Chapter 106: The Inoue Residence

“Hideya, you can’t do this!” Aoi shouted, only to be punched immediately by Lu Yuan.

“Officer.”

Eguchi Hideya looked at Cheng Qianfan.

“I request that you stop torturing Mr. Kobayashi. In exchange, I will answer your questions.”

Mr. Kobayashi was the Japanese agent on the tiger bench who had received the “branding iron” appetizer. He had already fainted multiple times, been repeatedly revived with cold water, and had now once again been tortured into unconsciousness.

“Eguchi Hideya, you bastard!”

“Hideya, what are you doing?”

The other two Japanese agents bound to the wooden frames shouted like madmen.

Cheng Qianfan waved his right hand.

Two agents stepped forward and immediately delivered a vicious whipping.

The water-soaked whips struck human flesh, producing an intimate physical and sensory interaction with the body, accompanied by a chorus of screams.

Whips were normally coated with oils and similar preservatives for maintenance.

This reduced friction.

In other words, they became too smooth.

When they struck a person, both the force and pain were diminished.

Once soaked in water, however, the leather absorbed moisture and the tiny fibers on its surface expanded, increasing friction.

With every lash, those tiny fibers on the seemingly smooth leather surface became like microscopic saw teeth invisible to the naked eye.

It felt as though Eguchi Hideya’s ears had been plugged with cotton.

He had consciously shut out those sounds.

A voice inside his heart was roaring:

Eguchi Hideya is a true warrior.

He has not betrayed the Empire.

He is noble and selfless.

He is doing this for Keiko!

For these companions!

For pure love and for the lives of his comrades.

He would rather endure misunderstanding and make this sacrifice.

This was a great act of enduring humiliation for a greater cause.

Eguchi Hideya had found a “sacred” justification for himself.

He repeated it to himself over and over in his heart.

“First tell me which intelligence organization you belong to!”

Cheng Qianfan snorted coldly.

“Also, you are not qualified to make demands of me. The answer to this question is the condition for preserving your companion’s life.”

“Very well, I’ll tell you.”

“Eguchi Hideya, you bastard! Ahhh! You coward!”

Kurai cursed.

“Mr. Kurai, I can face death with my head held high, but I cannot accept standing by and watching you be shot because of me.”

Eguchi Hideya said painfully.

“Officer, we belong to the Endo Group of the Inoue Residence.”

“Bastard!”

“Damn you!”

Cheng Qianfan frowned.

“Too noisy.”

Lu Da picked up the gagging cloths.

Expressionless, Cheng Qianfan walked to the brazier and picked up a branding iron glowing red from the heat.

Using it to light a cigarette, he took a deep drag and slowly exhaled.

It was not merely nicotine craving.

The air in the interrogation room was foul.

Blood, urine, scorched flesh, all kinds of odors mixed together.

The cigarette somehow seemed refreshing by comparison.

Turning around, he carried the branding iron as though preparing to do the work personally.

“Leave this sort of rough work to me.”

Lu Da hurried over.

Holding a branding iron in each hand, he walked straight to the wooden frames.

One branding iron for each man.

He pressed them hard against the chests of Kurai and Oguri.

White smoke mixed with the smell of roasting meat drifted through the room.

Both men let out screams and fainted.

“Good. Now we can continue our conversation.”

Cheng Qianfan looked at Eguchi Hideya.

“Your name, age, hometown, position.”

“Eguchi Hideya, twenty-six years old, from Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku Island, intelligence operative in the Endo Group of the Inoue Residence.”

Inoue?

Cheng Qianfan’s heart stirred.

He remembered the cherry blossom token he had found on Old Mo.

At the time, the blurred character on the front had led him to several guesses.

It might have been the character for field.

Or heaven.

Or perhaps well.

Could it be related to this Inoue Residence?

“The Inoue Residence.”

Cheng Qianfan asked coldly.

“Weren’t you operating in Shanghai?”

“The officer knows about the Inoue Organization?”

