cicada

Chapter 1395 Head-on contact
When Zuo Chong heard the report from the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station, he suddenly stood up from his seat and looked at the other party fiercely.

"Stand at attention! Explain to me clearly, what do you mean by the personnel list of Guangdong Province? The safe house address, radio station call sign, wavelength, and password have all been leaked? What on earth is going on!"

He asked two questions in a roar, his voice was deafening. It was not that he was making a fuss, but the leakage of these secrets meant that the entire Guangdong Provincial Station would be exposed to the sun, which would be fatal.

Upon hearing this, the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station quickly stood up, quietly looked up at Zuo Zhong, and then spoke cautiously.

"Following your instructions, we investigated the case of Miss Hua's luggage being robbed. A few days ago, we successfully arrested several people who were dealing in stolen goods and seized a large amount of stolen goods.

While counting the stolen goods, we accidentally found a roll of microfilm, which recorded the above-mentioned top-secret intelligence. The information was handwritten on a piece of paper and then photocopied.

Because of concerns about the Japanese monitoring the telegram, the stationmaster asked me to send the people and things to the mountain city. Now the prisoners are on the way to the headquarters. Deputy Commander, how should this matter be handled? "

"Bang!"

Zuo Zhong smashed the teacup to the ground and it shattered into pieces immediately. The deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station was as obedient as a quail. He stood there not daring to move, letting the broken pieces fly all over him. His right cheek was immediately cut.

Everyone in the bureau says that Deputy Director Zuo is a smiling tiger, but they don’t know that a smiling tiger is even scarier when it doesn’t smile. I just hope that these senior executives of the Guangdong Provincial Station will not be held accountable.

Just as the deputy station chief of Guangdong Province was thinking about it, Zuo Zhong asked again: "Can you determine the source of the film?"

After asking, he stared at the other person's eyes, afraid to hear that the film was related to Miss Hua.

God knows how many secrets Old Dai has told the woman surnamed Hua. If she turns out to be a Japanese spy, the entire Military Control Commission’s intelligence network will be in trouble.

"This one……"

The deputy station chief of Guangdong Province hesitated to speak, and finally closed his eyes and chose to tell the truth: "No, according to the confession of the stolen goods dealer, the robber who was responsible for counting the goods was beaten to death. We cannot rule out the possibility that the film came from Miss Hua's luggage."

Although saying this might easily offend Dai Chunfeng, the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station did not dare, nor was he willing to pretend to be ignorant, as it concerned the lives of hundreds of brothers.

Zuo Zhong's face looked a little better. If the other party had been evasive just now, this day next year would be his death anniversary. It's not a big deal to make mistakes, but the most frightening thing is to make mistakes and not dare to admit them.

But how should this matter be handled? According to the rules of the Military Control Commission, Miss Hua should be arrested immediately to investigate the case, but that is [Junior Master's Wife].

After thinking about it, Zuo Zhong decided to look at the leaked information first and then interrogate the robbers. He always felt that something was not right because the robber in charge of receiving the goods died too coincidentally.

"Give me the information."

"Please wait a moment, Vice-Sir."

Hearing Zuo Zhong's cold order, the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station immediately took off his coat and took out a small paper bag from his shirt collar. The bag contained the developed microfilm and quicklime.

Although most of the Japanese navy on the Yangtze River were partners of the Military Control Commission, he was prepared for the worst. If he was caught along the way, he could just lower his head and bite his collar to use the principle that quicklime generates heat when it comes into contact with water to destroy the film.

Zuo Zhong nodded secretly in his heart. Being a cautious person, he took the film handed to him by the other party, walked to the window, and carefully examined it with a magnifying glass under the sunlight.

This revealed a big problem. The intelligence about the Guangdong Provincial Station in the film was too comprehensive, so comprehensive that even the station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station should not have known some of the content, such as the layout of the Guangdong Provincial Station's backup intelligence network.

Ever since the incidents at Jinling Station and Shanghai Station, the Military Control Commission has set up two lines, one visible and one hidden, at various important intelligence stations.

The secret line is usually not responsible for any intelligence work, and the personnel do not know each other. They will only be activated when receiving secret orders from the headquarters, otherwise they will remain dormant.

As for the specific situation of the secret line, only two people in the entire Military Control Commission knew it, one was Lao Dai and the other was Zuo Chong, but the problem definitely did not lie with Zuo Chong.

Because he hid the files involving secret lines in the safest place - the system space. The spy can't break through the void and steal the files.

I forgot there was a system.

If the other party had this ability, why would they steal any information? They might as well just go directly to the Huangshan official residence.

So the matter was very clear. The source of the information could only be Dai Chunfeng, but others didn't know that there was such a thing as system space in the world. Zuo Zhong could only pretend to be surprised, walked quickly to his safe, and pretended to check it.

A few minutes later, he closed the safe and deliberately let out a breath in front of the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station, with a conflicted look on his face.

When Zuo Zhong opened the safe, the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station turned around consciously to avoid suspicion. However, when he turned around, he saw the deputy director with a bitter face, and his heart immediately skipped a beat.

To be able to become the deputy station chief of a Class A station like the Guangdong Provincial Station, and to live safely in the enemy-occupied area for so long, this person is definitely not someone who can be easily dealt with.

In fact, as soon as he finished reading the film, he knew that the problem was with the headquarters. After all, the intelligence was too confidential and not accessible to ordinary people.

