Chapter 122: Everyone, Get Moving

By ten o'clock in the morning, the entire French Concession was abuzz with discussion. Half of the International Settlement was filled with chatter, and even the Japanese Concession saw sporadic whispers. Meanwhile, every intelligence agency lurking in Shanghai was deliberating on the matter.

In a small room within a church in the French Concession, a young woman with a pure and elegant temperament held a newspaper and asked Wang Feng, "Brother Wang, you previously said you knew who the Lone Ranger was. Based on your understanding of him, why would he do this?"

Wang Feng, his brow furrowed, shook his head slightly. "I don't know why he would do this either."

"Never mind his reasons for now. The most urgent task is to identify this Kurt Malone so we can reach the location before noon. If something truly goes wrong, we'll be ready to provide cover," a burly man nearby said in a muffled tone.

"There are at least a hundred thousand foreigners in Shanghai, if not a million. With time so tight, it's impossible for us to track him down," a refined-looking man in his forties said impatiently.

After he spoke, everyone fell silent, brows knitted in thought. A few seconds later, the burly man suggested, "Brother Wang, don't you know the Lone Ranger's identity? Why don't you go find him?"

Wang Feng immediately refused. "No. The organization has ordered that I must not reveal his identity."

The burly man’s face fell. "Then what do we do? We can't find him, and there's no time to investigate who Kurt Malone is."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the young woman exclaimed excitedly, "I think I know who Kurt Malone is!"

Everyone turned to her, and Wang Feng asked urgently, "Who?"

"The Chief Inspector of the International Settlement Police Station—his name is Kurt Malone."

The burly man was delighted at first, but his brows quickly drew together. "There must be other people named Kurt Malone. It might not be him."

"It has to be him," the woman said with conviction. "The Lone Ranger must have a reason for kidnapping Kurt Malone; he wouldn't target an ordinary person. Besides, I've long heard that Chief Inspector Kurt Malone of the International Settlement is notoriously greedy. Since he's a greedy man and the Chief Inspector, the Japanese would certainly try to win him over."

The burly man’s brow smoothed out. He turned to Wang Feng excitedly, "Brother Wang, let's go find this Kurt Malone immediately."

Wang Feng nodded and said to the woman and the middle-aged man, "Zhang Meng and I will go. You two stay behind."

The man didn't object, but the woman protested, "Brother Wang, why can't I go? My marksmanship is better than yours."

"This isn't about marksmanship; it's about experience. You have no experience in field operations."

"But experience is accumulated! If you never let me go on field missions, I'll never have any experience."

"You will have your chance later, but this time is different. If you could guess that the Kurt Malone the Lone Ranger intends to kidnap is the Chief Inspector, the Japanese will certainly guess it too, as will every other intelligence agency. That place is a powder keg. A single wrong look could be a fatal mistake."

The young woman was not an unreasonable person. She sighed softly and said with a look of regret, "Alright then."

"Zhang Meng, let's go."

As Wang Feng and Zhang Meng departed the church and headed toward the International Settlement, Chen Moqun was issuing orders in an office at the Huaxing Trading Company to Hu Daoyi and Lin Nansheng: "Call the action team and come with me to the International Settlement."

He, too, had guessed that Malone was the Chief Inspector of the International Settlement Police Station.

Hu Daoyi nodded and turned to assemble the men, but Lin Nansheng asked, "Station Chief, isn't he one of our Military Statistics Bureau (Juntong) men? Why didn't headquarters ask us to coordinate on this operation?"

"Has he ever admitted to being one of ours?" Chen Moqun replied offhandedly.

"But didn't the Chongqing authorities announce that he was one of our Juntong agents?" Lin Nansheng asked, looking confused.

Chen Moqun gave Lin Nansheng a deep, meaningful look. "Think about it yourself: why do intelligence agencies from other countries, and even our own people, refuse to recognize him as one of us, instead calling him the 'Lone Ranger'?"

Lin Nansheng was about to ask more, but Hu Daoyi, sensing Chen Moqun's impatience, stepped forward and pulled Lin Nansheng toward the door.

