Chapter 64
A thunderclap on a clear day.
The undercover Public Security officer, whose true name had just been called out, felt his pupils dilate.
How long had it been since anyone had called him “Zero”?
Furuya Rei could only recall those days at the police academy in his occasional dreams. Every time he woke up, he was left with an even greater sense of loss.
Why had he been stopped at such a critical moment? And what did “it’s a trap” mean?
Countless questions flooded Furuya’s mind. He slowly turned around.
All the questions were important, but the most important was undoubtedly the identity of the person who had come.
Who was it? Who had called out his real name?
The person did not cover their face. Their true appearance was completely exposed in Furuya’s eyes.
His purple-gray eyes reflected a face that the blond Public Security officer would never forget for the rest of his life.
“—Gin?!”
Bourbon’s rationality evaporated.
His mind was blank, so bewildered he didn’t know which way was up.
Silver hair, cold eyes, a tall figure, a black fedora, black overcoat, and black leather shoes welded to his body. Bourbon wouldn’t mistake this face even in death.
So that’s it. Bourbon was enlightened: he was dreaming.
Because of his high-intensity work, he only rested for ninety minutes a day. He must have fallen asleep without realizing it and had such an absurd, jumbled, and incomprehensible dream.
It is said that dreams can reveal a person’s subconscious and reflect their daily stress.
Bourbon couldn’t help but reflect: Has Gin really brought me this much stress?
If it wasn’t a dream, then it must be a hallucination. He had to inject a slow-release agent quickly. He was already delirious!
“Zero, calm down.”
‘Gin’ spoke with Gin’s voice.
Bourbon: How do you expect me to calm down?
After a visual hallucination, he was now having an auditory one. What brand of hallucinogen had he taken? So terrifying!
Hiromitsu could understand his friend’s terror beneath his calm facade.
It had to be said, for Bourbon to be able to maintain his composure in such a situation was truly a model for an undercover agent. As expected of the longest-surviving fake liquor of the three whiskies. The caliber of the police academy’s number one was self-evident.
“Think about it. You’ve seen a similar scene before,” Hiromitsu reminded him. “The cruise ship—remember?”
That’s right. It was a reenactment of the scene where Gin had reported Gin. Quick, remember!
The cruise ship. Of course Bourbon wouldn’t forget the unforgettable time he had spent on the cruise ship. The conceptual god An’an had stunned everyone with her blind-spot bomb-finding skills. That night, he and she had confessed their feelings for each other, and they had officially started dating…
Bourbon paused the memories in his mind and focused on Gin.
The silver-haired man had refused to admit that the person who had reported the cultural relic smuggling case in the surveillance was him. At that time, the coast guard was about to board, and the situation was urgent. Gin had had no choice but to jump into the sea to escape.
Bourbon: Could it be… Gin had been in the sea for too long, and his brain had gotten waterlogged? Had he lost his past memories, and like Curacao, been moved by the Junior Detective League and decided to betray the organization and be a good person?
For real? But no matter how Bourbon thought about it, he felt that the belief of “killing all the moles in the world” was engraved in Gin’s DNA. It was Gin’s default setting. Even if he had a short circuit from being in the water, he would never waver.
Gin’s indestructible factory settings brought the undercover Public Security officer’s crumbling rationality back. Bourbon carefully examined the ‘Gin’ in front of him.
Upon closer inspection, although ‘Gin’s’ clothes and makeup were impeccable, the gentle temperament that leaked from the corners of his eyes and brows, which did not belong to a cold-faced cool guy, was indeed OOC.
Judged to be a Gin cosplayer, not the real person.
At that time, on the cruise ship, the number of people who could have impersonated Gin was very small. After eliminating all the impossibilities, what remained was the answer.
Bourbon knew who the person in front of him was.
“Scotch Whisky,” he said with certainty.
Hiromitsu: Great! I knew Zero would be able to recognize me! As expected of the police academy’s number one! His eyesight is superb! Our friendship will last forever… wait, why are you glaring at me like an enemy?
