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Chapter 1441 Zheng Tingbing, Full of Confidence
In December 1943, the sky was clear over Henan Province during the Republic of China era, and the distant mountains were faintly visible in the sunlight.

A DC3 passenger plane pierced through the clouds, the roar of its engines deafening. Inside the cabin, Zheng Tingbing approached Song Minghao and Wu Jingzhong, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"We'll land in half an hour. After landing, we'll go to Los Angeles Station, where they'll send someone to escort us to Division X."

"Okay, Deputy Director Zheng."

Wu Jingzhong responded loudly as well, while Song Minghao opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing, though he felt a little uneasy.

Following Zheng Tingbing's advice, their solo trip to the X Division to investigate the Shi Ming incident, with even their attendants and guards drawn from the local area, was too risky.

Song Minghao was well aware of the audacity of those military leaders. If they were cornered, they might not only kill a few "Imperial Envoys," but they might even burn down the imperial warehouse.

When Li Qiwu went to the army to rectify military discipline, he encountered various problems along the way. If he hadn't been lucky, the grass on his grave would probably be three feet high by now.

Seeing Song Minghao's hesitant expression, Zheng Tingbing seemed to have guessed what was going on and comforted him with a smile.

"Director Song, if we investigate in a high-profile manner, it will definitely arouse the suspicion of some people and easily alert them. So it's better to keep a low profile."

"Besides, they're just a bunch of corrupt officials at most. Do you think they'd dare to lay a hand on you or me? You're overthinking it."

Wu Jingzhong chimed in, "That's right. The military has always been xenophobic. Plus, the X Division is on the front lines, so the officers and soldiers are already under pressure. We should be more cautious in our actions."

Hearing their explanations, Song Minghao felt that they made some sense, so he forced a smile and stopped talking.

Half an hour later, the plane landed at Los Angeles Airport. The head of the Military Intelligence Bureau's Los Angeles station personally went to the airport to greet them. The three rested in the city for one night and set off for the X Division's base the next morning.

Los Angeles Station is a Class A major station, with multiple subgroups including intelligence, operations, and transportation, and a total of over two hundred personnel, both on and off the payroll.

To protect the safety of the deputy director and the two section chiefs, one-tenth of the personnel from the Luocheng station were dispatched to accompany them. Seeing more than twenty fully armed agents, Song Minghao felt somewhat relieved.

The convoy traveled through a cloud of dust all day and finally arrived in Yancheng at dusk, where the division commander and other high-ranking officers were already waiting at the gate.

"Deputy Director Zheng, it's been a long time, hahaha."

A burly-looking major general walked up to the car, laughing loudly as he reached out to greet Zheng Tingbing.

"Yes, Brother Hongchang, it's been a long time. The last time we met was seven years ago in Jinling."

Zheng Tingbing shook the major general's hand vigorously, his expression full of emotion. The two were clearly old acquaintances and had a good relationship.

Song Minghao and Wu Jingzhong exchanged a glance. Zheng Tingbing hadn't mentioned this beforehand, and the first unexpected situation had arisen before the investigation even began.

The Military Intelligence Bureau has a file on this X Division Commander, Lan Hongchang, born in 1900, a native of Hunan Province, and a former warlord of the old Hunan clique.

Although he was from a ragtag army, he fought bravely and was fearless, which earned him the appreciation of Commander Tang, and he rose through the ranks to become the commander of a main force division.

Next, Zheng Tingbing and his two companions, introduced by Lan Hongchang, shook hands with senior officers of the X Division, including the deputy division commander, chief of staff, and quartermaster.

"Come on, everyone, let's get acquainted. This is my deputy division commander, Lai Chuan; chief of staff, Yang Xiangwen; and quartermaster, Fu Han."

When the Quartermaster General, Fu Han, was introduced, the man immediately bowed and extended his hands, his expression extremely obsequious.

Song Minghao's gaze lingered on the other person for a few seconds, and he gently shook hands with him with his right hand. He always felt that this guy named Fu Han's smile was a bit fake, which was an intuition from an old intelligence officer.

Lai Chuan, the deputy commander of the X Division, and Yang Xiangwen, the chief of staff, appeared to be refined and quiet. After exchanging greetings, they silently stood beside Lan Hongchang.

After exchanging pleasantries, the group walked together into the X Division's base. This place was originally a landlord's private residence, which was later requisitioned by the X Division and expanded into a military camp.

Arriving at what was formerly the living room of the private residence, now the war room, Zheng Tingbing sat down and got straight to the point, asking to see Shi Ming's body and the scene.

Lan Hongchang waved his hand dismissively: "No rush, Brother Zheng is visiting Henan Province for the first time, I will definitely treat you well."

"I've already had some light food prepared. Let's eat first and then talk business. Don't worry, the weather's been cold lately, the body won't decompose."

Faced with the warm invitation from his old friend, Zheng Tingbing couldn't refuse. He gave Song Minghao and the other man a wink, signaling them to play the bad cop.

Wu Jingzhong immediately coughed twice and said, "Commander Lan, our Director Dai attaches great importance to the Shi Ming case. Before we set off, he repeatedly asked us to find out the details of the case as soon as possible."

"In my opinion, it would be better to investigate the case thoroughly first and give an explanation to everyone. Then Commander Lan can catch up with Deputy Director Zheng later."

The X Division members' eyes lit up. Judging from these words, it seemed that the Military Intelligence Bureau's investigation was just a formality.

Regardless of whether they have any problems, as long as these spies can be sent away, that's fine. After all, nobody likes being watched.

Deputy Division Commander Lai Chuan looked at the Military Bureau commander with a smile, while Lan Hongchang laughed even louder and slammed his hand on the table.

"Alright, then let's do as Deputy Director Wu says. Fu Han, take the three of you to see Shi Ming. Alas, what a pity."

