Chapter 136: The Ultimatum

Inside the trunk were old Anthony’s clothes and personal effects. The "Bear Hunt" operation was a top-secret mission planned by the Japanese military headquarters. Naturally, the identities of everyone involved had to be strictly classified, and they certainly could not use their original names.

Therefore, any personal items that could potentially expose their identities had to be left behind. That was why these belongings were preserved; otherwise, Zhou Sen would never have laid eyes on them.

A pocket watch, a fountainbed engraved with a name, a notebook containing records of various business transactions...

A cowhide wallet holding some cash, and nothing more. The Japanese must have thoroughly examined them long ago; they were all ordinary, mundane items.

The mechanical pocket watch felt quite heavy in his palm, its casing seemingly made of silver. Zhou Sen wound the mainspring, opened it, and was surprised to find that it was still ticking.

The Japanese had undoubtedly opened and inspected this watch, but having likely found nothing, they had simply reassembled it.

However, what the Japanese failed to discover might not escape him. After all, he was the adopted son who had lived with old Anthony for over a decade.

This was precisely the excuse the Japanese used for returning these "mementos" to him.

After inspecting the small trinkets, Zhou Sen spotted a blue-gray jacket. The memory of this jacket was vivid—he had gone with old Anthony to purchase it at the Churin Department Store, paid for with the very first month’s salary he earned after officially becoming a police officer.

The receipt for the jacket was still kept safely at home; it was a garment of profound sentimental value.

To think that old Anthony had actually worn it when he went off on that mission.

For a moment, a whirlwind of conflicting emotions washed over Zhou Sen.

"Should we wash these clothes before burying them along with the master's ashes?" Irina asked.

"Will there be time?"

"Washing, drying, and ironing them should be manageable."

"Alright, then take them to be washed." Zhou Sen nodded. Before handing them over, however, he thoroughly checked every piece of clothing one last time to ensure nothing was hidden inside before giving them to Irina.

"Master Vasyum, how should I address Miss Bai from now on?"

"Young Madam, I suppose."

"Very well."

...

Since Bai Yulan had not yet officially married into the family, it was naturally inappropriate for her to stay at Zhou Sen’s house. After having lunch there, she took Ah Xiang and returned to Ningxiang Pavilion.

Zhou Sen sat alone in the second-floor study, placing all of Anthony's remaining relics, save for the clothes, on the desk.

"Zhou Sen, Mr. Shibuya is here."

"Ah?"

Zhou Sen was startled. Why would Shibuya Saburo pay a visit at a time like this? It came as a complete surprise.

He hurried downstairs and rushed out to see Shibuya Saburo in civilian clothes accompanied by his adjutant, Ono. Zhou Sen quickly stepped forward to greet them. "Greetings, Director Shibuya."

"Zhou Sen-kun, no need for formalities. The old master Anthony and I were friends, so I've come today to pay my respects," Shibuya Saburo said.

"Please come in, Director Shibuya!" Zhou Sen nodded. He knew that Shibuya Saburo was not suited to visit a place like the Church of the Intercession, but stopping by the house to offer condolences made a certain kind of logic. The Japanese had always been fond of such superficial gestures.

Shibuya Saburo entered the living room, stepped up to the memorial tablet, lit a stick of incense for old Anthony, and bowed deeply.

"Zhou Sen-kun, please accept my condolences."

"Thank you, Director Shibuya."

"Zhou Sen-kun, might we have a private chat?" Shibuya Saburo asked.

"Certainly, Director Shibuya. Shall we talk in the study upstairs?" Zhou Sen nodded, stood up, and led the way.

Inside the study, the two men seated themselves as host and guest.

"Zhou Sen-kun, although there has been some progress regarding the roster, we need to speed things up. That roster must be recovered. Do you understand?"

"Director Shibuya, I have done everything I possibly could. I genuinely have no idea where old Anthony might have hidden the roster. He rarely even discussed business matters with me, let alone something this classified." Zhou Sen wore an expression of utter helplessness.

"And yet, no one is more familiar with old master Anthony than you. If anyone in this world can find that roster now, that person is undoubtedly you," Shibuya Saburo said earnestly.

"Director Shibuya, you overestimate me."

