Corto, what are you doing outside?
It's time for me to go.
Venice is making me lazy.
That is what Venice is for.
Would you like a glass of Rosolio?
Rosolio?
I didn't know that still existed.
But, Gold Lips, when did you come here?
I came in 1300 with the cabalist
Mancello Giudeo.
We were friends of Dante's then,
but you just have to open that door to travel through time,
like in a fable.
I would like to live in a fable.
Your life is one big fable yet you don't realize it anymore.
An adult who enters
the world of fables cannot leave it.
Did you know that?
Perhaps we are late...
Today's December 34th.
It still isn't New Year's Day.
Ah, yes, yes...
But Christmas was the 27 th.
In Venice, the years
are always a little longer.
"What are you making them?
Thieves, only to punish them."
I never could read that book.
Forget it, Corto. You wouldn't have time.
Your horoscope says you're going on a long adventure.
Are you sleeping?
Hong Kong, February 15th 1919
The 9, by virtue of change,
becomes an entirely moving line...
A strong line may become
a weak one,
and it's in this way that we obtain...
I don't remember...
I'm getting old...
Ah yes, yes! The sign of The Marrying Maiden.
The Marrying Maiden says: "Undertakings bring
misfortune". Corto Maltese, are you sleeping?
No, I was thinking of Venice and Gold Lips.
You said young girls don't marry adventurers? Well, too bad!
That means I'll never get married!
You always want to joke, Corto.
I never joke.
These are hard times. The Russians are fighting
in the north, the Japanese in the east.
The religious sects are becoming political organizations,
united against the foreigners. The White Lotus...
And what are you doing, Long Life?
Red Triangle will wait for word from Black Diamond
to transmit it to Pink Square who will inform White Rectangle...
Sounds like a geometry class.
Corto...
When will you ever be serious?
I am, Long Life.
- How do I look? - Splendid!
The young women of Hong Kong will be crazy about you.
Brother of the Night salutes you...
The Triad watches over you, Corto Maltese.
War in Europe is over!
It continues in Siberia, in Mongolia, in Manchuria...
War in Europe is over!
Good evening, Rasputin.
Why are you in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong isn't reserved for you, as far as I know.
You're quite elegant in that trench coat.
It's a present. You like her?
- Who? - That junk over there.
Are you bored?
I'm never bored, you know that.
Come on, let's try and find a drink.
You'll always live in a dream world.
Maybe you're right.
It's the time to do business! With these wars between Bolsheviks,
White Russians, Mongols, Chinese, you can get rich!
That's a job for vultures.
I could kill you!
You'll kill me some other time.
There's blood at your feet. Where's the man who was with you?
Is this a riddle?
The situation isn't simple.
In fact, it's extremely muddled!
The city is full of Russian refugees... adventurers...
pirates...
like this person who was with you...
This "Captain Rasputin"...
We've been looking for him for months.
Today, we find his trail: He's with you.
Chance or coincidence?
Probably both, Lieutenant Barrow.
I know a lot about you, Corto Maltese.
You were already in China in 1905 and 1913.
You indulged in piracy in the South Seas.
You're allied with a Chinese secret society!
Am I so popular in your police stations?
A police officer must suspect everyone, Commander.
May I go now?
"What are you making them?
Thieves, only to punish them."
I never could read that book.
You're back at last. That's good.
I'm glad you're here.
Me too, Hu.
- Did you receive everything? - Yes.
But money isn't everything. Sometimes we need to meet.
A letter was brought for you this morning.
This letter is perfumed...
"Do you recall a morning of butterflies,
an afternoon of wildflowers?"
The Red Lanterns are looking for you.
What is it? Another secret society?
The Red Lanterns are very brave young women.
They oppose all the other secret societies.
If I were you, I'd listen to them.
Rasputin!
Lost your touch, Ras? You used to be a great knife thrower.
I still am.
Otherwise you wouldn't be here - you'd be dead.
But why did you disappear this afternoon?
You were surprised?
- And the blood stains? - I played a trick on you.
I cut myself while you were talking
to make you think that something happened to me.
We haven't had an adventure in years, like the one with the Monk
or the Royal Fortune...
