Chapter 61: Pulling the Trigger

Hankou Road, Guanghua Bookstore.

A tall woman wearing a khaki trench coat and high heels walked in.

Seeing the customer, the bookstore owner, Sun Jianzhong, immediately signaled a clerk to step forward and welcome her.

"Boss, has the magazine subscription I ordered from you arrived yet?"

The bookstore owner gave a look, and the clerk hurriedly ran to the door to keep an eye on passing pedestrians.

In front of the counter, the bookstore owner smiled and said:

"Ah, it is Miss Yang. The periodicals you ordered have arrived. I was just about to call you to come and pick them up."

With that, the bookstore owner lowered his head to rummage through the shelves, and his voice softly drifted over:

"Comrade Drifting Snow, what urgent situation brings you to me at a time like this?"

The newcomer was none other than Yang Huamei from the No. 76 Medical Room.

After receiving an inexplicable phone call, Yang Huamei resolutely chose to seek out her superior.

Although she was not familiar with the Zhoushan stronghold, that person had directly called out her identity over the phone, leaving Yang Huamei without a moment of hesitation.

However, Yang Huamei was also afraid that it might be a trap set by law enforcement. Therefore, on her way here, she wandered the streets for a while, making sure she was not being followed before finally coming to Guanghua Bookstore.

"Old Sun, it's an emergency. The Zhoushan stronghold has been exposed, and the men from the No. 76 Action Branch have already surrounded it."

The bookstore owner, named Sun Jianzhong, was the underground party leader outside the foreign concessions in Shanghai.

He looked to be in his fifties, wore round-rimmed glasses, wore a grey long gown, and had slightly graying hair, exuding the distinct temperament of a scholar.

"What, Zhoushan Road?"

"Don't worry, let me confirm."

With that, Sun Jianzhong strode toward the back room.

A few minutes later, Sun Jianzhong returned to the counter with a solemn expression:

"Drifting Snow, thank you for bringing such important intelligence. I will handle this matter. You should hurry back; your lunch break is almost over."

Yang Huamei nodded, thought carefully for a moment, and spoke again:

"Old Sun, have the comrades at the telephone bureau erase the call made to the No. 76 Medical Room at six minutes past eleven this morning..."

Originally, Yang Huamei wanted to say erase it, but a second thought made her change her mind:

"Change the time when this call was connected."

Sun Jianzhong smiled and looked at Yang Huamei with approval:

"You're making progress. I will handle this matter as well, so don't worry."

"As for the comrade who called to warn you today, I will also confirm with the organization as soon as possible. During our next meeting, I will share the results of the investigation with you."

"Be careful in everything you do. The call made to your office today is a major hazard. We still don't know what that person's motives are, but since they provided us with this intelligence, cleaning up after them means we are now even."

Not far from the photo studio on Zhoushan Road, Zhao Xuan sat at an outdoor food stall sipping noodles. He kept his scanning mode activated, scanning the passing pedestrians while keeping the photo studio locked in his sights.

Zhou Mei and Fan Dingfang were sitting at the same table with Zhao Xuan, the three of them casting glances toward the direction of the photo studio from time to time.

At that moment, Radish Head came running over in a breathless rush, gasping as he said:

"Xuo... Brother Xuan, t-t-this is bad! A fight has broken out over at the captain's side!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Mei's first reaction was pleasant surprise: "It really is the underground party?"

Zhao Xuan tossed his chopsticks onto the table, drew his gun, cocked it, and shouted:

"Stop eating! Hurry, we absolutely cannot let those two from the photo studio escape!"

Fan Dingfang wiped his mouth, glared angrily at Radish Head, drew his weapon, and rushed off after Zhao Xuan.

Zhou Mei did not hesitate either, drawing her gun and quickly catching up.

Inside the photo studio, as Zhao Xuan and his men rushed in, the owner and the photographer—who had just finished taking pictures and were preparing to eat—were momentarily stunned before realizing that the men following Zhao Xuan had raised their guns and aimed them directly at their chests.

"Y-You're that customer from earlier!"

Zhao Xuan looked at the two men with cold eyes and motioned with a glance for Fan Dingfang's men to pin them down.

Seeing that Zhao Xuan meant business, the store owner clutched the telephone while the photographer prepared to squat down immediately. At the same time, the photographer shouted:

"Don't shoot, we..."

Seeing the enemy's sudden movement, Zhou Mei, Zhao Xuan, and Fan Dingfang successively pulled their triggers.

A rapid succession of five shots rang out, with Zhao Xuan firing three of them himself.

Zhou Mei opened her mouth in surprise and looked at Fan Dingfang beside her. Fan Dingfang offered a bitter smile and led his men forward quickly to inspect the bodies.

The photographer had been hit by Zhao Xuan's three bullets in the forehead and both sides of his chest, dying instantly.

Meanwhile, Zhou Mei and Fan Dingfang had both shot the store owner.

Originally, Zhou Mei only intended to injure the store owner's arm, but Fan Dingfang had fired a fraction of a second before her.

Of course, Fan Dingfang had no intention of killing the store owner either; after all, only a living underground party member could yield the greatest merit.

However, Fan Dingfang had not expected that after he hit the store owner, the man's body swayed, causing the bullet fired by Zhou Mei to strike him directly in the heart.

"Brother Xuan, both of them are dead."

Zhou Mei twitched the corner of her mouth, walked over to take a look, and then turned to ask Zhao Xuan:

"Section Chief Zhao, was that photographer just about to surrender?"

Hearing this, a flash of anger crossed the depths of Fan Dingfang's eyes. If Zhou Mei hadn't fired just then, they could have captured the store owner alive.

"He yelled too late!"

Fan Dingfang snorted coldly.

Zhou Mei also realized that her previous remark sounded somewhat like questioning Zhao Xuan, and she immediately felt a hint of regret.

However, Zhao Xuan walked up, glanced at the fatal wounds of the two men, and said with an indifferent expression:

"Old Fan is right. Besides, if you're surrendering, why don't you raise your hands? What's the meaning of crouching down?"

With that, Zhao Xuan walked around the counter and pulled open the drawer, which contained two guns.

Upon seeing this, Fan Dingfang spat on the two corpses lying on the ground:

"Damn bastards, they actually still dared to play tricks on us."

Zhou Mei was filled with intense regret and hurriedly bowed to Zhao Xuan:

"Section Chief Zhao, I'm sorry. It was my fault just now."

Zhao Xuan waved his hand, picked up the phone on the ground, and directly dialed Ding Moqun's office.

"Director, a mess broke out on Jiang Ping's end, but one thing is certain: these people are either from the underground party or the Nationalist secret service."

"I've already dealt with the photo studio. There are no survivors."

"Alright, I understand!"

Hanging up the phone, Zhao Xuan instructed Fan Dingfang to leave two men to clean up the mess, then immediately led the rest of his subordinates to reinforce Jiang Ping.

Having eliminated the two Yamaguchi-gumi members, Zhao Xuan felt slightly relieved, though in his heart he prayed that the underground party members on Jiang Ping's side would manage to break through.

By the time Zhao Xuan and his men arrived, the battle on Jiang Ping's side was already over.

Looking at the alley scarred by grenade blasts and the corpses scattered all along the path, Zhao Xuan cast a cold, grim glance at Jiang Ping, who was covered in cold sweat and looked terrified.

Crack—

Zhao Xuan raised his hand and slapped Jiang Ping, sending him crashing to the ground:

"What did I say to you before I left?"

"I left so many men from the action team with you, and this is the situation you show me?"