2025, Nihonmachi, San Francisco, California

☆☆☆

Jessica Poser is standing in front of a miniature version of the Osaka castle tower, not far from the Kinokuniya bookstore, where several girls dressed like cartoon characters come out. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoTheir hair is pink, silvery, and they wear the clothes of cartoon characters, they are tall, short, fat and thin, they have both white and Asian faces, and they are the same, they never look at anyone else, as if they are living in another world. At this time, they were talking excitedly about something.

Like the weird country of Japan, Japantown in San Francisco also miniaturizes many Japanese subcultures. For example, Japanese anime culture also has a strong market and huge influence in the United States.

Jessica likes Japanese food, so she often comes to Japantown and is no longer surprised by the strange and weird pictures in the Japanese shopping streets.

Walking past the bookstore, next to it is a hair salon called "Hair & Skin". In the large glass window, the hairdresser is wearing a white uniform and black pants, and is concentrating on cutting the hair of customers. It was as if he was not cutting hair, but conducting a symphony orchestra. Two customers sit in front of a huge round mirror, one cutting their hair and the other dyeing their hair, also very focused. Jessica was very traditional, and she still went to the old barbershop in Mountain View, a new barbershop that she had never been to before.

Is anyone really willing to sit in front of a shop window and let the world watch their hair done? Maybe, Jessica said, thinking of the woman, FBI Special Agent Claire Ricken. As she leaned over, Jessica's face was only inches away from the shiny glass, and her otherwise soft face could be seen to become extremely grim against the reflection. Let's not talk about Claire's identity, a special department that has never been heard of, although it is part of the FBI, it has a great deal of independence. Jessica hates a lot of things, and nothing annoys her more than the mysterious agency that she sees. Because it represents privilege, like Claire Ricken's superior, invincible attitude, these people always think they are above the law.

That's what they do all the time.

Jessica shook her head slightly and walked away.

She took the escalator up, which was only two stories high, past a restaurant with several large white sake barrels piled up in front of the door, on which were written "Laurel Crown" in kanji.

If there's one thing that makes the Japantown shopping street different from a shopping mall, it's that it's quiet, and Jessica has the impression that it's still quiet even if there are a lot of people.

The candy shop in front was still full of people, and there was a long line outside the door, all women, whispering in Japanese, occasionally peeking at a giant in the line. Max Nowaski's massive body was so conspicuous to a group of small women that it looked like a giant standing in a pile of hobbits, slowly moving with the crowd, and when he walked through the shop with his head down, it was as if Gandalf had entered Baggins' hut.

After a while, he came out of it, holding two large portions of "crepes" in his hand.

"Boss, which one do you want, green tea or strawberry?"

Jessica shook her head and said, "I don't want any of them, you can eat them all by yourself." ”

"No, this Sophie's-Crepes has a super five stars on Yelp and is delicious!"

"Sophie's crepe", what a Westernized name, it is better to say that the Japanese are "Westernized", it is better to say "absorb", absorb other people's culture, and then melt into their own culture.

"I said, you can eat it yourself. ”

"Then you're welcome. ”

Max moved, he didn't mind how out of place a big man was with a strawberry crepe, and he didn't mind eating an extra one.

At this time, Jessica's cell phone rang, and she stepped aside to answer: "I'm Jessica." ”

"Yo! It's me!"

She smiled. "Ryuta, I'm finally waiting for your call!"

Ryuta Kawahira and Jessica were at the same time as the FBI training camp.

"I've read the email you sent me, and you said that the two are the same, is it true?"

"Yes. ”

"What do you want to do? Investigate privately? Didn't the FBI give you a death order for that case?"

"No one can kill someone in my precinct with impunity, and a Special-Agent will be forced to conclude that they are 'accidental deaths.'" To be honest, I hate the word 'special'!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, and he said, "I won't get into any big trouble because of this!"

"It's up to you!"

"F*ck, it. He chuckled dryly and said, "Nobody likes 'special'." ”

Back then, in the FBI training camp, someone gave him a nickname and isolated him because of his Japanese ancestry, and only Jessica came out to stand on Ryuta's side, and they were all treated 'special', which really can't be said to be a good experience.

Jessica also smiled and said, "I didn't continue to investigate, I only occasionally received a call from an old friend, chatting with him, catching up with the old days, in case of the real East Window incident, let Max play stupid, tell the above, we didn't think of anything to do with the two cases!"

Max was already tasting a delicious crepe, when he suddenly heard the boss mention his name, he immediately put on a blank face and nodded blankly.

Messing around with the people above is his forte.

