Brass Dragons in the Dragon World

Angers pried open the boxes one by one.

Rifles, machine guns, bullets, and even explosives.

"With so many guns, why don't you get a cannon?"

Angers pointed to the two large boxes at the very back.

"Two Krupp cannons, the most powerful kind."

Looking at this powerful equipment, Ander thought, with this power, even twenty years from now, he would be a bandit warlord who would wreak havoc on the region.

"I thought you preferred melee combat."

"I only favor power."

Angers responded.

"Okay, now that we have military equipment capable of overthrowing a country, what's the next step?"

Ander asked.

Angers skillfully took out a revolver, loaded it with six bullets, and tucked it into his waistband.

Although he uses knives more often, he occasionally wants to try out his teacher's attack methods.

"Next, we need to find Yamahiko's companions, who are our collaborators here."

What are their names?

"It seems to be called... Heaven and Earth Society."

Hearing this familiar name, Ander had a strange feeling, as if he had traveled into the world of Jin Yong's martial arts novels.

In fact, the Heaven and Earth Society did exist in history, and it did indeed take it upon itself to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty.

The Heaven and Earth Society was founded in Minzhou, which is Lu Shanyan's hometown.

"Alright then, how do you plan to contact them?"

"Why don't you just ask anyone on the street?"

"How could that be? You're still too green. Let me make contact with the Heaven and Earth Society instead."

Angers hesitated; he was not comfortable sending Ander alone as a dragon.

Ander saw Angers' concerns and could only swear:

"I promise I won't use magic on ordinary people, okay?"

At Ander's earnest request, Angers finally entrusted the task of making the rendezvous to Ander.

An hour later, Ander, dressed in a gray-white cotton outfit, was strolling around Shanghai.

The busy people around him turned their heads away as they looked at the back of his head.

In this era, there are only two types of people who don't have a queue (braid) at the back of their heads.

One is a madman;

He is someone no one can afford to offend.

Ander took on this mission because he wanted to see how the Heaven and Earth Society was entangled.

After watching Stephen Chow's "Royal Tramp" back then, he thought for a long time that the Heaven and Earth Society were a group of perverts who liked to tattoo their feet.

Having finally arrived in this world, let him see what the world is like.

So where is the best place to find an underground organization like the Heaven and Earth Society?

The answer is obvious: teahouses.

Nowadays, teahouses are a place for many ordinary people to spend their leisure time. The Heaven and Earth Society, the Gelaohui, and the Green Gang all used teahouses as their base.

Ander quickly selected his target near the main road in the concession: a bustling teahouse that seemed to be doing good business.

The three large characters "一洞天" (Yi Dong Tian) are written on the plaque above the gate, and it looks quite old.

"This is it. Let's see if we can find any clues."

As Ander stepped into the teahouse, everyone inside was stunned, and even the waiter froze to the side.

Everyone knows that an extraordinary person has arrived at the teahouse:

Behind his head...

No braid!

Chapter Eighteen: Searching for Someone in the Teahouse

Yidongtian Teahouse is an old teahouse that opened during the Tongzhi era. The owner behind it is none other than the renowned Hongmen.

This teahouse was located in the Shanghai International Settlement. On weekdays, most of the people who came to drink tea were either hooligans or laborers working on the docks.

But even those fearless thugs would give a thumbs up and secretly cheer when they saw Ander's hairstyle.

In the Qing Dynasty, losing the pig's tail on one's head meant one was going against the imperial court.

How can a rebellion be carried out so openly? It must be done secretly. If the court finds out, you'll lose your head.

In the foreign concessions, the foreigners wielded considerable power, but if the imperial court requested it, it was still quite easy for the foreign police to arrest someone.

Before Ander's feet even touched the ground, the waiter immediately reacted, his face contorted with tears as he bowed low and pleaded with Ander:

"Sir, please go somewhere else. Our place is too small to accommodate a big fish like you."

Ander didn't care whether the place was small or not; he shook off the waiter and walked inside.

