dmims Chapter 11: Details Don't Lie!
Chapter 11: Details Don't Lie!
Zhou Xiao turned to the side, and Zhao Jianzhi was leaning against a pillar, with half a cigarette between his fingers.
"Captain Zhao." He nodded. "What a coincidence."
Zhao Jian looked him up and down, then suddenly raised an eyebrow: "Half a month? You really mastered everything from military academy?"
"Hmm." Zhou Xiao said calmly, "The course was too superficial. I want to learn some real skills from Sixth Brother."
"puff--"
Zhao Jianzhi almost choked on the smoke.
I spent half a year studying to graduate, and you only took half a month?!
The pride he held in his heart as a veteran agent was instantly crushed to pieces.
This isn't progress; it's downgraded attack.
Zhou Xiao added, "The door is blocked; we can't get in."
"Come on, I'll take you in!" Zhao Jianzhi patted his shoulder and strode ahead, leading the way smoothly until they pushed open the door to Zheng Yaoxian's office.
Thump, thump, thump.
"Enter."
The door opened, and Zheng Yaoxian sat behind a large mahogany table, with a slightly chubby middle-aged man with a round face sitting next to him.
"Zhou Xiao, you're here?" Zheng Yaoxian looked up and smiled.
Zhou Xiao stood at attention, back ramrod straight: "Reporting, Zhou Xiao is back in the ranks!"
The middle-aged man's gaze sharpened as he scrutinized Zhou Xiao for a few moments before asking, "Sixth Brother, is this the 'God-given' agent you mentioned?"
"Exactly." Zheng Yaoxian nodded. "In half a month, he completed all the military academy courses with excellent grades in every subject."
"Good prospect!" The middle-aged man laughed loudly. "He should stay by my side for a while and give him more responsibilities so that he can shoulder great burdens for the party and the country in the future."
"Fourth brother, you should give him some pointers."
The fourth brother, Xu Baichuan, was a ruthless character ranked fourth among the "Eight Great Vajras" of the Military Intelligence Bureau. During the War of Resistance against Japan, Zheng Yaoxian risked his life to save him, and the two were as close as blood brothers. In terms of intelligence sense and network deployment methods, he was almost on par with Zheng Yaoxian.
"Hahaha, how could someone that Sixth Brother has chosen be bad?" Xu Baichuan nodded to Zhou Xiao, "Zhou Xiao, learn more from Sixth Brother, your future is bright."
"Yes!" Zhou Xiao replied readily.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Xu Baichuan and Zhao Jianzhi took their leave one after the other.
Zheng Yaoxian stood up, paced slowly around Zhou Xiao for half a circle, then suddenly stopped, his gaze sharp as a nail: "Zhou Xiao, what do you think of the current situation in Shancheng?"
"Chaos!" Zhou Xiao knew that Zheng Yaoxian was testing him. He quickly went through the clues in his mind and blurted out, "The intelligence network in Shancheng is like a pot of boiling oil with salt sprinkled on it - it's full of explosives, and you can't tell which one is a real bomb and which one is a dud."
"Currently, those entrenched in the mountain city include underground Communist Party members, Kuomintang secret police, Central Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, Japanese spies, puppet army agents, as well as spies planted by the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce and secret societies... The struggle is fierce and layered. Among them, the most conspicuous and deadly are the Japanese and puppet intelligence lines."
"The Japanese never stepped into the city walls of the mountain city. They then switched to a more insidious tactic—air raids caused chaos and destruction, while their intelligence network, like vines, seeped into our bones, specifically targeting our heart."
Zheng Yaoxian sat quietly and listened without even lifting his eyelids.
"These are all clearly marked on the map," he suddenly said, his voice as flat as if measured with a ruler. "I'd like to hear what your own 'eyes' have seen. After all, when you entered the city, you strolled leisurely for half a street."
Zhou Xiao closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then opened them again and said with certainty, "No. 28 Yongsheng Road is probably the Japanese's hideout."
"Changtai Department Store also seems strange. But it's still unclear who's behind it."
"Heart Heart Cafe is bustling today—I had lunch there."
