Chapter 86

Dong Ku pondered for a moment. He had already known that to make the gun barrels as precise as those produced by advanced German machine tools, only about fifty could be made in a day. This way, he would have enough time to lead the Iron Arhat to Crescent Island and bring the recruited people there.

"Alright, I'll leave it to Brother Du and Brother Li. I'll go and brief them on what kind of people we need and where to board the ship. The funds will be advanced by you, Mr. Liu. I need to prepare the funds, but four days will be enough."

"Haha, money is just an external thing. I've already revealed the secrets of the Dark Hall, so why would I care about this amount of money? You have urgent matters to arrange, so don't worry about the money for now. I'll also cover the food for the three thousand people and the six months' worth of food for the recruited personnel. I'll find a few people to run restaurants and breweries, making it a self-sufficient little world."

Liu Baicheng had sharp eyes and was even more resolute in his old age. How could he not know what it meant to hold those Jews in his hands? They were the foundation of a strong nation, the basis for rising up. If China had advanced technology in its early years, how could the Eight-Nation Alliance have invaded Beijing? How could the Russians have committed the Hailanpao and Jiangdong Sixty-Four Villages massacres?

And the First Sino-Japanese War, aside from the corruption and weakness of the court, if China had warships superior to Japan's, even if the court was weak, the Beiyang Fleet wouldn't have been completely destroyed, and the humiliating treaty wouldn't have been signed!

He had waited for many years, and by the time he understood the foundation of a strong nation, he was already old, with the desire to act but lacking the strength. When he learned that Dong Ku had risked divine retribution in Jiamusi just to save more lives, his heart was rekindled. Although he knew Dong Ku had no intention of being a hero in troubled times, he still saw hope, the hope of the rise of China.

Looking at this elderly man with gray hair at his temples, Dong Ku suddenly understood why the saying "an old person in the family is a treasure" had been passed down. He himself hadn't thought about preparing food. Although he would have thought of it when the people boarded the ship, it would have been hectic, right? And the restaurants and breweries—although it was a deserted island, they would have to live there for a long time. Without the necessary facilities, people would go crazy from boredom.

He took a deep breath, clasped his hands in a salute, and said sincerely, "Thank you, Mr. Liu. I believe you will see your lifelong wish come true."

"Haha! I believe in these old eyes!"

Liu Baicheng laughed heartily, and everything was understood without words.

After leaving Liu Baicheng, Dong Ku went directly to the underground training ground and briefed Du Fei and Li Kaishan on what kind of people they needed, what standards to meet, and that they would board the ship in Qingdao, with recruitment taking place in Shandong.

After briefing them, he returned to his residence with Shui Linglong, sent a telegram to Shao Pang, instructing the merchant ship to resupply in Kuching, bypass the Philippines, and provided Shao Pang with coordinates to wait at.

After sending the telegram, he instructed the Iron Arhat to prepare a cargo ship capable of long-distance voyages, with a trusted captain.

Having finished all the arrangements, Dong Ku didn't wait for Hu Zi and Shan Zi, telling Shui Linglong to inform them to continue their usual studies. Shui Linglong also stayed in Harbin. After making the arrangements, he had Uncle Tie send a car, and with a telescope, he returned to Hulin alone.

The next morning, he unloaded the telescope on Dahuishan and, with the help of Mazi, Mengzi, and three others, transported it back to Heixiagou. That night, he set off with Mazi, Mengzi, Shunzi, Liu Hai, and Goudan for Qitaihe, where they obtained two trucks and headed straight for Jixi. They arrived at Jixi by dusk.

At this point, Dong Ku and Mazi, Mengzi, and the others had changed their appearances, some with fake mustaches, others with fake scars. Even if it had been a long time, even if Mugu Qingye was skilled at identifying antiques, he wouldn't have recognized them as familiar faces.

The last time Dong Ku had taken away supplies, he had the seal of the Mudanjiang garrison, so no one checked. Everything was the same as before.

This time, Dong Ku held a material allocation order from the Harbin headquarters, which included bullets, detonators, explosives, fishing lines, and food.