Escondida Island... Santo... Do you remember?
Ras, you're crazy!
I could kill you!
Aren't you tired of repeating yourself?
Here, take your knife.
It's not my knife!
Isn't this your friend's knife?
That's my knife!
So... someone wanted to kill you?!
Greetings from the Red Lanterns, Corto Maltese.
The Red Lanterns have a business proposition.
Are you ready to listen to us?
Since you saved my life...
Heard of Admiral Koltchak's train in Siberia?
It's the gold train... Tsar's gold...
Last year, after the execution of Nicolas II,
Koltchak stole the imperial treasure in the name of
the counterrevolutionary government.
His armored train is carrying gold.
Until now, no one has managed
to intercept it.
It interests the warlords,
Manchuria's bandits, the allies in Siberia,
- and secret societies. - Like yours?
We will recruit the men and finance the enterprise.
But we need someone able to lead the expedition.
We thought of you, Corto Maltese.
You know she's here in Hong Kong?
She, who?
You know who I mean.
She's here, but we don't know where. If you wish, we can search.
Those bloody Lanterns!
We can use them to get the gold!
I accept you as my associate!
Are you out of your mind? If we accept...
everyone east of Moscow will be against us.
Think you can find a junk?
At last! I knew it!
There's the Corto that I know...
the same ol' Corto!
Give these instructions to the Shanghai Red Lanterns.
They'll help you reach Kharbine in Manchuria.
Here's a thousand gold sterling for your first expenses.
I'll only take the instructions.
If we succeed, we share the expenses and the profits.
I'm your associate,
not your employee. Is that clear?
If you wish...
But didn't you say that two associates is one too many?
I said I didn't like an odd number of associates.
One is too little, and three is too much.
We must go.
We'll send someone for the corpse.
Maybe she's still here...
Maybe she's waiting for you...
That's in the past.
It should no longer have any importance.
Perhaps you didn't know it, but I too was in love once.
A young girl from Nikolaievsk
who took care of me when I was a kid.
I never knew my mother.
She died the day I was born.
Doubtless of fright when she saw you!
One more word, and I'll kill you.
Calm down. I have nothing against your mother...
except a certain responsibility...
Why, your boat is fantastic, Captain Rasputin!
You're right, I was lucky.
I got this junk for next to nothing!
Your friend was too lucky.
What do you mean?
The men on this boat are paid by the Red Sunset Society.
They are to eliminate you before we reach Shanghai.
The Red Sunset?
A secret society.
Traditionally, they act at sunset.
The red is for blood.
A fine tradition!
They've set a machine gun in the stern.
Now go away, we're being watched.
You wanted adventure?
- What? - The crew...
Deal with the Captain.
Ras, where are you?
I'll take care of the machine gun!
Hey, you!
- Were you on the junk? - Are you the only survivor?
It looks like it... Couldn't you lower that gun?
Come to Shanghai. Gen. Chang will decide your fate!
Come, sailor, Gen. Chang will speak with you.
What were you doing on that junk?
Looking for an exotic experience?
Usually, Westerners scorn our junks.
Couldn't you afford a crossing on a better ship?
Did you know that we have
a mutual friend here in Shanghai?
You surprise me, General.
Mister Song,
the millionaire...
Mister Song...
Or should I say his daughter,
Miss Wee-Lee Song?
You're often spoken of in the house of Song, Commander.
Are you back in China for this person?
No, rest assured...
Miss Wee-Lee Song has nothing to do with my presence.
If it's not a woman who has earned us
the "honor of your presence" in China, it's perhaps...
a train.
A Russian train, for example.
Filled with gold...
I don't understand...
Isn't it strange...
These days, many people are dying without understanding why.
Ah, tea!
One of life's rare joys!
And One Ear knows how to prepare it so well.
Thank you, One Ear.
One Ear is a Tibetan monk.
He heard something he shouldn't have,
and his ear was cut off.
But he makes a very good cup of tea.
I'm blind,
deaf and dumb, General... like the three wise monkeys.
That was someone that didn't know the story of the three wise monkeys.
You may go, Commander Maltese.
Why did you let him go, General?
Because he'll lead me to the gold train.
