I formed the strongest swordsman group

When the last string of flames turned into thin smoke, the firefighters of the town fire department were finally able to search for the dead in the ruins.

During this period, the officials of the execution office and prison house counted the prisoners who had successfully escaped from the prison.

It is reported that because the fire started too fast and too fiercely, the jailers had no time to open all the cells above and below the cell house.

Therefore, there are only a small number of lucky prisoners who can escape smoothly.

Although under the unanimous request of the director general and others, the officials carefully checked the "survivor list" several times, but no matter how many times they checked, they still couldn't find Qingdeng's name...

Faced with this fact, in an instant, the chief executive felt that his body and heart were falling straight to the ground, to the deepest part of the ground.

But even so, the director still said to himself: You can't draw conclusions so quickly! Mr. Ju's life is very hard! How could he die so easily! He must be alive! Yes! He must be alive!

The general manager pinned all his hopes on the search of the town fire department.

As long as Qingdeng's body is not found, it means that he is still alive!

Removing ruins, searching for the dead—this kind of work cannot be done by amateurs, it must be handled by professionals.

Therefore, the general manager can only wait anxiously on the periphery of the disaster area.

No matter what Kondo and his team say or persuade, the general manager is unwilling to leave and stubbornly "sticks to his post."

The chief executive is not alone.

Because both Sanako and Kinoshita Mai made the same choice as her.

The three daughters never left Xiaoden Macho, and never left.

It is said that Elodi also planned to come to help, but Westerners are really not suitable to appear in such a crowded place, so under Anthony's strong opposition, he had to give up.

Time passed bit by bit.

Just when the sky turned dark again—

"Ah! Mr. Arima!"

The chief commander quickly greeted Arima who was walking towards them.

"Mr. Arima, how is the situation?"

It would be much more convenient for him to deal with the firefighters of the town fire department who are also officials.

"...just now, the town fire disappeared in the ruins of the prison house, and found the last body."

Having said that, Arima paused.

He bit his lower lip tightly, and the expression on his face was dominated by intense sadness.

Looking at Arima's expression, the light in the chief's eyes quickly disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.

no, do not want……!

The chief executive made a sad plea in his heart.

Don't say it!

The chief subconsciously raised his hands.

She wanted to cover her ears.

She didn't want to hear what Arima had to say next.

But...it's too late.

"According to the judgment... the last body found... the body shape is exactly the same as Mr. Tachibana..."

After finishing speaking, Arima closed his eyes in pain.

Arima's enunciation is very clear, his voice is very clear, and he speaks Japanese with a standard Edo accent.

But the boss still couldn't understand what he was saying.

Can't understand the meaning in Arima's words...or to say: refuse to understand and admit the meaning in Arima's words.

A strange trembling rushed from the soles of the feet to the top of the head in one breath, and rushed into the depths of my mind.

There is a layer of barrier around the body that isolates the sound.

The sounds of the surroundings and the sounds of the world gradually moved away and disappeared.

There was a tinnitus in the ears, and only a humming noise could be heard.

The trembling in my head gradually turned into dizziness.

The boss felt dizzy for a while, and his body seemed to lose his balance.

He can't even distinguish the position of the sky and the earth, can't perceive himself, and forgets that he is a person named "Okita Souji".

It seems that after 1 second, and it seems that 1 year later, Harada's roar brought back the consciousness of the chief executive.

"Hey! Mr. Arima! Are you telling the truth? Did you hear me right?"

Harada rushed forward with a stride, grabbing Arima's lapel.

"Hey, Harada, don't do this!"

Yongcang grabbed Harada's wrist, trying to break Harada's hand.

In terms of seniority, status and title, a junior like Harada should not be so rude to Arima.

But no matter how hard Yongcang tried, Harada's hands remained motionless.

"Boss, you..."

At some point, Tufang stood behind the chief executive. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he stopped talking.

The chief executive turned his eyes as if he was looking at something, but also looked around with empty eyes that didn't look at anything.

Harada, who was emotional, still grabbed Arima's skirt in his own way.

