Cherry Blossom's Coup

  "Phil, how does it feel?"

  Yi Chen looked at Phil with concern, Phil nodded and panted: "Boss, it's okay, my... uh, true energy can flow freely now, no problem."

  Yi Chen nodded and sat cross-legged in the room, indicating that Phil should continue to meditate and cultivate his energy. Yi Chen himself lowered his head and began to think deeply. This second exploration of the Tower of London seemed to have ended in true failure. Although they had defeated twelve Knights of the Round Table, especially since Yi Chen had personally taken down one of them, what did it matter? It would only lead to unerasable grudges with others. From the original goal of their actions, "Mountain of Light" was still not in hand, which meant that the action was a failure.

  Especially Phil and Goll were seriously injured. Phil, although facing the combined attack of ten Round Table Knights, was not too badly hurt due to the high-temperature flames hindering the knights' full-strength blows. On the other hand, Goll, who had only clashed with one knight, was hit by a mysterious technique that suddenly increased his combat power tenfold. After returning to their lair, Goll began vomiting blood nonstop and could only be saved by feeding him a life-saving pill and letting him rest.

  What a headache, judging from the momentum of Arthur's flying sword, Arthur's power has been upgraded again. Although I don't know the extent of the upgrade, looking at this time, even the sniper rifle lost its effect, it will definitely be a change that makes me headache.

  Yi Chen smiled bitterly: "One Yang, you guys really know how to pick people to save. You could have just saved a small dog and been done with it, but no, you had to go and get me an arch-nemesis instead."

  But there's no way to blame Yi Yang and the others, they were just doing their duty as cultivators. Besides, it was only this morning that Yi Yang posted his message, and the domestic department he belonged to had issued an urgent order for them to return, so they could only set off immediately according to orders. Now thinking about scolding them, there's no place to find people.

  A surge of evil fire was stuck inside, and he hastily thought of ways to vent his frustration, but after careful consideration, none were feasible. In the end, he still felt that going to find Vignette and the Yamaguchi-gumi to collect debts would be a better option. Firstly, he could probe into the recent movements of the Yamaguchi-gumi, see if they had any new plans after their ninja army was destroyed. Secondly, he wanted to take another look at Vignette's lovable old face; if he were to suddenly kill him on a whim, he would feel a pang of sadness for losing an old friend.

  Because there were wounded at home, naturally not everyone could go out. Fei Li was left to watch the house while Yi Chen took Jester out the door.

  Very soon, Yidun discovered that taking Jester out was a thorough mistake. He didn't think that Jester could drive the car like a crazy killer, fortunately, before the traffic police caught up with them, the two had already arrived at the gate of Shan Kou Zu, anyway, these small things about fines would be left to the people of Shan Kou Zu to deal with.

  Two people drove into the mountain pass casino's black gate, and Yī Chén sighed to Jie Si Te: "Look, after spending such a huge price, building such a big casino, but what? There is still no business. It can be seen that decision-makers should be very cautious, otherwise they will only lose money... Haha..."

  Jester burst out laughing, the car head knocked down a small tree, crushed a patch of flowers and finally came to a stop. Shan Kou stood on the steps with his mouth agape, staring at the black Mercedes as if it were a monster that had charged recklessly, its flat mouth slowly approaching him with someone inside.

  Yi Chen got out of the car and smiled at Shan Kou, saying: "Mr. Shan Kou, hello! Sorry about that, Jester rarely drives and is a bit rusty on the technical side, hope you can understand. Is Mr. Vickers in?"

  Yamaguchi shook his head, looking at Yichun with a helpless smile: "He didn't come over, recently his horse farm business is booming, so..."

  "Ahah, he's got benefits and forgot about you? Hmm? You made a loss on him, if you only cooperated with me, this wouldn't have happened. I'm a kind-hearted person, I'll definitely help you, unlike him, once his business is booming, he forgets his cooperative partners... By the way, that old devil still owes me money."

