Chapter Summaries

Shen Yan arranged for Old Chen to adopt Wang Zhaodi while secretly planning to intercept an opium deal revealed by his system. He persuaded Lu Tinghui to let him join the operation, which was set to target a meeting in the French Concession the following night.

• Shen Yan proposed adopting Wang Zhaodi, but Old Chen insisted on adopting her and having her call Shen Yan Dad.
• Shen Yan received a system reward identifying a planned opium transaction between Military Statistics Bureau member Li Mo and Green Gang leader Baldy Zhang, along with an urgent mission to ensure the opium was destroyed.
• Shen Yan reported the meeting details to Lu Tinghui, who ordered Li Kui to prepare an armed team for a stakeout in the French Concession.
• Shen Yan insisted on joining the operation on the front line, and Lu Tinghui agreed on the condition that he obey orders.

Shen Yan joined a raid on a Green Gang opium deal, but the burning drugs left both sides intoxicated and fighting wildly. He subdued the remaining Green Gang members, rescued Lu Tinghui, Li Kui, and six survivors, then collapsed while seeking help from Japanese soldiers.

• Lu Tinghui and Shen Yan watched Boss Li enter the Drunken Immortal Tower, and Li Kui led the action team in surrounding the courtyard.
• Shen Yan’s warning helped the team discover and eliminate a hidden sentry before they closed in on the deal.
• Shen Yan’s porcelain shard made a noise that exposed the ambush, and both sides opened fire as Baldy Zhang killed Boss Li.
• Shen Yan accidentally set the opium suitcase alight, and its fumes left both groups intoxicated and fighting recklessly.
• Shen Yan killed the remaining Green Gang members, loaded Lu Tinghui, Li Kui, and six survivors onto a cart, and fled toward the Japanese-controlled area.
• Shen Yan begged Japanese soldiers to save his superior and comrades, then collapsed and passed out.

Shen Yan woke in the hospital after saving Lu Tinghui, Li Kui, and the action team, then went home to recover with Old Chen and Zhaodi. His attempt to reassure them by pretending he was healthy ended with Old Chen chasing him around the house with a whip.

• Shen Yan woke after two days unconscious and learned that Lu Tinghui, Li Kui, and the surviving action team members had recovered from their wounds.
• Lu Tinghui praised Shen Yan for rescuing the team and ordered him to rest, then agreed to let him recover at home so Old Chen would not worry.
• Old Chen and Zhaodi broke down in tears when Shen Yan arrived home in a wheelchair and acted as though he might die.
• Shen Yan revealed that he was fine by performing martial arts and flips, which enraged Old Chen and frightened Zhaodi.
• Old Chen locked the front door and chased Shen Yan with a leather whip while Shen Yan dodged and pleaded for mercy.

Shen Yan was honored for his role in the Drunken Immortal Tower operation, then attended a banquet where Japanese officials tested his loyalty and questioned his scar. He improvised a humiliating story that eased Kuroiwa Masao’s suspicions, but the scrutiny showed that the Japanese still did not fully trust him.

• Shen Yan returned to the police station and received a medal and five hundred fabi for spotting a hidden sentry during the Drunken Immortal Tower operation.
• Director Lu invited Shen Yan to an izakaya with Kuroiwa Masao, while Old Chen warned him to eat more, drink less, and keep quiet.
• At the banquet, Shen Yan played the part of an awkward young man as Kuroiwa Masao and Lu Tinghui watched him closely.
• A drinking companion noticed Shen Yan’s head scar and asked how he got it, prompting Lu Tinghui to press him for an explanation.
• Shen Yan claimed a female Communist struck him with a rock while he was relieving himself, and the joke made Kuroiwa Masao’s suspicion fade.

At a banquet, Shen Yan soothed Kuroiwa Masao’s suspicions with a dutiful answer about the war and left without further incident. The next morning, Lu Tinghui appointed him captain of a newly formed Special Operations Squad, and Shen Yan accepted.

