My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 48: Chapter 34: Acquired Talent: [Sleep God]!

Urging Hui Dalang to gather all the neighbors and friends of Granny Ping, Aoto successfully identified a person who perfectly matched his suspect profile: Granny Ping’s childhood friend—Jinzāburō.

It was quite fortunate that a few people knew where this Jinzāburō lived.

After requesting those who knew Jinzāburō’s address to lead him to the person’s residence, before he had a chance to reach for the door, Aoto saw an elderly man, looking anxious, burst through the door with a large cloth bag on his back.

Noticing the large cloth bag on the man’s back, along with the obvious scratch marks on the back of his left hand, Aoto’s gaze immediately grew intense.

While reporting his name to the old man, he slightly lowered his center of gravity and raised his right arm, ready to respond to any sudden incidents.

The few neighbors and friends of Granny Ping who knew Jinzāburō’s address and led Aoto, along with Hui Dalang who stood slightly behind Aoto, were all dumbfounded as they watched Jinzāburō, who looked like he was trying to escape.

Earlier, when Aoto mentioned something about a crime of passion, Hui Dalang’s first reaction was—a sneer.

Crime of passion? What a joke! How old is Granny Ping anyway? She’s not some girl in her prime at eighteen encounters!

At that moment, Hui Dalang only felt that Blockhead Don lived up to his name, always spouting nonsense!

Though it seemed to Hui Dalang that Aoto was completely talking nonsense, for some reason... after hearing Aoto’s confident tone and seeing his self-assured expression, Hui Dalang was somehow struck by an odd feeling: wanting to follow Aoto to visit Jinzāburō and see for himself if Aoto’s words were true or false.

At that time, the bustling crowd outside Granny Ping’s house had slightly quieted down, and the chaos had reduced significantly, so Hui Dalang simply handed over maintaining order at the scene to a capable deputy of his and then followed Aoto alone to Jinzāburō’s house.

Even though he was tagging along with Aoto to visit Jinzāburō, Hui Dalang still felt that Aoto’s previous deductions about the suspect were entirely baseless.

But at this very moment... after seeing Jinzāburō looking like he was in a rush to escape, Hui Dalang felt as if his head had been hit hard with a stick, buzzing in his mind.

Immediately afterward, he instinctively turned his head, looking at Aoto with eyes full of shock...

Seeing Aoto before him, a Jitte tucked at his waist, with the Magistrate’s Seal Cage, looking precisely like a Dōshin, Jinzāburō’s expression changed rapidly and drastically.

First, he was dumbstruck.

Then... it was like a tightly drawn bowstring suddenly snapping.

The pressure that had been building since last night burst out all at once.

The bewildered expression on Jinzāburō’s face transformed at a frightening speed into fear and panic.

His face lost color, his expression changed dramatically.

He let go, hurling the large cloth bag he was carrying toward Aoto with full force.

Since Aoto had been on guard against any possible attack from Jinzāburō, he was well-prepared and promptly sidestepped the cloth bag hurled by Jinzāburō.

As the bag brushed past Aoto, the cloth opened up, and the money, clothes, and other belongings inside scattered all over the ground.

After throwing the bag at Aoto, Jinzāburō quickly retreated half a step, then reached into his pocket for a waist sword.

Drawing the sword from its sheath, he pointed its sharp tip at Aoto and the others.

”All of you, get out of the way! Move, all of you! Let me leave here!!”

Jinzāburō’s sudden outburst startled Hui Dalang and the others.

”P-put down the sword!” Hui Dalang stammered, shaking, as he quickly and nimbly hid behind Aoto...

Compared to Hui Dalang’s startled reaction, Aoto remained much calmer—upon seeing Jinzāburō draw a weapon, his only response was a slight hardening of his expression, then he raised his hand to draw the Jitte from his right waist.

His swordsmanship was not yet proficient enough to wound without killing, and to capture someone alive, the Jitte was clearly more suitable, so Aoto chose the weapon he was more adept at using than a sword—a Jitte, which could be used like a police baton.

Carrying luggage and looking like he was trying to flee, upon seeing a Fixed Town Patrol Dōshin, immediately pulling out a weapon in an emotionally charged state, threatening others to stay away—anyone could see what Jinzāburō was truly up to.