Those thugs stared intently at the young man with the Western-style haircut, trying to figure out who this hero was.

Some clever ones had already sneaked out, intending to go to the government office to ask for a reward; the revolutionaries were worth a lot of money.

The teahouse owner was a man of principle; he pulled aside the waiter, who had a pained expression, and gave him some instructions.

The waiter dared not disobey, so he put on a smile and approached Ander, asking:

"Sir, what would you like to drink?"

Ander casually asked for some tea, and soon the waiter brought over some teaware and brewed tea for Ander with a smile.

Without saying a word, Ander grabbed the waiter who was about to leave, and with a flick of his finger, a silver dollar was stuffed into the waiter's hand.

The waiter quickly bent down, and Ander whispered in his ear:

"I'm looking for heroes from the Heaven and Earth Society. Could you ask the shopkeeper if he could introduce me to some?"

In places like this, there are no ordinary people running teahouses. If you want to find the Heaven and Earth Society, you have to rely on people like this.

Xiao Er's heart skipped a beat. He thought to himself, "This guy is really fearless. He doesn't even have a queue, yet he still wants to find the Heaven and Earth Society. He must be thinking of dying sooner rather than later."

The waiter took the money and hurried to the counter. After whispering with the shopkeeper, he saw the plump shopkeeper in a mandarin jacket walking quickly towards him.

The man in the jacket took out a pack of cigarettes, knocked one out, and handed it to Ander.

Ander realized that this person must have some connection with the Heaven and Earth Society. If he were an ordinary person, he would have been arrested by the police long ago for being so arrogant.

Ander took the cigarette, used his body to block the view of outsiders, recited a dragon script phrase, and flames appeared on his fingers.

The Word of Power obtained from the red dragon finally came in handy.

The man was startled when he saw the flame in Ander's hand. He knew that this kind of person was extremely powerful and that he could not afford to offend him.

"Please come with me..."

Ander followed the mandarin jacket out of the teahouse through the back door, while the people drinking tea on the first floor were wondering which deity had come today.

At this moment, the waiter walked to the door and called out to all the guests:

"Sirs, our shop is not convenient today, so we will have to close early. Please bear with us."

As the waiter called out, the idle thugs stood up one by one, grinning as they helped the shopkeeper chase away customers.

Before long, the bustling teahouse became deserted.

The waiter carried a ladder outside, took down the "Yi Dong Tian" sign, and left through the back door.

Hours later, the concession police stormed into the teahouse, but it was already deserted, with nothing left...

On the other side, Ander followed the man in the jacket and squeezed into a rickshaw. The two of them sat in one vehicle, which looked a bit crowded.

"Which gang's leader are you from? Do you have a waistline?"

The waist plaque is the membership certificate in the Hongmen, and An De naturally did not have one.

"From overseas, just returned to China."

Ander answered tentatively, wanting to probe the man's background first.

"That's a scholar who studied abroad. May I ask what brings you back?"

The man in the mandarin jacket chatted casually with Ander, wanting to know more.

"You're from the Heaven and Earth Society, aren't you?"

The fortune teller waved his hand and said:

"You don't know this, but now everyone calls it the Hongmen. The Heaven and Earth Society is too conspicuous and is prone to causing trouble."

Looking at the man in the mandarin jacket, Ander knew that this guy must have a high status in the Heaven and Earth Society.

"So you're still a leader of the Heaven and Earth Society?"

"I am the head of the back hall of my family in Shanghai, in charge of logistics and procurement."

"You, a hall master, are running a teahouse?"

“You don’t know this, but Yidongtian is the San Dian Hui (Hongmen)’s secret hideout in Shanghai. Where else would I go if I didn’t go there?”

Ander hadn't expected to find a territory of the Heaven and Earth Society so easily, and the man in front of him seemed to be of a high status.

"You should know who I'm looking for."

The mandarin jacket shrank back and replied:

"You should look for the Demon Slayer Hall, but..."

Ma Gua clearly didn't want to take Ander to that Demon-Slaying Hall.