Chapter Summaries

After returning to work, Shen Yan secretly arranged to transfer captured Japanese weapons and gold to the resistance, while keeping his dealings discreet. With the shipment delivered and his clone unable to refresh for eleven days, he went home intending to rest and spend time with Nian'an.

• Shen Yan returned to the Special Operations Squad and told Yamada that battlefield leaders had to know the difference between ordering troops to charge and leading them by saying, "Follow me!"
• Shen Yan met Qian Bin and arranged to deliver weapons three days later at an abandoned cotton mill warehouse by Suzhou Creek.
• Shen Yan handed Qian Bin two hundred Type 38 Rifles, ten Type 92 Heavy Machine Guns, grenades, and ammunition, and asked him to have a chest of Japanese-stamped gold bars melted down.
• Qian Bin asked Shen Yan to meet the leadership and the Military Statistics Bureau, but Shen Yan refused and told him to communicate through Fang Yuan.
• Shen Yan returned home, ate the meal Old Chen had kept warm, and went to bed, deciding to take it easy until his clone refreshed.

Shen Yan caught two No. 76 agents spying on him and used their arrest to confront Li Bingkun at the police station. After Kuroiwa forced Li to accept punishment, Shen Yan arranged to expose No. 76’s discovery of a Military Statistics Bureau post at Yangpu Wharf.

• Shen Yan identified Zhou Guoliang and Wu Dabiao as No. 76 agents following him and ordered Fang Yuan to seize them.
• Shen Yan had Zhou Guoliang and Wu Dabiao beaten in the basement, then told Fang Yuan to call in Yamada and the others to interrogate them.
• Li Bingkun arrived with armed men to demand the agents’ release, but Shen Yan denied knowing they belonged to No. 76 and made Li wait.
• Kuroiwa arrived, ordered Li to take his men back, confine the two agents for seventy-two hours, and forfeit six months’ pay.
• Shen Yan told Fang Yuan to inform the Military Statistics Bureau that No. 76 had found its post at Yangpu Wharf.

Li Bingkun’s raid on the Yangshupu Wharf supply point found it empty, and Shen Yan deduced that the Military Statistics Bureau had escaped inside crates loaded onto a boat. After the operation, Shen Yan secretly confirmed the evacuation had succeeded and went home, while Li Bingkun failed to realize that Shen Yan himself had leaked the information.

• Li Bingkun led a raid on the warehouse, but found it cleared out and learned that a boat had carried cargo away three days earlier.
• Kuroiwa Masao questioned Li Bingkun about the failed operation, and Shen Yan concluded that the crates had transported the supply point’s people away.
• Kuroiwa ordered Li Bingkun to find the source of the leak and suggested it might have come from higher up, while Shen Yan avoided making a definite accusation.
• Shen Yan took Nian'an to the City God Temple, where they ate tangyuan and watched a family cross the Nine-Turn Bridge.
• Fang Yuan told Shen Yan that the Military Statistics Bureau had safely withdrawn and that Li Bingkun’s men suspected an outside betrayal.
• Shen Yan reflected that Li Bingkun would never discover the leak came from Shen Yan himself.

Li Bingkun secretly placed a bounty on Shen Yan, but Shen Yan turned the plot against Ma Yao and forced Li Bingkun to pay him off. After Kuroiwa accepted Shen Yan’s account of the incident, Shen used rumors about Ma Yao’s death to weaken No. 76’s influence in the underworld.

• Li Bingkun arranged a secret bounty on Shen Yan, and Sun Baoshan told Old Chen that the Green Gang could not stop independent bounty hunters.
• Shen Yan learned that Ma Yao had taken the bounty and persuaded the Great Master to help him avenge the Green Gang brothers Ma Yao had killed, supplying twenty submachine guns.
• Shen Yan lured Ma Yao and his men into an ambush, captured Ma Yao, and pressured Li Bingkun to deliver a confession and ten large gold bars.
• Kuroiwa questioned Shen Yan’s report and Li Bingkun’s claim that Ma Yao had been executed, then praised Shen Yan for handling the matter well.
• The Great Master sent Shen Yan a personal Green Gang token, and Shen instructed Fang Yuan to spread rumors blaming No. 76 for Ma Yao’s death.

Shen Yan opened Cherry Blossom Hot Springs in Hongkou as a way to build ties with Kuroiwa Masao and the Great Mister while secretly gathering intelligence from Japanese guests. After Kuroiwa and Lu Tinghui attended the opening, Shen Yan expected the baths to become a steady source of information.

• Shen Yan explained to Old Chen that the hot springs would help him establish a cover in Hongkou, work with the Great Mister, and eavesdrop on Japanese officers; Old Chen agreed to help and took five gold bars for the venture.
• Shen Yan persuaded the Great Mister to partner with him, and the Great Mister entrusted Sun Baoshan with providing the people and resources needed for the business.
• Shen Yan and Fang Yuan arranged hidden copper pipes from the private rooms to a listening room, then Shen Yan hired Japanese women in need to staff the hot springs.
• Shen Yan invited Kuroiwa Masao and Lu Tinghui to the opening, and both officials accepted.
• At the opening, Kuroiwa praised the hot springs and told Shen Yan to stop pursuing Li Bingkun, while Shen Yan waited for guests to relax enough to reveal useful information.

