As evening fell, newspaper reporter Lü Mingyi was writing his article for tomorrow at home when he heard a knock on the door. He had no choice but to put down his pen and go to open the door.
Standing outside was a refined-looking young man wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
"Excuse me, are you Mr. Lü Mingyi?" the young man asked with a smile in a low voice.
Lü Mingyi nodded and replied, "That's me! May I ask who you are?"
The young man smiled and said, "My surname is Fu, Fu Liang. I have come here because I have heard of you. I hope it is convenient for you to pay me a visit?"
Seeing Fu Liang's refined appearance, Lü Mingyi felt no suspicion whatsoever. He smiled, turned around, and gestured for him to step aside.
"please!"
Thank you!
Fu Liang nodded and went into the room. Lü Mingyi closed the door and invited Fu Liang into the living room, where he sat down on the sofa.
Lu Mingyi sat opposite Fu Liang and asked softly, "I wonder what brings Mr. Fu here?"
Fu Liang gently adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, smiled faintly, and said, "I have come to visit this time because I have a favor to ask of you, sir."
"A favor to me?" Lu Mingyi's heart skipped a beat. What could reporters like them possibly do to help others? Naturally, it was just writing. It seemed he had something to do again.
Thinking of this, Lü Mingyi was delighted. This was a great opportunity to make a quick buck, but he needed to negotiate the price carefully.
"Mr. Fu, please feel free to ask. As long as I can help, I will not refuse!"
Lu Mingyi turned around and poured Fu Liang a cup of tea, placing it in front of him.
Fu Liang thanked him and then said, "Then I'll get straight to the point. I'd like to ask Mr. Lü to write a few articles for me in the newspaper. I'll decide the content, and each article will cost one hundred yuan. What do you think?"
Lu Mingyi felt relieved. As expected, they had asked him to be a ghostwriter. The pay for ghostwriting was far greater than the fees earned from writing articles, which was exactly what journalists loved to do.
Moreover, the price offered by Fu Liang was far higher than the industry standard, which was enough to satisfy Lü Mingyi.
Lü Mingyi nodded repeatedly and readily agreed, "No problem. Mr. Fu is a discerning person. You've come to the right person. I dare not boast, but having been in the newspaper industry for over a decade, my writing skills are beyond question. As long as you can afford it, I can turn black into white and white into red. Absolutely whatever you wish, I guarantee you'll be satisfied."
Fu Liang nodded and said, "I am well aware of Mr. Lü's eloquent writing skills, otherwise I would not have come to your residence. Here's the thing, I would like to ask you to write a few articles, mainly to expose the fact that Fu Yaozu, a cotton tycoon in Shanghai, was murdered in his home more than a year ago."
Upon hearing this, Lü Mingyi's expression changed drastically. He stared intently at Fu Liang, then suddenly stood up, pointed at Fu Liang, and asked, "Who exactly are you? What is your relationship with Fu Yaozu? Fu Yaozu died of illness at home, how could he have been murdered? This is utter nonsense!"
Fu Liang chuckled, looking at Lü Mingyi's startled expression, and said jokingly, "Mr. Lü, you seem quite nervous. What's wrong? It seems you're not too keen on making this money!"
Lu Mingyi realized at this moment that the other party was up to no good, so he stepped back and moved towards the desk.
At this moment, Fu Liang pulled out a pistol, pointed it at Lü Mingyi, and said coldly, "Mr. Lü, if you know what's good for you, you'd better come with me. Otherwise, bullets don't discriminate and might hurt your life!"
Not long after, Lü Mingyi, dressed neatly, obediently walked out of his house. Fu Liang followed closely behind, went to the street, pushed him into a car, and then sped away.
The same scene was playing out in different places. That same evening, the four reporters on Iwai Nosuke's list were all captured by Japanese agents in various ways and taken to a secluded safe house.
Iwai nosuke had prepared various instruments of torture and interrogated the four men separately. These four men were just ordinary, weak scholars, and of course, they could not withstand this set of tortures.
He was quickly tortured to the point of near death by these agents, and almost effortlessly, he revealed everything that Iwai nosuke wanted to know.
But Iwai nosuke did not easily believe their words. He was also a suspicious and cautious person. He ordered, "Continue with the torture. Repeat the questions we just asked. I want to make sure they are not lying."
"yes!"
The agents began a new round of torture, interrogating people until late at night, until the confessions were completely verified.
Iwai no Nakamaru finally approached Wu Ziang, who was tortured to the point of being mangled and barely recognizable as a human, and asked in a cold voice, "Mr. Wu, you have disappointed me greatly. Lying is useless. Look, everyone has identified you as the one who first contacted the mastermind and bribed them to act as his hired guns. In other words, you are the only one who has seen the mastermind. Now tell me, who exactly is this mastermind?"
With bloodshot eyes, Wu Ziang pleaded desperately, "Please spare me! Stop hitting me! I really don't know that person. He just came to me, took out some money, and asked me to bribe reporters in the newspapers to act as ghostwriters and expose Fu Yaozu's treason and defection to the enemy. Which of us in this line of work hasn't done these things! You want to avenge Fu Yaozu, but that has nothing to do with me. I'm just doing my job for the money!"
Wu Ziang's pleading did not evoke any pity in Iwai no Naoki. He knew that Wu Ziang was the only clue, and he had to make sure he squeezed every last bit out of him.
Iwai no Nakaji waved his hand, and his agents dragged the other three barely breathing men to Wu Ziang's front.
Iwai no Nakaji grabbed Lü Mingyi's hair, said nothing, and plunged a knife into Lü Mingyi's chest.
"Ah!" Lu Mingyi let out a shrill scream, and the sudden scene immediately terrified the other three people.
Soon, Lü Mingyi was convulsing in pain on the ground, his voice growing hoarse until he fell silent.
Shi An and Liu Deben were terrified and turned pale. Although they had been tortured, they still held onto a sliver of hope that the other party would have some scruples and not harm their lives. However, they never expected things to be so serious. The other party actually took the life of Lü Mingyi.
"Zi'ang, just say what you have to say. Are you really going to watch us die a violent death?"
"You surnamed Wu, it's all your fault! You killed us all, and if we had let them go after that bastard for revenge, we would all be alive!"
Wu Zi'ang was also terrified, his body trembling like a leaf. He sighed helplessly and said in a hoarse voice, "Don't kill me! I'll talk, I'll talk!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com