Chapter 38: Water Flows into the Channel

  "Ah——"

  Kawano Ryoko let out a shriek.

  She instinctively stretched out her hand to grab something as support, but she didn't grab anything, only grabbing the shopkeeper. Grabbing the shopkeeper, she obtained conditions for her own survival in desperation.

  As she fell to the ground with a thud, Kawano Ryoko felt herself still there, and hastily opened her eyes to find herself in a strange and mysterious room.

  The secret room is very large, almost the size of a floor in the Yue Lai Inn, like the living room of a wealthy family, with sofas, coffee tables, chairs and so on. What's different from home is that there is a sun flag hanging in the center of the secret room.

  A mysterious figure stood under the sun flag, motionless and with his back to the approaching person, like a zombie fixed to the ground.

  "Report, human brought in." The shopkeeper dragged a still-shaken Kawano Ryoko to the center of the secret room and saluted sharply.

  A mysterious figure like a zombie raised his hand and threw it back, which was considered an answer to the shopkeeper, and also hinted that he should leave the secret room.

  Another strange noise, and the specially made elevator bed sent Xiao Er upstairs. The mysterious figure opened his mouth after the sound stopped.

  "Miss Kawano must be used to riding this elevator?" The mysterious person's voice seemed to come from a jar, making people feel chilled.

  Kawano Ryoko shuddered and barely squeezed out two words: "I'm fine."

  "Mysterious person said: 'From the five towers mountain to here, at least 200 meters, above no graspable objects, below no fixed rope, left no blocking wall, right no protective railing, as if suddenly dropped from the sky. Therefore, many people have not yet arrived in front of Ben Chang, but have already reported to heaven. And Kawano Ryoko-san was able to arrive here safely, one of the few people who can do so. For this, Ben Chang congratulates you.'"

  Kawano Ryoko didn't know what to say and opened her mouth to ask: "Ryoko doesn't understand, please clarify."

  "All women in love are stupid, it's the same for everyone." The mysterious person said inexplicably: "I'm sorry to interrupt your good deed, sorry about that."

  Kawano Ryoko was shocked, even her own affairs with Hinoe were under his surveillance, this unassuming inn was too mysterious!

  "What brings you to Datong City?" The mysterious figure shifted their body, still with their back to Kawano Ryoko.

  Kawano Ryoko was about to say "to defend Itagaki", but suddenly realized that it might bring disaster, so she immediately changed her words: "I'm hungry, I want to eat red braised pork with chestnuts, so I came."

  "That was the long-awaited person who just contacted you, also the shopkeeper and waiter of Yue Lai Inn, using the captured enemy radio and their commonly used frequency to send it out." The mysterious person did not avoid this sensitive topic.

  "Perplexing war?" Kawano Ryoko was taken aback and asked with a multitude of questions: "So, Itagaki didn't come to Datong after all?"

  The mysterious figure said: "This, you should be clear about."

  "What's with the gunshot?" Kawano Ryoko replied to the mysterious figure, "Who else but General Itagaki would do such a thing? Sugihara, you're a live target."

  "Is this a question an agent should ask? Does such a question even need to be asked?"

  Kawano Ryoko thought for a moment, and indeed it was so.

  "What to do if you can't eat the braised pork with chestnuts?" The mysterious person saw that Kawano Ryoko didn't speak, and knew she was blaming herself for her foolishness, saying: "Return to Old Crow Mountain to report?"

  Kawano Ryōko said: "A crow's nest does not produce a phoenix; from where it comes, to where it goes."

  "Bang!" The mysterious figure immediately scolded as soon as he heard Kawano Ryoko's deflated tone, his stiff body seemingly softened a lot, with a tendency to turn his face towards her. However, he still didn't turn around, only sighing: "The Kurokawa River can't even raise ducks, instead it gets polluted and the ducks die."

  Kawano Ryoko understood that it was a euphemism, but she didn't understand its meaning. She thought carefully and remembered the "Black Earth Plan" that the shopkeeper had just mentioned, so she tried to make a vague statement: "That's because the environment of Kurokawa is not suitable for raising ducks, which led to the failure of the 'Black Earth Plan'. As long as the water quality is good and the breeding is done at the right time, any plan can be successful."

  "Wow!" The mysterious figure clapped his hands and asked, "Isn't it said that water and fire are incompatible? How can you associate good water quality with just the right amount of fire?"

  Kawano Ryoko kicked the ball into the goal with a bit of luck, and excitedly continued to say: "The water quality is good, the fire is ready, the water and fire are both in place, what plan can't be achieved?"

  "Oh yeah! Oh yeah!" The mysterious person clapped twice and then praised: "Kawano-kun, you're really clever!"

  Kawano Ryoko humbly said: "You're overpraising me."

  "Mysterious figure said: 'Want to know how the black river's wild duck was raised to death?'"

  "Don't ask what shouldn't be asked, don't think about what shouldn't be known."

  "I can make an exception for you." The mysterious figure cleared his throat, spat out a wad of phlegm, and said: "In this land of Shanxi, there grows a type of mushroom that is extremely poisonous. It often causes trouble in the Datong mining area, and several mine guard captains of the Great Japanese Empire have been poisoned to death. The new captain, Inukai Mako, also didn't escape disaster. Therefore, Ben Chang attempted to use the black river-raised ducks to devour this poisonous mushroom all at once. Unexpectedly, 'Black Earth' hadn't even entered the mushroom area when it was abandoned halfway."

  "Is this the 'Black Soil Plan'?" Kawano Ryoko asked, then muttered to herself: "This 'black soil' is another pair of golden partners besides the Fire Phoenix, isn't it?"

  A mysterious figure sighed: "Now the Black River is polluted and the earth duck is also extinct. So, we can only go to the Dragon King Temple with a big flood."

  Kawano Ryoko didn't understand the words of the person in front of her, but she understood that now he was going to start "Water Fire Plan" after the failure of "Black Earth Plan". As soon as she thought about running away with Huo Ya like Hei Ya and Tu Ya, pretending to be husband and wife, a warm current surged up in her heart, flowing slowly for a long time.

  When Kawano Ryoko asked how she and Kagerou would carry out this "Water-Fire Plan", the mysterious person's words made her feel like she had fallen from a great height, with countless anxieties suddenly flooding her mind.

  "No, no, no." The mysterious figure said: "This poisonous mushroom is growing wildly all over the mountain like wild grass. There's a Chinese saying that goes 'Wildfires can't burn them out, and spring winds will make them grow again.' Therefore, fire is absolutely not an option. Only a massive flood triggering a mudslide can uproot them completely, cutting them off at the root."

  "Is it just water without fire?"

  "The mysterious person said: 'So this plan is called Da Shui Chong Long Wang Miao, or Shui Dao Qu Cheng.'"

  "How will it be implemented?" asked Kawano Ryoko, trying to sound brave.

  A mysterious figure held up a white paper behind his back and beckoned to Kawano Ryoko.

  Kawano Ryoko went forward to take the paper and saw that there were 8 characters written on it: "Water Fire Both Succeeded, Water Arrived at the Ditch."

  "Leave it to Kagerou, he'll understand." The mysterious figure instructed Kawano Ryouko with one sentence, then waved his hand to indicate that she should leave.