Chapter 247: It’s Not That You Know You’re Wrong, It’s That You Know You’re About To Die
On the top floor special care ward area of Ciji Hospital, the atmosphere at this moment was as heavy as an ice cave.
All the staff, from doctors and nurses to the secret agents of No. 76, held their breath with heads bowed, like prisoners awaiting trial.
The air was filled with the scent of death that even disinfectant could not mask.
Li Qun and Ding Cun stood in front of Qian Shizhao’s corpse, their faces extremely grim.
“Thud thud thud,” a rapid burst of footsteps sounded, and a No. 76 agent quickly approached Li Qun’s side, whispering in his ear: “Minister Chen is here.”
Li Qun’s expression tightened slightly, he waved for the other to withdraw, and said to Ding Cun: “Director Ding, Minister Chen is here.”
The corner of Ding Cun’s mouth hooked up slightly, revealing a smile uglier than crying: “What must come will come eventually, Director Li, we can’t avoid it.”
“Let’s go, we’ll greet him at the door…”
Both sighed at the same time, and just as they reached the door, they heard heavy and rapid footsteps coming from the end of the corridor,
Leather shoes stepping on the ground, making crisp sounds, one after another, as if stepping on everyone’s hearts.
Chen Yang wore an impeccably neat Land Transport Section uniform, his face ashen, and those eyes that were normally sharp as a hawk’s were now burning with anger that almost materialized.
Behind him followed two mid-level Ume Agency officers, their faces stern with killing intent.
Li Qun and Ding Cun had already been waiting at the ward door, fine beads of cold sweat on their foreheads, and upon seeing Chen Yang appear, they hurried forward a few steps, bowing deeply, nearly bending their waists to ninety degrees.
“Minister!”
Chen Yang didn’t even glance at them, directly pushed open the ward door and walked in.
In the ward, Qian Shizhao’s corpse had not yet been moved, lying quietly on the hospital bed, a white sheet covering over his head, leaving only a vague human outline.
Two forensic doctors and on-site identification personnel were working carefully, and upon seeing Chen Yang enter, they immediately stopped and stood at attention to salute.
Chen Yang’s gaze swept over every corner of the room, windows tightly closed, curtains drawn, double guards at the door, no signs of any struggle inside. Everything looked “normal” to the point of suffocation.
“Tell me, what happened.” Chen Yang’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it carried a piercing chill like metal scraping.
The Ume Agency technical officer in charge of the scene investigation stepped forward with a stiff neck, handed over a preliminary report with both hands, his voice trembling slightly: “Minister Chen, preliminary judgment: Mr. Qian… died from a sharp object piercing his heart, instant death. The murder weapon… should be this.”
Everyone’s gazes followed his gesture and focused over.
There, on that tray, lay a slender, dark red blood-stained… bamboo skewer.
The bamboo skewer was crudely made, just the common kind, but its tip was sharpened to an abnormal sharpness, reflecting a eerie cold light under the lights.
“Bamboo… skewer?” Chen Yang slowly repeated these two words, “You’re saying a grown man was stabbed to death by a bamboo skewer in plain sight?”
Chen Yang’s voice was filled with disbelief, and a rage triggered by extreme humiliation.
He suddenly turned his head, his gaze like two sharp daggers, fiercely stabbing toward Li Qun and Ding Cun.
“Director Li! Director Ding!” Chen Yang’s voice suddenly rose sharply, echoing like thunder in the ward, making ears buzz, “Tell me! What the hell have you been doing?”
“You’ve been assuring me that No. 76 is an impregnable fortress!”
“Over a hundred people, over a hundred people, you layered inside and out, guarding one injured man! And the result? The killer used a… a bamboo skewer! Like skewering candied hawthorns, right under your noses, killed Qian Shizhao!!”
Chen Yang snatched up the blood-stained bamboo skewer, nearly shoving it into Li Shiqun’s face: “Look! All of you look clearly! This is the murder weapon!”
“Not some high-performance explosives! Not a sniper rifle! A goddamn bamboo skewer! You bunch of trash! Idiots! Morons! Does the Empire feed you just to perform how to be defeated by a bamboo skewer?!”
Li Qun and Ding Cun’s heads hung even lower, faces deathly pale, sweat beads sliding down their temples, yet they didn’t dare wipe them. Li Qun’s lips trembled as he tried to defend: “Mi, Minister, we… we checked all incoming and outgoing personnel, identities all…”
“Checked?!” Chen Yang abruptly cut him off, slamming the bamboo skewer back into the tray with a crisp clatter, “The killer wore a nurse’s uniform, pushed a cart, swaggered in, completed the assassination, and swaggered out!”
