cicada

Chapter 1414 Another stroke of bad luck
Watanabe adjusted his police cap, smiling as he watched the passing citizens of the Republic of China era bow to him in respect, feeling an immense sense of satisfaction.

As an ordinary patrolman from an ordinary family, Watanabe was just a humble nobody in his hometown, but in Shanghai, he became a "god" who could control life and death.

He could do whatever he wanted with the people of the Republic of China on the street, such as throwing them into prison or... killing them on the spot, without bearing any responsibility.

"Ah, what a beautiful day!"

Watanabe sighed softly, scanning the crowd as he tried to spot any anti-Japanese elements or suspicious individuals.

The first thing that caught his eye was a beautiful woman. She probably didn't have a high income, but she had other ways to make money, because the expensive cheongsam and the slightly outdated leather shoes shouldn't be on the same person.

However, the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to attract trouble. Watanabe decisively shifted his target and turned his gaze to the middle-aged man next to him.

Judging from the way he kept his hand on his pocket while walking, he was a cautious fellow.

Unfortunately, even with such caution, the man was still targeted. Watanabe looked at the third person squeezing through the crowd, a faint smile appearing in his eyes.

His dirty short-sleeved shirt, tattered cloth shoes, bald head, and wandering eyes all spoke volumes about his identity.

Watanabe, who prides himself on being the top detective in Shanghai's police department, would bet his life that this guy is a damn thief.

But he didn't intend to expose the other party, because there would be no benefit in doing so. Once the thief had succeeded, he could calmly pocket the stolen goods.

Watanabe was pondering what to do with the money after get off work when the thief glanced at him. Instead of being frightened, the thief brazenly reached into other people's pockets.

"Baka! This bastard dares to ignore me!" Watanabe's eyes widened in disbelief, and he immediately pulled out the siren and put it in his mouth.

The whistling alarm alerted pedestrians, who quickly looked down to check their belongings while scanning their surroundings with wary eyes. The bald thief was instantly exposed.

"stop!"

Watanabe roared and strode up to the thief, grabbing him by the collar and slamming the gun down with his other hand, the butt of the gun slamming into the thief's forehead.

"Ouch, stop hitting me, sir! I have money!"

The thief covered his head and begged for mercy, blood flowing down his forehead and staining his clothes red.

Upon hearing that there was money to be made, Watanabe seemed to have heard the key phrase. His waving arm froze in mid-air, and he asked the soul-searching question in a rather expectant tone.

"how much is it?"

"Two days' worth of yen."

"Baka! You've lost your conscience!"

"Don't hit me, don't hit me! Ten yen, that's all I have left, sir."

After some haggling, Watanabe happily put the money into his pocket. As for the thief, he was taken back to the police station, of course. Ten yen was only enough to prevent the thief from being beaten, but not from going to jail.

Five minutes later, Gui Youguang, covered in blood, squatted by the roadside with his head down, accepting the stares and ridicule of passersby.

His hands were tightly bound behind his back with a hemp rope, and several of his "colleagues" were squatting around him. One of them nudged his shoulder and asked in an unfriendly tone, "You little bastard, do you know whose territory this is?"

The thieves thought they had encountered some greenhorn who didn't follow the rules of the underworld, and were ready to teach this bald man a lesson.

Gui Youguang looked up at the other person coldly and spat out a single word: "Get lost!"

The speaker felt uneasy under his gaze and wanted to make a move, but seeing Watanabe not far away, he could only shut up and slowly move to his companion's side.

At this time, many Japanese and puppet troops and police appeared on the streets. Amidst the mournful sirens, agents from the 76th Special Forces and Japanese military police jumped off their trucks and lined up on the roadside to await orders.

A military policeman saw a group of people squatting by the roadside and came over to talk to Watanabe, who was guarding them: "Who are these people?"

"They're all thieves. Does your army have to get involved in even minor security cases?" Watanabe retorted curtly.

The conflict between the Japanese army and the police has a long history, starting with the Osaka Signal Light Incident in 1933① and reaching its peak on February 26. Therefore, it is quite normal for Watanabe to respond to the military police in this way.

The military policeman frowned, but still suppressed his anger and asked again, "Officer, are you sure they are thieves? Please answer carefully. We are pursuing saboteurs who are disrupting the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."

Watanabe turned his head and saw the thieves quickly putting on fawning smiles. Gui Youguang was also among them, hiding behind one of them and covering most of his face.

After a quick glance, Watanabe nodded impatiently: "Of course, it's a pity these guys don't have handpans to prove their identities."

Faced with his sarcasm, the military police were too lazy to say anything more, turned around and led their team toward a hotel. Soon after, shouts and sounds of smashing and looting came from inside the hotel.

Not only here, but also in other places, military police and secret agents were conducting searches, and people were frequently taken away for not being able to provide identification. Crying could be heard everywhere in the streets and alleys.

The thieves were terrified, their faces pale. They crouched on the spot, too afraid to move, lest they be noticed by the military police, and also relieved that they had been caught.

Watanabe bent down and untied the very end of the rope, then pulled on it and walked toward the police station, followed by a string of prisoners. No one resisted, and no one tried to escape.

The arrested thieves knew that being caught by the police would at most result in temporary detention, but being arrested by the Japanese soldiers would be the end of them. Crossing the chaotic street, Watanabe arrived at the police station and locked the thieves in the detention center. It was nearing closing time, and no one would interrogate the prisoners at this hour.

