Chapter 131: Reference

“I need to ask you something. Let’s talk inside.”

Li Wensheng quickly stepped aside to let her pass.

The window had only just been opened, and smoke still filled the entire room.

Chen Wenqi wrinkled her delicate nose and said quietly, “Smoke less.”

Li Wensheng froze for a moment, then hurriedly replied, “All right.”

Chen Wenqi sat down on the sofa and asked sternly, “Why did you notify the newspapers before abducting someone?”

Chen Wenqi had always felt that she understood Li Wensheng very well, just as he understood her. But notifying the newspapers before carrying out an abduction was so strange that she could not figure out what he was trying to do.

“I want to build momentum.”

That afternoon, while returning from the outskirts, Li Wensheng had thought about it the entire way. If Chen Wenqi asked why he had notified the newspapers, how should he answer? After considering it again and again, he had finally decided to use his own guess about the system as an explanation.

“Build momentum? Everyone in the country already knows your name. Why do you still need to build momentum?” Chen Wenqi asked, her face full of confusion.

“Because the nickname ‘Lone Ranger’ doesn’t represent me as a person. It represents a spirit.”

Seeing that Chen Wenqi still did not understand, Li Wensheng explained more plainly.

“On my way from Mountain City to Magic City, I met many ordinary people. Whenever they spoke of the Lone Ranger, their expressions filled with hope.”

This time, Chen Wenqi understood. She stared at him in astonishment. “You want to strengthen the hope in the hearts of the people.”

Li Wensheng nodded slightly. “Exactly. That’s why the greater the commotion, the better. I also want the Lone Ranger to appear all-powerful.”

Chen Wenqi studied him deeply, worry in her eyes. “But you’re only human. Sooner or later, you’ll make a mistake.”

“We’ll deal with that when it happens.”

Seeing how unconcerned he seemed, Chen Wenqi immediately grew agitated.

“We’ll deal with it when it happens? We’ll deal with it when it happens? Do you know what the price of a mistake is? Your life!

“Li Wensheng, can you stop taking the hopes of the entire nation onto your own shoulders?

“You’re only one man, not a god. Don’t think so highly of yourself.

“Yes, you killed Hirohito, but look at the Battle of Xuzhou. We still lost.

“That proves that no matter how much one person does, he still can’t control the entire course of a war.”

Chen Wenqi suddenly became emotional. Li Wensheng was stunned for a moment, then felt as sweet as if he had swallowed honey.

“Don’t get worked up. Please, don’t get worked up.”

Only after Chen Wenqi took several deep breaths and calmed herself did Li Wensheng continue.

“I’ve never thought too highly of myself, and I know that I can’t control the course of the war. But we have to do something, don’t we? We can’t simply stand by and watch the Japanese run rampant across China.

“When I joined the Nationalist Party, I only hoped to do as much as I could.”

Looking at Li Wensheng, Chen Wenqi remained silent for a moment before saying softly, “From now on, act within your limits. Don’t put yourself in such danger.”

“Don’t worry. With you at my side, I’ll definitely discuss things with you before I act,” Li Wensheng said with a smile.

From the moment Chen Wenqi agreed to stay, Li Wensheng had made up his mind: no matter what happened in the future, he would never accept another Hell Mission.

Before this, he had been like a broken reed drifting on the water, without ties or attachments, more like a wandering ghost. When impulse seized him, he could disregard everything. If there was a Hell Mission, he would simply take it.

But with Chen Wenqi beside him, he had roots now. He had someone to care about. Even when acting on impulse, he would think of Chen Wenqi and would no longer accept missions recklessly.

His words threw Chen Wenqi into immediate confusion. She turned her gaze aside, unable to meet his eyes.

Back in Mountain City, she had dared to say to Li Wensheng openly, “Let’s get married.”

But at that time, she had not had any feelings for him. She had only wanted to use him to advance herself, so she could say it without the slightest embarrassment. Things were different now. She had developed feelings for Li Wensheng, and naturally, like any ordinary young woman, she had become shy.

The bashful way she turned her gaze away brought a sweet smile to Li Wensheng’s lips.

Then he began to tease her, staring fixedly at her profile.

Even after more than ten seconds, his gaze had not shifted. Chen Wenqi flushed with embarrassment and anger. She shot him a fierce look, stood up, and said, “I’m going back to my room.”

“Wait. Help me think something through,” Li Wensheng said hurriedly.

Chen Wenqi assumed he merely wanted to keep staring at her. Embarrassed and annoyed, she said, “What is there to think about? You’ve only just abducted someone. Are you planning to act again immediately?”

“Yes. I’ve only abducted one person so far. My plan is to abduct six.”

Chen Wenqi’s bright eyes widened even further.

“Six? Have you lost your mind?

“You might as well kill yourself right now and let me take your body back to Mountain City.”

There was another half of that sentence she did not say aloud. Instead, she muttered inwardly, So you won’t die at the hands of the Japanese and leave me to become a lonely ghost.

“Sit down first and listen to me.”

Seeing the seriousness on Li Wensheng’s face, Chen Wenqi sat back down.

“I stole several plans from the Iwai Residence…”

“Stole?” Thinking of the uproar surrounding the Lone Ranger’s bombardment of the checkpoint and his killing his way from the Japanese Concession into the International Settlement, Chen Wenqi could not help interrupting him. “You call that stealing? With a commotion that big, it was more like robbery.”

Li Wensheng rubbed his nose and said awkwardly, “All right, robbery. I robbed several documents from the Iwai Residence. One of them said that the Japanese planned to steal twenty million taels of silver from a branch of the Four Allied Bank.

