PDLP 161. Razor and Nighthawk
161. Razor and Nighthawk
Late at night, in Shanghai, on the banks of the Huangpu River.
Several lonely figures stood in the shadows. Today was the seventh day after Qingxia and the people of Fengwei Lane who were murdered. Zhou Hongyi led the group to fold paper lanterns, light candles, and put them into the river to express their grief.
The investigation into Zhou Hongyi has concluded. Due to a lack of further evidence, and the fact that Qingxia took the blame for everything alone, even Saotome Yosuke, who possesses the ability to read people's minds, couldn't find a single flaw. Although they still harbored suspicions, they could only temporarily rule out Zhou Hongyi as a suspect.
Despite the upcoming Lunar New Year, Zhou Hongyi and his team showed no inclination to relax or enjoy themselves. They worked against the clock to rebuild their intelligence network, ensuring that news from Shanghai could be successfully transmitted to the outside world.
Zhou Hongyi also shared his intelligence network and safe houses with the Red Party. On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, "Bodhi" led more than a dozen outstanding underground workers of the Red Party into Shanghai, where they dispersed and hid in various safe houses.
Meanwhile, the assassins from the Military Intelligence Bureau infiltrated various merchant caravans in Shanghai. After the New Year, a key figure from the Kuomintang's Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (CBIS) had secretly arrived in Shanghai. Their mission was twofold: first, to monitor the work of the Military Intelligence Bureau personnel; and second, to obtain a map of the Japanese army's upcoming strategic deployment.
This information was obtained by our communications officer through a highly accidental interception and analysis of a telegram. The Japanese army's predicament at the front had exacerbated the conflict between the military headquarters and conservative factions on the mainland. One group advocated halting the offensive and consolidating existing occupied territories; while a more radical faction argued that it was imperative to press on and achieve the initial strategic objectives set forth, otherwise these objectives would become even more difficult to achieve later.
Ultimately, the group composed of the majority of radicals gained the upper hand, changed their advance strategy at the front, and became bolder and more reckless in their sacrifices. Upon receiving this news, the Kuomintang's "principal" immediately ordered his two major intelligence agencies—the Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Zhongtong) and the Military Bureau of Investigation and Statistics (Juntong)—to do everything possible to obtain the Japanese army's marching and deployment maps in order to prepare a countermeasure in advance.
Chen Gong had already informed Zhou Hongyi of this information, and Zhou Hongyi was quite interested in the troop deployment map. He decided that while retaliating against the Special Higher Police's Saotome Squad, he would also launch a full-scale intelligence gathering operation targeting this troop deployment map.
To obtain this blueprint, it was necessary to first find out who had it and how to access it. Zhou Hongyi had previously used the various services offered by the New Paramount Ballroom to become acquainted with officers of all ranks in the Japanese army stationed around Shanghai. Those who held real power, especially company commanders and platoon leaders, even became sworn brothers with Zhou Hongyi, and they often drank themselves into a stupor together.
He planned to use these people as a starting point to elicit their opinions, piece together fragmented information, and deduce the desired outcome.
But tonight, besides releasing lanterns to express their grief for the deceased, they have another crucial thing to do.
Zhou Hongyi, wearing a dark gray overcoat and buttoning his hat, turned and walked onto the embankment. From the shadows beneath the trees, dozens of men, also dressed in dark overcoats and top hats, quickly emerged and silently followed.
These people were all survivors who had been carefully trained by Ah Gui and had an irreconcilable hatred for the Japanese army. Among them were many surviving soldiers who had participated in the Battle of Shanghai.
Zhou Hongyi named their small group the "Razor Society." The word "Razor" is a homophone for "acting on behalf of Heaven." From then on, Zhou Hongyi had two organizations active in the shadows.
One force is "Nighthawks," composed of police officers from the Jing'an Second Branch; the other is "Razor," composed of survivors from the farm implement factory. These two forces will undoubtedly cause significant headaches for the Japanese army and the Wang Jingwei regime in Shanghai in the future.
The arrival of "Night Hawk" and "Razor" perfectly filled the power vacuum left by the Axe Gang's retreat. Tonight, Zhou Hongyi will lead his men to reclaim the territory seized by the Axe Gang.
The members of the "Night Hawks" were all police officers from the Jing'an Second Branch, totaling 126 people. The "Razor Gang" had fewer members, but each one was an elite, totaling 39 people.
This is Zhou Hongyi's core team. They moved quietly through Shanghai late at night. Because they had already learned the time and route of the Japanese patrols, they were able to walk calmly on the streets and always cleverly avoid the Japanese patrols.
They arrived at the South Shanghai dock area, which used to be the territory of the Axe Gang, managed by Chen Xiaodao. However, after the last fierce battle, the Axe Gang was severely weakened. In addition, they were targeted by the military police and experienced several small-scale street battles, which forced Liu Yaqiao to disperse the gang members and temporarily hide in the suburbs.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Viper Gang, a rival gang of the Axe Gang, seized many of the Axe Gang's territories and warehouses, and took over the goods in the warehouses.
Tonight, Zhou Hongyi's men quietly arrived at the South Shanghai dock area. A group of silent men dressed in identical clothes suddenly gathered around the warehouse. They emerged from the shadows, silently eliminating the sentries placed by the Viper Gang one by one, and made their way unimpeded to the enemy's stronghold.
Zhou Hongyi gazed at the dimly lit warehouse not far away, took out a lighter, lit a cigarette, slowly exhaled the smoke, and said in a calm tone, "Go."
As soon as Zhou Hongyi finished speaking, all the members of the Razor Claw Society, dressed in dark coats, silently took out a pair of round, dark sunglasses from their pockets.
They put on sunglasses, pulled up their collars to cover most of their faces, put on black leather gloves, drew machetes from their waists, quickened their pace, and rushed into the warehouse in front of them.
Immediately afterwards, several muffled thuds were heard, followed by blinding flashes of light shining through the gaps in the warehouse. It turned out that the Razor Gang had thrown flashbangs that emitted intense light before making their move. The flashbangs immediately blinded the Viper Gang members, and what followed was a one-sided massacre.
Zhou Hongyi was well aware that the Viper Gang was entirely a gang that Kondo had personally supported, and that it was secretly serving the Japanese army. It was precisely because of this that after the Axe Gang went into hiding, they were able to take over its territory and businesses without restraint, and expand rapidly in a short period of time, almost developing into a force that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the old Green Gang.
But tonight, blood flowed like a river in the southern dock area of Shanghai. The Razor Society, appearing out of nowhere, fired the first shot that would make them famous. They not only massacred the Viper Gang's stronghold in the dock area but also eliminated their third-in-command. In an instant, the Razor Society's reputation soared. Fueled by the sensationalist local tabloids, they were portrayed as a group of ghostly soldiers crawling out of hell, silently reaping lives.
This claim became increasingly outrageous as it spread, and in the near future, it was even used by some women to scare their children: "If you don't behave and keep crying, the evil spirits of the Razorfen Downs will crawl out from underground, drag you down to the eighteenth level of hell, and spank you!"