"Okay, come over to Nihoncho, you know the ramen shop I like! See you there in an hour!"

Jessica looked at her watch, "Ten minutes later, right?"

"Ten minutes? Mountain View to San Francisco, this time slot?"

"Hehe, we're already here, ten minutes is the time you need to come over. ”

Hearing this, the person on the other end of the phone was stunned, and said in a self-deprecating tone: "Oh! I have been prepared, knowing that I will not refuse your request!"

Jessica is so confident.

"Then I'll be there in five minutes. ”

"5 minutes?tsk, you're too fast, no wonder you always break up with your girlfriend." ”

"You just talk nonsense, Jesse!" he paused, "do you hear the ding, I'm out of the elevator, I'm on the bus right away, I don't believe you time me." ”

By the time Jessica and Max walked into the small Japanese ramen shop, Ryuta Hirakawa was already sitting at the table waiting for them. He has a flat head, elongated eyes, well-groomed sideburns and a mustache that characterize him, and he is of medium height with distinctive features. He was dressed in casual clothes, a small blue slim jacket, and thin trousers, and he looked very smart.

Today, Jessica and Max are also dressed in casual clothes.

The ramen shop is called "SUZU", a simple and traditional Japanese style that has always had a good business, with customers ranging from white to Asian.

Ryota specially picked a corner to sit down, originally looking down at his phone, and noticed that when Jessica and them walked into the house, he was a little hesitant, should it be a professional handshake?

Jessica took the initiative to walk up to him, hugged him, kissed him on the cheek, and smiled, "Good guy is fast enough!"

"God, stop making a fuss, I'm not a fast gunner!" he kissed her back, then beckoned to Max.

After a while, the waiter ordered noodles for them.

"How's it going, are you interested in watching the Giants game this weekend?" Jessica and Ryota share a passion for baseball, and they're both fans of the San Francisco Giants.

Jessica just stared at him and didn't answer.

"What's the matter, there's not even time for small talk?" Ryuta said with a wrinkled face, "Okay, okay, can't we get down to business?"

Ryuta Hirakawa is an agent with the San Francisco Police Department, where he investigates violent organized crime in Asia. He's got a big case on his hand lately.

"What made you think that the person who killed Yakuza and the murderer in your case are the same person?"

Yakuza is a collective term for Japanese yakuza by the American police.

Jessica paused and said, "Intuition!"

Three days ago, Shusuke Yamamoto, the third generation of San Francisco's largest Japanese gangster, and his son Kentaro Yamamoto suddenly disappeared from his family's nightclub, and the gang members found that his personal bodyguard had his neck broken outside the nightclub. The Japanese gangsters did not call the police at first, but sent their own people to find people, which caused unrest among various underworld organizations in San Francisco, and rumors spread for a while. But no one claimed responsibility, and no kidnappers came to demand ransom, and they called the police two days later.

"I read the report, but the two things were too close. Jessica pondered her words, "Strange, isn't it? Wouldn't it be faster to kill a bodyguard with a gun or a knife?" the murderer went to great lengths to break the neck of the dead with both hands. ”

"So you can tie the two cases together?" Ryuta's eyes widened, "Seriously, I envy your double intuition. ”

Policeman's and woman's intuition.

"Say whatever you want, maybe it's a coincidence, but I asked you for the fingerprint report from the scene, and asked CSI to do a comparison, and the two match! ”

Ryuta nodded, "It's a pity, I checked, and there is no fingerprint in the bank!"

When the waiter came over with the ramen they were asking for, Ryuta changed the subject.

"By the way, how are your parents?"

"They were nice. Last time my dad asked me, is that 'Jap' your boyfriend?"

Takashi laughed.

"Your parents are lovely. ”

"You should say they're all old!"

"Boss, your bowl looks horrible!" Max shuddered as he looked at Jessica's bowl of red-hot ramen.

"That's it!" Jessica picked up the seven-flavor noodles on the table again and added some spicy flavor to the bowl.

Max shook his head and honestly ate the hot ramen.

Jessica said: "When it comes to the 'special department', I think the identity of the murderer I want to arrest must be very special." ”

"Seriously, is Claire Rickon really an FBI secret agent? I'm a big reader of her column. Ryuta opened the chopsticks, remembered the photo attached in the column, rolled his eyes and said, "She is a big beauty, I really didn't expect it!"

Jessica remembered the commanding woman that day, and her heart still didn't feel good.

"Yes, super beauty!" she agreed, "you men freeze when they see that ......."

Max wanted to interject and say that he didn't freeze, but after thinking about it, did he say that it proved that he wasn't a man, or that he wasn't?

