We agreed on the twelve zodiac animals, but you've transformed into the Monkey King?

Shelly stood frozen in place, stunned. In this world of fame and fortune, she had witnessed countless people abandoning their principles for profit, but this was the first time she had seen a man willing to shatter his reason and all escape routes for the sake of so-called "debt."

Wen Xiao straightened her collar.

"You want a mad dog that can kill Japanese people? Fine, I'll be it."

"Whoever you want to kill, I'll kill. Which warlord's mole you want to remove, I'll remove. I can cripple Kuroda today, and I can tear down the Black Dragon Society's dojo for you tomorrow. As long as I live in this world, I will be the fastest, craziest, and most reckless knife in your hand."

He stared into her eyes, his pupils glistening with tears.

"Would you help me find her tonight, okay?"

Shelly's delicate red lips trembled for a long time before she uttered only one word:

"it is good."

Then, she turned to look at Sister Yuan on the ground, her eyes regaining the sternness of a wealthy heiress: "Can you still get up? Make a call immediately, and search the whole city without hesitation."

……

For a time, the entire Shanghai Bund seemed like a steel behemoth suddenly awakened in the winter rain.

The detectives of the French Concession police station were sleeping with prostitutes when they were scolded by their foreign superiors over the phone. They could only grumble and put on their raincoats, blowing their piercing copper whistles in the street. All sorts of people from the black market, rickshaw pullers, and informants poured into the intricate streets and alleys like mercury.

The doors of Gonghexiang's branch were wide open, and more than 500 laborers, who had just eaten their fill of white rice and fatty meat, rushed into the rain, carrying lanterns and iron hooks, led by Chen Jinbiao; security personnel from Jardine Matheson, exclusive informants from the East China Chamber of Commerce, and even compradors who had long operated in the gray area...

Countless street corners were forcibly blocked off, and countless beams of flashlight beams tore through the rainy night in Shiliupu and Huajie like sharp swords.

In this magical city where human life is clearly priced, this secular force, capable of upending half of the city, has mobilized its entire force tonight for a little beggar.

……

An hour has passed.

In the apartment on Avenue Joffre, the phone rang incessantly, but all the calls that came back were the frustrating "not found".

Wen Xiao stood by the window, watching the winter rain outside intensify, his face so gloomy it seemed to drip water. He slammed his fist on the window frame, and the tempered glass, which Jardine Matheson had obtained through connections, cracked from the impact.

"We're going the wrong way." Wen Xiao gritted his teeth, a fierce glint in his eyes. "She's so sick, she couldn't have gone far. That beast of a theater troupe leader would never have abandoned her in a place where living people live! Has the theater troupe leader been found?"

Shelly slammed down the phone, her eyes narrowing: "I just got through, they're at the opera troupe in Shiliupu!"

Without saying a word, Wen Xiao grabbed the pistol from the table, turned around, and plunged into the rain.

……

The torrential rain poured down, and the dilapidated backyard of the Shiliupu Opera Troupe was illuminated as brightly as day by the dense array of lanterns.

With a loud bang, the two dilapidated wooden doors were kicked away.

Chen Jinbiao wiped the rain off his face, grabbed the troupe leader by the collar with one hand, dragged him out of bed like a dead dog, and threw him heavily into the mud. The troupe leader's leg, which had been broken by Wen Xiao earlier that day, twitched in the mud, his face contorted in pain.

"squeak--!"

Two black Ford sedans bearing the license plates of the French Concession Police Station came to a steady stop. A row of fully armed Annamese police officers quickly jumped out of the cars, pulled up the cordon, and with a "click," more than a dozen rifles were cocked in unison.

Wen Xiao stepped out of the car in his shiny leather shoes. Shelly followed behind him, wearing a black mink cloak, while Sister Yuan held up a huge black umbrella, shielding the aloofness of this daughter of a foreign firm owner.

The brothel manager, sprawled in the mud, watched as the high-ranking manager of the foreign firm, whom he usually only saw in newspapers, now stood like a mere extra behind Wen Xiao. Then, looking around at the menacing, bloodshot-eyed thugs and French Concession police, he was so terrified he wet himself on the spot, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"Fifth...Fifth Master, spare my life..."

Wen Xiao walked forward expressionlessly and stomped his leather shoe hard on the man's broken leg.

"Crunch—"

The sound of bones grinding together was particularly jarring in the rainy night, and the troupe leader let out a pig-like scream.

Wen Xiao leaned down, looking at him like he was looking at a dead man: "Where is A-Man?"

"I...I'll talk! I'll talk!" The troupe leader screamed in agony, "This afternoon she coughed up a lot of black blood. I was afraid it was contagious tuberculosis, so...so I had the men wrap her in a tattered mat and throw her...throw her into the 'Dead Man's Pit' (a ditch for the dead) outside the Chinese territory! Fifth Master, have mercy! I thought she was already dead—"

"Bang!"

Wen Xiao kicked the troupe leader in the chin, shattering all his teeth and forcing him to swallow the rest of his sentence.

"You're talking to me about hygiene now?!"

"Go to the Chinese-controlled area and turn it into a human pit!" Wen Xiao suddenly turned around, creating a gust of wind.

……

After half an hour.

The stinking ditch on the outskirts of the Chinese territory was brightly lit by hundreds of kerosene lamps and car headlights.

This muddy swamp, which even stray dogs wouldn't linger in, was now completely surrounded by workers and police officers. Those usually high-and-mighty Western-dressed tycoons and police detectives were all silently watching a man go mad in the rain.

Wen Xiao rushed into the ankle-deep mud, the bright beam of his flashlight sweeping through the pile of corpses.

Finally, under a leaky thatched shed, amidst a pile of stinking, rotten mats, Wen Xiao saw that small figure.

Ah Man huddled in her soaked monkey king costume, her body stiff with cold, her lips bluish-purple, her mind hazy with fever. Her little hand, covered in chilblains, was still clutching a colorful candy wrapper soaked in rainwater.

Wen Xiao felt as if his heart had been gripped and crushed by a pair of large hands. His hands trembled as he pulled that small, paper-light body into his arms. His burning hot hands pressed against her icy back, and the bone-chilling cold brought tears to his eyes.

"Aman...don't be afraid, the Great Sage has come to pick you up."

At that moment, all the search teams gathered around.

Chen Jinbiao looked at the little girl in Wen Xiao's arms, her face covered in mud and her life hanging in the balance, and wiped away his tears and rain. He then turned to look at the five hundred laborers standing solemnly in the rain.

"Clatter!"

Chen Jinbiao was the first to kneel down on one knee in the mud, his voice booming like thunder:

"Lord Hongmen and Lord Hexiang, welcome the Second Miss back to the manor!"

"Pat! Pat! Pat!"

Five hundred burly men, shirtless and wielding iron hooks, knelt down in unison in the freezing winter rain. Mud and water splattered, and their roars coalesced into a powerful wave that even drowned out the rumbling thunder over the Huangpu River.

"Lord Hongmen and Lord Hexiang, welcome the Second Miss back to the manor!"

Shelly, standing by the car door, watched this scene unfold, seeing the man who picked up the little beggar amidst the kneeling worship of hundreds of rioters. Her hand holding the umbrella trembled slightly.

That man traded his life for the hearts of many.

This extreme display of power terrified the informants hiding in the shadows.

This isn't just about rescuing a beggar; it's clearly about asserting sovereignty over the entire city of Shanghai.