scooter with both feet planted on the ground.
He neither resisted nor made any unnecessary movements.
He slowly took his phone out of his outdoor jacket pocket. The screen lit up, its blue glow illuminating his expressionless face.
Fingerprint unlock.
Tap the icon.
Kannazuki turned the screen toward the man.
The interface displayed: [Beginner period: Day 3. Total orders: 42.]
"A newbie?"
The man frowned, snatched the phone, and swiped rapidly across the screen.
His route history consisted entirely of short-distance deliveries, confined to the old residential neighborhoods of North City. None went anywhere near last night's crime scenes in East City or South City.
"Third Brother, measure him," the man called without looking back.
The man on the right pulled an infrared rangefinder from inside his jacket. Its red dot landed on the top of Kannazuki's helmet, then swept toward the ground.
"Barefoot height, 176 centimeters."
Third Brother looked at the reading and shook his head. "The hacker's data model put him between 181 and 183. Five centimeters short."
"What about his soles?"
"Ordinary sneakers. No extra thickness."
The leader stared at Kannazuki for a while, his gaze scraping across Kannazuki's shoulders and arms like a blade.
Too scrawny.
With that build, he would struggle to kill a chicken, let alone those thirteen elite enforcers.
"Not him."
The man tossed the phone back into Kannazuki's lap, irritation creeping into his voice. "Let's go. Next one. The system shows another guy in yellow at the intersection ahead."
The three lowered their pipes, turned, and disappeared into the rain.
Behind them, a black van without visible plates slowly started up and followed.
Kannazuki caught his phone and put it back in his pocket.
Still sitting on his scooter, he watched the van disappear around the alley entrance through his rain-covered helmet visor.
Ryuk crouched on an abandoned water pipe nearby and bit into the green apple in his hand.
"Gahahahaha."
Ryuk pointed at the soles of Kannazuki's shoes. "Humans are so easy to fool.
"They have no idea you pulled the foam layers out of your insoles and deliberately compressed your spine by two centimeters."
Kannazuki ignored Ryuk's mockery.
He straightened his back. His spine gave a faint series of cracks, and his posture lengthened instantly, restoring him to his normal height of 181 centimeters.
This was the absolute control granted by physical evolution.
If he wished, he could control the spacing between every bone, or even regulate his heartbeat to pass a lie detector test.
Kannazuki glanced in the direction the van had disappeared.
Its license plate had been smeared with mud.
But his evolved dynamic vision had still caught the characters visible through the gaps: Lin A·7T9X2.
"Three idiots."
Kannazuki twisted the throttle.
The electric scooter glided silently through the rainy night toward Happy Home.
Two thirty in the morning.
The rented room.
Kannazuki sat at his computer, tapping away at the keyboard.
A black command-line window filled the screen.
He needed no sophisticated hacking tools. His brain was the most powerful decryption algorithm there was.
Enter the license plate number.
Press enter.
Three seconds later, the vehicle's registration information appeared.
Cloned plates.
But in the underlying logs of the traffic violation database, Kannazuki found a surveillance still of the van at a gas station three days earlier.
High-resolution facial recognition.
Big-data matching.
Three names appeared neatly on the screen, together with their ID numbers and home addresses.
Zhao Hu. Qian Long. Sun Bao.
Three ex-convicts with robbery records.
Kannazuki uncapped the Black Water-Based Pen.
He opened the Death Note.
Without the slightest hesitation, he lowered the pen to the paper.
[Zhao Hu, Qian Long, Sun Bao.]
[Cause of death: infighting.]
[Time of death: half an hour from now, at three in the morning.]
[Actions before death: while dividing the spoils in an abandoned garage in South City, they become suspicious that the others have pocketed the bounty and erupt into a fierce argument.
Zhao Hu draws a knife first. The three fight, each stabbing the others in vital areas. All die from excessive blood loss.]
After writing the final word, Kannazuki closed the notebook.
He picked up the utility knife from his desk and spun it around his fingertips.
"Men die for wealth, birds die for food."
Kannazuki switched off the desk lamp.
In the darkness, his eyes were colder than a god of death's.
The next morning.
The rain had stopped.
The sky over Linhai City was gray.
Yellow police tape cordoned off the abandoned garage in South City.
Chen Lei stepped through the puddles and entered the garage.
The heavy stench of blood hit him head-on.
Three bodies lay tangled together, each with two or three knives embedded in it. The blood on the floor had congealed into a blackish purple.
"Captain Chen."
A young officer handed him an evidence bag. "We found this on them."
Inside was a soaking-wet flyer.
Printed on it were the back of the yellow-clad Delivery Worker and a line of shocking red text: [US$100 million reward for locating the ledger.]
At the bottom was a golden shield emblem.
The logo of Dongding Capital's security department.
Chen Lei gripped the evidence bag so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Those bastards."
Chen Lei gritted his teeth. "They treat the law like a joke and Linhai City like their own hunting ground."
"This is already the third homicide case discovered this morning."
The young officer looked grim. "Two delivery workers were also beaten severely while delivering food. They're still fighting for their lives in the ICU."
Chen Lei turned and strode out of the garage.