Yongcang firmly restrained Harada.

Kondo looked sad.

Hijikata cast a worried look at her.

Inoue's body shook slightly.

A rare look of disappointment appeared on Saito's cheeks.

The loyal old servant of the Qingdeng family: Jiu Bingwei sat on the ground slumped, crying loudly.

Tongyu's demeanor was as usual, but there was a faint shock of emotion beating between his brows.

Chiba Shigetaro had an unbelievable expression on his face.

As for her two rivals...

Kinoshita Mai blinked, and then blinked several times, as if to confirm the clarity of vision.

Then, like a baby who just learned to walk, she stepped forward cautiously...

In the next moment, the girl staggered for a while, and her delicate body fell forward, like a puppet whose thread had been pulled out.

Fortunately... just before she fell to the ground, Kiryu quickly stopped the fragile puppet that was shaking when touched.

At this moment, the already petite girl in red instantly became a little smaller.

"woo woo woo woo……"

Kinoshita Mai's eyes were filled with tears in an instant.

Tears as big as peas slid across the bloodless face one by one, dripping to the ground.

The red lips opened and closed repeatedly, but they failed to turn what they wanted to say into concrete words.

"Woo, woo woo woo, woo ah ah ah...!"

The crying quickly intensified.

The backlog of emotions burst like a flood.

Kinoshita Mai, who could no longer hold back her tears, broke down in pain.

Crying so sad, suffering so sad.

Kiryu didn't say anything... just hugged her silently and watched her quietly...

The chief's other rival in love... Sanako's reaction was almost the opposite of Kinoshita Mai's.

No matter what kind of things he encountered, even if he was kidnapped by the lunatics of the Kobari group, Yamato Nadeko, who was still safe and sound, did not change his calm demeanor, did not show any expression mixed with negative emotions, and even more so. no crying.

When the director's gaze turned to her, he saw her pink neck raised high, looking up at the sky.

Because of the angle of view, the chief executive couldn't see the expression on Sanako's face.

Strange to say, the chief executive feels that his heart is very peaceful now.

No shock, no overwhelm.

Even when faced with the sudden situation of "Qingdeng is dead", the general manager did not make any abnormal behavior in front of everyone.

It's just that the perception of the body is getting more and more strange... Everything that comes into view seems to be lacking in reality.

Vaguely, she felt a huge..."monster" appeared in her body.

This "monster" swelled rapidly with the passage of time.

It fills the chest, then rushes to the throat, and then pours into the nose and eyes.

Affected by this "monster", the chief executive felt that the corners of his eyes began to heat up, and the depths of his nasal cavity repeatedly felt sore.

"Hiss...! Hiss...!"

The chief executive suppressed it desperately, endured it desperately, and sniffed hard.

She doesn't want to cry.

It was embarrassing to cry out in front of so many people.

Painfully wait for the emotional waves to pass, and keep building high dams that block emotions.

However... caught up.

The "monster" caught up.

The chief executive knew what this "monster" was.

It is an emotion called "sadness".

This "monster" stood up slowly at this moment, and gradually grabbed her whole body.

don't... don't come near me...

The chief executive begged bitterly.

As long as he doesn't face this emotion directly, as long as he doesn't admit the existence of this emotion, Qingdeng is still alive.

She thought so naturally, innocently.

But after all, this is just self-deception in vain.

The "monster" ignored the will of the director, continued to expand, continued to grow, and continued to stretch out its big claws towards the director.

An alarm bell sounded somewhere in the chief executive's heart, loudly reminding her to run away, get out of this place! Stay as far away from this "monster" as possible!

However, the legs seemed to be filled with lead, the soles of the feet seemed to be stuck to the ground, and the body could not move. The Chief has lost control of his body.

Finally, the "monster" grew to the limit, and it clung to the chief executive.

"Ah ah ah ah ah……"

The boss grasped his chest and stomach, and squatted down slowly.

"Director!"

Hijikata, who had been standing behind the chief executive since just now, always ready to step forward to help him if anything went wrong, quickly leaned forward and supported the chief executive.

