Chapter 19: Infiltrating the Military Police

The squad of military police had barely left when another group arrived. Once again—smack—Li Wensheng, feigning drunkenness, slapped the sergeant leading the group and sent them chasing off to the right.

Not long after, a much larger detachment of military police appeared.

At their head was a lieutenant. Seeing Li Wensheng teetering unsteadily and reeking of liquor, the officer was so enraged he swung a heavy slap at him.

With a dull thud, Li Wensheng collapsed onto a corpse, murmuring, “Yoshi, the flower girl’s mine!”

Li Wensheng relished giving the Japanese slaps, but never enjoyed receiving them. The moment he saw the slap coming, he pretended to be knocked out drunk.

The lieutenant had put all his strength into the blow, but struck nothing but air, making him lose his balance. With a crash, he went face-first to the ground.

Supported by his soldiers, the lieutenant rose, clutching his bleeding nose, and cursed at Li Wensheng, sprawled on the corpse, “Baka!”

Still furious, the lieutenant kicked savagely toward Li Wensheng’s belly.

Ever watchful through narrowed eyes, Li Wensheng instantly raised his Mauser pistol.

Bang!

He fired a shot into the air, muttering curses under his breath, “Baka! The flower girl’s mine!”

The lieutenant’s right foot hung in the air, his entire body frozen, cold sweat beading on his forehead. The bullet had just whistled past his raised foot; had he moved his leg a hair to the left, it would have been struck.

“Baka! Baka!” the lieutenant shouted in rage, but dared not make another move, terrified that Li Wensheng’s drunken rampage might unleash another shot.

“Take this bastard back to the military police station and lock him up,” the lieutenant ordered through gritted teeth.

“Yes, sir.”

Two soldiers lifted Li Wensheng and carried him away.

Though they said he’d be detained, Li Wensheng wore a second lieutenant’s uniform—just a low-ranking Imperial officer. He would never be thrown in a real prison; instead, they took him to the detention room.

They set him on the bed, then turned to leave.

They had barely taken two steps when Li Wensheng’s eyes snapped open.

He rolled silently from the bed and darted behind one of the Japanese soldiers.

With a sickening crack, he broke the man’s neck. Whirling, he delivered a thunderous punch to the second, who had just turned around.

Enhanced by his extraordinary physical strength, Li Wensheng’s fist landed with the force of a thousand pounds, sending the man flying across the room. He hit the ground, already unconscious.

Li Wensheng hurried to him, snapped his neck as well, then searched both their pockets for keys. Once outside, he locked the detention room behind him.

The corridor was deserted. Li Wensheng straightened his attire and strode out calmly.

Reaching the end of the detention block, he fixed his expression and barked at two military police stationed at the corridor entrance, “Come with me, there’s a situation inside that needs your help!”

The two looked bewildered—they remembered Li Wensheng had been carried in earlier. Clearly, he’d been put in solitary; how was he now free?

Still, they obeyed his order. No one had ever infiltrated the military police station before, so the possibility didn’t even cross their minds.

They followed Li Wensheng into the detention corridor. When they reached the center, Li Wensheng spun around and smashed their heads together.

With a dull thud, both men collapsed.

Li Wensheng quickly knelt, broke their necks, then rose and walked out.

It was late at night. Most of the garrison was asleep. Li Wensheng walked for several minutes—from the detention building to the main office—encountering only a dozen or so Japanese soldiers.

Dressed as a second lieutenant, and with no one suspecting an intruder in the heart of the military police, no one questioned him.

In the office building, the number of soldiers increased, but still, no one challenged him.

Studying the layout as he walked, Li Wensheng ascended to the third floor, which was nearly empty. His eyes lit up when he spotted a room marked “Archives.”

At the door, he turned the handle but found it locked.

“So, it’s locked,” he muttered, pulling a wire from his system’s inventory.

He had once completed an easy mission and been rewarded with master lock-picking skills. While he still couldn’t handle electronic locks or safes, a basic lock like this was child’s play.

He inserted the wire, twisted gently, and with a faint click, the door opened.

Inside, he made no effort to sort through the files; he simply swept everything into his system’s storage, regardless of category.

He had no idea how large the system’s space was—he’d never managed to fill it.

After several minutes, having emptied every cabinet, he quietly opened the door, peered out, and when he saw the corridor was clear, slipped away.

Exiting the office building, he headed for the main gate. But after only a few steps, he quickly turned and went back inside.

“Why are they back so soon?” he grumbled.

As he spoke, the lieutenant who had earlier been drenched in cold sweat from Li Wensheng’s gunshot was leading men carrying corpses towards the office building.

Between the office and the barracks stretched an open yard. A few trucks were parked there, but crossing alone would make Li Wensheng too conspicuous. He had no choice but to return to the building.

Once inside, he slipped into a side corridor on the first floor. Only after seeing the lieutenant and his men head upstairs, carrying the bodies deeper into the complex, did Li Wensheng emerge and make his way toward the main gate.

He had barely reached it when—“Stop!” someone barked.

Li Wensheng cursed inwardly, “Damn it, is Nanjing just cursed for me?”

The man who stopped him was familiar—one of the lieutenant’s soldiers.

With so many bodies to move, surely the man should have gone inside to help, not stand guard at the gate. This was absurd!

Cursing silently, Li Wensheng wasted no time. He drew a Tommy gun from his system’s space.

A burst of gunfire—instantly, the sentry and the other guards at the gate were riddled with bullets.

Li Wensheng stowed the gun and sprinted away.

Running at full speed, he was like an arrow loosed from a bow. By the time the Japanese soldiers inside heard the shots and poured out, Li Wensheng had already vanished. They scattered in all directions, clueless where to pursue.

About five minutes later, a middle-aged man in a lieutenant colonel’s uniform arrived at the gate with a group of men.

Examining the bodies, the man said, “Koji, please check the corpses.”

“Yes, sir,” replied a plainclothes officer, who crouched to inspect the bodies.

After a few seconds, he stood and reported, “The gunshot wounds on these bodies are identical to those I examined earlier.”

Kato frowned and turned to a nearby major. “The attack on the military police was surely the work of a Chinese agent. Contact Tokko. We’ll hand the matter over to them.”

The major hesitated, his face clouded.

Seeing this, Kato smiled. “Takeda, are you worried that handing this over to Tokko will make the military police lose face?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Takeda replied at once.

“If you say you wouldn’t dare, that means you already have. Takeda, we’ve only just occupied Nanjing. After the mass killings, the survivors’ will to resist is still strong. That’s why we must cooperate closely with Tokko. Face is nothing; stabilizing Nanjing is what matters. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Takeda replied, bowing his head.