Mugu Qingye didn't dare to ask too many questions. The scar on the forehead of the captain made him fearful, and with the allocation order from the Harbin headquarters, he hurriedly sent people to find workers to load the supplies, working in the dark.

However, he didn't understand why two trucks were needed when one could carry the supplies. But he didn't dare to ask, as the captain named Sato, who was sitting in his room with a cane, made him too afraid to leave.

Half an hour later, Shunzi saw the truck fully loaded with supplies.

The foreman was not the same person who had worked with Dong Ku before; this time it was someone surnamed Han. After loading the truck, he politely called out for his pay at the door.

"Mr. Han, thank you for your hard work." Mugu Qingye handed the foreman some Manchukuo currency.

At this moment, Dong Ku walked out and said, "We won't be leaving tonight. The road is unsafe. Mr. Mugu, please arrange for us to stay here."

The foreman was startled by the fierce-looking Dong Ku, took the money, and quickly left, bowing and scraping, afraid of causing trouble.

Mugu Qingye's face was like a bitter gourd, but he didn't dare to say much, bowing and scraping as he led Dong Ku and Shunzi into the house.

Liu Hai backed the empty truck to the front of Mugu Qingye's room, turned off the engine, and entered the house.

Shunzi followed, backing the truck to block the view of the sentries at the distant gate, parked, turned off the engine, and left Mengzi standing in front of the truck. He, Mazi, and Goudan also entered the house.

The sentries, seeing this, assumed Mugu Qingye was entertaining the captain, a common occurrence, so they didn't pay much attention, standing straight as usual.

Inside the house, Dong Ku had already seen his target. After Shunzi and the others entered, he gave a signal, then struck Mugu's neck with a palm, grabbed the limp body, and gently placed it on the tatami.

Shunzi and Goudan put down their rifles, took a few steps to the sliding door, and pulled it open. Seeing a child of about twelve and a middle-aged Japanese woman, they quickly rushed forward, each controlling the child and the woman, tying them up and stuffing their mouths with rags and socks.

While Goudan and Shunzi were acting, Dong Ku moved the small table on the tatami to the side, took out a dagger, and carefully cut along a crack about a meter square, gently prying it up.

As the board slowly lifted, a hole about a meter and a half square was revealed.

"Damn! They really didn't skimp!"

Mazi lifted a box of gold bars weighing nearly two hundred pounds, muttering.

The others were also stunned by the sight of the gold bars, gold ingots, silver dollars, and silver ingots. The basement, about thirty square meters, contained at least a thousand kilograms of gold and two thousand kilograms of silver, not to mention the gold and silver artifacts, jewelry, and necklaces.

Dong Ku was secretly relieved that they hadn't acted too late, but he wasn't too focused on the gold and silver. To him, they didn't seem enough. What he cared about were the antique vases, jade artifacts, and gemstones. There were also well-preserved calligraphy and ancient books, which were priceless treasures.

Dong Ku didn't participate in the moving. He went to the table by the stairs, picked up a few damaged ancient books that Mugu Qingye had been organizing, put them in a box, and started looking through a ledger.

The ledger recorded the detailed transactions of the trading company, with each entry meticulously detailed.

Dong Ku felt that the ledger being here seemed out of place. Mugu couldn't possibly check the accounts in his secret room.

When he flipped to the latter half, Dong Ku understood. This was a record of items stored in the bank and their account numbers, likely an old ledger that Mugu had repurposed.

"Damn, it seems he's really been plundering a lot in China over the past few years!"

Seeing the records from 1924, Dong Ku cursed, picked up the unconscious Mugu Qingye, quickly tied him up, stuffed his mouth with a sock, and threw him in with the terrified child and woman, then started moving the items.

The street was quiet, with few pedestrians, and it was already dark, making the area even more peaceful.

In less than half an hour, Dong Ku and his team had moved all the items. Shunzi and Dong Ku stayed in the secret room, while the others waited in the house.

By now, Mugu Qingye had regained consciousness. Seeing the empty secret room and his wife and child, he understood his situation, looking fearfully at Sato, knowing he had no chance of leaving unharmed.

