In the living room, Manranyama Souren has a look of disappointment, watching Chongzong.

As for Eiji Hayamizu, she had no expectations from the start.

Manranyama Souren had thoroughly investigated the people around Uesugi Chongzong.

Once, in Manranyama Souren's eyes, Chongzong was a clever and intelligent young man, always demonstrating exemplary behavior.

But now, Manranyama Souren is greatly disappointed.

What disappoints her the most is Chongzong's dullness, missing out on such a good opportunity.

After a period of easy living, even Bai Yaxin, known for her meticulous caution almost to the point of obsession, would make such oversights.

It was truly a rare opportunity.

But since it has been missed, there is no use regretting it.

Helplessly, Manranyama Souren sighed deeply once more and then began to guide Chongzong.

"Lord Uesugi, recall... How long after you kidnapped Kuroda Soitiro was he found?" (Manranyama Souren)

Manranyama Souren stared into Chongzong's eyes, questioning him word by word, like a teacher giving extra lessons to a student with poor grades.

"Just one night... that's all." (Chongzong)

Chongzong quickly replied.

And during the answer, he already vaguely understood what Manranyama Souren was about to mention next.

"Besides the Kuroda group, who else participated in retrieving Kuroda Soitiro?" (Manranyama Souren)

"... There were also people from Bai Yaxin's side." (Chongzong)

"The woman in the box you kidnapped before, how did Bai Yaxin react back then?" (Manranyama Souren)

"She didn't." (Chongzong)

"This time, what did Bai Yaxin do?" (Manranyama Souren)

"Kidnapped people from the Uesugi family..." (Chongzong)

At this point, even Eiji Hayamizu understood.

"It's evident that Kuroda Soitiro holds crucial information." (Manranyama Souren)

"And it's the kind of critical information that would cause major trouble if leaked." (Manranyama Souren)

"Bai Yaxin was extremely worried that Kuroda Soitiro might leak it, hence the urgent rescue mission and even capturing your family as bargaining chips in case of emergency." (Manranyama Souren)

"Even when Uhaku was captured before, Bai Yaxin remained indifferent." (Manranyama Souren)

"And now, Bai Yaxin's reaction is basically telling us outright that there's something absolutely hidden at the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine that must not be discovered." (Manranyama Souren)

"But because you didn't inform me immediately, we missed this opportunity." (Manranyama Souren)

"It takes at least 30 minutes by car from our location to Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine." (Manranyama Souren)

"And since the incident, it has been 40 minutes already since we can see." (Manranyama Souren)

"What we can't see is when Bai Yaxin actually received the information and started to act." (Manranyama Souren)

"Given Bai Yaxin's personality, even if it's early morning, he would immediately take action. But based on the intelligence you provided, it seems that Bai Yaxin started acting in the morning, meaning Kuroda's team also delayed contacting Bai Yaxin by one night." (Manranyama Souren)

"Even so, around two hours is too much time for Bai Yaxin to work conservatively." (Manranyama Souren)

"Based on Bai Yaxin's efficiency, post-event cleanup is probably almost done by now." (Manranyama Souren)

"And according to Bai Yaxin's nature, he would employ many diversion tactics, smoke screens." (Manranyama Souren)

"Those things may still be at the shrine, but hidden deeper, or they may have been moved, or destroyed... endless possibilities." (Manranyama Souren)

"...So it's already too late for us to go there now. But there are still things we can do, like gathering as much information as possible in response to Bai Yaxin's actions, casting a wide net, hoping to catch something." (Manranyama Souren)

"Do you understand?" (Manranyama Souren)

Such a stormy and forceful argument made one have to admire Manranyama Souren's logic and quick thinking.

She truly lives up to being the heiress of the Manranyama family conglomerate.