Fog Formula-Warning Book of Fog City Search Chief's Strange Talk - Chapter Fourteen

It was five o’clock.

Just as Shenxiu was watching the rain outside the window with his hands behind his back, a quaint bronze bell suddenly rang in the hall. The thick and ethereal bell rang ten times in a row, instantly drowning out all the sounds in the hall. Under the surprised eyes of everyone in the banquet hall, a row of waiters dressed in black poured into the side of the hall. They walked in two teams in the hall in unison, and walked to Jianshenxiu with their heads bowed.

Jian Shenxiu knows this kind of etiquette. According to legend, the ancestral houses of the ancient gentry were built on the hillside, and the houses stretched for several miles. Every meal needs to go to the top of the mountain to ring the bell to inform the whole family, so the word “bell ringing Ding Shi” describes its luxury. But he didn’t expect that in this era, there are still people still using this etiquette hundreds of years ago. They’re even still using Earthly Branches. The bronze bell rings ten times in a row to indicate “You hour”. The ancients considered nightfall at five o’clock in the afternoon, and commoners eat two meals a day at Shen hour. Only wealthy people eat three meals a day at You hour.

Stepping out of the queue was a man in black with a vermilion scabbard on his waist. The embossed [Day Sun pattern] on the mouth of the scabbard indicated that he was a servant of the Asahina family for generations. People in this position in the aristocratic family usually don’t directly participate in the battle, so there is no chill on the man, but a sense of elegance and handsomeness. The waiter’s saber is only to show the majesty of the family. If they need to wield their swords, it means that the family has reached a critical moment of survival. On more serious occasions, they should wear black kimonos and wear blood-stained swords around their waists, standing behind the head of the family, ready to block the sword with their bodies at any time.

But today was not a negotiation but a banquet, so the kimono was replaced by a suit, and there was only an empty sheath hanging around his waist.

“See you, my lord.”

The visitor’s words are ancient and convoluted, his eyebrows and eyes are lowered, and his words are humble and not humble. Only truly ancient clans would specially raise such messengers, and they have been immersed in this way for many years to show this “sentence demeanor”. Guests who came from afar in the Warring States Period would be in awe when they saw such handsome servants, knowing that there must be a powerful and prosperous family behind them.

“The banquet above is ready, please follow me.”

“knew.”

“…”

At the same time that the servant was speaking, Markesias had quietly returned behind Jian Shenxiu at some point, without disturbing anyone during the whole process, as if suddenly there was a shadow behind Jian Shenxiu . It wasn’t until this moment that the people who were secretly watching here in various places in the hall were secretly startled, realizing that they had underestimated the importance of this [assistant]. All of them were secretly watching this direction, but none of them realized how close Markesias was. In their impression, one second Markesias was still eating dessert at the banquet table, and the next second he had already appeared behind Jian Shenxiu.

Jian Shenxiu nodded casually after seeing him, and then said to the servant.

“Lead the way.”

“Yes, please.”

Seeing the sudden appearance of Marchesias, the waiter’s eyes were slightly stunned for a moment, but the long-term training did not make any change in his demeanor. He bowed to Jian Shenxiu again, and led the two of them to the aisle on the side of the banquet hall.

——Market Shasben was also on the invitation list.

The backs of the three disappeared at the corner of the hall, and the hall became restless again, and everyone whispered about what happened just now. However, before these distinguished guests came to a conclusion, the black-clothed waiters who had poured in before suddenly came in front of them, apologizing to everyone in the venue to see off the guests.

Everyone was in an uproar. It is a great faux pas to close the door to see off guests in the middle of the banquet! But although those black-clothed waiters were apologetic, their actions were completely indisputable. Amid the uproar, a manager stood up to smooth things over, apologized to everyone, and gave everyone gifts and gold cards. The manager’s attitude is humble, and there is no room for discussion in his words.

No one dares to express dissatisfaction with the Asahi Group, but as “celebrities” they at least have the right to complain. Someone left cursing and ignoring the manager’s gift; someone maintained his posture, smiled and said goodbye to the manager, and took the gold card from the manager. However, regardless of the attitude, the manager greeted them with a smile and sent them away respectfully.

Soon, the last guest was also sent downstairs, and from the window, various luxury cars could be seen leaving the Asahina Grand Hotel downstairs one after another.

