Vol 19 Chapter 6-4 (1/2)
Shanghai regained its independence, in a sense. Because the city was neither in the hands of the Japanese army nor the Chinese army. The independence came from the city itself.
A fact that sounded like a joke turned out to be true with the drastic changes happening in the morning in this city. The number of patrolling cops multiplied. Police shut down Japanese owned businesses. And more shockingly, squads and squads of captured Japanese soldiers with expressions of fear were being escorted outside the city.
Shanghai was borderline bursting into a chaos since the night before. Explosions and gun shots echoed throughout the city. Even greater explosions came from just beyond the city area as though countless cannons were blasting in a battle. Two Xians on flying swords chased an army of routed soldiers into the city. Each ball of lightning that descended erased all the soldiers in an area from Earth. Each time the flying sword flew by, all nearby soldiers fell to the ground with needle sized injuries. These were the power of gods and Xians.
Past battles had taught the civilians not to cheer when the Chinese army did not show up. They abode to their role of remaining quiet in the city.
“… That’s the basic situation. There’s no longer a Japanese army in Shanghai. However, judging from the Japanese soldiers’ distribution from nearby the city, they can form into an army in one to two days. We will destroy them once more when that happens.”
Xuan and WangXia sat inside a spacious meeting room. Along them were over a hundred men and women with the ratio skewed toward men. There were wealthy people in the forties, police officers, mafia leaders, and even foreigners. Nearly all people of influence in Shanghai had gathered in this room. The two messages these people received in the early morning were the destruction of the Japanese army and the people who destroyed the army wanted to see them.
The Japanese army had proven themselves during World War II, in the year 1940. Their strength ranked first within Asia. Yet, the same army suffered tens of thousands in casualties within one night. Shanghai was seized from their hands. The situation was inconceivable.
The people of influence attempted to speculate the identity of the power that destroyed the army and their intent for wanting to see them. However, no answer came to their minds. The cops who relayed the message looked to be in a haste and thus these people finally gathered before noon.
A fat man in police uniform stood up abruptly and wiped the sweat off his face. He read aloud the document on his hand. “Yes. Yes. We have captured over 7300 Japanese soldiers as officer Chu Xuan stated. Over 18600 Japanese army personnel. We selected a group of uninjured Japanese personnel to watch the captives imprisoned in a camp. Furthermore, the total number of weapons…”
Xuan waved his hand and said, “That’s enough. I know everyone here is influential in Shanghai. Your interests do not swing no matter whether it is the Japanese or the Chinese army occupying Shanghai. Neither do I have the interest to express nationalistic acts. You’re here because of one thing. I need to use your information systems.”
The meeting room erupted. These people were gathered hastily and Xuan did not place much importance in the set up. So everyone was sitting next to people they were familiar with. So everyone started talking to the people next to them.
Xuan looked at them quietly until the noises died down after a few minutes. Several people then started to speak at the same time. Upon realizing the crash of their voices, they allowed a slender middle age man to speak first.
He saluted at Xuan and said, “A late salutation but we are grateful for you driving the Japanese away. May I ask why do you need our information systems? Is it to surveil the Japanese army?”