Chapter 147: Five People

"Extra, extra! The Lone Ranger's kidnapping plot is actually a move to sabotage the island nation's scheme to steal twenty million taels of silver!"

"Extra, extra! The Lone Ranger exposes that the Chief Inspector of the International Settlement and the Chief Inspector of the French Concession have long since defected to the island nation!"

"Extra, extra! The Lone Ranger strikes again, vowing to thwart the island nation's plot to plunder twenty million taels of silver!"

Early the next morning, the newsboys were shouting at the top of their lungs once more. Because it concerned the Lone Ranger—a figure already deeply admired by the common folk—coupled with the sensational hooks provided by Li Wencheng, the newspapers in the newsboys' hands sold out in the blink of an eye.

"Twenty million taels of silver? So much money, yet I've never even heard of the Four United Banks."

"That's because you don't know the inside story. The Four United Banks is a collective term for four different institutions, and those four are the Nationalist government's official treasury banks. Still, twenty million taels of silver... I reckon it must have been left behind because it couldn't be shipped out during the earlier wars; otherwise, it would never have been stored in a bank here in Shanghai."

"Who cares what bank it is? As long as we know the Lone Ranger is doing this to wreck the Japs' plans, we can rest easy."

"Right! I was wondering earlier why the Lone Ranger, who always targets the Japs, had suddenly started going after foreigners. Turns out it was all to disrupt the Japs' conspiracy."

"Two chief inspectors acting as traitors for the Japs—Britain and France have completely lost face this time."

"Hey, look at this! The paper also says he's going to kidnap Feng Jingyun at noon today. Feng Jingyun—just the name tells you he's Chinese. Have any of you ever heard of Feng Jingyun?"

"Nope." "Never heard of him."...

"By the way, the Lone Ranger showed up at the entrance of the Star Newspaper office yesterday noon. Do you think he'll show up there again today at noon?"

"No way."

"Impossible. The Lone Ranger can't possibly be foolish enough to appear outside the Star Newspaper office a second time. That would be far too dangerous."

"Exactly, he won't show up there. It's simply too suicidal."

The citizens on the street all believed Li Wencheng would not reappear at the entrance of the Star Newspaper office, and the various intelligence agents shared this disbelief—except for one person.

"He just might show up at the entrance of the Star Newspaper office."

Looking at Si Faren, who spoke with absolute certainty, Shi Xiaozhen—who had been dispatched to assist Si Faren after Chen Wenqi fled—asked in a deep voice, "Director Si, are you really that certain?"

"Section Chief Shi, you served under him and worked closely with him for half a year. Surely you know him well enough to realize that he loves nothing more than doing the exact opposite of what people expect?"

Shi Xiaozhen was not the only one sent to assist Si Faren; Old Niu and the other four members of their team had been sent along as well.

Si Faren's pointed remark, combined with the treatment they had endured during this period, proved too much for Old Niu, who was standing right behind Shi Xiaozhen.

"If you don't trust us, then just let us operate on our own. There's no need to speak to us in such a sarcastic, cryptic tone."

The moment Old Niu finished speaking, Scholar reached out and tugged at his sleeve.

"Shut your mouth," Shi Xiaozhen snapped, turning her head to scold him. She then turned back to Si Faren and said, "Director Si, please forgive him. He has a hot temper. I am truly sorry."

"It's no matter at all. As long as you can help me capture the target, you can curse me all you want, and I won't mind a bit," Si Faren replied, putting on a magnanimous front.

With that, Si Faren gave his orders: "Section Chief Shi, go and make your preparations. In a moment, we will all head to the Star Newspaper office."

"Understood!" Shi Xiaozhen led Bai Yan and the other three out of the room and into the adjoining one.

Locking the door behind them, Shi Xiaozhen led the five of them to the window. She drew her pistol to inspect it while asking in a low voice, "Scholar, where is your family now?"

"I don't know. But if everything went smoothly along the way, they should have reached Hong Kong five days ago and boarded a ship to leave the country by now," Scholar replied, his face etched with worry.

"Scholar, look at that—how much better off you'd be if your family had left with ours back then? Just look at the mess now."

Old Niu spoke without thinking. Seeing Scholar's expression turn grim, Shi Xiaozhen scolded in a low voice, "Old Niu, what are you saying? Back then, none of us could have anticipated that the situation would deteriorate so rapidly."

Before Li Wencheng fled Chongqing, he had instructed Old Niu to tell the other four to seize any opportunity to send their families abroad.

The four of them had taken those words to heart because many high-ranking officials were secretly sending their families overseas; getting one's family out of the country was undeniably the right move.

Only, at the time, they simply didn't have enough money or the means to do it.

After Li Wencheng escaped, the post of Section Chief of the Second Bureau's Counter-Espionage Section remained vacant, and Shi Xiaozhen, serving as the deputy section chief, naturally aspired to take over the position.

Shi Xiaozhen possessed genuine capability. Even before Li Wencheng had managed to flee Chongqing, she led a team and managed to extract the identity of a Japanese spy from the very woman Li Wencheng had captured at the entrance of the Juntong headquarters.

The young married woman Li Wencheng had encountered at the docks was none other than the Japanese spy unmasked through that confession.

Having caught one spy, they followed the trail and successfully rounded up half of a local Japanese spy cell.

Although they didn't manage to capture all of them, nor did they recover a radio transmitter or codebooks, apprehending several Japanese spies was still a major achievement.

The Juntong headquarters had generously rewarded them with substantial financial bonuses. Had it not been for the fact that she had recently been promoted in military rank, she probably would have moved up another notch.

Bolstered by the generous financial rewards from Juntong, and adding in the considerable sums Li Wencheng had previously distributed among them, they finally began making arrangements to send their families abroad.

At that time, Shi Xiaozhen held the highest rank among them as a deputy section chief, and the headquarters had not paid close attention to the whereabouts of their families.

Except for Scholar, the other four had successfully sent their families out of the country.

In Scholar's case, his younger brother was still in school, and they had planned to wait until the current term ended before sending him abroad.

Never had they imagined that the political landscape would shift so abruptly. A month ago—right after Chen Moqun delivered the letter entrusted to him by Li Wencheng to the Chongqing headquarters—a beggar had suddenly handed Shi Xiaozhen a slip of paper.

Scrawled on the note were the words: "Silence them. Escape as soon as possible."

"Silence them." The five of them immediately realized this was likely tied to Li Wencheng.

Although they found it hard to believe, a sense of deep vigilance gripped them, and Scholar immediately wrote a letter urging his family to leave the country immediately.

No sooner had the letter been mailed than the five of them received orders to deploy to Shanghai and assist Political Department Director Si Faren.

Coming to Shanghai to assist Si Faren could only mean one thing: it had to do with Li Wencheng. At that moment, they knew the warning on that slip of paper was entirely real.

Especially after arriving in Shanghai, where they found themselves restricted at every turn and placed under constant surveillance.

They were forbidden from moving about in groups of five, and Si Faren always assigned men to accompany them whenever they went out.

This treatment made it painfully clear to them: they were only being used to help hunt down Li Wencheng because they had once served under him, under the assumption that Li Wencheng might hesitate to kill his former subordinates.

If they somehow managed not to die by Li Wencheng's bullets, the moment he was successfully captured would also mark their own execution.

The higher-ups had no intention of letting this matter leak out, which meant the only outcome for them was death.