After Watanabe left, the previously docile prisoner immediately came to life. The thief who had been talking to Gui Youguang earlier and his accomplices rubbed their hands together, surrounded him, and revealed malicious smirks.

"Ah~"

Gui Youguang sighed. There was nothing he could do if someone was looking for death. He then took off his coat and wrapped it around his fist.

The dim light from the corridor chandelier cast the shadows of the prisoners onto the wall. A tall figure could be seen charging left and right, beating the others to a pulp with brute force alone, without using any special techniques.

The prisoner in the next cell huddled in the corner, trembling as he looked at the projection on the wall. When did such a fierce person appear in Shanghai? It's terrifying.

"Click."

A wooden plank removed from the chamber pot struck Gui Youguang on the back of the head, shattering into pieces. Gui Youguang slowly turned around, touched his head, and smirked at the assailant.

"Ah! Good sir, spare my life! I'll never do it again!"

"Help! Help!"

A thief grabbed the bars of the cell and cried for help, but the guard on duty ignored him. After shouting twice, he was pulled back into the darkness by a strong arm.

The prisoner next door strained his ears, shuddering with every sound he heard, until the cell was completely quiet before he plopped down on the floor.

The next morning, the handyman who was distributing meals entered the detention center and distributed bowls of vegetable soup with mud and brown rice to the prisoners.

Inside the cell, a man carrying a bowl walked up to Gui Youguang, respectfully addressed him as "elder brother," and then offered him the food with both hands.

Prisons have always been a dog-eat-dog world. Gui Youguang beat everyone into submission and naturally became the boss. The group of thieves even fantasized about following their new boss to dominate Shanghai after they got out.

Gui Youguang did not complain about the simple food. After finishing his meal, he closed his eyes to rest. Based on his observations yesterday, the area under lockdown was about three kilometers.

If his estimate was correct, the search would continue for about another day, and once the Japanese found nothing, they would inevitably lift the blockade.

Shanghai is not a sparsely populated small city, and the incident occurred in a bustling downtown area. Locking it down for one day or two nights is the limit. Any longer and there will definitely be opposition. The Japanese will not allow this important Far Eastern city to be paralyzed.

He sat cross-legged quietly in the corner, keeping a close eye on the movements outside. The Japanese and the 76th Division might guess that he was hiding in the police station. Although the possibility was small, it was still a precaution.

Time passed slowly, and sunlight shone through the skylight onto the ground, gradually moving from the window toward the door, only to be swallowed by darkness in the end.

The following morning, 36 hours after his arrest, Gui Youguang was taken out of his cell by police officers. Before the interrogators could speak, he gave an address and confessed that he had hidden some money there.

The amount of money was just right—enough to get the Japanese to give him a break without bringing about his death, just like the ten yen he gave the policeman.

Gui Youguang had prepared several similar secret hiding places for use in this situation. When operating in enemy-occupied territory, a violent escape was always the last resort.

Upon hearing this, the interrogators left the room and returned with smiles on their faces. They immediately removed Gui Youguang's restraints and sent him out of the police station, seemingly very satisfied with the reward.

After stretching his wrists, Gui Youguang looked up and squinted at the rising sun. Just as he was about to leave, he heard a cough behind him. He turned around and saw that it was Chen Gongshu. It was clear that the other party had also escaped the pursuit in this way.

Without exchanging any words, the two left the police station separately, one on the left and one on the right. But after walking only a few dozen meters, Gui Youguang saw the scene he least wanted to see.

The Japanese police officer who arrested him the day before yesterday was talking to several plainclothes men when the other man happened to look in his direction. Their eyes met, and the officer opened his mouth wide, about to shout.

Watanabe, watching from afar, was both surprised and delighted. He was surprised that he had almost become an accomplice of the suspicious individuals, but delighted that he could atone for his crime and might even receive a reward.

"Suspect!" Watanabe pointed at Gui Youguang and shouted with all his might, his voice deafening, drawing the attention of those around him.

Gui Youguang wondered if he hadn't checked the almanac before going out, otherwise why would he encounter so many unlucky things, twice in a row?

Sigh, let's not say anything more, let's run.

His fabricated identity as a thief won't stand up to scrutiny. The 76th Division or the Japanese could easily find out the problem with a little questioning. This time, he'll have to fight tooth and nail.

Thinking of the consequences of being captured, Gui Youguang threw his arms and ran away, overturning the stalls on both sides of the road in an attempt to slow down the pursuers.

After running for several hundred meters, the Suzhou River, which is tens of meters wide, blocked his way, and the road along the river was also blocked by plainclothes officers who were panting heavily.

With nowhere to go, Gui Youguang suddenly stopped, standing alone in the middle of the enemy's encirclement, his chest heaving violently.

"Caught alive!"

Li Shiqun's face flushed with excitement. He had a premonition that they had caught a big fish this time. The other party's experience in escaping was so sophisticated that he was definitely not an unknown person.

Unexpectedly, instead of finding the assassin they were looking for, a mysterious person appeared, and the position of Director of No. 76 was undoubtedly his.

①In 1933, a private first class of the 4th Division of the Japanese Army got into a conflict with the police for running a red light and was arrested. The then commander of the 4th Division, Hisaichi Terauchi, ordered the military police to be dispatched and surround the police station in public, and a violent conflict broke out between the two sides.