  Yamaguchi's facial muscles twitched twice, smiling and beckoning with his hand, leading the way himself. As he walked, he turned back to say: "Mr. Yi, rest assured that we Japanese have promised, and we will definitely achieve it. However, as you've seen, some of our plans haven't been successful, so..."

  "So, I'd like to ask, when will the large-scale smuggling of cars begin? Do you need a smooth channel? Do you need armed escort? Do you need help to get through certain connections in case something goes wrong?"

  "Armed escort? We don't need that... But what you said about the circulation channels and opening up some relationships, we really do need those. Can you elaborate?"

  Yi Chen took off his leather shoes at the door, put on wooden clogs, and followed Shan Kou to the center of the hall with a "clattering" sound. He sat down cross-legged and said with a sly face: "Of course it's possible, but as I said before."

  "What's in it for me?"

  "Ah, yes. Look, I won't bother you about the Grant account anymore. After all, taking him down benefits me too. But what really hurts is that even after I've been serving you for so long, you still haven't given me any share of the profits. Mr. Yamaguchi, you're breaking my heart. Even a low-level factory worker gets paid for their labor, let alone a partner like me."

  Yamaguchi was severely humiliated by Yì Chén, and he smiled bitterly: "Yì, you can't say that. Look, we've had a lot of bad luck lately... it's too difficult. To be honest with you, all the people who came with us from our country were killed."

  Yi Chen's mouth was agape, his face a picture of shock: "My God, they've all been wiped out? The British? My God, did your team members attack their barracks or something? Otherwise, how could they have possibly killed them all off? And... annihilated? So these people..." Yi Chen pointed to the black-clad men moving about in the courtyard outside the great hall.

  Yamaguchi spread his hands and said with a mouthful of nonsense: "A misunderstanding, we didn't know the British army would be exercising on that beach, our people rushed in and somehow some idiot fired a shot, resulting in a shootout... They? They were lucky to escape from the military's encirclement. You see, I'm not hiding anything from you... Really sorry, please forgive me. In our plan, there shouldn't have been so many unexpected things, but since they happened, we're studying countermeasures."

  He stroked his chin, took out the jade pendant again and turned it over in his hand, closed his eyes with a smile and thought for a long time before nodding and saying: "So... hmm, what's the price of your car?"

  Yamaguchi hesitated for a moment, but it seemed unnecessary to hide anything, so he said straightforwardly: "We're planning to take away their mid-to-high-end car market. The profit is substantial and the cost is low. Think about it, the profit from one high-end sedan is equivalent to that of three ordinary sedans, but the transportation costs and circulation fees for three ordinary sedans are at least triple those of a high-end car. That's also part of our plan. Europe's economy has been doing pretty well lately, hasn't it?"

  "Then what about electronics? Your electronics? You Japanese have such high labor costs, I don't think you can compete."

  Yamaguchi smiled slyly: "That's right, our labor costs in Japan are high, but the quality of our products is good. Now we've already widely adopted automated production lines, so our costs have been greatly reduced. As long as those damned Europeans don't impose their high tariffs on us, we can capture most of their market... This time, we're bringing over the most popular VCD players and game consoles. We've thought about it for a long time, and these things still have a market."

  Yi Chen lightly rotated the jade pendant and looked at Shan Kou saying: "So, now give me two million US dollars, Mr. Shan Kou... Two million US dollars."

  Yi, what do you mean by this?

  Yi Chen whistled: "This, I'll go and help you move things around, maybe you can get a more satisfactory result... You have an open trading company, right? Hehe, do you think it's wonderful for the British authorities to cooperate with you on smuggling?"

  Yamaguchi shook his head repeatedly: "It's impossible. We smuggled cars and harmed their own automotive industry interests, they won't agree to it."

  "However, smuggling cars can bring them huge profits. Ah, can't you spare a high-end Honda car for them? Can't you deposit one million in their bank account? Give me two million and I'll help you establish connections, of course, my profit share cannot be forgotten."

