Hidden Radiance

The adjutant stopped the car. Lu Minghui got out and followed the adjutant back to the second floor.

He pushed open the door. Shinichi Nakajima stood behind his desk, which was littered with the newspapers he had just used to hit Li Shiqun.

"Section Chief." Lu Minghui bowed his head.

Nakajima did not ask anyone to sit down.

"Sun Yaozu, one of your subordinates, didn't handle the newspaper business well," Nakajima said in a deep voice.

Lu Minghui looked up. "The section chief is saying Sun Yaozu stopped Lin Zhijiang from arresting people?"

"Lin Zhijiang is stupid, but Sun Yaozu made him conduct a routine interrogation, which caused him to miss a good opportunity." Nakajima stared at Lu Minghui.

Lu Minghui met his gaze.

"Section Chief, the Empire wants to build a new order in Shanghai. The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere cannot rely solely on bayonets." Lu Minghui's tone was calm. "The newspapers in the concessions control public opinion, and sometimes the pens in the hands of intellectuals are more troublesome than guns. If Lin Zhijiang leads more than thirty armed agents to storm the newspapers, tomorrow's front pages will be '76's Night Raid on Newspaper Offices.' What will the international community think? Where will the Empire's face be?"

Nakajima remained silent.

"Sun Yaozu stopped him on my orders," Lu Minghui continued. "Arresting a few typesetters is a minor matter; what's serious is provoking a backlash in the concessions and affecting the empire's strategy."

Nakajima looked at Lu Minghui. After a few seconds, his tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

He bent down and gathered the newspapers scattered on the table one by one.

"Sit down," Nakajima said, gesturing to the sofa.

Lu Minghui walked over and sat down.

Nakajima walked over with the newspaper and placed it on the coffee table. "Your concerns are valid. The Empire does indeed need to consider public opinion."

Nakajima sat down opposite him.

"Actually, I've been eyeing the supplement of the Shen Bao newspaper for a long time." Nakajima lowered his voice. "The Special Higher Police's moles are stationed outside the newspaper office, ready to follow the clues."

He leaned forward and tapped his fingers twice on his knees.

"I need your help to analyze this."

Lu Minghui's brow twitched, but he didn't reply.

"That idiot Li Shiqun suddenly sent people to ransack the house, alerting the enemy," Nakajima sneered. "But thinking about it carefully, we can't entirely blame him."

Nakajima stared into Lu Minghui's eyes.

"The newspaper staff left too cleanly. The water in their teacups was cold, and not a single scrap of paper was left in the drawers." Nakajima spoke a beat slower. "This wasn't a hasty escape. This was a prepared evacuation. Someone tipped them off beforehand."

Lu Minghui's left hand rested on his knee. His ring and little fingers remained stiff.

He looked at Nakajima.

"It's not that I doubt you." Nakajima leaned back in his chair. "The Special Higher Police's surveillance of the newspaper office is top secret. Even Nanzo Yunko didn't know the whole plan, so you couldn't possibly know either. I called you back so you could analyze the situation from an outsider's perspective."

Lu Minghui took out an Old Knife brand cigarette and lit it.

He exhaled a puff of blue smoke.

"Since the section chief asked me to analyze this, I'll just say it directly." Lu Minghui flicked the ash from his cigarette. "There are only two reasons why the other side withdrew in advance."

Nakajima nodded, signaling him to continue.

"First, they routinely change their contact methods and locations," Lu Minghui said. "The rules of the Military Intelligence Bureau are that a contact station won't be used for too long. If it's just a coincidence that it's time to change, then there's no way to investigate."

"And the second one?"

"Secondly, they received a danger signal." Lu Minghui looked at the newspaper on the coffee table. "This danger signal has more than one source."

He flicked his cigarette ash. "The section chief just said that the Special Higher Police have spies stationed around the perimeter. The Military Intelligence Bureau people are all like dogs; they have a very keen sense of smell."

At this point, he paused for a moment with the fingers holding the cigarette, then brought it to his lips.

"Did the undercover agent give himself away while keeping watch, alerting the people inside?"

Nakajima frowned slightly. He was reluctant to admit that someone from the Special Higher Police would make such a basic mistake, but he couldn't rule out the possibility.

"There's another possibility, like what the section chief mentioned," Lu Minghui said, stubbing his cigarette butt into the ashtray. "Someone tipped us off."

"Who could have known the news in advance?" Lu Minghui looked at Nakajima. "The section chief's top-secret plan couldn't possibly be known by outsiders. Where did the information leak from?"

Lu Minghui paused for a moment.

"How did Li Shiqun suddenly set his sights on the newspaper?"

These words were thrown between the two of them.

Nakajima's fingers stopped on the sofa armrest and tightened.

Lu Minghui didn't say anything more. He picked up the cigarette pack on the coffee table, indicating that he wanted to smoke another one, but he didn't actually take it out.

Nakajima stared at Lu Minghui for a moment.

"Go to the Southeast Trading Company first," Nakajima waved his hand, "keep a close eye on Gu Yunqiu's accounts."

"Okay." Lu Minghui stood up, bowed his head, turned and walked out of the office.

Close the door.

Lu Minghui walked down the stairs. A thin layer of sweat seeped from his back.

Takeda is dead, Matsui is dead, the newspaper office is closed. All the lines are closing.

I got into the Ford sedan.