Ah, another victim of this craziness. Good!
You always enter a sauna with a pistol and cigar?
Yeah. Because I'm Jack Tippit of the American Air Force.
As for the cigar, it's gone out.
That's what always happens to a good Connecticut cigar.
And the hat?
Actually, I don't know... And you?
Me what?
Who are you?
You've asked me too many questions.
Are you an anarchist? Bolshevik? Or a romantic revolutionary?
You ask too much, too! I know you stick a knife in, from the bottom up.
Easy...
I'm not looking for a fight. I'm tired.
Very tired...
Well then, rest.
I can't!
I keep thinking about that woman,
her train full of Cossacks and murderers.
If you knew the Duchess...
This war couldn't be waged without the trains.
All we know is that, inside their wagons, some wish
to escape the conflict, others wish to rule.
They even transport their homeland in their trains!
Even the gold of Holy Russia...
You still haven't said why you're in Shanghai.
I'm just passing through
on my way to Kharbine in Manchuria.
I'm going there too. I have a spare seat in my plane.
Have you never flown?
No. And I have no wish to try!
That helmet really suits you. You look like my aunty!
I won't say what you look like!
Cheer up, sailor.
It'll take 2 days, excluding stops!
Shut up!
Hey, there's a plane following us!
What makes you say that?
I'm bored, Spatzetov...
I'm bored to death.
Give me the newspapers.
Unfortunately, they're a week old.
Impossible to find others...
It's Major Tippit.
Tippit?
Be a dear, shoot him down!
Stop it! We got him!
You OK?
Corto,
meet the world's biggest son of a gun,
Major Spatzetov of the Ussurian Cossacks.
I'm sorry, Major.
We thought it was a Bolshevik.
How can I make it up to you?
I hope you're not too angry.
You can hope, Duchess,
but not with the US Government:
They hate their planes being shot down.
These late afternoons in Siberia are like nighttime.
How are you, Duchess?
I'm well, thank God.
I sometimes thought of you, Tippit.
Your friend's hurt!
Please leave me out of your affairs.
Your friend has a bad temper.
He's giving himself airs!
But he's a brave lad.
What's his name?
Corto Maltese.
The Duchess is expressing what a pleasure it is to meet you.
Friendship with the Allies!
If it isn't profitable to them, they'll abandon us.
You're right.
We should follow Von Ungern
and organize with him and Semenov the fight against the Bolsheviks,
even if Von Ungern's crazy.
Yes, perhaps...
He thinks Mongolia will produce a new horde of warrior aristocrats.
He dreams of founding an Asian empire to conquer Europe.
He's convinced he's the reincarnation of Genghis Khan!
All that is deliciously romantic...
But it's true,
we're not united enough.
Spatzetov, which side are you on?
Yours, Your Excellency,
the most surprising woman I've ever met!
Have you known her for long?
Last summer in Vladivostok...
A welcome party for the US troops, the social niceties...
the usual foolishness...
We squandered caviar, champagne... and duchesses...
I'd like to stop at the Manchurian border.
Manchuria is dangerous...
I must go to Kharbine.
I'll try to help you, Cortouchka, but the Siberian border is
controlled by Baron Von Ungern-Sternberg.
Who?
A direct descendant of the Teutonic knights.
His family was eliminated by the revolution.
Could you?...
My necklace...
Your necklace is warm...
Yes, I danced and drank with my men.
You have to have fun from time to time.
Especially if afterwards, you can pray for forgiveness from Our Lord...
Here is Semenov,
chief of the Baikal Cossacks, General of the Wildcat Division.
Mainly known for his reputation as an assassin!
My dear Marina, did you have a nice trip?
Serghei Semenov, my friend,
I had a lovely voyage across all of Manchuria.
The Chinese and Japanese adore you!
They don't love me - they're using me.
But introduce your friends.
Commander Corto Maltese and Major Tippit of the US Air Force.
Ataman Semenov...
who only believes in his armored trains.
You should believe as much as I do, Marina.
Oh, come see what the Japanese gave me.
And you too, gentlemen. I'm sure that it'll interest you!
I present to you my Destroyer!
With that, I can keep the entire Bolshevik Army at bay.