• Shen Yan told a bawdy Momotarō joke and a joke mocking the navy, then apologized to Kuroiwa Masao for the second joke.
• Kuroiwa Masao asked Shen Yan what he thought of the war between China and Japan, and Shen said he focused on his duties as a policeman rather than politics.
• Lu Tinghui offered to arrange for Shen Yan to stay with Miss Kiyoko, but Shen declined and went home after settling the bill.
• The next morning, Lu Tinghui told Shen Yan that he and Kuroiwa Masao had chosen him to command a new Special Operations Squad.
• Shen Yan accepted the appointment as captain of the squad and promised to lead it well.

Shen Yan was sent to the Special Higher Police for a month of training before taking command of the Special Operations Squad. When four Japanese trainees tried to drive him out of their dormitory, he defeated them and left them kneeling in line, while Kuroiwa Masao approved of the lesson.

• Lu Tinghui told Shen Yan he would attend a month of specialized training to improve his marksmanship and learn combat techniques and team command before becoming captain of the Special Operations Squad.
• A Japanese army sergeant escorted Shen Yan to the Special Higher Police base, where he collected supplies and was assigned a dormitory.
• Yamada Tarō and the other trainees insulted Shen Yan and demanded that he leave, prompting a temporary mission to establish his place in the dormitory.
• When Yamada shoved and attacked him, Shen Yan dodged, pulled out three of Yamada's teeth, and subdued Matsumoto Kiyokazu and the two other trainees.
• The sergeant returned to find Shen Yan arranging his sheets while the four trainees knelt in a row, and he told Shen Yan that training would begin the next day.
• The sergeant reported the incident to Kuroiwa Masao, who approved of Shen Yan's actions and said the arrogant soldiers should learn not to look down on others.

Shen Yan excelled in the Special Higher Police’s final assessment, graduated first, and crippled Matsumoto Toru in a duel while presenting the attack as a security measure. The system unlocked the vehicle section of its shop, and Kuroiwa praised Shen Yan before assigning the trainees to leave for their battlefields.

• Shen Yan outperformed the other trainees in shooting, combat, intelligence work, and interrogation while hiding the full extent of his abilities.
• Matsumoto Toru joined the training course and revealed through his thoughts that he sought revenge for Shen Yan killing his brother, Matsumoto Ichiro.
• The system gave Shen Yan a quest to graduate first, with the vehicle shop section as the reward and the loss of his Good and Evil Points as the penalty for failure.
• Shen Yan dominated the final assessment and ranked first overall, prompting Matsumoto Toru to challenge him to a duel to the death.
• Shen Yan caught Matsumoto Toru’s katana, crippled him, and told Kuroiwa Masao that he had spared him for investigation as a suspected Communist mole.
• The system confirmed Shen Yan’s quest completion and unlocked vehicles, while Kuroiwa praised him and announced that the trainees would depart for their assignments the day after tomorrow.

Shen Yan learned that ten captured Communist Party members were to be executed at the graduation ceremony and devised a plan to save them. He pretended to kill all ten in front of Kuroiwa Masao, and the military police took their apparently dead bodies to the mass grave.

• Shen Yan bought a silent amphibious motorcycle and overheard that the trainees would be ordered to execute ten prisoners barehanded.
• After the system assigned him a mission to save the prisoners, Shen Yan possessed his clone and met underground agent Qian Bin at the Detachment Bookshop, telling him to wait at the mass grave with medicine.
• Shen Yan returned to the dormitory, earned enough Good and Evil Points by slapping his roommates, and prepared for the graduation ceremony.
• Kuroiwa Masao ordered the trainees to kill the ten prisoners, but Shen Yan stepped forward and asked that they be untied and given weapons.
• The ten prisoners charged Shen Yan, who struck each with a precise punch and made them appear dead; military doctors confirmed their apparent deaths.
• Kuroiwa ordered the bodies taken to the mass grave, while Shen Yan mourned his teacher Inoue and heard Inoue protest Kuroiwa’s praise from beyond the grave.

Shen Yan returned from the special training camp, rescued his underground Party comrades with a secret antidote, and helped arrange their evacuation. Back home, he offered Old Chen money and gold to buy a safer house for him and Zhaodi, while Old Chen warned him to protect his life.

