47 Chapter 47

The soldiers had a good sense of direction, and based on Tong Shu's vague description, the three ships were getting closer and closer to the incident site.

"Turn off all the lights." Judging that they were less than two hundred meters from Jinying Road, Wen Shaocheng instructed the lead boat to turn off its lights first. The two boats behind, seeing the lights go out, followed suit in perfect unison.

The boat and its crew were plunged into endless darkness, with only the rough, scraping sound of steel bars scraping against the ice remaining in their ears.

Without lights, the three boats slowed down, maintaining a safe distance to observe the lead boat and prepare to disembark at any moment.

"It should be around here." Tong Shu saw a blurry golden eagle sculpture. She remembered that they had stopped to rest in this area.

The wooden stick tapped on the hull of the boat, and the two boats behind received the instruction to slow down. The three boats slowly came to a stop around the sculpture.

"You stay here, we're going to find your sister," Wen Shaocheng instructed.

Tong Shu looked at the unfamiliar street scene and felt a little scared; "Can't I go with you? Can you find which building it is?"

Wen Shaocheng looked around, seemingly also feeling that leaving Tong Shu alone here was inappropriate, and then said, "Then you come with us downstairs and hide. I'll have a comrade protect you closely. Those people might have guns, so you can't get too close, understand?"

Upon hearing this, Tong Shu felt even more anxious, but she knew she shouldn't cause them any more trouble, so she could only obediently nod.

A dozen or so people hid in the darkness, slowly approaching the direction Tong Shu pointed out by the faint moonlight.

Tong Shu held up a finger in front of Wen Shaocheng's eyes, indicating that the group of people were on the first floor of this building.

Wen Shaocheng understood and made a few hand gestures to the soldiers next to Tong Shu. The soldiers nodded, pulled Tong Shu back quietly, and the two retreated to the middle of two houses. The gap between the two walls was just big enough for the two of them to pass through, making it perfect for hiding.

Seeing that Tong Shu had already hidden, Wen Shaocheng led three people to lightly leap into the stairs from the window frame, while the others crouched at the window, ready to subdue anyone who came out.

There were two rooms on the left and right sides of the floor. Without even asking around, Wen Shaocheng and his group figured out which side the group was hiding in.

The commotion inside the door was quite loud; the woman's shrill screams were mixed with several low, cunning laughs.

Many areas in W City have fallen out of government control, and this group has become quite influential in the area. After kidnapping Qin Xiaoxiao, they did not move their hideout, probably because they never expected Tong Shu and the others to come back looking for her.

In the room, the dim candlelight flickered, casting dark shadows on the wall. Tamura Ichiro's small eyes gleamed as he stared blatantly at the naked Chinese girl huddled in the corner.

This woman is much prettier than the one in the boss's room. She has a well-proportioned and full figure, and seems to have never suffered any hardship in this chaotic world.

These three people were noticed as soon as they rowed their boat over here. Anyone who dares to show their lights on at this time of year on the beach in W City is probably from out of town. They must have a lot of supplies and clean water on their boat.

Unfortunately, the two fat sheep who came with her got away, but fortunately, this time it wasn't a complete loss; at least she got a new woman.

Having been in China for so long, Tamura Ichiro had been with quite a few foreign women. Most of them were pale and thin, and their bodies were extremely weak. If there were even a few more, they would die instantly. The only one who was slightly better had even climbed into the boss's bed.

After stripping Qin Xiaoxiao naked, Tamura Ichiro didn't find much useful stuff in her clothes. He casually wrapped Qin Xiaoxiao's small cotton-padded jacket around himself and then slapped her twice more.

Qin Xiaoxiao was shivering from the cold, covering herself with a burlap sack on the ground. Her voice was hoarse from shouting, but the group of people clearly had no intention of letting her go. They were muttering something she couldn't understand and were pulling at her.

"When will Honma be back? We can't understand this woman's speech. Where did these people come from? We have to get the whereabouts of the supplies out of her."

"Boss Dongye took them to the west. There seem to be some scum still alive there. They're walking too slowly, so they probably won't be back until tomorrow at the earliest," a henchman replied.

Thinking of the fast-moving boat that the two escaped people were on, Tamura Ichiro's greed intensified. He had his henchmen pull Qin Xiaoxiao's hair up and make gestures like rowing a boat, trying to get her to reveal the whereabouts of Tong Shu and Wang Jie.

Qin Xiaoxiao was so cold that she was barely conscious. She could not see anything with her eyes half-closed. Despite Tadamura Ichiro's shouts, she did not respond at all.

"Boss Tamura, how about we put some clothes on her? It's rare to find such a gem; it wouldn't be worth it if she froze to death," the underling said lewdly as he approached.

Tamura Ichiro's eyes darted around, and he smiled too. They could interrogate him about the supplies later, but if they didn't enjoy this woman now, they would only have leftovers when Higashino Mei returned.

"Arai, get her onto the bed, we'll warm her up."

Upon hearing this, several R country men wore greasy smiles. Ignoring Qin Xiaoxiao's resistance, they dragged her onto the bed.