“Your check is a massive joke! Where were your people’s eyes? Do you have to wait for the killer to put a bomb at my bedside to notice?”
“Qian Shizhao’s death is not just losing a core official of Mr. Wang, this is a huge mockery of Japanese intelligence agencies’ security capabilities!”
“If this gets out, No. 76 will become the laughingstock of Shanghai’s intelligence organizations, and as No. 76’s direct person in charge, I’ll lose all face!”
“Port explosion, a warning! Hospital assassination, execution! One ring after another! They slapped the plan in your faces, yet you can’t even touch their hem!” Chen Yang’s voice distorted from extreme anger, “No. 76 inside, either full of rice buckets, or hiding more than one rat!”
This last sentence, like an ice pick, made Li Qun and Ding Cun tremble all over.
Chen Yang took a deep breath, his eyes turning icy and cruel again, ordering word by word:
“First, fully seal off the news! Qian Shizhao’s cause of death strictly confidential externally, unified caliber as old wounds recurring, rescue ineffective! Anyone who leaks half a word will be treated as colluding with the enemy!”
“Second, Director Li, Director Ding! I give you forty-eight hours! Within forty-eight hours, drag the killer out for me! Alive, see the person; dead, see the corpse!”
“Also, you two cooperate with Major Kinoshita for a thorough purge of No. 76 internals! All suspicious personnel, isolate and interrogate without exception! Better to kill a thousand wrongly than let one go!”
“Third, this is no longer a simple assassination, but a full intelligence and psychological war initiated by hostile forces against us! Starting immediately, all related units enter highest alert status! I will personally report to General Headquarters!”
Pausing, Chen Yang’s gaze turned icy, he raised a finger pointing straight at Li Qun’s nose tip: “Director Li, you’d better settle this quickly, if you can’t, I’ll settle you…”
With that, Chen Yang no longer looked at the ashen-faced Li Qun and Ding Cun, turned sharply, and strode out of the ward with a tangible murderous aura.
The sound of leather shoes striking the ground rang out again, but heavier than when he came, as if each step trod upon ruins.
In the ward, a deathly silence remained, Li Qun slowly straightened his waist, face ashen, eyes filled with lingering fear and a cornered madness.
The 48 hours Chen Yang gave was not a deadline, but an ultimatum. If the killer couldn’t be found, or a scapegoat heavy enough, then he and Ding Cun would likely have to use their own heads to quell this disturbance.
“Investigate! Investigate to the death!” Li Qun roared like a beast at his subordinates, his voice carrying the flavor of a trapped animal’s desperate fight.
Shanghai, Ume Agency.
Chen Yang’s fury from Qian Shizhao’s death burned fiercer, like wildfire fanned by the wind.
Especially his urgency to prove his ability to Sato, to quickly resolve the rumor matter,
But No. 76 still hadn’t traced the source, and instead acted on their own using Qian Shizhao as bait, leading to his death.
Fortunately, the Ume Agency’s investigation had progress; while combing through Yasuda Nobuo’s all social relations and communication records before his disappearance, a seemingly insignificant clue surfaced…
In the key period before the rumor outbreak, several brief call records from Shanghai South Manchuria Railway Investigation Bureau to a certain abandoned switchboard number in Xinjing.
This abandoned number, upon verification, was linked to a secret contact point once used by Yasuda Nobuo.
Further following the vine to the melon, all indirect evidence faintly pointed to Aoki Tomoshige, director of the South Manchuria Railway Investigation Department Shanghai branch.
Though no direct evidence showed Aoki Tomoshige participated in spreading the rumors, his contacts with Yasuda and his position allowed access to a large amount of internal information!
Especially his past “business dealings” that were not very pleasant with certain figures in the Military Logistics system, giving him motive and means.
In Chen Yang’s view, this was enough.
He needed to give an explanation to the higher-ups, and a target weighty enough to intimidate the petty, reestablishing Ume Agency’s authority.
Aoki Tomoshige, this mid-to-high South Manchuria Railway official, neither too big nor too small, was just the right “result”.
Shanghai, South Manchuria Railway Shanghai Investigation Bureau office building on North Sichuan Road, still a scene of busy activity.
Clerks shuttled with documents, telephone bells ringing one after another.
In the director’s office, Aoki Tomoshige was discussing an analysis report on material flows in Central China with several subordinates.
Suddenly, outside the office building came a sharp screech of emergency brakes, followed by chaotic heavy footsteps of leather shoes.
The main door was roughly pushed open, a group of Japanese agents in khaki military uniforms, right arms banded with Ume Agency armbands, armed and ready, swarmed in, instantly controlling all exits and passages of the first-floor lobby.