• Shen Yan visited Old Chen's house, reunited with Zhaodi, and cheered her up with candied hawthorns.
• Japanese military policemen dumped ten corpses at a mass grave, where Qian Bin and his comrades recovered the bodies and revived them using Shen Yan's medicine.
• Qian Bin told the rescued comrades that the Scavenger had saved them and arranged for them to leave Shanghai for the base area.
• Shen Yan met Qian Bin at the mass grave and instructed him to disguise ten dead agents as the comrades and smear honey on their faces.
• Old Chen reproached Shen Yan for risking his life, and Shen Yan offered him five hundred fabi and ten gold bars to buy a safer home for him and Zhaodi.
• Old Chen agreed to watch over the money and the household, but warned Shen Yan to keep himself alive.

After taking command of the Special Operations Squad, Shen Yan discovered that the Japanese and Li Kui were preparing to raid a Military Statistics Bureau contact point, and he decided to save its members. He arranged support through Qian Bin and prepared for the raid while returning home to Shen Nian'an and Old Chen.

• Shen Yan’s family welcomed Shen Nian’an, gave her a puppy, and named her Shen Nian’an.
• Shen Yan returned to the puppet police station, assigned Old Chen to train the rookies, and placed Yamada Tarō, Matsumoto Kiyokazu, Takahashi Tetsuya, and Miyamoto Kenta in his assault team.
• Shen Yan recognized Fang Yuan as Qian Bin’s underground Party member and noticed that Li Kui’s proposed raid targeted a Military Statistics Bureau contact point.
• Shen Yan triggered a mission to disrupt the Japanese operation and save the Military Statistics Bureau members, then surveyed the target building and its surrounding streets.
• Shen Yan told Qian Bin about the coming raid and asked him to keep Fang Yuan from acting rashly.
• Shen Yan returned home to Shen Nian’an and Old Chen, then mapped the planned assault and prepared to give Li Kui an unexpected setback.

Shen Yan led a raid on a Military Statistics Bureau hideout, but Li Kui attacked early and triggered explosives, allowing the agents to escape. Shen Yan wounded the masked Scavenger—whom Lu Tinghui identified as Lone Wolf—and was carried to the hospital as the operation ended with him earning credit.

• Shen Yan ordered his squad to prepare for the raid while Old Chen assigned the newcomers to blockade the escape routes.
• Li Kui moved in half an hour early, and the Scavenger warned Fang Zheng that the hideout was exposed, then helped the agents escape through a secret tunnel and planted explosives.
• Li Kui and his men entered the building, triggering the explosives and suffering heavy casualties; Shen Yan discovered the tunnel and prevented a squad member from entering it before a second blast.
• Shen Yan and his Japanese squad members pursued the Scavenger, who wounded all four Japanese men before Shen Yan shot him in the right arm and he escaped by the river.
• Lu Tinghui identified the wounded fugitive as Lone Wolf, praised Shen Yan for the hit, and explained that Lone Wolf’s shouted words meant, “I will be back.”
• As Shen Yan was taken to the hospital, Yamada bowed to him and acknowledged his courage.

Shen Yan recovered in the hospital after the operation against Lone Wolf, while Old Chen and Lu Tinghui updated him on the casualties and consequences. Once the danger passed, Shen Yan learned his mission had earned him a new disguise skill and upgraded his clone ability, leaving him with a month of paid leave.

• Old Chen visited Shen Yan, reported that the four Japanese watchers had survived and Li Kui had been suspended, and discovered that Shen Yan could stand despite his apparent injuries.
• Lu Tinghui told Shen Yan that Li Kui's men would join the Special Operations Squad and that Old Chen would lead it temporarily, then approved Fang Yuan's military background as long as he followed police rules.
• Shen Yan instructed Fang Yuan to tell Yamada he would lead the assault team after recovering and reminded the four injured men to focus on recovery and marksmanship.
• Shen Yan reviewed how his clone had helped the Military Statistics Bureau evacuate and how the operation had convinced Lu Tinghui and Kuroiwa Masao of his account.
• The system awarded Shen Yan 1,600 Good and Evil Points, unlocked Disguise Technique, and upgraded Clone Technique to a 15-day cooldown and 48-hour duration.

