Inside The Organization's public training base, Tamazawa Shuxin was practicing sniping while waiting for Morofushi Hiromitsu. It had been a while since he last sniped, and his skills were a bit rusty. When Morofushi Hiromitsu entered, he saw 900 yards on the screen, with ten shots hitting the target with pinpoint accuracy. It was obvious this was not Glenlivet's limit. Morofushi Hiromitsu tried to figure out why Glenlivet had called him over, but he never expected it to be for training!
"Can you do blind sniping?" Tamazawa Shuxin truly did not know whether Morofushi Hiromitsu could blind-snpe. If he could, he could help Morofushi Hiromitsu improve both his distance and accuracy for blind sniping; if not, they would just have to start by training the basic hardware.
"Blind sniping? I can't." It was a very cautious reply. Tamazawa Shuxin couldn't be bothered to guess; they were all his own people anyway, so they would go straight to practice and see the results.
"Keep up." Afterwards, Morofushi Hiromitsu followed Tamazawa Shuxin into the mountain forest. "Let's play a sniping match. The boundary is this forest, with a two-hour time limit. It ends whoever loses combat capability first." Tamazawa Shuxin handed the Barrett M90 to Morofushi Hiromitsu and took out an alarm clock. "You have five minutes to hide. Once the alarm rings, the match begins." With that, Tamazawa Shuxin watched Morofushi Hiromitsu head up the mountain, while he himself walked unhurriedly down the mountain to get familiar with the terrain. For the first hour, nothing happened.
Morofushi Hiromitsu was hiding in a gap among the tree thickets 100 meters southeast of the mountain peak. To the southwest was a cliff, and this position allowed him to aim at the two paths leading up the mountain from the northeast and northwest, as well as the best ambush spot to intercept him. *Rustle, rustle, rustle*, movement came from the northeast. "Height, walking habit, lower left corner of the abdomen, second bush from the right!" After firing his shot, Morofushi Hiromitsu moved quickly, but a bullet pierced through a tree trunk and struck his right leg.
Morofushi Hiromitsu's body buckled instinctively, taking a direct hit to his left calf. He collapsed completely, and a final bullet whistled past the top of his head. "Is the mission going to fail? Am I going down like this? I'm sorry, Zero, Matsuda, Hagi, Squad Leader, and Shuxin..."
As soon as Tamazawa Shuxin walked over and saw Morofushi Hiromitsu's resigned, death-defying look, he took out a medical kit containing potions he had prepared in advance. "I say, you didn't think I was going to kill you, did you? Concealing your true strength is a quick way to climb the ranks, but that doesn't work with me. Having no value means a dead end. Midorikawa Hikaru, your blind-sniping level is quite high. I am very satisfied." As he spoke, Tamazawa Shuxin removed the bullet, then administered a healing potion followed by a blood-replenishing potion in order, deliberately avoiding the bones and ligaments. "So, Midorikawa Hikaru, do you want to live?"
"I do, Lord Glenlivet! I will prove my worth!"
"Hmph, keep up!"
Morofushi Hiromitsu was puzzled. He had a gunshot wound—how was he supposed to get up? He moved his leg. "What? It's completely healed!" Shocked internally by The Organization's research and development, he thought to himself, *If I could take this formula back...* Pondering how to obtain the potion's formula, he got to his feet and followed Tamazawa Shuxin.
"It's exactly the same state as before the injury, meaning it can achieve a rapid one-hundred-percent recovery, but the pain is extremely intense." Morofushi Hiromitsu thought of another question and looked at Tamazawa Shuxin. *Glenlivet might be even stronger than Gin, and there is no profile on him at all. He is very likely a high-ranking member of The Organization. Based on my observations, Glenlivet likes people with ability.* With that thought, Morofushi Hiromitsu walked up to Tamazawa Shuxin with the eager look of someone trying to climb the ladder. "Lord Glenlivet, I would like to request a mission to prove my strength."
