Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan, a transmigrator and the sole survivor of a Military Statistics Bureau team destroyed by the Tokkō, hid in a Zhabei brothel while worrying that headquarters would suspect him of treason. The next morning, he entered the French Concession and sent intelligence to headquarters through a dead drop.

• Chen Fan woke to gunshots in a brothel and asked the woman who sheltered him to cook noodles and make tea.
• Chen Fan recalled that he had transmigrated into the identity of agent Codename Buddy, and that the Tokkō had killed his teammates after a suspected mole exposed their operation.
• Chen Fan remembered escaping the attack by disguising himself, setting a fire, and using a local thug's corpse to cover his escape.
• Chen Fan worried that his survival would make his superiors suspect him and possibly order his execution.
• Chen Fan entered the French Concession the next morning and sent intelligence through the dead drop on Luban Road.

Suzuki Nami was urged by Suzuki Kantarō to go to China and serve as senior adviser to the China Affairs Board, while a memorial portrait revealed her dead son looked like Chen Fan. In Jinling, Boss Dai learned that one member of the Beacon Fire Group had survived.

• Suzuki Kantarō gave Suzuki Nami Mr. Banzai's recommendation that she go to China and help establish the China Affairs Board.
• Suzuki Kantarō urged Suzuki Nami to accept the post, stop worrying about Shingo and the Black Dragon Society, and move on from Kyōichi's death.
• Suzuki Nami paid respects to Kyōichi's portrait, which looked almost exactly like Chen Fan, and agreed to speak with the Fujiwara girl if they met.
• Boss Dai angrily berated his men after eleven agents sent after the Beacon Fire Group were killed.
• Lin Zhao reported to Boss Dai that one member of the Beacon Fire Group had escaped.

Boss Dai questioned Lin Zhao about the sole survivor of the failed Shanghai operation and ordered a secret investigation of Chen Fan, who would remain undercover under a new code name. The chapter left Lin Su assigned to verify Chen Fan’s loyalty, with orders to execute him if he showed signs of betrayal.

• Boss Dai challenged Lin Zhao’s report that one agent had escaped the Japanese encirclement, and Lin Zhao explained how the survivor staged his escape.
• Lin Zhao identified the survivor as Chen Fan and described his unusual skills and personal flaws.
• Boss Dai suspected Chen Fan because he alone survived, while Lin Zhao defended his loyalty and offered to investigate him.
• Boss Dai ordered Lin Zhao to classify Chen Fan as killed in action, open a highly classified file, and invalidate Shanghai’s intelligence contact channels.
• Boss Dai assigned Lin Su to pose as Chen Fan’s partner and verify his actions, with orders to execute him if he showed signs of betrayal.
• Boss Dai ordered that Chen Fan remain undercover under the new code name God of Wealth, with Lin Zhao directing the team.

After headquarters ordered Chen Fan to lie low and await activation, he sought a way to make a living by approaching Shanghai smuggler Old Knife Handle. Old Knife Handle agreed to discuss supplying him despite Chen Fan’s lack of capital, and proposed that he work for the goods.

• Chen Fan received headquarters’ order to lie low, abandon his former contact methods, and wait for activation.
• Chen Fan went to Shengping Theatre to meet Old Knife Handle, a former supplier to his late father, Chen Zhongming.
• Old Knife Handle recognized Chen Fan and recalled how Chen Fan had beaten his eight bodyguards three years earlier.
• Chen Fan offered two small gold bars as a deposit and presented a list of scarce goods he wanted to sell.
• Old Knife Handle explained that Chen Zhongming had knowingly accepted a dangerous deal and said business had to follow its rules.
• Old Knife Handle told Chen Fan that, since he lacked capital, he could obtain the goods by putting in the work.

Chen Fan agreed to recover Old Knife Handle’s seized shipment of detonators without paying the inspectors, negotiating a fee and loan instead. At Shiliupu Wharf, he sought help from Cao Bin, an old family ally, and began explaining that he needed a favor.

• Old Knife Handle told Chen Fan that customs held three crates of detonators and asked him to recover them without paying Miao Desheng’s demanded three thousand silver dollars.
• Chen Fan negotiated a fee of one thousand silver dollars and an interest-free five-thousand-dollar loan for three months, then accepted Old Knife Handle’s offer.
• Chen Fan investigated Miao Desheng’s home and routine, then went to Shiliupu Wharf disguised as a coolie to find help moving the shipment.
• Chen Fan showed Cao Bin the token of brotherhood between their fathers, and Cao Bin recognized him and welcomed him into his office.
• Chen Fan told Cao Bin he had come to ask him a favor.