The moment the last customer turned the corner, the smile on the manager’s face disappeared instantly. He turned around quickly and walked back to the hall. During the movement, the breeze blew the clothes close to the skin, revealing the large muscles underneath and the tattoos that were slightly seen through the fabric. He returned to the hall and stood up straight, with the aura of a thug in his posture.

“Clear the field.”

The manager lit a cigarette and said coldly to his subordinates.

“Everyone, follow the plan.”

“yes!”

…

It was raining heavily today, but the venue of this banquet was actually on the rooftop.

After all, the Asahina Grand Hotel itself is a creation of the 21st century. No matter how it is decorated in a Japanese style on the outside, it is actually a modern building of reinforced concrete. From an architectural point of view, this book is beyond reproach, and anyone will agree with this design.

But the old wealthy family who are used to being picky about everything did not accept this kind of compromise. They actually built another wooden shrine on the roof of the six-story hotel. That is the most orthodox wooden building. It should not exist on the roof of any modern hotel, but its designer used thousands of steel bars and half-meter-thick concrete to connect the foundation of the entire shrine to the hotel below. The load-bearing columns firmly fixed it on the wide roof on the top floor.

Although the hotel below also bears the surname “Asahina”, the shrine here is where the Asahina family really entertains guests. The Chinese people inherited from these ancient times have an extraordinary obsession with the shrine, and each family has a dedicated shikigami. Their lineage has been passed down from the age of mythology. In a sense, their family line is a branch of theogony.

“This way please.”

No one spoke along the way, and every few meters along the way, you could see waiters standing beside them. The waiter led them through the side door reserved for rainy days. Open the sliding door of the roof, and a slender wooden hanging corridor comes into sight, leading directly to the main room in front. Because it was raining heavily outside, a whole row of bamboo mats were hung under the eaves on both sides of the corridor to keep out all the wind and rain. Inside the corridor are two rows of paper lanterns, painted with the Asahigumi’s signature sun pattern. The warm yellow candlelight shines on the body through the thin paper, and there is even a warm feeling.

It was an amazing sense of isolation. The whistling sound of the wind and rain is just outside the bamboo curtain, but walking down the corridor, surrounded by the warm candlelight, does not feel the slightest chill. They were guided by maids in white kimonos. Those young girls held red lanterns in their hands and lowered their heads in silence, exuding a kind of stable power. Walking in the corridor, through the gap between the bamboo curtains, you can still see the small red torii gate on the “right path” outside, which is the route they should have walked if it wasn’t for the rainy day. There are even two ponds of goldfish on both sides of the corridor, and stone sculptures of gods and ghosts are placed on the edge of the fish ponds.

“You don’t need to clean your hands when you see the gods, the lady has specially instructed you on this.”

Before crossing a certain line, a maid came forward to hold a copper basin, which was specially prepared for Marchesias, and it was a special ritual of cleaning hands before entering the shrine.

However, they did not ask to see Shenxiu to do the same. Obviously, the Asahi Group had investigated him in detail before coming. These people knew that Jian Shenxiu never took off his gloves in front of outsiders, and they simply chose to compromise on Jian Shenxiu’s habit.

“…”

This is a courtesy that surprised even Shenxiu himself. Cleaning hands is just a small action, but the meaning behind it is extremely profound. Because it represented that even in the territory of the Asahina family, the other party did not force him to abide by the “rules” here. The other party made a concession silently, which is an unimaginably tolerant thing for these old-fashioned old families. They showed surprising tolerance towards Jian Shenxiu. According to the style of these extreme families, these violent elements should have poured all those who dared to challenge their “rules” into concrete pillars and sank to the bottom of the sea.

Seeing that Shenxiu became more vigilant, he subconsciously thought of snakes. The venomous snake will throw its head back at an exaggerated angle when encountering an enemy, but it’s best not to think it’s intimidated. It was just gaining momentum, the more humble and respectful it was before the attack, the faster the attack would be.

If you want to use poisonous snakes to describe the Asahina family, they must also be the king of snakes. At this moment, the Snake King has already accumulated full power, no one knows when they are going to attack, but that second must be as fast as thunder.

“Ahead is the main hall.” The waiter walked to the main entrance and bowed to Jian Shenxiu. “Your seat is on the left. It is inconvenient for servants to enter the main hall. Please allow me to wait here.”

