“Listen up, you people outside!” Feng Bujue used his natural voice to produce a roar that rivaled a loudspeaker, “Don’t you dare act rashly! Or else… I’ll kill him!”

As he spoke, he grabbed another figure to his side with one hand, placing the kitchen knife against the latter’s neck.

It was none other than… Xiong Ji.

“What kind of show is this now?” Inuzhuke muttered, looking at the second-floor window through binoculars, frowning.

“I don’t know…” Usami raised her head, gazing sharply, and replied, “But… I suspect… this is likely Maosaburo’s trick.”

She was right; this was Feng Bujue’s trick.

But… even knowing it was a trick, the police couldn’t act rashly.

“Hey! You guys in front of the gate, if you dare take another step forward, I’ll chop off this stinking bear’s head.” Jue-ge put on a ferocious act, continuing his performance.

“Are you threatening us with the life of your own accomplice?” Usami put the megaphone to her mouth again, shouting at Jue-ge, “Do you think that will work?”

“Who told you… he’s my companion?” Feng Bujue retorted with a sneer.

Hearing this, Usami and Inuzhuke both had a sudden change in expression.

“He was just tricked here by me…” Jue-ge said, taking off the eye mask on Xiong Ji’s face (he had been wearing a white eye mask, similar to Zorro’s mask, when he met up with Jue-ge and the others, so his true identity hadn’t been revealed until now), “… It’s just Xiong Ji.”

Seeing this, Usami revealed a cold smile: “Hmph… just as I thought! I guessed it long ago… the real identity of Kaitou BeArs_eye is you… Xiong Ji!”

Xiong Ji had been standing anxiously next to Jue-ge since the beginning, not saying a word; hearing Usami’s line, he was immediately frightened, his face turning iron-orange, unable to speak.

“Hahahaha…” On the contrary, Feng Bujue laughed out loud after hearing this, “Who told you… that he is Kaitou BeArs_eye?”

“What!”

“What!”

“What?”

These three identical sentences, expressing surprise, came from the mouths of Usami, Inuzhuke, and Wang Tanzhi, respectively.

The former two didn’t count… even Xiao Tan was incredibly surprised by this, which was enough to show that Jue-ge’s statement was unbelievable.

“Hmph… you guys are really naive…” Feng Bujue laughed, “Are the Cat’s Eye trio all cats? Is Echizen Ryoma a horse? Is Yukito Tsukishiro a rabbit?” His twisted logic began again, “Who stipulated… that BeArs_eye’s true form must be a bear?”

“It… it’s happening!” Xiao Tan, standing in the corridor behind Jue-ge, leaned back, complaining with a serious face, “This kind of language offensive that is clearly nonsense, but makes it impossible to refute in a short amount of time… [Mouth Jutsu. Logical Rape]!”

“Stop talking nonsense!” After a few seconds, Usami on the street reacted and shouted into the loudspeaker, “If you say he’s not Kaitou BeArs_eye, then why is he wearing the same outfit as BeArs_eye from the cartoon *Detective Tadpole Man*?”

“Because!” Feng Bujue replied loudly, “He’s a stupid [BEEP]!”

In that instant, the world… was silent.

A full twenty seconds later, Inuzhuke raised his arm and pointed high, looking at Jue-ge and saying, “So Kaitou BeArs_eye is you! Maosaburo!”

“Hey—” Xiao Tan, standing not far behind Jue-ge and Xiong Ji, was shocked, “You were convinced just like that!”

“Hahahaha…” Feng Bujue had a smug look on his face, “That’s right! This daddy is Kaitou BeArs_eye! I love underwear the most! Oh hahahaha…” As he spoke, he casually pulled a pair of underwear out of Xiong Ji’s pocket and put it on his cat head.

“Okay… I misunderstood you before…” At this moment, Wang Tanzhi’s gaze toward Jue-ge changed, and Feng Bujue’s back instantly became tall in his eyes, “To complete the mission of these thirty-three chapters, you can actually do this… such lines and behavior cannot be described by just the word ‘dedication’… a protagonist who has reached your level is truly admirable, prostrate, amazing, and beyond reach…”

…………

The male protagonist of a novel is not just a vehicle for readers to project their fantasies.

