Seeing that the truck was about to enter the Hongkou boundary, Kobayashi Hikoro's heart was finally relieved. He glanced at Liu Cheng, who was concentrating on driving, and said: "Liu Translator, in view of your good performance, the trading company has decided that starting from next month
, an additional 10 yuan floating bonus will be added to you every month.”
"Thank you to Executive Director Kobayashi, thank you to President Ito, thank you to His Majesty the Emperor... Oh, I'm sorry, I said the wrong thing. In short, I will definitely work harder!" Liu Cheng was excited and incoherent, not knowing what to say.
Kobayashi Hikoro smiled slightly: "No, you are not wrong. Everything we get is a gift from His Majesty the Emperor. Don't worry, as long as you serve the empire loyally, we will not treat you badly..."
"Bang!"
There was a noise from under the car.
The truck was not affected and was still driving normally. Kobayashi Hikoro frowned and said, "Translator Liu, what was the sound just now?"
"Maybe it was the children setting off firecrackers?" Liu Cheng was immersed in the excitement of the salary increase.
A plume of black smoke suddenly emerged from the car door and quickly spread to everywhere. The car was suddenly filled with choking black smoke.
In panic, Liu Cheng suddenly braked and the truck stopped diagonally in the middle of the road.
"I don't know, cough, cough, cough, what's going on, cough, cough, cough..."
Liu Cheng felt guilty as a thief. He was a little worried now. Could it be that the lantern was not completely extinguished and accidentally ignited the cotton wrapping the lantern and the pipe?
A passing rickshaw driver shouted: "Fire! Your car is on fire!"
Before he finished speaking, a fireball exploded under the car, and the flames jumped into the car through the cracks.
"Director Xiao Lin, there's a fire! Run!" Liu Cheng pushed open the car door and jumped out.
The fire snakes were dancing wildly in the carriage, and Kobayashi Hikoro couldn't care less and jumped out of the carriage in a hurry.
It didn't take even a minute for the fire to quickly engulf the entire truck.
Kobayashi Hikoro stared blankly for a while, then suddenly grabbed Liu Cheng's collar and roared: "Tell me! What happened!"
Liu Cheng said with a grimace: "Didn't you see what happened..."
"You idiot, go and take out the oil drum!"
"Director Xiao Lin, there's such a big fire and I can't even open the car door. How am I going to get in? You'd better call the water dragon team quickly!"
Kobayashi Hikoro pushed Liu Cheng away dejectedly and murmured: "It's too late, it's too late..."
As if in response to Kobayashi Hikoro's words, there was a loud bang in the carriage. The oil drum could not withstand the high temperature for a long time and exploded in a sealed state.
Hearing the explosion, the crowd watching from a distance stepped back.
"boom!"
The explosion this time was deafening.
The carriage was blown out of shape in an instant. Fortunately, there was a carriage that blocked the air waves generated by the explosion, otherwise it would have definitely affected onlookers.
The truck burned in the raging fire and was completely reduced to a pile of scrap metal before the water dragons arrived to extinguish the fire.
…………
The next day.
Ito Trading Co., Ltd.
"asshole!"
"yes!"
"idiot!"
"yes!"
"waste!"
"yes!"
Ito Masako was so angry that he slapped Kobayashi Hikoro with a dozen big mouths with his bow left and right.
"Tell me! How did it happen!" Ito Masako was also tired from playing, so he picked up the tea bowl and took a big sip.
Even after being beaten, Kobayashi Hikoro still stood upright and said: "Mr. Ito, I think there is something fishy about this matter..."
Ito Masahiro snorted coldly: "What's weird? Then tell me what's weird."
Kobayashi Hikoro said: "The fire started very quickly, almost instantly. If it was an ordinary fire, it shouldn't be so fast."
Masako Ito looked at Hikobayashi Kobayashi for a while and said, "Did you already know about Liu Cheng smoking opium during working hours?"
"this……"
"explain!"
"Know."
"Since you know, why don't you stop it?"
Kobayashi Hikoro said: "Mr. Ito, this is what I think. This kind of person is easier to control. When he is completely inseparable from opium, we can hold him tightly in our hands!"
Masahiro Ito sneered: "Early this morning, the patrol office called and said that a bong and a cigarette lantern were found in the interior panel of the truck. They suspected that the cigarette lantern caused the fire!"
The accident occurred in the concession area. The patrol office immediately sent people to investigate the scene. Apart from the burnt and deformed smoke gun and smoke lantern, no other clues were found.
Kobayashi Hikoro was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Impossible, absolutely impossible! The door interior panel is a metal structure, so it is impossible to cause such a big fire... I understand! The fire came from under the car, it can
If it burns to that level, there must be something wrong with the fuel tank!"
Ito Masahiro said with a straight face: "What's the use of all this? We can't get involved in investigating the case in the concession. We can only listen to the judgment of the patrol room."
"But……"
"Stop talking about it. I will report this matter to the superiors. You must be mentally prepared."
"yes!"
Kobayashi Hikoro knew in his heart that he might be directly responsible for the incident, and at the very least he would be demoted. He might even be sent directly to a combat unit.
…………
So far, everything is as Xu Siqi expected.
Wang Guanqiao hates evil as much as he hates hatred, so he is bound to do this kind of thing. What's more, Xu Siqi once saved his life, so he would help even if it was just to repay his kindness.
On the day the two met, Xu Siqi deliberately disguised himself. He concealed his true identity and only said that he was a demolitionist in the national army and discovered the matter accidentally. As a conscious Chinese soldier, of course he could not sit idly by and watch.
Fabricating such a "lie" not only explains the source of the time bomb, but also fits the reason why he did it. How could ordinary people have the courage to do such a thing...
Regardless of whether Wang Guanqiao believes it or not, at least there is a reasonable reason.
It wasn't that Xu Siqi didn't trust Wang Guanqiao, but there were other people present at the time. The Ax Gang had a mixed bag of people, and one of them might be the enemy's spy.
It's not enough without meeting them. Nine out of ten of these people are rough. It's not just that they can remember it after being told it once. Many details need to be taught over and over again until they master it.
For example, how to install the time bomb, how to connect the fuse, and how to mix the powerful anesthetic into the smoke.
These things must be explained clearly. If something goes wrong in one link, all efforts will be in vain.
In fact, among the people who met Xu Siqi that day, apart from Wang Guanqiao, the only ones were Hua Kezhi and Ah Si, who was responsible for installing the bomb.
Xu Siqi felt very strange about Hua Kezhi's impression. This person's speech and behavior really didn't look like someone from a gang...