The blond Public Security officer was very angry. If he had only been terrified when he had thought the person in front of him was Gin, then Bourbon, after recognizing Scotch Whisky, was extraordinarily enraged.
“How long are you going to play this body-double game?”
Furuya said with hatred, “Not only did you learn Hiro’s marksmanship and get his codename, but now you’re going to inherit his friends as well?”
Who on earth likes body-double literature? Could this man be secretly in love with Hiromitsu?
No wonder Scotch Whisky was so close to Pinga in the distillery. So there were two twisted, deep-closet characters!
The Black Organization’s version of a tragic love story!
Furuya: The undercover Public Security officer is not a part of your play! Can you give the moles a clean and simple work environment?!
The blond young man’s anger was so palpable that Hiromitsu was sweating in the cold winter.
It was all Gin’s fault. His taste in clothes was terrible. It was so hot to wear all black. He really wanted to change him into an old man’s undershirt.
Seeing that Furuya was about to theorize that the body-double Scotch would call him “Zero” and recognize him as a friend today, fly to Nagano to recognize his brother tomorrow, and go to the Public Security Bureau to collect his death benefits the day after, Hiromitsu finally said the words that had been on his mind for a long time.
“Zero, you…” Mentor Scotch hesitated. “Have you been assimilated by her after being with An’an for so long?”
“‘Also’? What do you mean?” Furuya immediately seized on the keyword and questioned. “Have you been approaching her privately?”
He remembered now. This person had asked An’an for an autograph and had even shaken her hand.
Hateful! Lifelong enemy!
Bourbon announced that Rye Whisky was no longer his most hated whisky. The bottom spot belonged to someone else.
Jealousy makes one lose their reason. Hiromitsu, after hesitating multiple times, decided to give up.
I’m sorry, Zero. You started this war.
“It’s not private,” Mentor Scotch said calmly. “We’re living together.”
Furuya: “…”
Don’t misunderstand. He wasn’t silent. He just couldn’t find his voice for a moment.
The man living with An’an, her distant cousin… was Scotch Whisky?
Wait a minute. Furuya’s overheated brain finally began to cool down.
An’an’s distant cousin and the body-double Scotch did not have the same face. Clearly, this person had unique disguise and voice-changing skills.
Then, the body-double Scotch was probably not his real face either.
The body-double Scotch was a big fan of the pure-hate black-moonlight body-double literature in the distillery. He was clearly a fan of dog-blood drama. But based on Bourbon’s experience of working with him a few times, this person’s way of thinking was clearly very normal.
In Furuya’s twenty-plus years of life, he had only known one person with a particularly abnormal way of thinking, who often made him not know whether to laugh or cry and whom he was helpless against, and who clearly liked dog-blood body-double literature.
If it was An’an, the incredible existence who had left a deep impression on an undercover Public Security officer with a name pun at their first meeting…
Based on an ex-boyfriend’s understanding of his ex-girlfriend, Furuya could say with certainty: the pure-hate black-moonlight body-double literature was completely An’an’s cup of tea.
She was a woman who was determined to make a name for herself in the entertainment industry. Her reading volume was unfathomable!
The police academy’s number one had finally regained his deductive skills. Mentor Scotch was very pleased. He decided to do a buy-one-get-one-free, a big information giveaway.
After all, today was destined to be a day of confessions. Let Mentor Scotch, who had been tormented by the little couple, reveal the truth behind the body-double literature to his friend.
“There’s one thing she didn’t have time to tell you before you broke up.”
Hiromitsu began slowly, “Although it’s information an ex-boyfriend shouldn’t know… Zero, you have to remember, at the wedding banquet, I’ll be sitting at the elders’ table.”
Furuya was slightly taken aback. The tone of his old friend was too familiar. A crazy idea rose in his heart.
“An’an is an ability-user,” Hiromitsu said. “Her ability is hard to describe, but in short—”
“She has the powerful ability to revive the dead.”
Hiromitsu: “I was lucky enough to be the one chosen.”
“Long time no see, Zero. It’s been four years, hasn’t it?” he smiled.
