Chapter 59: Chapter 55: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

Very quickly, Ishiguro Yonezawa returned to his previous madness, his bloodshot eyes staring dead at Gu Ji, shouting at the top of his lungs, “No one instructed me, I did it all by myself!”

“Choosing you as a teammate was really unlucky.”

Gu Ji curled his lips, shaking his head with a mocking smile.

Such a direct taunt made Ishiguro Yonezawa unable to suppress his inner rage any longer, struggling with all his might, “What nonsense are you spouting! I did it all! I did it! Ha ha ha…”

Halfway through his shout, he suddenly burst into an angry laugh, glaring menacingly at the officer restraining him, “I understand now, you’re trying to pry information out of me, it’s useless, you’re all going to die! Everyone on this ship is going to die!”

“Who said that? The South Korean military will soon send a medical team on board. Once the lab results are out and the source virus is confirmed, everyone will recover.”

Gu Ji shrugged his shoulders, his expression relaxed and calm.

Ishiguro Yonezawa was slightly stunned, a flash of worry passing through his eyes as he shook his head, “No! You can’t figure it out! You can’t cure it! You’re all going to die! Everyone will pay for their mistakes!”

“Choosing you as a teammate indeed was unfortunate.”

Gu Ji’s eyelids drooped slightly, his whole demeanor instantly returning to calm, gazing at Ishiguro Yonezawa with indifference, the latter silent for a moment before finally realizing he had been played, “Cry so (damn it)!”

Unfazed by Ishiguro’s curse, he said, “Get a medical staff to treat his wound and then escort him to the police station!”

After speaking, he turned around and left.

The brief conversation had provided him with a lot of useful information:

First, Ishiguro had no knowledge of biology or medicine, yet he insists that the South Korean military can’t identify the virus, indicating a high likelihood that the virus isn’t natural and may very well be a mutated or new virus;

Second, Ishiguro uses the word “price” to describe everyone, portraying himself as the punisher and others as criminals, a typical case of antisocial psychology, possibly having long suffered from unfair treatment or oppression;

Third, despite Ishiguro’s lack of skills as a teammate, the mastermind still chose him, suggesting a special relationship, and indicating that the mastermind has relatively limited background capabilities, unable to find anyone more reliable than Ishiguro.

Piecing these points together, Gu Ji hurried towards the monitoring room, dialing Tanamura Katsushin, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare.

“We’ve caught the suspect, but there’s still a mastermind behind him, I need help.”

“Speak.”

Tanamura Katsushin responded succinctly this time.

“Investigate all information on Ishiguro Yonezawa, especially his social background, see if he knows anyone with a background in biology, medicine, chemistry, or pharmaceuticals, and if any such person is on board; also check if he has had any conflicts with Mr. Morita, or if Morioka has any ties to the mastermind.”

“You seem quite familiar with the investigation process, had any special military or police training?”

After Gu Ji stated his request, a relatively young and unfamiliar voice suddenly came through the phone.

His eyebrows knitted slightly, “Who are you?”

“Nagakawa Tatsuya, Minister of Crisis Management at Japan, tsk tsk… your records don’t show any police or military service experience.”

Most experts in handling sudden incidents and crisis management are transferred from special occupations like the military or police, possessing strong professional acumen.

Yet, at such a critical moment, this person chose to interject, evidently to annoy him.

“If cooperation isn’t possible, it’s okay not to cooperate.”

Gu Ji coldly stated, then promptly hung up the phone, pushing the door open to enter the monitoring center, “Get me all the surveillance related to Ishiguro Yonezawa, this guy works as a raw food chef in the kitchen.”

“O-okay.”

The round-faced man scratched his head and had no choice but to urge his colleagues to start working immediately.

He focused on the footage from before the cruise ship’s departure from Yokohama and, sure enough, found an issue. Ishiguro was wearing gloves and a transparent mask from the start.

As everyone knows, chefs often rely on touch and force to handle ingredients, so they never wear gloves.

“It seems Ishiguro acted before the cruise set sail, and then Nakamura Hiro, looking for a snack, went to the kitchen to find Shida, the catering manager, and ate a freshly poisoned sashimi, leading me to mistakenly think he was the patient zero.”

Gu Ji stroked his chin, also noticing Ishiguro carrying a white box.

An insulated foam box.

He took a photo with his phone, but unfortunately, there was a surveillance blind spot in the kitchen, so he didn’t see Ishiguro taking anything out or how he poisoned it.

Unknowingly, it was eight o’clock in the evening.

Gu Ji heard a high-frequency vibration, and upon stepping out onto the deck, saw a black object hidden between the deep night sky and sea, rapidly approaching the cruise ship.

It’s an armed helicopter!

The rotor’s noise attracted a large number of tourists leaning against the windows, clapping and cheering.

“This is the cockpit speaking, it’s a South Korean military helicopter, and I see they’re armed!”

The walkie-talkie transmitted a voice in urgency.

“I’m on my way.”

Gu Ji quickly made his way to the largest entertainment deck on the cruise’s 8th floor, the place for large parties. Besides regular entertainment facilities, it had a high jump platform and dance floor sound system, most notably was the massive diamond-shaped glowing pool.

But unfortunately, due to the outbreak of infectious disease, the place had already become chaotic.

Police, security, Dr. Matsushima, and others were arriving one after another.

Everyone looked up at the helicopter hovering above the cruise ship, but the massive wind generated by the rotors made it hard to keep their eyes open, even causing waves in the pool.

UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter.

While the Platinum Star Cruise is massive, most of the deck is for entertainment and can’t accommodate a heavy transport aircraft, so a general-purpose helicopter was just perfect.

Yet, Gu Ji noticed a person in the open cabin door, dressed in a white protective suit, wearing a special oxygen mask, wrapped up tightly, and holding a black HK416A5 assault rifle with a tactical flashlight attached.

Chemical defense soldiers!

Chemical defense troops are specialized units responsible for chemical defense tasks, usually observing nuclear sites, conducting chemical reconnaissance, radiation surveillance, decontamination, flamethrower operations, smoke operations, etc. Some countries refer to them as chemical troops or NBC troops,

their main tasks include nuclear radiation and chemical leak reconnaissance, inspecting infectious disease contamination, disinfection, flamethrower support in coordination with infantry operations, and deploying smoke screens for troop cover, guiding troops in defense against nuclear and chemical weapons.

Simply put, they are special soldiers armed with knowledge of the “physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine” four disciplines!

“It seems the South Korean military is taking this matter seriously, even sending the chemical defense troops…”

Gu Ji silently thought to himself.

But it’s understandable, given the current panic on the internet concerning biological terrorist attacks and human extinction, the military has no choice but to take it seriously.

“Who here is in charge?”

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