My trains and my cannons are powerful.
They're heavy and slow.
Anyone ever tell you to keep your mouth shut?
Corto Maltese...
Your name seems familiar...
Unless it's your head...
I must have seen it somewhere.
That's impossible.
My head has never changed places. It's always been with me!
Serghei, you know that I must continue my journey.
Koltchak will not wait.
True. And you're the only one the Admiral still trusts.
Our future will soon be in your hands, Marina.
Tippit is continuing with me.
Corto Maltese must get to Kharbine, in Manchuria. Can you help him?
I'll take care of it.
You'll take care of it how?
Don't worry, Marina.
Nothing will happen to your sailor.
I hope I'll see you again...
some day.
Me too.
Beware of Semenov.
Goodbye, Corto.
Goodbye, Jack.
Gen. Semenov ordered me to kill you once you crossed the border.
Corto Maltese,
welcome to Manchuria!
Semenov doesn't like you.
I don't like you either.
Welcome, Corto Maltese.
Have we already met?
I helped you... on the junk.
I had a friend on that junk.
- A friend? - Have you any news of him?
Perhaps. Now follow me. You are expected.
The time has come, Corto.
I didn't expect to find Red Lanterns so far north.
The path of our interests has no end.
So I see...
The wars in China and Manchuria are ruining our people.
We have a lot to learn from the Russians.
They electrified the country. Soon, they will
eradicate illiteracy.
But you didn't ask me to educate your people.
Where is this famous gold train?
Have you been able to locate it?
Koltchak has taken refuge in Irkoutsk, but wants to leave,
and Semenov is ready to attack him.
Who's singing?
A Russian officer. His name is Nino.
Welcome, sailor! Do you want a drink?
Not yet.
Why not?
Sooner or later, we'll drink together.
Fate has it that we love the same woman.
An extremely choosy woman... She stole my soul.
That's nonsense.
Perhaps...
but this nonsense is all I've got left.
In this snow, even the Russian and Manchurian guards won't go out!
What should I call you?
Call me Shanghai-Li.
I'm ready.
Why did you put on this full-dress uniform?
Because I'm still part of this military insanity.
Don't you remember?
She loved uniforms...
Who knows who she gave my soul to?
Don't mention that to me again!
We must warn General Chang!
You should disguise yourself.
Semenov might recognize you.
Semenov... I'd like a word or two with him.
Semenov is the worst enemy and the worst friend one could have.
How did you meet him?
The Duchess Marina Seminova introduced us.
Is the Duchess pretty?
Yes...
I'd say so.
What did you say?
I said yes.
When you're near her, it's like being near something warm and soft.
Merry Christmas, Corto!
Corto, my friend... Merry Christmas!
But today's not Christmas!
So what?
We celebrate Christmas whenever we please!
I found you again, Corto!
How nice it is to say your name: Corto, Corto, Corto!
Rasputin!
It's really you?
Who else would it be?
Your aunty?
I lost you in Shanghai. Now I find you
in Siberia.
You always underestimate me.
That's your mistake.
Caviar and vodka, Corto!
Things from back home...
like the gold that we're going to steal!
To Russian gold!
It won't be easy. There's this Semenov...
I was with two friends. Where'd they go?
You have only one friend: That's me. Got it?
Right, let's deal with this Semenov!
Commander, the Americans control the entrance to the railroad at Tchita.
The Americans?
I thought it was the Japanese...
In any case,
what counts is the junction at Karymskoe.
That's where we'll wait for Koltchak's train.
Make sure the line's open for our return.
Yes, Commander.
And don't disturb me again!
Why are you looking at me?
You're looking at me too!
Hey, you two!
Are you in the cast for the troupe's theater?
What cast? What theater are you talking about, imbecile?
We're officers in the Venetian Navy, sent as military advisers
to the Siberian and Mongol Cossacks.
Why not Marco Polo and his uncle en route to Cathay?
Show me your papers!
One moment, Captain.
I'll answer for these two officers. You may go.
Yes, sir!
You were wrong to make fun of him.
Do the Cossacks lack a sense of humor?
With Semenov, even those who had one, lost it...
What happened the other night?