"We're going to Dongding Tower."
Ten in the morning.
The top floor of Dongding Tower.
Wang Mingyuan sat on a spacious leather sofa, holding a cup of freshly ground Blue Mountain Coffee.
Chen Lei stood opposite him, mud from the garage still spattered across his uniform.
"Mr. Wang."
Chen Lei slapped the bloodstained flyer onto the coffee table. "Explain this."
Wang Mingyuan glanced down at the flyer, an elegant smile curving his lips.
"Captain Chen, this is just a scrap of paper."
Wang Mingyuan set down his coffee cup.
"Print shops are everywhere these days. Who knows what prankster printed it?
"Dongding Capital is a law-abiding company. Why would we publish something like this?"
"Don't play dumb with me."
Chen Lei planted both hands on the coffee table and leaned forward. "Every thug in the city is hunting delivery workers. You're stirring up a riot."
"Where's your evidence?"
Wang Mingyuan spread his hands, his expression innocent. "Captain Chen, investigations require evidence.
"If you can prove I printed this flyer, or that the bounty money came from my account, you're welcome to arrest me."
He stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at the city below.
"Besides, public safety really has been poor lately.
"Our security department is conducting internal drills to strengthen our defenses. Is that wrong, too?"
Wang Mingyuan took a credential booklet from a drawer and tossed it onto the table.
"This is a special security permit approved by the Provincial Department.
"Our personnel are legally authorized to carry weapons."
Chen Lei stared at the red booklet.
A profound sense of helplessness welled up inside him.
Before the absolute power of capital and privilege, his fury as captain of the Criminal Police Team seemed utterly impotent.
"Fine."
Chen Lei put away the flyer. "Wang Mingyuan, pray I never find anything I can use against you.
"Otherwise, I'll put the handcuffs on you myself."
Chen Lei slammed the door on his way out.
Watching him leave, Wang Mingyuan gave a contemptuous chuckle.
"Old fossil."
Two in the afternoon.
The rented room in Happy Home.
Kannazuki sat at his computer, browsing the delivery riders' internal forum.
Posts flooded the screen.
[Guys, stop taking deliveries! Someone cracked Old Zhang's head open last night!]
[East City is crawling with guys carrying steel pipes. They beat anyone wearing yellow!]
[I quit. Staying alive matters more!]
Large numbers of riders chose to go offline.
The delivery platform's capacity map was a sea of red.
Orders piled up. The system crashed.
Kannazuki stared at the gray "Pause orders" button on the screen.
Capital's counterattack was simple and brutal.
They did not need to find Kannazuki. They only needed to muddy the waters and force every fish to the surface-or simply drain the water altogether.
Without the delivery workers to hide among, Kannazuki would become a live target the moment he stepped onto the street.
"Interesting."
Kannazuki interlaced his fingers and flexed his wrists.
Since you want to play at technological blockades, I'll play along.
He opened a code editor.
His fingers became a blur.
Line after line of complex code raced across the screen.
He was writing a miniature Trojan program.
Target: the delivery platform's regional order-dispatch server.
To the evolved Kannazuki, a consumer-grade firewall like this was no more than a paper window-one poke would tear right through it.
Three minutes later.
The Enter key clicked.
[Implant successful.] [Privilege escalation: Super Administrator.]
Kannazuki opened the food delivery app on his phone.
The previously gray interface lit up instantly.
But what he saw was no longer the ordinary order acceptance screen.
A map of all of Linhai City unfolded before him. Every blue order marker, every red courier marker-all of them were under his control.
He could change the delivery route of any order at will.
He could disable order acceptance restrictions in any area.
He could even instruct the system to assign him only specific orders.
He had become a ghost in this vast network.
"Gahahahaha!"
Ryuk leaned his head toward the screen. "Kannazuki, are you the god of food delivery now?"
"I am the rules."
Kannazuki spoke coolly.
Just then, a special gold order suddenly popped up at the center of the map on the screen.
[Order type: Dedicated delivery] [Pickup location: Michelin three-star · Cloudtop Restaurant] [Delivery location: Dongding Tower, 88th floor, president's office] [Recipient: Mr. Wang] [Notes: Afternoon tea. Only the finest Da Hong Pao tea and pastries. Must arrive on time.]
Kannazuki stared at that golden dot.
Dongding Tower.
The 88th floor.
It was the highest point in all of Linhai City, and the place where the man who had posted the hundred-million-dollar bounty was located.
The most dangerous place is the safest place.
Who would have imagined that the Cleaner, wanted throughout the city, would brazenly stroll up with afternoon tea and knock on the mastermind's door?
The corners of Kannazuki's mouth lifted slightly.
He tapped a key.
[Interception successful.] [Assigned courier: Kannazuki.]
He stood up and picked up the yellow outdoor jacket.
"Ryuk."
Kannazuki zipped up his jacket, a wild gleam in his eyes. "Want to see what the man offering a hundred million dollars for my life looks like?"
Ryuk flapped his wings excitedly.
"Of course! These are VIP seats!"
Kannazuki put on his helmet, pushed open the door, and walked out.
This time, he wasn't delivering food.
He was delivering death.
Before you continue