"Director." Sun Yaozu turned his head.

"Go to Southeast Trading Company." Lu Minghui leaned back in his chair.

The car drove out of Meiji Station.

Southeast Trading Company.

Finance office on the second floor.

Gu Yunqiu sat behind a large desk. The desk was piled high with ledgers, inbound and outbound documents, and freight receipts.

She held a red and blue pencil in her hand, her eyes quickly scanning the densely packed numbers.

The door opened.

Lu Minghui walked in.

Gu Yunqiu didn't look up; she drew a red line on the ledger with the pencil in her hand.

"What brings you here, Director Lu?" Gu Yunqiu asked in a cool voice.

Lu Minghui walked to the desk.

"The Special Higher Police's search is over." Lu Minghui pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down. "Chief Nanzo asked me to come and see if the South Manchuria Railway Bureau's specialist found anything."

Gu Yunqiu closed the ledger.

She raised her head and looked at Lu Minghui.

"This is quite something." Gu Yunqiu pushed the account books to the center of the table. "Matsui's accounts for the past three months are a complete mess."

Lu Minghui picked up the account book and opened it.

"How bad is it?"

"The accounts are perfectly balanced. The quantities of supplies coming in and going out match exactly." Gu Yunqiu leaned back in his chair. "But the types of goods are wrong."

Lu Minghui's gaze lingered on the account pages.

"Among the materials entrusted to be transferred by the South Manchuria Railway Company, there was a batch of high-grade cement and seamless steel pipes," Gu Yunqiu said. "The accounts show that this batch of materials has been delivered to the Zhabei warehouse. But when I checked the receipt from the Zhabei warehouse, the stamp on it was forged."

Lu Minghui raised his eyelids.

"Where did the supplies go?"

"Chengda Company," Gu Yunqiu uttered.

Lu Minghui closed the ledger.

High-grade cement, seamless steel pipes. Not medicine, not banknote paper, but building materials.

His thumb moved off the cover of the ledger and rested on the table.

"Has Nanzo Yunzi seen this ledger?" Lu Minghui asked.

"I saw it." Gu Yunqiu said calmly, "The South Manchuria Railway's account codes are encrypted. She only checked the total number and didn't notice any differences in the categories."

Lu Minghui pushed the account book back.

"What does Commissioner Gu plan to do?"

"Report the facts to the South Manchuria Railway Company truthfully." Gu Yunqiu looked at him and demanded a thorough investigation of Chengda Company.

"The South Manchuria Railway lost a few steel pipes and tons of cement. Is it really worth alarming the Kwantung Army?" Lu Minghui lowered his voice.

Gu Yunqiu didn't move.

"Nanzo Yunzi is just looking for an excuse to get back at you. Now that you've jumped out to investigate Chengda Company, Sakata will just kill you outright." Lu Minghui placed his hands on the table. "The people from the Sugi Agency won't reason with you."

"The whereabouts of the South Manchuria Railway's supplies are unknown. If I don't check the accounts, who will the Kwantung Army ask for an explanation from?" Gu Yunqiu stood firm, his tone full of the arrogance expected of a South Manchuria Railway commissioner. "If Director Lu is afraid of causing trouble, then don't come to my office."

Lu Minghui stared at her.

The two men faced off across the desk.

Gu Yunqiu's right hand rested on the account book, her fingers still on it.

Footsteps came from outside the door.

Nanzo Yunzi walked in.

"Minghui-kun." Nanzo Yunzi's gaze swept across Gu Yunqiu's face and landed on Lu Minghui. "I'm looking for you."

Lu Minghui straightened up.

"Commissioner Gu said that the South Manchuria Railway's accounts are extremely complicated and will take three days to sort out." Lu Minghui turned around and looked at Nanzo Yunzi. "Yunzi, what progress have you made on your end?"

Nanzo Yunzi walked to the table.

"Matsui's social connections have been investigated." Nanzo Yunko stared at Gu Yunqiu. "Aside from business dealings with the South Manchuria Railway Company, he hasn't offended anyone recently."

"Does the section chief mean that the South Manchuria Railway Company killed Matsui?" Gu Yunqiu sneered.

"I only look at the evidence," said Nanzo Yunko.

"Then go find the evidence." Gu Yunqiu reopened the account book. "Don't get in my way while I'm checking the accounts."

Nanzo Yunzi's face was gloomy.

"Minghui-kun, let's go." Nanzo Yunzi turned and walked towards the door.

Lu Minghui glanced at Gu Yunqiu, then turned and followed.

In the corridor.

"Did she find out anything?" Nanzo Yunko asked.

"She only cares about the goods from the South Manchuria Railway Company." Lu Minghui lit a cigarette. "The quantity of that batch of goods doesn't match, and she's checking the order form."

Nanzo Yunzi stopped in her tracks.

"Mr. Minghui," Nanzo Yunzi said, looking at him, "there's been some movement from Li Shiqun's side."

Lu Minghui slightly lowered the fingers holding the cigarette.

"What did he find out?"

"He took his men to Notre Dame," Nanzo Yunko said in a low voice. "He said he found traces of Kuomintang contacts there."

Lu Minghui didn't bring the cigarette to his lips. He paused for half a second before taking a puff.

Notre Dame Cathedral.

Bronze bell.

The warhead is still embedded inside.

"Let's go take a look." Lu Minghui exhaled smoke and stepped towards the stairwell.