Chapter 58: Anger

"Crash!"

The heavy red solid-wood desk was overturned with a violent shove. Documents and stationery scattered everywhere, and an exquisite ceramic teacup smashed hard against the ground, shattering into pieces.

The pretty female secretary knelt timidly on the floor, meticulously gathering the chaotic mess in the office. In her ears echoed the distorted voice of her superior, unleashing a continuous stream of curses.

"Baka!"

"Bastard!"

"Gichiku!"

"Yatsure!"

"Yaro!"

...

Jiefeng vocabulary for swearing was limited, revolving repetitively around just a few phrases, far from as colorful and diverse as that of their powerful neighbor. Moreover, Onodera Takenori's accent carried a thick, rustic, and slightly comical rural tone from Miyagi Prefecture in the northeast. Yet throughout the outburst, the female secretary remained terrified, not daring to speak, let alone spare even a glance at the Vice Minister's twisted, ferocious face and his wolf-like eyes.

It felt as though sitting in the office was not a revered official, but a ravenous monster poised to devour anyone, ready to crush her utterly at the slightest misstep.

"Those despicable Chana people!" Onodera Takenori's voice carried extreme rage, tinged faintly with a trace of fear that even he himself failed to notice.

Ever since receiving intelligence that the ancient and powerful neighbor had dispatched a small assault unit to the Jiefeng mainland, he had been scheming to use this incident to fulfill his personal ambition and ascend to that long-coveted position. To this end, he had even deliberately withheld the intelligence from his subordinates and allowed his rivals to clash violently within Kyoto. In his mind, the bigger the commotion they caused, the more advantageous it would be for his plan—as long as they were ultimately arrested with concrete evidence, leaving his political opponents no choice but to bow their heads, and forcing that Republic to make concessions.

To achieve his goal, Onodera Takenori had not only conferred extensively with Prime Minister Kishi Shinsuke, but had also personally intervened to persuade a mysterious force to lend its strength to his cause. Besides, he held an incomparably mysterious and formidable trump card in his hands! He believed that once the time was right, he could rely on this unknown power to strike his enemies down in one fell swoop, thereby becoming the hero who saved the situation in Jiefeng!

By then, his brilliant future would be just within reach. As long as this goal was achieved, what did it matter if tens of thousands of people were sacrificed? By that time, what he would receive would never be questioning, but countless praises, flowers, and tangible power and benefits.

History has always been written by the victors, hasn't it?

According to his projections, the targets most likely to be struck by his opponents were merely Kyoto's water supply system, power grid, or transportation system. He had even set a goal for those cowardly Chana people that could be described as audaciously bold—launching an attack on the outer garrison troops of the Kyoto urban area.

Therefore, upon receiving intelligence that the water treatment plant and underground drainage system had been attacked, he quietly suppressed the reports, feeling a sense of smug complacency regarding his own predictive accuracy.

Yet, never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the subsequent development of events would far exceed his expectations. Instead of continuing their actions within the city, the opponents had chosen the Mochikawa Reservoir as their target!

Following that, those audacious enemies had attacked the reinforcing troops within the city, and even brazenly launched an assault on the Intelligence Headquarters building, blowing his old lair into ruins!

If he hadn't spent the past few days away from the headquarters, staying instead at the Prime Minister's Official Residence to orchestrate everything, then...

A trace of chill crept up Onodera Takenori's spine, rapidly spreading across his entire body and breaking him out in a cold sweat.

This emotion made him grow even more furious, perhaps directed at the enemies in the dark, or perhaps at the fact that he had actually felt a sensation of fear.

"How dare they! How dare they!"

Onodera Takenori's shouts grew even louder. The pitiful female secretary, even more terrified, knelt trembling on the floor as the documents she had just retrieved dropped to the ground once again.

...

The office was already in complete shambles. After roaring, screaming, and cursing with repetitive "dirty words," the angry panting slowly subsided. Onodera Takenori straightened his posture, forcibly suppressing the faint trace of fear lingering in his heart, and frowned as he pondered his next move.

The current situation was undoubtedly grave, but didn't this also mean he was facing an even better opportunity and a more compelling rhetoric to persuade those hateful parliamentarians? After all, public panic had already emerged; with just a little guidance, that panic could easily be transformed into rage, turning the self-righteous elite citizens into a source of fear and anger toward that ancient neighbor. This would swing mainstream public opinion firmly behind his camp, forcing those legislators who believed that in a "democratic country" they must always cater to "public opinion" to change their tune...

Onodera Takenori's eyes suddenly lit up, feeling that he had found the correct path. He slightly steadied his emotions, ensuring his breathing sounded completely normal, and then gently picked up the telephone: "Connect me to the Prime Minister's office. I have an important matter to report confidentially to the Prime Minister..."

************************************************

"That was the beginning of the 'Three Days of Hell'." Years later, many Jiefeng people reading this sentence in historical texts would inevitably fall into deep thought, while those who had lived through those tragic three days would involuntarily tense up or curl into a ball, their faces haunted by lingering fear.

With the passage of time, although definitive proof was still lacking, people gradually came to understand the ins and outs of the matter: the retaliation from that powerful neighbor, the subsequent massive shifts in circumstances, and how those three hellish days of blood and fire profoundly altered the trajectory of history.

Yet at the time, no one could have imagined why a large-scale gang turf war would step by step escalate into large-scale "terrorist attacks," transforming into an overwhelming flood, blazing fires under driving storms, and explosions and mushroom clouds resembling wrath from the heavens...