Chapter Summaries

Gu Qiu visited Gu Sheng to ask for money to rebuild their village school and roads, while Shi Xue tried to question Gu Sheng about his political allegiance and was rejected. Gu Sheng then took control of Hongji Real Estate as its largest shareholder and summoned the company’s executives to a meeting.

• Gu Qiu and Shi Xue found Gu Sheng in Causeway Bay, where Gu Sheng promised five hundred thousand to rebuild the village school and roads.
• Shi Xue asked whether Gu Sheng had a Red Heart or a White Heart, but Gu Sheng refused to speak with someone of Shi Xue’s standing and sent him away.
• Gu Sheng instructed Leung Siu-tong to investigate Kuang Jie and Zhou Charlie for embezzlement after learning they were absent from Hongji Real Estate.
• Gu Sheng arrived at Hongji Real Estate and presented documents confirming he held 18.1 percent of its shares, making him the company’s largest shareholder.

Gu Sheng took control of Hongji Real Estate, became its chairman, and announced plans to raise wages and acquire Yunju Properties. News of his takeover spread across Hong Kong Island, stunning his allies and rivals alike and elevating his status among the city’s elite.

• Gu Sheng restructured Hongji Real Estate’s board, became chairman, replaced Kuang Jie as human resources general manager, and ordered the company to pursue an acquisition of Yunju Properties.
• Gu Sheng addressed the company’s employees, promised higher wages, and told managers to prepare pay raises, renovate his office, work with Golden Harvest Properties, and report on company assets and property management.
• Li Ma Sing accepted that Gu Sheng’s takeover had changed his influence, while He Zhang told He Yongfeng to keep in closer contact with Gu Sheng but avoid his illicit business.
• Newspaper reports of the takeover shocked Wai Ting-bong’s wife and Hon Ping, while Thirteen Sisters and other Hongxing members discussed Gu Sheng’s sudden rise to elite status.
• News of Gu Sheng’s takeover reached the North through several newspapers.

Gu Sheng set up a financial analysis team and imposed a drastic new study schedule at New Method College, backing his demands with intimidating discipline staff. The chapter ended with dozens of teachers resigning and Li Xinxin warning that neither the staff nor the students could accept his plan.

• Gu Sheng learned that Big Pu Hei had been killed by an assassin calling himself Cherubim, and he dismissed the matter as unrelated to him.
• Gu Sheng established a Central analysis studio and ordered his team to track Hong Kong Island's listed companies and identify those facing upheaval.
• Gu Sheng and Li Xinxin attended a New Method College staff meeting, where Gu Sheng declared his commitment to education and demanded longer school days and monthly exams.
• Gu Sheng introduced his personally selected, fierce-looking underlings as discipline staff and said they would handle student complaints, while the bottom five students in each class would be punished.
• Dozens of teachers submitted resignation letters, and Li Xinxin told Gu Sheng that the staff and students could not accept his plan.
• Gu Sheng asked for the resignation list and said he would have someone speak to the teachers.

Gu Sheng forced the teachers who resigned to return, agreed to inspect investment opportunities in the North, and discovered Jardine Matheson was trying to take control of Hongji Real Estate. He sent unfamiliar men to Hong Kong Island, and a bomb exploded beside chairman Gucci’s Rolls-Royce as he left the office.

• Qiu Fucai’s wife persuaded him to resume teaching after Gu Sheng’s men threatened his livelihood and revealed a list of his name and a molestation allegation.
• Gu Sheng agreed to make an investment inspection trip to the North in half a month after Shi Xue apologized and invited him.
• Hongji Real Estate acquired 43% of Yunju Properties, and Gu Sheng learned that Jardine Matheson was buying Hongji shares to pursue control.
• Gu Sheng ordered Zhang Chun to bring unfamiliar men to Hong Kong Island, and they retrieved a bomb and watched Gucci’s movements.
• At Gu Sheng and Kong Sang’s wedding banquet, Gucci left Jardine Matheson’s office, and a bomb exploded beside his Rolls-Royce.

After the Governor moved to punish Gu Sheng over Gucci’s bombing, Gu Sheng retaliated by arranging Wong Hoi-sam’s murder and organizing a huge protest against high property prices. The next day, Gu Sheng headed north with He Qing and a group of tycoons as the march flooded Central.

