Volume 5: Kyoto Summer Campaign Chapter 324: Blow up Kyoto!
"First of all - the first question, who are you?" After the bald man's breathing became regular and he could speak normally, Mucun asked the bald man the first question.
The bald man spoke slowly, saying that the organization he belonged to was called "Gravediggers".
The name "gravedigger" was given by their leader, Ryunosuke.
He was originally a ronin, and was recruited into the "gravediggers" by Ryunosuke a year ago.
"The '45 murders' that have been going on since last night, are they the work of you 'gravediggers'?"
"yes……"
"Why did you pretend to be Ogata Ittosai? Are you trying to frame him?"
"No... No, we didn't mean to frame Ogata Ittosai... For us, it doesn't matter who we disguise ourselves as... Our goal is just to disguise ourselves as a slightly famous criminal, so as to better divert the attention of the government and prepare for the subsequent plan..."
"Ryunosuke-sama's body shape and face shape are similar to Ogata Ittosai, who is also a famous person. So Ryunosuke-sama disguised himself as Ogata Ittosai and started killing people everywhere in Kyoto..."
"The person who disguised himself as Ogata is your leader..." Makimura frowned for some reason, "That is to say - you just planned to disguise yourself as a famous criminal to commit crimes, but the person you disguised yourself as happened to be Ogata Ittosai, right?"
“That’s right…”
"No wonder your leader always kills people in places with witnesses and never covers his face." Hasegawa said softly, "It turns out that your goal from the beginning was to let the government quickly notice that it was Ogata Ittosai who was killing people everywhere..."
"...I have a question." Ogata, who had been silent since just now, said, "Since your leader disguised himself as 'Ogata Ittosai', how did your leader disguise himself? Is it because he looks very similar to Ogata Ittosai, or because he has a mask or something like that?"
"I don't know... I only know that it was Ryunosuke who personally disguised himself as 'Ogata Ittosai'. As for how he disguised himself, I don't know..."
After listening to the bald man's explanation, Ogata sighed helplessly in his heart.
At this moment, Ogata felt very complicated.
These people didn't have any grudge against him, they just wanted to pretend to be some famous criminals...
Then, by sheer coincidence, she decided to disguise herself as him...
Ogata's feelings right now are very complicated... quite complicated...
"Then why are most of the 45 people killed disciples from the six major sword halls?" Mucun asked.
"Because... this is part of the plan..."
The bald man slowly explained their plan.
It turned out that they first sent most of their "gravediggers" to sneak into Kyoto and join the six major sword halls.
According to the bald man, they currently have about a hundred companions who have mixed into the six major sword halls and have become the new disciples of the six major sword halls in recent days.
While arranging for their companions to infiltrate the six major sword halls, they kidnapped the wife and daughter of the owner of the Inaba Hall, the most powerful and influential of the six major sword halls.
Last night, Ryunosuke disguised himself as Ogata and started killing people all over Kyoto City, focusing on killing the old disciples of the six major sword halls.
Since many members of the "Gravediggers" have infiltrated the six major sword halls, it is extremely easy to grasp the movements of those old disciples in the six major sword halls.
The reason why they focused on killing the old disciples of the six major sword halls was just to create a reason for "the six major sword halls to mobilize disciples to search the city for criminals."
After Ryunosuke, disguised as Ogata Ittosai, killed enough people, he threatened the master of Inaba sword hall with his wife and daughter, and demanded that the master of Inaba sword hall take the initiative to make a call, calling on the six major sword halls to mobilize their disciples to assist the government in capturing criminals.
Most of the 45 victims were disciples of their six major sword halls, so the disciples of the six major sword halls had more than enough reasons to go out and hunt down criminals.
Whether it is the people in the six major sword halls or outsiders, no one would think that there is anything strange about the six major sword halls' determination to assist the government in catching criminals.
On the contrary, there are many people who think that the people from the six major sword halls are brave and cheer for them.
