The street outside the Wa Country Consulate had been temporarily cordoned off. Several black sedans bearing the Patrol Office insignia were parked crookedly on the roadside.
Four men got out of the cars: Zhang Fugui, the Chief Inspector of the Wa Country Concession’s Patrol Office, and three of his most capable inspectors.
Zhang Fugui, the Chief Inspector of the Wa Country Patrol Office, was a pot-bellied, balding man in his fifties.
He wore a tight-fitting inspector’s uniform, an unconcealable panic on his face.
Zhang Fugui stared at the Wa-style wooden house in the distance, which had been burned to a mere skeleton of charred, broken walls. He couldn’t help but swallow hard.
The three inspectors beside him were all bleary-eyed, their faces showing the flush of a hangover and the fatigue of debauchery.
Reeking of alcohol and strong perfume, the three had yet to grasp the gravity of the situation. They kept exchanging suggestive looks, laughing quietly, and complaining about this "lousy assignment."
"Boss, in the middle of the night... oh wait, it’s almost dawn. Why’d you have to drag us out of our warm beds for?"
"It’s damn cold out! A lot warmer on a woman’s belly back home!" one inspector yawned, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
Another inspector chuckled, nudging the one who had just spoken with his elbow. He grinned wickedly, "You said it. Hey, Lao Liu, you’ve been a lucky son of a bitch with the ladies lately, haven’t you!"
"I heard you used a little trick to get your hands on Boss Huang’s pretty, delicate daughter?"
"Tsk tsk, that figure, that skin... Come on, spill it. You must’ve been having the time of your life these past few days, right?"
The last inspector perked up, chiming in sleazily, "Yeah, yeah! I’m green with envy. And Old Zheng, don’t just talk about him."
"Last month, you ’invited’ the new, pretty wife of the owner of Li’s Silk Shop on West Street to the station for questioning, right? And she ended up at your place for ’questioning’ for three days and three nights?"
"Get outta here! Old Wang, you’re the real bastard here. Last week, those two sisters from that family that fell on hard times, didn’t you..."
The trio’s conversation grew increasingly vulgar. To them, with the backing of foreigners in the concession, they were the local tyrants.
Bullying men, preying on women, and seizing property by force or fraud were all commonplace for them—nothing more than things to brag about when drinking with their own.
Chief Inspector Zhang Fugui finally couldn’t take it anymore. He spun around and hissed in a low, sharp voice, "Shut up! What the hell time do you think it is to be talking about this garbage? Look in front of you! Look!"
Startled by his roar, the three inspectors finally reined it in a little.
Seeing them finally shut up, Zhang Fugui muttered to himself, ’This is big trouble. A few days ago, Fu Jinqian’s family and a Wa Country woman were all wiped out by a mysterious person inside the concession, and we still don’t have any leads...’
’And now, some bastard has gone and slaughtered people right inside the Consulate!’
’And the one who died was Kameida Koji, a garrison commander with real power! This has caused a cataclysmic disaster!’
’They may be bastards who deserve to die, but this is the Consulate! It’s their territory!’
’This is like slapping the Wa Country hard across the face in front of the whole world! With the temperament of those animals, there’s no way they’ll let this go!’
’I’m afraid this is going to alarm even Yanjing...’
The four men steeled themselves and passed through the line of heavily guarded Wa Country soldiers, entering the Consulate’s inner courtyard.
The Wa Country Consul, Yamamoto Ichirō, stood before the ruins with his back to them.
He still wore his wide, black haori and hakama, and his thin frame looked somewhat stooped.
Hearing footsteps, Yamamoto Ichirō turned slowly. His gaze swept over Zhang Fugui and the other three, finally resting on the inspectors who still reeked of wine and women.
The next second, his hand moved like a phantom, shooting straight for the hilt of a katana at the waist of a samurai standing beside him!
"SHING!"
Half a foot of gleaming steel left the scabbard. With just a flick of his wrist, Yamamoto Ichirō swung the blade idly in the direction of the three inspectors, two meters away!
An incomparably sharp, chilling Sword Qi shot through the air. The drunken expressions on the three inspectors’ faces froze instantly.
As if sliced in half by an invisible blade, the three bodies separated at the waist. Warm droplets of blood splattered across the face of Chief Inspector Zhang Fugui, who was standing slightly ahead!
"Ah!" Zhang Fugui let out a short, terrified cry before his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.
Yamamoto Ichirō gently pushed the katana back into its sheath. His icy gaze locked onto Zhang Fugui’s face, who was scared out of his wits, and he spoke in halting Chinese.
"Fool! You damned Daxia People!"
"Before long, I will have all of you buried with Mr. Kameida!"
"You! Get your ass to the Yun Port City City Affairs Bureau immediately! Tell them that we, the Great Wa Country, express our utmost fury and harshest protest regarding the terrorist attack that occurred inside the Consulate last night!"
"We want an explanation! We want the culprit! We want compensation! We want the Yun Port City City Affairs Bureau to immediately use all of its power to assist us!"
"If you can’t catch the real killer, if you can’t give us a satisfactory account... Hmph! The Great Wa Country will absolutely not let this matter rest! You will bear all the consequences!"
Zhang Fugui could only nod numbly. He then scrambled to his feet and stumbled out of the Consulate.
The morning sun rose as usual.
The front-page headlines of nearly every major newspaper in Yun Port City were dominated by two explosive stories.
"Breaking News from Last Night! Serious Attack at the Wa Country Consulate in the Concession! Garrison Commander Lieutenant Colonel Kameida Koji Unfortunately Killed!"
"Yun Port City’s Largest Gang, the Cyan Dragon Gang, Suddenly Massacred! Gang Leader and Several High-Ranking Members Brutally Slain at Headquarters!"
The reports were worded cautiously, filled with phrases like "regrettable," "shocking," and "strongly condemn," along with calls to "urge the authorities to uncover the truth" and "maintain stability in Yun Port City."

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