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Chapter 1461 Backward reasoning
"Liu Wusan, can you tell me who your superior is now?"

In the same interrogation room, Luo Yongying asked the same question again, and Liu Wusan slowly lowered his head upon hearing it.

“I said, I was assigned by Director Dai of the Military Intelligence Bureau to infiltrate your army. My mission is to collect military and political intelligence in the Northwest.”

Luo Yongying's pen, which was being used for taking notes, suddenly stopped. He looked up and stared intently at Liu Wusan, who was indeed a member of the Nationalist government.

Mountain City, the headquarters of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Zuo Zhong sat in his office flipping through documents, but his mind was on something else entirely: the Northwest should have caught Lao Dai's mole by now.

In fact, from the moment Lao Dai revealed Lin Miaoyin's hometown, he had a bold guess—Dai Chunfeng had private contact with the Japanese.

This era is not like later times, where you can find out everything about someone just by typing on a keyboard. Now, investigating someone's background, especially an ordinary person whose only identity is their name, is very difficult.

The methods were so complex and the investigation so difficult that they far exceeded what ordinary people could imagine, making it virtually impossible to achieve.

For Dai Chunfeng to know Lin Miaoyin's place of origin so quickly, he either really had an informant around Chai Shan, or his source of information was the Japanese.

When Lao Dai explained that he knew Lin Miaoyin's hometown, he did mention that he had a high-ranking secret mole in the Japanese puppet regime. But why would the mole pay attention to an ordinary woman and risk reporting to Lao Dai?

The intelligence value of a spy who can infiltrate the core of the Japanese puppet regime is self-evident, and he would never act rashly. Even if the other party were willing, Dai Chunfeng would not allow it.

Of course, there are two other possibilities.

First, Lin Miaoyin was a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

But this raises another question: if Lin Miaoyin is one of their own, why would Lao Dai hide this from her?

It's just a captured mole; Lao Dai has no reason to do this. If it gets exposed later, it might create a rift between Zuo Chong and Lao Dai.

Given Dai Chunfeng's deep and calculating nature, would he really leave such a significant hidden danger over such a trivial matter? It's unlikely; this is a reasonable judgment made by Zuo Zhong based on Dai's character.

Second, Lin Miaoyin may be a Japanese spy or have other identities.

That's possible. Enticement is a common tactic used by the Japanese, especially when trying to recruit traitors.

However, if Lin Miaoyin were a Japanese spy, her files would certainly be classified and inaccessible to the average person.

The truth is that as soon as Ban Jun met Lin Miaoyin, Lao Dai's mole found out or knew about Lin Miaoyin's background. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?

As he always said, Zuo Zhong never believed in coincidences. After eliminating all the impossible, what remained, no matter how impossible, was still a fact. From this, he came to a conjecture.

Lin Miaoyin's information was perhaps given to Dai Chunfeng by the Japanese, which was the most direct source of intelligence for Lao Dai.

Assuming this conjecture is true, Japanese intelligence officials in Nanjing were qualified to access Lin Miaoyin's file and had the authority to determine which Japanese spies leaked it.

The answer is obvious: Kenshiro Shibayama!

Lao Dai and Chai Shan were respectively the top advisor to the Japanese puppet government and the head of the Nationalist government's intelligence agency.

These two top spies getting involved can't possibly be anything good. Otherwise, it can't be for the sake of world peace, which is even less realistic than the sun rising in the west.

As the saying goes, "Make bold assumptions, but verify carefully." Based on the above speculations, Zuo Zhong couldn't help but suspect that Lao Dai was behind Ban Jun's arrest.

Dai Chunfeng's secret moles must include some within the underground Communist Party, and most of them are probably in the Northwest.

If these moles obtained information about the Banjun Group, and then Lao Dai leaked it to Shibayama Kenshiro, it would make logical sense and be justifiable in terms of motive.