As he spoke, a sorrowful expression appeared on his face, as if he deeply regretted Shi Ming's death. As for whether it was true or not, that was hard to say.

Fu Han then led Zheng Tingbing, Song Minghao, and Wu Jingzhong to the temporary morgue, where a body covered with a white sheet was placed.

Even though the temperature in Henan Province is often below zero in December, the corpse still produced a stench after being left for several days, and the pungent smell made people dizzy. Fu Han lifted the white cloth, covered his nose and said, "Shi Ming's body has been left here since the incident and has not been moved. You three officers, please check first. I will wait outside."

After he finished speaking, he hurriedly went out. Soon after, a sound of retching came from outside the door. It was truly laughable that a professional soldier couldn't even stand the stench of a corpse.

As Fu Han's figure disappeared through the doorway, Song Minghao took a few steps forward to the body. Gazing at Shi Ming's distorted face, Song Minghao's eyes gradually reddened.

Shi Ming had worked with him on several missions, and the two were very familiar with each other. Before leaving the mountain city, Shi Ming had specially said goodbye to him. He never expected that when they met again, they would be separated by death.

Wu Jingzhong also sighed: "Let's examine the body first. The sooner we find out the truth of the case, the sooner Shi Ming can be laid to rest."

Upon receiving the order, the technicians at Los Angeles Station entered the room and began the autopsy. It didn't take long for the autopsy report to be delivered to the three men.

Shi Ming died from a bullet wound to his back and back of the head. The bullet penetrated his chest cavity and head, causing severe damage to his brainstem and lungs, as well as hemorrhagic shock.

Based on ballistic analysis, Shi Ming should have been standing when he was shot, and there were no traces of gunpowder burning around the wound, which indicates that he did not die from a close-range execution-style shot.

Apart from that, Shi Ming had no wounds or signs of resistance on his body.

All of this is consistent with what the X Division reported: Shi Ming's intelligence theft was exposed, and he was killed by the guard battalion while trying to escape.

As the technicians covered the morgue with a white sheet again, Zheng Tingbing and the other two left the morgue. Fu Han, who was waiting outside, quickly came over and handed them a document.

"Sir, Shi Ming left multiple fingerprints on the military deployment map. The fingerprints are clearly identifiable with complete ridges. This is the inspection report."

Zheng Tingbing took the report and found that its contents were indeed as Fu Han had said, and the evidence was indeed very convincing.

The problem lies in the sufficiency of the evidence.

Zheng Tingbing knew these good-for-nothings in the army all too well. When it came to eating, drinking, gambling, and prostitution, these people were experts, but when it came to investigating cases, they were completely clueless.

It's strange that in Shi Ming's case, the evidence provided by Master X was so airtight.

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Tingbing casually handed the report to Song Minghao and Wu Jingzhong, indicating to Fu Han to take them to the site.

"Okay, this way please."

Fu Han walked respectfully ahead, leading the group to the back door of the X Division headquarters. Bullet holes on the left wall of the back door proved that fierce fighting had taken place there.

Two meters away from the wall, the outline of the corpse, drawn with lime powder, was unusually conspicuous.

It records the original position and posture of Shi Ming's body, and there are still dried and blackened bloodstains on the outline, indicating that the deceased bled a lot.

"Officers, Shi Ming fled to this place after being exposed, and was shot dead on the spot by the guard battalion," Fu Han explained, pointing to the bullet holes.

After reviewing the fingerprint report, Song Minghao compared the height of the bullet hole with Shi Ming's height, and the result was still no problem.

All the evidence is currently against Shi Ming, and the case seems to be solved. All that remains is to report it to the Shancheng authorities to close the case.

But whether it's Zheng Tingbing, Song Minghao, or Wu Jingzhong, there's a sense of unreality to it all.

Because they had never investigated a case so smoothly before; everything was like a rehearsed script, and all they had to do was sign the case file.

After a long silence, Song Minghao asked, "Director Fu, where did Shi Ming steal the intelligence?"

Fu Han replied to the confidential office, and then, without waiting for Song Minghao to speak, he led everyone to a row of bungalows.

According to his description, the leftmost room is the confidential room, which contains all of the X Division's classified documents and military deployments.

On the day of the incident, Shi Ming pried open the door lock in the dark and used the password he had secretly memorized to open the safe and steal the information.

Since several days had passed since the incident, and people were coming and going in the confidential room, the scene where Shi Ming stole the intelligence had been basically destroyed, leaving only the marks of the door being pried open.

Upon hearing this, Song Minghao and Wu Jingzhong looked down at the door lock and indeed found subtle scratches, a characteristic of technical lock picking.

Wu Jingzhong and Zheng Tingbing discussed in hushed tones, while Song Minghao walked around the neighborhood with his hands behind his back. When he reached the door of one of the rooms, he smelled a faint smell of lime.

"Director Fu, is this the quartermaster's office?"

Song Minghao looked at the doorplate and asked the question knowingly, but before he finished speaking, he had already walked inside.

The quartermaster room and the confidential room were about the same size, but the difference was that this room seemed to have just been renovated, and the whitewash on the walls was still very fresh.

Fu Han nodded slightly without changing his expression: "Yes, Director Song, this was originally a servants' quarters, but it was repainted because it had been in disrepair for many years."

Song Minghao didn't say much, turned around and walked out. Just as he was about to step out of the room, he suddenly stopped and sniffed.

Fu Han, standing to the side, looked puzzled but followed suit and sniffed the air as well, showing no sign of panic.

Seeing that his probing had yielded no results, Song Minghao walked towards Zheng Tingbing and Wu Jingzhong in disappointment. This Master X is no ordinary person; he's strange in every way. This place is truly a den of dragons and tigers.