Chapter 202: Tough Nut to Crack

Zhang Yong immediately returned to the Liuguo Hotel.

Kintaro Noguchi finally gave in.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the lobby, he was noticed by the receptionist. He was immediately called over.

'Mr. Liu, there is a message for you.'

'Thank you!'

Zhang Yong tore open the message envelope.

There was only a slip of paper inside. It had simple Chinese characters written on it. The handwriting was neat. The meaning was clear.

'The goods have been delivered. Release the person immediately.'

There was no signature.

A mark had been drawn in the bottom right corner.

It looked like a wildflower?

Haha. Childish.

Next time I'll add a bunch of cow dung to it. Haha. A flower placed on cow dung.

They took the elevator up to the sixth floor.

Zhongyang and Wu Liuji were on full alert.

'Captain!'

'Where's the package?'

'It's here.'

'Open it.'

'Yes.'

Zhong Yang opened the package. Inside was a bulging envelope.

Inside the envelope were silver notes. All with a face value of 500 silver dollars. There were sixty of them in total. All issued by the Hankou Fenghui Bank.

Thirty thousand silver dollars. Exactly. The ransom had indeed been delivered.

Release the person?

Ask for instructions first.

Come downstairs. Call the director.

'Since the goods have been received, let the men go!' The director's words were concise.

'I'll arrest them again in the name of the Fuxing Society,' Zhang Yong immediately added his plan. He felt that he could cut another deal.

'You're still trying to kill two birds with one stone. Just let them go. We'll arrest them again later.'

'Yes,'

Zhang Yong obeyed.

He ordered that both men be released.

Untie them.

'You may go.'

'Er...'

Aimi Hashiguchi finally let out a sigh of relief.

Hirotaka Noguchi, on the other hand, was relatively calm. Presumably, he felt that he still had some capital.

'Your Excellency is...'

'Liu Heizi. If you want revenge, you can find me anytime.'

'Liu San,'

Hirotaka Noguchi muttered. In the end, he didn't say anything else.

The two Japanese spies walked out of the entrance of the Hotel Rikoku and disappeared at the end of the street. They disappeared to the edge of the map.

Zhang Yong also led his men to withdraw from the Hotel de Paris.

Of course, he still retained Room 306. After all, there was also Kitakata Taro there.

Back in Goose and Chicken Lane. First, go to the finance department.

Pay all 30,000 silver dollars. Not a penny left. It's already been revealed. Definitely can't keep it.

Sign.

Go outside the office of Director Chu.

Mao Renfeng is still busy as ever. There are a large number of documents to be processed.

'Secretary Mao...'

'Go in and see the Director yourself. Don't bother knocking.'

'Yes!'

Zhang Yong quietly pushed open the door.

Through the crack in the door, he could see the Director examining a vase.

Judging from the appearance, it might be a Yuan Dynasty vase?

It seemed that the most valuable thing in the vase was the Yuan Dynasty vase.

He walked steadily forward.

Standing at attention, he saluted.

'Director.'

'Have you released the person?'

'Yes...'

The tone of his voice was a little ambiguous.

The Director immediately sensed it. He knew that he was reluctant to do so.

This kid. He's really a scalpel for scraping fish scales. Once he caught the Japanese spy, he scraped him once, and he wants to do it again.

So he put the vase down. He noticed Zhang Yong's curious gaze.

'What? Do you have research on vases?'

'Yuan blue and white?'

'What Yuan blue and white! This is cloisonné! Ignorant!'

'Is it valuable?'

'You! This is a rare treasure, how can you describe it in terms of money?'

'Oh...'

Zhang Yong respectfully replied.

The director looked at his expression and knew that he didn't think so.

This little guy, where does he know anything about antiques? He has no research or interest in antiques at all. All he sees are silver bills.

He is obsessed with making money!

The director stood up and carefully placed the cloisonné enamel vase in the glass cabinet behind him.

Talking to Zhang Yong about antiques is like playing music to a cow.

Zhang Yong also secretly resented.

Cloisonné?

A Ming vase? It seems so.

Pfft, what's so valuable about a Ming vase? Wait. I'll get you some treasures.

What about Yuan blue and white porcelain? What about Song blue and white porcelain? And Tang tri-colour glazed pottery.

Damn it, the Japanese devils must have a lot of treasures in their hands. If we can dig them up, we'll definitely make a fortune.

We'll offer some as tribute and keep some for ourselves. Perfect. But we need to find a way to sell the stolen goods.

You can't eat vases and the like, so you might as well cash them in. Silver notes are king.

By the way, how much are Yuan Dynasty blue and white porcelain vases worth?

'The interrogation was not very productive,' Chu Zuo changed the subject, 'the Japanese spy is very stubborn.'

'Can I access the relevant files?' Zhang Yong decided to try to be more proactive. He would start by reading the case files. Maybe there would be some unexpected discoveries.

'Of course you can. Go ahead!'

'Yes.'

'I'll call the archives. Have them find all the case files and give them to you.'

'Yes!'

Zhang Yong left.

Then he went to the archives. He looked through the case files.

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This Japanese spy used the alias Fan Zhihai. His Japanese name is unknown.

He admitted that he was Japanese. He also cursed a lot. But he never said his name.

Clearly, this guy was provoking.

He knows that as long as he doesn't confess, the other side won't be able to find out his Japanese name.

It's a bit of a pity. Even the Chief himself couldn't get anything out of him.

These Japanese spies are very stubborn.

The Chief soon realised that a hard approach wouldn't work.

If he lost his temper and killed the other person, the trail would be cut off. But the trail must not be cut off.

