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

Matsuda's face turned cold, and he slapped Wen Xiao's hand away: "Wen-san, what do you need so much money for? To buy a coffin?"

"Shelly's plate is stuck in Cavendish's old zombie state." Wen Xiao gritted his teeth. "I need to get this money to get her financial chain running again. As long as she recovers, this debt can be settled in ten days."

Zhao Degui, who was behind him, understood what was happening and burst out laughing.

"Heh... Everyone says that the newly appointed Fifth Master of Hongmen lives off women, but I didn't expect him to be such a womanizer." Zhao Degui's eyes were full of mockery. "He even pawned his ancestral estate to help a foreign firm's daughter fill a hole."

"You can't keep hiding behind women forever." Wen Xiao gave him a cold look.

Wen Xiao turned his head, placed his hands on the table, stared at Matsuda, and threw out his chips:

"Three million. In addition to these land deeds, I'll also add a monopoly on an underground logistics route directly to the French Concession. You can also use my five hundred strong laborers."

The inner room was deathly silent.

Matsuda's chest heaved, his breath caught in his throat, and when he exhaled again, it was all incoherent.

The land deeds were fixed, but the underground logistics network was unstoppable by the police and untraceable by the military police. Two invisible channels had been created between the Chinese-controlled area and the foreign concessions. Arms, coded messages, and smuggled goods traveled day and night through these tunnels, leaving no trace. This effectively handed over the vital shipping route of the foreign concessions to the Japanese Empire.

Matsuda opened the drawer and threw out a blank contract.

"Three million is acceptable. However, the monthly interest rate is nine percent, and the term is ten days." Matsuda tapped his finger on the table. "If you are more than half a day late, Gonghexiang, along with all its people and land, will be transferred to Specie Bank. Sign it."

Monthly interest rate of 9%. Ten-day term.

Wen Xiao stared at the outright, blatantly predatory terms and conditions. He picked up his pen, the nib hovering over the paper, his fingers trembling.

"What? You don't dare to sign?" Zhao Degui laughed. "If you refuse to put pen to paper, go back to your dock and stay there. Some troubles won't come knocking on your door openly."

Wen Xiao bit his thumb until it bled, then pressed a bloody handprint heavily onto the contract.

Matsuda and Zhao Degui, seeing the bright red fingerprints, finally couldn't help but burst into unrestrained laughter.

……

The heavy, carved solid wood door closed slowly, shutting out the sounds of wind and rain from outside.

Zhao Degui watched the direction Wen Xiao had disappeared in, his maniacal laughter gradually fading. His right eyelid, for some reason, kept twitching uncontrollably.

"Manager Matsuda, this Wen fellow is a mad dog that bites. Three million, nine percent interest, ten-day deadline... he dared to sign such deadly terms, isn't there a trap?"

Matsuda didn't look at him. He was wearing snow-white cotton gloves and carefully picking up the contract with the bloody handprint on it.

"A scam?" Matsuda blew on the ink on the paper. "Zhao-san, setting up a scheme requires capital."

Matsuda turned around and carefully locked the contract and peace deed into the stainless steel safe behind him. With a heavy mechanical click, he picked up the sake on the table.

"The British Empire's board of directors cut off his funding, and Lu Yongxiang's army blocked his path. He's like a drowning man now; he'd grab any bait, let alone poisoned bait, or even a knife, without hesitation."

Matsuda took a sip of his drink, a slight smile playing on his lips:

"Even if we take a step back and assume that the daughter of that foreign firm can really revive the Ponzi scheme with those three million, where would she get the 270,000 in interest in ten days? In the world of finance, that's a dead end."

Matsuda walked to the window and looked out at the gray, hazy city of Shanghai through the glass:

"Ten days later, the evidence will be in black and white, irrefutable. If he hands over the docks, Hongmen will be the dog of the Great Japanese Empire from now on; if he dares to resist debt, the Municipal Council and the Imperial Navy will have the most legitimate reason to crush this mad dog and his gang completely. In the face of absolute capital, there is no deception, only death."