Chen Fan enlisted Cao Bin’s help to find someone who could retrieve customs-seized goods from Old Qiu’s territory, then hired Brother Bao for the job. Brother Bao agreed to take the work for extra pay and recommended a skilled lookout, Ma Xiaotian, leaving Chen Fan to seek him out.

• Chen Fan told Cao Bin that a shipment in Zone D had been seized and needed to be removed before customs inspected it.
• Cao Bin explained that Zone D belonged to Old Qiu and directed Chen Fan to Brother Bao, lending him fifty silver dollars and two gold bars for the job.
• Chen Fan met Brother Bao at Old Gu’s Eatery and offered him a deposit to retrieve the shipment from Warehouse C-3.
• Brother Bao agreed to help, raised his fee because the job was on Old Qiu’s turf, and accepted Chen Fan’s offer of two hundred dollars total.
• Brother Bao recommended that Chen Fan recruit Ma Xiaotian as a lookout and gave him directions to Ma’s home in Yangshupu.

Chen Fan recruited Ma Xiaotian to help move a secret shipment, persuading him to reconsider by treating the children he cared for to a meal. After Miao Desheng was killed, Chen Fan, Brother Bao, and Ma Xiaotian approached Warehouse Three to retrieve the goods, but Ma Xiaotian suddenly signaled a warning.

• Chen Fan found Ma Xiaotian living with eight hungry children and asked him to keep watch during a secret shipment operation, but Ma Xiaotian refused because he would not do anything underhanded.
• Chen Fan treated Ma Xiaotian and the children to a lavish meal, then urged him to accept a suitable job and gave him an address and time.
• Miao Desheng cursed at traffic on Myrtle Road before an unidentified figure slashed his throat and disappeared into the crowd.
• Chen Fan and Brother Bao waited near Warehouse Three, and Ma Xiaotian arrived after evading a night patrol and described a route into the warehouse through a loose ventilation window.
• The three men crept along the warehouse wall toward the vent, until Ma Xiaotian suddenly hissed a warning.

Chen Fan, Brother Bao, and Ma Xiaotian stole three crates of American-made detonators from a warehouse and escaped after Ma Xiaotian distracted two customs men. Back at the theatre, Old Knife Handle received a late-night visit from Wu Jingui, who appeared to have urgent business.

• Chen Fan, Brother Bao, and Ma Xiaotian sneaked into the warehouse and found the crates of detonators in Section C.
• Chen Fan and Brother Bao took the three crates while Ma Xiaotian lured two approaching customs men away from them.
• Chen Fan and Brother Bao escaped with the crates on a handcart, and Ma Xiaotian caught up after losing the customs men.
• Old Knife Handle waited at Shengping Theatre for news of Chen Fan's operation and secretly kept lookouts watching the docks.
• Wu Jingui arrived at the theatre's back door late at night, and Old Knife Handle let him in.

Old Knife Handle recruited Chen Fan to take delivery of three thousand bolts of cloth confiscated from the Qingpu Wang Family, proposing that they split the resale profits. Chen Fan became interested in the potentially lucrative deal, which would give him the money to establish himself in Shanghai.

• Wu Jingui offered Old Knife Handle a deal for three thousand bolts of Qingpu Wang Family cotton cloth confiscated by the Japanese, asking for a twenty-percent cut and requiring the goods to be sold outside Shanghai.
• Old Knife Handle decided to use Chen Fan for the deal, keeping his own men out of the risky transaction and testing Chen Fan's ability.
• A messenger told Old Knife Handle that Chen Fan and his men had successfully completed another job.
• Chen Fan met Old Knife Handle at Shengping Theatre and received payment for the goods from his previous deal.
• Old Knife Handle explained that Sugita Tomokazu wanted to sell the cloth privately and asked Chen Fan to collect it from Yangshupu Warehouse.
• Chen Fan agreed to consider the partnership as Old Knife Handle proposed that they split the resale profits equally, with Old Knife Handle providing the capital and buyers.

Chen Fan hired Ma Xiaotian to lead a rapid-response team he named the Cleaners, while Yoshino Takehiko faced mounting family expenses and a request from Yoshino Tomokazu to divert military supplies. The chapter ended as Tomokazu challenged Takehiko with the true scale of Japanese losses in the Battle of Shanghai.

