Chapter One Hundred: Landing (Seeking first-day subscriptions!)

Setting aside the buck-passing, procrastination, and endless meetings within the Japanese government, the Kengan, a luxury cruise ship under the captain’s command, had already docked at Tokyo Bay at full speed.

The pier was a scene of utter chaos, surging with crowds.

"Chairman Katahara!"

Baitang Jing, his internal agitation deepening, led Saeko and his master through the crowd to find Katahara Metsudo, who had just stepped off the ship. A cordon of personal security in black suits carved out a space for the old man in the packed terminal.

"Oh my, no need for such formalities. Wasn't it you who personally forced me out of power?"

The withered old man was truly a relic of the previous century. Even having just arrived on land from the treacherous sea, his wrinkled face remained as calm and composed as a placid lake.

"What business do you have with me, Vice Chairman?"

"Stop teasing him, Katahara." Takemoto Hisayasu stepped past Baitang Jing. "I’m just a small fry without much influence, and this whole affair looks rather terrifying. I was hoping to impose upon your shelter for a while. How about it?"

"If you don't like this kid," the burly old man said, pulling the boy—who was forcing a strained smile—into a headlock, gesturing mischievously to his old friend, "it wouldn't be a problem for me to beat him into shape for you."

"Ha! Takemoto, you know better," the old man, thin as an evil spirit, laughed heartily. "The Katahara family isn't that stingy. A few people are no trouble at all."

"Especially when they include the Vice Chairman of the Kengan Association and his companion!"

Katahara Metsudo enunciated the words "important person" with deliberate emphasis, though his tone was clearly playful rather than malicious.

At this moment, while the boy remained restless, Saeko bowed to him with great grace.

"Not a 'companion,' but a 'wife,' Katahara-sama."

"Ah, that is truly my mistake. Seido, send over a few more cars."

As he spoke, Katahara Metsudo raised his eyebrows and nodded in apology to Saeko. He had assumed that a young man like Baitang Jing was just playing around. He then signaled to the burly man with the side-swept hair behind him.

Wakatsuki Seido pulled out a walkie-talkie and made arrangements over the security team's private channel.

Soon, a fleet of black armored business vehicles cut through the dense crowd on the pier and pulled up before them. Amidst the angry or curious gazes of the onlookers, they boarded the vehicles and departed.

Inside the spacious car, the perceptive Katahara Metsudo noticed the boy's suppressed anxiety. In such a confined space, negative emotions were impossible to hide. If the one in a bad mood was someone like Baitang Jing, who possessed extraordinary strength and presence, that aura pressed down on everyone’s chest like a boulder.

Katahara Metsudo spoke to his old friend in a low, composed voice.

"This incident doesn't seem particularly unusual, does it, Takemoto?"

"Being this cautious doesn't seem like you."

The old man, who occupied two seats alongside Wakatsuki Seido due to his massive frame, responded with rare gravity. He didn't answer his friend directly but pointed toward his disciple.

"According to Saeko, Jing began to feel uneasy two minutes before the sea turned red and the tremors started."

Baitang Jing, who was scrolling through the news on his laptop, frowned and remained silent. Saeko nodded toward the two elders at the appropriate moment.

"You know my skill in teaching, Katahara. While I couldn't teach Jing the Koryu martial arts, I haven't been lazy about his mental cultivation and meditation."

Takemoto Hisayasu pointed to the boy, then to himself, filled with pride. "His state of mind, though I feel it has become strange due to some external influence, is undoubtedly beyond mine!"

"Now, even though we have left the coastline..." the old man glanced at the map on the computer, "already three kilometers away, his anxiety hasn't diminished at all."

Wakatsuki Seido, himself a top-tier fighter, frowned with skepticism. A martial artist's intuition, when trading blows with an opponent in the arena, could often be classified as the aid of "experience." But to have a premonition about a natural disaster... that was simply too exaggerated.

It was Katahara Metsudo, who possessed no such martial prowess, who stroked his beard with a mysterious tone.

"A martial artist's intuition, eh... that is truly remarkable."

"Seido, notify the fleet to change course. Head to Shelter No. 1."

"...Understood."

Though he remained doubtful, Wakatsuki Seido’s loyalty to Katahara compelled him to relay the order to the fleet.

Just then.

"This is...!"

Baitang Jing’s sudden exclamation drew the attention of everyone in the car. When the boy turned the laptop screen toward them with a grave expression, the footage on the screen wobbled, as if the professional cameraman had been shaken by the sight before him.

The pupils of everyone present contracted violently.

"...A tail?" Saeko asked uncertainly.

On the screen, a long, thick tail was emerging from the sea, spraying water as it rose high into the air.

It looked much like a lizard or a water snake thrashing in a nature documentary, tossing its tail above the surface. It appeared to be a relatively mundane sight. But that was only if the viewer ignored the Coast Guard vessel next to the tail, which looked like a tiny toy by comparison!

"Ah, it is a tail," Takemoto Hisayasu squinted at the screen. "At least... fifty meters?"

The old man sounded uncertain by the end, but the figure was clearly an underestimate.

"A creature with a tail fifty meters long?" Wakatsuki Seido, having moved past his initial shock, now felt a bit more relaxed. "Unlike earthquakes or typhoons, if it's just a creature, it should be easy to either drive it away or hunt it down, right?"

How could a mere creature cause a major disaster? Moving to the Katahara family’s Shelter No. 1 was completely overreacting!

Right on cue, a press conference from the Japanese government climbed to the top of the trending topics. Upon opening it, the authoritative Prime Minister Okochi, dressed in disaster-prevention gear, was delivering a speech.

"...Regarding the massive unidentified creature that caused casualties in the Tokyo Bay undersea tunnel and the Tama River tunnel, although it has moved toward land, numerous biologists predict that because this creature has lived in the deep sea for so long, it has lost the ability to survive on land."

"Therefore, the massive unidentified creature will absolutely not come ashore!"

"I repeat! The unidentified creature will absolutely not land, so please be assured, citizens!"

His dignified face and firm rhetoric were reassuring. But as soon as he finished speaking, a government official hurried onto the stage, bowed to the reporters, and whispered into Okochi's ear. The Prime Minister’s face drained of color.

"What?! It's in Kamata now?!"

Kamata, located in Ota Ward, Tokyo... bordered by Shinagawa and Meguro to the north, Kawasaki to the west and south, and Edogawa to the east. In short... it was nowhere near the sea.

The Prime Minister’s remarks and his expression of shock were broadcast live on every platform by the reporters present and their cameras, without a single detail missed.

And the other detail that concerned those in the car most was: their fleet was, at this very moment, in Kamata!

BOOM!