You disappeared in a snowstorm.
I always disappear in snowstorms. I can't help it.
- Is that the Duchess? - Yes, I think so.
About time! At last we can get out of here.
And go where?
Your Excellency,
the Bolsheviks have taken Irkoutsk. We were decimated.
We retreated, but we can't hold out much longer.
And the Admiral?
Admiral Koltchak was betrayed by the Czechoslovakian legionnaires.
The Bolsheviks threw his body into the Angara river.
We must leave, Your Excellency.
We haven't time to transfer the gold. Bring your men on our train.
The honor of taking the Imperial gold goes to you.
It was His Excellency the Admiral's wish.
Serghei,
what are the Americans like?
The Americans? They're Yids...
They're all Jews from Wall Street!
Ungern was right when he said
that the Yids want to divide up the world.
But it's not just the bankers who're Yids!
Lenin and Trotsky are also Yids,
subversive Yids and Bolsheviks...
But my family's Jewish too, Serghei.
I saved them from a pogrom! Have you forgotten?
No!
No... I just thought...
You're starting to think, Macha?!
I said I wasn't to be disturbed! Bring me another girl!
When an object wants to become a subject,
it's no longer useful!
Do you want to follow her example?
Are you a freethinker, too?
Me? I've only just arrived with one of your officers.
Captain laroslav.
Nino!
That madman whose soul was stolen...
Sometimes, he disappears to go look for it, then...
he comes back without having found it.
One day, I'll sew one onto his skin.
Come here.
Kneel down.
You're very far north for a Shanghai girl.
What are you looking for?
Around here, you'll die before finding it.
I'm looking for a Golden Dragon.
A Golden Dragon?
You must be crazy.
But who knows what your madness is hiding?
Massage my head...
I want to sleep.
I am how I am. I don't care about politics,
because I've chosen to live with tons of money,
surrounded by beautiful women and beautiful objects.
To have them, I must steal.
In fact... you're a thief.
Of course I'm a thief.
But what I steal, I spend.
I distribute the money.
Lots of people live off what I spend after a robbery.
- Koltchak's train! - The gold train's coming.
The girl... Shanghai-Li, where is she?
She's on this train, too...
And ready for the Big Game, like all of us!
The General promised us our share. We'll be rich. Hurry!
Perhaps it's better to die this way, killed by one of our own...
That Semenov is a great guy!
A butcher!
He did all the work!
Send someone to unhitch the gold car! And fast!
I'll go, Commander!
Traitor!
She was going to kill you!
Let's take care of the gold.
Stop thinking about that woman! After the revolution, we'll be rich!
The world will be full of Russian duchesses in exile!
It's you, Nino... What's going on?
Did you find your soul?
No, Semenov, I didn't find my soul...
but I'm going to kill you.
It's not for the gold.
Simply because you're a murderer, unworthy
of belonging to the army.
Watch out!
A black dragon on their palm!
It must be the Triad.
No, it's not the Triad.
The Black Dragon's a sect General Chang belongs to.
Which way did Semenov go?
To the locomotive.
I preferred the leopard outfit,
my little Shanghai-Li.
I no longer have the leopard skin,
but I've kept the claws.
Hurry up!
I don't understand.
The .45 she's pointing at us is clear!
This gold will serve the cause of the Asian revolution!
Russia has exploited us for too long.
It's time that the West paid.
If you want to stay alive, jump off the train!
Young woman, Russia has committed many errors, true,
but I'm a Russian officer
and I must defend what belongs to Russia.
As for myself, I think
that I'd rather die.
Young woman...
Well, I never heard such a ridiculous argument!
In blue summer ends of day,
I will wander pathways,
pricked by hay,
splay the tender grass...
Dreaming,
I'll feel its coolness play at my feet.
Let the wind lash my bare brow.
No words, not a thought...
But infinite love will surge in my soul.
And on I shall wander and on, vagabond.
In nature,
as happy as in a woman's company.
What are you thinking about, Corto?
Arthur Rimbaud, a French poet.
At such moments, I think of nothing else.
You're prisoners of Baron Von Ungern-Sternberg's
Asian cavalry!
Your hands are beautiful,
but small...
