Chapter 423: Chapter 153: Dual House Infiltration! Aoto and Mai’s Peerless Stealth [Super Update 10,000 Words]_5

The abundance of Martial Virtue was entirely incomparable to the so-called modern Extreme Path practitioners who generally were ordinary people before joining, unable to openly carry around even a knife.

Precisely because most Yakuza groups with any influence possess considerable martial power, there was often talk on the streets of Edo: if the Shimizu Clan wanted to wipe out the Magistrate’s Offices in the north and south of Edo, it would barely take an hour to leave not a single survivor.

As a member of the Three Times and an insider, Aoto could responsibly say such talk wasn’t entirely exaggerated...

Eradicating two major Magistrate’s Offices in an hour might be an exaggeration, but there’s no doubt that the Shimizu Clan has such formidable martial power that even the Magistrate’s Office dares not act rashly against them.

Any Yakuza group, upon reaching a certain level of development and wanting further expansion, needs to find someone in the political world to shield them and engage in mutually beneficial relationships.

The Shimizu Clan, known as Edo’s First Yakuza Group, was surely no exception.

Everyone knew the Shimizu Clan engaged in loan sharking, smuggling, extortion, kidnapping, and human trafficking... doing every imaginable evil. But because they had protectors, the people in the Magistrate’s Office were always at a loss against them...

Whenever there was a case involving the Shimizu Clan, it would face heavy resistance from both superiors and subordinates, rendering investigations impossible, always ending inconclusively.

The Magistrate’s Office couldn’t punish the Shimizu Clan nor could they easily gather intelligence on them.

Up till now, the Magistrate’s Office has consistently been severely lacking in intelligence on the Shimizu Clan.

How many people they currently have, how many Samurai are under them, who their leaders are, the extent of their territorial expansion, whether they have stockpiles of firearms and artillery... these critical pieces of information remain entirely unknown!

The only confirmed details were the locations of their headquarters and several key branches, as well as their deep and unfathomable martial strength...

Given the Shimizu Clan’s influence and martial prowess, it’s no wonder that Mukiwa, too, felt at a loss against them.

"...Miss Kinoshita, let’s go." Aoto nodded towards the alleyway exit.

Regarding the Shimizu Clan, who were currently trying to win him over and with whom it would be difficult not to have future entanglements, they could think later about how to deal with them.

For now, it was better to focus on scouting that suspicious Tea House first!

...

...

The suspicious Tea House that Mukiwa mentioned was located somewhere in the East Suburb of Edo.

After entering the East Suburb of Edo, it didn’t take long before Aoto spotted a three-story dilapidated Tea House in the distance, pointed out by Mukiwa.

"Let’s follow the infiltration route I used yesterday and go through that hole on the rooftop." Mukiwa suggested.

Aoto looked around the Tea House: "The surrounding buildings are too low... There’s no way to leap from the rooftop of a neighboring house to the Tea House’s rooftop. To get to the rooftop, we’d have to climb the Tea House’s outer wall directly."

Mukiwa nodded: "Yes, exactly, we’ll have to climb up directly. Last night, I climbed up with my bare hands."

"To make it easier to reach the top floor, I brought this specifically tonight."

Mukiwa took off a small cloth bag she was carrying, and upon untying it, revealed a grappling hook and rope painted black.

"I made this myself." Mukiwa’s tone carried a hint of pride, "Last night, without this, the climb was really tough. Follow me, I know there’s a spot that’s the best entry point."

Aoto nodded, following closely alongside Mukiwa, the two of them quietly moved around to the southwest corner of the Tea House.

As they got a bit closer to the Tea House, Aoto could clearly see all its windows were tightly shut, making it impossible for outsiders to see inside.

Given they were now closer to the Tea House, to avoid alerting anyone inside, both Aoto and Mukiwa instinctively fell silent and slowed their breathing.

Mukiwa looked around to ensure the surrounding area was safe before shaking out the rope in her hand. Without needing any momentum, she raised her hand and swung it hard upward. The hook successfully latched onto the eaves at the top of the Tea House.

With a firm pull to ensure the rope was secure, Mukiwa, volunteering to take the lead, grabbed the rope with her hand, placing her foot against the Tea House’s outer wall, and was the first to ascend.

Following Mukiwa, Aoto ascended as well and soon stood on the Tea House rooftop.

Mukiwa signaled to Aoto, then led him quietly toward a large broken hole located at the northeast corner of the rooftop.

On their way, Mukiwa had mentioned to Aoto: beneath the hole was an empty room.

As they approached the hole and peered inside, their expressions suddenly turned odd — they saw a Samurai standing right below the hole.

Aoto and Mukiwa exchanged a glance.

After making sure there was no one else beneath the hole aside from that Samurai, Mukiwa pointed to herself, then gestured toward the Samurai standing directly under the hole...

The Samurai standing below the hole was holding the sword at his waist, yawning in boredom.