Chapter 109: Gunshots in Little South Garden

Wenchang Bridge, Su Residence.

Inside the second-floor study, Su Wenqing was awaiting news. Although killing a person or two was nothing out of the ordinary for him, this time the target was a police officer. Police officers were inherently different from civilians; if the job was done cleanly, it would naturally be of little consequence, but if any loose ends were left behind, there would be a price to pay. However, he was not worried. With his connection to Kato, the commander of the Japanese Gendarmerie in Bing City, a mere police officer was not worth mentioning.

"Sir?"

"Any word from Old Four?"

"Not yet, but I heard there was a burst of gunfire in the Wharf District this morning, right near the municipal park," Su Xing reported.

"Gunfire? Did you tell Old Four and his men to use guns?" Su Wenqing was startled.

"No, I specifically warned Old Four never to use firearms. Once the shooting starts, it will inevitably alert the police and the Gendarmerie, and then the situation will become impossible to manage." Su Xing shook his head.

"Then it must be a coincidence. As soon as you hear from Old Four, arrange for him to hide in the countryside for a few days. Tell everyone he has gone back to his hometown to visit relatives," Su Wenqing ordered hurriedly.

"Don't worry, sir. I have already made the arrangements. Once the task is finished and they signal us, Old Four and his men will leave Bing City immediately to stay in the countryside for a month. I will notify them to return once the heat dies down," Su Xing said.

"That is good. Ah Xing, you always handle things with such prudence and thoroughness." Su Wenqing nodded.

...

Only after Zhou Sen and his group had departed did a squad of fully armed Japanese gendarmes arrive. They surrounded the entire municipal park and began a dragnet search. Captain Nakato, the leader of the Wharf District Gendarmerie detachment, led a large German Shepherd toward the Little South Garden, as the gunfire had originated from that direction.

According to descriptions from nearby witnesses, there was a single shot, followed by a burst of intense gunfire, lasting only a minute or two in total. Then, silence.

There were clear footprints and carriage tracks on the ground. This early in the morning, could it be that some gangs had scheduled a shootout here? Otherwise, on such a cold day, why come here? For a picnic? With the ground covered in thick ice and snow, there was nothing to see. One would be better off ice-skating on the Songhua River; that would be far more interesting.

When the German Shepherd reached the spot where Zhou Sen and his group had been, it suddenly broke free from Captain Nakato’s leash and began barking wildly. Clearly, this was the crime scene.

Captain Nakato waved his hand, ordering his soldiers to begin an immediate search.

Ten minutes passed, but aside from the chaotic footprints on the ground, they found absolutely nothing. There were bullet casings on the ground, but they were of a common type and held little value.

"Report, sir! We found something over there," a Japanese gendarme ran over, saluting Captain Nakato.

"Take me there," Captain Nakato commanded sternly.

...

On such a cold day, sitting in an office, warming oneself by the fire and drinking hot tea would be a supreme comfort. However, at the Japanese command, Lin Dakuan had to put on his heavy overcoat, bring his operation team leader Zou Shuxun and translator Wu Shuqing, and head toward the municipal park in the Wharf District.

Shibuya Saburo hadn't said much over the phone, only telling him to take over this case from the Gendarmerie. He also added that this had been authorized by Gendarmerie Commander Kato. Heaven knows what was going on behind the scenes; Shibuya and Kato had a poor relationship, and Kato usually gave no face to Shibuya. However, Shibuya had the support of General Hata Hikosaburo, the Chief of the Bing City Special Service Agency, who also served as the Chief of the Second Section of the Kwantung Army General Staff (responsible for intelligence). He was the biggest intelligence chief in all of Manchuria, if not Korea.

In any case, this was a difficult job. If done well, you might get a verbal commendation; if done poorly, it would be a question of your competence. Lin Dakuan was no fool. A case that required Shibuya Saburo’s personal involvement was certainly no small matter, and being ordered to seize the case from the Japanese made it even more suspicious. He had Zou Shuxun bring every member of the Police Department’s operation team who was available, and he also requested an armed police unit to accompany them. Strength in numbers was an immutable truth.

By the time Lin Dakuan’s team arrived, Captain Nakato had been investigating the scene for over half an hour, but because there were so few clues, he had found nothing of use, other than determining that one group had ambushed another from behind the snowdrifts. They had also found a sniper's pit in the woods a hundred meters away, though it was unclear what that was for.

Everything felt like a riddle.

Nakato was agonizing over how to report this to his superiors. Two groups of people, with nothing better to do on a freezing day, had a shootout in the Little South Garden. Afterward, they all left. Other than a few casings, no one was injured, and there was nothing on the scene but footprints. Judging by the footprints, there were quite a few people, but the scattered casings suggested there weren't many guns, and they were all Mauser pistols—weapons with poor accuracy, widely held by civilians, and not difficult to manufacture. Tracing them would be meaningless.

Captain Nakato had a headache. Just then, his men reported that Lin Dakuan, the investigation chief of the Bing City Police Department's Special Branch, had arrived with his men. The Special Branch dealt with the Gendarmerie frequently, so Nakato knew Lin Dakuan well. He also knew that Lin was very capable and appreciated by Shibuya Saburo, so he naturally allowed his men to bring them over.

"Nakato-kun." Upon seeing Captain Nakato, Lin Dakuan bowed slightly. Although his position in the Police Department was relatively high—comparable to or even higher than Nakato’s in terms of rank—in Bing City and all of Manchuria, any Chinese person, upon seeing a Japanese person, especially a military officer, had to take off their hat and bow. Even if the other person was just a lowly soldier.

The Japanese in Manchuria were the elite, the superiors. The next class were the Manchus and government officials, while the Han Chinese were at the very bottom, subject to bullying at will.