First of all, Dai Chunfeng hated the underground party and had a personal grudge against Ban Jun. Back then, the landmine in Jiujiawei almost killed him. Although it was Zuo Zhong's doing, Dai Chunfeng didn't know that.

Secondly, the underground Communist Party agents who infiltrated the Japanese puppet regime were of little value to the Nationalist government, but they were a different story to the Japanese.

Based on Zuo Zhong's understanding of Lao Dai, if his cheap teacher obtained information about the underground party related to the Japanese puppet regime, he would definitely make a fuss about it.

For example, handing over the platoon leader and contact person to exchange with Shibayama for intelligence on the Kuomintang underground party in the Kuomintang-controlled areas held by the Japanese, or to achieve some ulterior motives.

Therefore, Ban Jun's exposure was not a simple intelligence struggle, but a "gift" or "exchange"!
The day Dai Chunfeng accidentally revealed Lin Miaoyin's hometown, Zuo Zhong realized this, and with that, many things became clear.

The Japanese chose to arrest Ban Jun directly instead of following the clues, not because Ban Jun had no intelligence value, nor because his subordinates had all been exposed, but simply because the Japanese had limited intelligence.

Driven by a desire to acquire rare and valuable information, Dai Chunfeng likely only provided Chai Shan with information about Ban Jun and the contact person, without revealing all the intelligence.

When he realized that Du Ziteng had not retreated, the greedy Lao Dai tried to use threatening letters to persuade Du Ziteng to infiltrate the Japanese puppet regime and the underground party.

Although this is speculation without any supporting evidence, it perfectly matches everything that has happened recently.

In his past life, Zuo Chong once read a saying: "If you can't find the murderer, look at who profited the most."

In the cases of Ban Jun's arrest and Du Ziteng receiving threatening letters, the biggest beneficiaries were undoubtedly the Nationalist government and Lao Dai.

The only remaining question is, how do we prove it? Zuo Chong can't just directly ask Lao Dai: "Teacher, do you have moles within the underground party? You were the one threatening Du Ziteng, weren't you?"
If they did that, Dai Chunfeng would be the first to suspect the mole once he was exposed.

After careful consideration, Zuo Zhong, through Xing Hanliang, had Du Ziteng feign surrender, thus thwarting Lao Dai's defection plan. He then used the threatening letter of exposure to test Shibayama Kenshiro.

As expected, the test yielded no results. Chai Shan completely disregarded the threatening letter and even wanted to teach the sender a lesson.

These are Chai Shan's original words: the other party not only knew who the threatening letter was, but was also an enemy, not a friend, of the sender.

Upon receiving the relevant records from Xing Hanliang, Zuo Zhong became convinced that Dai Chunfeng was the culprit behind Ban Jun's arrest and the threats against Du Ziteng.

Having sorted out his thoughts, Zuo Zhong still needed to find the secret mole hidden in the underground party. The method was simple: release intelligence and take advantage of the lag in intelligence to conduct investigations.

That's why he visited Dai Chunfeng late at night and revealed to him that Du Ziteng had defected to the enemy.

From any perspective, Chai Shan would not have proactively told Dai Chunfeng about Du Ziteng's surrender, so there were only three ways for Lao Dai to learn that Du Ziteng had defected to the enemy.

One was a secret mole in Nanjing, another was the intelligence channel of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and the last was a secret mole hidden in the underground party.

Observing Lao Dai's reaction when he heard that Du Ziteng had defected to the enemy, it seems that the other party had no idea about this matter at all, so all three of these possibilities can be ruled out.

However, a breakthrough still exists; the fact that Lao Dai hasn't received any news is also a clue.

The underground party was well-informed, and Du Ziteng's surrender could not be kept secret from the Northwest. The reply from the Social Affairs Department made it very clear that the Northwest received the intelligence the day after Du Ziteng defected to the enemy.

So, given that such a major event occurred, why didn't the secret mole that helped Dai Chunfeng obtain Ban Jun's intelligence report it?
Was it because they didn't have time, or because they didn't know?
There's not much to say about the former; no professional agent would make such a basic mistake.