While recovering in a Shanghai hospital, Shen Yan expanded his portable space, bought Optical Camouflage, and sent a clone to infiltrate the Japanese arsenal in Hongkou. The clone destroyed the arsenal in a massive explosion, leaving the Scavenger’s mark as the story ended.

• Shen Yan learned that the Military Statistics Bureau had evacuated Shanghai, then expanded his portable space and purchased Optical Camouflage.
• Shen Yan activated his clone, which disguised itself as Ōtomo after killing two Japanese soldiers and drove their ammunition truck into the arsenal.
• The clone helped unload the truck, killed the Japanese soldiers in the warehouse, and stored their bodies and weapons in his space.
• The clone planted TNT among crates of howitzer shells, carved the message “this is payback! -- CLEANER” into a wall, and escaped.
• The explosives triggered a chain reaction that destroyed the arsenal and devastated the surrounding Hongkou district.

Shen Yan destroyed the Japanese arsenal, expanded his portable space, and stole a shipload of looted Chinese treasures from the Shinshu Maru. He returned to his hospital bed with the cargo hidden away and the Japanese left to investigate its disappearance.

• Shen Yan used the points from the arsenal explosion to expand his portable space to 1,000 cubic meters, then drove to the docks posing as Ōtomo and reported that the Marine Corps headquarters had been attacked.
• The garrison commander sent the first and second squads to assist at the arsenal and ordered the third squad to guard the Shinshu Maru.
• Shen Yan feigned unconsciousness, slipped past the guards, and entered the Shinshu Maru's cargo hold while invisible.
• He transferred the ship's gold bars, antiques, and other looted treasures into his space, leaving more than a hundred crates empty so the ship could sail to Japan and spark suspicion.
• Shen Yan returned to his hospital bed and received rewards for destroying the arsenal, intercepting the stolen treasures, and misleading the Japanese investigation.

After the Hongkou arsenal was destroyed, Shen Yan attended a police bureau meeting where Kagesa Sadaaki demanded the case be solved within seven days. Unable to find Scavenger, Shen Yan proposed framing Jews as Lone Wolf, and the meeting ended with the authorities considering the false accusation as a way to save face.

• A nurse told Shen Yan that the Hongkou arsenal had exploded, killing hundreds and damaging Marine Corps headquarters.
• Lu Tinghui showed Shen Yan evidence linking the blast to Lone Wolf and told him the authorities had seven days to solve the case.
• At the bureau meeting, Lu Tinghui explained that twenty-one soldiers had vanished from the scene and that investigators had found few traces.
• Shen Yan proposed blaming Jews for the bombing and publicly claiming that Lone Wolf had been dismantled.
• Kuroiwa Masao treated Shen Yan's proposal as an alternative plan and ordered everyone to keep the discussion secret.
• Lu Tinghui questioned Shen Yan's proposal afterward, and Shen Yan told Fang Yuan to take him outside for air.

Shen Yan returned to the Special Operations Squad after his hospital discharge and resumed overseeing its work, while recognizing that the Japanese had covered up the Hongkou arsenal bombing by blaming Jewish scapegoats. Nian'an's homemade meal gave him a rare moment of comfort, but he ended the chapter aware that greater dangers were ahead.

• Fang Yuan brought Shen Yan from the hospital, and Shen Yan read a newspaper claiming the Lone Wolf bombing case had been solved by killing seven suspects.
• Shen Yan returned to the squad office, thanked the recruits and remaining squad members, and arranged for Old Chen to continue leading field assignments while he oversaw operations.
• Shen Yan examined the fabricated bombing report and considered Kagesa Sadaaki's interest in him, the weapons and supplies he had secretly taken, and the Jewish people framed as culprits.
• Old Chen brought Shen Yan red-braised pork made by Nian'an, and Shen Yan asked him to train Fang Yuan as an assistant instructor.
• Shen Yan stayed overnight at the office, checked that he had 10,800 Good and Evil Points, and concluded that the apparent calm after the bombing case concealed growing dangers.

Shen Yan learned that Zhao Jiayou would lead Japanese and puppet troops to destroy Hou Boquan’s guerrilla unit, so he prepared an ambush at Zhangjia Dachang and commanded the defense. He annihilated the enemy, saved Hou Boquan’s men and nearby villagers from the planned massacre, and returned to Shanghai with a new system skill.

