Master of Kaidan
Chapter 306: When Taking Hostages, Please Clarify Nationality

Chapter 306: Chapter 306: When Taking Hostages, Please Clarify Nationality

It was a lightless night~

I briskly finished work and stepped into the station~

The atmosphere gentle, the sounds distant~

Suddenly, I realized I’d forgotten a document!

I quickly took a shortcut~

Today’s adventure began just then.

Three strange individuals stood in the alley~

Their identities apparent at a glance~

The first had a rather mysterious identity, like a Libra assassin~

The second, Open Mouth and Close Eyes, appeared to be a downtrodden Knight being protected~

The third was a Kaidan, seemingly in conflict with the Knight~

As I entered the alley, all eyes turned to me...

"Fuck!"

A muted curse escaped my heart, and the young man who’d inadvertently wandered into the alley shrank back, but there was no doubt that this gloomy, defeated little office drone had unintentionally stepped into a chaotic scene—

In the traditional sense.

"Run!"

After a brief moment of stupor, the masked person protecting the Open Mouth and Close Eyes Masked Rider suddenly shouted, and before the young man could react, he’d already taken a large step forward.

Although he hadn’t declared his identity, that skull mask and his combat style were undoubtedly that of the fabled Libra Executioner.

However...

The Kaidan, half its body as if made of faded ink, moved faster than the Executioner and arrived behind the young man like a serpent. Its tentacle-like limbs coiled around his neck, and with narrowed eyes, it said to the Executioner who was now up close:

"Stop, or I’ll kill him!"

The Executioner, dagger in hand, almost instantaneously halted his steps, hesitantly eyeing the Kaidan.

He was deeply conflicted; even though it was probable that this man wouldn’t survive anyway, the assassin’s creed strictly forbade harming the innocent...

"I really am a waste, even as an Executioner, I can do nothing..."

The Executioner fell into a profound self-doubt while the Kaidan in front of him tried to slowly retreat with the hostage.

"It’s such a cliché scenario." The young man being strangled sighed, deeply regretting that he took this shortcut for the sake of convenience today.

However, the hostage’s daring to mock the situation clearly infuriated the Kaidan, who tightened its tendrils and scolded:

"Shut up!"

"My name is Gongsun Gongping, I’m 27 years old..."

"What are you talking about?" Kaidan tightened its tentacles once more, only to be shocked to discover that the strength that could twist steel bars couldn’t make even a slight dent in this man’s seemingly fragile neck.

"Phew, I finally had a chance to say a cool line, and even that was interrupted..."

The young man sighed, reached out, and grabbed the tentacles around his neck, calmly saying,

"Let’s get to the point then—I’m not much for competition, and our job requires us to keep a low profile, but since you’ve already threatened my life... I must take you down before anything else!"

"I..." Kaidan felt a strong killing intent and immediately tried to leave, but the grip on its tentacles suddenly became forceful. Next thing it knew, it felt the world spinning, and by the time its vision stabilized, it had already sunk deep into the concrete pavement—

"You call this a threat to your life?"

In excruciating pain and sensing the ebb of its life, Kaidan looked bewildered at the youth with a dejected expression. As its consciousness began to blur, it heard his final words—

"If you can be resurrected, remember this lesson, check the nationality of your hostage before you take them."

Bang!

Gongsun Gongping smashed Kaidan’s head flat with a punch, then looked up at the remaining two. Even the knight who had just managed to open his mouth and close his eyes couldn’t help but step back under his gaze.

"You guys must be pretty young, huh? Why would you come out to play this dangerous hero game?"

Gongsun Gongping adopted a peaceful expression, but the two simultaneously took a step back. Seeing this, and knowing there would be no progress this way, Gongsun Gongping suddenly took a step forward and almost instantaneously teleported next to them, wrapping his arms around their shoulders with an inescapable force and said cheerfully,

"Although good children should go home and go to bed early, I have a few questions I’d like to ask you."

...

"Fair, weren’t you off from overtime today?"

After returning home, Gongsun Gongping heard his "wife’s" query and sighed,

"I forgot to take a document, and on the way, I ran into two kids. One was a fifteen-year-old Masked Rider and the other couldn’t be much older, playing the role of Libra the Executioner, though that fellow would never admit it, only saying he’s a coser who came to help after seeing the Masked Rider in danger on the way back from an exhibit. Where did this crappy place get an exhibit?"

"An Executioner’s pact dictates a Hidden Identity; he would certainly never admit it. However, it’s worth noting that Libra is starting to take on Kaidan-related tasks," his "wife" took Gongsun Gongping’s briefcase, then asked,

"Did that Masked Rider provide any clues?"

"Nothing noteworthy." Gongsun Gongping shook his head,

"No different from those mass-produced riders, they also receive the belts from an Evil Rider when their lives are in danger. But this one got his when he was bullied at school."

"What’s the specific time?" the wife pulled out a palm-sized calendar marked densely with notes.

"He said he got it this afternoon. It’s strange how he jumped straight into the fray with a new weapon without any practice," Gongsun Gongping grumbled with sarcasm, but the "wife" said with narrowed eyes,

"That’s not for us to worry about. Compared to that, the route of the Evil Rider deserves more attention. He’s been traveling directly from Chiba to Kanagawa. Could he be aiming for the first experiment group?"

"I don’t know, but it’s better to send a reminder. Back home, they’re discussing making contact with him, with no results yet."

Changing into his house clothes, Gongsun Gongping headed to the dining table and sighed,

"While we suspect that Evil Rider might be related to Mo Ju, it’s only a conjecture. After all, it’s common knowledge that Mo Ju can freely change his cellphone’s IP address, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he whimsically switched to an Eastern Country IP."

"That’s not what you should be focusing on. Our main task is warehouse number eight; don’t get priorities mixed up!" his "wife" reminded him, to which Gongsun Gongping waved his hand,

"I’ve been in this line of work for long enough. However, we can confirm that warehouse number eight is hidden by an illusion object. To find it, if we can’t disable that object, we’ll have to search house by house."

"If it were easy to find, the task wouldn’t have been dragged out for a year without completion. Keep searching patiently..."