The latter is interesting. It means that the secret mole's status is not high, and he does not have a fixed and extensive intelligence channel. Obtaining information about the platoon is just an occasional event.

After much deliberation, Zuo Zhong sent the secret telegram to the Northwest that could help the Ministry of Social Affairs narrow down the scope of suspects.

In addition, the unidentified radio signal that appeared in the Military Intelligence Bureau's dormitory area that night was both a discovery and a clue.

One can imagine how furious Dai Chunfeng was upon learning of Du Ziteng's defection; he would undoubtedly contact the secret mole to find out the truth.

Once the contact person who delivered the message to the mole is caught, the case will become clear, and Zuo Zhong's various speculations will be confirmed.

Unlike before, Zuo Zhong used to deduce the result from the process, but this time he deduced the process from the result. Although this method of solving cases purely by reasoning does not conform to the principles of intelligence investigation, it is the only way at present.

Unable to utilize the military intelligence's resources to investigate cases, and being far from the Northwest, he could only rely on himself.

As for whether the mole and the contact would confess, Zuo Chong was not worried at all. The underground party could even influence Japanese prisoners, let alone Kuomintang agents.

In the office, Zuo lit a cigarette, his gaze passing through the glass to the clouds outside the window, a question popping into his mind.

When exactly did Lao Dai train those moles, and how?
Being a professional mole isn't like buying cabbage; identity building, psychological training, and professional skills training take at least one to two years.

The training is just the beginning. The fake identity still needs to be "disinfected" little by little, and a trustworthy network of interpersonal relationships needs to be built, such as neighbors, colleagues, friends and so on.

The entire process can easily take years, and the amount of money and resources invested during that time is astronomical.

Zuo Zhong was quite certain that he had not received any relevant information since joining the Special Service Department.

Even if we assume that Lao Dai can raise funds and weapons on his own, where will the instructors to train the moles come from?

There was only one possibility: Dai Chunfeng had hidden these moles in the bureau's publicly available personnel training sessions. Zuo Zhong seemed to be deep in thought.

Excluding short-term intensive courses and training courses at the Zhejiang Provincial Police Academy, the Military Intelligence Bureau established training courses at Honggongci, Qingpu, Lanzhou, Linxun, Qianxun, Xixun, and Hanxun.

Zuo Zhong had attended all of these training courses, and even had a list of attendees, so there was no way to hide the secret mole within them.

After all, the number of trainees in a training course is fixed, and the monthly costs of food, staff salaries, daily operations, teaching expenses, and equipment are also fixed.

As he was thinking, Zuo Chong suddenly straightened up. Wait, there was another place where he could train the mole, and it was very well hidden.

More importantly, only Dai Chunfeng had access to information about how the funds were used, and the amount of the funds allocated was a top secret.

Recalling that place, Zuo Zhong's expression gradually turned serious. Had Dai Chunfeng already begun his scheme back then? The spy king of the Republic of China was indeed not to be underestimated.

On the surface, he was in charge of the daily work of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and Lao Dai was like a hands-off manager. Who would have thought that the other party was hiding so deeply?

Zuo Zhong slowly leaned back in his chair, his mind racing, wondering if he should get his hands on the list of moles with one-way communication before Lao Dai crashed his plane.
He was certain that Dai Chunfeng had sent more than one mole to the Northwest, because the old fox wouldn't have used his trump card from the start.

If we let these moles go unchecked, who knows where they'll infiltrate? And who knows if these people will be the ones stirring up trouble in the future? It's truly terrifying to think about.

Shaking his head to banish the dangerous thought from his mind, Zuo Zhong left the office and went to the archives, where he pulled out a file folder from among the many files.

Under the dim incandescent light, the file folder was covered in dust, with the words "Top Secret" and four large characters written in red ink printed on the cover.

Looking at these words, Zuo Zhong's thoughts immediately returned to Nanjing many years ago, and those almost forgotten memories gradually became clear.