• Police identified two young suspects in Gucci’s bombing and sealed off the airport and docks, while Yiu Yeuk-sing questioned whether Jardine Matheson had clashed with Gu Sheng.
• Gu Sheng learned that Kong Sang was pregnant, discussed expanding into the North and America, and chose Flyboy Ping to oversee business in the North.
• Walker warned Gu Sheng that the Governor wanted to terminate Hongxing’s contract, and Leung Siu-tong reported that Wong Hoi-sam had accused Gu Sheng of ordering a hit and extorting him.
• Gu Sheng ordered Wong Hoi-sam killed, arranged for the killers to escape to Malaysia, and mobilized employees, triads, and business leaders to protest high property prices in Central.
• Wong Hoi-sam was run over outside the Police station as officers failed to stop the killer, and Gu Sheng left for Lo Wu with He Qing and visiting tycoons.
• Between 150,000 and 200,000 people crowded Central to protest, while Zheng Bin and members of the Chaozhou Gang headed toward the demonstration.

Gu Sheng visited Shenzhen with a delegation of wealthy Hong Kong businessmen, where he discussed investment and met local officials. Meanwhile, a mass protest over housing prices shook Hong Kong Island, forcing the Governor to seek Gu Sheng’s help; Gu Sheng eventually agreed to intervene, and the protesters returned to work the next day.

• Gu Sheng crossed into Shenzhen with He Qing and a delegation of wealthy businessmen, then visited Zhuyuan Hotel and discussed possible investments with Liu Yongquan.
• Shi Xue introduced Gu Sheng and the business delegation to Mr. Liang and Shenzhen officials, while a Negotiation Office staff member recognized Gu Sheng from Macau Island.
• More than two hundred thousand people marched through Central to protest housing prices, overwhelming the Hong Kong Island Police Force and alarming the Governor.
• The Governor ordered a meeting with property developers and learned that Gu Sheng was in Shenzhen; Gu Sheng dismissed calls to disperse the protesters and denied responsibility for the march.
• After Walker and He Xin called him that evening, Gu Sheng reluctantly agreed to speak to the protesters, and many returned to work the next day.

Gu Sheng negotiated investment privileges and technology purchases with officials, then secured major land and development agreements in Shenzhen. Back on Hong Kong Island, he convened a real estate summit and confronted late-arriving representatives of Swire Properties.

• Gu Sheng persuaded Hong Kong businessmen to invest in Shekou, including Yu Dawei’s plan for an Anfei Chemical factory and Baozhen Jewelry’s proposed electronics factory.
• Gu Sheng agreed to help obtain foreign technology and equipment in exchange for approval of his investments and loans, then flipped a coffee table while an orderly photographed him.
• Gu Sheng and He Qing returned to Shenzhen, where Gu Sheng secured plans for a five-star hotel, a luxury shopping mall, villas, a Luohu commercial district, and factories in Shekou.
• Gu Sheng returned to Hong Kong Island and called a Hong Kong Island Real Estate Summit, drawing dozens of developers and newspaper reporters.
• Gu Sheng rebuked a Swire Properties representative for arriving late before He Qing pulled him away.

Gu Sheng held a Hong Kong Island real estate summit and proposed half-ownership and rent-toward-purchase plans to ease homebuyers’ burdens and help struggling developers. After reporting the summit to Governor Sterling, Gu Sheng gained public praise, then learned Flyboy Ping had arranged a billion in loans as Section Chief Shi arrived with mainland requests.

• Gu Sheng called developers to the summit, heard their concerns, and proposed half-ownership and rent-toward-purchase models.
• Gu Sheng brought the summit report to Governor Sterling, discussed stability and British businessmen’s safety, and flipped Sterling’s coffee table over before leaving.
• Newspapers publicized Gu Sheng’s proposals, and Hong Kong Island residents praised his efforts to help ordinary homebuyers.
• Flyboy Ping told Gu Sheng he had arranged a billion in loans to be invested in installments, and Gu Sheng contacted He Xin about securing HSBC loans against land.
• Section Chief Shi returned to Hong Kong Island with experts and documents about the mainland’s urgent needs.

Shi Xue brought Professor Wang Weiguo and his students to ask Gu Sheng to acquire equipment and technology urgently needed by the North, and Gu Sheng arranged for Ah Ye to help. Later, Gu Sheng compelled Guo Hongsheng’s nephews to honor their agreement and sell their inherited Hongji Real Estate shares, leaving him with nearly thirty percent of the company.