It is the only clue to the assassination case. The Chief dares not let it be cut off.

If it is cut off and then tried to be picked up again, it will be very, very difficult.

'Captain Zhang. The case file is complete.'

'Thank you!'

Zhang Yong sat down and carefully reviewed it.

This Fan Zhihai was a day labourer. A coolie. Specialising in squatting outside the airport.

If there was any hard labour inside the airport that needed to be done on a temporary basis, they would be called in from outside. There were about 30 to 40 of these coolies. They formed a relatively stable group.

According to the investigation, Fan Zhihai had only been around the airport for about two years.

He has no relatives. And no friends. He says he fled from the Northeast. No one suspects him.

Most of the time, he goes about alone. Occasionally, he goes to Red Sleeves.

What is Red Sleeves? It's a brothel.

Most of the girls in the official brothels have licenses. They have to pay taxes. The underground prostitutes don't.

The Fuxing Society followed the clues from Hongxiuli and kept investigating until they found the girl Fan Zhihai was looking for. They discovered that this guy almost always went to a different person every time he came. He had almost interacted with every prostitute.

There was no way to investigate. There were so many prostitutes, and they had all been investigated, but nothing suspicious had been found.

They judged that the meeting place was not here.

Moreover, most people felt that the Japanese were arrogant and would not use prostitutes to hide their identities.

'Indeed...'

Zhang Yong nodded thoughtfully.

He suddenly remembered a socialite on the Shanghai beach: Nightingale. She was a Japanese spy.

Her cover identity was the headliner of the Jiuchongtian nightclub. She only served dignitaries. Obviously, her target was Zhang Xiaolin.

In fact, Zhang Xiaolin did become a traitor in the end. He was eventually killed by the military.

After reading the file for a long time, he didn't get anywhere.

'Sigh...'

He sighed helplessly.

She has overestimated her own abilities.

Did she really think she had improved?

She was just being over-optimistic...

In terms of detective methods, he is just rubbish.

If there were any clues in there, the others would have found them.

Since no one else has found anything, he should just forget about it. He has never been someone who relies on his brains for a living! He might as well go out and take his chances!

'Liuqi!'

'Yes!'

'Take some people and let's go for a walk!'

'Okay!'

'Bring Thomson. And bring some grenades.'

'Yes!'

Wu Liuqi went to get ready.

Soon, three cars set off.

They were all heavily armed.

Thomson submachine guns were brought in four. Fifteen grenades were brought.

In Wu Liuqi's opinion, with such heavy firepower, even if they encountered professional Japanese spies, they would not need to be afraid. Zhang Yong was obviously being overly cautious.

First, they went to Hongshuilu.

Zhang Yong walked silently down the middle of the street. No one noticed him.

The map showed no red dots. This meant that there were indeed no Japanese hiding here. The Japanese really didn't want to go work as prostitutes...

But wait!

Suddenly, it seemed like something was wrong.

If you go out of Hongshouli and walk straight for 300 metres, is that Jinling Girls' School?

Is Fang Muyu here?

Fan Zhihai and Fang Muyu...

Shake your head.

You're thinking too much.

They don't belong to the same system.

Fang Muyu is in the Special High-Level Course. It's hard to say which organisation Fan Zhihai belongs to.

But it's clear that Fang Muyu's job is to seduce or turn someone important, not assassinate them. So, there's no way he and Fan Zhihai would ever meet. And he wouldn't know Fan Zhihai's identity.

There's nothing to be done. They have to continue searching for clues. They searched all the places Fan Zhihai might normally go.

Fan Zhi Hai's hidden identity is that of a coolie. His income is very low. The places he usually goes to are mostly run-down and dilapidated. Even the underground casino...

The case file shows that this guy also likes to gamble. As long as he gets his hands on it, he goes whoring and gambling.

He arrives near the underground casino. Suddenly he makes a discovery.

A red dot appears.

It seems that the problem is not in the red sleeve. It's in the casino.

The casino is full of all kinds of people, and even the Fuxing Society cannot possibly investigate everyone's information in detail.

You must know that most people in this business are tough characters.

It is simply impossible to get them to provide information on every gambler. They themselves don't know the true identity of which gambler is which.

Today, you have come to the right place.

Wave your hand.

Wu Liuqi immediately understood. Arrange for someone to get ready.

'Go make a phone call,' Zhang Yong felt that one had to be even more careful and prudent, "tell Zhong Yang to bring someone over too.'

'Okay!" Wu Liuqi immediately went.

The situation on the scene was complicated. Most of the gamblers were desperate men.

If the Japanese spies realised that something was wrong, they would definitely create chaos. Coupled with the chaos caused by the other gamblers, it would be impossible to control the situation with so few people.

Fortunately, Hong Dian had never moved around much. He was still in the casino.

Soon, Zhong Yang arrived with his men.

Should they rush in and arrest the people? Of course not. First, they changed their clothes.

If they arrested people in the identity of the Fuxing Society, the Japanese invaders would definitely put up fierce resistance. This was almost a law.

The Japanese knew that if they fell into the hands of the Fuxing Society, they would only have one way out and that was death. So from the very beginning, they were prepared to make a fanatical sacrifice.

Apart from a very few Japanese who couldn't hold back and talked, the others were all very stubborn.

Even the head of the department couldn't do anything about it.

In that case, there was only one alternative.

They had to arrest the Japanese spies as Liu Heizi.

If the Japanese spies fell into the hands of someone from the underworld, they would still have a glimmer of hope inside.

That glimmer of hope was where their weakness lay.