Dong Ku signaled Shunzi to cover the secret room's wooden board, then pulled the sock out of Mugu's mouth and said in Chinese, "You have one chance. If you tell me about the items recorded here, the banks where they are stored, and how to retrieve them, you can take your wife and child back to Osaka to be with Mugu Liangzi and Mugu Yixiong."

"Liangzi... Yixiong..."

Mugu Qingye's eyes, which had been lifeless, now showed a glimmer of hope.

"Will you really let me go back to Japan?"

"No," Dong Ku shook his head. "You, your wife, and your child will all go back to Osaka, to your hometown."

"Really?!"

Mugu Qingye's eyes lit up.

Dong Ku nodded expressionlessly, his scarred forehead less terrifying, seeming sincere.

"Alright! I'll tell you, but please don't break your word." Mugu Qingye sat up straight.

"I swear by my ancestors that after you answer all my questions, I will fulfill my promise and let you and your wife take your child back to your hometown in Osaka. If I break my word, may I be struck by lightning." Dong Ku raised his hand solemnly.

This was a serious Chinese oath, and Mugu Qingye, who had been in China since the early Republic, knew it well.

"Where are they...?"

Mugu Qingye bit his lip and looked at the wall behind the table.

"Here?"

Dong Ku turned and looked at the wall, noticing that a few bricks had not been sealed with mortar, clearly movable.

Damn, he's really cautious! Even in the secret room, he's not satisfied! Dong Ku cursed inwardly, approached the bricks, inspected them, and slowly pulled them out. Under the gas lamp, he reached in and took out a few boxes.

Opening them one by one, he found several ancient books, a ledger, and a jade seal. Flipping through the ledger, the detailed records of stored items were clear, each item marked with a storage number and related information. There were over ten thousand items, mostly porcelain, jade, and various bronze and wooden carvings.

Damn! How did he collect so much?

The more he read, the angrier Dong Ku became. He suppressed his anger and found the receipts for all the stored items in another box, a thick stack, as thick as a modern dictionary.

"Is that all?"

Dong Ku asked, taking the backpack from Shunzi and putting the items inside.

"That's all, everything is here. The rent has been paid for thirty years, and with the seal and receipts, you can retrieve them."

Mugu Qingye looked at Dong Ku with hopeful eyes, almost pleading.

"Alright, two more questions, and I'll fulfill my promise." Dong Ku said, placing the backpack. "First, how did you get these items?"

Mugu Qingye swallowed, moistening his dry throat. "In 1914, the second year of the Republic, I came to China and started a trading company in Shanghai, exchanging cloth and small items for these antiques. Later, during a famine, I exchanged rice and flour for gold, silver, and antiques, storing them in the American Bank in the concession. After the 1931 incident, I moved to Fengtian, Qiqihar, and Acheng, using Japanese goods to exchange for these items from soldiers. In Acheng, I met Captain Muto and organized the excavation of some tombs, later becoming the army's trading company and moving to Jixi..."

"I see..."

Dong Ku now understood that Mugu had only used local Japanese goods like sake to exchange for these items. He quickly realized that it wasn't that Mugu was particularly lucky, but that the soldiers couldn't take these items back to Japan, most had to be handed over, and carrying them during military campaigns was inconvenient and dangerous. Exchanging for items from home was understandable.

Solving this mystery, Dong Ku felt a weight lifted, and he looked at Mugu. "Is there anything else you haven't told me?"

"Nothing! Really nothing! I took all the gold and silver from Shanghai back to my hometown before entering the customs, and everything here is in the secret room."

"Is that so?"

Dong Ku smiled slyly, his scarred forehead more menacing.

He didn't say anything more, scanning the empty secret room. As Mugu Qingye's eyes filled with despair again, he approached a wall, looking at the disguised bricks. "Not long ago, I stored a blood-red Hetian jade Maitreya Buddha here. You might have kept it here."

"It was you..."

Mugu Qingye's voice was weak and lifeless, and he fell silent.