Chapter 129: The Rendezvous-Spy Wars: Starting with the Assassination of the Emperor(Circle Six)

"Why is there still no movement? The gunfire stopped minutes ago. Regardless of who won, someone should have come out by now."

"Could they have killed each other?"

"Bah! What are you saying, you foreign devil? The Lone Ranger would never lose to those devils."

"Heh, 'Sick Man of the East.' He is also East A—"

The foreigner could not finish his sentence. The mockery on his face had vanished, replaced entirely by fear. Everyone around him also fell silent, for Li Wensheng, covered in blood and dragging Malone, had just emerged from the police station.

Li Wensheng’s cold gaze locked onto the foreigner who had just spoken so insolently in the middle of the street, directly in front of the station. Under Li’s stare, the man was gripped by terror.

Previously, when he heard that Li Wensheng had killed Hirohito, he was merely surprised, thinking it was just a stroke of luck that the man had managed to kill the Emperor with a single shot. But now, having witnessed how Li entered the station and hearing the near-ceaseless gunfire from within, he no longer believed it was mere luck. He had only called Li a "Sick Man of the East" because he was infuriated by being called a "foreign devil," causing him to speak without thinking. Under normal circumstances, he would never have dared to say such a thing to Li Wensheng.

"I..."

Bang!

Before the foreigner could utter another word, Li Wensheng raised his right hand and fired. The bullet struck the man square between the eyes.

On the street, every foreigner, along with a portion of the Chinese onlookers, immediately drew their pistols and aimed them at Li Wensheng. Though they held their guns, they were visibly tense, terrified of engaging in a shootout with him.

"You are welcome to shoot, but if you do, be prepared to leave your lives here."

Li Wensheng repeated this sentence three times, his expression blank, speaking once each in Chinese, English, and French. His tone was flat, yet filled with such overwhelming authority that it stunned everyone on the street and those watching from the shadows.

"Shit!" the thought crossed every foreigner’s mind. Every Chinese person, meanwhile, felt a singular realization: "This is what a true man should be!"

"He... he... he is so arrogant!" Zhang Meng stuttered from the second-floor window of the teahouse, stunned.

"This isn't arrogance; it’s dominance," Wang Feng replied, equally shocked. The Li Wensheng he once knew was bold, but had never displayed such a commanding presence.

"Brother Wang, it seems he doesn't need our backup," Zhang Meng remarked with admiration, looking down.

On the street, after silencing everyone with his words, Li Wensheng stepped forward under the gaze of countless gun barrels, turned left, and began walking with long, steady strides.

"Station Chief, what should we do now?" Lin Nansheng asked Chen Moqun from the window of the Western-style restaurant.

"What do you mean 'what should we do'? Do you want to kill him?" Chen Moqun countered.

"No, Station Chief, I have no such intention. Regardless of whether he is one of our Military Intelligence agents, he killed Hirohito; we cannot move against him, or we would become criminals," Lin Nansheng replied urgently.

Chen Moqun remained silent for a moment, his eyes fixed on Li Wensheng below. A few seconds later, he said, "We came here only to see him. Seeing him is enough."

On the street, people parted to clear a path wherever Li Wensheng walked. Though they kept their pistols aimed at him, not one dared to fire, even when the muzzles were less than a meter away.

After walking two hundred meters and clearing the crowd, Li Wensheng let out a long breath. But just as he relaxed, he suddenly bolted toward the front-left.

Bang! A heavy, muffled gunshot rang out, and a bullet struck the spot where he had been standing half a second earlier.

"Damn it, a sniper!"

As Li Wensheng cursed inwardly, the people on the street scrambled for cover.

Bang! Another muffled shot. Again, it hit the spot he had occupied a moment before.

Bang! This shot also missed, but Li Wensheng’s expression shifted drastically. This was the sound of a pistol, and it came from behind him—someone on the street had fired. He had just cowed the crowd, but if someone dared to shoot now, his aura of intimidation would vanish, and the impact of the "Lone Ranger" would be lost. This shot was an attempt to drag him down from his pedestal.

In a split second, Li Wensheng dived behind a large pillar of a building on his left.

Bang! Another sniper shot struck the pillar. Li Wensheng ignored the sniper in the building to his right. He pressed his back against the pillar, raised his pistol, and aimed at the crowd—some of whom were already behind cover, others still scrambling.

He hesitated for two seconds, then lowered his gun. He didn't know who had fired the shot from the crowd. Without a clear target, if he started a massacre, he would never make it out of the street alive.

"Damn it!"

As he cursed, a car sped into the street from behind. It drove recklessly, ignoring the people still cowering for cover.

Bang, bang!

After knocking two people aside, the others dove out of the way. The car sped up to Li Wensheng. He crouched, threw Malone into the back seat, and leaped into the passenger seat. As soon as he was in, the car reversed rapidly.

"Someone shot at me from behind just now. Did you see who it was?" Li Wensheng asked the driver.

"No, I was busy getting the car!"

The driver wore a blue mask and a black fedora. Her face was obscured, but her voice was crisp, like pearls falling onto a jade plate. She was wrapped up so tightly that an ordinary person wouldn't recognize her, but Li Wensheng saw her eyes and knew it was Chen Wenqi; otherwise, he would never have gotten in.

Bang!

As the car reversed, a sniper bullet shattered the windshield and lodged itself into the driver's seat. Li Wensheng let go of Chen Wenqi’s head, which he had pressed down just a split second earlier. She lifted her head and continued to reverse.

The car moved backward, and in the blink of an eye, they were out of the sniper's line of sight. The sniper could no longer fire. As for the crowd, though the shot from behind had lessened their fear, they still dared not confront Li Wensheng.

They didn't dare, but Li Wensheng did. That one shot had diminished his intimidation; to restore it, he needed to fill the street with corpses. He hadn't wanted to kill indiscriminately before because he needed a safe exit, but with Chen Wenqi here to pick him up, he had no such worries.

He raised both guns, one in front of Chen Wenqi pointing out her window, and the other bent and pointed out his own. Seeing him raise his weapons, Chen Wenqi slowed the car down. As the speed dropped, *bang, bang, bang...*

Both pistols fired simultaneously. Combined with the slow-moving car, the people on both sides of the street—Chinese and foreigner alike—were cut down. After emptying both magazines, Li Wensheng swapped them out, and Chen Wenqi accelerated.

*Bang, bang, bang...*

The others on the street began to fire back, but they were using pistols, and the speed of the car made them ineffective. In the blink of an eye, Li Wensheng had reloaded, and Chen Wenqi, with perfect synchronization, slowed the car once more.

*Bang, bang, bang...*

In less than five seconds, two more magazines were emptied, leaving a dozen more bodies on the ground. As Li Wensheng reloaded, Chen Wenqi slowed down again. By now, they were nearing the intersection. Once the magazines were swapped, Chen Wenqi didn't wait for a command and drove forward.

"Forget it, let's go."

Li Wensheng was about to raise his guns again, but seeing at least fifty or sixty people ahead, he decided against it. If he were alone, he would have charged, but with Chen Wenqi in the car, fifty or sixty people were too great a risk.

Chen Wenqi glanced at him, then threw the car into reverse. After clearing the intersection, she cranked the steering wheel to the right, slammed on the accelerator, and sped away.