Chapter 39: The Truth Uncovered

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Li Wensheng took his suitcase and set out for Pukou.

No sooner had he left the house than Bai Yan said to Xiao Mao, “I’m going out to buy something!” Once outside, she immediately headed to the breakfast stall at the entrance of Baifeng Street to find Shi Xiaozhen.

There were still customers at the stall, so Bai Yan couldn’t speak directly. She sat down at a nearby table and called out, “Boss, two sesame flatbreads.”

In a short while, Shi Xiaozhen brought over the order. Bai Yan, already full from breakfast at home, forced herself to eat, all the while observing the other patrons. About half an hour later, as the last customer left, Bai Yan had managed to stuff both flatbreads down.

“Boss, the bill!”

As Shi Xiaozhen came over, Bai Yan, taking out money, muttered quietly, “The captain has realized we’re here to keep an eye on him.”

Shi Xiaozhen’s expression didn’t change. Li Wensheng had encountered them before, and after some time together, it was only natural he would guess the truth.

“No matter. As long as he doesn’t chase us off, we’ll just pretend we know nothing.”

Bai Yan handed over a bill and added in a low voice, “The captain went alone to Pukou today to scout out the situation.”

With that, Bai Yan stood up and left, while Shi Xiaozhen pocketed the money and tidied the tables like any ordinary vendor.

Pukou.

After arriving in Pukou by boat, Li Wensheng went nowhere else but directly found a teahouse to spend the morning drinking tea. After lunch, he went to the opera house, staying there for half the day. After dinner, he checked into an inn for the night.

That evening, with a waning moon high in the sky and a gentle night breeze blowing, it was no night for business outside.

Past ten o’clock, the streets were deserted. Dressed in a long black coat and a black cap, Li Wensheng opened his window, scanned the empty street below, and leapt down.

Landing with a muffled thud, he swiftly slipped into a nearby alley. Like a shadow, he moved quickly and silently along the dark edges, heading toward the left side of the train station.

Two kilometers past the left of the train station, the area was nothing but factories and warehouses.

A little after eleven, at the mouth of an alley in the left district of Pukou station, Li Wensheng gazed into the distance, fixing his eyes on a large warehouse about a hundred meters ahead.

In front of this warehouse, a squad of military police were patrolling. After a glance, he withdrew into the shadows of the alley, looked over the houses on either side, and surveyed the open ground ahead. Then, from his system space, he drew a pistol.

Taking a deep breath—bang!—Li Wensheng fired a shot into the air.

Without delay, he stowed the pistol away, vaulted onto the left wall. Inside that wall was a courtyard, but before the lights inside could come on, Li Wensheng skimmed along the wall with the grace of a swallow, moving rapidly. After a dozen paces, he reached a corner, then leapt to a phoenix tree ten meters ahead.

Its leaves long since fallen, the tree was massive—requiring several men to encircle it—and its branches were thick and sturdy. Li Wensheng climbed swiftly toward the treetop. Hidden among the overlapping boughs, no one below could have spotted him.

Stopping two meters short of the top, he braced himself on two branches, retrieved his binoculars from the system space, and surveyed the distant warehouse.

The gunshot had alarmed the locals, but at most, they turned on their lights. The military police at the warehouse, however, had rushed toward the sound.

Seeing this, Li Wensheng quickly put away his binoculars and pressed himself against the trunk.

The patrol searched the area, found nothing, and moved on.

To prevent Chinese agents from sabotaging their logistics, Nakagaki Ichiki had not resorted to tricks, but he had ordered Kato to deploy some men to confuse the Chinese operatives. Thus, Kato assigned ten squads, each to a section of Pukou, with orders to patrol the warehouses day and night, ignoring all else but the security of the supplies.

Once the patrol departed, Li Wensheng slipped down from the tree, darted into the alley, and hurried along the shadows to the right.

The troops’ immediate reaction to the gunshot proved that warehouse was not the Japanese supply depot—no need to investigate further.

At one o’clock, bang—a shot rang out. Li Wensheng put away his gun, vaulted onto a nearby rooftop, found a suitable spot to lie low, and watched through his binoculars. Seeing no stir at the warehouse ahead, he knew this wasn’t the place either.

He waited a while, surprised that no patrol came to investigate.

“The Japanese don’t even bother when there are gunshots on the street now?” he mused, but saw no point in guessing. Better to hurry and find the real supply depot.

Dropping from the roof, he made his way quickly through the dark.

Half an hour later, Li Wensheng reached the second-to-last large warehouse in the area he’d marked on his map.

Behind this warehouse flowed the Yangtze; in front, a road and open ground. The nearest buildings were a full kilometer away.

The setting was perfect. Even if there were no Japanese soldiers outside, Li Wensheng felt certain this was the supply depot. With two squads and a few machine guns inside, unless a regular army attacked, it would be impregnable.

But feeling was not enough; if he was wrong, many lives would be lost in vain. He studied the scene, put away his binoculars, pulled out his phone, and fired a shot toward the warehouse.

Bang!

The shot went who knew where, but certainly not the warehouse—he was a kilometer away, and a pistol’s range was less than two hundred meters.

In the dead of night, the sound might carry to the warehouse, but during the day, it would be hopeless.

After the shot, Li Wensheng climbed a tree and watched the warehouse through his binoculars.

He waited. Nothing happened. No one came out.

“Did I get it wrong? Is the warehouse not here?” he wondered.

Minutes passed. He was about to climb down and move on when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught the glint of headlights to the left.

Raising his binoculars, he saw the lights coming from a slope. Soon, several trucks emerged from the road concealed by the hill.

Li Wensheng’s face broke into a smile.

“My luck’s really changed—stumbling on a Japanese supply convoy by chance.”

Of the five trucks, the first and last carried military police. The three in the middle were covered, their cargo hidden, but with police escorts and arriving at this warehouse, there could be no doubt—it was supplies.

Under Li Wensheng’s gaze, the convoy pulled up before the warehouse.

A captain in uniform got out of the lead truck, approached the warehouse, and, with his back to Li Wensheng, did something he couldn’t see. In a moment, the warehouse doors swung open, revealing dozens of military police and mountains of crates inside.

Suddenly, a sergeant inside spoke to the lieutenant. The officer turned at once.

Li Wensheng immediately understood: the guards inside had heard the gunshot, but orders kept them from going out. Now, the sergeant had reported it to the officer, who would surely send men to investigate.

He quickly packed up his binoculars and climbed down from the tree.

Landing, he sprinted toward a cluster of buildings a hundred meters ahead. By the time he reached the alley between them, the officer’s car had just arrived at the woods.

At three in the morning, Li Wensheng returned to the inn, climbed in through the window, and slipped into his room.

At dawn, he took the boat back to Jianye.

Then, hailing a rickshaw, he hurried back to the safe house on Baifeng Street.