"That's all we can figure out for now."
Changtai Department Store was a meeting point for the underground Communist Party.
Zheng Yaoxian knew this very well.
"Why are you targeting No. 28 Yongsheng Road?" He tapped the table lightly with his fingertips, raising an eyebrow slightly. The Military Intelligence Bureau had been watching this address for over half a month, filling three notebooks with stakeout records before daring to circle it. But Zhou Xiao had only been in the city for a few hours; how could he be so certain?
Zhou Xiao hesitated for a moment, then answered crisply: "When I entered the West Gate, I bumped into a man wearing a baseball cap, and his elbow brushed against me. He immediately apologized, speaking fluently in a perfect Beijing accent."
"But the moment I lowered my head, my neck stiffened—not the polite nod of an ordinary person, but a short, stiff one, like a spring compressed to its limit and then suddenly springing back. That's a habit ingrained in the bones of people who have lived in island nations for a long time."
"The Japanese nod, but it's never like when we nod in greeting; it's more like a machine suddenly freezes."
"He tried his best to stay focused, but he still slipped up. Later, I saw him again at the entrance of No. 28 Yongsheng Road. He circled the alley twice, deliberately walking along the shadows of the walls, and finally slipped into that black lacquered wooden door."
Details don't lie.
Zheng Yaoxian nodded silently: "To be able to pull out a hidden line just from a slight tremor of the neck, such eyesight is already quite remarkable."
"Changtai Department Store, this is purely a deduction," Zhou Xiao said frankly. "When I passed by, I noticed a small crack in the east window on the second floor. The curtains weren't fully drawn, and there was an eye in the crack, scanning the street below—the movement was very light, but the scanning was extremely steady, as if a ruler had measured the angle."
"Who in an ordinary shop would stare at the road for that long?"
"As for Heart Heart Cafe..." He paused, "The moment I pushed the door open, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end—not out of fear, but out of alertness. At least seven or eight eyes swept over me from all directions, some were serving coffee, some were wiping tables, and some were flipping through newspapers by the window. They weren't idle people, they were 'nails,' densely packed in the shop."
Zhou Xiao had only been in the city for half a day, without writing a single word, yet he managed to pinpoint three crucial points in one go.
Swift, precise, and imbued with a raw, instinctive quality.
The student may surpass the teacher, but may not reach this level.
Snap, snap, snap—
Zheng Yaoxian clapped three times slowly and deliberately: "Not bad, those all-nighters at military academy weren't for nothing. Others just watch the show, but you see the point."
"To tell you the truth: you've hit all three points correctly."
"No. 28 Yongsheng Road, we've locked it down. It's very likely the 'heart' of the Japanese puppet regime's intelligence station. Your observation skills and memory are quite good."
"Heart Heart Cafe, the second raid tonight, is to arrest a suspected underground party liaison—but whether he's still alive is up to fate."
"Changtai Department Store... Hmm, there are suspicions, but the evidence is still pending."
light and spacious!
Everything was laid out.
As expected of the most cunning hunter in the mountain city—since the prey itself smelled the fishy scent, hiding guns and knives would only expose a flaw.
A casual chat, yet every word was witty and insightful.
Zheng Yaoxian was wondering: Should he send a message to Lu Hanqing, asking Changtai Department Store to move its location? If they dragged it out any longer, they might be exposed.
"Your lodging is ready. Go to the supplies department to get your equipment and take a break. Tomorrow morning, come with me to the second location to investigate the Japanese and puppet regime's intelligence case." He looked up at Zhou Xiao. "The sky over this mountain city can explode at any time, so watch your head."
"Alright, Sixth Brother." Zhou Xiao replied and left.
Watching that tall, upright figure disappear at the end of the corridor, Zheng Yaoxian felt a surge of excitement in his heart—this seedling had strong roots, resilient branches, and a keen eye; with a little polishing, it would be a fine blade.
Little did he know that this "blade" was originally held in the hands of another pair of hands.
As Zhou Xiao walked out of Zheng Yaoxian's office, he bumped into his fourth brother, Xu Baichuan.
