Li Xiaoxia thought her lover Song Danping had died, and asked her father if she could become a nun. Her father, the warlord Li Xianchen, was outrageous and beat her with a cane. Soon the Japanese invaders were approaching, thus the warlord sent his daughter to Shanghai for shelter. Song jumped into the running river but did not die. After some time he came to Shanghai where he joined the anti-Japanese guerilla headed by Sun Xiaogou. Song killed a number of Chinese traitors and earned himself a name "the midnight man".