Chapter Thirteen: Torture and Forced Confessions

Chen Kan glanced down at the telegram draft, then looked up with a deep sense of regret. "Just one step short!"

"Director Chen, stop being so stubborn." Sato's voice came from the doorway.

Chen Kan looked up and saw Sato standing in the dim light, holding the list he had given him, a cold smile playing on his lips. "On the list you gave me, Chairman Wang didn't see anyone from Chongqing last week at all. I was just using you to get rid of Ishimura and dig out the Communist liaison point! Do you think I'd believe you?"

Chen Kan's body stiffened for a moment, then he laughed out loud. The laughter hit the basement wall and sounded particularly desolate: "Sato, you really are an old fox."

"Sato!" Chen Kan suddenly stood up, his chair crashing to the ground with a jarring sound. He grabbed Sato by the collar, his eyes bloodshot. "If you dare lay a finger on her, I'll haunt you even in death!"

Cheng Qing stepped forward and struck Chen Kan on the back with the butt of his gun, forcing him back into his chair.

Sato straightened his collar and sneered, "Director Chen, you can't even protect yourself right now, yet you still have the mind to care about others?"

Chen Kan, panting, looked up at Sato, his eyes showing no fear, only relief: "Sato, you can't win. One day, you'll all be kicked out of China!"

Sato's face flushed red. He waved Cheng Qing over: "Take him back to No. 76 and use the most severe torture. I want him to reveal the true identities of the Nationalist Army!"

Cheng Qing nodded and waved for the agents to lift Chen Kan up.

...

Chen Kan was thrown into the back seat of the car like a tattered sack.

But in the shadows where no one could see, a smile slowly appeared on his face.

When he called his father, he kept tapping the microphone with his fingers; the message he wanted to convey came not from words, but from his fingertips.

The Morse code on the microphone was what he truly wanted to say to his father.

Two years ago, when he shut down the radio station, he knew it was being monitored, but he sent it again on the same frequency, which allowed the Japanese to detect him.

While he was obtaining intelligence on arms, in order to successfully send the intelligence out, they were prepared with two contingency plans. Originally, it was supposed to be the deputy who was infiltrating the Finance Department who was sacrificed, but he chose to sacrifice himself.

Everything he did was to cover for the other side!

He wondered: Did Chen Ping know that the sacrifice he was talking about was himself? But even if he did know, so what? Had he ever cared about him? In his eyes, he was nothing more than a stranger who had been raised outside for twenty years and suddenly arrived, nothing more than an alien branch of the noble bloodline of the Chen family. From the very beginning, he was a pawn, and he was destined to be sacrificed!

Now, he has simply chosen to make his death more meaningful.

Ah Nian was seen off, and Lin Tang was also seen off...

He was unwilling for his colleagues to sacrifice themselves for him and use him as bait to send away this intelligence!

...

On the way, Cheng Qing smugly twirled the gun in his hand, the barrel of which grazed Chen Kan's chin, leaving a cold red mark.

She leaned close to his ear: "Director Chen, stop playing dead. You think you can turn the page by tricking Colonel Sato into releasing Lin Tang with a fake list? It's just using you to lure you into exposing the radio station. Tell me, aren't you tired of this 'sacrificing yourself to save your wife' act?"

Chen Kan lowered his eyes, his eyelashes casting dappled shadows beneath them, yet he still managed a faint smile: "Cheng Qing, now that you know, why waste your breath?"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Cheng Qing suddenly raised his voice, slamming the butt of his rifle onto Chen Kan's shoulder. "You think Lin Tang can escape? Our men have been waiting at the train station for ages! We won't let you use the same trick twice! When Wang Yuxian comes back, we'll bring her back to meet the King of Hell with you!"

Chen Kan felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He frowned but remained silent.

“Cheng Qing,” he still called her by that name, “when you’re in the middle of the night, do you really never dream about Aunt Gu? When she knows you’ve become like this, constantly slaughtering Chinese people, do you think she’ll still recognize you?”

"Shut up!"

Cheng Qing slapped Chen Kan hard across the face. Chen Kan groaned, and dark red blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Gu Manqing is just a lie I made up to deceive you and Lin Tang! And you actually believed I was Gu Manqing! I have absolutely no connection to that name or that person!"

The more she denied it, the more Chen Kan laughed.

“Look at you, you desperately deny the blood that flows in your veins, deny everything you have in this city. The more panicked you are, the more you prove the lies you’ve told! Manqing, if I die, my mother and my brothers will naturally come to take me away. But what about you? Do you want to live under the name Sato Sakura or Ouyang Qing? When you get to the underworld, who will recognize you?”

"Shut up!" Cheng Qing was so angry she almost exploded, then she sneered, "Chen Kan, you can jump around now! When we get to No. 76 and bring Lin Tang back, I want to see how you two star-crossed lovers will beg for mercy."

