Espionage: You're tasked with spying, but you'll blow up the Special Higher Police?

As Zhou Hongyi made his move, Chen Gong and the other Kuomintang assassins behind him rushed forward as well. In no time, they had all the Axe Gang members knocked to the ground, none of them able to get up.

Zhou Hongyi then reached out and grabbed Chen Xiaodao, who was lying like a dead dog, pulling his hair and making him face the crowd below the stage.

His expression was ferocious. He shook the bottle with his right hand and pointed at Chen Xiaodao in his hand, cursing: "Damn it, am I giving you face? I am Zhou Hongyi, my brother-in-law is Director Ding of No. 76, my teacher is Colonel Shimazu of the Special Higher Police, my direct superior is President Hasegawa of the Sakura Trading Company, and even General Doi-Yuan has personally praised me for my unlimited future."

"Who do you think you are, daring to point your finger at me and curse in front of so many people? If I don't teach you a lesson today, tomorrow a second or third fool will jump out. Everyone standing here, listen up! Don't think you can act so arrogantly just because I, Zhou Hongyi, am usually polite. If anyone's still not satisfied, step forward, and I'll beat you until you submit!"

After saying that, he swung the seemingly sturdy liquor bottle down hard, smashing it repeatedly on Chen Xiaodao's head with a series of dull thuds.

Before long, Chen Xiaodao of the Axe Gang lay motionless on the stage, his body twitching, his head already completely stained red with blood.

Seeing this, many guests covered their eyes, wanting to scream but not daring to. This young judge, this Mr. Zhou, was too ruthless.

“Young Master Zhou, Brother Zhou, that’s enough. No matter what, he’s still a member of the Axe Gang. If we kill him, it won’t be easy to explain to Boss Liu. Besides, tonight is an important night. Don’t frighten the girls backstage.”

Gu Tianbo rushed over to break up the fight and whispered words of comfort. They hadn't expected Zhou Hongyi to suddenly lose his temper and beat the Axe Gang's number one thug like this.

It's true that you can't judge a book by its cover. They originally thought Zhou Hongyi was the kind of polite young master who would be very courteous in everything he did. They didn't expect that he could get those two bosses to obediently sign contracts with the Japanese in just half a day. It seems that his methods are not just what they appear to be.

"Men, drag him out. I don't want to see this trash again. Mr. Gu, Mr. Qiao, I'm so sorry, I couldn't help myself and acted. Come on, ladies and gentlemen, don't be afraid, our performance tonight will continue. All the girls who are ready, come up. Now we'll move on to the talent show. Don't disappoint our customers. Don't take the little incident earlier to heart, it's nothing."

As Zhou Hongyi spoke, he took a handkerchief from his subordinate and wiped the blood from his hands. But the spectators below remained rooted to the spot. Still want to watch a performance? Still want to see talent? The stage was covered in blood, and the person had been dragged off, their fate unknown. Who had the heart to continue watching the performance?

Although they thought so, none of them dared to leave, because Zhou Hongyi hadn't said they could.

The girls competing behind the curtain were also frightened by Zhou Hongyi's ruthlessness. Some of the more timid girls even trembled in their legs and were unable to complete the rest of their performance. Only Manyu, with her beautiful eyes sparkling, seemed to have discovered a new continent.

She wasn't afraid of Zhou Hongyi's domineering nature; on the contrary, she admired him even more.

In the ensuing talent show, only Manyu remained completely unaffected, even exceeding expectations. She performed calligraphy, tea ceremony, and finally, to the accompaniment of upbeat jazz music, she performed a twist dance led by Zhou Hongyi, which revived the atmosphere that had been dampened by the unexpected incident.

Finally, she made it to the final night with a score second only to Elizabeth. Only after the host announced the successful conclusion of the Miss Rose pageant did the spectators pretend to have something to do and quickly leave.

As for Chen Xiaodao, he had already been taken by car to an empty bridge under the river to wash the blood off his head and face.

Just now, he and Zhou Hongyi staged a good show to create a persona for Young Master Zhou: ruthless, arrogant, and with powerful backing. The wine bottle had been tampered with beforehand, and the blood bag had naturally been prepared in advance. Xiao Dao cleaned the blood from his head and face, changed his clothes, and then led his brothers back to the dock area.

Zhou Hongyi was quite satisfied with his performance tonight, because after the competition, he was called into the VIP lounge by several bigwigs who offered him a lot of words of encouragement and praise.

"Although Young Master Zhou was a bit reckless in this matter, young people should have the spirit of youth. If it were me when I was young, I would have blasted a hole in that guy called Little Knife's head with a gun, let alone a bottle. Haha, your temper is to my liking."

Regarding Zhou Hongyi's performance tonight, Warlord Wei was the first to express his approval, laughing heartily and giving Zhou Hongyi a thumbs up.

The other two gang leaders shook their heads with wry smiles. They felt that Zhou Hongyi was being too arrogant, and the situation in Shanghai was unpredictable. This young master Zhou was too high-profile, always talking about his teacher and brother-in-law. Didn't he ever think that once those two lost power, who would dare to support him? Every enemy he made now would eventually become the straw that broke the camel's back. The young man was too short-sighted and lacked composure.

After saying all that, the conversation naturally returned to the memorable Elizabeth.

As for their target, Mr. Su, he had already been protected and left before the conflict between Zhou Hongyi and Chen Xiaodao. This was within Zhou Hongyi's expectations, since the Japanese valued this person highly and wouldn't put him in a dangerous situation. However, even the Special Higher Police wouldn't connect this incident to anything else; at least Sarutobi Sasuke had "credibility" with the Japanese—of course, that credibility should be put in quotes.

"Seniors, please excuse my presumption. But this is how I, Zhou Hongyi, do things. If you treat me with respect, I will treat you with even greater respect. But if you give me the cold shoulder and make me lose face, then I'm sorry, I don't care what your identity is, what gang thug you are, what behind-the-scenes boss you are, what gangster or white gang you are, what has-been warlord you are. I will fight if I want to fight, and kill if I want to kill. A man who is not passionate in his youth is not a man in his prime, right, seniors?"

Good heavens, Zhou Hongyi's words have implied all the big shots present. It turns out that their previous politeness was all an act; in reality, this young man is arrogant and doesn't take the big shots sitting in the private room seriously at all.

"Hmph, it's good for young people to be passionate, but it depends on where they use it. Otherwise, they might end up dead in the street one day and not even know who they offended."

Commander Wei, a former soldier, saw Zhou Hongyi's excessive arrogance and offered a word of warning.

Zhou Hongyi was not about to be outdone in words, and sneered, "The old senior is right, but I will never give my enemies a chance to retaliate. If we're going to fight, we'll cripple them, terrify them, and make them unable to recover. How can someone who has had their hands and feet cut off, their eyes gouged out, and their tongue pulled out retaliate against me? What do you say, Commander Wei?"

Zhou Hongyi stepped onto the coffee table, bent over, and confronted the warlord head-on. This gave Gu Tianbo a cold sweat. He even felt that this was the first day he had met Zhou Hongyi. The person he had seen before was probably his twin brother. Their personalities were so different.