• Shi Xue introduced Professor Wang Weiguo and his students to Gu Sheng, who asked Wang to identify which requested technologies Japan could supply.
• Ah Ye joined the meeting and listened as Wang explained the North’s urgent need for machinery, technology, and production lines; Gu Sheng asked whether they could install and operate the equipment.
• After Wang’s group finished explaining the list, Gu Sheng took them to dinner and claimed credit for improving Hong Kong Island’s public safety.
• Leung Siu-tong reported that Guo Hongsheng’s two nephews had inherited their shares, and Gu Sheng ordered that they be brought to him.
• Gu Sheng reminded the nephews of their agreement to sell their shares at market price and threatened them until they signed contracts for 1.4 billion.
• Gu Sheng arranged the formalities, then lent the money to Golden Harvest Properties to acquire and hold the shares.

Gu Sheng traveled to Tokyo to expand his business and began plotting to stir up conflict between Sanwa-kai and Sumiyoshi-rengō. He arranged for gangsters to disrupt Nakamori Akina’s recording session, where she was confronted by an intruding group.

• Leung Siu-tong told Gu Sheng that two more people had been killed with the Cherubim mark, and Gu Sheng dismissed the idea that the killer targeted only bad people.
• Gu Sheng outlined Hongji Real Estate’s plans to buy land, offer rent credited toward purchases, and borrow five billion to acquire distressed properties.
• Gu Sheng flew to Tokyo with Ah Ye and Hon Ping, brushed off police officer Kuroiwa’s questions, and met A Tai to hear about local gangs.
• Gu Sheng planned to kill Sanwa-kai’s chairman and provoke conflict with Sumiyoshi-rengō, then ordered A Tai to find Nakamori Akina’s schedule.
• Gu Sheng learned Nakamori Akina would be at a recording studio and ordered local gangsters to cause trouble there.
• A group of men entered the studio, pushed aside a staff member, and demanded to know where Nakamori Akina was.

Gu Sheng rescued Nakamori Akina from gangsters he had arranged to threaten her, then used the danger to draw her close and spend the night with her. The next morning, Tokyo newspapers publicized their relationship, while the Suzuki-gumi prepared to retaliate against Gu Sheng and Akina feared the reaction from her agency.

• Gu Sheng arrived at the recording studio, beat the gangsters who had confronted Nakamori Akina, and told her he had made enemies of the Sumiyoshi-kai for her.
• Gu Sheng persuaded the frightened Akina that she needed his protection, spent the day with her, and convinced her to stay at his hotel.
• Gu Sheng kissed Akina, declared them a couple, and arranged for reporters to photograph them entering the Hilton before taking her to his suite.
• The Suzuki-gumi boss learned that Gu Sheng had beaten his men and ordered his members to gather after seeing a newspaper photograph of Gu Sheng and Akina.
• Akina saw the newspaper coverage the next morning, worried that her agency would scold her, and hesitated to call her manager.

Gu Sheng confronted the Sumiyoshi-kai after its local gang members attacked him, then accepted an invitation to meet the organization’s president. As he planned to stir conflict between Japanese gangs, Hori Masao welcomed him at the Sumiyoshi-kai headquarters.

• Gu Sheng instructed Hon Ping and Ah Ye to gather resources and seek local Chinese groups, then met Nakamori Akina’s manager, Nakano Ōzora.
• The Suzuki-gumi Leader confronted Gu Sheng in the hotel café, and Tin Yeung-sang beat him and broke his hand on Gu Sheng’s orders.
• Gu Sheng paid off the responding police and contacted Kusakari Kazuo, while arranging for Ah Chun to target Sumiyoshi-rengō bosses and provoke a gang conflict.
• Nakano Ōzora gave Nakamori Akina several days off, and she asked Gu Sheng to take her to Disney after they went shopping in Ginza.
• Nishiguchi Shigeo invited Gu Sheng to the Sumiyoshi-kai headquarters, where Hori Masao greeted him as its president.

Gu Sheng attended a banquet hosted by Hori Masao, but the meeting turned hostile when Hori Masao confronted him over the Suzuki-gumi Leader’s injuries. Gu Sheng killed Hori Masao and fought his way out of the Sumiyoshi-kai compound, then shot the drivers and gunmen pursuing his convoy.

