Chapter 71: The Clown Turned Out to Be Me

A burst of chaotic gunfire rang out.

Cheng Qianfan accompanied Yu Ping’an into the inner banquet hall.

The Japanese spy protecting Kawada Eikichi had been hit by more than ten bullets and died on the spot.

Kawada Eikichi had also been hit twice and lay on the floor in a pool of blood.

“He’s still alive.”

Wan Delong stepped forward, checked Kawada Eikichi’s eyelids, and felt for a pulse.

The agents had exercised some restraint when firing.

Kawada Eikichi’s bodyguard had been killed by concentrated gunfire, but when shooting at Kawada Eikichi, they had been more selective, trying to avoid directly hitting vital areas.

A living Kawada Eikichi was more valuable.

“Send him to the hospital for emergency treatment immediately.”

Yu Ping’an waved his hand.

“Yes, sir!”

“Ahhh, ahhh...”

Someone was groaning and screaming.

Cheng Qianfan glanced over.

The small-round-glasses gentleman’s glasses had shattered, and his left calf had been struck by a stray bullet.

He was howling in pain.

Yu Ping’an pointed at the unconscious woman lying on the floor.

“Take her away.”

The concubine reeking of urine was carried out.

Cheng Qianfan walked directly over and planted his foot on the small-round-glasses gentleman’s wounded calf.

“Ahhh, ahhh!”

Yu Ping’an looked at Cheng Qianfan with surprise and satisfaction.

At this point, he was becoming increasingly pleased with this young new trainee from the Special Training Class.

He had not said a single word, yet Cheng Qianfan had already guessed his intentions.

“Name and identity!”

Cheng Qianfan asked coldly.

Yu Ping’an had ordered the unconscious woman carried away but had not arranged treatment for the small-round-glasses gentleman.

From that, Cheng Qianfan had already guessed the deputy director’s intentions.

A man who screamed this desperately from nothing more than a bullet wound to the calf was obviously someone whose mouth could be pried open quickly.

The small-round-glasses gentleman screamed in agony and shook his head repeatedly.

“Not talking?”

Cheng Qianfan snorted coldly.

He lifted his foot, stepped forward, crushed the shattered lenses of the man’s glasses into powder, then bent down and grabbed his face, pressing it hard into the fragments and grinding it back and forth.

“Ahhh! Ahhh! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

“Where are you from? Where did you come from? Name and identity.”

“Wen Changjian, from Shaoxing, came from Manchukuo.”

His lips trembled from the pain as he spoke.

“Company commander of the Eastern Route Pacification Unit of Manchukuo.”

A look of astonishment appeared on Cheng Qianfan’s face.

Both he and Yu Ping’an had assumed that this small-round-glasses gentleman was a Chinese collaborator within a Japanese spy organization.

Unexpectedly, he was indeed a collaborator, but not a member of the Japanese spy apparatus.

He was actually an officer in the military forces of the puppet state of Manchukuo.

The Manchukuo military had been established by Japan to support its puppet regime.

Nominally, it belonged to the Manchukuo government.

In reality, the force was heavily controlled by the Japanese Kwantung Army.

From the very beginning of its creation, the Manchukuo military employed Japanese advisers and instructors.

Many of its commanding officers were also Japanese officers who had been transferred into its ranks.

Cheng Qianfan once again stomped on Wen Changjian’s wounded calf.

The man cried out in agony.

“You’re not being honest.”

Cheng Qianfan’s hoarse voice sounded like the voice of a devil to Wen Changjian.

“Officer, I’m not lying.”

“A man from Shaoxing becomes a traitor in the Northeast, then comes back to Hangzhou to become a spy.”

Cheng Qianfan grabbed Wen Changjian’s hair and slapped his face lightly.

“You’d better give me a reasonable explanation.”

Wen Changjian opened his mouth.

He wanted to speak, yet seemed hesitant.

Without another word, Cheng Qianfan grabbed his hair and pressed his face into the glass shards again.

Standing up, he ground his foot down hard.

“Ahhh! Ahhh! Officer, I’ll talk!”