The chief executive looked back at Hijikata who was like a brother and sister to her.

Hijikata was clearly right in front of him, but for some reason it seemed so far away.

The chief executive slowly withdrew his gaze from Hijikata's body and lowered his head.

What he saw in his eyes was the scorched ground that had been scorched by the fire and his own small toes.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...!"

Mouth uttered fragmented moans without any specific meaning.

Neutral, unisex voice... There is no doubt that it is his own voice.

Obviously she was talking, but she felt as if someone else was talking.

The vision is blurry, but not from being clouded by tears.

There were no tears in the boss's eyes.

Just keeping his eyes wide open, just squatting on the ground and unable to get up, just letting out a cry that is not crying, but better than crying.

"Director..."

Tufang supported the chief commander's shoulders.

This eloquent and eloquent handsome man who could make countless girls fall in love with her and go crazy for her with just a single mouth, could not utter a single word at this moment.

All he can do now is to look at the chief and prevent this girl from doing stupid things...

A heavy atmosphere descended on this space, and the surroundings of the chief executive and the others were filled with sorrowful air.

At this moment... a young man dressed as a firefighter hurried to Arima from a distance with a "hum-chi-hum-chi".

"Master Arima!"

The young firefighter put his mouth close to Arima's ear and whispered something.

"What did you say?!"

After the young fireman's whispering was over, Arima said in a startled voice:

"Is everything you said true?"

The young firefighter nodded:

"It's absolutely true. Sir Arima, I still have important matters to attend to, so I will take my leave for the time being."

Arima stared blankly at the back of the young firefighter.

After the figure of the young firefighter completely disappeared at the far corner of the street, Arima turned his head mechanically and looked at the crowd blankly.

"Just now...an old official from the Nanfan Institute with decades of autopsy experience rushed to the scene to support. According to the old official's judgment...'Ju Jun's body' is abnormal, and the bone age is too old, which is similar to that of Ju Jun. My age doesn't match..."

"After the inspection by the prison house, it is not Tachibana-kun's body, but the body of another royal family named Sakano Yonosuke who is about the same height and build as Qingdeng..."

At this moment, the surrounding atmosphere changed.

All the people who had been deeply saddened or secretly sad until just now suddenly froze.

They stared blankly at Arima.

Bunches of intensely emotional gazes fell on Arima.

"That corpse...isn't Jun Ju's?"

Kiryu was the first to break the silence.

Arima nodded slightly.

"What are you doing!"

Under Yongcang's strong dissuasion, Harada, who had just calmed down, violently exploded again.

"Can such a thing go wrong?"

Although Harada was roaring, there was a smile on his face.

The atmosphere on the scene changed suddenly.

Sadness, pain...these emotions gradually turned into ecstasy and happiness...

Kinoshita Mai raised her small face from Kiryu's arms with a blank expression.

There were profuse tears and snot on her delicate face.

As if her brain was down, she remained silent for a long time with a blank expression on her face.

After a while, an excited smile gradually appeared on his pretty face.

She was crying and laughing, her appearance was both funny and distressing.

Sanako looked back at the sky. She deserves to be the ice beauty who is famous for her cold and arrogant personality.

Even after going through this roller coaster of great sorrow and joy, she still remained calm.

She parted her red lips slightly, and let out a long sigh that only she could hear clearly.

Suddenly, the tall, plump body shook.

At this moment, Sanako looked like a small boat being swayed by the waves of the ocean, his body swayed.

For Sanako, who has the talent of "superior to ordinary people's sense of body balance": "Cat Turning", it should not be difficult to control the body balance.

But at this moment, Sanako expended a lot of strength, but still failed to stabilize his body.

As for the chief... The reaction she showed right now was caught between Sanako and Kinoshita Mai.

"Mr. Ju... isn't dead...?"

The "monster" rapidly became smaller and weaker.

Another emotion that is very different from sadness slowly seeps out from somewhere in her heart following her raving.

A hot current surged into the eyes, swayed around the eyeballs, burst out of the sockets, and rolled down.