"Ah, Chief Lin, what wind blew you here?" Nakato chuckled.

"I heard reports from the local precinct about heavy gunfire and a potential gang war, so I brought a team to investigate," Lin Dakuan explained hastily. As long as the case had nothing to do with "anti-Manchu and anti-Japanese" activities, the Gendarmerie had no reason to intervene. Otherwise, if there were no clear division of duties, what would be the point of the Police Department and its precincts? The Gendarmerie might as well take over everything.

"There was indeed a shootout, but by the time I arrived, they were all gone," Nakato said. He didn't want to investigate such a headless case either. Seeing someone here to take the blame was exactly what he hoped for; it would be much easier to report back.

"They're gone?" Lin Dakuan was not surprised. This was the city center; once shots were fired, the Japanese would inevitably be alerted. If the operation was swift, the Japanese could arrive within ten minutes. If they were slower, it was hard to say. The fact that these people could retreat so quickly meant they were no mere rabble; they were at least somewhat trained.

The park was open-ended; while there were entrances, they weren't the only ones, and it led directly to the riverbank. If people fled across the ice, there was no catching them now. Once across the river, it was the countryside. A small group of dozens of people could disappear into the woods, and unless they deployed the army for a search, they would never be found. Moreover, there wasn't even any blood on the ground, meaning no casualties. Without knowing the identities of either side, what foolish officer would dare order a military search?

In fact, that was exactly what happened. Zhou Sen and Qin Lang left separately, making their targets less obvious. They got into a carriage Wu En had parked on the main road and left unnoticed. On the way to the hospital, they even passed the speeding Gendarmerie team without being recognized. The rest of the men left via dog sleds from the riverbank, scattering in all directions. Tracking their tracks on the ice was useless. If they hadn't prepared in advance, how could they have dared to kidnap Guo Laosi?

"Chief Lin, you will understand once you see it. The footprints at the scene are chaotic, and aside from a few discarded casings, there is nothing else," Captain Nakato said. Zhou Sen could have had Qin Lang and the others clean up the tracks, but firstly, the gunfire made time tight, and secondly, he had no intention of covering it up. There were no casualties, so even if it was traced, it would just be dismissed as a gang fight, which wasn't serious enough to warrant a major political investigation. The Japanese were actually happy to see this. Chinese infighting was exactly what they wanted. If lives were lost, even better—it gave them an excuse to crack down and extort. As long as they weren't caught in the act, no one would admit to it or escalate it to the Japanese. That was the bottom line everyone accepted. Zhou Sen could have used the Japanese to settle this, but he didn't want to; he had his own limits.

"These are just standard Mauser pistol casings. They hold no value," Lin Dakuan said, squatting down to pick one up.

"Indeed. These people were probably scared off and fled as soon as things turned sour," Nakato said. "Chief Lin, you are an expert at investigating cases. I’ll leave this to you. I’m pulling my men back!"

"Ah..." Lin Dakuan was stunned. He was just handing the case over to him? He had expected today to be much more difficult. However, he immediately understood Nakato’s intention. This headless case, if left to him, would surely yield nothing, and he wouldn't know how to report it later. It was better to find a scapegoat. And here he was, the perfect one.

...

"Ah..."

"Open wide."

A bite of food, a mouthful of rice—Zhou Sen truly wished he could live like this forever, because someone was feeding him.

"I’m only taking care of you because you’re injured. Don't push your luck," Bai Yulan said, moving his restless hand away from her thigh.

Zhou Sen chuckled, but three seconds later, his hand quietly drifted back, though this time he just left it resting there, motionless. Bai Yulan rolled her eyes at him. She had figured out his temperament; he was a bit of a rascal, but he knew his limits and wouldn't really go too far.

"You know Guo Laosi, right?"

"Guo Laosi? That thug who does the dirty work for Su Wenqing. He came after you, and this injury is his doing?" Bai Yulan’s eyes turned cold. Clearly, this had touched her bottom line. Zhou Sen had been dragged into this because of her. Did they really think she, Bai Yulan, was someone to be bullied?

"No, I was indeed shot, but not by Guo Laosi. However, Qin Lang and I have captured him," Zhou Sen said.

"What? You and Qin Lang captured Guo Laosi?" Bai Yulan was shocked.

"We had captured Guo Laosi and his men alive, but then a shot was fired from the woods. I’m lucky to be alive; otherwise, it would have been hard to say. I didn't expect the mantis to stalk the cicada, only to have the oriole behind it," Zhou Sen said.

"Since Su Wenqing sent Guo Laosi to kill you, logically he wouldn't send someone else to fire a follow-up shot. That this hidden sniper knew your plan is quite intriguing," Bai Yulan mused.

"Are you saying it was Qin Lang?"

"You and Qin Lang are only cooperating based on interest; he may not be fully committed to you," Bai Yulan said. "But it might not be him. If one of his men leaked the news..."

"Qin Xiong. This sniper can be none other than one of Qin Xiong’s men. In Bing City, the two people who want me dead are Su Wenqing and Qin Xiong, whose plans I ruined. He is Qin Lang’s older brother; planting an informant beside Qin Lang would be all too easy," Zhou Sen said without hesitation.

"Among Qin Xiong’s gunmen, there is one with exceptional marksmanship named 'Scars.' He was once a bandit leader, a 'lead gunner.' Driven to a dead end by enemies, he defected to Qin Laoqi and now works for Qin Xiong, doing his dirty work. Many have died by his hand over the years, but with the protection of the Qin family, no one can touch him," Bai Yulan said.

"That guy’s marksmanship is superb. If you hadn't been wearing that heart-guard mirror and internal armor, you really wouldn't have survived today." A chill permeated Bai Yulan’s voice.