...

The car is about to arrive at number 76.

Wang Yuxian returned in a panic, his voice trembling with anxiety: "Sister Qing, Lin Tang didn't get on the train! We were waiting on the platform, but she ran into the alley to the west instead. When we chased after her, she was gone!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Kan smiled.

Cheng Qing's face flushed red, and she roared, "Useless! You can't even hold onto a woman!"

She turned and pressed the gun to Chen Kan's forehead: "You think we can't catch Lin Jintang just because she got away? Let me tell you, she can't escape our inescapable net! Chen Kan, you'd better tell me the list of people lurking in Jiangcheng. Maybe that will make it easier for you and Lin Jintang to die."

Chen Kan said, "Actually, at this point, I'd prefer you to call me Bai Mu. In the last moments of my life, I don't want to carry the name Chen Kan with me anymore."

Cheng Qing glared at him angrily, then stood up and said, "Qiao Yuan, you keep an eye on Chen Kan. Wang Yuxian, keep looking. I refuse to believe we can't catch Lin Tang!"

Chen Kan looked at him, silently took the razor blade, but when Cheng Qing's suspicious gaze swept over, he raised his voice and scolded, "Qiao Yuan! Don't think that just because I'm your defeated opponent now! You're just a hoodlum in Jiangcheng, now relying on women to be a dog in the 76th Division, what's there to be proud of?"

Qiao Yuan's hand was still in Chen Kan's palm. The coldness of the blade seeped into his skin through the fabric. He lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembled, and suddenly kicked Chen Kan in the shin, cursing, "Chen Kan, what the hell are you putting on airs for? When I was following Huang Jinhu out to make a living, you were still in college studying those few crappy books!"

Cheng Qing felt a surge of pleasure watching the two of them fight, but deliberately frowned and said, "Qiao Yuan, what's wrong with you?"

Qiao Yuan seized the opportunity to move aside: "This kid, five years ago he instigated Lin Jintang to divorce me and then had me shot! How could I swallow this grudge? Lin Jintang, that blind woman, has been scheming against me for so many years! When I find her, those two scoundrels will both go to hell!"

Cheng Qing smiled and said, "Don't worry, they'll get what's coming to them once we get inside!" After saying that, she sat back in the front seat and urged the driver to start the car.

...

As the car rounded a bend, Qiao Yuan nervously glanced at Chen Kan and slightly raised his eyebrows at him.

Chen Kan leaned back in his chair, looked at Qiao Yuan, and gave a very faint smile.

Seeing that he didn't move, Qiao Yuan became anxious and mouthed, "Aren't you leaving? If you don't leave now, you'll miss your chance!"

Chen Kan looked only at Qiao Yuan, his eyes showing no fear, only a faint, moonlit smile, and mouthed three words: "No need."

I don't want to end up like the Chen family, watching others sacrifice for me with a clear conscience. Besides, I've already sent everyone who needed to be sent away; I have no ties. This is the path I chose for myself.

These were the words Chen Kan did not say.

But Qiao Yuan understood that he was questioning him with the same sentiment.

"How could you not have any worries? You have Lin Tang, and you have your daughter!"

Chen Kan just looked at Qiao Yuan and smiled.

"Her eyes...resemble yours..." Chen Kan looked at Qiao Yuan and smiled faintly.

...

When the car stopped in front of No. 76, Chen Kan was dragged out like a rag doll.

The interrogation room was brightly lit, so bright that Chen Kan could barely open his eyes.

Cheng Qing grabbed him and threw him in.

Sato, dressed in a kimono, remained as calm and collected as ever. He sat in his chair, took a sip of tea, and said, "Director Chen, tell me, what is the real contact list of the Nationalist Army?"

Chen Kan looked up at Sato and said with a smile, "Mr. Sato, since you are so capable, you should know that I am just a discarded pawn of the Chen family. Chen Ping only asked me to send out intelligence; he won't let me know that much!"

Sato sneered, "Chen Kan, do you really think I'm a three-year-old child? You're Chen Ping's eldest son, and also his important pawn left behind in Jiangcheng. How could you not know this information! Sakura, torture him. I want him to reveal the real contact list of the Nationalist army!"

Cheng Qing nodded and picked up the whip from the table.

Sato, unwilling to witness the filthy, bloody scene, walked away on his own.

The whip lashed across Chen Kan's back with a crisp crack. He groaned, a sharp pain shooting through his back, but he still smiled: "Sato, you can't win. One day, you'll all be kicked out of China!"

Sato slammed his fist on the table in anger: "Keep hitting him! Keep hitting him until he tells us!"

Cheng Qing lashed out with the whip again, and blood seeped from Chen Kan's back, staining his shirt red.

The whip continued to lash, and Chen Kan's consciousness grew increasingly blurred, yet he still smiled, muttering, "Sato, you can't win. One day, you'll all be kicked out of China!"