In this way, their companions who had sneaked into the six major sword halls would have sufficient reasons to walk .
In other words - their series of schemes were for only one purpose: to give their companions who had sneaked into the six major sword halls sufficient reasons to walk around Kyoto in a swagger.
"……So."
As Makimura spoke, he slowly walked to the corner of the room and picked up a square object placed there.
"What is this?"
Makimura placed the square object in his hand in front of the bald man.
"This, this is..." Looking at the square object in Mucun's hand, the bald man hesitated.
Looking at the bald man who was hesitating and unable to utter a word, a sneer appeared on Mucun's face.
"If you don't tell me, I will. This is a bomb, right?"
As soon as Mucun finished speaking, the bald man's face was immediately filled with shock and he looked at Mucun in surprise.
"How do you know this is a bomb..." the bald man stuttered.
"Bomb... ? What is a bomb?" A-Ming asked puzzledly.
Not only was Atachi confused after hearing the word "bomb" from Makimura, Hasegawa and Shimada were also confused.
Only Ogata looked calm.
"Do you know about the shrapnel shells of artillery?" Makimura asked back.
"Of course I know." Ating said without hesitation.
"Then you can think of this explosive bomb in my hand as a fragmentation bomb that does not require a cannon to fire."
"Light the match first."
Makimura raised his hand and picked up a short fuse on the side of the bomb in his hand.
"When the fuse burns out, the bomb will explode like a cannonball."
Hearing what Makimura said, Atachi, Shimada, and Hasegawa all turned pale.
Ating even took two steps back subconsciously.
"Don't worry." Makimura continued, "I checked it. The bomb in my hand is not assembled. It won't explode."
Ogata, who had remained calm from beginning to end, looked at the explosive bomb in Makimura's hand and said in his heart:
——It really is a bomb…
This explosive bomb...or rather, a bomb, was found by Ogata and Makimura in the room that smelled of gunpowder when they were searching the three-story building where Baldy and others were hiding.
In the room filled with the smell of gunpowder, there was a lot of gunpowder, various things that Ogata couldn't name, and dozens of semi-finished bombs according to Makimura.
When Ogata saw the appearance of these bombs, he immediately recognized them - they looked very similar to the bombs he was familiar with on modern Earth.
I just don't know how powerful these bombs are.
"Explain to me what these explosive bombs are about." Mucun's tone was so cold that it seemed as if he could spit out ice chips from his mouth. "Otherwise, I will let you drink some more water."
After hearing the words "drink some water", the bald man's body shook violently a few times.
"I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything! You're right! The thing in your hand is a bomb! And that three-story building is where we, the Gravediggers, assemble the bombs!"
"Based on the amount of gunpowder I found in that building just now, you 'gravediggers' must have made a lot of explosive bombs..." Makura's face became more and more ugly, "What exactly do you plan to do with so many explosive bombs?"
"I...we..."
A look of hesitation appeared on the bald man's face again.
This time, the look of hesitation stayed on the bald man's face for an unusually long time.
But the fear of "water torture" overcame Baldy's loyalty to Ryunosuke.
After gritting his teeth, the bald man spoke word by word:
"We...will detonate these bombs in Kyoto tonight!"
After confirming that the thing in Makimura's hand was a bomb, Ogata had already vaguely realized what the "gravedigger" was going to do.
But after learning from the bald man what they were going to do, Ogata was still shocked and his pupils shrank slightly.
Ogata was not the only one who was frightened.
Be it Makimura, Shimada, Atachi, Hasegawa and the others, they were all stunned after hearing what the bald man just said.
The bald man then said:
"We are not just going to detonate the bombs we assembled in Kyoto City."
"Even though we have a lot of explosives, they are not enough to blow up the entire Kyoto."
"Our goal is to completely destroy Kyoto."
"And the best way to destroy Kyoto is to use fire attack."
"So after we detonate the bomb, we will set fires everywhere in Kyoto, so that Kyoto will be completely engulfed in flames."
