Operation Red Book

A good show is being performed in the theater at the Chinese Wharf.

Two puppets wearing full theatrical costumes with thin strings tied to their heads and holding red tasseled spears were fighting with weapons on the stage.

Red dodged Blue's attack with a backflip, and Blue bent the tip of Red's gun with a palm. Each of his attacks was as fast, accurate and ruthless as a real person.

The movements became faster and faster with the clanging of drums.

Hong's series of backflips brought the entire Shisanfang to a climax. People watching the show both below the stage and upstairs applauded and cheered. The deafening sound almost blew the roof of Shisanfang off.

Everyone in Shisanfang focused their attention on the stage, and naturally no one noticed a black puppet that appeared silently in the corner.

Its expression was half-smile, and the hollow eye holes in the black and white mask looked particularly creepy.

The thin lines of heads and limbs were scattered on the ground, and they were slowly walking to the edge of the crowd with stiff joints.

It stretched out its hands and grabbed a man's neck, then retreated away while exerting force.

The man's eyes rolled up, veins bulged, and his mouth opened wide. His struggling limbs softened after a few minutes and he allowed himself to be dragged into the darkness by the black puppet.

Shisanfang was crowded with people, and no one noticed the puppets appearing in the corners, nor the people disappearing around them, until the puppet strangled their necks.

In the open space backstage, a black puppet dragged a man who had just been strangled and threw him on the pile of dead bodies.

The dozens of people above all looked dead with their mouths wide open, eyeballs bulging, and large purple areas on their necks.

The black puppet bowed to the red figure in the darkness, then walked around the puppets that were dragging the dead body and entered Shisanfang.

March 1881, the left bank of the Thames in east London, the famous Chinese dock area.

About thirty years ago, ten years after the Opium War, a large number of Chinese came here on merchant ships bound for London.

After constant disputes and negotiations, most Chinese gathered together to form the current Chinese wharf.

The activities at the Chinese docks are divided into day and night. The main activities during the day are waterborne commercial transport in the dock area, and the goods loaded on them are mostly silk, tea, porcelain and some smuggled goods that can be exchanged for huge profits.

The evening activity is the Chinese market organized spontaneously by the residents.

The Chinese market is backed by the pier. As soon as the sun sets, the residents living at the Chinese pier all come out.

Vendors on several streets hang up lights and open shops to welcome customers; vendors sit on the ground, hawking Japanese gadgets; during every traditional Chinese festival, the sky is filled with joy and laughter for several nights in a row.

The Chinese Market is very famous throughout the London area and attracts a large number of local Londoners.

The most famous of these is undoubtedly the theater in the bustling center - Shisanfang.

The night Ivy arrived, she hid in the room in the back kitchen of Shisanfang where they prepared food. Hiding with her was Mr. Zhu, the famous leader of the Chinese dock area.

The once bustling Shisanfang was now in the midst of a riot. The rioters were not vicious bandits, but a group of lifeless, life-sized theater puppets.

When Ivy arrived at the Chinese wharf in the afternoon, it was drizzling and the porters and trackers at the wharf were carrying boxes onto the ship with their upper bodies bare.

They all have dark skin, their muscles bulge when they are exerting force, and their shouts echo across the Thames.

The ages of the porters ranged from 15 to 60. All of them had their heads shaved, leaving a long braid at the back of their heads. Some held the ends of their hair in their mouths, while others coiled their long braids around their heads.

When Ivy passed by them, the porter who was lying beside them smoking whistled at her with a sinister smile, speaking in an inaudible northern or southern dialect. Only faint words such as "girl", "night" and "bed" could be heard.

Ivy ignored him and looked around at the situation at the Chinese dock. Unfortunately, this area was where all the goods were placed. Apart from the porters, there were only supervisors giving orders.

After walking aimlessly for who knows how long, Ivy's body was already soaked, with wisps of black hair falling down and sticking tightly to her back.

The unbearable sounds constantly filling her ears had already made Ivy irritable.

The anger that Joshua had just felt for her came up again, forcing Ivy to cry out loud.

Ivy actually didn't know why she was angry with him. Maybe she just felt that Joshua's overly rational thinking made her feel that her concerns about the children were nothing.

Ivy was so angry and embarrassed by the dilemma that she drove Joshua away in anger.

"Little girl!"

Three bronzed men in coarse vests surrounded her, each with a heavy nasal voice.

"It's not good for you to get wet in the rain, why don't you come sit over at my place? Okay?"

"Let the brothers warm you up, hahahahaha!"

The foul language irritated Ivy, who clenched her fists tightly, trying to control her temper.

She rolled her eyes and spun around them.

"Hey, you ignorant little slut! Do you know who I am?"

"Let me tell you, follow me! I'm better than those bitches in Muyunzhai!" Then there was another burst of shrill laughter.

Ivy's emotions ran high, and her cheeks and neck were flushed.

Tears mixed with rain flowed down her face, and as she looked around angrily, she saw several large rocks by the river.

Ivy picked up a few big ones and threw them at the three people. Seeing that they easily dodged them, she quickly picked up a few smaller ones and threw them at them.

One of them luckily hit the face of one of them, and a small bump immediately appeared on his forehead.

The porters around laughed at the man when they saw this. Amidst the laughter and jeers, the man stomped his feet in frustration, picked up the whip beside him and was about to hit Ivy.

Ivy was unable to dodge and her arm was hit, leaving a faint red mark on her white clothes.

When the man was about to whip for the second time, a big man as strong as a stone suddenly rushed down from a merchant ship nearby.

He grabbed the end of the whip and pulled it lightly, pulling him to the ground.

The big man glanced over and the workers who were making a fuss immediately shut up. It seemed that he was a very majestic person in the group.

The big man took off the sweat towel from his waist. There were two lifelike butterflies embroidered on the lower left corner of the sweat towel.

He handed the sweat towel to Ivy, his voice hoarse but full of energy: "Go straight for 500 meters, there is a cobblestone road on the left, go 100 meters in, there is a small shop selling plain noodles on the right, give this sweat towel to the boss lady, she will take care of it."

After that, he pushed Ivy forward a few steps, and his voice rang out from above: "Come to the dock less often in the future."

After saying that, he returned to the boat he had just gotten off.