Chapter 66: Japanese Samurai

Zhou Zhihan stood behind a large tree not far from the Chinese Overseas Association, watching four children deliver the gold and the letter to the association. He also saw Shu Qin standing at the entrance looking around in all directions. Once he watched Liu Yunyi lead the group to deposit the gold in the bank, he turned and left.

The reason he delivered the gold in two batches was that the first batch had been obtained from Keiko Kayama, while the second batch had been acquired from Chen Xiping last night.

Furthermore, he still retained a childlike spirit, wanting to bring a continuous stream of pleasant surprises to the overseas Chinese who were currently anxious about purchasing aircraft.

Last night, Zhou Zhihan slipped out through the window of his hotel room, rode his bicycle at great speed right behind Chen Xiping’s restaurant, and waited for the night to grow dark. He effortlessly climbed into the stairwell between the first and second floors, made sure the restroom was empty, gently pushed open the window latch he had secretly unlocked earlier when using the restroom, closed the window behind him, and quietly entered the upper floor without anyone ever knowing.

When Chen Xiping opened the hidden door behind the clock, took out the radio, and prepared to transmit under the dim light, Zhou Zhihan appeared silently behind him and snapped his neck in a single, instantaneous motion.

This was a densely populated residential area for Chinese, requiring a swift and decisive resolution to prevent Chen Xiping from crying out for help.

When he brought Gandy Duff to the restaurant yesterday afternoon, the moment Chen Xiping hurried out to greet him and shook his hand, Zhou Zhihan had already identified the man's true identity. During the meal, he had also deliberately leaked the data of the Type 96 carrier-based aircraft and the P-26 fighter to him. He knew that upon receiving the data for these two fighter planes, Chen Xiping would certainly telegraph the Special Service Section overnight to verify its authenticity!

However, Zhou Zhihan had not anticipated that Chen Xiping would secretly hoard twenty large gold bars along with a stack of two thousand US dollars.

It seemed that the agents of the Special Service Section were not entirely loyal to their emperor after all.

All twenty large gold bars, each weighing a full five hundred grams, earned Zhou Zhihan another 102,000 aerial combat coins.

This was truly a pleasant surprise. Lately, Zhou Zhihan had been feeling a bit tight in the pockets, and these two thousand US dollars came like charcoal in snowy weather, just enough to offset the aerial combat coins paid as compensation for the last time he crashed the Tachikawa Ki-95c trainer aircraft.

Zhou Zhihan decided to donate the gold; keeping it around would only cause trouble.

As for the two thousand US dollars, well, he would keep them as operational funds.

Just like that!

Only by eating well and sleeping soundly could one have the strength to be truly patriotic and make contributions to the country.

After killing Chen Xiping, Zhou Zhihan dressed the corpse in a samurai costume, carried it downstairs, and hung it from the roof beam. He pasted large-character placards on its front and back, placed the radio and codebooks at the corpse's feet as evidence that Chen Xiping was a Japanese spy, left an inspiring message on the table, and then calmly departed through the window, returning to the hotel to spend another four hours flying the P-26 and Type 95 fighters.

Donating the gold obtained from Keiko Kayama and Chen Xiping to the Chinese Overseas Association to purchase P-26 fighters under his pre-time-travel identity made Zhou Zhihan feel superior to any time-traveler in novels.

Being able to leave a good name and do good deeds for his former identity after crossing over probably made him a unique time-traveler, unprecedented and likely unrepeated.

Zhou Zhihan rolled a hundred-dollar bill around a Marlboro cigarette and handed it to the old cowboy, then reached out to take the car keys from his desk, taking Gandy Duff with him to continue toward Long Island, in search of the middle-aged man whose vague figure remained in Keiko Kayama's dying memories.

When they went out in the morning, Zhou Zhihan had already told Gandy Duff to get ready to head for the beach before noon.

Before long, he would leave New York for Randolph Air Field, and he might not have another opportunity to return here in the future. Therefore, he needed to quickly find and eliminate this Special Service Section spy before leaving.

Although eradicating spies was not the primary purpose and mission of an international student, for now, he was the only one capable of finding this deeply hidden spy.

Each spy eliminated was equivalent to contributing one more share of strength to the nation.

The hands of every Japanese spy were stained with the blood of the Chinese people.

They had to be eliminated!

Zhou Zhihan felt that today he could not repeat yesterday's routine, where every Chinese-run swimwear shop they visited resulted in Gandy Duff trying on various swimsuits and him buying them out of sheer embarrassment at refusing. He did not have that much time and energy to waste, nor could Gandy Duff wear that many swimsuits.

Today, the search had to be selective and targeted. Upon entering a shop, if it did not carry the brand he was looking for, he would leave immediately without sparing the compatriot's feelings.

Business came first.

Yesterday they had arrived at Chang Le Beach around two or three in the afternoon; today they reached it well before eleven o'clock. The beach was even more crowded now, with young women in swimsuits fully displaying their youthful radiance under the warm sun, dazzling Zhou Zhihan's eyes slightly.