“By the way, my physical age is still from four years ago. I’m suddenly four years younger than you. It’s a little strange.”
Furuya’s vision blurred for a moment.
There was nothing to doubt anymore. Those suspicious, wary thoughts, the whispers of “impossible,” “don’t be delusional,” had all left him.
Standing in front of him was his best friend, who had been dead for four years.
Scotch Whisky had always been Scotch Whisky.
Hiromitsu had never been replaced.
“A miracle…?” the blond Public Security officer said, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably curving up. “That’s right. She is that kind of incredible person.”
Furuya missed An’an very, very much right now.
He wanted to hold her in his arms, kiss her eyes, and whisper to her about the things he had missed, and then complain in a clingy tone about why she hadn’t told him, in exchange for a promise that she would tell him everything first from now on.
Hiromitsu: “Hey, there’s a limit to being lovesick. Aren’t you going to give me a hug after such a long time?”
Furuya: “I was planning to, but you’re wearing Gin’s skin right now, Hiro.”
I’m sorry. Even though he knew that inside Gin’s skin was his best friend, he really couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Is the disguise also An’an’s ability?” Furuya asked curiously. He didn’t remember Hiromitsu having unlocked the disguise skill.
“Strictly speaking, it’s called a skin change,” Hiromitsu said, patting Gin’s black fedora.
“Appearance, body shape, voice, clothes, and even iris, fingerprints, blood type, and DNA are all perfectly copied one-to-one. I can open Gin’s apartment’s electronic lock right now.”
Furuya: No wonder Scotch Whisky was never suspected during his days as a body double in the distillery. Even Vermouth couldn’t see any trace of makeup on him.
“By the way,” Bourbon remembered something he was concerned about. “You just pulled me back and said there was a trap. What was that about?”
Hiromitsu then recounted the story of the famous actress who had been framed by a 10-year-old child, had been unable to resist, and had half-pushed, half-pulled, transformed into the suspect and kidnapper Miss An, and had kidnapped Yoshijima Echiri.
Furuya listened to the whole story with a cat-in-space expression.
He: “…Is this a conceptual god?”
Mentor Scotch nodded with certainty. “This is a conceptual god.”
Strong, invincible.jpg
“The child with the bomb strapped to her should be a spy trained by the organization, disguised as Yoshijima Echiri to lure you in.”
Hiromitsu said with disgust. He couldn’t stand the Black Organization’s dirty practice of even using children.
“Even if you hack the surveillance and block the signal, this child will remember your face and report it to Gin.”
“So,” Hiromitsu paused for a subtle moment. “An’an had me disguise myself as Gin and come here.”
Gin would rescue the little spy disguised as Yoshijima Echiri, and then the little spy would report the heroic deed of “Gin bravely rescuing someone, the big brother’s heart full of justice” to Gin.
Second time!
The undercover Public Security officer would never forget the scene on the cruise ship where Gin had reported Gin. At that time, Bourbon had never thought that this was a stunt pulled by his girlfriend and his best friend.
So good at playing. They were practically the moles from next door, making other moles feel ashamed, hating that they were born in the same era as a true genius.
Hiromitsu: “I was only responsible for the execution. It was An’an’s idea.”
He shifted his gaze. “The pure-hate black-moonlight body-double literature too.”
What is single-handedly overturning the entire distillery’s ecosystem? This is it!
Furuya completely understood his friend’s reverent tone. It couldn’t be helped. His girlfriend was just that excellent.
Hiromitsu raised an eyebrow. “Although I hate to remind you, but, it’s ‘ex-girlfriend’.”
“I’m going to move in with An’an. It’s also to take care of a girl who is sad and heartbroken from a breakup.”
Mentor Scotch ruthlessly brought up old scores. “Zero, did you know? The distant cousin’s favorite food is dumplings, because you don’t need to dip them in vinegar.”
“Your jealousy those few days almost drowned me.”
“You were the one who broke up with her,” Hiromitsu admitted that there was a hint of schadenfreude in his voice. “Have you thought of a way to win An’an’s heart back?”