Lao Gui (1937-) was a Chinese professional assassin who played a central role in the Empty Lot dispute of 1988 as the hired hitman of Dojima-gumi boss Sohei Dojima. He framed Shintaro Kazama's pupil Kazuma Kiryu for murder by killing the victim of one of Kiryu's debt collections, Taichi Kurihara, on 9 December 1988, and later kidnapped Kiryu's ally Tetsu Tachibana on 18 December, leading to his death at the hands of Gengyo Yoneda three hours later. He also shot and wounded Makoto Makimura in order to find and track down her rescuers, but his attempt to kill Goro Majima was thwarted by Hiroki Awano's self-sacrifice, and he was ultimately captured by the Nikkyo Consortium.
Biography[]
Lao Gui was born in China in 1937, and he became known as the best and most expensive hitman in all of Asia, killing all of his targets. In December 1988, he was hired by Japanese yakuza crime boss Sohei Dojima of the Tojo-kai's Dojima-gumi subsidiary to help resolve an intra-familial spat with Dojima's captain (right-hand man) Shintaro Kazama, who was secretly sabotaging Dojima's ability to monopolize control over Tokyo's Kabukicho neighborhood ahead of a revitalization project. The multi-billion yen yield from the successful sale of Kabukicho to the government would catapult Dojima to the chairmanship of the Tojo Clan on Takashi Nihara's inevitable retirement, so Dojima spared no expense in recruiting Lao Gui into his conspiracy against Kazama.
On the night of 9 December 1988, shortly after Kazama's pupil Kazuma Kiryu was sent to collect a debt from Taichi Kurihara at an empty lot in Kabukicho, Lao Gui arrived at the scene of the shakedown and executed Kurihara in what appeared to be an amateur hit. The Dojima family proceeded to frame Kiryu for the murder, hoping that this would justify their expulsion of the imprisoned Kazama from the family and consolidate Dojima's power. However, Kiryu resigned from the family in order to independently investigate who had set him up, allying with Kazama's real estate ally Tetsu Tachibana to keep the Empty Lot from Dojima's hands. Lao Gui was then sent to kidnap Tachibana and force him to hand over the owner of the Empty Lot, the last piece of land in Kabukicho not yet acquired by Dojima for the bundle sale of Kabukicho to the government for the revitalization project. With the help of leaked information from Tachibana's lieutenant Jun Oda, Lao Gui tracked down Tachibana to Little Asia on the night of 18 December 1988, and he wounded Kiryu with his silenced pistol before convincing Tachibana to leave with him, as he had only been ordered to take Tachibana alive so that the Dojima family could talk with him. Lao Gui left Tachibana with Dojima lieutenant Daisaku Kuze, whose henchman Gengyo Yoneda disobeyed Kuze's instructions by torturing Tachibana to death.
Lao Gui standing over Hiroki Awano's body
Dojima later had Lao Gui non-lethally shoot Makimura atop the Sebastian Building when she came to Dojima by herself to negotiate the sale of the Empty Lot in exchange for the heads of his three lieutenants; Dojima and Lao Gui then escaped aboard a helicopter as the Nikkyo Consortium came to rescue Makoto. This allowed for the Dojima family to track down Makoto's rescuers, while Lao Gui became Dojima's bodyguard. Makoto's protector Goro Majima later fought his way into the Dojima headquarters to confront Dojima, and Lao Gui attempted to assassinate Majima before he could harm his boss. However, the Dojima lieutenant Hiroki Awano absorbed Lao Gui's bullets to protect Majima, whom he had just come to respect. Majima then defeated the talented assassin in the ensuing fight, but, before Majima could execute Dojima and Lao Gui, Nikkyo Consortium president Masaru Sera intervened and instead took Lao Gui as his own captive, using Lao Gui's potential future testimonies as leverage against Dojima to ensure that Dojima could never exercise his own power again. Lao Gui was then imprisoned in "the Hole", the Nikkyo "black site" where Majima himself had once been imprisoned and tortured.