Along the way, women in swimsuits passed by from time to time, waving enthusiastically at Zhou Zhihan as he drove, causing Gandy Duff to roll her eyes in irritation.

Men that even this lady couldn't hook up with—what the hell are you lot?

Driving slowly, Zhou Zhihan headed west along the road and noticed a large crowd gathered up ahead, though he had no idea what was happening.

Driving while enjoying the sea breeze, admiring the scenery and the pretty women while watching the road, he had no mind to care about what was going on ahead.

They drew closer.

Huh!

It seemed that a crowd had gathered in front of Sister Chen Fifth's shop, and people appeared to be shouting angrily.

Driving a bit further forward, it was indeed true. A massive crowd had gathered at the entrance of Sister Chen Fifth's shop, comprising Chinese people, other Asians, Americans, and Japanese individuals with hachimaki headbands tied around their heads.

The two arguing sides were a group of Japanese people and Sister Chen Fifth.

Sister Chen Fifth was sitting on the ground, crying.

Several Chinese women could only offer low whispers of comfort. Facing the Japanese, they dared neither show their anger nor voice their grievances.

Inside and outside Sister Chen Fifth's shop, swimsuits, life rings, and beach toys were scattered all over the ground in utter chaos, looking as though they had just been ransacked by bandits.

Zhou Zhihan parked the car.

Sister Chen Fifth was a kind-hearted person, and since she was crying because of an argument with the Japanese, he had to go and check. If Sister Chen Fifth had been having a dispute with a Japanese woman, he might have let it pass—when two women quarreled, even God would find it hard to tell right from wrong.

If she was being bullied by a bunch of thugs wearing samurai costumes, he could not simply stand by and watch.

Suddenly, Zhou Zhihan saw a Chinese youth dash out from not far away, charging into the crowd and shoving one of the Japanese men who was kicking at the clothing on the ground: "Don't you dare bully my mother, get away!"

Seeing a youth rush into the crowd and shove a Japanese man, the onlookers let out an exclamation of "Ah" and scattered backward, several Chinese people hesitating as they tried to pull the youth back.

The Japanese man who had been shoved took two steps back, grew furious, and delivered a fierce kick to the youth's abdomen.

The youth doubled over, clutching his stomach.

"Bang!"

Another punch landed squarely on the youth's face, sending him crashing to the ground as blood poured from his nose and mouth.

Sister Chen Fifth, who had been squatting on the ground, scrambled up like a madwoman, threw her arms around the fallen youth, shielded him from the pursuing Japanese, and pleaded in a trembling, supplicating voice: "We'll leave this place, we'll leave this place, I beg you to stop, we'll leave right now."

Zhou Zhihan pushed his way through the crowd, walked swiftly over to Sister Chen Fifth, placed himself between her and the Japanese, and asked, "Sister Fifth, what is going on here?"

As he spoke, Zhou Zhihan quickly swept his gaze across the crowd. Only then did he notice that the Chinese men in the crowd far outnumbered the Japanese, yet judging by their expressions and demeanor, they seemed deathly afraid of the four Japanese men in samurai attire.

Upon seeing Zhou Zhihan, Sister Chen Fifth looked as though she had found her savior: "Just because I poured tea for our fellow Chinese people instead of serving these Japanese, they said I looked down on them, smashed my shop, and told me to get out and never open again."

With those words, Sister Chen Fifth held her son tightly in her arms, using the lapel of her shirt to wipe the blood from his face.

"On what grounds? What qualification do you have to force her to leave and forbid her from doing business?"

Zhou Zhihan turned around and asked coldly, staring directly at the four Japanese men.

"On what grounds?"

A sturdy Japanese man looked Zhou Zhihan up and down before letting out a cold laugh, "On the grounds that you are Chinese, on the grounds that we are samurai of the Great Japanese Emperor, on the grounds that you Chinese men are a bunch of Zhina, and on the grounds that you Chinese men are the defeated opponents of our Japanese samurai."

Zhou Zhihan utterly despised these arrogant Japanese in samurai outfits. He could also see that this group of Japanese had not caused a scene because they failed to get tea after entering the shop, but rather because they had deliberately come looking for trouble.

"Samurai of Great Japan? Can garbage like you even be called samurai? Your actions humiliate the very word 'samurai,' insult your emperor, and bring shame upon your Japanese ancestors."

Zhou Zhihan sneered.

"You shameless wretches, apologize to this elder sister immediately, pay for all the losses here, and get lost."

The four Japanese did not expect a Chinaman to dare speak to them in such a manner. They were momentarily stunned, then flew into a rage, staring at Zhou Zhihan with wide eyes and clenched teeth as they slowly shifted their positions to surround him.

"Baka!"

Suddenly, an angry roar echoed from inside the shop. Another Japanese man in a samurai outfit emerged carrying a miniature Blue Sky and White Sun flag. Walking to the doorway, he threw the flag onto the ground and stamped on it with his foot.