”Jinzāburō! You bastard!” one of Granny Ping’s neighbors shouted, ”Was it you who killed Granny Ping? Weren’t you and Granny Ping childhood friends with a good relationship?! Why would you kill Granny Ping?!”

”I don’t know!”

Jinzāburō yelled, veins popping out on his neck.

”I don’t even know what was going on with me then!”

”No matter how angry, how wronged I felt, I never would’ve hurt Aping!”

At this point, Jinzāburō’s eyes began to redden, and his voice, along with his body, started to tremble, the waist sword tightly gripped in his hand shaking like a live fish struggling to escape his grasp.

”But for some reason... after hearing Aping reject me, my mind went blank, and my body acted as if it was out of my control!”

”When I came to my senses again, Aping was already... already...”

”I don’t know what was happening to me then...!”

”I don’t know! I don’t know!!”

Jinzaburō’s increasingly louder cries naturally attracted the neighbors and passersby around.

Seeing Jinzaburō, who was clearly in an abnormal state, with a knife in hand, and Aoto holding a jitte confronting him, those who gathered after hearing the commotion screamed in terror and scattered.

Of course, a few remained, eyes wide open, watching eagerly out of idle curiosity.

Jinzaburō kept repeating ”I don’t know,” his mental state visibly abnormal.

If no action is taken soon to subdue Jinzaburō, who knows what he might do in his unstable mental state?

So—Aoto chose to take the initiative!

Aoto suddenly lowered his center of gravity and charged straight at Jinzaburō.

His feet slid across the ground, making a sound.

Seeing Aoto suddenly approach, Jinzaburō was shocked and reflexively swung his sword to stab.

Earlier, while examining Granny Ping’s wounds at the crime scene, the chaotic, unmethodical cuts, and the fact that only 1 out of 7 stabs hit a vital part, all indicated to Aoto—the offender seemingly did not know how to use a knife.

And the reality matched Aoto’s deduction perfectly.

Jinzaburō’s clumsy sword swings posed no threat to Aoto, who was adept in police baton skills, grappling, and free fighting.

But to be cautious, Aoto opted for a steady approach.

Instead of knocking Jinzaburō down immediately, he first dodged the strongest, most powerful initial attacks using his step technique.

As Jinzaburō’s strength diminished after missing his first few attacks, Aoto quickly moved forward, using his jitte to knock away the waist sword from Jinzaburō’s hand, then pinned him to the ground using grappling techniques.

And at the moment Jinzaburō was pinned down by Aoto—

[Ding! Talent detected]

[Successfully copied talent: ”Sleep God”]

[Talent description: Sleep quality far exceeds that of ordinary people, rarely suffers from insomnia, and requires much less sleep time than the average person]

The cold system sound echoed in Aoto’s mind as Jinzaburō fell.

After listening to the system’s introduction of this new talent, Aoto raised an eyebrow in surprise and information.

”Unexpectedly... you have such a powerful talent...” Aoto, unable to contain his joy, took out a hemp rope from behind his waist and used rope capture skill to tightly bind the subdued Jinzaburō.

Coming to arrest the perpetrator, only to copy such a powerful talent from him—was a complete pleasant surprise.

Sleep quality far exceeds that of ordinary people, rarely suffers from insomnia, needs much less sleep time than the average person... just hearing this talent sounds amazing!

”Ahhhhh—!”

The words from Jinzaburō’s mouth were already incoherent.

Being captured and pinned to the ground by the Dōshin on a fixed town patrol seemed to worsen his mental state.

He howled madly, constantly twisting his body, trying to escape Aoto’s control.

But no matter how he struggled... he was just a nearly 70-year-old man.

When it comes to strength, he could not possibly compete with someone as young as Aoto.

Hui Dalang had been standing motionless, as if carved from wood, watching in awe as Aoto skillfully subdued Jinzaburō.

Finally, seeing Aoto take out the hemp rope to bind Jinzaburō, Hui Dalang snapped back to reality and quickly stepped forward to hold down Jinzaburō’s legs, reducing the difficulty and pressure for Aoto in tying him up.

”Ah, thanks.” Aoto casually thanked Hui Dalang for his help.

”It’s what I should do...”

At this moment, the look in Hui Dalang’s eyes towards Aoto contained no trace of his former subtle disdain.

In his gaze, only deep astonishment and disbelief remained.

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