Chapter Ninety-Two: Sudden Change (Season’s greetings to all our readers. May the New Year bring you happiness and success in all things.)

When fortune turns against a man, everything in his life seems to go wrong.

Just as Li Wensheng reached the doorway, four men were coming in from outside.

He did not know any of them, but the man at their head kept studying him the moment he laid eyes on him.

The man made no attempt to hide it, and Li Wensheng immediately noticed. In turn, he could not help but size the man up as well.

As the two were about to pass each other, the man suddenly stepped back, then shifted sideways to stand in Li Wensheng’s path. In an uncertain tone, he asked, “Where are you from, sir?”

Now certain he had never met the man before, Li Wensheng’s eyes flickered. He began cursing, “What the hell is it to you? A good dog doesn’t block the road. Get lost.”

The man’s face instantly darkened. A moment later, he took a deep breath, pulled a wallet from his pocket, and then took ten dollars from it.

“If you answer my question, this ten dollars is yours.”

“Pah. You think I’m short of money? Get out of my way.” Li Wensheng snapped.

The man could no longer hold back. He barked, “Are you Li Wensheng!”

Li Wensheng’s pupils narrowed slightly. “Next time, keep your eyes open. My name is Li Yeye.”

The man, who did not immediately grasp the meaning, looked baffled.

At that moment, Li Wensheng shifted slightly sideways and squeezed toward the gap between the man and the doorway.

Seeing this, after a brief thought, the man reached out to snatch the bag from Li Wensheng’s hand.

Li Wensheng was sure he did not know this man.

When the man first questioned him, though he could not tell who he was, he had become wary at once.

Then, when the man asked again whether he was Li Wensheng, he immediately concluded that the man must be a Japanese spy.

Chen Wenqi’s people would never ask him that way.

As for the Secret Service and the Central Bureau, impossible.

He had stolen the files from the Secret Service headquarters not in order to prevent them from distributing his photograph to every branch and arresting him.

If the Secret Service wanted his picture, they could have Bai Yan draw it even without the files.

With Bai Yan’s memory and portrait skills, he could undoubtedly make the likeness come alive.

He had stolen the files for two reasons. First, to prevent Japanese agents in the future from bribing someone in the Secret Service archive room at headquarters to get hold of his file.

Second, to keep a card in reserve. If that cheap uncle of his ever ordered the Secret Service and the Central Bureau to kill him on sight, then he would sell the file to newspapers in the French Concession, tell them that the person in the file was the lone warrior who had assassinated Emperor Showa Hirohito, and reveal his relationship to that cheap uncle. He would also make public that his uncle was now ordering a manhunt against him.

Once printed, public opinion would make that uncle look terrible.

And on the road to Shanghai, no one from the Secret Service or the Central Bureau had come after him.

That meant his cheap uncle had already come to his senses and understood the power of the file in his hands. He had not ordered either organization to hunt him down, so this man could not possibly be from the Central Bureau or the Secret Service.

As for Yanzhou, he had never had any contact there, so this man could only be Japanese.

Since he was Japanese, Li Wensheng had originally intended to ignore him for the moment, so as not to alert the people near the bar.

But now that the man had gone straight for his bag, there was no helping it.

Li Wensheng quickly turned back, took a step forward, and rammed his shoulder into the man, sending him flying a yard away. Then he switched the satchel to his left hand, clenched his right into a fist, and blasted at the three men closing in on him.

Bang!

One punch sent a man flying. Then Li Wensheng whirled forward again and smashed another shoulder-check into the next man, just as the man was reaching for his gun, hurling him into the dance hall.

After that, Li Wensheng strode toward the exit. By then, the leading man who had questioned him had already gotten back up and was blocking his way.

With lightning speed, before the man could react, Li Wensheng grabbed him by the throat.

He clenched his teeth in secret, and the tremendous force passed through his five fingers into the man’s larynx.

A sharp crack rang out as the throat was crushed.

Then he shoved the man to the ground, spun around, and, as though by instinct, drew the handgun he kept ready in his inner space. Crack—he fired, striking the center of the forehead of the man behind him, who had just raised his pistol.

Crack!

A second shot finished off the man lying on the ground, whose throat had been crushed and who was not yet dead, only struggling for breath. Li Wensheng then quickly headed into a side alley.

The gunfire startled everyone nearby. Pedestrians on the street fled in panic, while those inside the Joyful Music Dance Hall hurried toward the back door.

The few people who had been at the bar earlier stood in the center of the dance floor, staring at the bodies by the entrance.

One of them, a burly man, asked in a low voice beside the tall, upright man next to him, “Station Chief, was that man just now Deputy Captain Li?”

The leader of the group was Chen Moqun, chief of the Shanghai station of the Secret Service. His eyes flickered, and a mysterious smile appeared on his face.

“Yes, it was him. I never expected he would come back to Shanghai.”

“And his skills are that good? We never saw him use them before. He’s hidden himself very well.”

Then Chen Moqun turned and instructed him, “He is no longer Deputy Captain Li. He is now a section chief in the headquarters’ Second Division, and also a favorite in front of the bureau chief. The bureau chief even held a commendation meeting especially for him.

“If he finds out you’re still calling him Deputy Captain Li, be careful he reports you the moment he gets back to headquarters.

“You should know, he is very familiar with us. He certainly knows all about your businesses.

“If he files a complaint, I won’t even be able to protect you as the leader of the action squad.”

The burly man, Hu Daoyi, looked alarmed and hurriedly nodded. “Station Chief, I’ll be careful.”

Then Hu Daoyi asked in confusion, “Station Chief, why has he come back to Shanghai again? Could it be that headquarters sent him on a secret mission?”

After a moment of silence, Chen Moqun turned and headed toward the back. “No way to know. Let’s go. The police will be here any moment, and Nan Yonghao definitely won’t be coming now. This contact has failed.”

In the alley, Li Wensheng, who was moving swiftly away from the Joyful Music Dance Hall, had a flicker in his eyes. A few seconds later, he turned a corner, then suddenly stopped and pressed himself tightly against the wall by the bend.

Not long after, a young man came to the corner. Li Wensheng immediately drove a punch at him.

Bang!

The man was sent flying backward, crashing into the wall before falling to the ground.

“Next time, you won’t be so lucky.” Li Wensheng stepped forward and looked down at him coldly.

Originally, that punch had been aimed at the man’s head, but after he threw it, he caught sight of the man’s face and quickly lowered his fist, striking the man in the chest instead.

The young man, Lin Nansheng, lay twisted on the ground, clutching his chest in agony so severe he could not speak. He could only watch as Li Wensheng strode away.

By the time Li Wensheng returned to the villa at Number Eight Xiangshan Road, the two survivors among the four men who had tried to block him at the Joyful Music Dance Hall had driven back to the Japanese Secret Police’s branch in the International Settlement.

After handing the two bodies over to the men below, the pair hurried to the third floor.