Shanghai, 1939, at the heart of a world in turmoil.
Li Erbao, operating under the alias Li Chengsi, wields a heaven-defying golden finger: a warehouse where time and space stand still. He maintains three identities at once:
- In public, he is deputy director of the Wang Jingwei regime’s Materials Control Committee, Second Master of the Green Gang’s Tong generation, and a Chinese tutor trusted by the families of senior Japanese officers.
- In secret, he is the Military Statistics Bureau’s “Abacus” and the Communist Party’s “Bookkeeper,” a double agent who plays all three sides and excels at scheming.
He disguises himself as a greedy, lecherous coward, yet moves with ease between the Japanese, the Wang Jingwei regime, the Military Statistics Bureau, and the Communists:
Using his storage space to corner supplies, he turns food wars, arms swaps, and financial raids to his advantage, amassing a fortune;
With Japanese women such as Yamamoto Keiko, Sato Misaki, and Matsushima Sakurako, and Chinese allies such as Bai Mudan, Aunt Zhang, and Su Wanqing, he manipulates every faction, extracts top-secret intelligence, and secretly supports the resistance.
He dances on the edge of a blade and mines gold from the abyss.
He sabotages the Japanese, makes money for the Military Statistics Bureau, and aids his comrades. In the three-way game, he is the only winner.
On the eve of Japan’s surrender, he slips away with a vast fortune, leaving behind an unparalleled legend. Amid Shanghai’s storms, he becomes the greatest victor of a chaotic age.
