20demayo Chapter 124 The Noble Prince
Chapter 124 The Noble Prince
Zhao Bingjun was panting heavily, his hair soaked with cold sweat that clung to his face, looking utterly disheveled.
He looked at Sato's cold eyes, then at the menacing interrogators beside him, and at the terrifying instruments of torture on the shelf: bamboo skewers, the tiger bench, the salt water bucket—each one capable of making one wish for death.
He knew he couldn't withstand the next round of torture.
The so-called unyielding spirit is nothing but a fragile bubble in the face of extreme pain.
He was a sycophant by nature, who defected to the Japanese army for wealth and glory. His spinelessness made him unable to withstand the torture.
"I...I'll talk..." Zhao Bingjun's consciousness completely dissipated, his voice as weak as a mosquito's buzz, bloody saliva constantly spilling from the corner of his mouth, "It was...it was me who colluded with the Communists...I passed them intelligence...those encrypted notes, I wrote them too..."
Upon hearing this, Yuichi Sato finally showed a satisfied smile.
He waved to the interrogators, signaling them to stop.
"If you had done this earlier, you wouldn't have suffered so much." Sato bent down and gently patted Zhao Bingjun's cheek, his tone full of sarcasm. "Tomorrow, your confession will be circulated throughout the entire puppet government institutions in Shanghai. If you behave well, perhaps you can still be spared a proper burial."
Zhao Bingjun slumped on the torture chair, his eyes vacant, having long since lost the strength to defend himself.
The pain from the torture was still spreading, and his death was not far off.
Three days later, the execution ground in western Shanghai was packed with people.
Zhao Bingjun was bound hand and foot, kneeling on the ground, his hair disheveled and his face covered in blood.
His mouth was stuffed with a strip of cloth, and he was whimpering, his eyes filled with despair and resentment.
"Traitor Zhao Bingjun, for colluding with the enemy and betraying the country, and for conspiring with the Japanese Communists, is guilty of heinous crimes! He is sentenced to death and to be executed immediately!"
As the executioner finished speaking, a gunshot rang out.
Zhao Bingjun's body trembled violently, and he collapsed to the ground.
Among the onlookers, Su Yan stood behind a plane tree, watching the horrific scene at the execution ground, her fingertips slightly cold.
Liu Yan, who was beside her, handed her a handkerchief and whispered, "Don't be soft-hearted. He deserves it."
Su Yan took the handkerchief, wiped the sweat from her palms, and nodded.
Looking at the smoke rising from the execution ground, she suddenly understood what Yan Shuo meant by "the silent knife".
Without guns or knives, a forged photograph can make enemies kill each other.
This was more sophisticated and more brutal than any bloody battle.
In the distance, Yan Shuo stood by the window of a high-rise building, watching the commotion at the execution ground, and slowly lit a cigarette. Through the swirling smoke, his gaze fell on another photograph in his hand—information about his next target.
The rain in the concession is still falling; it seems to have been going on for days. It should be clearing up by now. If it keeps raining like this, everyone will get moldy.
Yan Shuo muttered to himself as he walked toward the Western American Ocean.
Su Ling, along with Song Jia, Zhao Erniu, Huang Bing, and more than ten team members, thoroughly interrogated Cai An, using all sorts of torture instruments. They discovered that the person in charge of that brothel was Kentaro Ito, the cousin of Lieutenant Commander Eiji Arakawa, a gunnery officer on the naval warship Meikikumaru. He was a rich young man who knew nothing but how to play with women.
This bastard wasn't satisfied with just having fun in Japan. He heard that Eiji Arakawa was in Shanghai, and that Shanghai was the largest city in the East of China, incredibly luxurious, with all sorts of people and immense wealth. After reading his cousin's letter, he was filled with envy.
However, his family knew what kind of person he was and disciplined him quite strictly. Several times he wanted to come to Shanghai, but his family stopped him in time.