  Yamaguchi Shunsuke looked at Yichun with a skeptical gaze and asked him in an impolite tone, "Are you sure? Can you really do it?"

  "A month's time, if there are some changes in the British political arena, then it will definitely be a success... Of course, you need to have some mental preparation, my two million is just the beginning, later I may need a constant flow of money, can you make a decision?"

  Yamaguchi hesitated for a long time and couldn't make a decision.

  Yi Chen looked at him listlessly, exchanging a glance with Jester. In his mind, he severely belittled the second-in-command of the Yamaguchi group, who had to ask for instructions from Yamaguchi no matter what he did.

  Behind the paper screen, a figure emerged under the escort of eight ninjas. The upper body was dressed in a magnificent crimson robe, while the lower body wore snow-white long pants, with a golden belt around the waist. The long hair was tied into a bundle, revealing a smiling face that said: "Mr. Yi, nice to meet you. We've heard so much about you. Our Mountain Mouth group should be very grateful for your help... and we'll need your assistance again in the future."

  Jester's muscles stiffened slightly, but he relaxed his body immediately. The strong dark aura on Sakura made Jester feel a little uncomfortable in his heart, it was an aura filled with evil murderous intent.

  Yi Chen nodded slightly with an unchanged expression and smiled at Sakura, asking Yamaguchi, "Who is this?"

  Yamaguchi jumped up and scolded Sakura loudly: "Baka, I told you to stay in the room and not come out. Why did you bring someone out and run around? Baka, didn't the clan leader order you to obey my orders?"

  Sakura's beautiful big eyes glanced at Shan Kou disdainfully, and she sat down directly in front of Yi Chen with a smile: "Sorry, I think we can pay you five million US dollars in advance. As long as you can give us a satisfactory result within a month, as long as you can achieve those wonderful results you described, money is no problem."

  Yi Chen laughed, but Yamaguchi, feeling his face had been greatly hurt, slapped Sakura's head with a loud slap.

  Sakura made a slight movement, her right hand lightly raised and swung slightly, and Yamato's short and sturdy body was thrown out by a strange and extraordinary force, as if it were a whirlpool. He let out a miserable cry and crashed to the floor of the great hall.

  "Seize him!" Yamaguchi bellowed. "You fools, didn't you hear?"

  Those present, whether they were high-ranking ninjas or special ninjas from the Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain countries, didn't move a muscle.

  Sakura almost coquettishly smiled and said: "Don't you understand yet? Ninjas only obey the strong... In a ninja group, strength represents everything, and those who are incompetent but hold high positions will be eliminated quickly. You can certainly report to the head of the Yamaguchi clan that I have deprived you of all your power, but I think the elder in our country will approve of my actions."

  Sakura ruthlessly exposed Yamaguchi's scars: "You've been in London for almost a year, and you've accomplished nothing. You've wasted the organization's huge funds, not to mention losing so many good hands. Are they not all excellent members of the organization? You damned fool, how dare you lecture me? Ask them, Takao, do you think Yamaguchi is guilty?"

  Kouryou's face was cold and stern: "Guilty... As the one who led the organization of warriors to sneak into England, he let intelligence leak out, causing massive casualties. He deserves to die."

  Sakura lightly clapped her hands, and the mountain pass in front of her, devoid of human color, loudly shouted: "Baka, get out, useless trash! Of course, you have the right to roll back to the clan leader's feet and cry, but we don't want someone as useless and indecisive as you here."

  Two ninjas pounced on him and sandwiched him in, as Yamaguchi walked out quickly without any resistance.

  Yi Chen watched this scene with great interest, applauding in approval, and said to Sakura: "Great, great, I finally found a capable collaborator."

  Sakura smiled proudly: "You're overpraising me, but I can understand. You wouldn't be happy with a collaborator like Yamaguchi either, would you? I can give you an advance on the reward you should get for taking down Grant, okay?"