• Chen Fan paid Ma Xiaotian a hundred silver dollars and recruited him to lead a team that would handle emergencies and conceal traces after operations.
• Ma Xiaotian accepted Chen Fan's offer, and Chen Fan gave him gold bars as operating funds and named the team the Cleaners.
• Yoshino Takehiko read Mikuko's letter about the costs of Sakurako's marriage and Taro's proposed studies in Germany, realizing he could not afford both.
• Yoshino Tomokazu visited Yoshino Takehiko and implied that he planned to take military supplies to cover expenses, including Taro's living costs abroad.
• Yoshino Tomokazu cited the length of the Battle of Shanghai and alleged Japanese casualties approaching seventy thousand, then asked how many divisions the defenders had fielded.

Yoshino Tomokazu warned Yoshino Takehiko that Japan’s war in China could become a prolonged struggle of occupation and resistance, then revealed his plan to steal and sell confiscated cotton cloth with help from military police and Tokkō contacts. Takehiko reacted with alarm, and Tomokazu insisted the Tokkō contact had approached him first.

• Yoshino Tomokazu argued that capturing Wuhan might not end the war, while Yoshino Takehiko repeated the General Staff’s expectation of a decisive victory.
• Yoshino Takehiko acknowledged that a prolonged war would make logistics, supply, and transport crucial parts of the battlefield.
• Yoshino Tomokazu disclosed that the records listed 1,200 bolts of confiscated cotton cloth, although 4,200 had reached the Yangshupu Warehouse, and said he had arranged to sell the missing 3,000.
• Yoshino Tomokazu explained that Lieutenant Shimura would unlock the warehouse and Yamada Ryosuke would transport the cloth in military police trucks for a share of the proceeds.
• Yoshino Tomokazu revealed that Inoue of the Tokkō’s Investigation Section had agreed to monitor its movements, prompting Yoshino Takehiko to erupt in anger.
• Yoshino Tomokazu told Yoshino Takehiko that he had not approached Inoue about the scheme because Inoue had come to him.

Yoshino Tomokazu told Yoshino Takehiko how he planned to divert confiscated goods through trusted Tokkō and Logistics Department contacts, beginning with a cotton-cloth sale. At Nara Inn, Chen Fan received a note announcing that the show would begin at ten that night.

• Yoshino Tomokazu explained the rivalry within the Shanghai Tokkō and said Inoue Kazuhiko would warn them if the Investigation Section caught on.
• Yoshino Tomokazu described a planned cotton-cloth sale through Wu Jingui and Old Knife Handle, estimating at least fourteen thousand silver dollars in profit and outlining how it would be shared.
• Yoshino Tomokazu told Yoshino Takehiko he intended to turn the operation into an ongoing channel for diverting confiscated supplies, and said the first deal would happen the following night.
• At Nara Inn, Chen Fan received a note inviting him to a show at ten that night and warning him not to be late.

Chen Fan arranged laborers and an escort to move three thousand bolts of cotton cloth from Hongkou to Shiliupu, then collected a large cash withdrawal to prepare for the operation. He led Brother Bao and four armed men toward the warehouse address sent by Old Knife Handle to scout the site.

• Chen Fan hired Cao Bin to provide more than twenty reliable laborers and ten carts for loading and unloading the cotton cloth at Shiliupu Wharf.
• Chen Fan hired Brother Bao and four men to escort the cargo through Hongkou, agreeing to pay two hundred silver dollars and cover extra costs if anyone was arrested or injured.
• Chen Fan arranged a discreet withdrawal of roughly fourteen or fifteen thousand silver dollars from the Dalong Native Bank.
• Old Knife Handle sent Chen Fan the address of Gate Seven, Section C, Jiuyuan Warehouse, on East Hengbang Road.
• Chen Fan and Brother Bao's men carried the chests of silver through a dark alley toward the warehouse to scout it.

Chen Fan completed his first deal with Yoshino Tomokazu, exchanging money for cloth at Jiuyuan Warehouse. Yoshino’s men agreed to transport the goods to Shiliupu Wharf, and the truck set off with Chen Fan aboard.

• Chen Fan watched Jiuyuan Warehouse with Brother Bao before Yoshino Tomokazu arrived with an associate.
• Chen Fan paid for the cloth, and Yoshino’s men let his group into the warehouse to inspect the goods.
• Chen Fan arranged to have porters carry the cloth, but Yoshino offered Yamada’s help transporting it by truck.
• Yamada waited for a coded message, then drove the truck carrying the cloth and Chen Fan toward Shiliupu Wharf.

Chen Fan arranged for Cao Bin’s men to unload a thousand bolts of cloth from three Japanese trucks at a wharf warehouse. Yamada praised Chen Fan’s organization but told him he would need to demonstrate his capabilities to keep doing business with the Japanese.