As a child, they must have been chubby and very white.
Never mind that. What do you see?
Your life will be short, Von Ungern. Very short...
Two more years perhaps, no more...
and much blood...
Two years...
That should be enough for what I have to do.
What else?
I see nothing but blood... blood...
Will I be victorious?
All I see is, you will kill many...
and you will spill a lot of blood!
We found them in the mountains
near Three Borders Lake.
Why were you between Mongolia and Manchuria?
You won't believe me: I'm trying to forget someone.
You look like a gypsy,
or a sailor,
yet you wear a Russian officer's cap.
The cap was a gift...
- Well? - Well, what?
- I'm waiting! - Waiting for what?
We came to this fair land to steal Koltchak's gold...
which Ataman Semenov himself tried to steal.
And how does it all end?
That, I don't know.
All I can say is, Semenov didn't succeed!
Fine...
Fine!
In that case, I won't have you shot...
not for now anyway...
As for this Chinese girl,
tomorrow she'll go to the military brothel.
She'll entertain my soldiers.
And you who look like that vile Rasputin...
What's your name?
Rasputin, Excellency!
You must all be crazy!
Pardon me, Excellency, but the only crazy one here is Corto Maltese!
- You were lucky. - Stay out of it, Mongol!
Ras, you really have an impossible temper.
Come in. At least you'll be warm here.
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
a stately pleasure dome decree,
where Alph the sacred river ran through caverns
measureless to man, down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
with walls and towers were girdled round."
"And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills where blossomed
many an incense-bearing tree.
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
enfolding sunny spots of greenery."
You didn't call me here to talk about Coleridge.
Why not?
The pen and sword can sometimes go part of the way together.
The pen and giant cannons,
perhaps less often!
Please, sit down!
I have a proposition.
In 3 days, my division will march in conquest of Urga.
From there, I'll go to fight Choy Balsan and Sukay Bator.
I don't know either one.
They're subversives.
I must create a new religious war...
a counter-revolution more terrible than their own revolution!
It's time to return to the old beliefs.
The ethics of war and shamanism will be our only religions.
From the Sea of Japan to the Gulf of Finland,
we'll make the yellow sun rise against the Red Star!
Come with me.
Assuming that I need to believe in something,
why should I choose Mongolia rather than...
a secret court, called the "Court of the Arcane" in Venice?
Because no one is in complete agreement with himself.
I'm offering you a new empire!
I've turned down so many things.
It's the first time I've been offered an empire.
But I refuse.
I force no one to follow me, Corto Maltese.
"No" is a very nice word,
provided that you're the first to say it,
and you had that courage...
Let's drink to our future!
Excellency,
here is the mopa.
Praise Buddha. I will read the sacred word...
He's a Tibetan diviner.
He'll tell us the secrets of life and death.
The "tree-book-of-fates" has millions of leaves,
and on each is written a human's fate.
When someone dies, a leaf falls.
I have seen yours.
There's a Black Dragon in your life! A broken Black Dragon...
But those like you who know how to live are comfortable even in hell.
And now... farewell!
Remember, Corto. A broken Black Dragon.
The Black Dragon... It's a Chinese military sect.
It is also the name of the Amur River.
Perhaps he was advising you to go there.
To the Amur River?
It's too far.
Now go... with your friends.
Farewell, Corto Maltese.
A beautiful adventure, don't you think?
No, I don't think so! I want my share of the gold!
All you have to do is dive into Three Borders Lake!
Stop this childishness! I don't find you funny.
I don't see why the Baron let us go free.
The shaman told him to.
He also told me to watch out for a broken Black Dragon!
Since the train stopped, his men have been dying of cold and hunger.
And Koltchak's gold belongs to you, General.
- It's in Three Borders Lake. - It's not so simple.
The Red Lanterns now have a powerful ally.
The sailor, Corto Maltese?
No, no...
The Red Lanterns will get rid of him
now that the gold is in Three Borders Lake.
The region's controlled by Sukay Bator.
He's the Red Lanterns' main ally.
But Admiral Von Ungern is also
- in the region to fight Sukay Bator. - Perhaps.
But not for now...
and not for gold.
