Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

Chapter 85: Dark Night Battle with Japanese Ronin

It was almost 11 o'clock when Chen Jiehua finished "entertaining" Zhao Shiyu. He and Lao Zhao left the pharmacy and went their separate ways home.

Because he was having a pleasant chat with Lao Zhao and was in a good mood, he didn't care about being followed along the way. However, once he entered Jessfield Road, Chen Jiehua immediately became alert! The cold winter night wind woke the excited Chen Jiehua!
This is Shanghai!
After entering Jisifei Road, the tracker didn't want to hide anymore. He just jumped up from the tree and chopped down towards Chen Jiehua!

Japanese Ronin!

Chen Jiehua rolled over at high speed, dodged the first knife, and turned around!
That Japanese ronin!

The Japanese ronin missed the target with his sword, so he knelt on one knee on the ground, holding the sword with one hand and the scabbard with his left hand, keeping a posture ready to attack at any time, staring at Chen Jiehua with a teasing look.

After turning around, Chen Jiehua also kept his body bent, ready to move sideways or flip backwards at any time. He squinted his eyes, frowned, and stared at the ronin's eyes in the faint light from the street lamp.

"Shizen-ryu? Single-sword slash? A retainer of the Shimazu family?" Chen Jiehua thought quickly in his mind. Based on the way the ronin held the sword, the first sword strike just now, and the last experience on the train back to Miyazaki, he preliminarily determined that the other party was using the Shimazu family's Shizen-ryu swordsmanship!

But why did my uncle's retainer suddenly want to kill me? Chen Jiehua's eyes wandered when he was thinking, and the other party seized the opportunity and suddenly jumped up, continuing to thrust straight forward with one hand!

Chen Jiehua dodged the blow again with a quick side flip, then stood still and continued to face his opponent head-on! It was indeed the unique one-handed thrust of the "Manifestation Flow"!

"Shimazu retainer! Why do you want to kill me?" Chen Jiehua tested in Japanese.

"Hehehe, you know a lot! Imposter!" The other party didn't seem to be in a hurry at all and responded in a low and hoarse voice.

"Impostor! How did he find out I was an imposter?" Chen Jiehua frowned again, murderous intent immediately revealed! He must die today!

"Hehehe, that's what I felt last time! Murderous intent! It's so fleeting, it's really not simple! No wonder you fooled the head of the Aoki family!"

It's confirmed! The last time I ran into this guy was as part of a test!
"How did you find the flaw this time?"

"It's better to let you die knowing full well! In that pharmacy, another person called out to Lao Chen, 'You beast!' There were only two people in the store! He was talking about you. I've suspected you for a long time! This is just confirmation!"

Holy shit! He could hear everything we said in the secret room from outside! What ears! What did he do to Old Zhao?

Chen Jiehua was nervous, but he didn't ask. Cold sweat broke out on his back. The moment he was distracted, the Ronin rushed up again!
Chen Jiehua reflexively flipped backwards and then rolled sideways. Fortunately, he followed it with a sideways move, otherwise he would have been dead. The Ronin stabbed one after another, but all of them missed!

Damn, I really can't be careless! I haven't practiced kendo in Europe and the United States recently, so I'm rusty!

"Hehehe! You're really good at fighting!"

Chen Jiehua calmed down and thought that now was not the time to consider Lao Zhao. If he went to kill Lao Zhao first and then came back, it would be too late now. It would be useless to worry. It is better to get through this hurdle first!

Only one of the two can go! The opponent is better at swordsmanship than me, and distraction is fatal!
My only advantage now is space! I can't use my gun! Using a gun will attract the police, this is the International Settlement! But if I want to pull out a scalpel from space and kill instantly, I need to get close!
You have to fight quickly, because being seen is troublesome! Ronin can kill unlucky passersby directly, but you can't do that yourself!

After thinking it through, Chen Jiehua rushed towards the opponent with explosive force, pretending to fight with his bare hands to grab the knife! But the opponent did not retreat, and directly jumped up and slashed with one hand. Chen Jiehua could only retract his hand and step aside to avoid the knife!