• Gu Sheng and his group joined Hori Masao’s banquet, where a tattooed woman served food from her body and Hori Masao revealed she was his adopted daughter.
• Hori Masao brought in the injured Suzuki-gumi Leader, who accused Gu Sheng’s men of beating him and claimed Gu Sheng had beaten him too.
• Gu Sheng rejected Hori Masao’s demand for a conciliatory gesture, shot Hori Masao, and killed the Suzuki-gumi Leader and several Sumiyoshi-kai executives as the room erupted into violence.
• Gu Sheng armed Tin Yeung-sang, Tin Yeung-yee, and Nakamori Akina, then led the group through the compound while they shot their way past Sumiyoshi-kai attackers.
• Gu Sheng’s group drove away, but Sumiyoshi-kai cars pursued them; Tin Yeung-sang turned the car around, and Gu Sheng shot the pursuing drivers and gunmen before the convoy escaped.

After Gu Sheng killed Sumiyoshi-kai leader Hori Masao, he mobilized Hongxing forces and allied with Kusakari Kazuo to seize the gang’s Tokyo territory. Reinforcements began arriving, but Gu Sheng still faced a shortage of Japanese-speaking men.

• Gu Sheng moved to the Imperial Hotel and called Hong Kong Island and Thailand for thousands of fighters, while Ah Tung recruited Zat Tau.
• Gu Sheng told Nakamori Akina that the Sumiyoshi-kai would soon be destroyed, and Hon Ping and Ah Ye agreed to help him.
• A Tai reported that three Sumiyoshi-kai targets had been eliminated, and Gu Sheng ordered his men to wait for further instructions.
• Gu Sheng offered Kusakari Kazuo a High Table seat in exchange for Yamaguchi-gumi support, and Kusakari agreed to take Tokyo territory from the Sumiyoshi-kai.
• Shark Yan arrived in Tokyo with reinforcements, and Gu Sheng arranged housing, legal help, and contacts at Yokota Air Base.
• Yilong arrived with nearly a hundred men, but Gu Sheng worried that too few of his fighters spoke Japanese and considered recruiting local Chinese.

Gu Sheng recruited a ruthless lawyer and arranged protection through Yokota Air Base while Hongxing gathered local guides and prepared to attack Sumiyoshi-kai’s allies. He ordered his lieutenants to strike forty-five organizations across Tokyo, leaving the Sumiyoshi Family and headquarters to Zhang Chun and his men.

• Gu Sheng hired Komikado Kensuke for a million US dollars a year and threatened him into accepting the job and using any means necessary to win cases.
• Taibao recruited Aberdeen and Xiao Dai to guide Hongxing around Tokyo, and Hon Ping also accepted Ah Lok despite his past fight with Hongxing.
• The Tainan Gang discovered Hongxing was recruiting at a Shinjuku bar, but boss Gao Jie ordered his men to avoid provoking them.
• Gu Sheng met a Yokota Air Base lieutenant colonel to arrange help obstructing Japanese police and places for his men to hide.
• Gu Sheng ordered Hon Ping to recruit more undocumented immigrants and assigned Shark Yan, Long-haired Hung, and Zat Tau to attack forty-five organizations in eastern, northern, and southwestern Tokyo.
• Gu Sheng left the Sumiyoshi Family and headquarters to Zhang Chun’s group and told his lieutenants to use the American soldiers if police interfered.

Aberdeen and Ah Dai guided Hongxing forces to a series of yakuza headquarters in Tokyo, where Zat Tau, Shark Yan, and Long-haired Hung led bloody attacks. The chapter ended with Hongxing’s assault spreading across the city as police arrived too late to save the targeted organizations.

• Aberdeen told the undocumented Chinese in Suginami Ward about Hongxing and Gu Sheng, then he and Ah Dai were taken away with former Hop To men.
• Zat Tau armed his men with wakizashi and pistols, and Aberdeen directed their convoy to Xiao Lin-kai’s headquarters in Kinshichō.
• Zat Tau’s men stormed Xiao Lin-kai’s building, killed its chairman and executives, and left before police could arrive.
• U.S. soldiers delayed the Kinshichō police, who later found the Xiao Lin-kai headquarters full of bodies.
• Shark Yan led an attack on Ishii-kai’s headquarters and ordered his men to regroup for the next target.
• Long-haired Hung’s men killed the Namiki Sixth Generation Head and his companions by throwing them from a rooftop, while Ah Dai watched.

After the Sumiyoshi-kai’s leadership and several affiliated organizations were attacked, Gu Sheng’s people negotiated with Toshiba while using the gang’s insignia to pressure its executives. Gu Sheng then met Tokyo police superintendent general Matsumoto Kazukiyo and offered to fund crime-fighting and charitable foundations, leaving their relationship unresolved.