  Yi Chen smiled: "If the collaborator is a capable and reassuring person, then money doesn't matter... However, I declare that it must be within a month. If something unexpected happens in England, my plan can succeed, okay?"

  Sakura gazed deeply at Yidun, smiling and saying: "Oh, I know you have a good relationship with the upper class in England, but I didn't expect that you would know such confidential matters... Perhaps we can cooperate on an even broader scale, Mr. Yi? I like to cooperate with the strong."

  Yi Chen smiled lightly, took a light sip of tea, and looked at Sakura saying: "Oh? I actually don't know anything, just some rumors. In today's society, rumors are flying everywhere, who knows what's real and what's fake? If this time's matter can be successful, then it's not too late for us to make plans for the future."

  Sakura smiled faintly, took the teacup handed over by the ninja beside him with respect, and lightly sipped a mouthful of tea. His slender white fingers gently placed the teacup on the table, and he said politely: "It's like this, nothing can be rushed, especially when it comes to matters related to great figures."

  Yi Chen smiled: "Talking to you is a very comfortable thing, sir. To be frank, I don't have a good impression of Mr. Yamaguchi, he wasted too much of my time... You can't imagine, someone like me who values time and works hard to run his own business would waste his precious time on endless idle chatter with him."

  Sakura was delighted to hear Yi Chen's belittling of Yamaguchi, and he hastily said: "Don't worry, after I took charge of the organization's business in London, such a thing will absolutely not happen... The five million US dollars I promised will be delivered to your residence tonight, do you agree?"

  Yi Chen stood up, slightly bowed to Sakura and asked with a smile: "By the way, I forgot one very important thing, how should I address you?"

  Sakura stood up and bowed, with a strange smile on her face. "I was born in the season of blooming cherry blossoms, so my mother named me Sakura. You can call me that too, Mr. Yi."

  Yi Chen nodded and asked him: "So, what's your surname?"

  Sakura's face stiffened, then suddenly she burst out laughing: "Me? A ninja doesn't have their own surname, as long as they have a name it's fine."

  Yi Chen smiled and bowed again, leading Jester out. He said loudly, "No need to see us off, we don't need courtesy, we know the way."

  After Kao Ch'ang and others had gone far away, he asked Ying Hsiu: "What do you think of this man?"

  Sakura gently stroked her long hair, smiling and saying: "A very interesting person, with a strong desire for power, great ambition, and great influence, is our best partner... Of course, when we don't need him, we can easily get rid of him, right?"

  Gao Cang nodded indifferently, seemingly wanting to ask something more, but after thinking for a moment, he closed his mouth.

  Sakura said with a satisfied expression: "That idiot Yamaguchi, he messed everything up and I have to clean up the mess. What an incompetent guy."

  "On the way back, Yì Chén laughed and said: "Finally changed to a person who gets things done quickly, no longer need to fool around with that idiot Shan Kou... What do you think of this kid?"

  Jester's gaze was fixed intently ahead, his mouth muttering to himself: "A very pretty young fellow, if it weren't for that Adam's apple, I'd take him for a girl... He could charm the hearts out of all the women in London, except for that cold-hearted Phyllis... He's mighty powerful, boss."

  Yi Chen smiled and nodded: "Yes, very powerful... What's wrong with that? The stronger he is, the happier I am. In the future, I can let him be a scapegoat... He thinks he's capable, but he's still an inexperienced little kid. He actually seized power in front of outsiders, tsk, how did Yamaguchi teach him? Maybe it's because he's a illegitimate child..."

  Jester's head turned back in surprise: "He is Yamaguchi Moku's illegitimate son? No wonder he's so eager to seize power..."

  Yi Chen smiled and nodded: "Who says it's not? Maybe, it's a private child... Hehe... Oh my god, Jester..."

  Yi Chen's good luck came to an end today, Jester crashed into a utility pole on the side of the road, and the fallen utility pole ruthlessly smashed three cars parked on the side of the road into scrap metal.