Combined with the situation in the bureau, the source of the leak was either Director Dai or Deputy Director Zuo. Judging from Deputy Director Zuo's reaction, the source of the information was obviously the former. Moreover, the affair between Dai Chunfeng and Miss Hua had long been circulated within the Military Control Commission. In this case, is it necessary to investigate who leaked the information?

The deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station took out a handkerchief and kept wiping the cold sweat and blood on his face. He had already thought of his last words in his mind, but what Zuo Zhong said next brought him back to life.

"The film should have nothing to do with Japanese spies. If the film was taken by Japanese spies, they would have contacted the Japanese intelligence agencies when they arrived in the Japanese-occupied areas and would not have wandered around with important intelligence." Zuo Zhong analyzed calmly.

By now he had figured it out. The main intelligence forces in Guangdong Province were the Guo Party, the Japanese puppet regime and the Northwest. Since the microfilm was not from the Japanese, it could only be from the underground party.

So Miss Hua could be from the Northwest?
Don't joke, of course it's impossible. The fact that she had an unclear relationship with Dai Chunfeng alone can prove that she is not an underground party member.

It is forbidden to use colored glaze, which is the iron rule of the underground party's intelligence work. Moreover, the target of the colored glaze is Dai Chunfeng. No matter how you look at it, Miss Hua does not look like an underground worker.

More importantly, Miss Hua's luggage was transported from Guangdong Province to Shancheng. The intelligence thieves had finally stolen the intelligence at the Military Control Commission headquarters, so why would they transport it back? It couldn't be that they were just sitting there doing nothing.

As for the exchange of intelligence within the underground party, such as the Southern Bureau passing film to the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei or Central Plains Bureau, that is a low-probability event and is not considered.

Therefore, there are only two possibilities: one, the owner of the film is someone else; two, the person who keeps and hides the film is a robber.

No matter what the situation was, he needed to talk to the arrested robber. Thinking of this, Zuo Chong called the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station to go to the detention center together.

Since the incident has already happened, Zuo Zhong cannot ignore it. If he does, it will arouse suspicion. Only by taking the initiative can he have room for maneuver.

If the film really belongs to the underground party, the person who keeps or delivers the film may be among the prisoners. He must help the other party clean up the mess and provide cover.

After arriving at the underground detention center, Zuo Chong and the other man walked along the corridor. Outside a cell, the deputy station chief of the Guangdong Provincial Station pointed at the prisoner inside and said that he was the famous thief Wang Hu.

Zuo Chong approached the iron window and saw a kind-looking middle-aged man sitting inside. He was a little fat, had a small moustache, and looked very shrewd.

No matter from which angle you look at it, the other party does not look like a robber who robs houses, but rather a businessman who makes money by being friendly. However, it is hard to say for sure, perhaps this is Wang Hu's disguise.

After observing Wang Hu for a while, Zuo Zhong ordered his men to open the cell door, preparing to engage in direct confrontation with this famous thief from Guangdong Province.

The sound of the cell door opening woke up Wang Hu, who was resting with his eyes closed. He slowly opened his eyes and a tall figure appeared in front of him.

As the person was standing with his back to the light, he could not see his face clearly, but he vaguely felt that two sharp eyes were looking at him through the darkness.

After a long time, Wang Hu, who was covered in wounds, moved his body. He first took a breath, and then asked Zuo Chong in Mandarin with a Cantonese accent.

"Who is this gentleman?"

From the time they were arrested to the time they were on their way to the mountain city, the robbers were subjected to severe torture every day. If the film had not been so important and they were afraid of death without evidence, Wang Hu and others would have been secretly executed long ago.

Hearing Wang Hu's question, Zuo Zhong chuckled, took a step forward into the light, and revealed a kind face.

"My last name is Zuo, and I am not a gangster. Mr. Wang may not have heard of me before, but please rest assured that we will meet often in the future."

Wang Hu had a confused expression, as if he didn't understand the deep meaning of this sentence. It was normal for a commoner like him not to have heard of Zuo Zhong's name.

Zuo Chong smiled even more warmly and asked the other party to recount the process of robbing Miss Hua's luggage and being arrested.

Wang Hu was quite cooperative and told the whole story honestly. Both the details and the general process were consistent with the investigation results of the Guangdong Provincial Station.

On the day when Miss Hua's luggage was robbed, the robbers blocked the road with tree trunks. The driver and the escort got out of the car to move the trees, and were shot dead by the robbers hiding on both sides of the road.

After the robbery, Wang Hu and his gang returned to their lair with their luggage, and the robbers in charge of receiving the goods counted the property.

This kind of inventory only has a rough record. The account book is now in the hands of the Military Control Commission. Unfortunately, the source of the film is not mentioned on it.

A few days later, Wang Hu went down the mountain to rob again. Unexpectedly, he met a tough gang. The bandits were beaten back by the armed guards. Several of his men died, including the robbers who received the goods.

There is nothing much to say about the rest of the story. The robbers were caught by the agents from the Guangdong Provincial Station just after they had rested for a while.

When talking about this, Wang Hu smiled bitterly, half flattering, half seriously saying: "Mr. Zuo, your people are really amazing. I didn't see any flaws at all..."

Having said this, he suddenly stopped talking because Zuo Chong opposite him stopped smiling and exuded a frightening aura.

The cell was silent, and Wang Hu's heart was beating fast.

After an unknown amount of time, Zuo Zhong slowly bent down, his nose twitched twice, and then he stood up straight, looked at the other person coldly and said, "You are not Wang Hu!"