Silent Tides Episode 26 Recap
> Silent Tides Recaps
Following the recent intelligence gathered from Liang Zhong's confession in Zhongshan, Sawa Eisaku believed his agency had finally mapped out the underground supply route. He identified the key players as a coalition between the Tai Ho Brotherhood, the Communist guerrillas, and prominent merchants like Rodrigues and Ma Wanqi. However, Sawa was convinced the ultimate mastermind was He Xian, the General Manager of Tai Fung Bank and Chairman of the Macau Banking Association.
Confident in his instincts, Sawa prepared to dismantle the network. Meanwhile, Ma Wanqi managed to secretly transport the critically wounded Long Haishan to Kiang Wu Hospital. Her condition was dire, with her blood pressure plummeting. Dr. Ke Lin realized there was no time to transfer her to the Conde S. Januário Hospital.
Despite Kiang Wu lacking the official authorization to perform surgeries, Ke Lin decided to operate immediately in a spare room, tasking Ma Wanqi and his brother, Ke Zhengping, with guarding the entrance and buying at least four hours for the procedure. The tension escalated when Huang Gongjie reported that the "female Communist" liaison—whom Sawa now knew was Long Haishan, the intelligence lead for the Five-Guilin Hills base—was likely hiding in a hospital.
Sawa recognized her as a "big fish" who held the keys to the entire regional underground network. He dispatched Yamaguchi to the Conde S. Januário Hospital and ordered Huang to Tai Fung Bank to arrest He Xian, while he went to pressure Governor De Solaire. Through Lok Pak, Qiao Yinwan received word of the impending arrests and rushed to Kiang Wu Hospital to warn He Xian.
Though urged to flee, He Xian refused to leave until Long Haishan’s surgery was safe. To protect her, Ke Zhengping came up with a desperate plan: he intentionally threw himself against a bench to fracture his own ribs, posing as an emergency patient. Long Haishan was hidden beneath the operating table while Ke Zhengping took her place as the patient. Outside, Sawa arrived with Inspector General Gonçalves and a team of agents.
When Ma Wanqi blocked them, demanding a search warrant, Sawa lost his patience and drew his gun. To draw the heat away, He Xian and Qiao Yinwan drove past the hospital entrance, successfully baiting Sawa and Huang into a high-speed car chase through Macau’s narrow streets. When He Xian finally stopped, he calmly explained he was merely rushing an ill Qiao Yinwan for a medical check-up and had mistaken the pursuing armed agents for kidnappers.
Despite this, Gonçalves arrested He Xian for the discovery of undeclared diesel on the Steamship Sai On. Realizing he had been diverted, Sawa rushed back to Kiang Wu and burst into the operating room. To his fury, he found Ke Lin treating Ke Zhengping for a punctured lung. Ke Lin stood his ground, arguing that the right to life superseded administrative bans and that he would take full responsibility after the surgery.
Supported by local law, Gonçalves ordered Sawa to leave the hospital. Under interrogation at the police station, He Xian remained composed. Sawa attempted to break him in private, alternating between offering him the top position in Macau’s business community and threatening him with extradition to Japan. Sawa accused the Portuguese authorities of using He Xian as a pawn to aid the Allied forces, a "war behavior" that violated neutrality.
He Xian saw through the tactic, realizing Sawa wanted to force a false confession to justify a Japanese military occupation of Macau. He Xian flatly refused to become a traitor. As a final pressure tactic, Sawa ordered the magistrate Lin Nianci to bring Liang Zhong to Macau to testify. He gave He Xian thirty minutes to reconsider. He Xian agreed to speak, but only to Gonçalves in private.
He then provided the Inspector General with a tip that led the police to Wang Qizheng’s warehouse. There, Wang Qizheng discovered to his horror that the "diesel" he had purchased from He Xian was actually water. Before he could react, Gonçalves’s team stormed the warehouse and shot Wang Qizheng dead, claiming he resisted arrest. Simultaneously, Ou Xin’s guerrilla unit ambushed the transport carrying Liang Zhong.
In the chaos, Liang Zhong used his chains to strangle the traitor, Water Ghost, before dying in the crossfire. Back in Macau, Gonçalves presented a stunned Sawa with contracts found at the warehouse. The documents, which He Xian had backdated by three days, proved that He Xian had legally sold the cargo to Wang Qizheng before the declaration deadline. This evidence shifted all criminal responsibility for smuggling onto the deceased Wang Qizheng and Magistrate Lin Nianci, effectively clearing He Xian and the Portuguese administration of all charges.