"Woooo... woooo..."

When he heard that "Qingdeng is dead", the chief did not cry.

As a result, at this time, I couldn't help crying...

She was crying, weeping, and crying, turning all the emotions in her heart into tears and venting them out.

Amidst the cries and cheers, a calm voice sounded:

"Mr. Arima, you said just now: This corpse, which has been confirmed to be not Mr. Tachibana, is the last body found in the ruins of the prison house...Since the last body is not Mr. Tachibana's, but Mr. Tachibana's name is not on the list of survivors...so where is Mr. Tachibana now?"

The speaker is Saito Kazuki.

As expected of a man who can't express his emotions or anger, no matter whether he just heard the news of Qingdeng's death, or now that "Qingdeng has come back to life", his face did not reveal any extreme expression.

However, he has said a lot for a long time now.

This string of rhetoric may have exceeded the sum of his words yesterday and the previous two days.

Saito's question calmed down everyone, including the chief executive.

That's right, Qingdeng's body was not found in the ruins of the prison house, and Qingdeng was not among the people who managed to escape from the fire... Then where is he now?

"I'll ask the town fire department and the execution office again! See if they miscalculated and missed any survivors!"

Arima raised the hakama pipe and walked away quickly without stopping.

...

...

After "Ju Qingdeng is dead" and "King Ni was buried in the sea of ​​fire", a new rumor spread throughout Edo - "Ju Qingdeng is missing".

It is impossible to test who the person who reported this matter was.

In short - good things don't go out, bad things spread thousands of miles.

The news of "Ju Qingdeng's disappearance" spread throughout Edo at an alarming speed.

What followed was a big discussion about "Is King Ren alive or dead?"

Recently, whenever you go to any street or alley in Edo, any tea house, izakaya, or bathing place, you can always hear the people in the market passionately debating "the life and death of Qingdeng".

This kind of question is essentially the same as "Which one is better at fighting, Han Xin or Bai Qi" or "Which one is more effective in fighting, a lion or a tiger?" The problem.

Two days later, the enforcement office came down in person, ending the debate with a final word.

An official document was posted at the high office (bulletin board) where the execution was held, and a notice was issued to all Edo citizens: After a thorough investigation by the execution office, the prison house, and the town fire department, it has been confirmed that the leader of the third division of the Fire Fu Thief Kai, Tachibana Qingdeng, is missing !

A stone stirs up a thousand waves.

Although the end of the post issued by the Enforcement Office ended the debate on whether Qingdeng is alive or dead, it brought up brand-new topics: "Since King Ni is not dead, where did he go?" Deliberately releasing false news? Ju Qingdeng is actually dead.", "How could such a living person suddenly disappear for no reason?"...

At the time when the crowd was furious, a piece of explosive new news suddenly came out: Qingdeng Saber... The precious sword that Jing Yi Naosuke gave Qingdeng with a red and black handle and scabbard: "Stable ghosts and gods, no wings" And fly!

When Qingdeng was sent to prison, his whole body was inspected extremely strictly, and everything on his body, whether it was a knife or the pocket paper used to wipe the knife and blow his nose, was confiscated.

Qingdeng's personal belongings were all kept in Beifan Office.

On January 15, when the officials of Beifan Office checked and counted the warehouse, they suddenly found that Dingguishen had disappeared.

Qingdeng disappeared, and so did his saber...

People with keen intuition are all keenly aware that things are getting more and more confusing...

...

...

In the second year of Wanyan (1861), on January 16, night——

Edo, Banner Inhabited Area, somewhere outside the Akabane family's mansion——

"Is everything ready?"

"Well, everyone is ready and waiting for your order."

"Okay, let's go."

A group of men in black, all dressed in black, filed out from the shadows of the alley.

The leader is holding a sword with a large arc, the handle and scabbard are both red and black...

*****

*****

Guangzhou finally cleared up! The author has finally entered the state of "intermittent hard work" once a month!

Taking advantage of the weather in Guangzhou finally getting better, the author decides: Starting tomorrow, we will work hard to update!

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