The Japanese Rage; Shen Yan's Test
Early the next morning, at Japanese military Special Higher Police headquarters.
The atmosphere was even more oppressive than it had been on North Sichuan Road the night before.
Satō sat upright at the head of the table in a crisp military uniform, with crime scene reports, shell casing analyses, and witness statements spread out before him.
But every lead ran into the same obstacle-
What exactly did the stolen document contain?
The attack had come without warning the night before. Judging from the license plates left at the scene, the escort convoy had been directly under the Japanese Navy Intelligence Department in Shanghai.
The document's security classification was extremely high. The army, the military police, and even the Special Higher Police itself had all been kept in the dark.
"The navy still refuses to tell us?" Satō looked up, his voice cold as ice.
His subordinate bowed, his face grim:
"Major, the navy replied that this matter involves a top-secret naval operational deployment,
and that no one outside the navy's senior ranks is authorized to see it. They can only inform us after it has been reported up the chain, our identities verified, and our clearance confirmed."
The military police captain beside him slammed his hand on the table.
"Baka! At a time like this, they still want to follow procedure?!
"After an attack that big and the loss of the document, do those navy idiots think they can keep a lid on it?!"
Satō raised a hand, checking his anger.
He knew all too well how sordid the rivalry between the army and navy was-
They fought over credit, pushed messes onto each other, and hid whatever intelligence they could.
The navy had bypassed the army and acted alone on this escort mission precisely because it did not trust them.
Now that something had gone wrong, their first reaction was not to cooperate, but to cover it up and shift the blame.
"Keep contacting them," Satō said coldly.
"Tell the navy that last night's attackers used American-made weapons, and that Western intelligence agencies are suspected of involvement.
"If it gets out, the consequences won't be theirs alone to bear."
"Hai!"
The minutes and seconds ticked by.
Just as everyone was growing frantic, Kuroiwa Masao walked into the conference room with a dark expression. Everyone immediately stood at attention to greet him.
Satō stepped forward. "Teacher..."
Kuroiwa Masao waved him off and motioned for everyone to sit.
"I've contacted Major General Miura Saburo. He'll personally negotiate with the navy. We should hear something soon, so everyone, please be patient."
"Hai!"
Everyone sat down to wait.
Half an hour later, Kuroiwa Masao's secretary hurriedly pushed open the conference room doors and placed a thin copy of a document marked "Top secret: restricted access" in front of him.
Kuroiwa Masao snatched it up and quickly leafed through it.
After reading just three lines, his face changed drastically, and he shot to his feet.
"A list of people to investigate and monitor... the underground party, the Military Statistics Bureau, the Green Gang... sixty-two people in all..."
"The navy actually kept us in the dark and made arrangements for such a major investigation on its own!"
Everyone's face immediately darkened.
Satō took the list and read it carefully, his breathing growing heavier.
"Teacher, this list overlaps heavily with our own list of people under surveillance!"
The military police captain spoke urgently:
"Chief! Now! Arrest them all across the city immediately! Any later and it'll be too late!"
Satō gripped the document, his knuckles white, and forced out the words through clenched teeth:
"It's... already too late."
From the attack, to the bickering, to the negotiations, to finally getting a copy of the document...
An entire night and morning-the best possible window for making arrests-had been wasted on the army and navy's infighting.
Kuroiwa Masao closed his eyes. When he opened them again, only a bone-deep chill remained.
"Give the order."
"Mobilize everyone and arrest every person on the list at once!"
"Hai!"
The Japanese military police, the Special Higher Police, and the puppet police mobilized in full force.
But what awaited them was house after house, all long since abandoned...
The next day, Major General Miura Saburo sent a telegram to the Japanese military headquarters, accusing the Japanese Navy Intelligence Department of knowing the document had been lost but failing to report it in time. As a result, all the underground party members operating in secret had escaped, and half a year of surveillance work by the Special Higher Police had been ruined in an instant.
The navy refused to back down, declaring that the attack within Shanghai was a serious dereliction of duty by the Special Higher Police and demanding that those responsible be held accountable.
As the two sides bickered back and forth, the big shots at military headquarters grew thoroughly fed up and decided to punish both sides. Three majors from the Navy Intelligence Department were transferred to the Philippines to feed the mosquitoes, while Kuroiwa Masao was reprimanded and ordered to solve the case by a set deadline.
Early in the morning, tea drinkers pointed at the teahouse's tightly shut doors and the seals pasted on them, whispering among themselves.
"Why was it sealed off?"
"You haven't heard?! Shopkeeper Zhou was one of these!"
The speaker lowered his voice and quietly made the hand sign for eight.
"Really?! Shopkeeper Zhou was such a friendly man. How could he have been..."
The speaker carefully glanced around, but in the end did not dare say those two words aloud.
Just then, Shen Yan walked slowly over.
"What are you all gathered here for?"
With that, he looked up at the seals on the teahouse doors.
"Since you're all here, that saves me the trouble of notifying you one by one. Our investigation found that Shopkeeper Zhou is under serious suspicion of colluding with the Communists! If you see him in the future, report him immediately, or you'll be punished for harboring a Communist! Does everyone understand? If you do, hurry up and clear out. Get back to whatever you should be doing. Why don't you spend that time earning something to feed your families instead? You never do anything useful!"
At his words, everyone scattered.
Old Chen gave Shen Yan a cold look. "Aren't you something, kid! If your godfather colluded with the Communists someday, would you put justice above family too?!"
"Of course not!"
Shen Yan turned into a bootlicker in an instant and draped an arm over Old Chen's shoulders. "If you were colluding with the Communists, how could I get away? Wherever we go, we go together! I still have to look after you in your old age and see you off when the time comes!"
"Like hell I believe you!"
Old Chen sounded contemptuous, but inside he was delighted. The older man and the younger one began their day's patrol, talking and laughing.
Neither of them noticed the two pairs of eyes watching them intently from the second floor of a restaurant across the street.
At a table by the restaurant's second-floor window, Kuroiwa Masao and Lu Tinghui sat in civilian clothes. They had barely touched the dishes on the table.
"Is that the patrolman you think so highly of?"
Lu Tinghui answered respectfully, "Yes, Chief, that's him. His name is Shen Yan. He's quick-witted and good in a fight, and his background is clean. When he was young, he received his early education from personnel sent by our country, and he feels a strong sense of identification with and admiration for Japan! I believe he's worth cultivating."
Kuroiwa Masao nodded noncommittally, then took out a report and placed it in front of Lu Tinghui.
"Ono from the action squad has had dealings with this Shen Yan and has a very poor impression of him. Timid and afraid of trouble, selfish and weak! None of that is a problem. It may have been Shen Yan's way of protecting himself as a newcomer.
"But there is one problem. During an arrest some time ago, he was injured by a female Communist. That doesn't fit at all with his later performance, when he fought eight men alone. In just a few days, a normal person's combat ability wouldn't improve that much. If his martial skills had always been that good, then..."
Lu Tinghui nodded. "I also investigated that incident and discovered something. Shen Yan was injured on the back of the head, with no marks on the front. Ono confirmed that as well. So there's one possibility: the female Communist quietly ambushed him from behind and knocked him out with a single blow. That could happen."
Kuroiwa Masao nodded in agreement, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table. "I agree to let you cultivate this Shen Yan. The police department is in disarray right now, and most of the people serving in it are useless. You do need to cultivate a few capable men to help you get things moving. But before you do, you must put him through a screening!"
"Hai! That's exactly what I intend to do next!"