Chapter 165: For That Little Money, Is It Worth Risking Your Life?
“How come there’s only so little?” Cao Weida was somewhat surprised.
“.” Little Ear was somewhat amused and exasperated, “Big Brother Cao, this is already quite a lot, over four thousand silver dollars, two gold bars, and five small gold bars! In the entire Beiping, not even two out of ten can come up with this much money.”
“He calls himself South City Xiao Jianbiao, but he’s just gilding his own face. With Southern Hegemon Sun Yongzhen above him, and those pro-Japanese forces entrenched in the middle, what the hell is this Xiao Jianbiao?”
“The Sanhe Gang he founded is just a small gang of over thirty people. Even before, my sphere of influence was larger than his.”
“Having this much money is already wealth gathered by any means necessary.”
Hearing this explanation, Cao Weida suddenly understood, patted his head, and thought to himself, right, the current Xiao Jianbiao is not the future Xiao Jianbiao yet; he had thought wrong.
The future Xiao Jianbiao is one of the top gang bosses in all of Beiping; even Kuomintang personnel have to give him some face.
However, the biggest possibility is that most of Beiping’s gangs nowadays are directly or indirectly controlled by traitors.
After the little devils surrender, these people either flee or get liquidated, leaving the underground forces in a vacuum state all at once.
This Xiao Jianbiao seizes the opportunity to develop and grow, then finds a chance to attach himself to a Kuomintang officer. With a Kuomintang officer backing him, his forces rapidly expand, becoming the future Biao Ye.
“Alright, I get it. Still follow the old rules; send my share to Sesame Hutong.”
“I’ll leave this place to you; I have something to do and need to go out.”
Cao Weida deliberately circled near the North Grand Red Building. Sure enough, as Duomen said, the security here was extremely tight, with many sections directly prohibited from entry or exit.
The streets were full of devils holding Type 38 rifles everywhere; the hotel was blockaded, and intersections were checkpointed.
Chinese collaborators, patrolmen, and little devils were searching house to house, checking the streets for the killer of the little devils.
It seems that this time, the little devils are determined to find the mysterious person. It’s just unknown whether the terrified patrolmen and Chinese collaborators dare to search wholeheartedly.
In fact, Cao Weida guessed exactly right. Ever since Cao Weida’s daily assassinations of little devils and traitors, and his audacious attack on the checkpoint, plus killing so many devils last night, these patrolmen and Chinese collaborators were simply terrified.
Duty-bound?
Get real; with just that little money each month, why risk their lives!
They pray not to find the killer, but to never encounter him themselves. That guy is a vicious man; once found during a search, they would be killed on the spot!
In a life-and-death situation like this, let alone patrolmen and Chinese collaborators—even little devil military police wouldn’t dare charge head-on.
After all, he uses an automatic rifle; one burst can sweep down a whole area.
Even if some reckless hotheads aren’t afraid of death, the other life-loving team members will slack off and drag their feet.
Anyway, if the killer is in this area, he’ll be found sooner or later. Someone has to run into him—why not let it be someone else?
Compared to that, it’s obviously more profitable to take this chance for some extortion and blackmail.
But none of this had anything to do with Cao Weida. He glanced indifferently, then instructed the rickshaw to turn around and head toward Half-tail Hutong.
Search away; concentrate all attention here, and Liu Rusi will be even safer.
He got off near Half-tail Hutong, walked and stopped, circled a few bends, and sneaked into the courtyard.
This courtyard belonged to that over-the-river dragon who had fled from Tianjin to Beiping, opening a black gambling house and selling opium. Some time had passed, and he couldn’t even remember the guy’s name.
But none of that mattered anyway; the guy was already killed.
After entering the courtyard, he went to a room in the corner, waved his hand, and a pile of weapons appeared on the ground.
Light machine guns 5, Mauser pistols 30, 99-style sniper rifles 2（corrected from before, now with 2.5x scopes）, mortars two, melon grenades 100, bullets and artillery shells assorted.
As for Type 38 rifles, he didn’t put them out; in close-range assassinations, a rifle’s intimidation is far less than a pistol’s.
They’re not in a battlefield showdown, so pistols are obviously more suitable.
“This should be about enough. If this setup still can’t kill that bastard and disrupt the banquet, then I have no choice.”
He clapped his hands, closed the door, sneaked out of the courtyard, turned a few hutongs, called a rickshaw to the rendezvous point to make a mark, then left as if nothing had happened.
An hour later, in a tea house private room.
Cao Weida leisurely sipped tea; a three-long-one-short knock came from the door.
Then, a man wearing a gua pi mao, head slightly lowered hiding most of his face, walked in and casually closed the door again.
“You’re here; sit.”
Wu Jingzhong sat across, urgently asking, “Jingzhe, how did it go?”
“What’s the rush? Come, drink tea, taste my craftsmanship. I learned for a whole hour; see how it tastes.”
“.” Even though he was extremely anxious inside, he could only forcibly suppress it.