"It is not overestimation; rather, I believe you are capable of doing it. For your own future, and for the future of the Empire, I assume you wouldn't want Madam Bai to become a widow once more, would you?" Shibuya Saburo threatened thinly.

Zhou Sen’s expression flickered slightly. In the end, Shibuya Saburo had stripped away his hypocritical facade, baring his ferocious fangs.

"Director Shibuya, I will do my best. But if the roster truly cannot be found, there is nothing I can do. I can hardly fabricate one out of thin air for you, can I?"

"As long as you apply yourself to the search, I will see the effort. That roster definitely exists," Shibuya Saburo stated.

"But what if the roster was already handed over to Chelkin for safekeeping before old Anthony left? Is that not entirely possible?"

"Although Chelkin was old master Anthony’s assistant in the Russian Patriots' Alliance, his involvement was limited to certain secondary tasks. The true core secrets remained entirely in old master Anthony’s hands and were never entrusted to anyone else," Shibuya Saburo explained. "Furthermore, according to the intelligence we gathered, Chelkin was a Soviet agent planted in Harbin. His identity had not been exposed, and old master Anthony was unaware of it."

"If that's the case, does it clear my adoptive father of suspicion as a 'traitor'?"

"At present, there is no evidence or clue pointing to old master Anthony. If he and Chelkin had been in cahoots, the leak of the 'Bear Hunt' operation would have been his doing. However, our investigation into Chelkin yielded no such information. In truth, when we first discovered Chelkin’s suspicious identity, we were unaware of his connection to old master Anthony. By the time we realized, it was already too late to undo his execution!" Shibuya Saburo said with a trace of regret. "Actually, Susanna went to find Chelkin that night hoping to bring him back, but he bit into a poison capsule hidden in his mouth."

"Since that is how it happened, why did you bother staging the illusion that he was murdered, and why use Mr. Shibuya to have me investigate the case?"

"Because we were still running a vetting process on you at the time. Since that was the case, we simply used Chelkin's case to test whether you knew Chelkin and to gauge the nature of your relationship. That would help us deduce whether Anthony was aware of Chelkin's identity, and whether the traitor hidden within the strike team was Anthony himself," Shibuya Saburo explained.

Put that way, it all made sense. While Zhou Sen was eager to unearth these internal secrets, he had consistently maintained an attitude of resistance toward such matters. Asking any further might well arouse the old Japanese devil Shibuya's suspicions.

He would just have to slowly pry information out of Anna later. She had personally participated in everything and knew even more details than Shibuya did.

"Director Shibuya, might I know the full process of your investigation into Chelkin?" Zhou Sen asked. "If the roster you want me to find is not in my adoptive father's possession, the person most likely to be keeping it is Chelkin. Moreover, my adoptive father may not necessarily have told him what he was holding."

"Your analysis has some merit. Since Chelkin did not send the roster out, if it is indeed in his possession, it is entirely possible that he didn't even know what it was. But how do you explain the key that Front found in the cat house in your attic?" Shibuya Saburo pressed.

"I had never seen that key before either. However, since my adoptive father chose to hide it in the cat house, it implies that I was meant to find it eventually. After all, come spring, I always move the cat house down from the attic. At that point, a simple cleaning would reveal the hidden key. If this key unlocks something left behind by my adoptive father, I'd wager eight or nine times out of ten, it isn't the roster you're looking for," Zhou Sen preempted the matter.

Shibuya Saburo pondered this for a moment and nodded. "That makes sense. Zhou Sen-kun, given your intelligence, you should be able to achieve a much higher position. I believe you can help me find that roster."

"When a person hides something, there are three distinct approaches: lower, middle, and upper. The lowest approach is to hide an item in plain sight where one can easily see it; with a bit of observation, one can always find it. The middle approach relies on the blind spot of light—making people think it's somewhere totally unexpected while it sits right before their eyes. Ordinary people find it hard to spot, but it can't fool a clever mind. The highest approach is to hide it in a place you can plainly see, yet would never dream of looking, even disguising the hidden object beneath an outer layer that misleads you so thoroughly you fail to recognize its true nature," Shibuya Saburo elaborated smoothly.