Their missions shouldn’t just be plundering, killing, hoarding wealth, seducing women, retaliating against the powerful, and playing the pig to eat the tiger…

Nor do they need to give all of the above behaviors some untenable, self-deceiving reasons to make them justified and beyond reproach.

Greed is greed, ruthlessness is ruthlessness, lust is lust, and cheapness is cheapness!

No need to cover up, no need to pander, no need to call a deer a horse, and even less need for the author to whitewash.

Go your own way, write your own chapters, right and wrong, let people judge.

In the end, everyone will have a unique image of the protagonist in their hearts.

The man who carries the entire story, firmly taking on the core of the narrative, and is remembered by people, deserves the title of “protagonist.”

…………

“Hahahaha…” On the other side, Feng Bujue didn’t have time to respond to Xiao Tan’s complaints; he casually wore the underwear on his head, shouting to the outside of the window, “Xiong Ji… is just a pawn lured here by me. You insist on saying he’s an accomplice, but… in my opinion, he’s just a gentleman being manipulated by underwear.”

“Hmm… is this [Mouth Jutsu. Improvised Lie]?” Xiao Tan muttered, “This seemingly reasonable explanation, can others really understand it…”

“Ah—Help!” At the same second, under Jue-ge’s instructions, Xiong Ji shouted this loudly toward the window.

“D-don’t mess around!” Officer Inuzhuke panicked at the time, “Let’s talk it over, don’t kill the hostage!”

“Hmph… scared now?” Feng Bujue replied very arrogantly, “Enough nonsense, get me a helicopter with a full tank of gas, with a pilot… it must arrive within thirty minutes.” He paused, waving the knife in his hand, “Otherwise… starting from the thirty-first minute, I’ll kill a hostage every three minutes… oh no… a bear-stage.”

“Hey, hey… you only have one bear-stage hostage…” Xiao Tan said, “Even if you count me, there are only two, right? You’ll have killed them all in less than thirty-five minutes, right?”

“The lines are too familiar… so I said it casually.” Feng Bujue turned his head and muttered softly.

“How many hostage-taking schemes have you done?” Xiao Tan responded with narrowed eyes.

“Don’t worry about those details.” Feng Bujue lowered his voice, saying to Xiao Tan and Xiong Ji, “Don’t worry, I won’t kill anyone, this will be over soon.”

“T-teacher…” Xiong Ji said, covered in sweat, “I’m counting on you, you must do your best.”

At the same time as their conversation, Inuzhuke and Nyami on the street were also discussing something; soon, Inuzhuke shouted back, “Listen, Maosaburo… this street isn’t wide enough to land a helicopter, and there’s no helipad nearby, can you change to another mode of transportation?”

“Then what do you have?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Police car,” Inuzhuke replied.

“Okay, then prepare a police car, with a driver, we’ll come out from the front door in five minutes,” Feng Bujue replied.

“Okay,” Inuzhuke said.

After the two finished exchanging these sentences, Jue-ge turned his head and said to his two companions, “Okay, done.”

“What did you complete…” Xiao Tan said with a twitching mouth, “Do you know how many loopholes there are in the agreement you just reached with the other party…”

“Of course, I know.” Feng Bujue replied with a smile, “Heh… I did it on purpose.”

…………

Five minutes later, Maosaburo, Hayatarou, and Xiong Ji boarded a police car with a driver together.

After they got in the car, they found that the back seat door couldn’t be opened, and the surroundings were all bulletproof glass, which couldn’t be smashed open with a kitchen knife at all.

After the three of them were seated, the driver in the driver’s seat silently… drove the car all the way to the police station.

[Main Quest Progress Change]

[Limit the number of times Xiong Ji is arrested to within ten, current number of arrests: 3]

[Xiong Ji’s hatred towards you +33%]