• Chen Fan and Yamada arrived at a Shiliupu Wharf warehouse with three truckloads of cloth.
• Chen Fan sent a messenger to fetch Cao Bin and thanked Yamada for bringing the goods.
• Cao Bin arrived with his men, who silently unloaded a thousand bolts of cloth onto handcarts.
• Cao Bin’s men dispersed into the fog after finishing the work.
• Yamada praised Chen Fan’s preparation and advised him to show the Japanese what he could do if he wanted the business to continue.

After the shipment left the docks, Chen Fan met Old Knife Handle to report the successful deal and borrowed another five thousand silver dollars at interest. The next morning, he went to a French Concession tailor to order two suits, leaving his new appearance—and the cost of it—unresolved.

• Chen Fan told Old Knife Handle that the goods had left the docks safely, and Old Knife Handle estimated their eventual profit at more than ten thousand silver dollars.
• Chen Fan asked for money before the goods were sold, and Old Knife Handle lent him five thousand silver dollars at ten percent interest per thousand.
• Chen Fan followed Yamada's advice and went to Pei'ermeng Suit Shop on Avenue Joffre to have fine clothes made.
• Chen Fan chose fabrics for a fitted single-breasted suit and a double-breasted suit with a matching waistcoat, while the shop assistant warned him that the English twill was expensive.

Chen Fan spent the morning buying Western clothes and luxury goods, then searched Hongkou for a business premises. After learning that Yamada Store had been handed over to the owner of Inoue Cuisine, he went there to discuss buying it and was greeted by a woman who said the restaurant was not yet open.

• Chen Fan ordered two suits, bought a ready-made outfit, and purchased leather accessories, a limited-edition watch, a lighter, and cigars.
• Chen Fan returned to the Nara Inn to check out, groomed himself, and headed to Wusong Road in Hongkou.
• Chen Fan examined the vacant Yamada Store and learned from the neighboring tea shop owner that Yamada Otsu had lost it in a gambling debt.
• Chen Fan followed the directions to Inoue Cuisine, where a woman greeted him and told him the restaurant would not open until five.

Chen Fan negotiated with Inoue Shinichi to buy the three-unit shop on Wusong Road for eight hundred silver dollars, with the sale set for the next day. After hearing about Inoue's overworked family, Chen Fan urged him to change their circumstances and promised he would not hurt them.

• Chen Fan met Mrs. Inoue and waited for Inoue Shinichi to return so he could discuss buying the Yamada Store.
• Inoue Shinichi welcomed Chen Fan and invited him upstairs to talk over sake.
• Chen Fan explained why the Wusong Road shop suited his import-export firm and asked whether the property had any other disputes.
• Inoue Shinichi offered to sell the shop for eight hundred silver dollars, and Chen Fan accepted the deal.
• Inoue Shinichi told Chen Fan that his younger brother, son Yuta, and elderly father were all overworked at the restaurant.
• Chen Fan advised Inoue Shinichi to let his father retire, find Yuta another job, and help his younger brother open a shop, promising he would not hurt them.

Chen Fan completed the purchase of three storefronts on Wusong Road and began planning their renovation into a trading firm. At the Military Police Headquarters, Yamada Ryosuke told Yoshino Tomokazu about Chen Fan’s new venture and suggested approaching him again.

• Chen Fan paid Inoue Shinichi for the property, and the two registered all three storefronts under Chen Fan’s name.
• Chen Fan inspected the Yamada Store, planned office renovations, hired bricklayers, and ordered furniture and counters.
• Yamada Ryosuke told Yoshino Tomokazu that Chen Fan had bought Yamada Otsu’s former storefronts and was opening a trading firm.
• Yamada Ryosuke proposed approaching Chen Fan again, and Yoshino Tomokazu asked whether that was what Yamada meant.

Yoshino decided to delay dealing with the suspicious trader Chen Fan until his business had become established, while Chen Fan prepared to open his trading company and worried about finding a warehouse and trustworthy staff. At Shanghai Tokkō, Fujita learned that Fujiwara Kyoka, an imperial-connected telecommunications expert, would take over the Cipher Section.

• Yoshino told Yamada to wait before testing Chen Fan, warning that they should avoid risks in their smuggling business.
• Chen Fan neared completion of the Chen Trading Company renovations and considered the need for a warehouse and reliable employees.
• Fujita reviewed a transfer report announcing personnel changes to Shanghai Tokkō, including the arrival of Uchida Kenjiro and Fujiwara Kyoka.
• Fujita resented Fujiwara's appointment as Cipher Section chief but knew her imperial connections made her impossible to oppose.