……

The street corner of Shiliupu was bitterly cold.

Chen Jinbiao, accompanied by two trusted men, waited at the entrance of the alley. Upon seeing Wen Xiao emerge carrying a heavy leather suitcase, they immediately went to greet him.

"Fifth Master, has it been signed?"

Wen Xiao stopped in her tracks.

He turned around and looked at the luxurious facade behind him, with a gold-plated plaque that read "Dafeng Money Shop".

The back, which had been taut and bent due to anxiety and agitation, straightened up inch by inch.

He threw the suitcase he was holding directly into Chen Jinbiao's arms.

"Fifth Master?" Chen Jinbiao was stunned.

"Tell the men to hurry up, it's eighty tons."

Wen Xiao took out a match, lit a cigarette, and the flame flickered.

"Money owed to the dead doesn't need to be repaid."

……

Late at night, in the Chinese-controlled area, at the Zhao Mansion.

The master bedroom on the second floor was lit by a dim wall lamp. On the large, French-style carved bed, Zhao Degui, the vice president of the chamber of commerce, was snoring greasyly with two women in his arms.

Beside the pillow lay a loaded Colt revolver.

"Ding, ding, ding."

Several crisp metallic sounds rang out abruptly in the deathly silent bedroom.

Zhao Degui suddenly woke up with a start. He instinctively reached for the gun under his pillow.

At the same time, the two women rubbed their eyes and sat up, still half asleep.

The silk sheet slipped down, revealing glimpses of snow-white skin and graceful curves in the cool air. One of the women playfully tried to snuggle into Zhao Degui's arms, but as she looked up, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a dark figure in the corner.

"ah--!"

The moonlight streaming in through the window cast a cold glow on the single sofa in the corner. Wen Xiao, dressed in a suit, sat there quietly with his legs crossed. He casually tossed a gleaming yellow revolver bullet between his fingers and let it fall.

Zhao Degui's entire body of fat shuddered violently, and he tumbled off the bed. The two women screamed in fright and shrank back under the covers.

"Master Wen...Master Wen?!" Zhao Degui knelt on the carpet, trembling uncontrollably. "How...how did you get in? Where are the bodyguards?!"

Wen Xiao did not answer. He leaned slightly forward, using the moonlight from the window to look at the fat pig on the ground.

"You wet your pants yesterday," Wen Xiao said in a low voice. "Today, I want you to run faster."

Zhao Degui was sweating profusely, his forehead pressed against the ground: "Fifth Master's orders! Fifth Master's orders!"

"That three million that Dafeng Money Exchange lent me, it's probably almost drained the cash reserves of several nearby Japanese-owned trading companies, right?" Wen Xiao threw an empty gun onto the carpet in front of Zhao Degui. "Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, Dafeng opens its doors. I want you to take the lead and withdraw all the funds from your chamber of commerce, as well as your personal savings."

Zhao Degui looked up, his eyes filled with terror: "Fifth Master! This won't do! Matsuda will kill me..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly raised his gun and frantically pulled the trigger at Wen Xiao—

"Click. Click. Click."

It was all empty noise.

Not a single bullet was fired.

Cold sweat instantly soaked through his silk pajamas. He frantically tried to fasten them twice more, but there was still no sound.

"Click." The floor lamp in the corner suddenly turned on.

By the light, Zhao Degui could finally see that four bodyguards, hired at great expense, were lying haphazardly in the room. Their throats had been precisely slit with sharp blades, and the blood had soaked through the carpet; they were already cold.

Zhao Degui looked at the four corpses. His crotch, which he had urinated on yesterday, was now soaked through again.

"Whether the Japanese will kill you tomorrow, I don't know." Wen Xiao stood up and looked down at him. "But I do know that if you're not at the counter of Dafeng Money Exchange tomorrow morning, the Zhao mansion will be wiped out."

Wen Xiao turned around, walked to the balcony, and disappeared into the night.

"Remember. Lead the way and run fast."