“Before the Battle of Shanghai and Songjiang, the Nationalist Party’s Four Allied Bank had been forced to retreat. Because there had been too many supplies, they could not take everything with them, so they deposited the remaining twenty million taels of silver in the Magic City branch.

“The plan hasn’t been finalized yet, but the Japanese have already recruited the six people needed to carry it out. Ma Long is one of them.”

“If all six people are part of the same plan, then this is troublesome.

“They were caught off guard the first time, but they’ll certainly realize what’s happening by the second. After that, abducting anyone else will be harder than reaching the heavens.”

Chen Wenqi frowned. Li Wensheng also knew that the difficulty lay in the fact that after the second abduction, the Japanese would discover who his next targets were.

“Who are the other five?” Chen Wenqi asked after thinking for a moment.

“The chief inspector of the French Concession police station, a dancer, a Green Gang boss, a writer, and finally, the director of the Four Allied Bank branch.”

Chen Wenqi immediately relaxed. “There are no military officers. That makes things easier.

“You can secretly abduct the other five first, then notify the newspapers. After sending the message, take them near the newspaper office. When the time comes, carry them past the entrance and let the newspaper staff discover you. That will create all the momentum you want.”

Li Wensheng was completely stunned. What Chen Wenqi had described perfectly fulfilled the mission requirements.

Yet there was not the slightest risk. She had found a loophole in the system.

Coming back to himself, Li Wensheng hurriedly asked, “But if I don’t fire a single shot, won’t the effect be weaker?

“Perhaps I shouldn’t leave them near the newspaper office. I could take them near the police station instead and fire a few shots at it.”

Chen Wenqi rolled her eyes at him. “You were quite clever when you were catching Japanese spies in Mountain City. Why do you become so dense when it comes to something like this?

“Building momentum isn’t about how loud your gunshots are. It’s about the newspapers.

“Without newspaper coverage, even if you fired all the way from the French Concession to the Japanese Concession, only the people of Magic City and a few surrounding cities would hear about it. Once the news traveled beyond this area, hardly anyone would know what you had done.”

Li Wensheng thought about it and realized she was right. In this era, news did not travel easily. Without newspaper coverage, how would people in other places know what he had done?

“Also, you need to understand that when news spreads among the public, it can easily become distorted. After passing through several mouths, by the time it leaves Magic City, it may already be completely different.

“Take your abduction of Ma Long. I can guarantee that when the story reaches other places, it will differ greatly from the truth.

“If you want to build momentum, you need to seize two focal points. The first is the newspapers. If the newspapers do not report it, you won’t be able to create any momentum.”

Suddenly, Chen Wenqi’s expression changed, and a teasing smile appeared in her eyes.

“If you aren’t afraid of embarrassment, then when you carry the man past the newspaper office, you could accept an interview with the reporters and say a few words declaring war on the Japanese.”

Li Wensheng quickly shook his head. “That won’t do. It would seem far too fake.”

“But building momentum requires a certain amount of fakery. Otherwise, why do Nationalist officials always love making exaggerated statements in the newspapers? They’re building momentum too.”

Li Wensheng immediately thought of the entertainment industry in his former life. Exaggerated stories appeared there all the time.

“The other focal point of building momentum is to provoke discussion among the people.

“Your identity alone can provoke discussion. If you notify the newspapers first and abduct the people afterward, that can provoke discussion too.

“As long as something becomes the center of public discussion, it doesn’t matter how the story spreads or how distorted it becomes. That center will not change, because it is surrounded by endless speculation.

“Just like your abduction of Ma Long. Once the story spreads, people will have all kinds of versions of how you acted and how you abducted him. But one thing will remain unchanged: you notified the newspapers first and abducted him afterward.”

A gimmick.

Listening to Chen Wenqi, Li Wensheng immediately thought of that word.

“The newspapers and a gimmick… Isn’t this just the same as publicity stunts in the entertainment industry?”

No, this is wartime. I’m trying to kill people. How can I make it sound like I’m promoting a celebrity?

Li Wensheng grumbled inwardly, yet still felt vaguely uncomfortable.

For a moment, he could not explain the reason. Perhaps he simply disliked the connection between entertainment-industry publicity and this era.

Suppressing that discomfort, Li Wensheng looked at Chen Wenqi’s radiant face and asked in surprise, “Didn’t you say you attended a military academy overseas? How do you know all this?”

Chen Wenqi immediately smiled. When she did, it was as though a hundred flowers had bloomed. She became even more beautiful and enchanting, and Li Wensheng’s heart began pounding wildly.

“The military academy didn’t teach us this. The political department did. Besides overseeing the political education of officers, the political department was also responsible for political propaganda.

“Political propaganda is less dependent on public discussion than building momentum, but the essence is the same.”

After she finished speaking, Chen Wenqi noticed that Li Wensheng was staring at her without blinking. She did not understand why he was looking at her that way, but his gaze was so intense that she quickly turned her head slightly. A flush instantly spread across her face.

That movement brought Li Wensheng out of his lovestruck daze.

“Ahem!” He coughed awkwardly. “See? I told you that you’re smarter than I am. Without your advice, I’d still be blundering around and relying on my gun to abduct people.”

Chen Wenqi was still too shy to respond. Li Wensheng, for his part, had no idea what else to say.

After several dozen seconds of awkward, intimate silence, Chen Wenqi rose and left him with a single sentence as she hurried toward the door.

“We’ve finished discussing things. I’m going back to my room to prepare for bed.”

Bang!

Looking at the closed door, Li Wensheng smiled and murmured, “So this is love?

“My goodness. After being single for two lifetimes, I finally know what love feels like.”