Chapter 75: The Non-Typical Japanese Spy

To avoid the policemen conducting inspections at the distant street intersection, Kawada Atsuto fled in panic and plunged headlong into this alley.

Without warning, he collided with someone.

The young Japanese agent’s first reaction was:

It’s over. The Chinese have finally caught me.

Then he looked up and saw a familiar face.

Overjoyed, he exclaimed, “Miyazaki-kun, it’s actually you?”

Cheng Qianfan also recognized the filthy man.

This was one of Kawada Eikichi’s subordinates, the young man in the Zhongshan suit who had approached him with a gun on the train to test him, and later delivered Kawada Eikichi’s business card to him on the platform.

“You’re... the one who was with Kawada-kun...” Cheng Qianfan said in surprise.

“Yes, Miyazaki-kun, it’s me.” Seeing that Miyazaki Kentaro still remembered him, Kawada Atsuto became very excited. “I’m Kawada Atsuto.”

Footsteps sounded in the distance.

Kawada Atsuto’s face changed drastically, and he began trembling nervously.

“Come with me.”

Cheng Qianfan beckoned the disheveled Kawada Atsuto to follow him back the way they had come and into another alley.

“Atsuto, how did you end up in such a miserable state?” Cheng Qianfan asked in surprise. “Where is Kawada-kun?”

“Uncle... Uncle is in trouble.” Kawada Atsuto clutched his head, on the verge of an emotional breakdown. “Uncle was captured by the Chinese.”

He was only a novice agent following an elder from the family to gain experience.

Although his performance at school had always been quite good, the attack on Kawada Eikichi’s group, with some killed and others captured, leaving him as the sole survivor, had nearly shattered him with the brutal reality of espionage warfare.

It was completely different from the thrill and sense of superiority he had experienced in Manchukuo while practicing sword techniques on Chinese people.

He had been forcing himself to hold on all this time.

Now that he had encountered Miyazaki Kentaro, his uncle Kawada Eikichi’s close friend despite their age difference, his tension finally eased and he practically collapsed.

“What did you say?” Cheng Qianfan cried out. “Kawada-kun was captured by the Chinese?”

Kawada Atsuto was about to speak when Cheng Qianfan signaled him to remain silent.

About thirty seconds later, someone walked past the mouth of the alley.

Cheng Qianfan glanced back at the thoroughly frightened Kawada Atsuto.

“Follow me.”

The two crossed several streets.

Passing a private residence, Cheng Qianfan casually took some clothes hanging outside to dry.

Then he pulled out several banknotes and stuffed them through the door crack.

“Miyazaki-kun, why pay them?” Kawada Atsuto asked in confusion, his emotions having calmed somewhat.

“Chinese people are poor. If they lose a set of clothes, they’ll be heartbroken,” Cheng Qianfan explained. “Chinese people are also greedy. If I don’t leave money, they’ll curse and tell everyone. But if I leave more money than the clothes are worth, they’ll keep quiet about it.”

Kawada Atsuto nodded repeatedly, looking at Miyazaki Kentaro with admiration.

Miyazaki-kun truly was remarkable.

No wonder even Uncle held him in such high regard.

By the riverside.

Cheng Qianfan sat on the bank, watching Kawada Atsuto bathe in the river.

A bath was absolutely necessary.

The stench coming from the young man had been overwhelming.

After a simple wash, Kawada Atsuto changed into the clothes that Miyazaki Kentaro had conveniently acquired.

Kawada Atsuto recounted what had happened.

When the Chinese agents stormed the Yang residence to arrest Kawada Eikichi, he had not been in the banquet hall.

He had gone to the toilet.

Having just come out and started walking back toward the banquet hall, he heard intense gunfire.

Seeing a mass of Chinese agents pouring in, Kawada Atsuto immediately realized that Kawada Eikichi and the others would never escape.

“I was terrified.” As he recalled the scene, he still appeared shaken. “I hid everywhere, then found a manhole cover. I opened it and escaped through the sewers.”

Only then did Cheng Qianfan understand.

He remembered that Kawada Eikichi’s group had consisted of six people in total.

At the Yang residence, besides the still-living Kawada Eikichi and the bespectacled Wen Changjian, four Japanese agents’ corpses had also been found.

Cheng Qianfan had not inspected the bodies himself.

He had only heard someone report to Wan Delong that there were four corpses.

As a result, he had subconsciously assumed that Kawada Eikichi’s entire group had been wiped out.

He had not expected that one Kawada Atsuto had slipped through the net.

The quick-witted young man had escaped through the sewers.

That meant that among the Japanese agents killed at the scene, one must have been a later addition to Kawada Eikichi’s team, a new development neither Cheng Qianfan nor the Special Service Office had known about.

Cheng Qianfan had not been qualified to inspect the corpses.

Doing so would only have made Wan Delong, the officer in charge at the scene, feel offended.

Cheng Qianfan believed this should be considered Wan Delong’s negligence.

He had drawn portraits of three people: Kawada Eikichi, the bespectacled Wen Changjian, and the young man in the Zhongshan suit, namely Kawada Atsuto.

If Wan Delong had been sufficiently meticulous and had his men compare those “photographs” against the corpses, they would have discovered that Kawada Atsuto was missing.

Too careless.

Cheng Qianfan shook his head inwardly as he reflected on the matter.

Rather than dwelling on Wan Delong’s responsibility, he was examining his own shortcomings.

It was true that he had not been in a position to inspect the corpses.

But the real issue was that the thought had never even occurred to him.

Wanting to do something but being unable to do it.

And never having thought of doing it at all.

There was a fundamental difference between the two.

“So you’ve been hiding around the streets this whole time?” Cheng Qianfan asked Kawada Atsuto.

“Miyazaki-kun,” Kawada Atsuto replied, “I wanted to enter the Japanese Concession, but I discovered that every road leading there had checkpoints and inspections.”

“I didn’t dare use the telephone either.” Kawada Atsuto wore a bitter expression. “I was afraid there might be police waiting at the telephone booths.”

“Then where were you hiding?” Cheng Qianfan asked in surprise.

Given the powerful odor coming off him earlier, he should have been impossible to conceal anywhere.

“I found another manhole cover and hid in the sewers again.” Kawada Atsuto said awkwardly.

Cheng Qianfan did not think this was embarrassing at all.

Earlier, he had somewhat looked down on Kawada Atsuto as a timid rookie.

Now, however, Kawada Atsuto’s performance had made him reassess the young man.

This was a non-typical Japanese spy.

Abandoning his superior and relative, Kawada Eikichi, and decisively choosing to flee without hesitation was something the vast majority of Japanese agents would never do.

Sensing danger and immediately hiding in the sewers again, only emerging after dark, demonstrated quick thinking, endurance, and perseverance.

Timidity and cleverness were qualities that helped one stay alive.

Of course, Kawada Atsuto lacked experience.

In many respects, he was still immature.

For example, upon seeing Cheng Qianfan, he had become overwhelmingly delighted.

He possessed none of the vigilance an intelligence agent should have, the instinct to suspect everything.

He practically treated Cheng Qianfan like family, revealing everything and placing complete trust in him.

Cheng Qianfan found himself becoming interested in Kawada Atsuto.

Suddenly, he felt that Kawada Atsuto’s escape from the Yang residence had been a very good thing.

“Atsuto.” Cheng Qianfan thought for a moment. “I’ll take you back to the inn first, get you something to eat, and then we’ll think of a solution.”

Kawada Atsuto nodded repeatedly.

He had been terrified, and he was starving.

Right now, all he wanted was a full stomach and a good night’s sleep.

Nothing more.