Trama

After the arrest of most of the members of the drug syndicate, the leader behind the organization was never found and is still at large. Tintin, who is enjoying his stay at the palace of the Maharaja, is visited by a Chinese gentleman who brings Tintin a message. However, a poison dart containing the madness poison was struck right into the massager's neck by an unseen marksman. The only clues Tintin received from the now mad messenger is that there's trouble in Shanghai and a man named Mitsuhirato, which is the place where the remaining members of the syndicate remain. So Tintin heads for Shanghai to meet Mitsuhirato, however upon meeting the person Tintin was almost assassinated twice upon his visit in Shanghai. He ends up being saved by a young Chinese man who provides him with a disguise in order for him to not be easily recognized by the syndicate. Who is the mysterious young man who prevented Tintin's death and can Mitsuhirato be trusted?—J LeGault

In Cigars of the Pharaoh, Tintin pursued an international group of drug distributors through the Middle East and India. He managed to capture most of the cartel members, but not the mysterious leader, who fell down a ravine in the mountains. Sometime after these events, his body has still not been found. Tintin though is shown to be enjoying a vacation with the Maharaja of Gaipajama. The prince enjoys his time with Snowy. Then one day a Chinese man comes to meet him, but he is hit by a dart dipped in a poison (Rajaijah) which causes madness, before he can deliver his message to Tintin. He just had the time to utter the words Mitsuhirato and Shanghai and that his friends need his help. Tintin deduces that he is supposed to meet Mitsuhirato in Shanghai. Tintin travels to Shanghai, China, where he is awaited by the assassins of the opium consortium.

However, two attempts on Tintin's life are foiled by a young Chinese stranger who vanishes before Tintin has the opportunity to thank him. The stranger arranges to meet Tintin in a secluded area (by sending him a message and a Chinese dress for disguise, at his hotel in Shanghai). Once Tintin arrives for their rendezvous, he discovers that the young man has been struck by Rajaijah juice, the poison of madness, used by the drug cartel against their enemies. Tintin also defends a young Chinese rickshaw driver from a Western businessman and racist bully, Gibbons, a friend of Dawson, the corrupt police chief of the Shanghai International Settlement. Incensed, Gibbons and Dawson set about making life difficult for Tintin.

Meanwhile in Shanghai, Tintin meets Mitsuhirato (after Tintin receives a message from him at the Continental Hotel, where Tintin has been staying), a Japanese businessman, who urges him to return to India and protect his friend the Maharajah of Gaipajama. That evening Tintin receives a Telegram from the Maharaja asking Tintin to return as he feels his and his son's life is in danger. Having been persuaded by Mitsuhirato, Tintin is on his way back to India by ship when he is knocked unconscious on the ship and taken ashore along with Snowy.

Tintin wakes up outside Shanghai, in the home of Wang Chen-Yee, the leader of a resistance movement called "The Sons of the Dragon" dedicated to the fight against opium. Wang's son is the young man who helped save him from the two assassinations but is now insane from Rajaijah poisoning. He goes about threatening to cut people's heads off with a sword (thinking it will "show them the way") and only his father's stern authority can keep him in check.

Wang says that the telegram from the Maharaja was a fake and came from an enemy who wants Tintin out of Shanghai. Wang says that the man who met Tintin in India was his messenger and not from Mitsuhirato. Wang also reveals that Mitsuhirato is their chief opponent: a Japanese secret agent and drug smuggler. Wang says that Mitsuhirato is expecting a marge shipment of drugs, and they need to intercept it. Wang knows that Mitsuhirato communicates with his associates via radio in code, but he has not been able to crack it. Tintin decodes the coded message (the first 2 letters of every word) and gets "The Blue Lotus, 10 tonight". Blue Lotus is an opium den in Shanghai. At the Blue Lotus, Tintin sees Mitsuhirato paying a western man for his help in an upcoming job.

Tintin then follows Mitsuhirato and witnesses him & the western man blowing up a railway line (this is based on the real-life Mukden Incident). No one is killed and damage is minor, but the event is successfully portrayed by the Japanese government as a major Chinese terrorist incident and used as an excuse for a Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Tintin is discovered and is captured by Mitsuhirato. Mitsuhirato injects Tintin with Rajaijah juice and then lets him free. Tintin pretends to be insane and escapes from Mitsuhirato's custody. Tintin goes back to Wang. Wang reveals that one of Mitsuhirato's trusted men works for Wang. He was the one who substituted the real Rajaijah juice with colored water. This is the reason Tintin did not become insane.