He had intended to force him back, then thrust at him, close in and slash his throat. But he wasn't fooled! Chen Jiehua sidestepped out of the way, not stopping. While the other man hadn't withdrawn his knife, he dove right into the ronin's side, unsheathed his scalpel, and with lightning speed, slashed across his neck! A sure kill!

But just as he thought it was a fatal move, the opponent seemed to have expected it and pulled back the knife in his right hand to block the path of the scalpel. After a sharp sound of the blade passing by, Chen Jiehua turned around and took a defensive posture!
Holy shit! So strong! Even my special moves were ineffective!

"Hehehe! You really are hiding something!"

Surprisingly, it seemed like the other party had actually guessed that he was hiding a knife! Chen Jiehua frowned again and stared at him, adjusting his breathing while calculating the attack route. He couldn't let the other party interfere. He wanted me to ask, but I refused to ask!

Now that the scalpel has been exposed, there is no need to hide it. "Yin Liu" makes the gesture, start!

Chen Jiehua's aura changed instantly!

The opponent also felt the change in the opponent's "momentum" and began to become serious, making a "show flow" gesture against the "yin flow" gesture!

In November on Jessfield Road in Shanghai, the clock tower in the distance struck 11 o'clock!

At the first bell, both sides started up almost simultaneously, thrusting and slashing! The ronin thought that his sword was longer, and after thrusting in, he could simply drop his shoulder and dodge the opponent's strange knife!

The second bell rang with a "pop" sound, and the Ronin's body paused!
There is no way. My sword is shorter than others, and my swordsmanship is not as good as theirs. If I don’t take advantage of the bell of the time, I will really die here!

Chen Jiehua counted the seconds silently in his mind, and stepped on the third bell accurately. With another "bang", the second bullet pierced the ronin's heart. The ronin felt pain, dropped the knife, and wanted to cover his heart!
After successfully bullying the ronin, Chen Jiehua half-knelt and pressed down the other hand of the ronin who was spitting blood from his mouth, with the scalpel against his neck and the Colt M1911A1 against his head!

"Who asked you to come!"

"Jie Jie Jie!!"

The ronin had blood in his mouth, laughed strangely three times, tilted his head, and fell silent!

Alas, the second shot was too accurate, hitting the heart! There was no other way, there was not enough space to fit the body, so we had to throw it on the street! The key question I wanted to ask was not answered!
Chen Jiehua found the ronin's sword and scabbard and put them into the space first, then dragged the body to a dark place and searched the whole body, but found nothing!

After Chen Jiehua quickly cleaned up the traces of battle, his own footprints and shoe marks, he observed that no one around him should have noticed him. After turning around, he left Jesfir Road and returned to the pharmacy!

I can't go home at this time. I have to go outside the pharmacy to find traces of the ronin's location to see whether he chased Zhao Shiyu or me first!
Lao Zhao’s life or death is uncertain, Chen Jiehua is very worried!
In autumn and winter in Shanghai, the temperature difference between day and night is large, and dry and wet weather alternate. In the middle of the night in November, fine and dense dew is evenly spread on the blue bricks on the windowsill!
Found it! There was a spot with very little dew, and it was obvious someone had been there! Following the dewy footprints, Chen Jiehua felt much more relieved!
The ronin should be alone. When we went out, he hid in the corner, and then he was the first one to chase me!

But there was a room across from me on this windowsill! A secret room inside! He could actually hear it! It was also my fault. My words were too hateful and drove Old Zhao crazy!

　Togo Shigei, the founder of the Japanese kendo "Shigenryu", was a samurai of the Satsuma domain, or a retainer. He might not even be considered a "retainer", but only a kind of domesticated deadpool, samurai, or ronin. His famous skill was the Chessboard Slash. Book lovers who follow Japanese history should have heard of it, right?

Togo Heihachiro, a famous Japanese soldier in the Russo-Japanese War, was a direct blood relative of Togo Shigemune.

　
(End of this chapter)