You can act all high and mighty in Japan, but I still have some face and connections, so I won't suffer a big loss. But what kind of place is China? It's a battlefield. Old Master Ito Yuki is very wise. He knows what kind of person his own is, haha. He ordered his servants to keep a close watch on his son.
Finally, taking advantage of another passenger ship coming to China, he managed to get a ticket, evaded his family's watchful eyes, and secretly came to Shanghai to stay with his cousin, where he opened this kind of outpost.
"Not a military officer?" Yan Shuo raised an eyebrow, his tone tinged with surprise, seemingly not expecting the person behind the scenes to be a spoiled brat.
"No, he's just a typical rich kid." Su Ling nodded, then handed over a thick file. "This is his family background. Kentaro Ito is an only son. His father, Yuki Ito, is 55 years old and is the chairman of Ito Corporation in Japan. He has deep strategic partnerships with large trading companies such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi, making him a considerable conglomerate. He also has three daughters. Although they didn't marry into royalty, their marriage partners are all from very prominent backgrounds."
Su Ling paused for a moment, then listed them one by one: "My eldest daughter married Uchida Shi, the nephew of Uchida Koichi, the Minister of General Affairs of the Ministry of Finance; my second daughter is the daughter-in-law of Sakamoto Kazuyuki, the General Manager of the South Manchuria Railway Headquarters; and my third daughter, Miyako, married Sakai Kusanai, the Vice Admiral and Deputy Commander of the Second Fleet of the Navy."
"Pfft—" Yan Shuo had just picked up his teacup and taken a sip when he heard this and burst out laughing. "Are you kidding me? How old is that old man Sakai? Is his third daughter even 30 years old?"
"Absolutely true." Su Ling suppressed a laugh and replied seriously, "Sakai Kusanai is 53 years old, and Ito Yuki's third daughter is 28 years old. After marriage, she changed her surname to Sakai Miako and took her husband's surname. The two also have a son named Sakai Yutomo, who is just two and a half years old. Sakai dotes on this son very much."
"Oh?" Yan Shuo became interested, scratched his head, got up and walked towards the bookshelf. "Is it the little boy who lives in Courtyard No. 3 of the Fanya High Villa District? I took a lot of photos there before, let's look for him."
As he spoke, he reached into a hidden compartment on the bookshelf and began searching.
"No need to look anymore, I brought a newly taken one."
Su Ling opened the folder, flipped through a few pages, pulled out a photo, and handed it over.
In the photo, Miako Sakai is dressed in an elegant kimono, holding the hand of a cute little boy. The two stand under a cherry blossom tree in the courtyard, their smiles gentle and their appearance exceptionally intimate and adorable.
Yan Shuo took the photo, his fingertips gently tracing the mother and son in the picture. The smile in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a trace of barely perceptible heartache.
While both were living during wartime, the Japanese were able to live a comfortable and peaceful life in the villa districts of the concessions, with virtuous wives and filial children, enjoying a tranquil existence, while countless Chinese compatriots struggled in dire straits.
This stark contrast left him feeling very uncomfortable.
"What should we do?" Su Ling asked cautiously, seeing his pensive expression.
"We don't have a fleet, so going after that old bastard Sakai is useless." Yan Shuo rolled his eyes, his tone tinged with impatience. "What else can we do besides kill him? He's a vice admiral in his fifties, experienced and with a solid foundation. Getting him to betray his country is harder than climbing to heaven. Do you expect him to poison the people in his own fleet?"
"But now that we've figured out the relationship, we can't just let it go to waste." After thinking for a moment, Su Ling suggested, "How about we take Xiong You away and coerce Miyako into giving us information? She's Sakai's weakness, so she might agree."
"It's pointless." Yan Shuo shook his head, his tone resolute. "Sakai isn't some naive young man in his thirties; this old geezer is incredibly cunning. Even if we take his son away, or even if you deliberately approach Miyako and befriend her, he won't let his guard down. Does he have other children?"