At 1:00 AM, outside an abandoned factory, on the roof of an abandoned building: "Ten minutes from now, The Organization and the Kojin-kai combat unit will conduct a cash-for-goods exchange. My demand: wipe them out completely." There were many abandoned factories here, all connected together, and the trade was taking place inside one of them. He would have to rely entirely on judgment to blind-snpe. Through the scope, Morofushi Hiromitsu watched the factory where the deal was happening. Tamazawa Shuxin stood behind him. "Three, two, one, start!"
Gunshots rang out, and bullets pierced through the walls, striking the heads of the Kojin-kai members with pinpoint accuracy. Morofushi Hiromitsu did not stop sniping; every shot he fired accurately judged the opponent's movements, resulting in precise, fatal hits without a single error. Tamazawa Shuxin whistled. "Not bad."
One sniping mission after another continued. The blind-sniping distance increased from 400 yards to 500 yards, and by the end, the hand holding Morofushi Hiromitsu's gun was shaking.
"Let's stop here for today. The mountain forest, day after tomorrow as usual!"
Feeling a sense of immense relief, Morofushi Hiromitsu returned to the apartment where he lived under his disguise. Pushing himself past exhaustion, his involuntarily trembling fingers typed out a message, but then he remembered his contact's instruction to suspend contact. He deleted the message, collapsed onto the bed, and fell fast asleep. He no longer had the energy to think about anything else, completely oblivious to Tamazawa Shuxin's flaw.
"Hey, how is it? Is he to your liking?"
"He gave me quite a surprise. I'm almost tempted to keep him on my side!"
"As you like, as long as it doesn't affect my plan."
"You're still as boring as ever. By the way, Rum has taken a fancy to him."
"Then trade Curaçao for him. I recall she's in Italy right now." Tamazawa Shuxin hung up after saying that, and called Sodra.
"Sodra, detain Curaçao. Just leave her breathing." Tamazawa Shuxin had no intention of letting Furuya Rei work under someone as paranoid and arrogant as Rum. Besides, Furuya Rei was his person now; no one was going to poach under his nose. That would be a challenge to his authority, and Rum's hand reached too far. "Zero is too bold in his actions; whenever he makes a mistake, there's no room for rescue. He needs to learn some risk-avoidance techniques from Vermouth and improve. A single oversight means all previous efforts are wasted."
After finishing his thoughts and getting ready to rest, he heard a notification sound from his phone: [Passed evaluation / Gin].
*As expected of the Silver Bullet. Although the intensity of each mission wasn't very high, he really managed to persevere. It seems Gin appreciates him quite a bit. What a pity that he is Akai Shuichi, the backbone of the FBI; he could easily establish a foothold just by taking a codename.*
Tamazawa Shuxin finished typing and sent: [Moroboshi Dai, Rye / Glenlivet].
After just a few seconds, a reply came: [Mhm / Unsigned].
*Is the boss that idle? And he agreed just like that. It seems Glenlivet's standing with the boss is about to rise another level.* After sending the codename to Gin, Tamazawa Shuxin made arrangements for the trip to Italy. "All right, playtime is almost over. Time to ramp up the intensity."
One month later, inside The Organization's base in Italy, Morofushi Hiromitsu looked at the 700-yard mark on the training ground screen. He truly hadn't expected his sniping skills to improve this fast. Ever since coming to Italy, Glenlivet had thrown him here to fend for himself—it was either negotiations or gunfights. Once, he had almost been shot in the head by a mafia sniper. Recalling what Glenlivet had said after getting off the plane, a chill still ran down his spine: "Midorikawa Hikaru, if you fail, you die!"
He had thought he could safely retreat no matter what, but he had still underestimated the madness of the Italian mafia. In this past month, Morofushi Hiromitsu had learned negotiation, psychological profiling, tactical layout, and improved his acting skills, achieving a comprehensive, massive upgrade. Even his blind-sniping accuracy had increased from 500 yards to 600 yards. "Is this a blessing in disguise, or did Glenlivet do it on purpose?" Morofushi Hiromitsu didn't understand Glenlivet's intentions, and his contact still hadn't replied. But if his cover had been blown long ago, he would have been executed by now. Pushing the thoughts aside, he packed up his sniper rifle and left the training base.
