Chapter 2: Wind and Snow Can Kill

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Chapter 2: Wind and Snow Can Kill

Xu Ruiyang looked at the two Japanese ruffians who were cursing loudly, a fierce murderous intent gleaming in his eyes. Weather like this presented a rare opportunity to strike.

He was not reckless by nature. There were countless Japanese people beyond the Pass—how many could he possibly kill?

The mission he had received was one of long-term infiltration. Taking actions that endangered himself without authorization was forbidden by discipline!

But today was certainly an exception. He had no intention of letting such a perfect opportunity slip away. Haruka Inoue could not possibly be deceiving him under these circumstances. As the president of the South Manchuria Railway’s personal secretary, she had powerful enough connections.

Bowing and scraping, Xu Ruiyang blocked the two Japanese ruffians. Quietly removing his gloves, he suddenly struck the area behind their jaws.

During his training at the police academy, this had been one of the techniques taught in close-quarters combat. A light blow would render a person unconscious almost instantly; with sufficient force, it could kill outright.

The two scum could never have imagined that a policeman of Manchukuo would dare launch a sneak attack against them. Caught completely off guard, they were ambushed and, in an instant, collapsed limply onto the ground. Before long, a layer of snow had begun to settle over their bodies.

Xu Ruiyang did not linger. Seeing no one nearby, he hurriedly mounted his bicycle and rode away.

In weather like this, drunk and unconscious, they certainly would not wake up for some time. He estimated that they would be completely finished within half an hour. Given the time and the weather, the chances of anyone discovering them were extremely small.

In less than ten minutes, the snow would cover them.

Pedaling hard, Xu Ruiyang quickly caught up with Haruka Inoue, who was struggling through the snow. She was his most important safeguard. If two Japanese men were found “frozen to death” the next day, the military police might hold the patrolling officers responsible.

But as long as Haruka Inoue, a Japanese national, took the initiative to explain matters to the military police and agreed to testify on his behalf, at worst he would have to endure a few harsh words. Anyone who had never lived beyond the Pass could not possibly understand the power wielded by the South Manchuria Railway.

“Miss Inoue, shall I escort you home?” Xu Ruiyang asked, stopping his bicycle.

Haruka Inoue immediately nodded. She did not object to the suggestion, evidently still shaken by what had just happened. She raised a hand and pointed toward a cluster of houses in the distance.

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The reason Xu Ruiyang did not carry her on the bicycle was that, in such heavy snow, the road was already difficult to see. The ground was buried beneath thick drifts, making it hard to control the bicycle, while the tires slipped constantly on the snow.

If he himself felt it was unsafe, how could it be any safer with two people?

Haruka Inoue’s home was not very far away. After more than twenty minutes, they arrived before a typically Japanese-style residence.

“You may see me to this point. Thank you, and I am sorry to have troubled you. May I ask which police station you belong to? Could you tell me your name?” Haruka Inoue asked with a bow.

Only then did Xu Ruiyang clearly see what she looked like. She stood a little over five feet tall—not short at all among the Japanese women he had seen.

Her long black hair fell over her shoulders. She had slender brows, clear and shining eyes, and full lips touched with a faint shade of lipstick. Her figure was graceful, her skin fair; she could certainly be called beautiful.

“It was my honor to be of service to you. I am Xu Ruiyang, a patrol officer with the New District Police Station. This is the area I patrol.” Xu Ruiyang returned her bow.

“I will ask the president to intervene and warn those ruffians. If they dare trouble you, please call the South Manchuria Railway headquarters and simply ask for me. Once I have finished dealing with these matters, I will thank you properly,” Haruka Inoue said.

Only after watching Haruka Inoue’s back disappear from sight did Xu Ruiyang turn around, mount his bicycle, and struggle back to his lodgings.

There was no mark on the utility pole by the roadside. His contact, who had been absent for a full year, still had no intention of awakening him. Clearly, the time was not yet right. As a minor patrol officer, it was difficult for him to provide any important intelligence, and he could offer little assistance to the underground organization’s operations.

By the time he reached home, night had fallen completely.

Xu Ruiyang lived in an ordinary street-facing courtyard in the old city. The main northern house contained five rooms, while the eastern and western side buildings each had three. Three storefronts stood west of the main gate. This was the inheritance his parents had left him, and in Xinjing it was considered exceptionally spacious.

Xu Ruiyang’s family had originally been from Lu Province. In his grandfather’s generation, they had moved to Quancheng and made their living selling tea. By his father’s generation, the family had entered the tea transportation business. Their financial circumstances were fairly comfortable, and they had enough money to send him to Central University.

He had studied accounting in the School of Commerce. After entering university, his horizons broadened enormously. During vacations, he had visited Greater Shanghai several times with his classmates and had become deeply enamored of the prosperity of the foreign concessions. He had specially studied English, intending to find work at a foreign trading firm after graduation.

While he was at university, one of his teachers opened an entirely new door for him, bringing him new ideas and principles, dispelling his confusion about the future and his bewilderment about life.

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Yet he had never revealed his identity to the university’s party organization. Although he had secretly worked as a courier for a time, delivering intelligence to designated locations, he had never met anyone other than his contact.

During Xu Ruiyang’s third year, the situation in Lu Province grew unstable, while Manchukuo was no longer at war. To escape the turmoil, his parents decided to come to Xinjing and seek refuge with relatives.

As the situation developed, Central University was also preparing to relocate to Mountain City. Having been recruited as an underground party member, Xu Ruiyang ended his studies at his contact’s instruction and came to Xinjing with several classmates, using the excuse of visiting his parents.

He never could have imagined that Xinjing would offer him not a warm home, but devastating news.

The relatives who had remained there told Xu Ruiyang that, during the arduous journey beyond the Pass, his mother had fallen ill from overwork and had not received timely treatment. She collapsed after arriving in Xinjing and, more than three months later, passed away.

His father, overcome with grief, found the tea trade in Xinjing difficult as well. He was also repeatedly extorted by Japanese ruffians and puppet policemen, and within less than a year, he too died.

In truth, the family still had a biological aunt who had married and moved to Jin Province. Her husband was also a businessman, and it had been Xu Ruiyang’s father who had introduced them. But they had been out of contact for many years, and no one knew how the family was faring. Jin Province was likewise an occupied region.

His contact instructed him to use his connections with his classmates to attend the police academy for six months of training. He then joined the New District Police Station, becoming the lowest-ranking patrol officer and undertaking a long-term infiltration mission.

“Uncle Lin, your tea shop closed early today.”

The sitting room of the northern house was lit. Xu Ruiyang pushed open the door and saw Lin Baofeng, the tea merchant who rented his storefronts and western side rooms, sitting beside the stove and watching over a pot of steaming braised meat. The room was comfortably warm; judging by the heat, the kang must have been fired up as well.

In winter, when there was no central heating, a heated kang was the best way to ward off the cold. A few armfuls of firewood in the large stove made sleeping comfortable at night, though one would still feel the chill upon rising in the morning.

Lin Baofeng had rented the storefront and opened his tea shop before Xu Ruiyang arrived in Xinjing. Building upon the foundation of the original tea business, the two men saw each other every day. They often shared meals, drank tea, and chatted together, and had grown very familiar with each other.

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