After all, this action was too important, and for any hope of success, Cao Weida’s help was crucial!
He picked up the tea and took a sip; the tea leaves were good, but it tasted flavorless.
Seeing him finish one cup, Cao Weida refilled it. Unable to hold back his anxiety, just as he was about to ask again, Cao Weida spoke first: “Ono Shiota came to me yesterday afternoon, wanting me to handle the outer perimeter alert.”
Wu Jingzhong was delighted at heart, but before the joy could rise, Cao Weida’s words poured down like cold water: “However, I refused.”
Wu Jingzhong’s face immediately darkened. “You actually refused?! Are you planning to refuse this mission?!”
“You’re already a soldier of the party-state; you should fulfill your duties faithfully.”
The next second, a hand-drawn blueprint and a Beiping Outer Fifth District map were handed to him. “This is the floor plan of Tokyo Hotel.”
Wu Jingzhong took them with a stern face, clearly still furious that Cao Weida had refused the outer perimeter alert on his own.
“The floor plan is important, but the outer perimeter alert work is even more crucial!”
Facing Wu Jingzhong’s angry accusation, Cao Weida was unconcerned, calmly took a sip of tea, and said:
“Once I take on the outer perimeter alert, afterward, whether the mission succeeds or fails, I can’t escape involvement. The best outcome is being suspected by the little devils, and a round of torture is definitely unavoidable.”
“I haven’t had professional training; forget torture—even if I crack, I’m scared to death.”
“Even if I withstand the torture, what if the little devils go mad and kill the wrong one rather than let one go, executing me? Who do I cry to?”
Wu Jingzhong’s face turned ashen; if not afraid of being overheard, he really wanted to slam the table and curse.
He suppressed his voice, eyes bulging with anger: “Cao Weida! You must know you’re a soldier now! A soldier’s duty is to obey orders! How can you be cowardly and fear death!!”
“Your behavior on the battlefield would make you a deserter; I could shoot you directly!”
Cao Weida rolled his eyes. “As if I wanted to join your Military Statistics Bureau; it was your boss who forced me in.”
“Speaking of which, I’m pissed. I consider myself a patriotic person, right!”
“I’ve helped you several times within my abilities—not saying I have merit, but at least I’ve contributed.”
“Each time you ask for my help, I give it my all; I think I’ve done my utmost in loyalty and righteousness.”
“Oh, in the end, after helping you, not only no gratitude, but you forcibly conscript me into the Military Statistics Bureau—this is repaying kindness with enmity!”
“I’m just Cao Weida, a cowardly, life-loving ordinary person with patriotic feelings. What did I do wrong to be forced by you again and again?!”
“Or is it that I shouldn’t be patriotic, shouldn’t help you, and if I do, I deserve to die?”
“This…” Wu Jingzhong was speechless for a moment; he really didn’t know there was such a story.
So, Cao Weida was personally ordered by Boss Dai to be bound into the Military Statistics Bureau?
And even after helping the Military Statistics Bureau several times?
For a moment, he even felt Boss Dai had gone too far.
At the same time, he had some guesses: Boss Dai forcibly pulling Cao Weida into the Military Statistics Bureau probably wasn’t to have him gather intelligence, right?
Otherwise, why would an ordinary person have such a high security clearance?
He didn’t know what to say for a moment; his anger suddenly dissipated by more than half.
Fair enough; forcing a conscripted ordinary person to do such a highly dangerous mission—anyone would be terrified.
But
He took a deep breath and said gravely: “Cao Weida, I know this time I’m really asking too much, but this mission is extremely important. It concerns the morale of the entire nation’s War of Resistance. If they hold it smoothly, it will lead to more deaths.”
In battles between two armies, morale is crucial.
On a small scale, if one side’s morale is low, it can cause greater casualties at best, or loss of resistance leading to total collapse at worst.
On a large scale, once this victory propaganda unfolds smoothly, most fence-sitters and traitors wanting to defect will waver, intimidated by the Japanese army’s ferocity, and dare not act rashly.
This would immeasurably increase the difficulty of resisting Japan.
“Moreover, the *** troops have always used us Chinese people for cruel human experiments. Bingze Shisanfu is one of the demons among them. With a chance for revenge for the innocent Chinese compatriots who died by his hand, can you bear to let him leave safely?”
“So, I hope you can set aside past grievances and help us complete this mission!”
Cao Weida rolled his eyes inwardly.
Fine, hard tactics don’t work, so soft ones it is.
But to be fair, he really couldn’t stomach letting a beast like that leave. A beast like Bingze Shisanfu, utterly conscienceless and inhumane, not only doesn’t deserve to live but should suffer death by a thousand cuts and have his flesh eaten and skin slept on!
“I just said I won’t do outer perimeter alert; I didn’t say I won’t help you. What’s the rush?”
“By the way, let me ask one more thing: how many people have you prepared, what weapons and equipment configuration? If I do the outer perimeter alert, what are your odds of successfully killing Bingze Shisanfu?”