"The task of setting fires in various places in Kyoto will be handled by our companions who have infiltrated the six major sword halls."
"We went to such great lengths to allow our companions who had infiltrated the six major sword halls to now walk around Kyoto City in the name of 'catching the murderer'."
"So that after we detonate the bomb, they can easily set fire to various places in Kyoto."
"After the fire is set, we can put the blame on the six major sword halls and let the world know that it was the disciples of the six major sword halls who set the fire."
"After Kyoto is destroyed, Kyoto will suffer heavy losses, the shogunate will be humiliated, and the masters and disciples of the six major sword halls will suffer a fate worse than death... This is the ultimate goal of us 'gravediggers'..."
After listening to the bald man's full account of their "gravedigger" plan, everyone, whether it was Ogata or Makimura, felt a chill in their hearts...
All the clues they knew so far were connected.
The fog that had surrounded their minds suddenly dissipated.
The reason why Ogata went around killing people was because of the "gravedigger" disguised as him.
The reason why "Gravedigger" focuses on killing the disciples of the six major sword halls.
What are those strange things that Shimabara's Choon heard from some new disciples of the Xuanxuekan when she was receiving customers?
The reason why the "gravedigger" threatened Master Inaba's wife and daughter and demanded that Master Inaba, who had the most say among the masters of the six major sword halls, issue a call to mobilize the disciples of the six major sword halls to hunt down the criminals throughout the city.
The reason why the "gravedigger" assembled so many explosive bombs.
…
All these questions have been answered at this time.
Although this answer made everyone present feel cold to the core...
"Do you 'gravediggers' have any deep hatred against the shogunate and the six major sword halls?" Hasegawa asked urgently.
The series of schemes planned by the "gravedigger" were extremely vicious.
First, let most of their companions sneak into the six major sword halls.
Then, through a series of ingenious arrangements, the disciples of the six major sword halls were able to walk around Kyoto with confidence and assurance.
Once the bomb is detonated, the "gravediggers" who have sneaked into the six major sword halls will start setting fires everywhere.
In the eyes of others, this is the picture: disciples from the six major sword halls are setting fires everywhere in Kyoto City!
Once the common people of Kyoto see this scene, the six major sword halls will undoubtedly suffer a devastating blow. It is no exaggeration to say that it is "killing people and destroying their hearts."
"The disciples set fire in Kyoto, causing heavy losses to Kyoto" - once this stain was on them, the owners of the six major sword halls would never be able to open a sword hall in Kyoto again.
Even whether I can raise my head in front of other people in the future will be a problem...
If the Gravedigger's plan succeeds, it will be just as the bald man said just now: Kyoto will be destroyed, the shogunate will be humiliated, and the masters and disciples of the six major sword halls will live a life worse than death...
When Hasegawa thought about the fact that there were many "gravediggers" among the disciples of the six major sword halls currently roaming the streets of Kyoto, and that these people would soon start setting fires everywhere in Kyoto, he felt goose bumps all over his body...
"I don't know the details..." the bald man said softly, "But as far as I know... Lord Ryunosuke does have a grudge against the six major sword halls... One of the reasons why he made such a plan was to take revenge on the six major sword halls..."
"As for the deep hatred with the shogunate..."
A sinister smile appeared on the bald man's face at this moment.
"Let me tell you the truth. Most of us 'Gravediggers', especially those who are responsible for sneaking into the six major sword halls and setting fires everywhere, have deep hatred for the shogunate."
"It is precisely because we hate the shogunate that we have joined the army of Lord Ryunosuke, who also hates the shogunate."
"It was not until I joined Ryunosuke-sama's army that I realized there were so many people who hated the shogunate as much as I did."
Mucun grabbed the bald man by the collar, lifted him up from the ground, and roared at him, asking him three questions in one breath:
"How many explosive charges do you have assembled? When and where do you plan to detonate them tonight?"
