Chapter 75: You Need To Be Mentally Prepared
Shanghai, Fukaisen Road, Lin Mansion
Chen Yang stayed in the study waiting for the telephone to ring, from 7 p.m. until dawn. Just as he was getting drowsy, the telephone in the study finally rang.
Patiently waiting for it to ring for nearly a minute, Chen Yang pretended to yawn as he picked up the phone.
“Lin Mansion, who are you looking for??”
“O-Officer, something big happened. Our material warehouse, material warehouse…” The voice of Li Ningyu came from the other end of the phone.
Chen Yang pretended to ask curiously: “Secretary Li, what are you calling me for in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”
“What happened to the material warehouse?”
Li Ningyu swallowed and tried to calm her tone before slowly saying: “Just got a call from General Affairs Section.”
“Our material warehouse had two explosions in a row, with heavy loss of goods.”
“What?” Chen Yang’s tone rose eight degrees: “What happened? Is that one ton of gold okay?”
Li Ningyu said gravely: “The situation isn’t clear yet. Major Ando from Special Higher Police Affairs is at the scene.”
“With such a big incident at the material warehouse, Section Chief Matsui from the investigation team is already heading there.”
“Officer, we can’t just sit idly by. I’ve already notified the drivers’ team to pick you up at your house in half an hour.”
“No need for the trouble.” Chen Yang said gravely: “With such a big incident, I’ll head over right away. Notify Director Zhuo from General Affairs Section, Director Qin from First Section, Director Tang from Second Section, and Deputy Director Feng from Tongji Office. Everyone must arrive at the material warehouse within one hour.”
“If they’re not there by the time, tell them they don’t need to come anymore.”
“Yes, Officer.”
At 1 a.m., it was still drizzling in Shanghai.
Ando Shinichi’s face was ashen. He had already foreseen how Fujita Go would deal with him tomorrow.
He had mobilized a military police company of over two hundred men to surround a dozen Loyal Salvation Army members, but failed to catch anyone and suffered twenty or thirty casualties.
Even stranger, the material warehouse had two explosions in a row.
Ando Shinichi was a graduate of an ordinary officer academy, so he definitely didn’t understand things like physics and chemistry.
What they taught was generally how to lead soldiers in combat.
So, the two explosions at the material warehouse seemed utterly inconceivable to him.
The first explosion could be chalked up to the Loyal Salvation Army being outnumbered and choosing a suicide bombing.
But what about the second? No one went in—why blow it up again?
Moreover, by his experience, the explosives needed for the first explosion were no small amount, and the second explosion was even more devastating.
Did they strap themselves full of explosives to go in?
“Report to Major.” A military policeman trotted up to Ando Shinichi, bowed slightly and said: “The scene has been cleared. Found twenty-six bodies.”
“Judging by their uniforms and the weapons in their hands, they are all imperial soldiers.”
“What? Baka, impossible.” Ando Shinichi said almost madly: “Besides the imperial soldiers, where are those Loyal Salvation Army members?”
“Did they fly to heaven or burrow into the ground? So many people were clearly inside the material warehouse—how could they disappear?”
“Keep searching, inch by inch. I don’t believe they could survive explosions of this magnitude.”
“Ando-kun, please be rational.” Matsui Koji from the investigation team stepped forward to stop him: “Ando-kun, I suspect we’ve fallen into a trap.”
Ando Shinichi was stunned and looked at Matsui Koji dissatisfied: “Matsui-kun, are you insulting my intelligence?”
Indeed, if it was a trap, then this operation had been followed by Ando Shinichi from start to finish.
Wouldn’t that mean he’d been played for a fool from the beginning?
“Ando-kun, don’t get upset first. Hear me out.” Matsui Koji took a breath: “On the way here, I carefully reviewed our operation.”
“If this operation was a setup from the start, then Hu Xinmin falling into our hands wasn’t the credit of our inside contact.”
“It’s very likely our inside contact was seen through early on, and they deliberately fed false information through the inside contact to lure us.”
Ando Shinichi frowned: “Matsui-kun, wasn’t Hu Xinmin under your watch? Just go back and ask him.”
Matsui Koji said awkwardly: “On my way here, I got a report from Suichuan Xiong Ye that Hu Xinmin was rescued.”
“Team Leader Sato was also killed.”
Ando Shinichi finally reacted: “So, you think the purpose of Hu Xinmin trading intelligence was actually to lure us in?”
“Their target wasn’t the gold, but to declare war on our Special Higher Police Affairs?”
“No no no.” Matsui Koji hurriedly said: “Their target was indeed the gold, but they used our hands to confirm the gold’s location.”
“We wanted to use the gold intel to wipe them out, but they turned the tables and used us to seize the gold.”
Ando Shinichi was unable to calm down for a long time, and after a while, he angrily said: “Cunning Chinese.”
“If they fall into my hands, I’ll grind their bones to dust.”
“Ando-kun, who are you going to grind to dust?” As Ando Shinichi spoke, Chen Yang’s voice came from behind.
“Mr. Chen, why are you here?” Ando Shinichi seemed surprised that Chen Yang would appear here after 1 a.m.
“With such a big incident at the material warehouse, how could I sleep?”
Chen Yang responded indifferently, then turned his gaze to Matsui Koji beside him the next second.
“Matsui-kun, is this the ‘no problems’ you guaranteed? Did you turn our material warehouse into a battlefield?”
“Are you playing at total war?”
Matsui Koji bowed slightly: “Director Chen, extremely sorry. It was our negligence that led to anti-Japanese elements sabotaging the material warehouse.”
“I hope you are mentally prepared—this loss may be greater than you imagine.”
Chen Yang smiled slightly, staring intently at Matsui Koji: “Matsui-kun, no need to say sorry to me.”
“On the contrary, I should be the one saying sorry, because I’ll soon compile a list of material losses and send it to Special Higher Police Affairs. Please have Officer Fujita mentally prepared too—this loss may exceed your imagination.”
Matsui Koji’s smile froze on his face. Before he could speak, Director Zhuo Mingquan from Economic Department General Affairs Section ran up to Chen Yang in two strides instead of three, panting: “Officer Chen, t-this is bad.”
“The gold, the gold, the gold is gone.”
Chen Yang shuddered: “Director Zhuo, you mean the one ton of gold sent from Nanjing is all gone?”
Zhuo Mingquan waved his hands hurriedly: “No no no, not all gone.”
A look of relief appeared on Chen Yang’s face: “That’s good then.”
“How much was lost?”
Zhuo Mingquan caught his breath: “Three and a half crates.”
Chen Yang breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s not much, just over a hundred kilos. Matsui-kun, this bit of gold shouldn’t be a big problem for your Special Higher Police Affairs, right?”
Before Matsui Koji could speak, Zhuo Mingquan said: “No, no, not lost three and a half crates. Director Qin just inventoried the scene.”
“One ton of gold now only has three and a half crates left.”
“What.”