Once outside the office, Hu Daoyi whispered, "Chongqing only made that announcement for the sake of morale. If he were truly one of theirs, why didn't he act during the Battle of Shanghai or the Battle of Xuzhou? Assassinating a Japanese commander on the battlefield would have been far more useful than anything else."

Lin Nansheng paused, then asked in a low voice, "Team Leader Hu, whose side is he on then?"

"Whose side? Even the signatures on the letters he sends to the newspapers are just 'Lone Ranger.' He belongs to no one. If you had to say who he belongs to, it would be the people of China. Let's move. Stop overthinking it; we just follow orders. Let the higher-ups worry about these things."

By the time Chen Moqun led his men into the International Settlement, many other intelligence agents had already arrived. Long before noon, the area around the police station was crawling with operatives from various factions.

In a boarding house diagonally across from the police station, Si Faren stood by the window, watching the station's main entrance. After a while, he glanced at Chen Wenqi, who was sitting at the table cracking melon seeds. After a moment of thought, he instructed the man beside him to keep a close watch, then walked over to the table and sat opposite her.

"Section Chief Chen, you don't seem concerned at all about whether he will appear, or how he might enter the police station."

*Click, click.* Chen Wenqi cracked a melon seed and said casually, "Why be concerned? He will definitely appear, but no one can guess how he will enter the station."

"Is that so? I, however, feel that you must know, Section Chief Chen. After all, you managed to find him as soon as you arrived in Shanghai."

Chen Wenqi put the seeds back on the plate, picked up a glass of water, took a sip, and said slowly, "Director Si, you've been suspicious of me for over a month because you couldn't find his tracks. I've told you many times: the last time I found him was only because the file provided by the higher-ups stated he was carrying documents he intended to deliver to the Juntong Shanghai Station. I was simply waiting like a rabbit by a tree outside the station. Asking me to find him in a haystack is impossible."

Si Faren looked at her intently. "Don't think I don't know that you once went on a blind date with him. With your relationship, how could you not find him?"

Chen Wenqi let out a disdainful cold laugh. "Director Si, I think your time as director is coming to an end if you're resorting to having people investigate such things."

Si Faren smiled calmly. "Section Chief Chen, this wasn't my investigation; it was Minister Xiang's."

"Then just wait. Wait until you're summoned back to take the fall for Minister Xiang."

Si Faren was not in the least bit flustered. "It will take time for me to return, but Section Chief Chen, you must tell me now how you think he will enter the station. Otherwise, I will report this to the top, and you won't be able to answer to them. You know how much they despise betrayal."

Chen Wenqi lowered her eyelids. After a few seconds of silence, she opened her eyes and said, "Either through the front door or the rooftop."

Si Faren was stunned. "The front door or the rooftop? Section Chief Chen, are you joking?"

*Click, click.* Chen Wenqi started cracking melon seeds again. After two, she replied, "Believe it or not, it's up to you."

Si Faren hesitated for a few seconds, then stood up and walked to the window to look at the police station. The main gate was quiet; not a single person was entering or leaving. The street in front, however, was bustling with pedestrians and street vendors. But these were all intelligence agents—what kind of foreigners would push carts as street vendors? And in such a crowd, there wasn't a single old person or child.

The more he looked, the more Si Faren felt that entering through the front door, as Chen Wenqi suggested, was impossible. Only a fool would walk in under these circumstances. He then turned his gaze to the surrounding buildings. After a brief inspection, he again felt it was impossible. Although the station was only a few meters away from the buildings on either side, the heights were unequal. The police station had five floors, while the neighboring buildings had only three and were several meters lower. Unless he could fly, he couldn't reach the rooftop of the police station.

Si Faren looked back at Chen Wenqi, who continued to crack melon seeds, and then turned his gaze back to the station. As time slowly ticked toward twelve o'clock, the agents in the shadows moved to the windows, staring intently at the station. In the streets and alleys, the men in plain sight watched the perimeter without blinking.

As every second passed, the tension in everyone's hearts grew. Even Chen Wenqi, who had been so calm, stopped cracking seeds and stood up to walk to the window.