Eguchi Hideya could not help asking in surprise.

The Inoue Residence had been established for over a year.

Because it maintained no overt connections with other official Japanese intelligence agencies, it had remained highly secretive.

One could say it was virtually unknown.

Yet it had apparently already attracted the attention of Chinese intelligence services?

Cheng Qianfan sneered.

“I ask the questions. You answer them. Now explain the Inoue Residence in detail.”

Eguchi Hideya believed he understood.

This was a test of his honesty.

He dared not conceal anything.

Besides, he had never intended to conceal anything.

Eguchi Hideya was clever.

He knew that once he chose to surrender, he had to betray his side completely.

Only then would he have the greatest chance of survival.

A “well-behaved” Japanese agent who thoroughly betrayed his own side’s intelligence would surely be of interest to Chinese intelligence services.

The Inoue Residence had been founded by Inoue Hikaru, a Japanese Black Dragon Society rōnin.

It did not belong to the Japanese military or any other official intelligence agency.

Using Sino-Japanese trade as a cover, Inoue Hikaru recruited a group of rōnin from Japan as the organization’s backbone and bought off Chinese collaborators to serve as his claws and fangs.

Their primary missions were intelligence gathering, assassination, kidnapping, sabotage, and similar operations.

Ruthless methods.

No scruples.

No bottom line.

That was the style of the Inoue Residence.

Furthermore, because the Inoue Residence placed great emphasis on recruiting local collaborators, it possessed an excellent understanding of local conditions.

Many missions that other Japanese intelligence agencies could not complete were repeatedly accomplished by the Inoue Organization.

Therefore, although the Inoue Residence was merely an espionage organization composed of Japanese rōnin and was not an official Japanese government institution, its outstanding intelligence achievements earned recognition and active support from the Japanese Army General Staff and the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai.

Its operational funding received especially strong support.

Inoue Hikaru could draw funds without restriction from either the Japanese military headquarters in Shanghai or the consulate whenever necessary.

“Endo Hiroshi is the leader of this intelligence group?”

“Yes. The group leader is Endo Hiroshi. He comes from the same hometown in Osaka as Director Inoue.”

“The names and identities of the others.”

“The first man the officer killed was Maeda Shoichi. He was our radio operator.”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Qianfan revealed an expression of deep regret.

Internally, however, he was immensely relieved.

What luck.

He had randomly selected someone to “fake death” and it had turned out to be the radio operator.

If the person he had genuinely shot dead had been the radio operator, that would have been a real loss.

Seeing the National Revolutionary Army officer’s annoyed expression, Eguchi Hideya sighed as well.

Among the group, he had been fairly close to Maeda Shoichi.

He had never expected Maeda to be the one shot first by this Chinese officer.

“The second man the officer shot dead was Kinoshita Heisaburo. He was an operations operative.”

“Oguri Motomitsuro, operations operative.”

“Kurai Shinnosuke, operations operative.”

“Kobayashi Jun, intelligence operative.”

Noticing Eguchi Hideya hesitate in his speech, Cheng Qianfan snorted coldly.

“Kobayashi Jun frequently slept together with Endo Hiroshi.”

Eguchi Hideya hurriedly added.

Cheng Qianfan frowned.

Such behavior was not uncommon among Japanese.

Back when he had attended the East Asia Common Culture Academy, he had heard rumors about the unusual preferences of certain Japanese students.

“So Kobayashi Jun may know some of Endo Hiroshi’s secrets?”

“Possibly.”

Eguchi Hideya was uncertain.

None of them thought highly of Kobayashi Jun, so they had never been particularly close to him.

“Why did you leave Shanghai and come to Hangzhou to operate?”

Cheng Qianfan finally asked the question that concerned him most.

“The Endo Group came to Hangzhou to gather intelligence under orders issued to the Inoue Residence by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff through Colonel Yingzuo Teiaki of the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai.”

Eguchi Hideya answered honestly.