The Final Fate

He made his way to Shanghai alone, rising from a country bumpkin to become a concession police superintendent and one of Shanghai's most influential figures.

On August 18, 1938, several newsboys shouted at the top of their lungs along Nanjing Road in Shanghai: "Extra! Extra! Breaking news! Lu Dakui has been assassinated! Extra! Extra!" They cried out to attract customers.

At around three o'clock yesterday afternoon, in a room on the third floor of the Central Hotel, Lu Dakui was flirting with his third concubine beneath a gauze canopy, naked. Suddenly, the telephone rang. "Damn it," Lu Dakui muttered, reaching for the receiver.

Lu Dakui answered reluctantly. "Hello! This is he."

Hearing the other person's forceful tone, Lu Dakui's face darkened at once, and the muscles in his face began to tighten.

Lu Dakui hung up, his mind full of uncertainty. The last time, after he slapped Yu Luomin, Chiang Kai-shek's nephew, he was hauled off by the Songhu Garrison Command and spent several days in jail. He'd only managed to get out of trouble by calling in favors and donating a plane. Now he'd received another call. It couldn't be good news.

Uneasy, Lu Dakui hurriedly got out of bed and dressed. Taking a bodyguard with him, he rushed out. He had barely taken a few steps beyond the Central Hotel's entrance when a burst of bullets came flying toward him. Before Lu Dakui and his bodyguard could even draw their guns, they fell into a pool of blood…