...

A noise came from outside the window, and the person who was lying on the bed stopped instantly and listened carefully.

The sound of the steel bar scraping through the air didn't stop; it was especially clear in the quiet night.

Tamura Ichiro gave Arai Tetsu a wink, and Arai Tetsu blew out the already dim light, walked to the window, lifted the thick curtains, and peeked out with one eye.

That glance caught the stern of a wooden boat swiftly passing by.

Arai Tetsu tiptoed back and said to Tamura Ichiro, "It's a boat. I guess those two fat sheep were unwilling to give up and came back to rescue people."

Forgetting his current pleasure, Tamura Ichiro pulled up his pants, his voice brimming with excitement: "Let's go, let's catch the fat sheep!" He had already stepped out of the room when he remembered something, turned back, patted Qin Xiaoxiao who was lying on the bed with a blank expression, and, regardless of whether she understood him or not, still leered at her with an extremely vulgar phrase in Japanese before finally leading the others out of the room with satisfaction.

Arai Tetsu, who was guarding the room, was afraid that people would freeze to death, so he put the thermal underwear that he had taken off Qin Xiaoxiao back on her. Anyway, the clothes were too small for all of them to wear.

Wen Shaocheng and his men hid at the top of the stairs on the second floor, waiting for Tamura Ichiro and the others to come out.

Tamura Ichiro was a very cunning and vigilant man. He observed through the peephole for a while before opening the door and coming out. However, he did not make any further moves after coming out. He led three or five people to squat by the window and observe the outside movements by the moonlight.

The soldiers outside had all come out of the special forces team with Wen Shaocheng. Seeing that there was no movement at the window, the soldiers pushing the boat deliberately moved the boat forward a few inches.

Tamura Ichiro couldn't contain himself any longer. He crouched down and peeked out of the window. By this time, the other soldiers had already circled around to the windows on both sides, and Tamura Ichiro could only see a figure moving around on the side of the ship in the distance.

"They must be back. I've never seen a ship like that before," the henchman standing close to Tamura Ichiro said in a low voice.

"This looks like a man, and there's a woman too. Where are they?" Ichiro Tamura frowned, somewhat suspicious.

"We caught one woman, and the other one is probably too scared to come out, haha."

Knowing that Higashino Naruto would be back the next day, and that if they could seize the supplies while he was away, everyone present could share them privately, Tamura Ichiro no longer hesitated and led the five men behind him close to the small boat along the wall.

Behind the wall near the window, a soldier kept an eye on the movement of the small boat. Seeing that Tamura Ichiro and the others had already gone some distance, he immediately gave a hand signal to move behind him.

A loud crash of breaking windows rang out. Before Arai Tetsuya, who was hiding in the room, could react, he was pinned to the ground. Tamura Ichiro, who had obviously heard the noise, immediately realized he had been tricked and quickly turned to go back.

To their surprise, several people jumped out from the shadows and pounced on them. Several tall Chinese men also rushed out of the windows of the residential building's stairwell. Clearly, these people had planned to arrest them.

Tamura Ichiro dodged left and right, and under the cover of several henchmen, pulled a gun out of his shoe and fired several shots at the soldier.

"Retreat! They have guns! Don't shoot them head-on!" Wen Shaocheng gave a short command, his hands moving non-stop. In an instant, he took out a sidearm from his waist, squinted his eyes and aimed slightly. A green light flashed, and Tamura Ichiro cried out as his left arm drooped, unable to be raised again.

Apart from Wen Shaocheng, none of the others were armed. He watched as the Japanese soldiers disappeared into the night, stopped his comrades who wanted to continue the chase, and the group returned to the civilian house.

The three Japanese nationals in the room had been subdued, searched, tied up, and thrown into a corner.

Wen Shaocheng entered the inner room. Qin Xiaoxiao was covered with several cotton-padded coats, and several soldiers stood beside her. They were not wearing coats and looked at Wen Shaocheng helplessly, their faces full of embarrassment and regret.

"...Call Tong Shu in, we'll take the men back immediately."

...

Tong Shu lifted her cotton coat and looked down at Qin Xiaoxiao, whose hair was disheveled and whose eyes were vacant. Her strength seemed to be drained away in an instant, and she bent her knees and knelt down hard in front of the bed.

"...Sister Xiao."

Qin Xiaoxiao's face was covered with finger marks, and other bright red marks spread down her neck, hidden from view by her underwear.

Tong Shu was speechless, tears streaming silently and incessantly down her face. She reached out to hug Qin Xiaoxiao with trembling hands, but Qin Xiaoxiao on the bed seemed to have been switched on, struggling violently. Her hard nails scratched across Tong Shu's face, leaving a red mark on her cheek.

"You stand over there, Xiao Zhao, wrap the girl in your clothes and carry her to the boat."

The young soldier named Xiao Zhao responded and awkwardly wrapped Qin Xiaoxiao tightly in several cotton-padded coats, wrapping the sleeves around her and tying them in a knot at her chest. Qin Xiaoxiao was bound and unable to struggle, and closed her eyes in despair.