• Shen Yan told Qian Bin about the coming attack and arranged for Hou Boquan’s unit to meet him at Zhangjia Dachang before dawn.
• Shen Yan set up ten heavy machine guns and ten grenade dischargers along the road, then directed Hou Boquan’s men into position.
• Shen Yan shot Kato to signal the ambush, and the guerrillas wiped out the Japanese and puppet troops with machine-gun and grenade-discharge fire.
• Shen Yan killed Zhao Jiayou after Hou Boquan confronted him, then shared captured weapons and ammunition with the guerrillas.
• Shen Yan warned Hou Boquan to evacuate the villagers before Japanese reinforcements arrived, and Hou Boquan led his unit away with the supplies.
• Shen Yan retrieved his clone and received mission rewards, including the Hostility Perception skill.

Japanese authorities linked the Hongkou arsenal bombing, the Shinshu Maru cargo theft, and the Xihengjing ambush to the mysterious Scavenger and gave Doihara Kenji’s investigators half a month to uncover the force behind them. Kuroiwa Masao recruited Shen Yan to join the investigation, leaving Shen to decide what answer he would give while secretly protecting his own position.

• Japanese investigators found that the Xihengjing ambush had used at least ten Type 92 heavy machine guns, prompting Kuroiwa Masao to seek Kagesa Sadaaki’s help.
• After more than a hundred crates of looted Chinese valuables arrived empty aboard the Shinshu Maru, Kagesa Sadaaki connected the theft to the arsenal explosion and the ambush.
• Doihara Kenji ordered Kagesa Sadaaki and Kuroiwa Masao to identify the Scavenger and his force within half a month.
• Kuroiwa Masao summoned Shen Yan, heard his assessment of the ambush, and ordered him to lead the Special Operations Squad in the investigation.
• Shen Yan left the Special Higher Police with Fang Yuan and privately wondered what answer he could deliver before the half-month deadline.

Shen Yan returned home and, after Old Chen warned him that the Japanese might need a scapegoat for the Xihengjing massacre, arranged for Qian Bin and the Military Statistics Bureau to target corrupt Japanese supply officers. He then forged a letter in Kato’s handwriting accusing those officers of corruption, but it was returned for lack of postage.

• Shen Yan reunited with Nian'an and told Old Chen that the Japanese had ordered him to investigate the destruction of more than two hundred troops at Xihengjing.
• Old Chen warned Shen Yan that the Japanese might need a scapegoat unless they could be made to abandon the investigation.
• Shen Yan asked Qian Bin to arrange the killing of listed Japanese supply officers within a week, involving the Military Statistics Bureau if necessary.
• Shen Yan inspected Kato’s sealed office, collected his papers, and studied his handwriting and diary.
• Shen Yan forged a letter from Kato to Kuroiwa Masao accusing Japanese officers of corruption and sent Fang Yuan to mail it.
• A postal worker found that the letter had no stamp and marked it for return to sender.

Shen Yan’s covert operation exposed a chain of Japanese military corruption and forced Kuroiwa Masao to arrest a conspirator, but powerful figures shut down the investigation. Shen Yan returned home, deciding to lie low while his clone recovered.

• Kuroiwa Masao asked Shen Yan to connect the assassinations of Yamanaka Masao, Tanaka Ichiro, Murakami Hideo, and the disappearance of Fujieda Kenji to earlier cases.
• Kuroiwa received Shen Yan’s accusation letter and secretly ordered Satō to arrest Yamada Masao, who was actually a clone.
• During interrogation, Yamada Masao confessed that his group had staged the arsenal explosion, the Shinshu Maru theft, and the Xihengjing ambush, then killed himself before naming the powerful people behind him.
• Doihara Kenji met with Kuroiwa Masao and Kagesa Sadaaki, after which Tokyo approved an official account that buried the truth and ended the investigation.
• Kuroiwa ordered Shen Yan to stop investigating, and Shen Yan returned home with Fang Yuan, choosing to lie low until his clone respawned.