21st Century Necromancer

After hanging up the phone, Tsuchimikado Yoshiharu turned back to look at the headless corpse, now reduced to a skeleton by Kyuuzai Ryousen's Cursed Ravens, shaking his head helplessly, "We should probably deal with these bones, right? Having an extra headless skeleton lying around is bound to cause trouble."

Despite his words, Tsuchimikado Yoshiharu took a paper effigy from his breast pocket, tossed it onto the skeletal remains on the ground, then formed a hand seal. He controlled the skeleton to stand up on its own, picked up the severed head Kyoko Kojo had chopped off, and even fetched a mop to clean the blood from the floor. Once everything was spotless, he stuffed himself into a garbage bag.

"Later tonight, we'll weigh him down with stones and dump him in Tokyo Bay," Tsuchimikado Yoshiharu instructed one of his subordinates standing nearby, speaking as if referring to a bag of trash rather than a person whose body had just been disposed of.

However, both Kyoko Kojo, who had just performed the killing, and Kyuuzai Ryousen, who had been watching with cold indifference, showed no emotion to the turn of events. Yet the others in the meeting room were all silent as the grave, hardly daring to breathe, fearing they might be the next to end up in a garbage bag.

"What did the boss say?" Ryousen Kyuuzai didn't bother with the reactions of those around him and directly asked Tsuchimikado Yoshiharu for Yu Chen's instructions.

Upon hearing Kyuuzai's question, Tsuchimikado Yoshiharu, who had just returned to his seat, addressed him, "The boss wants us to avoid trouble without being afraid of it, to uphold the Mingyue Society's reputation and not let others take advantage of us."

The last remark was clearly Tsuchimikado Yoshiharu's own addition, but it didn't affect the overall situation; it merely gave the Mingyue Society a slightly more aggressive posture.

For the Mingyue Society, dealing with the Kanto Kendo Alliance more aggressively was unlikely to have any repercussions but rather was an opportunity to boost their morale.

"Since the boss instructed us so, let's execute the orders as he commanded," said Tsuchimikado Yoshiharu, even though he had put his own spin on it, and Ryousen Kyuuzai relayed the command to the others accordingly.

"As you command!" After Kyoko Kojo's earlier display, the Mingyue Society's members now showed a great deal more subservience.

————————————————————

"Mr. Chen Yu, your hometown seems a bit different from the small city you described—it's got such a new airport! It looks pretty impressive," remarked Hiromi Jounouchi jokingly to Yu Chen, as they walked out of the airport with her luggage in tow.

"That's because it's a new airport—it hasn't been that long since it was opened!" Yu Chen laughed and, escorting Hiromi Jounouchi out of the airport, hailed a taxi. After loading the luggage, he climbed in with Hiromi Jounouchi.

"Where to, boss?" asked the taxi driver in Mandarin, his local accent unmistakable despite his effort to hide it. But this touch of home filled Yu Chen with a sense of warmth.

"To the city center. How much without the meter?" Yu Chen replied with a smile after hearing the driver's familiar accent. He spoke in the local dialect, bargaining with the driver in a way only a local would know.

"Are you a local too?" laughed the driver upon hearing Yu Chen speak. He pulled out of the airport pickup area and told Yu Chen, "Nowadays you have to use the meter; there's no more fare bargaining—what the meter shows is what you pay."@@novelbin@@

"Is that so? I haven't been back in so long, I didn't know these things. Do me a favor and take me to XX Residential Area," Yu Chen said no more, simply telling the driver the destination and signaling him to drive.

While Yu Chen and the driver were discussing the route, Hiromi Jounouchi couldn't help but look around the taxi and whispered to Yu Chen, "Mr. Chen Yu, how far is it from the airport to your home? Isn't the taxi going to be expensive?"

Hiromi Jounouchi was clearly judging by Japanese taxi fares, and as she observed the desolate surroundings of the airport, she couldn't help but worry about the cost."

"Don't worry, taxis in China don't charge like the ones in Japan. After the exchange rate, it's about 160 yen to start, then over 20 yen per kilometer. It's only about ten or so kilometers from the airport to my home, so it won't cost much," Chen Yu explained the exchange rate and fare rates to Hiromi Jounouchi.

"It's that cheap?" Hiromi Jounouchi exclaimed in astonishment. The taxi fares were incredibly lower compared to the cost of taking a taxi in Tokyo, far exceeding her expectations.

"Japanese?" The driver heard Hiromi Jounouchi's exclamation and couldn't help but ask.

Hearing the driver's question, Yu Chen chuckled and replied, "I work in Japan and brought my girlfriend back for the New Year's holiday."

Upon hearing Yu Chen's response, the driver revealed an envious look and complimented Yu Chen, "Wow, you're quite something, boss! You've got yourself a Japanese wife."

"Hello, I'm not his wife yet, just his girlfriend," interjected Hiromi Jounouchi in her beginner's Mandarin, correcting him.

The driver turned beet red, embarrassed that Hiromi Jounouchi understood Mandarin.

"Hiromi, you startled him," Yu Chen put his arm around Hiromi Jounouchi's shoulder, smiled at her, and asked, "When did you learn Mandarin, I had no idea?"

Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire

"I wanted to surprise you. Going back to meet your parents, you wouldn't speak Japanese at home, right? If I didn't know Mandarin, how would I know if you were talking behind my back?" replied Hiromi Jounouchi with a slight sense of pride. She had been secretly learning the language for some time. Although she knew very little, she understood the driver's "wife" comment and so had spoken up. She hadn't expected to startle the driver so much.

Touched by her words yet without further comment, Yu Chen smiled lightly.

A journey of more than ten kilometers was neither especially near nor far, and soon the taxi had brought Yu Chen and Hiromi Jounouchi to their destination.

Paying the fare with the RMB he had exchanged before returning to China, Yu Chen carried the luggage with Hiromi Jounouchi toward the residential complex where he lived.

"Are all residential buildings in China this tall? And why do they all look the same?" Walking alongside Yu Chen, Hiromi Jounouchi observed the high-rises, uniform in style but at least ten stories tall, and curiously inquired about them.

"It's because there are so many people in China! These residential complexes have been designed like this for decades. Back when China had state-owned enterprise systems, they were built uniformly by the companies, leading to similar designs throughout. Over time, the practice became a tradition, and now it's the standard for residential areas," Yu Chen explained, taking out the keys he hadn't used in a long time to open the complex's gate. Leading Hiromi Jounouchi inside, they made their way toward his family's home.