“Talk.”

“This is your last warning. If you conceal anything again...”

As he spoke, Cheng Qianfan pressed his Mauser pistol against Wen Changjian’s forehead.

At this moment, only Yu Ping’an, deputy director of the Special Training Class Commissioner’s Office, Wan Delong, leader of the Special Training Class Operations Group, and Yu Ping’an’s adjutant Zhao Yansheng, who had just arrived, remained in the banquet hall.

Everyone else had already withdrawn.

Even a veteran agent like Wan Delong was shocked by how ruthless Cheng Wufang was.

He glanced at Yu Ping’an.

He could not understand why Deputy Director Yu trusted this young trainee so much that he allowed him to take the initiative in interrogating a prisoner.

Of course, he knew it was with Yu Ping’an’s tacit approval.

What he could not understand was why.

Furthermore, Wan Delong found himself curious.

This kid was not only ruthless in interrogation.

More importantly, why did he appear so experienced?

“I... I was originally a courier for the Communist Party Municipal Committee of Hangzhou.”

Wen Changjian gasped heavily for breath.

Yet he spoke rapidly, fearing further torture if he spoke too slowly.

“The Zhejiang Provincial Committee sent me to the Northeast to support the Anti-Japanese United Army.”

“I was captured by the Japanese.”

“I was captured, and then... and then...”

Cheng Qianfan was inwardly shocked.

He had never imagined that the small-round-glasses gentleman was actually a Communist traitor.

Yu Ping’an and Wan Delong were equally astonished.

They had not expected this man to have once been a Communist.

Zhao Yansheng showed no reaction.

Standing beside Yu Ping’an with a gun in hand, he remained on guard.

“What was your purpose in coming to Hangzhou with Kawada Eikichi?”

“To capture Butterfly Flower and obtain the codebook of the Anti-Japanese United Army.”

The moment he heard the word “codebook,” Cheng Qianfan’s expression changed.

He immediately stood up and saluted Yu Ping’an.

“Deputy Director Yu, this concerns classified information. We should take him back and continue the interrogation there.”

Yu Ping’an glanced at Cheng Qianfan.

He was pleased by his caution.

“Then we’ll take him back.”

With that, Yu Ping’an turned and headed toward the door.

As he passed the body of Yang Million lying on the floor, he looked back and patted Cheng Qianfan on the shoulder.

“Yang Million deserved to die.”

“I, Yu Ping’an, have never allowed my subordinates to lose heart.”

Cheng Qianfan said nothing.

He simply saluted.

Wan Delong watched this scene.

Cold sweat immediately broke out across his back.

He finally understood what mistake he had made today.

When Kawada Eikichi had taken Yang Million hostage, he, as the frontline commander, had made the most foolish possible move.

Ignoring Yang Million’s life and continuing the assault was one option.

Fearing Yang Million’s status and ordering a temporary halt was another.

Either choice could have been acceptable.

But the decision had to be his.

He should not have run over to ask Yu Ping’an.

The Yang Million hostage incident was a problem for Wan Delong.

Would it not also have been a problem for Yu Ping’an?

Even if Yu Ping’an had no fear of Yang Million’s backers or Chief of Staff Lu of the Hangzhou Garrison Command, it was still wrong for a subordinate to present such a dilemma to his superior and force him to make the decision.

Wan Delong took a long look at Cheng Wufang.

This young man had left an extraordinarily deep impression on him today.

Agile movements.

Precise marksmanship.

His ruthlessness while interrogating Wen Changjian.

And most of all, the fact that he had directly asked Yu Ping’an whether his contribution was great enough and then, without another word, shot Yang Million dead.

At the time, Wan Delong’s impression had been that Cheng Wufang had guts.

He had even felt grateful.

At the same time, he had believed Cheng Qianfan was too young and too impulsive.

Such behavior was far too reckless.

How could a mere Special Training Class trainee speak to Yu Ping’an like that?

It could even be described as an extreme lack of respect toward a superior officer.

Now, thinking back on it, Wan Delong suddenly felt as though the clown had turned out to be himself.