Chapter 49: Brotherly Betrayal

He Yuzhu brought a bowl of steaming corn porridge out from the kitchen and handed it to the man with a grin: "Big Brother, it's so cold out, have a bowl of porridge to warm up!"

The man looked up, shot him a cold glance, and said stiffly: "Not drinking, take it away."

He Yuzhu didn't say much more, nodded, and sat down himself. Not only did he slurp the porridge until the bowl was empty, but he also deliberately licked the bowl clean.

The man glanced at him again, his expression visibly relaxing quite a bit, and then he lowered his head to gnaw on a steamed bun, though he ate more slowly.

He Yuzhu cursed inwardly: This guy is really guarded, does he really take my place for a black shop?

Actually, He Yuzhu didn't know that this person was Zhao Datou, who had caused a scene at the Rolling Mill last night.

After slipping out of the sewer at the time, he hadn't run far; instead, he had set up a Machine Gun at the exit to wait.

Before long, seven or eight little devils crawled out from inside.

"Da-da-da..." As soon as the Machine Gun rang out, this bunch of devils were all mowed down.

Zhao Datou's mind raced; he didn't run forward, but instead crawled back into the sewer.

The little devils had lost too many men and were a bit crazed, having lost their senses; they drove motorcycles off into the distance in pursuit. They never imagined this person would go back.

Unfortunately, Liu Guiquan and the other two were killed by a burst of gunfire from the little devils when they emerged from the sewer and sprinted down the main road.

Zhao Datou hid in the sewer for two hours before quietly sneaking back into the city.

By Shichahai, a disguised He Yuzhu watched his own restaurant from afar.

Inside the shop, Zhao Datou finished the last bite of his bun, slapped a Big Ocean down with a "slap," and without saying a single word, got up and left.

"Hey, this gentleman is truly generous; one Big Ocean is enough for several meals!" He Daqing picked up the Big Ocean, blew on it, listened to it by his ear again and again, and was delighted.

As soon as Zhao Datou stepped out of the shop, he lowered his hat and walked quickly forward, glancing left and right from time to time.

He Yuzhu hunched over and blended into the crowd, following from a distance.

Walking to the side of the Gongwangfu, Zhao Datou stopped in front of a small courtyard gate. After checking left and right to ensure no one was following, he hurriedly took out a key to open the door, slipped inside, and the door shut with a "bang."

He Yuzhu silently memorized the house number, turned, and walked away quickly.

Inside the Military Police headquarters, Sun Qiang pushed the door open with a grin, sidled up to Ishii like a pug, and lowered his voice to flatter him: "Your Excellency, I've been busy for two days and two nights, and the matter of Huang Daxian has been arranged! Would you like to go take a look?"

Ishii glanced at him sideways, snorted through his nose, and nodded: "Lead the way!"

As soon as the two entered the morgue, a stench of corpses mixed with the smell of medicine made Ishii frown immediately.

On a stretcher lay a corpse, scrawny and thin, with a large scar on its face and stubble.

The most frightening thing was that a piece of weasel tail had actually been sewn onto its backside; if you didn't look closely, you would really think it had grown there.

Ishii let out a weird "He-he" laugh, his eyes shining with excitement: "Excellent! Sun-sang, go to the finance department and collect twenty Big Ocean. Quickly send men to post notices all over the city; we'll have a parade tomorrow morning! On the notice, write that the Huang Daxian who killed sixty-five Imperial Collaborators has been brought to justice! And write clearly how capable this fellow is, that he can summon wind and rain! We lost eighty Imperial Army soldiers to catch him! Finally, add one sentence: opposing the Japanese Imperial Army leads only to a dead end!"

"Yes!" Sun Qiang hurriedly bowed and agreed.

The atmosphere in the Lou Mansion was extremely tense.

Lou Bancheng, Lou Gang, Shen Wenqing, and Lao Zhou sat together; the room was filled with smoke, and no one spoke.

Lou Gang spoke first: "We can put the one hundred thousand Big Ocean at the Rolling Mill and ambush them at the earthen city wall when the devils come to collect it. But we must make it quick; the devils' reinforcements will definitely arrive in over twenty minutes."

Lao Zhou took a puff of his cigarette and said slowly: "I have an idea: act inside the city. Take out the drivers and the guards, and we'll just drive the trucks away..."

Lou Gang shook his head repeatedly: "Lao Zhou, your idea is too risky! One hundred thousand Big Ocean weighs five thousand jin; even if we succeed, it'll be hard to transport out!"

Shen Wenqing interjected: "Captain Xiao can bring one hundred men, enough to set ambushes at both locations. If it's hard to strike at either side, we'll just follow them quietly to see where they transport the goods. If we can find the warehouse, we can gather enough men later to wipe out their nest! In any case, we can't be too risky, or it'll be easy to end up with nothing!"

The room suddenly fell quiet again.

By the edge of Shichahai, the air was full of coal smoke early in the morning.

