In Fuuto: Starting as a Kamen Rider 01

Page 124

"I declare."

"From this moment forward, issue the highest-level... kill order against 01 Technology and its president, Su Chen!"

These three words, like a thunderclap, exploded in the deathly silent conference room.

All the cadres present were jolted, their eyes revealing undisguised horror.

“I will assign ‘spider’, ‘virus’, and ‘locust’.”

Ryūbei's voice didn't pause at all as he coldly recited the three code names.

"The three of you will lead your respective units to launch a relentless, 24-hour attack on Su Chen from three directions!"

He leaned slightly forward, his hands clasped on the table, each word spoken as if struck with a hammer.

"I don't care what methods you use, assassination or a direct assault, I only want one result—"

He spoke each word slowly and deliberately, the murderous intent in his voice almost tangible.

"Let him die!"

The three cadres whose names were called immediately stood up from their seats, their bodies ramrod straight, and they respectfully bowed their heads to receive the order.

Meanwhile, Sonosaki Saeko and Sonosaki Wakana, who had remained silent throughout, showed no outward emotion when they heard their father's insane order.

But unnoticed by anyone, in the shadows hidden by the tablecloth, the two exchanged a brief but incredibly clear glance.

It was a look filled with determination and tacit understanding.

They had long felt a deep-seated disappointment and weariness with their father's almost obsessive and ruthless approach to power, where he was willing to sacrifice everything for strength.

Su Chen's appearance was like a ray of light tearing through the darkness.

That light showed them another possibility—a possibility to break free from their family's fate and pursue true freedom.

The meeting ended with a bloody order.

Filled with fear and fervor, the cadres left one after another to prepare to carry out the order that would plunge the entire Fengdu into bloodshed.

The corner of the empty corridor was dimly lit.

Saeko Sonozaki and Wakana Sonozaki meet again.

They didn't speak, but looked at each other again and then nodded heavily.

Saeko took out a uniquely shaped, encrypted communicator from her expensive handbag that could not be traced by any means.

Her slender fingers danced across the screen as she quickly typed a message and sent it.

Meanwhile, Wakana also took out her phone.

She opened her idol's exclusive fan channel and posted a brand new update using a code that only certain people could understand.

They relayed this news, which was enough to cause a huge uproar, to the man at the center of the storm—Su Chen—through their own secret channels, without missing a single detail.

A few seconds later, two slight vibrations sounded simultaneously in the silent corridor.

They all received a brief response from Su Chen, consisting of only one sentence.

"Let's wait and see; I'm busy developing a new cartridge."

Seeing this nonchalant reply, the two sisters finally relaxed.

They smiled at each other, a smile that carried a hint of relief, but also a chilling expectation.

They knew better than anyone that their father was about to pay a terrible price for his arrogance and madness, a price he could never bear.

Chapter 93: An "Invitation" from a Colleague, the Setting of a Trap

In the Sonozaki family, power and status are never maintained by blood ties.

The woman codenamed "Locust" knew this better than anyone else.

At this moment, she stood before her loyal subordinates, clutching the order personally signed by the head of the family, Sono Saki Ryubei.

To assassinate Su Chen.

This name is now a persistent nightmare for the entire family, and the hottest potato in the eyes of all the cadres.

However, for the Locust Woman, this was the ladder to heaven she had always dreamed of.

"Did you hear everything?"

Her voice, tinged with a morbid excitement, echoed in the dark, damp underground stronghold.

"Patriarch, you've chosen me!"

"It's not that Sonozaki Saeko who only knows how to bully others because of her surname, it's me~!"

She held the order high, as if it were a scepter.

In her eyes, Sonozaki Saeko was nothing more than a pretty face and a privileged family background. That woman's position as an executive was entirely due to her father's connections; her actual abilities were utterly insignificant.

The power struggles between him and her were always seen as a joke by his family.

But today, everything will change.

This task is the highest recognition of her abilities by the head of the family.

This is her best chance to completely replace Saeko and become the de facto number two in the Sonozaki family.

She could already imagine the approving look in Sonozaki Ryubei's eyes and Saeko's face twisted with jealousy and despair when she returned to the museum carrying Su Chen's head.

Just as she was immersed in this wonderful fantasy and preparing to give her subordinates specific combat orders...

A crisp, rhythmic sound, yet out of place in this setting, slowly drifted from the metal passageway at the base's entrance.

despair.

despair.

despair.

It was the sound of high heels stepping on cold steel.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a heavy hammer, striking precisely at everyone's heart, instantly silencing the entire stronghold.

All eyes turned to that direction.

A tall, elegant figure appeared in the doorway, backlit.

The person who arrived was none other than the object of the Locust Woman's recent indignant mockery.

Saeko Sonozaki.

"What are you here for?"

The locust woman's pupils suddenly contracted. She looked at the "young lady" she had always looked down on, her tone filled with undisguised vigilance and contempt.

"This is not a place for you, young lady."

She deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of "young lady," the sarcasm of which was self-evident.

"Are you here to laugh at me, or to beg me not to steal your last bit of limelight?"

However, to her surprise, there was not a trace of anger or displeasure on Sonozaki Saeko's face.

Instead, she felt a chilling hatred that was almost twisted and unlike anything she had ever seen before.

That hatred seemed to solidify, causing the surrounding air temperature to drop several degrees.

"I came to help you."

Saeko's voice was as cold as if it had been pulled out of an ice cellar, devoid of any warmth.

"help me?"

The locust woman chuckled as if she had heard the funniest joke of the century.

"Yes."

Saeko ignored the strange looks from her and her subordinates and slowly walked up to her.

She stopped, leaned down slightly, and lowered her voice to a level that only the two of them could hear.

It was a tone full of venom and inflammatory rhetoric.

“That man, Su Chen, has brought unprecedented shame upon our family.”

"More importantly, he made my father utterly disappointed in me."

At this point, the hatred in Saeko's eyes almost burst forth.

"I hate him just as much."

She raised her head and looked directly into the eyes of the locust woman, her gaze filled with an undeniable sincerity.

“I know you are very strong. Your ‘locust’ memory is unmatched.”

Saeko first offered a perfectly timed compliment.

"But Su Chen is no simple man either. A direct attack, even for you, might not guarantee 100% success. On the contrary, it might alert him and cause him to disappear without a trace."

These words caused the locust woman, who was still wary, to unconsciously frown.

Although she was proud, she was not stupid.

She knew that Saeko was telling the truth.

“And I,” Saeko smiled slightly, a smile full of confidence and cold calculation, “can use my identity to access the resources you can never have access to.”

"To set a foolproof trap for you."

She paused, observing the fleeting change in the locust woman's expression, before uttering the most deadly bait, word by word.

“A trap that allows him to walk in unsuspectingly and be completely at your mercy.”

These words struck the Locust Woman like a thunderclap.

She was instantly smitten.

She had always thought Saeko was a simple-minded and foolish woman, but now it seemed that Saeko was indeed blinded by hatred and jealousy.

This woman actually wanted to use me to get revenge on Fu Chen and vent her hatred.

This was like a windfall for me.