The clerks were stunned by this sudden formation, the entire office area’s air seeming to freeze.
Chen Yang, escorted by a group of officers, strode in expressionlessly.
He still wore his crisp Land Transport Section military uniform, eyes cold as Siberian winds, sweeping over faces of shock and panic.
“Where is Aoki Tomoshige?” Chen Yang’s voice wasn’t high, yet carried the authority of a superior.
A clerical officer, scared, hurriedly pointed upstairs: “In… in the second floor director’s office…”
Chen Yang said no more, directly led his men up the stairs, leather shoes thudding oppressively on the wooden stairs.
Ume Agency agents quickly followed, controlling the second-floor corridor.
“Bang!”
The office door was fiercely pushed open by a Ume Agency officer, the huge sound making Aoki Tomoshige and his several subordinates start up in alarm.
Seeing Chen Yang at the door and the group of murderous Ume Agency agents behind him, Aoki Tomoshige’s face instantly paled,
Forcing himself to calm, Aoki adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, squeezing a strained smile on his face: “Section Chief Chen? This is South Manchuria Railway Investigation Bureau, what brings you here? Why such a grand show of force?”
Chen Yang stepped into the office step by step, gaze locking on Aoki like a hawk, ignoring the several trembling subordinates.
“Aoki-kun,” Chen Yang’s voice was icy, no beating around the bush, “Regarding the case of former South Manchuria Railway employee Yasuda Nobuo fabricating false information, spreading rumors, slandering Empire officers, sabotaging logistics stability, it has been determined you have major involvement, please come with us to Ume Agency to assist in the investigation.”
“What?” All color drained from Aoki Tomoshige’s face, “Section Chief Chen, without evidence you can’t do this, this is absolutely frame-up!”
“I, Aoki Tomoshige, am loyal to the Empire, how could I participate in such treasonous acts! My contacts with Yasuda Nobuo were only normal work, I…”
“Normal contact?” Chen Yang sneered, interrupting his defense, “Frequent contacts during a sensitive period with a traitor later confirmed to have fabricated rumors? Director Aoki, do you think such an explanation convinces anyone?”
Two fierce military police immediately stepped forward, grabbing Aoki Tomoshige left and right.
“What are you doing?! Let me go! I’m South Manchuria Railway’s director! Without evidence you can’t arrest me! I demand to appeal to South Manchuria Railway Headquarters! I want to see General Kagesa!” Aoki Tomoshige completely panicked, struggling and shouting, gold-rimmed glasses askew, looking disheveled.
The Ume Agency agents paid no heed, roughly dragging Aoki Tomoshige outward.
Aoki’s struggles were futile against the well-trained military police, his shouts piercing in the silent office building.
South Manchuria Railway employees watched dumbfounded as their director was dragged out of the office like a dead dog, down the corridor, down the stairs.
“What are you doing?” Aoki desperately struggled, hands gripping the corridor railing tightly as if in last resistance, shouting furiously: “Chen Yang, you’re just a transportation officer, you have no right to have Ume Agency arrest me.”
“This is overstepping authority, you can’t do this.”
“No decency, Director Aoki, your actions are truly lacking decency.” Chen Yang said slowly: “Director Aoki, you’re after all a descendant of Special Higher Police Affairs second-generation Aoki Norizumi, Your Excellency, how can you act so brainlessly.”
“If there was no evidence, would I personally move to arrest you?”
“You know fear now, then you shouldn’t have colluded with Yasuda Nobuo to spread rumors of Logistics Department colluding with Transportation Department.”
“What? Dare to do but not admit?”
Aoki shuddered all over, still insisting on shouting loudly: “Chen Yang, don’t frame me, what evidence do you have?”
Chen Yang sneered: “Evidence? In the Ume Agency interrogation room, I’ll personally prove it to you.”
“No, no,” Aoki suddenly shouted: “It was all Yasuda Nobuo’s doing, I only called him a few times, I knew nothing about the rumors.”
Well now, the bad guy jumped out himself, thought this Aoki Tomoshige could hold out a day or two at least, who knew no torture needed, he confessed.
“Director Aoki, turns out you really fear me finishing you off?”
“Since so, you shouldn’t have given Yasuda those rotten ideas, using rumors to sow discord between Logistics Department and Transportation Department.”
“Now can’t take us down, and you’re panicking badly yourself.”
“Heh, Director Aoki, it’s not that you know you’re wrong, but that you know you’re about to die soon…”
“Take him away…”
ps:【Under observation in the ICU, recovery better than expected, trying for 4000 words a day, striving not to break, don’t complain everyone, author is doing his best!】