He didn’t need to say that he could see Shenxiu. At this moment, the interior of the main hall has been set up, and there are many small tables lined up on both sides. The table next to the chief seat is obviously reserved for Jianshenxiu, with the name and position of Jianshenxiu written on it with a gold-plated nameplate. Seeing that there is a slightly smaller table behind Shenxiu’s position, on which is written the name of Marchesias with the same business card.

“Thanks.”

Seeing Shenxiu thanking him, he took off his shoes at the side door in front of the hall, and walked to the tatami mats laid in the shop. The decoration in the hall has a very obvious Shinto style. The incense burner is lit with soothing incense, and there are three colorful ancient paintings hanging on the wall. Just a casual glance can tell that the hanging painting is priceless. In ancient times, when synthetic pigments had not been invented, such gorgeous colors could only be obtained by grinding gemstones.

The portraits on the hanging paintings are worthy of such expensive paints. Jian Shenxiu didn’t know much about Shintoism, but he also recognized the portraits on the hanging painting as the three main gods of Shintoism [Amaterasu], [Tsukiyomi] and [Susanoo]. In Shinto mythology, these three beings control day, night, and the sea, respectively. His majesty is vast and unshakable, and he is the supreme ruler of Gao Tianyuan.

What an elegant demonstration…

Thinking of the customs record in his hand, he felt a little emotional when he saw Shenxiu for a while.

Xuejianzawa Port is a world-class hub port. On the day of eternal night, there are millions of tons of various goods staying in the port area. However, within a very short period of time after Yongye, the most urgently needed part of these supplies disappeared in a shocking explosion. The goods that disappeared in that explosion reached an astonishing hundreds of thousands of tons, which can fill nearly tens of thousands of containers, and can be built up like a small pyramid.

However, soon, in less than half a month, those goods that should have disappeared flowed into Xuejianze City through various methods of shadows. Those most critical living materials were mysteriously buried in the flames at the moment when Xue Jianze was trapped in the fog and needed most, but they mysteriously appeared in less than half a month. Based on this, certain groups absorbed huge amounts of wealth and prestige in the chaotic era, and reached the top of the pyramid in a sudden transformation.

No one dared to investigate this horrific case. People who have the ability to transport tens of thousands of containers overnight, of course, have the ability to evaporate more than 100 catties of a person overnight. Everyone knows that there must be a huge monster hidden in the bottomless darkness. There are even people inside the Navi government who help them erase traces and cover up evidence, and some people even speculate that it is the Navi government itself that did these things.

Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi, and Susanoo—they really deserve to call themselves that.

[Asahi Group], [Monthly Reading Group] and [Spider Group]. On the “High Heaven Plain” in Xuejianze…

They are indeed mighty as the sea.

“…”

The host has not yet been seated, but several “guests” have already been seated. Many people in Yukimizawa regard entering the banquet hall of the Asahina Grand Hotel as a symbol of celebrity, but many of them do not even know that there is such a shrine on the top floor of the Asahina Grand Hotel. Only those who can enter this shrine are the real “superior” of Yukimizawa, the real “master” of Grady Island. Compared with the meeting going on in the shrine above, the banquet below is nothing more than a playful play among children.

There were people talking in the hall, but as the two of them walked in, the conversation in the hall suddenly stopped. At the same time, those people’s gazes locked on Jian Shenxiu, with condescending scrutiny. It’s like the old dragons circling the temple, scrutinizing whether it’s food on the table that comes in. Still a new diner.

Coincidentally, most of those faces were familiar to Shenxiu—except for one of them.

The Asahi group is the host here, and the host of this kind of banquet is always the last to enter, so the Asahi group’s table is still empty.

The person who came from the monthly reading group was their young lady, Yedu Yuya, and she also brought a few subordinates to sit behind her, most of them were the hall masters of the subordinate halls of the monthly reading group. The successors of the generation of Xue Jianze’s two yakuza organizations happened to be two young women of the same age, which is quite rare in the yakuza world where men are respected.

The spider group had the least number of people, only a middle-aged man with glasses, who looked like a teacher. He was the only person in the field who saw Shenxiu but hadn’t read the materials, and the eyes of seeing Shenxiu couldn’t help but linger on him.

This is also in line with the characteristics of the three extreme forces. Yukimizawa has always been one of the few places in the world that recognizes the legitimacy of Yakuza. Strictly speaking, the Asahi Group and the Monthly Reading Group are actually in a cooperative relationship with the Navi government.

