Episode Summary
Tong Changfu wins a massive bet but uses the money to buy information on his missing sister, leading him to a confrontation with the fugitive Kawaguchi. Inside Unit 731, Huangchuan Liangping is horrified by the blood-filled sewers and fears his friend Bingze has lost his soul to the gruesome experiments. Kojima Yukio tracks Kawaguchi to an abandoned grain depot, interrupting a standoff between the fugitive and Tong.
Spoiler Alert
The Nightmare in the Basement
This show keeps finding new ways to make my skin crawl. We are deep in the belly of the beast now. The atmosphere in the Sifang Building is suffocating. You can practically smell the antiseptic and fear through the screen.
Blood in the Sewers
Bingze Shisanfu looks like a walking corpse. He hasn't slept in two days. Huangchuan Liangping tries to get info out of him about prisoner 909. Bingze claims ignorance. He says he doesn't handle the "Maruta" directly. That word still makes me shudder. It means "logs." That is how they see human beings here.
Things get darker fast. Huangchuan and Takahashi Akihiko get dragged to the dissection room. Captain Kurahashi leads them down. The underground tunnels are straight out of a horror movie. Huangchuan sees the sewers. That isn't water flowing down there. It’s blood. He realizes this is the place from his nightmares.
We meet Professor Matsumoto. This guy is a piece of work. He runs the dissection room. He doesn't care about human life. He only cares about organs. His obsession is terrifying to watch.
The Bank Job and the Rat Man
Outside the base, the paranoia is spreading. Thirteen people died from poison at the Manchuria Bank. Kojima Yukio starts asking questions. He corners Narita Kazuo. Kojima heard a rumor about Kawaguchi Satoshi. Apparently, Kawaguchi got fired for letting lab rats loose.
Narita plays dumb. He claims Kawaguchi just broke protocol. He warns Kojima to back off. But the cracks are showing. Even Tong Changfu gets shut out. He brings his usual apple delivery to Unit 731. Narita stops him. No more entry. Drop the apples at the gate. The secrecy is ramping up. Ishii Shiro is locking everything down.
A Gambler's Luck
Tong Changfu actually won. The betting results came in. He put everything on Zhang Jiuguan and walked away with nearly three thousand Manchurian dollars. Guifen has no idea he risked it all.
Tong doesn't celebrate. He thinks this "easy money" is bad luck. He believes it will cost him his regular luck. He just wants his sister, Yulan. He offers all the winnings to Master Qian. He just wants help finding her. Qian gives him two leads. One is a shady opium den on a boat. The other is an abandoned grain depot at the Russian graves.
Friends and Strangers
We get a heavy flashback sequence. Huangchuan spots a scar on a victim's arm. It triggers a memory. He remembers high school. He cut his arm once. Bingze was the one who patched him up. They were best friends. They went to Tokyo together. Bingze studied medicine. Huangchuan studied art. They had dreams.
Now look at them. Bingze is a shell. He is destroying his soul in this factory. Huangchuan looks at Narita too. He used to be like young Bingze. Now he is a stranger. Huangchuan is terrified. He is scared the environment will numb him too. He doesn't want to lose his humanity.
The Standoff at the Depot
Tong heads to the grain depot. It’s a maze of tunnels. He doesn't find Yulan. He finds Kawaguchi. The guy is hiding out. Kawaguchi recognizes the apple delivery man. He is desperate. He gives Tong fresh, crisp money to buy water.
Tong runs home. He grabs food and water. He thinks Kawaguchi is holding Yulan hostage. He rushes back. Kawaguchi tries to chase him away after getting the supplies. They can't understand each other. They start shouting. Kawaguchi pulls a gun. He hears a noise in the tunnel entrance.
He aims the weapon. He threatens the intruder. It isn't Yulan. Kojima Yukio steps out of the shadows. He finally tracked his man down.