He Yuzhu was practicing martial arts by the lake with Chen Qingshan.

The two fought with a flurry of blows for ten minutes before stopping.

"Zhuzi, you're too amazing. After practicing with you for ten minutes, I need to rest for two hours!" Chen Qingshan said while wiping his sweat.

He Yuzhu was also panting: "Siqiang, actually I'm exhausted too! It's just that I don't like to sweat; I can eat several big meat buns for breakfast."

"The buns your dad makes are truly fragrant, but why aren't there many people buying them?" Chen Qingshan was a bit puzzled.

"Everyone is poor! They can barely afford to eat, so who would be willing to buy meat buns?"

Back at the shop, Chen Daya had already prepared breakfast.

After eating, He Yuzhu strolled to Dian'anmen to scout for information.

A crowd had gathered in front of the Drum Tower, all looking at a notice.

He Yuzhu squeezed in to look, and he was dumbfounded—Huang Daxian had already been slaughtered? He read it carefully twice before he understood: it turned out the higher-ups were pressuring the little devils, and the subordinates had made up a fake one to fool them. It seems the Military Police want to call a truce with me!

"That's a good thing; I've been on edge these days and I'm exhausted too, so it's a good time to rest," he pondered to himself.

By ten o'clock, the sound of blowing and beating came from far to near, and a team of about a hundred people walked over slowly.

The crowd of onlookers on the roadside grew larger and larger, all wanting to see what kind of monster this Huang Daxian really was.

He Yuzhu nimbly climbed up a tree and stood on a branch to watch the show.

The view was really good, but the people below were all pointing at him.

In the middle of the procession, two military police officers carried a stretcher, on which lay a corpse: the face was as thin as a monkey's, with a large scar and covered in yellow hair. The most incredible part was that a large hole had been dug in the clothes on its backside, revealing a piece of weasel tail!

"Huang Daxian has already cultivated into human form, so why is he afraid of bullets?" a young man asked, puzzled.

"This weasel is really big; it can't even hide its tail, it's truly a demon!" a child shouted.

"Don't know how many years of cultivation it had..." an old woman muttered.

"Damn, this makeup technique is more professional than the film studio!" He Yuzhu couldn't help but exclaim.

Several people under the tree hurriedly moved away, fearing they would be implicated by this loose-lipped fellow.

Standing high up, He Yuzhu's eyes suddenly caught a familiar face—isn't that the guy full of murderous intent who was eating in the shop yesterday!

Zhao Datou was squeezed into the crowd. Seeing the scarred face being passed off as Huang Daxian, complete with a fake tail, he was so angry his lungs were about to explode. Seeing his former brother Sun Qiang blathering on and on, he was even more furious.

"Screw your mother, Sun Qiang, I'll definitely slaughter your whole family! Using a brother's corpse to offer a pledge of allegiance, you're not a human being!" Zhao Datou reached out to touch his gun, but seeing the little devils carrying guns all around, he pulled his hand back. But when he looked at the "Huang Daxian" on the stretcher, he trembled all over with rage.

He Yuzhu immediately saw that something was wrong with Zhao Datou.

No matter the reason, this guy must not be allowed to cause trouble.

If there is any chaos during today's parade, the little devils will surely be endless with their complaints.

He Yuzhu is not afraid of them; he just truly wants to live a few days of peace.

His mind raced, he slid down from the tree with a swish, quickly ducked into an alley, found a deserted spot, took out a pair of small mustaches and fake eyebrows, and carefully stuck them on while looking into a small mirror. In no time, the person in the mirror looked like a young man in his twenties.

The cold wind blew the withered leaves on the ground into a spin; He Yuzhu wrapped his new cotton-padded jacket tighter, yet he still felt the cold wind drilling into his bones. He stomped his feet and walked toward his target at a steady pace.

When he was still a dozen steps away from Zhao Datou, he saw him about to reach into his bosom. He could not let him ruin the parade! He Yuzhu flicked his wrist, and a streak of silver light flew out from his sleeve.

With a "whoosh," the Flying Knife precisely pierced the back of Zhao Datou's hand.

"Ugh!" Zhao Datou let out a muffled groan and hurriedly looked around.

He saw a young man in a new cotton-padded jacket leaning against a wall nearby, smoking leisurely. Beside him were a few middle-aged men craning their necks to watch the excitement.

"An expert!" Zhao Datou thought to himself; this person did not intend to kill, but was giving a warning not to mess around.

He reacted immediately, pulled out the Flying Knife and tucked it into his pocket, hid his injured hand in his sleeve, and quickly squeezed out of the crowd.

He Yuzhu followed behind at a steady pace, and seeing Zhao Datou return directly to his own small courtyard, it meant he would not cause trouble today.

He Yuzhu did not follow any further; he knew this person understood his meaning.

He Yuzhu turned around and took a shortcut home.

As soon as he pushed open the shop door, a wave of warmth mixed with the fragrance of food rushed toward him.

Looking up, he saw two familiar faces sitting in the shop.