Unless Ryo has to join the Chiyoumen to break them from the inside as a spy, i highly doubt he's going to join and organize a mirror apocalypse party.
Regarding Baihu... i know you guys want to know about this but there's nothing i can leak right now unless Yu Suzuki allows me to. While we were talking, i promised that if some things had to be kept secrets, i would and i cant take that back. And let's not say that if you want me to eventually work with him again in the future, i have to avoid writing too much and make sure that he can trust me.
Working with japanese people takes some time and i am a total stranger to him (well, not anymore but still am compared to some) and my main project is to keep a contact and work with him in the future. Not sure if that's going to happen to be honest, but i really want to.
Now, from what i am allowed to say... how can i write this down. I will make it pretty clear :
All the remaining Chiyoumen leaders, North, South and West are characters that you have never seen before. The only thing Yu Suzuki told me was :
"i want Shenmue fans to use their imagination and imagine how the North and West leaders may look like".
If Yu Suzuki wants us to imagine how they look like, that mean he doesn't want to give up on Shenmue and just release everything right away.
Yu Suzuki has the will to make Shenmue III, he wants to, there is absolutely 0 doubt about this. However, he has to take his time and think about how it can be done, with who, how much it would cost etc.
He didn't say anything regarding the budget, except that he had to work on it. Yu Suzuki is a smart man and if he ever gets the chance to produce it like he would like to, i am sure he will.
15 years is very long and if that's a long wait for us, just imagine how long that must be for Yu Suzuki who is holding all the Shenmue informations for himself without being able to release it like he would like to.
Just think about it even one minute, if you had the project berkley script on your desk for like 15 years, reading it here and there and couldn't share it with the fans trusting you, how would you feel ?
I won't give up on Shenmue III and won't give up on Yu Suzuki. Like i've said, if i was rich, i'd fund it right now, sadly i can't and money wise, i cannot help Yu Suzuki. But if i can provide help by spreading informations in english and french, every year if i have to, like a Shenmue Community Manager, then i will.
Sorry, i was a bit off topic but i really wanted to share his words again and make sure fans would not give up on Shenmue.