According to the original agreement, among the six districts and one park in Xuejianze, the commercial district, high-tech zone, port area and industrial park are directly under the direct control of the Navi government. In the remaining three districts, the law and order of the affluent Shangcheng District was allocated to the Asahi Group. They are the most powerful Yakuza organization in Xuejianze and the orthodoxy of the Yakuza world. The public security in the lower urban area, which is mostly working-class, is assigned to the Yueyue group. They are in competition with the Asahi group, but under the balance of the Navi government, the apparent peace is now maintained.

The spider group is the weakest, weakest and most mysterious of the three extreme forces. Their territory is in the “marginal area” which is actually a slum. It is a mafia organization that came out of the fringe areas that the Navi government is unwilling and difficult to manage. Outsiders know little about them, but they are omnipotent in the fringes, even surpassing the Navi government.

Viewed from some angles, the room is a rather eerie picture. Those sitting here are all the parents of the underworld. Although they all use their identities on the surface, they have tattoos representing status on their necks, and their clothes are embroidered with family crests representing their families. Their kind faces are only because they are in high positions and no one dares to touch their tiger beards, but under their feathers, there is a tiger-like strong thug body.

Even if everyone uses their identities on the surface, this is an undoubted mafia event. But strangely, a search chief and a search officer entered by mistake.

“See Mr. God.”

The one who spoke was Yatou Yuya, the successor of the Tsukuyomi Group, a seventeen-year-old girl of the same age as Asahina Hana. Before Hana Asahina, the host, arrived, as the successor of the Tsukiyomi group, she was the person with the highest status in the field at the moment, and she should speak out to welcome the latecomers.

“The little girl is the daughter of Yedu’s parents, Yedu Yuya. It’s the first time we meet, please take care of me.”

It’s as if they are competing for something or comparing something, or trying to overwhelm their opponent on an unknown level. The blond girl in purple and twelve singles showed a decent smile at Jian Shenxiu, put her hands in front of her body and sat slightly bent with perfect etiquette.

“Mister’s name, Feather Crow has admired him for a long time.”

It was a girl who didn’t need to use any words to repeat her “nobility”, but could be seen as dignified and elegant like a peacock at a casual glance. A head of supple blond hair was gracefully coiled behind her head, and she was dressed in an extremely luxurious and extremely formal Twelve Single Tang Yi, with purple-red background decorated with gorgeous moonlight-like patterns. Only a small piece of smooth jade neck is exposed at the neckline, showing a little youthful atmosphere. The sleeves in front of her are wide and luxurious, covering the girl’s slender arms, and only a few white and round fingertips are exposed at the end of the cuffs, which reminds people of the laurel blooming at night on the branches, and the petals are full of mystery and moonlight .

“Miss Yedu, I have long admired you.”

After seeing Shenxiu taking his seat, he slowly returned his salute to her.

The perfect “Yamato Nadeshiko”—everyone who sees her will definitely feel this emotion. It’s like Kaguya Hime in “Bamboo Tori Monogatari”, or simply the mysterious and noble Tsukiyomi himself. Even Jian Shenxiu has to admit that the heir of the monthly reading group has amazing beauty and is a nearly perfect young lady.

It was amazing, at that moment, countless information about the successor of the monthly reading group appeared in Shenxiu’s mind. However, at this very second, he subconsciously ignored the precious information that the search bureau was trying to search for, and his thoughts finally froze on a certain sentence in the conversation with Asahina Hana ten minutes ago——

[Allow me to step back and change clothes, but I still have to wait for another eldest lady who changes clothes. ]

The red-haired girl had a smile on her face when she said this, as if she had expected that the heir of the Yuedu group would definitely attend the banquet in full costume.

[The Asahi group and the Yuedu group are in a competitive relationship, and their competition includes all aspects] – this fact has never been so clear in Jian Shenxiu’s mind for a moment. In such an occasion representing their respective families, the two heirs of their respective families will definitely try their best to try to overwhelm each other.

It’s just that Yedu Yuya is wearing twelve singles at the moment, which is already the most solemn and grandest attire among ladies’ kimonos. It takes tens of minutes to put on such a fine attire, and Hana Asahina was chatting with him downstairs half an hour ago, so there is not much time left for her to freshen up.

And what kind of attire should the last appearance, Asahina Hana, who is the orthodox Yukimizawa Gokudo force, wear?