"Good day, Mr. Midorikawa." Morofushi Hiromitsu responded warmly and politely to each greeting. Macedonia walked over and saw Morofushi Hiromitsu wearing that amicable, harmless expression. "Midorikawa Hikaru, Lord Glenlivet is looking for you."
"Understood, thank you for your trouble, Lord Macedonia." Macedonia watched Morofushi Hiromitsu's back, his gaze filled with contempt and hostility. *Such a terrifying disguise.*
"Lord Glenlivet, I'm coming in." Tamazawa Shuxin raised his head and saw Morofushi Hiromitsu looking completely harmless, his pair of blue eyes so gentle one could drown in them. Yet Tamazawa Shuxin knew what kind of person Morofushi Hiromitsu was now: an innocent facade hiding a dark core. He had truly learned how to appear harmless in front of people and act invisibly behind their backs. To this day, the other mafia gangs still hadn't figured out who had orchestrated the downfall of the mafia's Park.
"Midorikawa Hikaru, your codename evaluation mission: extract one hundred million US dollars from Pisco. Succeed, and the money is yours; fail, and you leave your life behind."
"Lord Glenlivet, there are no restrictions on the method, correct?"
"As you please."
Three days later: "Lord Glenlivet, your subordinates really are full of talent! Winning a wolf with empty hands, exploiting Irish's admiration for me, acting as the mastermind behind the middlemen, and ultimately stealing five hundred million dollars from The Organization without any connection to it!" Morofushi Hiromitsu looked at Tamazawa Shuxin and laughed mockingly, his eyes full of contempt for Pisco. "Pisco, you're old. Stepping down early to make room for Irish is the right move. The Organization doesn't need timid cowards!"
With a beep, the call was disconnected. "How is your relationship with Irish?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu immediately understood Tamazawa Shuxin's intent. "Not a single suspicion fell on me."
Tamazawa Shuxin brought up the real business: "Scotch Whisky! Scotch, your codename."
Morofushi Hiromitsu nodded, and Tamazawa Shuxin directly dismissed him to organize the intelligence he had gathered. "Tomorrow morning at six, right here."
After confirming that Morofushi Hiromitsu had left, Tamazawa Shuxin took out his phone and sent out the intercepted messages meant for Morofushi Hiromitsu, adding the line: [Situation known, proceed with everything / Morofushi Hiromitsu]. At the same time, he forged a new profile card. "It's about time to send Scotch into the FBI. Bourbon is coming to Italy anyway, so their schedules will miss each other nicely. Let's leave Rye alone for now!"
After searching the room and confirming there were no surveillance devices, Morofushi Hiromitsu cautiously sent the intelligence gathered in Italy to Fujiwara Motoji. [Received, be careful with everything / Fujiwara Motoji].
Morofushi Hiromitsu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since joining The Organization, he had been living on edge. The Organization was far larger and more unfathomable than he and the Public Security had imagined. The Italian arms pipeline had always been controlled by Glenlivet; judging by the destinations of the arms shipments he had seen, they were linked ring after ring, protecting each other at every level. Furthermore, one question had always made him deeply suspicious: "Is the headquarters really in Japan?"
The next day: "What? Go undercover in the FBI!"
"Don't look down on the FBI. Learn from others to make up for your own shortcomings—it's a trade where you won't lose either way. Or would you rather go to the Japanese Public Security?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu's expression remained mild and harmless, and his tone was as ordinary as ever. "No, I'll go to the FBI. I can get more resources there."
"A wise decision. Report directly to me. You may leave now."
Sitting on the plane, Morofushi Hiromitsu read: "Matsuo Atsushi, 25 years old, Harvard graduate student..." A descendant of the FBI's Witness Protection Program? It seemed The Organization's infiltration into various agencies ran quite deep. Morofushi Hiromitsu quietly looked out at the blue sky. "If only this world were as clear as this blue sky."
After getting off the plane and just stepping out of the airport: "Hello, Matsuo-kun, I am Jodie Starling. It's a pleasure to have you back in America!"
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Starling."