We will have to confront Sukay Bator.
Sukay Bator, my friend. I'm Shanghai-Li. Remember me?
Yes, I also remember you had another name.
You must've had good reason to change.
- Who's this Russian officer? - He is neither.
He is Corto Maltese.
He's your husband?
No.
He's a lone wolf.
General Chang's train!
Pulling into the valley!
That warlord never came this far before.
We must stop him going any further.
We'll soon be in Bolkang-Nor.
We'll stop to let the men amuse themselves before going on.
Let them go see the women.
But watch out for deserters.
Hey, you!
- You in the right car? - You talking to me?
Yes, you. I've never seen you before.
Me neither!
- Corto... - Yes?
Is there a reason why we're doing this?
- Is your conscience bothering you? - I'm just asking.
Can't I ask you as a friend to help me continue our adventure?
You wanted some adventure!
You can shoot when you want to!
What?
What do you think about me? Tell me honestly.
What's that got to do with anything?
I just want to know.
I'd love to have friends, but I'm unable to.
Why on earth not?
Aren't I like other folks?
Of course you are.
Actually, no.
Maybe not. And stop asking questions!
There, you attack me when I tell you, all I want is friends!
General, a mutiny! The gunners are shooting each other!
Beautifully done, comrade Shanghai-Li.
We're proud of you!
I'm sorry.
We can't go see if they're among the survivors.
We must go back to the lake.
I know.
Are you crying?
Me? Crying?
You're mistaken.
Besides, it's my business!
You have a bad temper, comrade.
But that's your business, too.
I really thought then, I'd never see him again.
I only learned later Corto got out alive,
that he was one of the rare survivors.
There must be a guardian angel for sailors!
He was transferred to Kharbine military hospital
with a friend of his, a guy named Rasputin.
Corto's eyes had been injured. Shortly after, he was better.
I helped him leave for Hong Kong.
He insisted on going.
When speaking about the Duchess,
I felt he was hiding something from me.
Corto Maltese arrived during the month of March.
I was happy to see him again.
Times were hard,
but he seemed to be the only one not to notice.
He knew that...
Chang had survived and was hiding here, in Hong Kong.
The Triad had decided to eliminate the warlord.
So...
we helped Corto find him.
For him,
it had become a personal matter.
But I'll try to be more precise...
It was nighttime...
I knew, through a Triad friend, you were alive.
It was a beautiful adventure.
What was the girl's name?
Shanghai-Li.
It sounds like an American operetta.
Lieutenant, how may I help you?
I arrest you in the name of the British Crown.
And what am I accused of?
Pillage, armed mutiny, massacre,
arms trafficking and treason.
One Ear, bring the tea.
Thanks, but we don't have time.
Major Osborne and Colonel Rand are waiting.
You're still in Hong Kong? I thought you'd left.
I left, and I came back.
There was poison in his tea.
- The servant did it! - He carried out his master's orders.
Perhaps, but it's still homicide.
One Ear, you'll need a good lawyer. I'll take care of it.
Thank you.
I thought you were mute?
That's it. That's all I can tell you.
He went to the region of Kiang-si.
For what reason...
I do not know.
Who are those girls?
Apprentice Red Lanterns?
Yes, but for now, they're students at the new school in Kiang.
I'm their teacher.
You wonder where the gold is?
We managed to fish it out of Three Borders Lake.
It will be used to build a big hydroelectric plant.
Asia and the weak Red Lanterns thank you.
"The weak Red Lanterns"?
How's your friend Rasputin?
He stayed for a week in Hong Kong.
Then he left, taking my Gauguin with him.
To make up for it, he did something he never did before:
He wrote me a letter!
Meet Ling, an agricultural engineer.
Ling is my husband.
I was curious to meet you, Mr Corto Maltese.
Second Beauty spoke about you a lot.
Second Beauty is my real name.
I know you met during a revolutionary action in Manchuria.
She was wonderful!
But you were wonderful, too!
Tonight, the students and farmers wish to organize
a theatrical performance in your honor.
I'll leave you. You must have a lot to talk about.
Ling is a marvelous man. I didn't want...
Where will you go?
I don't know...
Farewell, Shanghai-Li.