Hearing this, Zhou Sen’s eyelids twitched. This old Japanese devil Shibuya was truly formidable and possessed a profound insight into human nature. Wasn't that precisely how he had hidden the micro-film inside a bullet, right inside his own service pistol?

If he hadn't seen the original method by which the film was concealed, he never would have been able to draw inferences and think of such a hiding trick himself.

"Thank you for the lesson, Director Shibuya. Your subordinate will ponder it carefully and strive to find the roster as soon as possible," Zhou Sen quickly replied.

"Good. Zhou Sen-kun, you will soon be leaving for special training. I hope you can locate the roster before then," Shibuya Saburo said.

"Yes, Director Shibuya!" Zhou Sen agreed. It seemed time was running out very quickly for him.

He escorted Shibuya Saburo out.

Anna had not left and followed him back into the living room. "Zhou Sen, for you, special training carries a definite probability of death."

Zhou Sen’s entire body gave a start. Anna’s words were undoubtedly a wake-up call. If he failed to find the roster before the special training, he would likely vanish quietly during the course of it.

This was what they called "special processing." Zhou Sen had heard of it, but had never witnessed it. Was such a fate about to befall him?

He would never allow such a thing to happen to him. His life was his own; why should he let these animals take it?

...

Over at Ningxiang Pavilion, Qin Lang had quietly come to see Zhou Sen. Not knowing that Zhou Sen was out, he instead ran into Bai Yulan.

"Boss Bai." Bai Yulan’s formidable aura made Qin Lang feel somewhat intimidated, especially after learning how Scar-Faced Liu had died, which instilled in him an even greater sense of dread toward her.

"What do you call Zhou Sen?"

"Sen, Brother Sen..."

"Then what should you call me?"

"Sis, Sister-in-law!" Qin Lang experienced a sudden jolt, a flash of pure inspiration washing over him.

"Good, you're a teachable one." Bai Yulan nodded. "From now on, use that name. Do you understand?"

"Understood."

"What did you come to see Zhou Sen about?" Bai Yulan asked.

"This..."

"What? Is it something you can't tell me, or are you deliberately keeping it from me?"

"No, no. The three percent stake in the New Stage Theater belonging to Tang Shaoqing, the second young master of the Tang family that he wanted me to secure—I've gotten my hands on it," Qin Lang said.

"How did you get him to sell?"

"Medicinal herbs. I got leverage on him for intentionally passing off inferior goods and taking kickbacks during medicine procurement. If he refused to sell the shares, I would expose it directly. The loss wouldn't just be a matter of selling a few shares then," Qin Lang explained.

"I heard Tang Peiyuan's primary wife also holds eight percent of the shares. Is there any way you can buy those out?" Bai Yulan asked. Although the methods were somewhat underhanded, the business world was a battlefield.

"That primary wife has two daughters. The moment Tang Peiyuan passed away, such a massive family estate would naturally be inherited by his only son. As long as Tang Peiyuan was alive, the annual dividends were substantial, but once he's dead, who knows? By then, given the second wife's methods, that eight percent share will likely be seized outright. As long as the price is right, trading it for cash to keep for a rainy day shouldn't be too big of a problem," Qin Lang said.

"Good, then you handle this matter as well."

"You got it. There's one more thing: didn't Brother Sen ask me to approach Sun Qingkui of the Ruiqing Troupe? The guy is indeed insatiable, immediately demanding thirty thousand silver dollars. However, I found out that once Tang Peiyuan learned that Xiao Xiangning's contract was signed with her personally, he cut the offer down to ten thousand. Unless she changes her contract to be with the Ruiqing Troupe, he won't buy them out, and he won't even sign a resident booking agreement!" Qin Lang reported.

"You can agree to the thirty thousand silver dollars, but Xiao Xiangning's contract must be changed to the Ruiqing Troupe. Otherwise, the deal is off!" Bai Yulan instructed.

"If the contract gets switched, won't Tang Peiyuan make a move first?"

"Don't worry, even if Tang Peiyuan finds out, he won't necessarily get the chance," Bai Yulan sneered. Whenever Jiang Rou decided to change her contract, she would be the very first to know. Would she ever let Tang Peiyuan catch wind of it?

Once she tipped off Qin Lang to intercept the deal, what could Tang Peiyuan possibly do about it?