Xu Baichuan was talking to a young woman in military uniform: "Moyi, send this urgent document directly to the second division."
"Understood." Zeng Moyi from the communications department took the document, turned around, and quickly headed towards the telecommunications room.
Zhou Xiao glanced at the sentry posts and the reflections in the shadows of the pillars inside the Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters compound, then collected his equipment and left through the gate.
No. 82 Huangshan Road, Deyu Apartment Building.
The place where Zheng Yaoxian arranged the accommodation.
He currently wears the rank of lieutenant on his shoulder insignia, and is nominally the personal assistant of his sixth brother, Zheng Yaoxian.
He lowered his head and straightened his cuffs, a faint smile appearing on his lips—recalling the cold coffee in the Heart Heart Cafe, recalling the shadows that flickered across the glass window, he suddenly felt that this misty mountain city before him was seamlessly superimposed on the suspenseful spy world of "Awakening of Insects".
He had watched this show more than once in his early years.
So that's how it is—Xiao Zhengguo, the current head of the Second Operations Section, is actually an imposter? His real identity is Chen Shan?
Interesting.
Zhou Xiao felt a surge of excitement, as if he held the entire chessboard in his hands: finding the traitor and digging out the spies would be as easy as taking candy from a baby.
Before he could finish speaking, a crisp "ding" sounded in his mind: "Mission triggered: Fixed-point check-in - Military Intelligence Bureau, Second Division."
The sign-in location is actually the second one?
Why would you refuse a free reward?
I slept soundly through the night, without any dreams or disturbances.
The next day, as dawn broke, Zhou Xiao was already standing at the main gate of the Military Intelligence Bureau headquarters.
Zheng Yaoxian glanced at him, his voice low and crisp: "Let's go, Zhou Xiao, to the second location."
Today, the Military Intelligence Bureau has nine departments: Military Affairs Department (Department 1), Intelligence Department (Department 2), Operations Department (Department 3), Telecommunications Department, General Affairs Department (Department 5), Personnel Department (Department 6), Management Department (Department 7), Training Department (Department 8), and Police Department (Department 9).
Their destination was the second department, the Intelligence Department, which controlled the lifeline of intelligence.
This department was responsible for monitoring the dynamics of the Party and government, as well as the movements of various factions, with a particular focus on intelligence from the Japanese and puppet regimes. The daily procedure was as follows: First, a designated person would extract and analyze the information, then categorize and break it down item by item, and finally draft disposal recommendations, which were then submitted to four files: File A was sent directly to Director Wei; File B was sent to Commander He; File C was sent to Boss Dai; and File D was submitted to the secretariat for filing and future reference.
Because it involves the highest level of secrecy and the most complex clues, this place has become the epicenter of the most intense covert battle between the enemy and ourselves.
Zheng Yaoxian's visit was at the invitation of Guan Yongshan, the head of the Second Division—Guan had noticed something amiss within the organization and urgently needed a seasoned expert to thoroughly investigate the hidden spies.
Inside the office of the second division chief.
Guan Yongshan greeted him with a smile: "Sixth Brother is here? Please have a seat, I just brewed some pre-Qingming Longjing tea."
Zheng Yaoxian sat down, took a sip of tea, and looked up to ask, "Director Guan, please speak frankly."
Guan Yongshan put down his teacup, his tone turning serious: "The Second Division has recently uncovered some clues—it seems there are Japanese and puppet regime spies infiltrated. The prime suspect is Xiao Zhengguo, the head of the Action Section."
"This person was ordered to go to Shanghai on business three months ago, but he disappeared without a trace and was out of contact for three months. He only suddenly reappeared a few days ago."
"We suspected he had already betrayed us and defected to the enemy, but after going through all the records and checking repeatedly, we couldn't find any evidence. That's why we swallowed our pride and asked Sixth Brother to come and take a look in person."
Zhou Xiao's lips curled up slightly, and he chuckled inwardly: Sure enough, the plot fits perfectly—isn't this exactly the scene from "Awakening of Insects"?
Zheng Yaoxian remained calm: "Has the counter-espionage department checked it?"