In the following time, everyone tacitly finished eating noodles.

After Ryuta finished eating, he clasped his palms together and nodded slightly, and then he asked, "Jesse, what are you going to do when you come down?"

Jessica said frankly, "Can you take me to meet Shusuke Yamamoto?"

Although he thought that Jessica would make this request, Ryuta still felt a chill on his scalp, and the chill spread down his spine and throughout his body.

"I'm afraid you'll say that. ”

"What are you afraid of, now that he reported the case, he is the family of the person concerned, and our police are investigating the case normally. ”

Ryuta nodded and said in a low voice: "The camera footage installed in the nightclub has been provided to us, and it doesn't look unusual, except that there is no image of his son leaving the nightclub, and we suspect that although they reported the crime, they still hid something." ”

Max said slowly, "Maybe he never left?"

☆☆☆

As soon as the prompt tone of the mailbox sounded, Zhou Jia got up from the bed in the lounge.

She hadn't slept properly since Chris was gone. In the past few days, everything in her hands has stopped, and she has been ingesting caffeine, forcing herself to concentrate and focus on studying the only "kryptonite" materials at hand.

It's a pity that even she is at a loss.

Zhou Jia even called up the surveillance footage in all the U-zone labs, and she watched the test process done by Eddie and his team several times. Disturbed by the magnetic field of "kryptonite" itself, the "primitive biological signals" recorded in the data are of varying strength and frequency, and there are few valuable things in these initial works.

In many biological bands, a group of microvolt-level signal data has attracted Zhou Jia's attention, but they have not been imported into the floating isolation amplifier for signal strength amplification and filtering, how can they be analyzed? Whether it is really "alive" or not, it is even possible to send a signal back to observe the reaction of Kryptonite, so as to verify Eddie's hypothesis that Kryptonite is "conscious".

Zhou Jia took off the white coat covering herself, got out of bed, and walked to the computer.

When she opened the mailbox, she saw that there was a new email, but the sender's name and email address were all unknown.

The content of the email is:

﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍

Dear kitten, I can do it for you, on the condition that you come to your door in person with that "thorny rose" as a sign of sincerity.

﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍

The inscription is a French lily, which is the logo of the famous Xunshan Hermitage.

The hacker community knows that this is the symbol of the "Hermit", he is the most elusive hacker in the world, and so far, no individual or organization has found out his true identity.

Zhou Jia frowned, thinking: Thorny roses?

Mark accompanies Eddie to Alaska, but the news they send back is not good at all, and unsurprisingly, all the kryptonite in the mining base has disappeared, leaving only an empty cave.

Eddie kept the incident under wrap and kept the mining operation as it was. Because if, according to the Eskimos, what was dug up in their land is missing, it is by no means a trivial matter. Fortunately, Ronkssu Senogetak was not there, and he went to an international conference in Geneva on the study of the living conditions of the Eskimos, and it was his son who received them. Aso only came to Alaska when Eddie did, and as with the previous scientific research activities, he was not suspicious.

The only clue is the murder that Eddie was involved in.

Add had said that he had seen the picture of the dead old man with kryptonite in his hand, which was green, completely different from what he and Chris had found.

The police closed the case with an "accidental death", and even barrister Donald was taken aback. His exact words were, "That sheriff looked at Eddie like she was staring at a big fish, and she wished she could just slice it and eat it raw, how could she let go so easily?" Of course, Donald didn't care at all what the police were thinking, what was going on, what was important was that his client was off-the-hook!.

They hired a private investigator who had been a former police detective to investigate, and the result was that the case had been taken over by the FBI, and everything related to the investigation process was strictly confidential, level three!

Zhou Jia doesn't want to give up, she doesn't have the technology to steal state secrets, but it doesn't mean that she doesn't have a doorway.

She remembered the "hermit" who was rumored to be a god, who owed her a favor, and it was time for him to reciprocate. But she never thought that the other party would even put forward additional conditions.

The e-mail beep rang again.

Zhou Jia clicked.

E-mail content:

﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍

Seeing your sad face, is this so difficult? Let me help you make up your mind!

﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍

Zhou Jia's eyes widened, and he said in his heart: This guy is looking at himself!

Next, the hidden attachments of the message are opened automatically.

A photo caught Zhou Jia's eye.

Kryptonite, glittering, green light, like the light of a Green Lantern.

Zhou Jia wanted to save the photo, but as soon as she clicked on the attachment, the entire email disappeared, as if she had never received these two emails.

She stared at the screen in a daze, and two minutes later, she picked up her phone and dialed the last call she wanted to make.