Shen Yan learned that the Japanese were transporting cholera agents from Harbin toward Wuhan and organized an ambush to seize or destroy the shipment. He destroyed nearly all the agents, kept one box for further research, and unlocked the Poison Physician skill as the next mission began.

• Kobayashi reported that Japanese officers planned to ship epidemic-prevention supplies from Harbin, and Shen Yan recognized them as biological weapons.
• Shen Yan asked Qian Bin to obtain intelligence, and the Military Statistics Bureau and underground Party identified the train's route, schedule, cargo, and escort.
• Shen Yan ordered the two groups to block Japanese reinforcements while he prepared to stop the train at the Su-Kun Curve.
• Shen Yan removed part of the track, opened fire on the train's escort, and killed Morikawa Kenta and the Japanese soldiers guarding the concealed carriage.
• Shen Yan took one box of cholera stock solution into his Portable Space and set incendiary bombs to destroy the remaining shipment.
• The train burned, the allied forces withdrew, and the system confirmed the mission's completion and unlocked Poison Physician.

Shen Yan joined forces with the Anti-Japanese United Army to destroy Unit 731 in Harbin, cripple the Japanese garrison, and rescue the prisoners he could. After the base burned and the resistance seized the chance to attack, Shen Yan and Fang Yuan passed quarantine and left for Shanghai.

• Shen Yan traveled to Harbin to investigate the Scavenger and met Li Zhen, exposing Liu Changhe as a Japanese agent before meeting Commander Yang Chenyu.
• Shen Yan supplied the Anti-Japanese United Army with weapons, ammunition, medicine, and food, and Yang Chenyu agreed to attack after receiving a red flare.
• Shen Yan infiltrated Unit 731 disguised as Kobayashi Masao, contaminated the Japanese army's water supply, photographed the laboratory, planted incendiary bombs, and opened the prisoners' cells.
• Shen Yan escaped as Unit 731 erupted in flames, then fired a red flare that prompted Yang Chenyu's forces to defeat the puppet troops and enter Harbin.
• Shen Yan sent a false confession blaming Kobayashi Masao, endured quarantine with Fang Yuan, and received orders to return to Shanghai.

Shen Yan returned to Shanghai and reported that the Harbin arsenal attackers had impersonated the Scavenger, while blaming the Soviets for the wider assault. After spending time with Old Chen and Nian'an, he learned of a planned Japanese campaign against the Eighth Route Army and considered how he could help its soldiers.

• Shen Yan told Kuroiwa that local armed groups had attacked the arsenal under the Scavenger's name and that Soviet forces were likely behind the fighting in Harbin.
• Kuroiwa praised Shen Yan's analysis, granted him three days off, and told him to attend an important meeting in three days.
• Shen Yan asked Fang Yuan to warn Shopkeeper Qian that the Kwantung Army would intensify its campaign against the Anti-Japanese United Army, then returned home and spoke with Old Chen about the danger to their family.
• Shen Yan left candied hawthorn skewers and a note for Nian'an before visiting Hot Springs, where Kobayashi shared intelligence about a planned 30,000-man Japanese campaign against the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army.
• Shen Yan checked the weapons available in his shop and decided to give the soldiers whatever help he could afford.

Shen Yan met Li Shiqun at a banquet, then tracked him after Li used a broken doll to threaten Shen Yan’s daughter. Three days later, Shen Yan infiltrated Li’s residence and killed Li, his wife Ye Jiqing, and nine No. 76 agents.

• Shen Yan welcomed Kuroiwa, Director Lu, and Li Shiqun to Hot Springs, where Li apologized for his subordinates’ misconduct and exchanged cordial toasts with Shen Yan.
• Li Shiqun gave Shen Yan a doll for his daughter, then pretended to lose his temper when it broke, using the incident to imply that he could threaten Shen Yan’s family.
• Shen Yan attached a tracker to Li Shiqun’s car and ordered his Clone to follow him, then spent three days planning an assault on Li’s residence at 67 Great Western Road.
• Shen Yan and his Clone used poison-dart pistols and disguises to silently kill the guards at Li Shiqun’s residence and reach Li’s bedroom.
• Shen Yan confronted Li Shiqun and Ye Jiqing, rejected Li’s plea to spare his wife, and killed them both, along with nine No. 76 agents.

Shen Yan used Li Shiqun’s identity to poison No. 76’s agents, free its prisoners, and loot its archives and weapons before planting bombs that destroyed the headquarters. He later hunted down the remaining agents, while Ding Mocun was dismissed and killed, leaving No. 76 defunct.

• Shen Yan and his Clone entered No. 76 disguised as Li Shiqun and poisoned 21 agents during a meeting.
• Shen Yan freed 18 underground party and Military Statistics Bureau personnel, collected No. 76’s roster and files, and took the weapons from its armory.
• Shen Yan and the Clone planted timed incendiary bombs throughout No. 76 and escaped before the explosions destroyed the headquarters the next morning.
• Shen Yan warned Kuroiwa Masao that something was wrong, then shielded him when the bombs exploded; Kuroiwa ordered Shen Yan to find Li Shiqun.
• Shen Yan spent the next few days killing more than thirty people from the roster, causing No. 76’s remaining agents to flee, resign, or hide.
• Ding Mocun was dismissed and later found dead aboard a cruise ship, while his severed head appeared on Dai Li’s desk and in newspapers.