• After Gu Sheng killed much of the Sumiyoshi-kai’s leadership, the gang argued over who should take charge and learned that Hong Kong Island forces had attacked six affiliated organizations, causing more than seven hundred casualties.
• Gu Sheng told Ah Ye to negotiate Toshiba’s price down to two hundred thousand dollars, with extra spare parts and engineers, and warned her to keep an escape route while doing business.
• When Tanimura Hiroaki refused to lower Toshiba’s price, Ah Ye summoned men wearing Sumiyoshi-kai insignia, who threw Tanimura and his employees from a hotel window; she then pressed Toshiba’s deputy department head to resume negotiations.
• Gu Sheng met former Diet member Takahashi Masao and Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department superintendent general Matsumoto Kazukiyo, claimed he had come to invest, and offered to establish a crime-fighting foundation and involve Matsumoto’s son.

Gu Sheng’s men suffered a deadly Sumiyoshi-kai raid after Sanwa-kai disclosed their hideouts, prompting Gu Sheng to call in reinforcements and order reprisals. He suspected both Sanwa-kai and the Tainan Gang, and the chapter ended with Shark Yan confronting Tainan Gang boss Gao Jie at gunpoint.

• Gu Sheng dismissed Detective Kuroiwa’s accusations, then ordered Zhang Chun’s men to deal with him before turning his attention to negotiations with Ah Ye.
• Sanwa-kai’s chairman ordered Eguchi Toshinari to give Sumiyoshi-kai the addresses of Hong Kong Island men’s hideouts, and Sumiyoshi-kai attacked one house, killing nearly twenty men and leaving others arrested.
• After Hon Ping reported the casualties, Gu Sheng ordered lawyers to bail out the surviving men, moved the others, summoned reinforcements, and arranged for John Wick to come to Tokyo.
• Gu Sheng suspected Sanwa-kai and the Tainan Gang had betrayed him, then ordered Shark Yan to seize Tainan Gang boss Gao Jie.
• Shark Yan entered Gao Jie’s office, shot Gao Jie’s maid when she reached beneath a table, and ordered Gao Jie to come with him.

Gu Sheng learned that the Sanwa-kai had likely tracked his men and forced Gao Jie to pay a security deposit while urging him to kill the Sanwa-kai president. As the Sumiyoshi-kai faced attacks from the Yamaguchi-gumi, Gu Sheng ordered a major assault on its headquarters, where Zhang Chun's force began a gun battle.

• Shark Yan abducted Gao Jie, and Gu Sheng beat him until Gao Jie blamed the Sanwa-kai for investigating Gu Sheng and revealing his men's movements.
• Gu Sheng demanded a five-million-dollar security deposit from Gao Jie and encouraged him to kill the Sanwa-kai president.
• The Sumiyoshi-kai learned that the Yamaguchi-gumi had attacked its northeastern allies and ambushed Fukuda Ichirō, prompting the surviving officers to prepare for a crisis meeting.
• After A Tai reported the Sumiyoshi-kai's increased security, Gu Sheng ordered Ah Chun to strike its headquarters and contacted Lieutenant Colonel Martin for help.
• Zhang Chun led eight vans toward the Sumiyoshi-kai headquarters, and his gunmen opened fire as they stormed the gates.

Zhang Chun’s men attacked the Sumiyoshi-kai headquarters, then escaped to Yokota with casualties while Gu Sheng struck a deal with Sanwa-kai vice chairman Eguchi Toshinari. Gu Sheng sent Gao Jie to kill the Sanwa-kai chairman in exchange for control of Taitō Ward and Sumida Ward, while police pressure on Gu Sheng eased after Kuroiwa was removed from the case.

• Zhang Chun’s team attacked the Sumiyoshi-kai headquarters, withdrew under fire, and escaped a police pursuit with help from a military vehicle before reaching Yokota.
• Gu Sheng met Eguchi Toshinari, who admitted the Sanwa-kai chairman had leaked information about Gu Sheng’s men and proposed an alliance against the Sumiyoshi-kai in exchange for control of Tokyo’s market.
• Gu Sheng agreed to partner with Eguchi Toshinari, then learned that Zhang Chun’s attack had left five men dead and about a dozen wounded.
• Kuroiwa demanded permission to arrest Gu Sheng, but his superior suspended him and reassigned the investigation.
• Gu Sheng offered Gao Jie control of Taitō Ward and Sumida Ward if he killed the Sanwa-kai chairman, and Gao Jie agreed.