In 1938, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army's western expedition ended in failure. The Kwantung Army attacked the United Army's rear encampment and seized H1616, leading the Manchuria Railway Investigation Department to uncover the Jidong Provincial Committee's special branch in Xinjing, now Changchun. Zhou Baozhong, secretary of the Jidong Provincial Committee, ordered Liu Hanzhou, head of enemy operations, to infiltrate Xinjing and search for the whereabouts of "Shuibu Jiasheng."
On a train, Liu Hanzhou was betrayed and arrested. After wounding Second Lieutenant Hatada, he escaped. With the help of bandits, he made it into Xinjing, but his identity was exposed during a rendezvous. Lured into a trap by the Xinjing police, he escaped when the traitor began a killing spree.
With the military police on his tail, Liu Hanzhou had nowhere to run. Just then, the Manchuria Railway Investigation Department learned his true identity, and the secret police and the department swiftly launched Operation Death Agent.
With help from the Xinjing underground party affiliated with the Communist International, the Manchuria Railway oil exploration team boarded their train without incident. The Investigation Department immediately moved to arrest Liu Hanzhou. Just as the agents were about to strike, Puyi's guards and Japanese ruffians broke into a fierce fight, throwing everything into chaos. After a gun battle, Liu managed to escape.
During his flight, Liu Hanzhou pieced together clues and realized that the exploration team was part of a conspiracy. He therefore launched an artillery strike near Xinjing, killed Lieutenant Colonel Hatada, and devised an impossible-to-break screening operation. The agents hidden among the exploration team were all shot, while the remaining team members crossed into Soviet territory.
Just after they crossed the border, Professor Yoshioka, the exploration team's adviser, died without warning, arousing the suspicions of the Soviets and the United Army. Yet X-ray scans and an autopsy revealed nothing.
With Kimura Michi threatening him through his mother, who was branded the mother of a traitor, Liu Hanzhou returned to Xinjing without hesitation, using his own death to unravel the Japanese plot.
The United Army commanders and the Manchuria Railway Investigation Department agents alike won their opponents' respect through death.
The story comes from real history.